250 W single-crystal fiber Yb:YAG laser

We demonstrate an Yb:YAG single-crystal fiber laser with 251 W output power in continuous-wave and an optical efficiency of 44%. This performance can be explained by the high overlap between pump and signal beams brought by the pump guiding and by the good thermal management provided by the single-crystal fiber geometry. The oscillator performance with a reflectivity of the output coupler as low as 20% also shows high potential for power amplification.     

High power laser operation with crystal fibers

We present the very last results on the development of high-power lasers with crystal fibers in Nd:YAG and in Yb:YAG grown by the Micro-Pulling Down technique. An overview of the main optical properties of the grown crystal fibers is given as well as the principles of the diode-pumped systems are developed. The average output power obtained with those materials reaches now several tens of watts in the CW regime and in high repetition rate Q-switched operation. Pulses with an energy of several millijoules have been obtained with pulse durations from 10 to 20 ns and peak powers from 100 kW to 350 kW. In each case, the measured M ² quality factors remained in the range 2.5 to 5. In addition, the first demonstration of high-power laser emission with an Yb:YAG crystal fiber of 0.4 mm in diameter is reported. In this case, we obtained an output power of 27 W at 1030 nm under 100 W of pump power at 940 nm in CW regime. To our knowledge, those results represent the highest powers ever generated with crystal fibers obtained directly from the growth. We finally conclude this work by exposing the potential of crystal fiber lasers for a new generation of high-power laser systems.     

Monodisperse drop formation in square microchannels

The electrohydrodynamic instability of the interface between two liquids with different physical and electrical properties in plane Poiseuille flow is used to form monodisperse droplets in a square channel. The drop size and formation rate are controlled by simply controlling the flow rates and the amplitude of the electric field applied across the channel.     

A Chimera method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

The Chimera method was developed three decades ago as a meshing simplification tool. Different components are meshed independently and then glued together using a domain decomposition technique to couple the equations solved on each component. This coupling is achieved via transmission conditions (in the finite element context) or by imposing the continuity of fluxes (in the finite volume context). Historically, the method has then been used extensively to treat moving objects, as the independent meshes are free to move with respect to the others. At each time step, the main task consists in recomputing the interpolation of the transmission conditions or fluxes. This paper presents a Chimera method applied to the Navier–Stokes equations. After an introduction on the Chimera method, we describe in two different sections the two independent steps of the method: the hole cutting to create the interfaces of the subdomains and the coupling of the subdomains. Then, we present the Navier–Stokes solver considered in this work. Implementation aspects are then detailed in order to apply efficiently the method to this specific parallel Navier–Stokes solver. We conclude with some examples to demonstrate the reliability and application of the proposed method. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Random Wavelet Series

This paper concerns the study of functions which are known through the statistics of their wavelet coefficients. We first obtain sharp bounds on spectra of singularities and spectra of oscillating singularities, which are deduced from the sole knowledge of the wavelet histograms. Then we study a mathematical model which has been considered both in the contexts of turbulence and signal processing: random wavelet series, obtained by picking independently wavelet coefficients at each scale, following a given sequence of probability laws. The sample paths of the processes thus constructed are almost surely multifractal functions, and their spectrum of singularities and their spectrum of oscillating singularities are determined. The bounds obtained in the first part are optimal, since they become equalities in the case of random wavelet series. This allows to derive a new multifractal formalism which has a wider range of validity than those that were previously proposed in the context of fully developed turbulence. Received: 15 December 2000 / Accepted: 20 December 2001     

Wave propagation phenomena from a spatiotemporal viewpoint: Resonances and bifurcations

By using biorthogonal decompositions, we show how uniformly propagating waves, togehter with their velocity, shape, and amplitude, can be extracted from a spatiotemporal signal consisting of the superposition of various traveling waves. The interaction between the different waves manifests itself in space-time resonances in case of a discrete biorthogonal spectrum and in resonant wavepackets in case of a continuous biorthogonal spectrum. Resonances appear as invariant subspaces under the biorthogonal operator, which leads to closed sets of algebraic equations. The analysis is then extended to superpositions of dispersive waves for which the (Fourier) dispersion relation is no longer linear. We then show how a space-time bifurcation, namely a qualitative change in the spatiotemporal nature of the solution, occurs when the biorthogonal operator is a nonholomorphic function of a parameter. This takes place when two eigenvalues are degenerate in the biorthogonal spectrum and when the spatial and temporal eigenvectors rotate within each eigenspace. Such a scenario applied to the superposition of traveling waves leads to the generation of additional waves propagating at new velocities, which can be computed from the spatial and temporal eigenmodes involved in the process (namely the shape of the propagating waves slightly before the bifurcation). An eigenvalue degeneracy, however, does not necessarily lead to a bifurcation, a situation we refer to as being self-avoiding. We illustrate our theoretical predictions by giving examples of bifurcating and self-avoiding events in propagating phenomena.     

Enhancement of microfluidic mixing using time pulsing

Many microfluidic applications require the mixing of reagents, but efficient mixing in these laminar (i.e., low Reynolds number) systems is typically difficult. Instead of using complex geometries and/or relatively long channels, we demonstrate the merits of flow rate time dependency through periodic forcing. We illustrate the technique by studying mixing in a simple "T" channel intersection by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as well as physically mixing two aqueous reagents. The "T" geometry selected consists of two inlet channel segments merging at 90 degrees to each other, the outlet segment being an extension of one of the inlet segments. All channel segments are 200 microm wide by 120 microm deep, a practical scale for mass-produced disposable devices. The flow rate and average velocity after the confluence of the two reagents are 48 nl s(-1) and 2 mm s(-1) respectively, which, for aqueous solutions at room temperature, corresponds to a Reynolds number of 0.3. We use a mass diffusion constant of 10(-10) m(2) s(-1), typical of many BioMEMS applications, and vary the flow rates of the reagents such that the average flow rate remains unchanged but the instantaneous flow rate is sinusoidal (with a DC bias) with respect to time. We analyze the effect of pulsing the flow rate in one inlet only as well as in the two inlets, and demonstrate that the best results occur when both inlets are pulsed out of phase. In this case, the interface is shown to stretch, retain one fold, and sweep through the confluence zone, leading to good mixing within 2 mm downstream of the confluence, i.e. about 1 s of contact. From a practical viewpoint, the case where the inlets are 180 degrees out of phase is of particular interest as the outflow is constant.     

Photosensitized conversion of 9,10-deoxytridachione to photodeoxytridachione

[reaction: see text] The photochemical conversion of 9,10-deoxytridachione to photodeoxytridachione has been photosensitized. The conversion was also quenched by piperylene. Photodeoxytridachione was produced in good yields under conditions in which only the cyclohexadiene group is sensitized. The results show that some, and perhaps all, of the photoreactions of 9,10-deoxytridachione occur through a triplet excited state. The mechanistic and biosynthetic implications of these results are discussed.