Tunable,dual-wavelength interferometrically coupled continuous-wave parametric source

Generation of dual-wavelength continuous-wave (cw) radiation with independent and arbitrarily tuning, and indefinitely close spacing, using two cw optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) coupled with an anti-resonant ring interferometer is reported. The singly resonant OPOs, based on identical 30-mm-long MgO:sPPLT crystals, are pumped by a single cw laser at 532 nm. Two pairs of signal and idler wavelengths can be independently and arbitrarily tuned, with each signal (idler) pair tuned through degeneracy and beyond. Frequency separation between two distinct resonant signal waves from 7 down to 0.8 THz is demonstrated, and their overlap at 951 nm providing a frequency difference as small as ~220 MHz is shown. The OPOs independently provide a signal (idler) wavelength coverage across 870–1,000 nm (1,040–1,370 nm) and simultaneously generate idler powers of >1 W.     

Compact, 1.5 mJ, 450 MHz, CdSiP2 picosecond optical parametric oscillator near 6.3 μm

We report a compact, efficient, high-energy, and high-repetition-rate mid-IR picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the new nonlinear material CdSiP(2) (CSP). The OPO is synchronously pumped by a master oscillator power amplifier system at 1064.1 nm, providing 1 μs long macropulses constituting 8.6 ps micropulses at 450 MHz, and it can be tuned over 486 nm across 6091-6577 nm, covering the technologically important wavelength range for surgical applications. Using a compact (～30 cm) cavity and improved, high-quality nonlinear crystal, idler macropulse energy as high as 1.5 mJ has been obtained at 6275 nm at a photon conversion efficiency of 29.5%, with >1.2 mJ over more than 68% of the tuning range, for an input macropulse energy of 30 mJ. Both the signal and idler beams are recorded to have good beam quality with a Gaussian spatial profile, and the extracted signal pulses are measured to have durations of 10.6 ps. Further, from the experimentally measured transmission data at 1064 nm, we have estimated the two-photon absorption coefficient of CSP to be β=2.4 cm/GW, with a corresponding energy bandgap, E(g)=2.08 eV.     

Interferometric output coupling of ring optical oscillators

We demonstrate the successful deployment of an antiresonant ring (ARR) interferometer within a ring optical resonator and its use for absolute optimization of output power. The integration of the ARR interferometer in a folded arm of the ring oscillator provides continuously variable output coupling over broad spectral range and under any operating conditions. We demonstrate the technique using a picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO), where we show continuously adjustable output coupling and optimization of the output power for different pump power conditions, from 3.5 W to 13.5 W. By operating the OPO under an optimized output coupling at 14 W of pump power, we obtain >5 W of extracted signal power, more than 2.6 times that with a ~5% conventional output coupler. We also show that the inclusion of the ARR interferometer has no detrimental effect on the spatial, temporal, and spectral characteristics of OPO output.     

Vibrational assignment of the spectral data and thermodynamic properties of 2-chloro-4-fluorobenzophenone using DFT quantum chemical calculations

The FT-Raman (3500-100 cm⁻¹) and FT-IR (4000-450 cm⁻¹) spectra of 2-chloro-4-fluorobenzophenone were recorded in the solid phase. Density functional theory calculations with B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) basis set was used to determine the ground state molecular geometries (bond lengths and bond angles), harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and Raman activities of this compound. Potential energy distributions (PEDs) and normal modes, for the spectral data computed at B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) level, have also been obtained from force-field calculations. The wavenumbers found after scaling of the force field showed very good agreement with the experimentally determined values. A comparison of the theoretical spectra and experimental FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of the title molecule has been made and full vibrational assignments of the observed spectra have been proposed. On the basis of vibrational analyses, the thermodynamic properties of title compound at different temperatures have been calculated.     

A Catalyst‐free Green Protocol for the Synthesis of Pyranopyrazoles Using Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Choline Chloride‐urea

An efficient and rapid four component reaction of aldehydes, malanonitrile, β‐ketoesters and hydrazine hydrate (or phenyl hydrazine) in environmentally benign room temperature ionic liquid choline chloride‐urea has been developed for the synthesis of substituted 4H‐pyrano[2,3‐c]pyrazoles.     

Cover Picture: Compartmentalization of Chemically Separated Components into Droplets (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 15/2009)

Electroosmotic‐flow‐driven droplet generation integrated with capillary electrophoresis (CE) allows the molecular components separated by CE to be compartmentalized into a stream of droplets, as reported by D. T. Chiu and co‐workers in their Communication on page 2719 ff. and illustrated on the cover picture. After separation and droplet compartmentalization, the droplet‐confined bands either can be docked and studied on‐chip or removed off‐chip for a second‐dimension separation and further analysis.

     

Magnetic domain observations in Fe-Ga alloys

The domain structure of Fe-Ga bulk alloys is investigated with magnetic force (MFM) and magneto-optic Kerr microscopy. Published domain observations on this class of materials predominantly reveal maze-like domain patterns that indicate out-of-plane magnetization, i.e. out-of-plane anisotropy. Contrary to the belief that this anisotropy is due to the presence of nanoscale heterogeneities [1] and [2] (Bai et al., 2005, 2009), we show that it is due to a damaged surface layer caused by standard mechanical polishing. The surface conditions in Fe-Ga alloys are more sensitive to stress-induced damage than in pure α-Fe. This is explained as being due to increased magnetostriction. We demonstrate that the damaged surface layer can be removed with an additional polishing step using colloidal amorphous silica. On (0 0 1) bulk crystal surfaces, the domain structures, obtained after the removal of the damaged surface layer, reveal in-plane magnetization with sharp and straight 90° and 180° domain walls that are expected in these alloys.     

Multicrystal, continuous-wave, single-pass second-harmonic generation with 56% efficiency

We report a simple and compact implementation for single-pass second-harmonic-generation (SP-SHG) of cw laser radiation, based on a cascaded multicrystal (MC) scheme, that can provide the highest conversion efficiency at any given fundamental power. By deploying a suitable number of identical 30-mm-long MgO:sPPLT crystals in a cascade and a 30W cw Yb-fiber laser at 1064nm as the fundamental source, we demonstrate SP-SHG into the green with a conversion efficiency as high as 56% in the low-power as well as the high-power regime, providing 5.6W of green output for 10W and 13W of green output for 25.1W of input pump power. The MC scheme permits substantial increase in cw SP-SHG efficiency compared to the conventional single-crystal scheme without compromising performance with regard to power stability and beam quality.     

Ferromagnetism driven by intrinsic point defects in HfO(2)

In view of recent experimental reports of unexpected ferromagnetism in HfO(2) thin films, we carried out first-principles investigations looking for magnetic order possibly brought about by the presence of small concentrations of intrinsic point defects. Ab initio electronic structure calculations using density functional theory show that isolated cation vacancy sites in HfO(2) lead to the formation of high-spin defect states. Furthermore these appear to be ferromagnetically coupled with a rather short range magnetic interaction, resulting in a ferromagnetic ground state for the whole system. More interestingly, the occurrence of these high-spin states and ferromagnetism is in the low symmetry monoclinic phase of HfO(2). This is radically different from other systems previously known to exhibit point defect ferromagnetism, warranting a closer look at the phenomenon.