Studies of ion energy and yield from argon clusters heated by intense femtosecond laser pulses

Using time-of-flight spectrometry, the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with argon clusters has been studied by measuring the energy and yield of emitted ions. With two different supersonic nozzles, the dependence of average ion energy on cluster size in a large range of has been measured. The experimental results indicate that when the cluster size , the average ion energy Coulomb explosion is the dominant expansion mechanism. Beyond this size, the average ion energy gets saturated gradually, the clusters exhibit a mixed Coulomb-hydrodynamic expansion behavior. We also find that with the increasing gas backing pressure, there is a maximum ion yield, the ion yield decreases as the gas backing pressure is further increased.     

Soft X-ray contact microscopy of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Soft X-ray Contact Microscopy (SXCM) of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes with typical length m and diameter m has been performed using the PALS laser source of wavelength m and pulse duration ps. Pulsed soft X-rays were generated using molybdenum and gold targets with laser intensities W/cm². Images have been recorded on PMMA photo resists and analyzed using an atomic force microscope operating in contact mode. Cuticle features and several internal organs have been identified in the SXCM images including lateral field, cuticle annuli, pharynx, and hypodermal and neuronal cell nuclei.Received: 18 February 2004, Published online: 29 June 2004PACS: 42.62.Be Biological and medical applications - 07.85.Tt X-ray microscopes - 87.59.Bh X-ray radiographyA color version of the figures is available in electronic form at .     

Spectroscopic studies of NaCs for the ground state asymptote of Na + Cs pairs

The ground state X of NaCs was studied by laser induced fluorescence Fourier-transform spectroscopy. An accurate potential energy curve was derived from more than 5000 transitions. This potential reproduces the experimental observations within their uncertainties of cm^-1 and covers about 99.97% of the potential well depth. Few vibrational levels of the shallow state a below the atomic ground state asymptote were observed. The identification is mainly done by the observed and quantitatively interpreted molecular hyperfine structure applying atomic parameters of the ground states of Na and Cs. An estimated potential curve for a is reported which can be used together with that of X for coupled channel calculations of cold collisions between Na and Cs. An example is given. Electronic supplementary material to this article is available at and is accessible for authorized users. Received: 10 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004 PACS: 31.50.Bc Potential energy surfaces for ground electronic states - 33.20.Kf Visible spectra - 33.20.Vq Vibration-rotation analysis - 33.50.Dq Fluorescence and phosphorescence spectra Supplementary tables (Tabs. I-III) are only available in electronic form at http: //www.eurphysj.org     

Investigation of highly excited states of calcium by three-photon ionization

The three-photon ionization in Ca from S₀ ground state is studied. The two-photon process is a near -- resonance process with one of the following bound states: 4s4d ¹D₂, 4p P₂, 4s6s ¹S₀, 4 D₂ and 4 S₀ while the third photon reach either directly the continuum or one of the autoionizing states. The succession of bound states as well as the transitions above the ionization limit are discussed. The dynamics of the multiphoton excitation processes is also discussed and radiative decay of 4 S₀ Ca state with two-photon excitation as well as (the measured) decay times of the Ca autoionizing states using the proper line profiles for different quantum numbers has been determined.Received: 29 September 2003, Published online: 18 May 2004PACS: 32.70.-n Intensities and shapes of atomic spectral lines - 32.70.Cs Oscillator strengths, lifetimes, transition moments - 32.80.Fb Photoionization of atoms and ions - 32.80.Rm Multiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states (e.g., Rydberg states)     

The 4-particle hydrogen-antihydrogen system revisited

The historical importance of the original quantum mechanical bond theory proposed by Heitler and London in 1927 as well as its pitfalls are reviewed. Modern ab initio treatments of H- systems are inconsistent with the logic behind algebraic Hamiltonians H± =H 0 ± H for charge-symmetrical and charge-asymmetrical 4 unit charge systems like H2 and H . Their eigenvalues E± =E 0± are exactly those of 1927 Heitler-London (HL) theory. Since these 2 Hamiltonians are mutually exclusive, only the attractive one can apply for stable natural molecular H2. A wrong choice leads to problems with antiatom . In line with earlier results on band and line spectra, we now prove that HL chose the wrong Hamiltonian for H2. Their theory explains the stability of attractive system H2 with a repulsive Hamiltonian H0 + H instead of with the attractive one H0-H, representative for charge-asymmetrical system H . A new second order symmetry effect is detected in this attractive Hamiltonian, which leads to a 3-dimensional structure for the 4-particle system. Repulsive HL Hamiltonian H+ applies at long range but at the critical distance, attractive charge-inverted Hamiltonian H- takes over and leads to bond H2 but in reality, H , for which we give an analytical proof. This analysis confirms and generalizes an earlier critique of the wrong long range behavior of HL-theory by Bingel, Preuss and Schmidtke and by Herring. Another wrong asymptote choice in the past also applies for atomic antihydrogen , which has hidden the Mexican hat potential for natural hydrogen. This generic solution removes most problems, physicists and chemists experience with atomic and molecular H , including the problem with antimatter in the Universe.     

Prospects for production of ultracold $\mathsf{X^{1}\Sigma^{ + }}$ RbCs molecules

Recently, we have reported photoassociation of laser-cooled Rb and Cs atoms, decay of the RbCs photoassociation resonances to high levels of the state, and reexcitation to vibronic levels of the state [Kerman et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 033004; 153001 (2004)]. Considering the reexcitation spectrum, we report here a preliminary analysis of perturbations in the c state by high levels of the and low levels of the state. Mixing with the B state provides the singlet character needed to stimulate decay to v = 0 of the ground state. We conclude that an experimental procedure that involves photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms, radiative decay, and stimulated Raman transfer to the ground electronic state is a feasible method for producing translationally, rotationally, vibrationally and electronically cold RbCs molecules. Electronic supplementary material to this article is available at and is accessible for authorized users. Received: 1 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004 PACS: 33.80.Ps Optical cooling of molecules; trapping - 34.50.Gb Electronic excitation and ionization of molecules; intermediate molecular states (including lifetimes, state mixing, etc.) - 33.20.Kf Visible spectra - 34.20.-b Interatomic and intermolecular potentials and forces, potential energy surfaces for collisions - 33.15.Pw Fine and hyperfine structure A supplementary table (Tab. I) is only available in electronic form at http: //www.eurphysj.org     

The high-energy critical minimum in elastic electron scattering by argon

The position of high-energy critical minimum in elastic electron-argon scattering was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Differential cross-sections (DCSs) were measured as a function of both incident electron energy (40-150 eV) and scattering angle ( ), in small steps around the critical minimum. The position of the high-energy critical minimum in elastic electron-argon scattering was experimentally found to be at eV and . To cover the energy and angular ranges of the present experiment, relevant relativistic ab initio calculations were carried out, based on the Dirac-Hartree-Fock method with the exchange calculated exactly. Target polarization is described by an ab initio potential taken from relativistic polarized orbital calculations. The calculated position of the high-energy critical minimum is eV, . It was shown that even slight difference of fixed scattering angle close to the critical point could affect significantly the energy dependent DCS. Discussion of behavior of DCS in the vicinity of the critical minimum was performed including convolution analysis in both energy and angle.Received: 31 October 2003, Published online: 20 April 2004PACS: 31.15.Ar Ab initio calculations - 34.80.Bm Elastic scattering of electrons by atoms and molecules     

Interactions of transition metal atoms with He

The adiabatic interaction potentials were obtained for the paradigm transition metal-rare gas interactions: Sc(²D)-He and Ti(³F)-He and their di-cations. The ab initio approach included the coupled cluster and multireference configuration interaction methods. He atoms form very weak van der Waals complexes with Sc and Ti with well-depths of ca. 4-5 cm^-1. The interactions are characterized by the nearly-degenerate manifolds of adiabatic states with splittings of the order of 0.1 cm^-1 or less. The anisotropy of the Ti-He interaction is smaller than that for the Sc-He interaction. The origin of the weak anisotropy of these interactions was analyzed. The exchange repulsion was found to be nearly the same in the , and states due to the valence d-electrons being submerged under the doubly filled 4s electron sub-shell. The anisotropy of the total potential is controlled by the weakly-anisotropic dispersion interaction.Received: 24 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 34.20.-b Interatomic and intermolecular potentials and forces, potential energy surfaces for collisions - 31.50.Df Potential energy surfaces for excited electronic states - 31.15.Ar Ab initio calculations     

Cylindrical symmetry discrimination of magnetoelectric optical systematic effects in a pump-probe atomic parity violation experiment

A pump-probe atomic parity violation (APV) experiment performed in a longitudinal electric field , has the advantage of providing a signal which breaks mirror symmetry but preserves cylindrical symmetry of the set-up, i.e. this signal remains invariant when the pump and probe linear polarizations are simultaneously rotated about their common direction of propagation. The excited vapor acts on the probe beam as a linear dichroic amplifier, imprinting a very specific signature on the detected signal. Our differential polarimeter is oriented to yield a null result unless a chirality of some kind is acting on the excited atoms. Ideally, only the APV ( -odd) and the calibration ( -even) signals should participate in such a chiral atomic response, a situation highly favourable to sensitive detection of a tiny effect. In the present work, we give a thorough analysis of possible undesirable defects such as spurious transverse fields or misalignments, which may spoil the ideal configuration and generate a chiral response leading to possible systematics. We study a possible way to get rid of such defects by performing global rotations of the experiment by incremental angular steps , leaving both stray fields and misalignments unaltered. Our analysis shows that at least two defects are necessary for the -odd polarimeter output to be affected; a modulation in the global rotations reveals the transverse nature of the defects. The harmful systematic effects are those which subsist after we average over four configurations obtained by successive rotations of 45 . They require the presence of a stray transverse electric field. By doing auxiliary atomic measurements made in known, applied, magnetic fields which amplify the systematic effect, it is possible to measure the transverse E-field and to minimize it. Transverse magnetic fields must also be carefully compensated following a similar procedure. We discuss the feasibility of reducing the systematic uncertainty below the one percent level. We also propose statistical correlation tests as diagnoses of the aforementioned systematic effects.Received: 19 November 2003, Published online: 19 February 2004PACS: 32.80.Ys Weak-interaction effects in atoms - 32.60. + i Zeeman and Stark effects - 33.55.Fi Other magnetooptical and electrooptical effects - 42.25.Lc Birefringence     

Metastable level lifetimes from electron-shelving measurements with ion clouds and single ions

The lifetime of the -level in singly-ionized calcium has been measured by the electron-shelving technique on different samples of rf trapped ions. The metastable state has been directly populated by exciting the dipole-forbidden transition. In ion clouds, the natural lifetime of this metastable level has been measured to be ( ) ms. For the single-ion case, we determined a lifetime of ( ) ms. The -error bars at the 2%-level have different origins for the two kinds of experiments: data fitting methods for lifetime measurements in an ion cloud and control of experimental parameters for a single ion. De-shelving effects are extensively discussed. The influence of differing approaches for the processing of the single-ion quantum jump data on the lifetime values is shown. Comparison with recent measurements shows excellent agreement when evaluated from a given method.Received: 14 November 2003, Published online: 24 February 2004PACS: 32.70.Cs Oscillator strengths, lifetimes, transition moments - 32.80.Pj Optical cooling of atoms, trapping     

Multiple ionization effects on L X-ray intensity ratios in Hf,Ta, Re,Ir, Pt,Au and Pb due to proton bombardment at energies 1-5 MeV

The L X-ray intensity ratios in the elements Hf, Ta, Re, Ir, Pt, Au and Pb due to proton bombardment at energies from 1 to 5 MeV are measured and compared with the ECPSSR theoretical intensity ratios. The L /L _l intensity ratios obtained in the present work are in good agreement with theoretical values while the L /L and L /L intensity ratios are consistently lower than the theoretical values. This deviation may be explained in terms of multiple ionization effects in M, N and O shells.Received: 27 March 2004, Published online: 6 July 2004PACS: 32.80.Hd Auger effect and inner-shell excitation or ionization - 32.30.Rj X-ray spectra - 41.75.-i Charged-particle beams - 41.75.Ak Positive-ion beams     

Optimizing the photoassociation of cold atoms by use of chirped laser pulses

Photoassociation of ultracold atoms induced by chirped picosecond pulses is analyzed in a non-perturbative treatment by following the wavepacket dynamics on the ground and excited surfaces. The initial state is described by a Boltzmann distribution of stationary continuum states. The chosen example is photoassociation of cesium atoms at temperature K from the continuum to bound levels in the external well of the 0 _g ^-(6s + 6p _3/2) potential. We study how the modification of the pulse characteristics (carrier frequency, duration, linear chirp rate and intensity) can enhance the number of photoassociated molecules and suggest ways of optimizing the production of stable molecules.Received: 30 June 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 33.80.Ps Optical cooling of molecules; trapping - 33.80.-b Photon interactions with molecules - 33.90. + h Other topics in molecular properties and interactions with photons - 33.80.Gj Diffuse spectra; predissociation, photodissociation     

The photoassociative spectroscopy, photoassociative molecule formation, and trapping of ultracold \mathsf{^{39}K^{85}Rb}

We have observed the photoassociative spectra of colliding ultracold ³⁹K and ⁸⁵Rb atoms to produce KRb* in all eight bound electronic states correlating with the ³⁹K (4s) + ⁸⁵Rb(5p _1/2 and 5p _3/2) asymptotes. These electronically excited KRb* ultracold molecules are detected after their radiative decay to the metastable triplet (a state and (in some cases) the singlet (X ground state. The triplet (a ultracold molecules are detected by two-photon ionization at 602.5 nm to form KRb ⁺ , followed by time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. We are able to assign a majority of the spectrum to three states (2(0 ⁺ ), 2(0^-), 2(1)) in a lower triad of states with similar C ₆ values correlating to the K(4s) + Rb (5p _1/2) asymptote; and to five states in an upper triad of three states (3(0 ⁺ ), 3(0^-), 3(1)) and a dyad of two states (4(1), 1(2)), with one set of similar C ₆ values within the upper triad and a different set of similar C ₆ values within the dyad. We are also able to make connection with the short-range spectra of Kasahara et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 8857 (1999)], identifying three of our levels as v = 61, 62 and 63 of the 1 4(1) state they observed. We also argue that ultracold photoassociation to levels between the K(4s) + Rb (5p _3/2) and K(4s) + Rb (5p _1/2) asymptotes may be weakly or strongly predissociated and therefore difficult to observe by ionization of a (or X molecules; we do know from Kasahara et al. that levels of the 1 4(1) and 2 5(1) states in the intra-asymptote region are predissociated. A small fraction ( 1/3) of the triplet (a ultracold molecules formed are trapped in the weak magnetic field of our magneto-optical trap (MOT).Received: 22 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 33.20.Fb Raman and Rayleigh spectra (including optical scattering) - 34.20.Cf Interatomic potentials and forces - 33.80.Ps Optical cooling of molecules; trapping     

Monte Carlo simulation of particle aggregation and gelation: II. Pair correlation function and structure factor

Diffusion-limited cluster aggregation and gelation are studied using lattice and off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations. The pair correlation function g(r) and the structure factor S(q) of the particle gels were investigated as a function of the volume fraction ( ) and time. At volume fractions below , the gel structure is fractal on small length scales with . g(r) shows a weak minimum at the correlation length ( ), before reaching the average concentration at large length scales. The cut-off function of g(r) varies during the aggregation process, but at a given , where is the gel time, it is a universal function of . At high volume fractions, the structure is dominated by excluded-volume interactions, while at low volume fractions, it is determined by the connectivity.Received: 27 April 2004, Published online: 26 October 2004PACS: 64.60.Ak Renormalization-group, fractal, and percolation studies of phase transitions - 02.70.Uu Applications of Monte Carlo methods     

Two-time synchronism and induced synchronization in a Kerr coupler

A pair of interacting Kerr oscillators treated as a master coupler sending chaotic or hyperchaotic signals to its slave copy is considered. We synchronize a with A and b with B through two communication channels and . The effect of synchronization is non-simultaneous, the pairs and have different times of synchronization. It is possible to synchronize an individual pair, for example, when its communication channel is turned off, provided that the second channel for the pair is turned on. The resulted synchronization is termed induced. The efficiencies of the presented synchronization precesses are studied.Received: 20 February 2003, Published online: 29 April 2003PACS: 05.45.Xt Synchronizations; coupled oscillators - 05.45.Pq Numerical simulations of chaotic systems - 42.65.Sf Dynamics of nonlinear optical systems; optical instabilities, optical chaos and complexity, and optical spatio-temporal dynamics     

Probing spin-orbit quenching in Cl (2P) + H2 via crossed molecular beam scattering

In our previous work we investigated electronically non-adiabatic effects in using crossed molecular beam scattering coupled with velocity mapped ion imaging. The prior experiments placed limits on the cross-section for electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit excitation and electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit quenching . In the present work, we investigate electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit quenching for which is the required first step for the reaction of Cl^* to produce ground state HCl+H products. In these experiments we collide Cl (²P) with H₂ at a series of fixed collision energies using a crossed molecular beam machine with velocity mapped ion imaging detection. Through an analysis of our ion images, we determine the fraction of electronically adiabatic scattering in Cl^* +H₂, which allows us to place limits on the cross-section for electronically non-adiabatic scattering or quenching. We determine the following quenching cross-sections σ _quench(2.1 kcal/mol) = 26 ± 21 ?², σ _quench(4.0 kcal/mol) = 21 ± 49 ?², and σ _quench(5.6 kcal/mol) = 14 ± 41 ?².     

CP asymmetry in $B \rightarrow \phi K_{S}$ in a general two-Higgs-doublet model with fourth-generation quarks

We discuss the time-dependent CP asymmetry of the decay in an extension of the standard model with both a two Higgs doublet and additional fourth-generation quarks. We show that, although the standard model with a two Higgs doublet and the standard model with fourth-generation quarks alone are not likely to largely change the effective from the decay , the model with both an additional Higgs doublet and fourth-generation quarks can easily account for the possible large negative value of without conflicting with other experimental constraints. In this model, additional large CP violating effects may arise from the flavor-changing Yukawa interactions between neutral Higgs bosons and the heavy fourth-generation down type quark, which can modify the QCD penguin contributions. With the constraints obtained from processes such as and , this model can lead to an effective as large as - 0.4 in the CP asymmetry of .Received: 25 March 2004, Revised: 20 April 2004, Published online: 18 June 2004     

Resumming QCD vacuum fluctuations in three-flavor Chiral Perturbation Theory

Due to its light mass, of order , the strange quark can play a special role in chiral symmetry breaking ( SB): differences in the pattern of SB in the limits N_f = 2 ( , m_s physical) and N_f = 3 ( ) may arise due to vacuum fluctuations of pairs, related to the violation of the Zweig rule in the scalar sector and encoded in particular in the O(p⁴) low-energy constants L₄ and L₆. In case of large fluctuations, we show that the customary treatment of SU(3) x SU(3) chiral expansions generates instabilities upsetting their convergence. We develop a systematic program to cure these instabilities by resumming non-perturbatively vacuum fluctuations of pairs, in order to extract information about SB from experimental observations even in the presence of large fluctuations. We advocate a Bayesian framework for treating the uncertainties due to the higher orders. As an application, we present a three-flavor analysis of the low-energy scattering and show that the recent experimental data imply a lower bound on the quark mass ratio at 95% confidence level. We outline how additional information may be incorporated to further constrain the pattern of SB in the N_f = 3 chiral limit.Received: 2 December 2003, Published online: 3 March 2004J. Stern: stern@ipno.in2p3.fr     

Measurement of prompt photon cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

Results are presented on the photoproduction of isolated prompt photons, inclusively and associated with jets, in the center of mass energy range 142 < W < 266 GeV. The cross sections are measured for the transverse momentum range of the photons GeV and for associated jets with E _T ^jet > 4.5 GeV. They are measured differentially as a function of , the pseudorapidities and and estimators of the momentum fractions and x _p of the incident photon and proton carried by the constituents participating in the hard process. In order to further investigate the underlying dynamics, the angular correlation between the prompt photon and the jet in the transverse plane is studied. Predictions by perturbative QCD calculations in next to leading order are about below the inclusive prompt photon data after corrections for hadronisation and multiple interactions, but are in reasonable agreement with the results for prompt photons associated with jets. Comparisons with the predictions of the event generators PYTHIA and HERWIG are also presented.Received: 13 July 2004, Revised: 15 November 2004, Published online: 17 December 2004     

High resolution multiphoton ionization and dissociation of acetone via $\mathsf{3s\leftarrow n}$ Rydberg transitions

Measurements of multiphoton ionization and dissociation of acetone are reported in the wavelength range 582.60-585.80 nm at photon energy resolution of 0.3 cm^-1. To our knowledge there are not available results of (3 + 2) REMPI on acetone at 0.01 nm in this region. The experiments were performed using an Nd: YAG-OPO (optical parametric oscillator) laser system coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The ion yield and the single ion channel are presented. The high-resolution three-photon resonance multiphoton spectrum of the acetone Rydberg transition is also reported. The experimental results show three dissociation channels of the acetone ion, leading to the products: (CH₃CO ⁺ ), (CH₃ ⁺ ) and (COH ⁺ ); the channel CH₃COCH ₃CO ⁺ + CH₃ being the most favored. The acetone and acetyl ions are observed in all wavelength range investigated. In addition, we have measured the origin of the and transitions, and vibrational bands of the 3s state.Received: 21 March 2004, Published online: 11 May 2004PACS: 33.80.Rv Multiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states (e.g., Rydberg states) - 33.15.Ta Mass spectra - 33.80.Gj Diffuse spectra; predissociation, photodissociation