Efficient single-mode Brillouin fiber laser for low-noise optical carrier reduction of microwave signals

We experimentally demonstrate efficient optical carrier reduction of microwave signals with a single-mode 1.5-microm wavelength Brillouin all-fiber ring laser. Because of the tunable optical coupling, the lasing threshold of the short-length (20-m) fiber cavity is lower than 5 mW, and high conversion efficiencies (up to 60%) are obtained at any pump power up to approximately 200 mW. Using the single-mode Stokes beam as a seed for the stimulated Brillouin scattering process allows up to 40-dB optical carrier depletion with almost no added noise for an optically carried microwave signal at 6 GHz. In addition, using this resonator, we provide evidence of generation of high-spectral-purity beatnotes.     

Actively Q-switched and mode-locked Tm3+-doped silicate 2 μm fiber laser for supercontinuum generation in fluoride fiber

A diode-pumped actively Q-switched and actively mode-locked Tm3+-doped double-clad silicate fiber laser is reported providing up to 5 W of average output power at ~60 kHz Q-switch envelope repetition rate and ~8 μJ subpulses with up to 2.4 kW peak power. Using this source as a pump laser for supercontinuum generation in a ZBLAN fiber, over 1080 mW of supercontinuum from 1.9 μm to beyond 3.6 μm was obtained at an overall efficiency of 3.3% with respect to the diode pump power.     

New plastic optical fiber using polycarbonate core and fluorescence-doped fiber for high temperature use

This article describes the development of a plastic optical fiber composed of a polycarbonate core with a glass transition temperature of 150°C, and a cladding of newly developed poly-4-methyl penten-1, which softens at 173°C. This cladding is suitable for use at temperatures up to 130°C. The minimum optical attenuation is 0.8 dB/m at 765 nm in the near-infrared region. The cause of the attenuation of the PC-core fiber was analyzed and the intrinsic loss limit was estimated to be 0.4 dB/m at 765 nm. The fiber has excellent characteristics, including thermal stability up to 125°C, high flexibility, high strength, and self-extinguishing properties.

The polycarbonate core fiber, doped organic fluorescing materials, has also been developed for automotive uses such as light guide and illuminator. Light can be transmitted through this fiber with incident optical beam perpendicular to the fiber as well as the beam parallel to the fiber.     

New plastic optical fiber using polycarbonate core and fluorescence-doped fiber for high temperature use

This article describes the development of a plastic optical fiber composed of a polycarbonate core with a glass transition temperature of 150°C, and a cladding of newly developed poly-4-methyl penten-1, which softens at 173°C. This cladding is suitable for use at temperatures up to 130°C. The minimum optical attenuation is 0.8 dB/m at 765 nm in the near-infrared region. The cause of the attenuation of the PC-core fiber was analyzed and the intrinsic loss limit was estimated to be 0.4 dB/m at 765 nm. The fiber has excellent characteristics, including thermal stability up to 125°C, high flexibility, high strength, and self-extinguishing properties.

The polycarbonate core fiber, doped organic fluorescing materials, has also been developed for automotive uses such as light guide and illuminator. Light can be transmitted through this fiber with incident optical beam perpendicular to the fiber as well as the beam parallel to the fiber.     

Efficient sub-nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped with a passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

An efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser was employed to generate a high-repetition-rate, high-peak-power eye-safe laser beam with an intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a KTP crystal. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 8.3% from pump diode input to OPO signal output and the slope efficiency is up to 10%. At an incident pump power of 14.5 W, the compact intracavity OPO cavity, operating at 46 kHz, produces average powers at 1571 nm up to 1.2 W with a pulse width as short as 700 ps. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.65.Yj; 42.55.X     

Azimuthal anisotropy of K(0)(S) and Lambda+Lambda production at midrapidity from Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=130 GeV

We report STAR results on the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v(2) for strange particles K(0)(S), Lambda, and Lambda at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=130 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The value of v(2) as a function of transverse momentum, p(t), of the produced particle and collision centrality is presented for both particles up to p(t) approximately 3.0 GeV/c. A strong p(t) dependence in v(2) is observed up to 2.0 GeV/c. The v(2) measurement is compared with hydrodynamic model calculations. The physics implications of the p(t) integrated v(2) magnitude as a function of particle mass are also discussed.     

Quark-gluon state of matter and positive excess of cosmic-ray muons at high energies

The problem of the relationship between the numbers of positively and negatively charged particles in the flux of cosmic-ray muons arriving at sea level with energies in excess of 0.1 TeV (up to 100 TeV) is discussed. It is shown that the formation of quark—gluon matter as the result of high-energy nuclear interactions leads to a reduction of the positive excess in cosmic-ray muons at the above energies. At the present time, the quark-gluon state of matter is studied in accelerator experiments at colliding-particle energies of up to √s = 200 GeV per nucleon. Estimates presented in this article for the positive excess of muons having energies of up to 3 or 4 TeV are based on available data from accelerator experiments; at higher muon energies, the respective estimates are based on extrapolating these data.     

A cryostat design for radiation damage experiments at low temperature

Abstract

A cryostat for electron irradiations at liquid hydrogen or helium temperatures is described. The cryostat uses two concentric liquid coolant containers, of which the inner reservoir is sealed and acts as a heat exchanger through ebullition and recondensation of the coolant gas. This allows irradiations with a power input from the beam of up to a few watts, and when the sample is thermally isolated allows it to be annealed up to room temperature.     

Quantitative high-resolution on-line NMR spectroscopy in reaction and process monitoring

On-line nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (on-line NMR) is a powerful technique for reaction and process monitoring. Different set-ups for direct coupling of reaction and separation equipment with on-line NMR spectroscopy are described. NMR spectroscopy can be used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information from complex reacting multicomponent mixtures for equilibrium or reaction kinetic studies. Commercial NMR probes can be used at pressures up to 35 MPa and temperatures up to 400 K. Applications are presented for studies of equilibria and kinetics of complex formaldehyde-containing mixtures as well as homogeneously and heterogeneously catalyzed esterification kinetics. Direct coupling of a thin-film evaporator is described as an example for the benefits of on-line NMR spectroscopy in process monitoring.     

Dependence of the Real Part of the Dielectric Permittivity of Freshwater Ice on the Temperature and Storage Time in the Centimeter Wave Range

Using a resonator at frequencies 6.1–6.4 GHz, we measure the real part of the dielectric permittivity of newly formed freshwater ice with different content of impurities. We study the dependence of this quantity on the temperature in the range from -10°C to -90°C as well as its temporal variation for an ice storage time of up to three weeks at a constant temperature. It is found that the dependence of the dielectric permittivity of newly formed ice on the temperature in the studied range can be represented as two straight lines with a kink in the vicinity of -30°C. For an ice storage time of up to three weeks, a significant change in the slope of this dependence at higher temperatures and the disappearance of the kink are observed. The possible mechanism of this phenomenon is related to the existence and metamorphism of liquid conducting water films.     

Highly Efficient and Stable Ring Regenerative Amplifier for Chirped-Pulse Amplification at Repetition Rate 1 kHz

A highly efficient and stable ring-cavity regenerative amplifier for chirped-pulse amplification at a 1 kHz repetition rate, with slope efficiency up to 40% and output pulse-to-pulse energy-jitter less than 1.25%, is demonstrated. The pulse energy as high as 2.4mJ is obtained.     

Laser ablation deposition measurements from silver and nickel

The deposition rate for laser ablated metals has been studied in a standard geometry for fluences up to 20J/cm². The rate for silver and nickel is a few percent of a monolayer per pulse at the laser wavelengths 532 nm and 355 nm. The rate for nickel is significantly higher than that for silver at 532 nm, whereas the rate for the two metals is similar at 355 nm. This behaviour disagrees with calculations based on the thermal properties at low intensities as well as predictions based on formation of an absorbing plasma at high intensities. The deposition rate falls strongly with increasing pressure of the ambient gases, nitrogen and argon.     

Electron lifetime measurements in MQW detectors: absorption and photoresponse saturation by a free electron laser

We measured the absorption and photoresponse saturation of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells as a function of the incident power. We used picosecond micropulses with a power density up to 10GW/cm² delivered by a free electron laser. First, we compared the absorption in a sample with a bound-to-bound transition to the absorption in a sample with a bound-to-free transition, and found that the electron lifetime in the bound-to-bound transition is about four times shorter than for the bound-to-free transition. Then, we measured the photoresponse saturation in multi-quantum well detectors for different biases. We observed that the electron lifetime increases with the applied electric field from about 1 ps at zero field up to 10ps at 20kV/cm.     

Small-scale structures in three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

We investigate using direct numerical simulations with grids up to 1536(3) points, the rate at which small scales develop in a decaying three-dimensional MHD flow both for deterministic and random initial conditions. Parallel current and vorticity sheets form at the same spatial locations, and further destabilize and fold or roll up after an initial exponential phase. At high Reynolds numbers, a self-similar evolution of the current and vorticity maxima is found, in which they grow as a cubic power of time; the flow then reaches a finite dissipation rate independent of the Reynolds number.     

Results of operating LIA-2 in radiograph mode

The LIA-2 linear induction accelerator was developed at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics as an electron beam injector for a building induction accelerator at energy of 20 MeV, on the basis of which a complex for flash radiography will be developed. The LIA-2, which was started up in 2010, is currently used as an independent X-ray unit for raying objects with an optic thickness up to 70 mm in the lead equivalent. The effective diameter of the X-ray source is 0.6–0.7 mm.     

The ADM Hamiltonian at the postlinear approximation

The ADM Hamiltonian for a many-particle system is calculated up to the postlinear approximation, i.e., to the approximation that both the equations of motion for the particles and the equations of motion for the gravitational field in case of no-incoming radiation correctly result up to the postlinear approximation. The relation of this Hamiltonian to the ADM Hamiltonian obtained by a post-Newtonian approximation scheme which was applied up to the first radiation-reaction and radiation levels is discussed. From here the standard formulas for the mechanical angular momentum and energy losses as well as the radiated energy and angular momentum are deduced. Background logarithmic and logarithmic radiative terms are shown to be not present at our approximation if the condition of no-incoming radiation is fulfilled.     

Unheated magnetron gun as an electron source for a resonant linear accelerator

Investigations of the operation of a cold-cathode magnetron gun as part of a traveling-wave linear accelerator are described. Two operating regimes of the gun are observed: with and without the microwave field of the prebuncher near the gun. In the regime with no microwave field, short (around 2 ns) pulses of accelerated electrons of up to 0.5A were obtained with a gun current up to 20 A. The presence of a microwave field near the gun makes it possible to obtain a beam of longer duration (up to 1.0 μs), but with a current of up to 20mA at the accelerator exit and 1A from the gun. The operating mechanism of the gun is attributed to a secondary-electron current rise and the establishment of self-sustained secondary emission. A comparison between the conditions of beam production from a thermionic gun and that studied for the same injection energies indicates that the characteristics of this gun are acceptable for injection into an accelerator. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 130–134 (July 1999)     

Examination of bone-conducted transmission from sound field excitation measured by thresholds, ear-canal sound pressure, and skull vibrations

Bone conduction (BC) relative to air conduction (AC) sound field sensitivity is here defined as the perceived difference between a sound field transmitted to the ear by BC and by AC. Previous investigations of BC-AC sound field sensitivity have used different estimation methods and report estimates that vary by up to 20 dB at some frequencies. In this study, the BC-AC sound field sensitivity was investigated by hearing threshold shifts, ear canal sound pressure measurements, and skull bone vibrations measured with an accelerometer. The vibration measurement produced valid estimates at 400 Hz and below, the threshold shifts produced valid estimates at 500 Hz and above, while the ear canal sound pressure measurements were found erroneous for estimating the BC-AC sound field sensitivity. The BC-AC sound field sensitivity is proposed, by combining the present result with others, as frequency independent at 50 to 60 dB at frequencies up to 900 Hz. At higher frequencies, it is frequency dependent with minima of 40 to 50 dB at 2 and 8 kHz, and a maximum of 50 to 60 dB at 4 kHz. The BC-AC sound field sensitivity is the theoretical limit of maximum attenuation achievable with ordinary hearing protection devices.     

Facility for parity and time reversal experiments with intense epithermal (eV) neutron beams

A facility for polarized epithermal neutrons of high intensity is set up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for parityviolation and time reversal experiments at neutron resonances over a wide range of neutron energies. The beam is polarized with the aid of a polarized proton target used as a neutronspin filter. Total cross section measurements as well as capture gamma-ray experiments will be carried out. The main features of this system will be discussed.