Experimental studies of microwave amplification in the ion-focusedregime

Studies of microwave amplification with an in-focused electron beam drawn from an induction injector are reported. A free-electron laser (FEL) operating at 9.4 GHz and employing ion-focusing within the interaction region has achieved power in excess of 30 MW at 9.4 GHz, with a beam energy of 0.8 MeV and current of 0.7 kA. Peak gain is 20 dB/m, with no saturation after 15 wiggler periods. Also reported are the first evolution and detuning data for an ion-channel laser/maser (ICL). Two shortcomings of the prematurely halted ICL studies are poor frequency discrimination and a large axial plasma gradient. Prospects for operation with an upgraded 1.6 MeV accelerator are discussed     

Frequency upshifting by an ionization front in a magnetized plasma

The interaction of a light wave with a relativistic ionization front in the presence of an applied DC magnetic field which is perpendicular or parallel to the incident wave is considered. In both cases, four transmitted modes are generated in the magnetized plasma by an incident linearly polarized wave. The frequency upshifts of the various modes are calculated and compared to the unmagnetized case. The corresponding reflection and transmission coefficients are also obtained. Finally, the density ripple associated with the free streaming mode in a magnetized plasma for the perpendicular case is discussed     

Theoretical studies of the ion-hose instability in a plasma-focusedfree-electron laser

An `ion-focused' relativistic electron beam traversing a magnetic wiggler is subject to a transverse two-steam or `in-hose' instability, resulting from the coupling of transverse displacements of the beam centroid to the `slosh' motion of the (beam-focused) nonneutral ion plasma, and driven by the `V×B' deflection in the wiggler field. The equations of motion are resolved into an inhomogeneous `beam breakup' equation, and asymptotic growth is computed in the limit of linear focusing. The effect of nonlinearities is assessed numerically with a `distributed-mass' model. As examples, ion-hose growth is considered in a UV FEL and a microwave FEL two-beam accelerator     

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionisation photoelectron spectroscopy of the ClO radical: the C 2 sigma- state

A (2 + 1) one-colour resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionisation study is carried out on the C 2 sigma- state of the ClO radical in the one-photon energy range 29,500-31,250 cm-1. The ClO radical is produced by one-photon photolysis of ClO2 employing 359.2 nm photons derived from a separate laser. In this way a significant concentration of vibrationally excited ClO in its spin-orbit split X 2 pi omega (omega = 3/2 or 1/2) electronic ground state is produced. In addition to mass-resolved excitation spectra, kinetic-energy resolved photoelectron spectra for the X 3 sigma-(v+)<--C 2 sigma-(v' = 3-5) transitions are measured. These transitions are not completely Frank-Condon diagonal, and indicate a decrease in bond length on removal of the Rydberg electron from the C 2 sigma- state. In addition to an unambiguous assignment of the C 2 sigma- state, valuable information is obtained on the degree of vibrational excitation with which the nascent ClO radical is formed in the photolysis of ClO2. Analysis of the photoelectron spectra is supported by Franck-Condon calculations based on potential energy curves either from experimental spectroscopic parameters, or obtained by theoretical ab initio methods.     

Photoelastic determination of stresses in multiple-pin connectors

The design, fabrication, and testing of photoelastic models of double-lap, multiple-pin connectors are discussed. Interest is in the stresses in the inner laps. These stresses are determined by constructing models with photoelastic inner laps and transparent-acrylic outer laps. The connectors have two pins, in tandem, parallel to the load direction. A photoelastic-isotropic point is shown to permit the evaluation of load sharing between the two pins. A numerical scheme, utilizing the isochromatic- and isoclinic-photoelastic data and a finite-difference representation of the planestress equilibrium equations, is used to compute the stresses around the two pins. Representative stress distributions and stress-concentration factors are shown.     

Phage display-derived inhibitor of the essential cell wall biosynthesis enzyme MurF

Background  

To develop antibacterial agents having novel modes of action against bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, we targeted the essential MurF enzyme of the antibiotic resistant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. MurF catalyzes the formation of a peptide bond between D-Alanyl-D-Alanine (D-Ala-D-Ala) and the cell wall precursor uridine 5'-diphosphoryl N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanyl-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (UDP-MurNAc-Ala-Glu-meso-A2pm) with the concomitant hydrolysis of ATP to ADP and inorganic phosphate, yielding UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-pentapeptide. As MurF acts on a dipeptide, we exploited a phage display approach to identify peptide ligands having high binding affinities for the enzyme.     

Demonstration of the frequency upshifting of microwave radiation byrapid plasma creation

A technique for frequency-upshifting electromagnetic radiation is demonstrated. By ionizing azulene vapor contained in a resonant cavity using a laser pulse, the frequency of the incident RF wave at 33.3 GHz is upshifted by 5% with greater than 10% efficiency. Maximum frequency upshift of 2.3 times the source frequency is observed. There are two mechanisms thought to be operative in producing the observed frequency upshift: the time-dependent dielectric constant due to increasing plasma density, and rapid Q-switching of the cavity. This technique has the potential of being able to generate tunable and chirped radiation over a very broad (Δf/f≳1) frequency range     

High-gradient millimeter-wave accelerator on a planar dielectric substrate

We report the first high-gradient studies of a millimeter-wave accelerator, employing for the first time a planar dielectric accelerator, powered by means of a 0.5-A, 300-MeV, 11.424-GHz drive electron beam, synchronous at the 8th harmonic, 91.392 GHz. Embedded in a ring-resonator circuit within the electron beam line vacuum, this structure was operated at 20 MeV/m, with a circulating power of 200 kW, for 2 x 10(5) pulses, with no sign of breakdown, dielectric charging, or other deleterious high-gradient phenomena. We also present the first measurement of the quadrupolar content of an accelerating mode.