Time-resolved measurements of picosecond optical breakdown

Picosecond optical breakdown was investigated in order to assess its potential for performing highly localized incisions for laser surgery. Measurements of breakdown were performed using single 40-ps Nd: YAG laser pulses in distilled water. Novel optical pump-probe techniques were developed to characterize the transient spatial and temporal dynamics of the plasma, shock wave, and cavitation phenomena which are associated with the breakdown. The maximum cavity radius and the shock wave zone are shown to scale as the cube root of the pump pulse energy over almost three orders of magnitude. For pulse energies close to the threshold energy of 8 J, the shock range was 100–200 m and the cavity radius was 140 m. Complementary experiments were performed with 10-ns pulse durations. Since picosecond pulses have high peak intensities with low pulse energies, a significant enhancement in localizability may be achieved. The implications for ophthalmic microsurgery are discussed.     

Time-resolved optical measurements with spread spectrum excitation

We propose a novel method for measuring time-dependent optical quantities. A train of excitation pulses modulated by a pseudorandom bit sequence is used as the light source, and a cross-correlation scheme is used to retrieve the impulse response. Simulation results of the temporal point-spread function of a diffusive wave are provided, as well as experimental results of a fluorescence decay profile. It is demonstrated that our new time-resolved technique can lead to high signal-to-noise ratios and short data acquisition times. A fluorescence-time-dependent suppression process was also been discovered.     

Time-resolved measurements from speckle interferometry

We present time-resolved measurements by speckle interferometry of the light scattered by a liquid medium. Measurements were performed by use of reflectance geometry and are compared with results obtained in the same conditions with a femtosecond laser and a streak camera. The setup was also tested in vivo on the forearm of a human volunteer to demonstrate the potential utility of such a setup for biomedical applications.     

Time-resolved measurements of self-focusing pulses in air

The spatial, spectral, and temporal properties of self-focusing 798-nm 100-fs pulses in air are experimentally measured with high-resolution, single-shot techniques at a set propagation distance of 10.91 m. The data, obtained with an initially collimated Gaussian beam, show significant evolution of spatial narrowing as well as temporal and spectral changes at intensities lower than those required for significant ionization of air.     

Time-resolved processes in a pulsed electrical discharge in argon bubbles in water

A phenomenological picture of a pulsed electrical discharge in gas bubbles in water is produced by combining electrical, spectroscopic, and imaging characterization methods. The discharge is generated by applying 1 m\mu s pulses of 5 to 20 kV between a needle and a disk electrode submerged in water. An Ar gas bubble surrounds the tip of the needle electrode. Imaging, electrical characteristics, and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopic data suggest a fast streamer propagation mechanism and the formation of a plasma channel in the bubble. Comparing the electrical and imaging data for consecutive pulses applied to the bubble at a frequency of 1 Hz indicates that each discharge proceeds as an entirely new process with no memory of the previous discharge aside from the presence of long-lived chemical species, such as ozone and oxygen. Imaging and electrical data show the presence of two discharge events during each applied voltage pulse, a forward discharge near the beginning of the applied pulse depositing charge on the surface of the bubble and a reverse discharge removing the accumulated charge from the water/gas interface when the applied voltage is turned off. The pd value of ~ 300–500 torr cm, the 1 μs long pulse duration, low repetition rate, and unidirectional character of the applied voltage pulses make the discharge process here unique compared to the traditional corona or dielectric barrier discharges.     

Time-resolved measurements of shock-induced cavitation bubbles in liquids

A novel experimental method for the measurement of cavitation bubble dynamics is presented. The method makes use of a collimated cw HeNe laser beam that is focused onto a photodiode. A cavitation bubble centered in the laser beam leads to refraction and thus changes the diode signal. With sufficient temporal resolution of the measurement, the evolution of the bubble dynamics, and in particular, the collapse, could be well resolved (limitation is only due to diode response and oscilloscope bandwidth). In the present work this is demonstrated with cavitation bubbles generated with high-power nanosecond and femtosecond laser pulses, respectively. Bubble evolution is studied in two different liquids (water and glycerine) and at different temperatures and pressures.     

Time-resolved optical backscattering model in highly scattering media

A time-resolved backscattering model, which combines a single large-angle scattering with multiple small-angle scatterings, is used to produce a scattered-light profile about a medium. Inhomogeneity of the medium is included in the model. Some multidimensional integrals can be evaluated analytically.     

Time-resolved areal-density measurements with proton spectroscopy in spherical implosions

The temporal history of the target areal-density near peak compression of direct-drive spherical target implosions has been inferred with 14.7-MeV deuterium-helium-3 D3He proton spectroscopy of the 60-beam, 30-kJ UV OMEGA laser system. The target areal-density grows by a factor of approximately 8 during the time of neutron-production ( approximately 400 ps) before reaching 123+/-16 mg/cm(2) at peak compression in the implosion of a 950-micrometer-diam, 20-micrometer-thick plastic CH capsule filled with 4 atm of D3He fuel.     

Time-resolved spectroscopy measurements of a titanium plasma induced by nanosecond and femtosecond lasers

We have studied the plasma induced at the surface of a titanium target following irradiation with femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses. Time-resolved imaging and spectroscopic measurements allowed us to evidence some features specific to the femtosecond-laser-induced plasma. In this ultrashort interaction regime, we could discriminate between three different velocity populations in the plasma expansion. Coulomb explosion firstly creates highly energetic Ti⁺ ions, which are followed by atomic neutral titanium and lastly by nanoscale titanium oxide clusters. Received: 28 September 2001 / Accepted: 9 July 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +33-1/6931-9996, E-mail: albert@ensta.fr     

Analysis of laser scribes at CIGS thin-film solar cells by localized electrical and optical measurements

Laser patterning of thin-film solar cells is essential to perform external serial and integrated monolithic interconnections for module application and has recently received increasing attention. Current investigations show, however, that the efficiency of thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) modules is reduced due to laser scribing also with ultrashort laser pulses. Hence, to investigate the reasons of the laser-induced material modifications, thin-film CIGS solar cells were laser-scribed with femto- and picosecond laser pulses using different scribing procedures and laser processing parameters. Besides standard electrical current voltage (I–V) measurements, additional electrical and optical analysis were performed such as laser beam-induced current (LBIC), dark lock-in thermography (DLIT), and electroluminescence (EL) measurements to characterize and localize electrical losses due to material removal/modifications at the scribes that effecting the electrical solar cell properties. Both localized as well as distributed shunts were found at laser scribe edges whereas the laser spot intensity distribution affecting the shunt formation. Already laser irradiation below the ablation threshold of the TCO film causes material modification inside the thin film solar cell stack resulting in shunt formation as a result of materials melting near the TCO/CIGS interface that probably induces the damage of the pn-junction.     

Time-resolved measurements of thermodynamic fluctuations of the particle number in a nondegenerate Fermi gas

We report on time-resolved measurements of thermodynamic fluctuations in the number of particles in a nondegenerate Fermi gas. The gas is comprised of thermal quasiparticles, confined in a superconducting Al box by large-gap Ta leads. The average number of quasiparticles is about 10(5). This number fluctuates due to quasiparticle generation and recombination. The number is measured from the tunneling current through a barrier that bisects the box. The recombination time is independently measured by single-photon excitation and agrees with the frequency dependence of the fluctuations.     

Time-resolved optical absorption in YAlO3 crystals

The present work is devoted to the investigation of transient absorption (TA) induced by a pulsed electron beam (E=250 keV) in pure and doped YAlO₃ (YAP) single crystals. The nature of centers responsible for TA is discussed.     

Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy measurements on fluorescently tagged amphiphilic micelles

Block copolymers of polystyrene-block-poly)methacrylic acid) form multimolecular micelles in mixtures of 1,4-dioxane with a surplus of methanol at ambient temperatures. Micelles consist of compact polystyrene cores surrounded by outer shells formed by poly(methacrylic acid) and are in a reversible equilibrium with nonmicellized copolymer chains (unimers). A series of light scattering, ultracentrifugation, and fluorimetric measurements was performed on micellizing systems of end-tagged copolymers. Complex time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy decays may be explained by a distribution of fluorophores in two microenvironments, i.e., in compact polystyrene micellar cores and in unimer coils.