Chaotic Rabi vacuum oscillations in cavity quantum electrodynamics

It is shown in numerical simulations with two-level atoms moving through a single-mode high-Q cavity that spontaneous emission of a new type — chaotic Rabi vacuum oscillations — arises in the strong atom-field coupling regime. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 11, 801–806 (10 June 1997)     

Nonelectrical method of pumping solid-state lasers

An alternative, nonelectrical method for obtaining a dense radiating plasma and the possibilities of using this method to pump solid-state lasers are investigated. The plasma was obtained experimentally by heating the working gas in a two-stage ballistic plasmatron. A new device — a vortex chamber — is proposed for transferring energy into the plasmatron-laser system. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 67–70 (September 1998)     

Amplification of the generation of the sum-frequency signal in multilayer periodic structures at the edges of the Bragg band gap

A new property of a one-dimensional periodic structure — amplification of the sum-frequency signal arising under the simultaneous action of two laser pulses on this structure with radiation frequencies corresponding to the edges of the fixed Bragg band gap — is experimentally observed and described. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 11, 718–721 (10 December 1999)     

A discrete nonetheless remarkable brick in de Sitter: The “massless minimally coupled field”

Over the last ten years interest in the physics of de Sitter space—time has been growing very fast. Besides the supposed existence of a “de Sitterian period” in inflation theories, the observational evidence of an acceleration of the universe expansion (interpreted as a positive cosmological constant or a “dark energy” or some form of “quintessence”) has triggered a lot of attention in the physics community. A specific de Sitterian field called “massless minimally coupled field” (mmc) plays a fundamental role in inflation models and in the construction of the de Sitterian gravitational field. A covariant quantization of the mmc field, à la Krein—Gupta—Bleuler was proposed in Class. Quantum. Grav. 17, 1415 (2000). In this talk, we will review this construction and explain the relevance of such a field in the construction of a massless spin-2 field in de Sitter space—time.     

Structural transformations of the cumulene form of amorphous carbyne at high pressure

Structural transformations of the cumulene form of amorphous carbyne which are induced by heating at high pressure (7.7 GPa) are investigated. These can be described by the sequence amorphous phase — crystal — amorphous phase — disordered graphite. Raman scattering shows that predominately the chain structure of carbyne remains at the first three stages. It was found that the intermediate crystalline phase is an unknown modification of carbon whose structure is identified as cubic (a=3.145 Å). A mechanism of structural transformations in carbyne that involves the formation of new covalent bonds between chains is discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 4, 237–242 (25 August 1997)     

Experimental observation of cyclotron superradiance

Intense (several hundreds of kilowatts) subnanosecond coherent microwave radiation — cyclotron superradiance of an electron swarm moving in a uniform magnetic field — was recorded. The maximum power of the radiation was observed under group synchronization conditions, when the translational velocity of the swarm is equal to the group velocity of the waves in the waveguide channel. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 5, 322–325 (10 March 1996)     

Antipolarization effect in quantum wells in a strong external alternating field

It is shown that when a strong ac electric field acts on an electron in a double quantum well, the dipole moment is an almost periodic function of the dc voltage applied to the structure. An antipolarization effect — the structure is polarized in a direction opposite to the external field — appears during one half of the period. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 6, 386–391 (25 September 1999)     

Possibility of the appearance of spin autowaves in a model of a ferromagnet with nonuniform dissipation

A model of a ferromagnet with nonuniform dissipation is introduced for the Landau-Lifshitz equations. It is shown that in this model a ferromagnet can be regarded as an oscillating active medium where the formation of autowave structures — spin autowaves, pacemakers, and spiral waves — is possible. Their wave characteristics, expressed in terms of the parameters of the medium, are found for a special case. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 513–515 (March 1997)     

Modification of porous silicon in ultrahigh vacuum and contribution of graphite nanocrystallites to photoluminescence

A replacement of the adsorbate in porous silicon is carried out in ultra-high vacuum. The photoluminescence line is shifted and quenched as the products of anodization of silicon — silicon hydrides and atomic and molecular hydrogen — undergo thermal decomposition and desorption. Adsorption of molecular chlorine restores the 560 nm photoluminescence band, which we identified as radiation from graphite nanoparticles. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 2, 106–111 (25 January 1996)     

Nonequilibrium spin states and tunnel paramagnetic centers in copper oxide CuO

It is shown that the formation of tunnel paramagnetic centers — triplet spin centers with a strongly different adiabatic potential in different spin states — can form in copper oxides based on CuO clusters. The results of measurements of the magnetization and magnetostriction of CuO single crystals are reported. They attest to the presence of nonequilibrium spin states and confirm the results obtained in the model of tunnel paramagnetic centers. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 474–482 (March 1997)     

Possibility of the levitation of droplets in the atmosphere when they are charged by induction in an electric field under nonuniform evaporation conditions

The behavior of droplets in the atmosphere in an electric field has important bearing on the theory of thunderstorms. One of the possible mechanisms by which droplets become charged—the induction mechanism in the presence of nonuniform evaporation—is investigated in greater detail on the basis of recent experimental results (V. A. Saranin, Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 65(6), 21 (1995) [Tech. Phys. 40, 332 (1995)]). Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 16–21 (February 1998)     

Adiabatic Raman polariton in a Bose condensate

The Raman interaction of optical fields with a Bose condensate is studied in the adiabatic regime. A superposition of operators is found — one annihilating an atom in a metastable state and the other annihilating a photon in resonance with a transition from the ground state to an excited state — which is an adiabatic invariant of the problem (Raman polariton). Possible applications for Bose-condensate diagnostics and development of atomic lasers are proposed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 7, 473–477 (10 October 1996)     

High-pressure microwave discharge in an above-breakdown field. Streamer branching

A new effect — the splitting of the tips (branching) of a microwave streamer arising from a pre-existing dense plasma cloud in an above-threshold electric field — is obtained numerically on the basis of a planar two-dimensional model. The causes of this phenomenon and the factors suppressing it are found. An expression is obtained for the value of the cloud radius above which branching occurs. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 69, No. 1, 15–19 (10 January 1999)     

A novel type of incommensurate phase in quartz: The elongated-triangle phase

We present evidence for a thermodynamically stable incommensurate elongated-triangle (ELT) phase in quartz, observed by transmission electron microscopy at the α-β structural transition. The phase sequence on cooling is: incommensurate equilateral-triangle (EQT) phase (ferroelectric)—incommensurate ELT (ferroelectric and ferroelastic)— uniform α phase. The ELT blocks could be responsible for the large light scattering in the vicinity of the α-gb transition. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 5, 376–381 (10 September 1996) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Formation of a chaotic layer of nonlinear resonance by a two-frequency perturbation

A new effect [V. V. Vecheslavov, Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 109, 2208 (1996) (JETP 82, 1190 (1996)]—the appearance of low-frequency secondary harmonics in the separatrix mapping of a system—is discussed in detail for the example of a pendulum with a two-frequency perturbation. It is shown that there exist regions of values of the perturbation parameters where these harmonics make the main contribution to the formation of the chaotic layer of the fundamental resonance. The results of analytical and numerical determinations of the amplitudes of the secondary harmonics are compared. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 12, 989–994 (25 June 1996)     

Observation of a single laser-excited center at the point of a crystalline needle

The points of lithium fluoride needles are investigated by laser photoelectronic projection microscopy. A situation in which a single atomic-size source of electrons — an F ₂ color center — is observed in the region near the point is realized. As a result of the good fluorescence properties of these centers, these needles can be used as the active element of a scanning fluorescence microscope employing resonance transfer of electronic excitation energy. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 6, 441–444 (25 March 1997)     

Critical fields and currents in a weakly nonlinear medium near the percolation threshold

For fields above a critical value the expansion of the conductivity in powers of the field ceases to be valid and the weak-nonlinearity approximation no longer works. The density behavior of the critical fields in strongly inhomogeneous media near the percolation threshold is found on the basis of two criteria—an average criterion and a local criterion. The parameter values of the medium for which crossover—a change of the critical behavior—occurs are determined. Similar calculations are performed for the critical currents. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 5–8 (June 1998)     

Luminescence of short-lived color centers induced in LiF crystals by a pulsed microwave discharge

A new phenomenon — intense luminescence of noncolored lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals excited by an electrodeless pulsed microwave discharge at the prebreakdown stage of development — is observed. This luminescence consists of the luminescence of short-lived aggregate F₂ and F ₃ ⁺ color centers at room temperature. It is shown that the density of short-lived color centers induced in the surface layer of LiF crystals by a microsecond microwave discharge reaches values of ∼10¹⁹−10²⁰ cm⁻³. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 3, 163–167 (10 August 1997)     

Formation of a bistructure of a solid in a computer experiment

Molecular-dynamics was used to investigate the structural changes occurring in a three-dimensional solid when the solid is transferred from an amorphous into a crystalline state. Crystal cells of a new type — pentadecahedrons with five square lateral faces and ten regular triangular faces at the vertices of a cell — were found for the first time in a computer experiment. It is shown that a bistructure consisting of crystal cells of different types, including cells with five-fold symmetry axes, are stable in the solid. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1919–1924 (October 1998)     

Quantum cryptography based on homodyne detection (vacuum-state cryptosystem)

A new protocol is proposed for quantum cryptography. The protocol is based on the use of a set of measurements which make it possible to reconstruct completely the density matrix — the information carrier — of a physical system. Such a protocol can be implemented by means of homodyne detection (well known in quantum optics) of an electromagnetic field. An example is given of a quantum cryptosystem in which the vacuum state of the photon field is used as one of two information states. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 1, 64–68 (10 July 1997)