Jet cooled NO2 intra cavity laser absorption spectroscopy (ICLAS) between 11200 and 16150 cm

We have combined the high sensitivity of the ICLAS technique with the rotational cooling effect of a slit jet expansion in order to observe and to understand the visible and near infrared NO₂ spectrum. By this way, an equivalent absorption pathlength of several kilometers through rotationally cooled molecules has been achieved. Due to the vibronic interaction between the two lowest electronic states, ²A₁ and à ²B₂, this spectrum is vibronically dense and complex. Moreover, the dense room temperature rotational structure is perturbed by additional rovibronic interactions. In contrast, the rotational analysis of our jet cooled spectrum is straightforward. The NO₂ absorption spectrum is vanishing to the IR but, owing to the high sensitivity of the ICLAS technique, we have been able to record the NO₂ spectrum down to 11200 cm⁻¹ with a new Ti:sapphire ICLAS spectrometer. As a result 249 ²B₂ vibronic bands have been observed (175 cold bands and 74 hot bands) in the 11200–16150 cm⁻¹ energy range. Due to the cooling effect of the slit jet we have reduced the rotational temperature down to about 12 K and at this temperature the K = 0 subbands are dominant. Consequently, we have analysed only the K = 0 manifold for N 7 of each vibronic band. The dynamical range of the band intensities is about one thousand. Due to the strong vibronic interaction between the ²A₁ and à ²B₂ electronic states, we observed not only the a₁ vibrational levels of the à ²B₂ state but also the b₂ vibrational levels of the ²A₁ state interacting with the previous ones. By comparison with the calculated density of states, we conclude that we have observed about 65% of the total number of ²B₂ vibronic levels located in the studied range. However, there are more missing levels in the IR because of the weakness of the spectrum in this range. The correlation properties of this set of vibronic levels have been analysed calculating the power spectrum of the absorption stick spectrum which displays periodic motions: the dominant period, at 714 ± 20 cm⁻¹, corresponds to the bending motion of the à ²B₂ state. The other observed periods remain unassigned. In contrast the next neighbor spacing distribution (NNSD) shows a strong level repulsion, i.e. a manifestation of quantum chaos. These two observations, apparently contradictory, can be rationalized as follows: the short time dynamics, for t < 10⁻¹² s, is “regular” while for longer times the dynamics becomes “chaotic”. We suggest that this behavior may be observed directly with a pump and probe fs laser experiment.     

High-fidelity front-end for high-power, high temporal quality few-cycle lasers

A 80???J, 6?fs, CEP-stable high-contrast injector is demonstrated. The device relies on standard pulse post-compression in hollow-core fiber followed by a temporal filter based on cross-polarized wave generation. Pulses with a Gaussian spectrum over 350?nm, centered at 750?nm, are generated. Temporal measurements show that the contrast of the few-cycle pulses is enhanced on a femtosecond and picosecond time scale. The carrier-envelope phase stability is preserved (0.3?rad RMS). These performances make the system an ideal seed laser for high-power, high-contrast OPCPA systems.     

High-power laser with Nd:YAG single-crystal fiber grown by the micro-pulling-down technique

We present optical characterization and laser results achieved with single-crystal fibers directly grown by the micro-pulling-down technique. We investigate the spectroscopic and optical quality of the fiber, and we present the first laser results. We achieved a cw laser power of 10 W at 1064 nm for an incident pump power of 60 W at 808 nm and 360 kW peak power for 12 ns pulses at 1 kHz in the Q-switched regime. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest laser power ever achieved with directly grown single-crystal fibers.     

Main sequence stars with asymmetric dark matter

We study the effects of feebly or nonannihilating weakly interacting dark matter (DM) particles on stars that live in DM environments denser than that of our Sun. We find that the energy transport mechanism induced by DM particles can produce unusual conditions in the cores of main sequence stars, with effects which can potentially be used to probe DM properties. We find that solar mass stars placed in DM densities of ρ(χ)≥10(2) GeV/cm(3) are sensitive to spin-dependent scattering cross section σ(SD)≥10(-37) cm(2) and a DM particle mass as low as m(χ)=5 GeV, accessing a parameter range weakly constrained by current direct detection experiments.     

Proprietes magnetiques et electriques de la phase Ca2MnO4−xFx

The magnetic properties of the antiferromagnetic Ca₂MnO_4?x solid solution (0?x?0,30) are essentially characterized by a weak ferromagnetism with a maximum value for x = 0,20. Spin canting results from the competition between the antiferromagnetic super-exchange couplings and the double exchange ferromagnetic interactions due to the presence of manganese in oxidation states + III and + IV. It seems independent of the site of fluorine in the framework. The variation of Weiss constant and ordering temperature withx is also discussed. Electrical conductivity results from a hopping mechanism between Mn³⁺ and Mn⁴⁺ ions. The electrical conductivity presents a maximum when x = 0.10, corresponding to an activation energy minimum.     

Transient and steady state creep of Al-4.5 wt.% Mg during phase transformation

Transient and steady state creep of Al-4.5 wt. % Mg alloy was studied under various constant stresses ranging from 91 MPa to 117 MPa in the temperature range from 473 K to 553 K. The results of creep characteristics have shown two main deformation temperature regions (below 493 K and above 513 K as well as a transient region between these temperatures). Peak values of transient creep parametersB andn were obtained at 493 K. The transient creep parameterB was related to the steady state creep rate _st through the exponent which was found to range from 0.85 to 0.5. The stress exponentm of the steady state creep has been found to be minimum at the steady state strain peaks, which is characteristic of dislocation climb along the grain boundaries. Microstructural analysis confirmed that the above mentioned mechanism took place in the dissolution region of-phase.     

The methyl bromide molecule: A critical consideration of perturbations in spectra

This work gives an extensive critique of studies on methyl bromide and all its isotopic varieties with special stress on their rotational, vibrational, and rovibrational spectra. The rotational constants of more than 40 vibrational states of CH₃Br and 20 of CD₃Br, as well as of the ground states of all varieties, were critically examined and corrected where needed. An almost complete set of harmonic and anharmonic constants for CH₃Br was derived. From the set of rotation-vibration interaction constants, new accurate equilibrium constants A_e and B_e have been evaluated for CH₃⁷⁹Br, CH₃⁸¹Br, CD₃⁷⁹Br, CD₃⁸¹Br, from which the following equilibrium structure is obtained: r_e(C---H) = 1.0823 Å; r_e(C---Br) = 1.9340 Å; α(HCH) = 111.157°.     

Magnetic structures determined by neutron diffraction in the EuBϵ−xCx system

Magnetic structures of pure and carbon-doped europium hexaboride EuB_6?xC_x, were determined by neutron diffraction on powders prepared from ¹¹B and ¹⁵³Eu. EuB₆ is a simple ferromagnet, whereas the x = 0.20 compound has an incommensurate spiral structure with propagation vector τ = (0.28, 0, 0). Data for a magnetically inhomogeneous intermediate composition, x = 0.05, indicate a mixture of ferromagnetic and helimagnetic domains with τ = (0, 0, 0.104). Helimagnetism in EuB_6?xC_x arises from a competition between ferromagnetic near-neighbour exchange and antiferromagnetic interactions due to conduction electrons.     

Contact dynamics in a gently vibrated granular pile

We use multispeckle diffusive wave spectroscopy to probe the micron-scale dynamics of a water-saturated granular pile submitted to discrete gentle taps. The typical time scale between plastic events is found to increase dramatically with the number of applied taps. Furthermore, this microscopic dynamics weakly depends on the solid fraction of the sample. This process is largely analogous to the aging phenomenon observed in thermal glassy systems. We propose a heuristic model where this slowing-down mechanism is associated with a slow evolution of the distribution of the contact forces between particles. This model accounts for the main features of the observed dynamics.