Extended-cavity grating-tuned operation of mid-infrared InAsSb diode lasers

2 cryostat that permits placement of both the collimation optics and the extended-cavity elements within a vacuum chamber. We have observed tuning of the laser frequency over a 1.44 THz (48 cm^-1) range by rotation of the external grating. This result was obtained without anti-reflection coating of the laser output facet. Received: 8 July 1997/Revised version: 31 July 1997     

Band gap variation in laser irradiated polytypic crystals of cadmium iodide

Highly purified single crystals of cadmium iodide obtained through repeated zone refining have been subjected to laser beam exposure (Argon ion laser), both for various time durations and to various beam intensities, and then subjected to band gap determination by UV spectroscopy. The band gap has been found to decrease gradually with increase in the laser beam intensity, whereas its variation with increase in time of exposure shows an unusual behaviour such that it initially falls sharply followed by a gradual rise back to its original value. The results have been analysed and interpreted in terms of indirect band gap character of the material and an unusual variation in phonon frequency. The interpretation is well supported by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. Received: 26 May 1997 / Revised: 6 August 1997 / Accepted: 15 September 1997     

Absolute frequency measurement of the iodine-stabilized He-Ne laser at 633 nm

The absolute frequency of an iodine-stabilized He-Ne laser at 633 nm stabilized on the i (or a₁₃) component of the 11-5 R(127) hyperfine transition of the ¹²⁷I₂ molecule is measured using a femtosecond optical comb generator and an iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG laser standard at 1064 nm. We link the measured absolute frequency to the current internationally adopted value via frequency intercomparison between JILA and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), leading to the determination of the absolute frequency of the BIPM-4 standard laser. The resulting absolute frequency f_i(BIPM) of the BIPM-4 standard laser is f_i(BIPM)=473612214711.9±2.0 kHz, which is 6.9 kHz higher than the value adopted by the Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM) in 1997. Received: 29 May 2000 / Revised version: 13 September 2000 / Published online: 22 November 2000     

Laser vaporization of carbon in the presence of carbon dioxide

2 . The dependence of the ion production on the laser ablation parameters is investigated and the expansion dynamics of the ablated species is studied through time and space resolved measurements of the ion yield. We discuss our observations on the basis of reactions involving neutral and ionized carbon-based species. Received: 11 March 1997/Accepted: 30 June 1997     

Effect of the initial phase of the field in ionization by ultrashort laser pulses

We report on observable new features related to ionization of atoms by laser pulses of only few cycles and some intensity. We show that for particular photo-electron energies, the angular distribution becomes asymmetric and that this asymmetry is related to the initial phase of the field. Received: 4 November 1997/Revised: 21 January 1998/Accepted: 23 February 1998     

Non-thermal ablation of neural tissue with femtosecond laser pulses

2 ; for 100 fs pulses from the same laser the experimental threshold was at 1.5 J/cm². Histopathological examinations and scanning electron micrographs confirm the high quality of the excisions. No sign of significant thermal damage was observed. Received: 29 January 1997/Revised version: 14 July 1997     

Intensity resonances in a double-mode HeNe/CH4 laser with synchronized modes

4 gas laser with an intracavity absorbing cell is studied experimentally and theoretically at a modulation frequency approximately equal to the intermode beat frequency. It is revealed that in the vicinity of the absorption-line centre the intensity of every mode for certain system parameters displays resonance structures narrower than the homogeneous line width of the absorption line. This occurs when the range of mode synchronization is near the absorption-line centre and its size is less than the homogeneous width of the absorption line. Received: 29 February 1996/Revised version: 4 February 1997     

Injection locking properties of a microchip laser

An injected microchip laser is theoretically studied, with the use of two models: in the first model, which is traditional, the field is represented by a single frequency component in the slowly-varying envelope approximation. In the second model, referred to as the Fabry-Perot model, two field components are considered which are respectively centered around the frequency of an eigenmode of the injected laser and the frequency of the injected field. Computation of locking ranges, bistability do mains are performed and the results compared. They show not only an improved precision of the second model but also a necessity to use it to describe some effects such as the bistable domains in the limits of the locking domains. Received: 1st April 1998 / Accepted: 21 August 1998     

Excitation of sodium atoms by 330-nm laser pulses

1/2 ) atoms in a dense sodium vapour irradiated by nanosecond laser pulses tuned near the 3S→4P transition was investigated. It was observed that the population of Na(4P) atoms remained high only within the laser pulse, in spite of the relatively long lifetime of the 4P level (110.ns)The 3P_1/2 level, which is populated as a result of cascade transitions from the higher levels, reached the highest population several nanoseconds after the laser shot. The fast population changes are explained by cascade-stimulated transitions between the excited atomic levels. Received: 16 July 1997/Revised version: 27 October 1997     

Energy pooling to the level arising from collisions between pairs of metastable atoms

The energy-pooling rate coefficient for the process has been measured. The barium atoms were excited by a cw diode laser tuned to the frequency of the 791.3 nm intercombination line and the metastable atoms in the 6s5d state were produced due to radiative and collisional depopulation of the laser-excited 6s6p state. The measurements were performed at number densities of about and at 30 mbar argon as the buffer gas. Most of the barium ground state atoms in the excitation zone were transferred to the trip let metastable state at the laser pump power applied. The energy pooling rate coefficient was determined by comparing the fluorescence intensity of the barium 553.6 nm resonance line and the fluorescence intensity of the intercombination line 791.3 nm. In addition, the populations of the metastable atoms were probed with low intensity laser radiation from a single mode ring dye laser. The rate coefficient was found to be at . Received: 11 April 1997 / Revised: 24 September 1997 / Accepted: 10 December 1997     

On the high-pressure phase transition in

X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments have been carried out on quartz-like GaPO₄ at high pressure and room temperature. A transition to a high pressure disordered crystalline form occurs at 13.5 GPa. Slight heating using a YAG infrared laser was applied at 17 GPa in order to crystallize the phase in its stability field. The structure of this phase is orthorhombic with space group Cmcm. The cell parameters at the pressure of transition are a =7.306?, b =5.887? and c =5.124?. Received: 7 October 1997 / Received in final form: 17 November 1997 / Accepted: 18 November 1997     

Optical studies on the deposition of carbon nitride films by laser ablation

2 radicals when the 355 and 1064 nm outputs of a Nd:YAG laser were applied. While for the 532 nm ablation, a relatively higher concentration of excited atomic carbon was obtained. Different Raman and FTIR spectral features were observed from the deposited films with different ablation wavelengths. The 532 nm laser ablation is proposed for the synthesis of high quality carbon nitride films. Received: 16 October 1996 / Accepted: 11 April 1997     

Theory of EPR on a rotating sample: An illustration of Berry's phase

We describe the theory of EPR in a crystal field multiplet under sample spinning. Berry phases arise because the crystal field is of lower symmetry than the full rotation group. The formal development is limited to pure J multiplets, crystal field doublets, and field and rotation axes parallel to a principal axis. Received: 4 August 1997 / Received in final form: 19 December 1997 / Accepted: 28 January 1998     

High-stability reference setup for photoacoustic spectroscopy

2 laser at 9.676 μm. Received: 2 December 1996/Revised version: 2 April 1997     

The modes of an ultra-cold strongly magnetized charged Bose gas

The modes of a strongly magnetized charged Bose gas are presented for ultra-low temperatures. For longitudinal oscillations propagating parallel to the magnetic field the dispersion relation is found to be dominated by the one-dimensional field-free plasmon dispersion relation as found by Alexandrov, Beere and Kabanov recently in reference [1], while for propagation perpendicular to the magnetic field they are found to be influenced by the cyclotron motion of the particles. Dispersion relations for these modes known as Bernstein modes are given near the cyclotron frequency and its first two harmonics. The dispersion relations for transverse modes in the system are then presented for the cases of photon propagation perpendicular and parallel to the direction of the magnetic field. Received: 3 July 1997 / Revised: 12 August 1997 / Accepted: 4 November 1997     

Two-color coherent population trapping in a single Cs hyperfine transition,with application in magnetometry

We investigate the coherent population trapping effect occurring between the Zeeman sublevels of a given hyperfine state of Cs when excited by a single-mode diode laser, which is frequency modulated in the kHz–MHz range. In the presence of a dc magnetic field, simultaneous excitation of pairs of ground-state magnetic sublevels to common excited magnetic sublevels is performed. As a result, coherent population trapping resonance is detected at only a given modulation frequency, whose value gives a measure of the magnetic field. The parameters of the resonances are measured in order to determine the ultimate accuracy of the magnetic field measurement. Received: 6 December 2002 / Revised version: 24 February 2003 / Published online: 2 June 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +39-0577/23-4689, E-mail: biancalana@unisi.it     

Polarisation effect of laser field in inelastic electron - hydrogen collisions

We study the influence of the laser polarization on the electron impact excitation of atomic hydrogen. Our method takes into account the “dressing” of the target states by including the laser-atom interaction to first order time-dependent perturbation theory, while the interaction of the laser field with the incident electron is treated to all orders by using the non relativist Volkov function. The interaction of the fast projectile with the target atom is treated in the first Born approximation. The calculations are performed via two distinct computations. The first one is based on a direct calculation, the second based on a Sturmian approach. Important differences appear between the angular distributions depending on the polarization chosen. Received : 17 february 1998 / Revised : 20 july 1998 / Accepted : 2 september 1998     

Adsorbate-induced transition between different mechanisms of laser-stimulated desorption

2 were measured as a function of laser fluence, number of laser pulses, and oxygen exposure. If the laser fluence exceeds 10 mJ/cm² desorption from clean particles occurs as a thermal reaction. Oxygen exposure as low as 1 L causes a strong decrease in the number of desorbed atoms and dimers. For larger oxygen coverages desorption of Na₂O molecules is observed and, surprisingly, the atom signal recovers. At this stage, the underlying mechanism is substantially different from that for clean particles. The results can be explained by a model that takes into account the formation of a Na₂O layer around a Na core and diffusion of Na atoms through the oxide layer prior to desorption. Received: 15 December 1997/Accepted: 16 December 1997     

Frequency measurement of I2 lines in the NIR using Ca and CH4 optical frequency standards

2 lines have been carried out using difference-frequency mixing of the emission of CH₄ and Ca frequency standards at 88 THz (or 3.4 μm) and 456 THz (or 657 nm), respectively. A power of ≈10 pW for the mixing product at 815 nm was obtained using a critically phase-matched KTP crystal and input powers of the order of mW. The relative uncertainty of the measurement was a few times 10^-11, limited by the frequency instability of the laser source locked to I₂. Received: 3 December 1997/Revised version: 16 February 1998     

Effect of surface electric field on the anchoring of nematic liquid crystals

We analyse the influence of adsorbed ions and the resulting surface electric field and its gradient on the anchoring properties of nematics with ionic conductivity. We take into account two physical mechanisms for the coupling of the nematic director with the surface electric field: (i) the dielectric anisotropy and (ii) the coupling of the quadrupolar component of the flexoelectric coefficient with the field gradient. It is shown that for sufficiently large fields near saturated coverage of the adsorbed ions, there can be a spontaneous curvature distortion in the cell even when the anchoring energy is infinitely strong. We also discuss the director distortion when the anchoring energy of the surface is finite. Received: 29 September 1997 / Received in final from: 10 November 1997 / Accepted: 18 November 1997