Multiwavelength actively mode-locked fiber ring laser with a dispersion compensated cavity

A multiwavelength actively mode-locked fiber ring laser that utilises a single semiconductor optical amplifier as both a gain and mode-locking element is presented. It is verified experimentally that the number of mode-locked wavelengths may be maximised by compensating for the anomalous intra-cavity dispersion. This is achieved through the inclusion of an appropriate length of normal dispersion fiber in the laser cavity. Using this technique, the number of wavelengths simultaneously mode-locked at 10 GHz was increased from 2 to 5.     

Computational and experimental investigation of the interaction of soot and NO in coflow diffusion flames

A combined computational and experimental investigation that examines the relationship of soot formation and NO in coflow ethylene air diffusion flames is presented. While both NO and soot formation are often studied independently, there is a need to understand their coupled relationship as a function of system parameters such as fuel type, temperature and pressure. The temperature decrease due to radiative losses in systems in which significant soot is produced can affect flame length and other temperature-dependent processes such as the formation of NO. The results of a computational model that includes a sectional representation for soot formation with a radiation model are compared against laser-induced fluorescence measurements of NO. The sooting characteristics of these flames have been studied previously. Experimentally, a laser near 225.8 nm is used to excite the γ(0, 0) band in NO. Spectrally resolved fluorescence emission is imaged radially, for the (0, 0), (0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 3), and (0, 4) vibrational bands, at varying axial heights to create a two-dimensional image of NO fluorescence. A reverse quenching correction is applied to the computational results to determine an expected fluorescence signal for comparison with experimental results. Modeling results confirm that Fenimore NO is the dominant mechanism for NO production and suggest that for lightly sooting flames (peak soot volume fraction < 0.5 ppm), soot reduces only the Zeldovich NO formation (by a factor of two). For flames with increased soot levels (peak soot volume fraction ∼ 4 ppm), the model indicates not only that Zeldovich NO decreases by a factor of 2.5 through radiation loss, but that non-Zeldovich NO is reduced in the top center of the flame by about 30% through the oxidation of soot.     

Observation of an exotic baryon with S=+1 in photoproduction from the proton

The reaction gamma p-->pi(+)K(-)K(+)n was studied at Jefferson Laboratory using a tagged photon beam with an energy range of 3-5.47 GeV. A narrow baryon state with strangeness S=+1 and mass M=1555+/-10 MeV/c(2) was observed in the nK(+) invariant mass spectrum. The peak's width is consistent with the CLAS resolution (FWHM=26 MeV/c(2)), and its statistical significance is (7.8+/-1.0)sigma. A baryon with positive strangeness has exotic structure and cannot be described in the framework of the naive constituent quark model. The mass of the observed state is consistent with the mass predicted by the chiral soliton model for the Theta(+) baryon. In addition, the pK(+) invariant mass distribution was analyzed in the reaction gamma p-->K(-)K(+)p with high statistics in search of doubly charged exotic baryon states. No resonance structures were found in this spectrum.     

Random depth access full-field heterodyne low-coherence interferometry utilizing acousto-optic modulation and a complementary metaloxide semiconductor camera

With analog scanning, time-domain low-coherence interferometry lacks precise depth information, and optical carrier generation demands a linear scanning speed. Full-field heterodyne low-coherence interferometry that uses a logarithmic complementary metal-oxide semiconductor camera, acousto-optic modulation, and digital depth stepping is reported, with which random regions of interest, lateral and axial, can be accessed. Furthermore, nanometer profilometry is possible through heterodyne phase retrieval of the interference signal. The approach demonstrates inexpensive yet high-precision functional machine vision offering true digital random access in three dimensions.     

Femtosecond pulse shaping using counter-propagating pulses in a semiconductor optical amplifier

An efficient pulse shaping method using counter-propagating pulses in the femtosecond regime is proposed and investigated. The effects of pump pulse power and pulsewidth on probe pulse are studied in counter-propagation scheme. It is shown that, with the proposed method, output probe pulse temporal and spectral peak shift due to femtosecond nonlinearities can be compensated, while the output pulse is amplified sufficiently. Furthermore, in relatively high power regime, the probe pulsewidth and time-bandwidth product are improved using counter-propagating pump pulse.     

Eta photoproduction on the proton for photon energies from 0.75 to 1.95 GeV

Differential cross sections for gammap-->etap have been measured with tagged real photons for incident photon energies from 0.75 to 1.95 GeV. Mesons were identified by missing mass reconstruction using kinematical information for protons scattered in the production process. The data provide the first extensive angular distribution measurements for the process above W=1.75 GeV. Comparison with preliminary results from a constituent quark model support the suggestion that a third S11 resonance with mass approximately 1.8 GeV couples to the etaN channel.     

Frequency-resolving spatiotemporal wave-front sensor

We report on a high-resolution wave-front sensor that measures the complete spatial profile of any frequency component of a laser field containing multiple frequencies. This probe technique was developed to address the necessity of measuring the spatial overlap of the carrier field with each sideband component of the field exiting the output port of a gravitational-wave interferometer. We present the results of an experimental test of the probe, where we were able to construct the spatial profile of a single radio-frequency sideband at the level of -50 dBc.     

Smectic rheology

We have studied the oscillatory shear response of three thermotropic smectic-A liquid crystalline materials with no external aligning field (other than the necessary presence of rheometer plates). Two are polymers (one main-chain and one side-chain) and the other is a small molecule smectic. All three exhibit the classical linear response to oscillatory shear characteristic of a viscoelastic solid at sufficiently small strain amplitudes and frequencies. However, for strain amplitudes exceeding a small critical value, these materials exhibit a strongly nonlinear response to strain, which is characterized in detail. While the low-strain moduli and the critical strain of the three smectics are considerably different, the nonlinear response has some universal character which is presumably related to the low energy for the formation of defects in smectic liquid crystals.