Excitation and ionization of sodium clusters by a strong electromagnetic field

This paper reports on a study of the excitation and ionization of small sodium clusters by femtosecond light pulses with a maximum intensity of 5×10¹²–1×10¹⁴ W/cm² and photon energy from 1 to 3 eV made in terms of the density functional theory and jellium model through direct numerical solution of the Kohn-Sham time-dependent equation. The dependence of the degree of ionization on the intensity, duration, and frequency of the light pulses, as well as on the cluster size, is studied. The efficiency of the processes is shown to be determined primarily by the field intensity rather than by the total pulse energy.     

Nonlinear optical characteristics of carbon disulfide

The nonlinear refractive index γ of CS₂ is studied using laser pulses of various durations (from 110 fs to 75 ns). It is found that γ increases with increasing pulse duration within the picosecond region (from (3 ± 0.6) × 10^?15 cm² W^?1 at 110 fs to (3.5 ± 0.7) × 10^?14 cm² W^?1 at 75 ns) due to orientational nonlinearities. Variations in the sign of γ caused by the thermal effect at different pulse durations and repetition rates are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the fast electronic component, the component associated with molecular processes, causing positive nonlinear refraction, and the acoustic component, responsible for negative nonlinear refraction, manifest themselves simultaneously. The results of a study of the nonlinear absorption of carbon disulfide are presented. The two-and three-photon absorption coefficients of CS₂ are determined to be (5 ± 1.5) × 10^?11 cm W^?1 and (2.8 ± 0.8) × 10^?23 cm³ W^?2, respectively.     

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification based on photonic crystal fibre

A compact two-stage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier based on photonic crystal fibre is demonstrated.A 1064-nm soliton pulse is obtained in a home-made photonic crystal fibre (PCF) with femtosecond pulse pumping and then amplified to 2 mJ in an Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier.After the amplified pulses pass through the LBO crystal,the 532-nm double-frequency light with an energy of 0.8 mJ and a duration of over 100 ps at 10-Hz repetition rate is generated as a pump source in the following two-stage optical parametric amplification (OPA).The 850-nm chirped signal light gain from the stretcher is 1.5×10 4 in the first-stage OPA while it is 120 in the second-stage OPA.The total signal gain of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) can reach 1.8×10 6.     

Photo-emission studies from Zn cathodes under plasma phase

In this paper, we report investigations of the electron emission from pure Zn cathodes irradiated by UV laser pulses of 23 ns (full-width at half-maximum) at a wavelength of 248 nm (5 eV). The metal cathodes were tested in a vacuum photodiode chamber at 10^?5 Pa. They were irradiated at normal incidence and the anode–cathode distance was set at 3 mm. The maximum applied accelerating voltage was 18 kV, limited by the electrical breakdown of the photodiode gap. Under the above experimental conditions, a maximum applied electric field of 6 MV/m resulted. In the saturation regime, the measured quantum efficiency value increased with the accelerating voltage due to the plasma formation. The highest output current was achieved with 14 mJ laser energy, 18 kV accelerating voltage and its value was 12 A, corresponding to a global quantum efficiency (GQE) approximately of 1×10^?4. The temporal quantum efficiency was 1.0×10^?4 at the laser pulse onset time and 1.4×10^?4 at the pulse tail. We calculated the target temperature at the maximum laser energy. Its value allowed us to obtain output pulses of the same laser temporal profile. Tests performed with a lower laser photon energy (4.02 eV) demonstrated a GQE of two orders of magnitude lower.     

Characterization of vacuum evaporated In - Se thin films

The InSe films of different thicknesses (290–730 mm) were deposited onto glass substrates under a pressure of 3×10^?5 Torr by vacuum evaporation method. The composition (In=53.50%, Se=46.50%) of this film was confirmed using Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). Thicknesses of the deposited films have been measured using a Multiple Beam Interferometry. The amorphous nature of the film is confirmed with X-ray diffractogram. From the transmittance spectra in the range of 500 nm-1200 nm, it is observed that the film showed direct allowed transition. Effect of thickness on the optical parameters such as the fundamental band gap, absorption constant, refractive index of InSe thin films are reported. Under low electric field (～ 1.5×10⁵ Vcm^?1), the results of DC conductivity measurements revealed that the variable range hopping is the dominant conduction mechanism. The values of localized states density, localization radius and hopping energy of this film are estimated as 5.57×10²⁰ cm^?3eV^?1, 0.84 Å and 0.247 eV, respectively.     

Formation of ultrasmall germanium nanoislands with a high density on an atomically clean surface of silicon oxide

The experimental results of an investigation into the initial stages of growth of a germanium film on an atomically clean oxidized silicon surface are reported. It is shown that the growth of the germanium film in this system occurs through the Volmer-Weber mechanism. Elastically strained nanoislands with a lateral size of less than 10 nm and a density of 2 × 10¹² cm^?2 are formed on the oxidized silicon surface. In germanium films with a thickness greater than 5 monolayers (ML), there also arise completely relaxed germanium nanoislands with a lateral size of up to 200 nm and a density of 1.5 × 10⁹ cm^?2.     

Dynamics of the strong field of a few-cycle optical pulse in a dielectric medium

The dependence of the conditions for the dominance of different physical factors in the self-action of few-cycle optical pulses in dielectrics on the intensity, duration, and spectrum of radiation has been theoretically analyzed. It is shown that the larger the pulse width and the central wavelength, the stronger the effect of plasma nonlinearity. For example, for a quartz glass in the field of pulses with a duration of 10 fs and a central wavelength of 780 nm, this nonlinearity mechanism is dominant at intensities exceeding 3 × 10¹³ W cm^?2.     

Effect of the pulse leading-edge time on the dielectric strength of a vacuum gap

Optimal regimes for electrode conditioning in a vacuum by applying voltage pulses with different waveforms are considered. For nanosecond pulses with a constant duration (t _p = const), the impulse dielectric strength for an oblique voltage wave is shown to be more than four times higher than for a rectangular pulse with an infinitely short leading-edge duration. The dependences of the dielectric strength on the conditioning pulse duration in the range 10^?10 < t _p < 10^?3 s for pulses with different rise rates are obtained. The dielectric strength increases from 2 × 10⁷ V/m for microsecond pulses to 10¹⁰ V/m for subnanosecond pulses.     

Experimental study and computer simulations of the implantation of laser plasma ions in pulsed electric fields

Results are presented from experimental studies of pulsed plasma flows generated by nanosecond laser pulses with an intensity of 7 × 10⁸ W/cm² from a solid-state target in a strong electric field. The current pulses through the laser target and the depth distributions of the iron ions implanted in a silicon substrate to which a negative high-voltage pulse was applied are measured. The physical processes occurring in laser plasma with an initial iron ion density of 6 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻³ are simulated numerically by the particle-in-cell method for different delay times and different shapes of the accelerating high-voltage pulse. The model developed allows one to calculate the ion flows onto the processed substrate, the electron flows onto the target, and the energy spectra of the implanted ions. The results from computer simulations are found to be in good agreement the experimental data.     

Linear electromechanical effect in free-standing ferroelectric liquid-crystalline films

Mechanical oscillations of free-standing films based on ferroelectric liquid crystals were studied by optical methods. The intrinsic oscillation modes in the samples were excited by applying an alternating electric field parallel to the film surface. The surface viscosity of the films determined using the electromechanical effect was η_s=8.8×10^?3 g/s under normal pressure and η_s=1.5×10^?3 g/s in vacuum. The surface tension measured in a special experiment was σ=35.3 din/cm. It was established that the spectrum of mechanical oscillations in the system studied is affected by the vapors of volatile organic solvents such as kerosene, toluene, and ethyl alcohol. The linear electromechanical effect in the free-standing films was used to observe inversion of the sign of spontaneous polarization in a ferroelectric liquid crystal.     

Thermal characteristics of double-layer thin film target ablated by femtosecond laser pulses

Thermal characteristics of tightly-contacted copper--gold double-layer thin film target under ablation of femtosecond laser pulses are investigated by using a two-temperature theoretical model. Numerical simulation shows that electron heat flux varies significantly on the boundary of copper--gold film with different maximal electron temperature of 1.15×10³ K at 5 ps after ablating laser pulse in gold and copper films, which can reach a balance around 12.6 ps and 8.2 ps for a single and double pulse ablation, respectively, and in the meantime, the lattice temperature difference crossing the gold--copper interface is only about 0.04×10³ K at the same time scale. It is also found that electron--lattice heat relaxation time increases linearly with laser fluence in both single and double pulse ablation, and a sudden change of the relaxation time appears after the laser energy density exceeds the ablation threshold.     

The effect of mechanical relaxation on ultra-fast charge pulses in flexible epoxy resin nanocomposites

Previously we have reported the existence of small-amplitude charge pulses in crosslinked Polyethylene (XLPE) and epoxy resin with a mobility several orders of magnitude higher than that found for the incoherent charge transport relevant to the steady state current. Here the relationship of this phenomenon to mechanical relaxation in the material is investigated by using a series of epoxy resin nanocomposites based on a resin that has its flexibility increased above that of the fully cured glassy epoxy network by the addition of a suitable flexibilizing chemical. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) measurements show that the stiffness of the nanocomposite is progressively increased as the nanoparticle concentration increases. Pulsed Electro-Acoustic (PEA) measurements reveal that both positive and negative fast charge pulses exist in the unfilled epoxy at 45 and 70°C under a field of 10?kV/mm with mobility 5×10^?10 to 9×10^?10 m²?V^?1?s^?1, amplitude between 2×10^?5 and 3.6×10^?5 C?m^?2 and repetition rates between 8 and 12?s^?1. These values are reduced progressively as the nanoparticle concentration is increased from 0% in the unfilled epoxy. A???-mode mechanical relaxation is identified in the loss modulus by Dynamical Mechanical Analysis (DMA), whose activation energy moves to higher values with increasing nanoparticle concentration. It is shown that the repetition rates of both positive and negative pulses have similar values and are correlated with the ??-mode activation energy; a similar correlation is found for the activation energy of the mobility of positive pulses. The correlation of the activation energy of the mobility of negative pulses and that of the ??-mode is weaker although both show a progressive increase with nanoparticle concentration. The modification of the fast charge pulse properties by the mechanical stiffness of the epoxy nanocomposite is discussed in terms of the theory presented previously for their formation and transport.     

Laser ablation of silver in different liquids: Optical and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles

The optical, structural, and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles prepared using the method of laser ablation in various liquids at wavelengths of 397, 532, and 795 nm with laser pulses of different duration are studied. An analysis of the dimensional and spectral characteristics of the silver nanoparticles revealed a time dynamics of the nanoparticle size distribution in solutions. It is shown that thermal self-defocusing is observed for the case of nanosecond or shorter pulses generated with a high repetition rate. For picosecond and femtosecond pulses with a low repetition rate, the effects of self-focusing (γ = 3 × 10^?13 cm² W^?1) and saturated absorption (β = ?1.5 × 10^?9 cm W^?1) were observed in the solutions under study. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility of the silver nanoparticles was found to be 5 × 10^?8 esu at a wavelength of 397 nm.     

Biocompatible film deposition by using Nd:YAG pulsed laser

A Nd:YAG laser operating at the fundamental wavelength (1064 nm) and at the second harmonic (532 nm), with 9 ns pulse duration, 100–900 mJ pulse energy, and 30 Hz repetition rate mode, was employed to ablate in vacuum (10^?6 mbar) biomaterial targets and to deposit thin films on substrate backings. Titanium target was ablated at the fundamental frequency and deposited on near-Si substrates. The ablation yield increases with the laser fluence and at 40 J/cm ² the ablation yield for titanium is 1.2×10¹⁶ atoms/pulse. Thin film of titanium was deposited on silicon substrates placed at different distance and angles with respect to the target and analysed with different surface techniques (optical microscopy, scanning electron spectrosopy (SEM), and surface profile).

Hydroxyapatite (HA) target was ablated to the second harmonic and thin films were deposited on Ti and Si substrates. The ablation yield at a laser fluence of 10 J/cm ² is about 5×10¹⁴ HA molecules/pulse. Thin film of HA, deposited on silicon substrates placed at different distance and angles with respect to the target, was analysed with different surface techniques (optical microscopy, SEM, and Raman spectroscopy).

Metallic films show high uniformity and absence of grains, whereas the bio-ceramic film shows a large grain size distribution. Both films found special application in the field of biomaterial coverage.     

Improving the mobility of CuPc OFETs by varying the preparation conditions

In this work, three different preparation conditions were used for testing the performance of p-conducting copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). The charge carrier mobility (μ _sat=(1.5±0.6)×10^?3 cm²/V?s) of the CuPc OFETs with the CuPc film deposited while keeping the substrate at room temperature could be improved when the gate dielectric was modified by a self-assembled monolayer of n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (μ _sat=(3.8±0.4)×10^?3 cm²/V?s) or when elevated temperatures were applied to the substrate (T _S,av=127 ^°C) during the deposition of the organic film (μ _sat=(6.5±0.8)×10^?3 cm²/V?s). For the latter case, the dependence of the mobility and threshold voltage with increasing thickness of the organic film was tested—above 13 nm film thickness, no further significant increase of the hole mobility or change in the threshold voltage could be observed. The environmental stability of the OFETs was checked by performing ex situ measurements immediately as the sample was exposed to atmosphere and after 40 days of exposure. The effect of the different preparation conditions on the morphology of the organic films prepared in this work is also discussed in this context.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of a passively mode-locked Nd: Glass laser

The presented theoretical model for a mode-locked Nd-glass laser simultaneously takes into account dynamics of the mode-locking dye, amplification saturation and radiation background. A systematic variation of laser parameters gives insight into the pulse formation process and allows to improve the laser design. The calculations show that it should be possible to decrease considerably the duration of light pulses of a mode-locked Nd-glass laser. Using a new mode-locking dye with a switching time of τ=2.7×10⁻¹² s we obtained stable laser operation and a pulse duration of 1.7×10⁻¹²s.     

Two-dimensional electron-hole system in a HgTe-based quantum well

A two-dimensional electron-hole system consisting of light high-mobility electrons with a density of N _s = (4–7) × 10¹⁰ cm^?2 and a mobility of μ _n = (4–6) × 10⁵ cm²/V s and heavier low-mobility holes with a density of P _s = (0.7–1.6) × 10¹¹ cm^?2 and a mobility of μ _p = (3–7) × 10⁴ cm²/V s has been discovered in a quantum well based on mercury telluride with the (013) surface orientation. The system exhibits a number of specific magnetotransport properties in both the classical magnetotransport (positive magnetoresistance and alternating Hall effect) and the quantum Hall effect regime. These properties are associated with the coexistence of two-dimensional electrons and holes.     

Pulsed laser induced damage in SOI material

Laser-induced damage in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material is investigated with 1064 nm laser pulses. As the laser pulse duration is increased from 190 ps to 1.14 s, the damage threshold of SOI material decreases from 1.3×10¹⁰ to 7.7×10³ W/cm² in laser flux. It is found that the damage threshold varies inversely as the pulse duration for a short irradiation time, and is independent of pulse duration for a long irradiation time. The time dependence is in good agreement with a thermal model which well describes the thermal-induced damage in a semi-finite material irradiated by a Gaussian laser beam. The values of absorption coefficient and thermal conductivity under laser irradiation are calculated as 1.1×10³ cm^?1 and 0.18 Wcm^?1 K^?1, respectively, by fitting the model to the experimental results. These results on material damage can be used to predict the damage thresholds of SOI-based devices.     

Acoustic perturbations in a pulsedRF-plasma

The response of a stationary weakly ionized plasma to a density perturbation in the neutral gas component was studied in a neon plasma with the following typical properties: electron density ¯N _e≈8×10¹² cm^?3, electron temperature on the axis of the vesselT _e0≈3.0 eV; neutral gas densityN _n≈1×10¹⁷cm^?3 and neutral gas temperatureT _n0≈600 °K. A neutral density perturbation, generated 50 cm apart from the plasma, produces a fluctuation in the ion density and a sharp spike in the differential voltage of a floating double probe. The experimental observations demonstrate the propagation of an ion sheath and of an electric field perturbation together with the neutral density perturbation. An interpretation of the plasma response to acoustic wave pulses has been proposed by Ingard and Schulz in a theory on acoustic wave modes in a weakly ionized gas. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical expectations.     

Laser ablation of gallium arsenide in different solutions

The optical, structural, and nonlinear optical characteristics of GaAs nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation in different liquids were investigated. Thermally induced self-defocusing in GaAs solutions was observed using both a high pulse repetition rate and nanosecond pulses. In studying the nonlinear optical characteristics of GaAs solutions using picosecond and femtosecond pulses, two-photon absorption was observed. The nonlinear absorption coefficient of an aqueous GaAs solution measured by the Z-scan technique and the nonlinear susceptibility of GaAs nanoparticles were, respectively, 0.7 × 10^?9 cm W^?1 and 2 × 10^?9 esu at a wavelength of 795 nm.