Experimental studies of optical surface excitations

Experimental methods for optical excitation of nonradiative surface waves, such as surface plasmons and surface phonons, are reviewed. Results for surface plasmons in InSb obtained by using samples with line gratings in the surface and by using the technique of attenuated total reflection (ATR) are compared. Best agreement between the theoretical and experimental surface plasmon dispersion curve ω(k) of InSb is found when using excitation by ATR, since the sample surface need not be disturbed in this case. Surface phonons have been excited optically by applying ATR to alkali halide crystals and to the polar semiconductor GaP. While agreement with the theoretical dispersion curve is extremely good for GaP and also for CaF₂, there are systematic deviations to lower frequencies for NaF and other alkali halides. In polar semiconductors the free carrier plasmon couples to the LO-phonon when ω_p ≈ ω_LO. This behaviour has been investigated theoretically and experimentally for the surface modes. For an interesting application of the ATR-technique, one can use the fact that dispersion and linewidth are a direct measure of the complex dielectric function ε(ω) in the frequency range of the optical surface waves.     

Phonon-plasmon interaction in tunneling GaAs/AlAs superlattices

The phonon-plasmon interaction in tunneling GaAs _n /AlAs _m superlattices (m=5and 6≥n≥0.6 monolayers) was studied by Raman scattering spectroscopy. The interaction of optical phonons localized in GaAs and AlAs layers with quasi-three-dimensional plasmons strengthens as the thickness of GaAs quantum wells decreases and the electronic states in the superlattices become delocalized due to tunneling. It is assumed that the plasmons also interact with the TO-like phonon modes localized in quantum islands or in thin ruffled layers.     

Modulation polarimetry of the topological effect in gold-organic nanocomposite films

The phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance in composite films consisting of gold nanoclusters in matrices of organic molecular materials calix[4]arene and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) has been investigated. The internal reflection coefficients R _s ² and R _p ² of s- and p-polarized light and their physical difference ρ = R _s ² ? R _p ² have been measured according to the Kretschmann scheme as a function of the angle of light incidence θ at different wavelengths λ in the range 400–1000 nm. The angular characteristics reflect the cluster structure of the films, which is confirmed by electron microscopy. A topological size effect has been revealed. This effect is associated with the dependence of the excitation energy efficiency of surface plasmons on the azimuth of the linearly polarized light, the shape, and the distribution of nanoclusters in the coordinate space. The dependences ρ(λ) demonstrate that the local plasmon resonance is excited by both s- and p-polarized light, whereas the polariton resonance is excited by s-polarized light. The sign of the curvature of the dependence ρ(θ) determines the predominance of the excitation energy efficiency of electromagnetic modes with one of the two states of polarization of the excitation radiation.     

A study of the elastic scattering of polarized deuterons from 60Ni and 90Zr nuclei

Five quantities, σ₀, iT₁₁, T₂₀, T₂₁ and T₂₂, have been measured for the elastic ($\text{d}$, d) scattering from ⁶⁰Ni at 9 and 12 MeV and from ⁹⁰Zr at 10, 11 and 12 MeV over a wide angular range. Excitation functions for σ₀ and T₂₀ have been also measured at an angle of 175°(lab) in the approximate energy range of 6–13 MeV for both target isotopes. The experimental results, together with similar data published earlier for 15 MeV have now been analysed using the optical model with the complex central, spin-orbit and tensor T_R potentials. Excellent fits are obtained for the angular distributions for all five measured quantities. The main features of the excitation functions are also well reproduced. Five of the optical-model parameters can be fixed. Three other parameters can be constrained by simple mass dependence functions. Further evidence for the presence of an imaginary component of the spin-orbit potential is supplied by the analysis of the present data.     

Optical potential for 12C + 28Si scattering

¹²C + ²⁸Si elastic scattering angular distributions are smooth functions, relatively easily fit by optical potential predictions, at laboratory bombarding energies, E_1ab, within ≈ 10 MeV of the Coulomb barrier (i.e. up to E_1ab ≈ 27 MeV). Between E_1ab = 27 and 36 MeV the angular distributions show pronounced oscillatory structure which is not easily fit with an optical potential. No optical potential has been found to give a very good account of all the angular distributions simultaneously; the best simultaneous fit to all the data was achieved with a surface-transparent potential whose real and imaginary well depths are energy dependent.     

Instability of layered quantum liquids: 6. Strongly correlated bosons

We calculate the local-field corrections G(q, q _z) for charged bosons at zero temperature in a superlattice with interlayer distance d. An analytical expression for the local-field correction is described. The sum-rule version of the self-consistent approach for the local-field correction is used to discuss the effects of correlation. The RPAparameter r _s and the ratio d/a* determine correlation effects. a* is the effective Bohr radius. The stability region for the Bose condensate r _s < r _sc as a function of d/a* is determined: r _sc ≈ (d/a*)^3/4. The ground-state energy of the layered Bose condensate is calculated and optical and acoustical plasmons are discussed. We predict a roton structure for optical plasmons for r _s > r _sr with r _sr ≈ 0.5 (d/a*)^3/4.     

Plasmons in double quantum wells in a parallel magnetic field

Collective intraband charge-density excitations in the quasi-two-dimensional electron system of double GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells in an external parallel magnetic field B_∥ are studied by inelastic light scattering. It has been found that the energy of the excitations under study (acoustic and optical plasmons) exhibits anisotropy depending on the mutual orientation of B_∥ and the excitation quasi-momentum k. It is shown theoretically that, in a strong parallel magnetic field, the effects associated with the finite width of the quantum wells dominate over the effects associated with interlayer tunneling and determine the anisotropy of plasmons. The experimental data are compared with a theoretical calculation.     

Jet production from nuclei at 400 GeV/c

Results are presented from a calorimeter study on the production of jets in large-E_T proton-nucleus collisions at 400 GeV/c. Jet-like large-p_T events from eight nuclear targets are seen with a special jet trigger. As previously observed, the cross section for such events increases slightly faster than the atomic number, much like in the production of large-p_T single hadrons. Data on energy flows and multiplicities suggest that a heavy nucleus does not significantly widen the angular distribution of the beam remmants. In the central region the particle flow in hard nuclear collisions is similar to that in soft nuclear collisions.     

Electron characteristic loss spectra of molybdenum dichalcogenides

The complete sets of the fundamental optical functions of molybdenum dichalcogenides have been considered for the first time. The energies of their bulk and surface plasmons of two types are determined. It is found that the energies of long-wavelength plasmons correlate with the energies of the deep minima in the reflectivity and ?₂ E ² spectra and the maxima in the reflectivity phase spectra.     

Transverse momentum distribution in Pomeron-Pomeron collisions at the CERN ISR

Proton-proton interactions which result in a central cluster of massM _x and two quasi-elastically scattered protons are generally described by Pomeron-Pomeron scattering. A study of this process at ISR energies with the Split Field Magnet detector is carried out in terms of transverse momentum behaviour for the centrally produced system of particles. The inclusivep _T distribution for central hadrons is measured up to 3 GeV/c. Forp _T <1.2 GeV/c, thep _T distribution is exponential. Using a subsample of exclusive events, this exponential shape is shown to originate from a phase-space-like decay ofM _x when convoluted with a transverse component of the pomeron momentum. In the highp _T range, the shape of thep _T distribution strongly depends on Feynman-x of the scattered protons in a way that can be described by hard parton scattering.     

Characteristic electron energy loss spectra for diamond

The complete set of optical fundamental functions is determined for diamond in the range from 4 to 32 eV. The features of the bulk and surface characteristic energy loss spectra are elucidated and the functions n _eff(E) and ?_eff(E) are calculated. The energies of volume and surface plasmons are established.     

Excitation of the analogue of the T> giant dipole resonance of90Zr via the (n,p) reaction

Proton spectra have been measured at lab angles ofθ=0° to 100° for the reaction Zr(n, p)Y at 21.8 MeV incident neutron energy. Spectra over an angular spread of 80° were accumulated simultaneously using a detection system consisting of proportional counterΔE detectors and a curved plastic scintillator as energy detector. Resonant behaviour is observed in the proton spectra for the Zr(n, p)Y reaction but not for the Fe(n, p)Mn reaction. The resonant structure is attributed to the excitation of the analogues ofT _> giant dipole states of Zr. The resonant structure is shown to correspond in position, gross and fine structure, and, in strength and angular dependence of the cross sections, with expectations for the⁹⁰Zr(n, p)⁹⁰Y reaction. DWBA cross sections are derived and fitted to the experimental data with a Lane potential of 150 MeV.     

New method for determining refractive index and thickness of fluorescent thin films

The optical parameters of homogeneous, isotropic, and fluorescent thin films are determined by comparing measured with calculated angular intensity distributions of the s- and p-polarized light emitted into the substrate. The method also yields information about the multipole nature of the emitted radiation. The theory is presented for electric and magnetic dipole transitions. For extremely thin layers of optical thickness n₀d₀ ? λ/8 (where λ is the emission wavelength) analytic expressions for the angular intensity distributions are given. For between 25–30 nm thick evaporated layers of an europium-benzoyltrifluoro-acetone- chelate the refractive index was determined to be n₀ = 1.57 at λ = 612 nm. The fluorescent light emitted by these layers in an about 6 nm wide band centered at λ = 612 nm is emitted by randomly oriented electric dipoles.     

Positron states and nanoobjects in proton-irradiated quartz single crystals: Positronium atom in quartz

The influence of proton bombardment and metal atom impurities on the structure of quartz single crystals has been studied. The related defects have been studied using positron annihilation spectroscopy (angular correlation of positron-annihilation photons), acoustic absorption, and optical absorption measurements. It is shown that the presence of a narrow component f in the angular distribution of annihilation photons (ADAP), which is related to the formation of parapositronium, determines a high sensitivity of this method with respect to features of the crystal structure of quartz. It is established that the defectness of the structure of irradiated quartz crystals can be characterized by the ratio f/f ₀ of the relative intensities of narrow components in the ADAP curves measured before (f ₀) and after (f) irradiation. Any process leading to a decrease in the probability of positronium formation (e.g., positron loss as a result of the trapping on defects and the interaction with impurity atoms and lattice distortions) decreases the intensity of the narrow component. Based on the ADAP data, estimates of the radii and concentrations of nanodefects in quartz have been obtained and their variation upon annealing at temperatures up to T = 873 K has been studied.     

Large transverse momenta from statistical bootstrap with spin

We show that statistical bootstrap models (SBM) with their prediction of exponentially decreasing p distributions (equivalently: constant maximal temperature τ₀ ≈ m_π) are not ruled out by the large p_⊥ observed above ≈ 100 GeV lab energy in hadron collisions. Usual SBM sum over all spin angular momenta of the decaying fireball; if a particular spin is fixed, SBM leads to large p_⊥. We discuss in this paper (after having justified a classical approach) several mechanisms yielding high-mass, high-spin fireballs, select arbitrarily one of these (single fireball excitation) and calculate in SBM with fixed spin the decay structure. The cross section $\text{d}\text{σ}\text{d}\text{M}$ is taken to be an empirical function, fitted to existing p_⊥ data at one energy and then calculable at other energies. We can easily reproduce the p_⊥ distribution. Further results concern multiplicities rising with p_⊥, anisotropy of the single-particle inclusive distribution and various correlations. Unexpectedly, but a posteriori rather naturally a jet-like structure is found in the spin-orthogonal plane.     

Spin and parity assignments for 35Cl levels from the 31P(α, p)34S reaction

³⁵Cl states at excitation energies between 9.9 and 11.8 MeV have been identified through sharp resonances in the ³¹P(α, p_o)³⁴S excitation functions at 25°, 105° and 155° for E_α = 3.25–5.50 MeV. Forty-eight on-resonance angular distributions, normalized to an absolute cross section scale, have been subjected to single-level and two-level analyses resulting in spin and parity assignments for each resonance. Approximately half the resonances were of the pure single-state type, having unique angular distribution shapes. Data from 12 resonances of an earlier experiment ¹) were analyzed with the same theory, extending the diagnostics down to a ³⁵Cl excitation energy of 9.1 MeV. A set of optical potentials consistent in all four reactions that this experimental program encompasses has been incorporated in the present analysis. Validity of the optical potential is demonstrated for α-particles elastically scattered by ³¹P.     

The influence of deformations of the optical potential on analyzing power and p1−γ angular correlation in the reaction 114Cd(p,p′)

Differential cross sections, analyzing powers and in-plane p₁?γ angular correlations for the reaction ¹¹⁴Cd(p,p′) were measured and analysed in terms of coupled channels in order to study the influence of the quadrupole deformation of the central and the spin-orbit part of the optical potential.     

The 12C+24Mg elastic scattering: An example of anomalous transparency at coulomb barrier energies

Fifteen complete angular distributions of the elastic scattering of ¹²C+²⁴Mg were measured at energies around the Coulomb barrier (E_cm = 10.67–16 MeV). The angular distributions are strongly oscillating and could be well described by an optical potential family, whose real part was determined without continuous ambiguity. The imaginary part of this optical potential is very shallow. At four energies the inelastic scattering angular distributions leading to the 2⁺ state of the ²⁴Mg were also measured and analysed with coupled-channels calculations. The volume integrals of the optical potentials used in the coupled-channels calculations present the threshold anomaly in their energy dependence, with a clear Q-value dependence.