Cascaded Raman shifting of high-peak-power nanosecond pulses in As₂S₃ and As₂Se₃ optical fibers

We report efficient cascaded Raman scattering of near-IR nanosecond pulses in large-core (65 μm diameter) As?S? and As?Se? optical fibers. Raman scattering dominates other spectral broadening mechanisms, such as four-wave mixing, modulation instability, and soliton dynamics, because the fibers have large normal group-velocity dispersion in the spectral range of interest. With ~2 ns pump pulses at a wavelength of 1.9 μm, four Stokes peaks, all with peak powers greater than 1 kW, have been measured.     

Bulk superconducting phase with a full energy gap in the doped topological insulator Cu(x)Bi₂Se₃

The superconductivity recently found in the doped topological insulator Cu(x)Bi?Se? offers a great opportunity to search for a topological superconductor. We have successfully prepared a single-crystal sample with a large shielding fraction and measured the specific-heat anomaly associated with the superconductivity. The temperature dependence of the specific heat suggests a fully gapped, strong-coupling superconducting state, but the BCS theory is not in full agreement with the data, which hints at a possible unconventional pairing in Cu(x)Bi?Se?. Also, the evaluated effective mass of 2.6m(e) (m(e) is the free electron mass) points to a large mass enhancement in this material.     

Measuring the astrophysical S factors and the cross sections of the p(d, γ)3He reaction in the ultralow energy region using a zirconium deuteride target

The present paper is dedicated to the study of the p(d, γ)³He reaction mechanism with the use of a zirconium deuteride target at proton energies of 11–19 keV. The experiment has been carried out using a proton beam of a high-current pulsed Hall accelerator at the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University. The dependences of the astrophysical S factor and the effective cross section of the pd reaction on the proton-deuteron collision energy are measured. The results were compared with the available data. The results detailed in the present work agree with the results of an experiment carried out by the LUNA collaboration with the use of a gaseous deuterium target.     

Electrostatic control of the evolution from a superconducting phase to an insulating phase in ultrathin YBa₂Cu₃O(7-x) films

The electrical transport properties of ultrathin YBa?Cu?O(7-x) films have been modified using an electric double layer transistor configuration employing an ionic liquid. A clear evolution from superconductor to insulator was observed in nominally 7 unit-cell-thick films. Using a finite size scaling analysis, curves of resistance versus temperature, R(T), over the temperature range from 6 to 22 K were found to collapse onto a single scaling function, which suggests the presence of a quantum critical point. However, the scaling fails at the lowest temperatures indicating the possible presence of an additional phase between the superconducting and insulating regimes.     

Third-order nonlinear optical properties in [(C4H9)4N]2[Cu(C3S5)2]-doped PMMA thin film using Z-scan technique in picosecond pulse

An organometallic complex, [(C₄H₉)₄N]₂[Cu(C₃S₅)₂], abbreviated as BuCu, was synthesized. Then the BuCu-doped polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) thin film with a doping concentration 1% by weight (1 wt.%) was fabricated using a spin-coating method and its third-order nonlinear optical properties were characterized using the Z-scan technique with 20 ps pulse duration at 532 and 1064 nm, respectively. The Z-scan curves have revealed that the material exhibits a self-defocusing effect at both wavelengths. Saturable absorption at 532 nm and two-photon absorption at 1064 nm were also found, respectively. Additionally, the calculated results of the material in film were compared with that of acetone solution, which indicated that the values in film were larger than that of acetone solution for about two orders in magnitude. The origins were analyzed of the difference between the two wavelengths. Our results suggest that considerable nonlinear optical properties were confirmed in BuCu-doped PMMA film. The material can easily be doped into PMMA film and forms a waveguide mode. So this material should be considered to be manufactured into devices and applied in all-optical switching, laser locking-mode, optical limiting fields etc.     

Study of the coordinate prediction accuracy for galactic particles with an energy of 10–1000 TeV/particle using a new method for searching and tracking particles in nuclear emulsion films. (Data of the Russia–Nippon Joint Balloon (RUNJOB) experiment)

Experimental and methodological errors in the coordinate prediction for primary cosmic ray nucleons and nuclei in nuclear emulsions using a new method for searching and tracing particle tracks in emulsion films of X-ray emulsion chambers (XRECs) exposed in the stratosphere in the Russia–Nippon Joint Balloon (RUNJOB) experiment are considered in detail. The dependence of errors on the relation between angular characteristics of the sought particle and auxiliary multiply charged nuclei is analyzed. Angular selection criteria for auxiliary nuclei, at which the methodological error of the particle track coordinate prediction decreases, are found.