CO laser stabilization using the optogalvanic Lamb-dip

Frequency stabilization of the CO laser using a CO lamb-dip is achieved in the range from 5.0–6.3 m. The CO saturation signal is obtained from a low-pressure discharge in absorption and is detected using optogalvanic, detection. The frequency stability and reproducibility has been verified to be better than 100 kHz; this is an improvement of more than one order of magnitude compared with locking techniques using CO laser gain profiles.Alexander von Humboldt Awardee from National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, Colorado, USA     

Gas-discharge XeF* (B→X) laser with high specific output energy

The discharge characteristics of the XeF* (BX) laser are investigated. The NF₃ and Xe partial pressure of the laser gas mixture and the total gas pressure have been varied. A highest specific output energy of 4.7 J/l with an efficiency of 0.5% was obtained from a X-ray preionized Ne/Xe/NF₃ gas mixture at 6 bar with single-pulse excitation through a multichannel spark gap.     

First observation of lasing at 231 Å in neon-like nickel using the prepulse technique

We report lasing for the first time in nickel on the neon-like J=01, 3p3s transition at 231 Å as well as several weaker transitions including the J=2»1 lines at 298 Å and 304 Å. Amplification is seen only when the prepulse technique of using a low intensity prepulse before the main optical drive pulse is used to illuminate the nickel target. The prepulse technique is also shown to produce lasing in copper and dramatically improve the output of the germanium laser.     

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.     

工业氨基三甲叉膦酸中副产物的核磁共振分析

采用多种核磁共振(NMR)技术测定了工业氨基三甲叉膦酸(ATMP)产品中副产物的分子结构，发现该物质为甲氨基二甲叉膦酸(MADMP)，它是甲醛歧化反应导致的副产物；给出了可能的反应方程式；测出了MADMP的相对含量，MADMP与ATMP摩尔比约为2。     

Development of a tunable mid-IR difference frequency laser source for highly sensitive airborne trace gas detection

The development of a compact tunable mid-IR laser system at 3.5 μm for quantitative airborne spectroscopic trace gas absorption measurements is reported. The mid-IR laser system is based on difference frequency generation (DFG) in periodically poled LiNbO₃ and utilizes optical fiber amplified near-IR diode and fiber lasers as pump sources operating at 1083 nm and 1562 nm, respectively. This paper describes the optical sensor architecture, performance characteristics of individual pump lasers and DFG, as well as its application to wavelength modulation spectroscopy employing an astigmatic Herriott multi-pass gas absorption cell. This compact system permits detection of formaldehyde with a minimal detectable concentration (1σ replicate precision) of 74 parts-per-trillion by volume (pptv) for 1 min of averaging time and was achieved using calibrated gas standards, zero air background and rapid dual-beam subtraction. This corresponds to a pathlength-normalized replicate fractional absorption sensitivity of 2.5×10^-10 cm^-1. Received: 29 April 2002 / Published online: 21 August 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-303/497-1492, E-mail: dr@ucar.edu     

Coherent combining of two Nd:YAG lasers in a Vernier–Michelson-type cavity

The coherent combining of two Nd:YAG lasers using a Vernier–Michelson-type cavity has been demonstrated. The spectral behaviour and the energetic performance are reported. We firstly show that the combining efficiency is not strongly spoilt by the gain imbalance between the two amplifying media, and secondly, that despite the interferometric nature of the cavity, the Vernier–Michelson laser can withstand environmental perturbations without alteration in output power. Received: 25 April 2002 / Revised version: 18 May 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +33-5/5545-7253, E-mail: kermene@ircom.unilim.fr     

The electrostatic persistence length of polymers beyond the OSF limit

We use large-scale Monte Carlo simulations to test scaling theories for the electrostatic persistence length l _e of isolated, uniformly charged polymers with Debye-Hückel intrachain interactions in the limit where the screening length κ^-1 exceeds the intrinsic persistence length of the chains. Our simulations cover a significantly larger part of the parameter space than previous studies. We observe no significant deviations from the prediction l _e∝κ^-2 by Khokhlov and Khachaturian which is based on applying the Odijk-Skolnick-Fixman theories of electrostatic bending rigidity and electrostatically excluded volume to the stretched de Gennes-Pincus-Velasco-Brochard polyelectrolyte blob chain. A linear or sublinear dependence of the persistence length on the screening length can be ruled out. We show that previous results pointing into this direction are due to a combination of excluded-volume and finite chain length effects. The paper emphasizes the role of scaling arguments in the development of useful representations for experimental and simulation data. Received 12 February 2002     

High-power intracavity frequency doubling of a Ti:sapphire femtosecond oscillator

We demonstrate intracavity frequency doubling of a standard femtosecond Ti:sapphire oscillator. The cavity is extended with a pair of focusing mirrors and a 0.5-mm-thick BBO crystal. We achieve a repetition rate of 50 MHz and simultaneously generate 22 mW of 55-fs pulses at 810 nm and 200 mW of 73-fs pulses at 405 nm, which corresponds to 4 nJ per pulse. We create a total of 330-mW, 405-nm light when pumping the Ti:sapphire crystal with 5.7 W from an Ar-ion laser, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 5.7%. No saturation is found, which implies that higher outputs can be achieved with higher pump rates. Preliminary results from the use of blue pulses as pump in an optical parametric amplifier seeded by pulses from a photonic crystal fiber are presented. Received: 27 January 2003 / Revised version: 27 March 2003 / Published online: 12 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +45-861/96199, E-mail: tva@chem.au.dk