High-power source of coherent picosecond light pulses tunable from 0.41 to 12.9 μm

We report a high-power source of coherent picosecond light pulses based on optical parametric generation and amplification in LiB₃O₅ and AgGaS₂ crystals. The spectral range of this continuously tunable source covers the visible, near-infrared and medium-infrared spectrum from 0.41 to 12.9 m. An optical parametric generator and amplifier, consisting of two type-I phase-matched LiB₃O₅ crystals and a diffraction grating, is pumped by the third harmonic of a picosecond Nd:YAG laser and provides spectrally narrow, high-power pulses from 0.41 to 2.4 m. Energy conversion efficiencies up to 16 percent are achieved. The pulse duration is about 14 ps, the bandwidth between 10 and 30 cm^–1. The tuning range is extended to 12.9 m by mixing the infrared output between 1.16 and 2.13 m with the fundamental of the Nd:YAG laser in type-I-phase-matched AgGaS₂ crystals. Up to 25 percent of the pulse energy at 1.064 m is converted into parametric infrared pulses. Bandwidths between 3 and 8 cm^–1 and a pulse duration of approximately 19 ps are measured for these pulses. We also observe a retracing behaviour in the tuning curve of AgGaS₂ not reported before.     

Excimer-laser-induced ablation of the high-T c superconductor Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O

The ablation of ceramic Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O by XeCl-excimer-laser projection has been investigated. In both air and vacuum, etching commences at about 2.4 J/cm² and then increases with fluence within the regime investigated ( <) 20 J/cm²). At 10 J/cm² the respective etch rates are around 1 m/pulse and 1.6 m/pulse.     

Ar ion laser assisted chemical etching of via holes in tungsten sheets in air

Ar ion laser assisted chemical etching of 150 m thick annealed tungsten sheets in air is reported. The material removal mechanism involves local heating by the laser to temperatures in the range of 1000–1500 °C that causes rapid oxidation of the W to WO₃ which volatilizes readily. Holes with straight walls and slightly enlarged entrances near the surface were drilled with etch rates as high as 11.5 m/s at 13.8 W, and a minimum hole diameter of 21 m at 8.1 W. The diameters of the holes and the etch rates were measured and found to increase as a function of the laser power. It was found that by increasing the laser power above 11–12 W, no change was observed in the hole diameters which remained constant at about 31 m, whereas the etch rates continued to increase even faster than at low powers. Distinct adjacent holes of 25 m diameter could be drilled with their centers separated by as little as 60 m. This is therefore also the etching resolution in the present study.     

UV laser-induced grating formation in PDMS thin films

Excimer laser (193 nm and 157 nm) induced ablation and structure formation in poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin films is demonstrated. Ellipsometric measurements provide values of the optical constants of the films as well as their thicknesses, which are below 1 m. At fluences above 160 mJ/cm² two pulses of UV light induce gratings with at minimum 1-m periods and crossed gratings with 4-m periods. The structure heights are between 10 nm and 20 nm with ridge widths of several hundred nanometres. The ablation occurs after a single incubation pulse with a threshold that increases logarithmically with the ablation wavelength increasing from 157 nm to 1064 nm. At 193 nm the ablation rate for 2 J/cm² is 127 nm/pulse. PACS 79.20.La; 34.50.Dy; 68.55.Jk     

Light absorption in laser-heated cavities

The absorption of laser light in 0.25–1 mm diameter gold cavities, irradiated for the purpose of generating high-temperature blackbody radiation with intense laser radiation of either =0.44 m or =1.3 m wavelength, was investigated. For =0.44 m radiation the absorption exceeded 0.9 for all conditions, but dropped to only 0.3 for the smallest cavities irradiated at =1.3 m. Entrance hole and cavity filling with plasma seems important for the understanding of the observations.     

Monte-Carlo calculation of bound-state properties

We elaborate on the role of the Green's function Monte-Carlo method in connection with quantum few-body systems and their computational treatment algorithms for calculation of bound-state properties are presented. We report results obtained from Green's function Monte-Carlo calculations both of ground-state properties of the mesic moleculesdt,dd, andpd as well as of excited states of the three-dimensional anharmonic oscillator and thedt molecule.Deceased     

Width reduction of laser microdrillings by subsequent mechanically induced plastic deformation

This work reports a novel process combination, which is capable of forming large hole matrices (100 pores/mm²) in thin stainless steel foils (10 mfoil<300 m) maintaining high processing rates and pore widths smaller than 5 m. This technique perforates stainless steel foils with high-speed on-the-fly laser perforation (60000 drillings/min) followed by a cold-roll forming of the laser-treated foil. The cold-roll forming leads to a pore-size reduction (in one dimension) perpendicular to the rolling direction. For the laser processing a diode-pumped, q-switched and frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser (=355 nm, =30 ns), and a flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser (=1064 nm, =57 s) were applied. Using this process combination, minimum pore sizes of 3.5 m have been achieved. At present, the processing efficiency of cold-rolled percussion drillings inserted with nanosecond pulse durations is lower in comparison with single-pulse on-the-fly perforation, but in terms of quality (straight pore channel, low standard deviation of pore widths and pore widths smaller than 5 m) well suited for various fields in filtration (e.g. particle removal) . PACS  81.20.Hy; 42.62.Cf; 81.40.Ef     

Gain dynamics of the 4.3 μm CO2 laser

A detailed study of the gain dynamics of the pulsed, optically pumped 4.3 m CO₂ laser is described. Small-signal gain coefficients as high as 14%/cm are measured in a 4.3 m amplifier using low-power pulses from a 4.3 m probe laser. The measurements are compared with a rate-equation model and good quantitative agreement is obtained. The model, which uses no adjustable parameters, is described in detail. Gain is studied as a function of optical pumping power, gas mixture, gas pressure and discharge excitation of the 4.3 m amplifier. Optimization of the gain is discussed.     

Additive pulse mode-locked Nd: YAG laser

Additive pulse mode locking applied to lamppumped Nd: YAG lasers results in an attractive source of picosecond pulses at 1.06 m or 1.32 m with average powers at the Watt level. We provide detailed information on construction and operation and give data on performance. A modified active stabilization scheme allows not only improved stability of operation but also insight into the dynamics of pulse formation.     

En">Characters and Composition Factor Multiplicities for the Lie Superalgebra $${\mathfrak{g}}{\mathfrak{l}}$$ ( m / n )

The multiplicities a of simple modules L in the composition series of Kac modules V lambda for the Lie superalgebra (m/n ) were described by Serganova, leading to her solution of the character problem for (m/n ). In Serganova's algorithm all with nonzero a are determined for a given this algorithm, turns out to be rather complicated. In this Letter, a simple rule is conjectured to find all nonzero a for any given weight . In particular, we claim that for an r-fold atypical weight there are 2r distinct weights such that a = 1, and a = 0 for all other weights . Some related properties on the multiplicities a are proved, and arguments in favour of our main conjecture are given. Finally, an extension of the conjecture describing the inverse of the matrix of Kazhdan–Lusztig polynomials is discussed.     

Trilinear generally covariant equations

Field equations for n-frames h ^a that are possible in the theory of absolute parallelism are considered. It is shown that in three cases the equations can, after the substitution h ^a =H^pH ^a (H=det H ^a , p is an n-dependent constant), be written in a trilinear form that contains only the matrix H _a and its derivatives and not H ^a . It is shown that the equations are still regular for degenerate but finite matrices H _a if rank H _a 2.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 22–27, February, 1991.     

A μSR study of spin density wave condensation in Cr85Mo15

Zero field SR spectra from Cr₈₅Mo₁₅ are well described by the sum of a lightly damped (0.02s^–1<₁<0.2s^–1) and a heavily damped (2s^–1<₂<15s^–1) exponential. The temperature dependence of these components is discussed in relation to the condensation of the incommensurate spin density wave and the onset of the antiferromagnetic state in this Cr-like alloy below T_N=120K. Evidence is presented for the nucleation of the spin density wave at temperatures greater than 1.5T_N.     

An Approach to Linear Scalable DH-PHEMT Model for Millimeterwave Application

This paper describes a scalable small-signal equivalent circuit for 0.25 m gatelength Double Heterojunction delta-doped PHEMTs. The scaling rules for all elements except the pad capacitances and bondwire inductances have been determined. Good agreement is obtained between simulation results and measured results for 2 times 20 m , 2 times 40 m, 2 times 60 m, 2 times 100 m gate width (number of gate fingers times unit gate width) DH PHEMT.     

Incubation/ablation patterning of polymer surfaces with sub-μm edge definition for optical storage devices

By exposure to low fluence UV laser radiation, the optical absorption coefficient of subsurface polymer material can be increased (incubation) with spatial control, using a suitable contact mask, proper imaging of the mask, or laser direct writing. Spatially selective ablation of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is then achieved with large area XeCl excimer laser pulses at 308 nm. In this way, the transfer of spatial information to the material can be decoupled from the high laser fluence removal (ablation) step. The advantages are: The mask is exposed to only low fluence laser radiation — damage is avoided. Since the mask can be removed before the ablation step, mask contamination by the ablated plume cannot occur. Using this incubation/ablation method, PMMA surfaces can be patterned (248 nm/308 nm) with submicrometer spatial control and edge contrasts better than 0.2 m. This has impact on optical storage technology and laser surface processing techniques in general. The smallest single structure obtained was somewhat smaller than 0.5 m in diameter up to now, given by the mask.Presented at Laserion '91, June 12–14, 1991     

Feasibility of an experiment to determine the branching ratio for the emission of a heavy neutrino after muon capture in3He

The triton energy of the muon capture reaction ³He t+v, where ³ He is the ground state of muonic³He, has been measured in order to investigate a possible heavy v admixture into the flavour with high sensitivity. ³ He has been formed via the pd fusion reaction by stopping ^– in an ionization chamber (IC) filled with an H/D gas mixture of 3% D concentration at a pressure of 161 bar. In a first short experiment 650 triton events were observed yielding an upper limit for the -heavy v mixing strength of 2.3×10^–3 atE _0v=60 MeV.     

BRST quantization of a scalar particle in a curved background

The BRST formalism is employed to quantize a scalar particle and interactions with an external scalar field (x ) and vector gauge fieldA (x ) in the background of an arbitrary gravitational field. The second-quantized actions are obtained.     

The van der Waals limit for classical systems. I. A variational principle

We consider the thermodynamic pressurep(, ) of a classical system of particles with the two-body interaction potentialq(r)+ ^v K(r), where is the number of space dimensions, is a positive parameter, and is the chemical potential. The temperature is not shown in the notation. We prove rigorously, for hard-core potentialsq(r) and for a very general class of functionsK(s), that the limit 0 of the pressurep(, ) exists and is given by where the limit and the supremum can be interchanged. Here is a certain class of nonnegative, Riemann integrable functions,D is a cube of volume |D|, anda ⁰() is the free energy density of a system withK=0 and density . A similar result is proved for the free energy.     

Ultrashort far-infrared superradiant emissions optically pumped by truncated hybrid 10 μm CO2 laster pulses

We investigate the generation of superradiant far-infrared 496 m CH₃F pulses and produce for the first time smooth and reproducible 373 m CH₃CN superradiant pulses by pumping with pulses from a hybrid 10 m CO₂ laser truncated within 10 ps by a plasma shutter of new design. Superradiance is confirmed by measurement of the pressure dependence of the intensity, the width and the delay versus the pump pulse. We observe pulse durations considerably under the limit of the inverse linewidth of the transition. Thus, we demonstrate for the first time that rapid truncation of the pump pulse is essential for reducing pulse duration of superradiant far-infrared emissions.     

Collisionless kinetic equations for massive particles with spins 1/2 and 0 in gravitational and electromagnetic fields

We define a covariant and gauge-invariant generalization of the Wigner functions of particles with spins 1/2 and 0. The collisionless kinetic equations are obtained for these particles in external gravitational and electromagnetic fields in the quasiclassical approximation; also obtained are the momentum representations of the energy-momentum tensor, current, and spin tensor, taking into account the effects of the spin's interaction with the gravitational field an electromagnetic field. The following notation is used: e and m are the charge and mass of the particles; is Planck's constant; (x) are the covariant-fixed Dirac matrices; ^,=(1/4)[, ]: a(^b)=(1/2) (a b +ab ); [A, B]=A·B – B·A; A,B=A·B+B·A; g(x)=det(g (x));R = –...; the speed of light c=1.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 47–53, September, 1990.The author wishes the thank Yu. G. Ignat'ev and members of the seminar in General Relativistic Statistics and Cosmology of the Kazan' Pedagogical Institute for useful discussions.     

Time-resolved measurements of picosecond optical breakdown

Picosecond optical breakdown was investigated in order to assess its potential for performing highly localized incisions for laser surgery. Measurements of breakdown were performed using single 40-ps Nd: YAG laser pulses in distilled water. Novel optical pump-probe techniques were developed to characterize the transient spatial and temporal dynamics of the plasma, shock wave, and cavitation phenomena which are associated with the breakdown. The maximum cavity radius and the shock wave zone are shown to scale as the cube root of the pump pulse energy over almost three orders of magnitude. For pulse energies close to the threshold energy of 8 J, the shock range was 100–200 m and the cavity radius was 140 m. Complementary experiments were performed with 10-ns pulse durations. Since picosecond pulses have high peak intensities with low pulse energies, a significant enhancement in localizability may be achieved. The implications for ophthalmic microsurgery are discussed.