Experimental study of a plasma-filled backward wave oscillator

Experimental studies of a plasma-filled X-band backward-wave oscillator (BWO) are presented. Depending on the background gas pressure, microwave frequency upshifts of up to 1 GHz appeared along with an enhancement by a factor of 7 in the total microwave power emission. The bandwidth of the microwave emission increased from ⩽0.5 GHz to 2 GHz when the BWO was working at the RF power enhancement pressure region. The RF power enhancement appeared over a much wider pressure range in a high beam current case (10-100 mT for 3 kA) than in a lower beam case (80-115 mT for 1.6 kA). The plasma-filled BWO has higher power output than the vacuum BWO over a broader region of magnetic guide field strength. Trivelpiece-Gould modes (T-G modes) are observed with frequencies up to the background plasma frequency in a plasma-filled BWO. Mode competition between the T-G modes and the X-band Tm₀₁ mode prevailed when the background plasma density was below 6×10¹¹ cm^-3 . At a critical background plasma density of ≃8×10¹¹ cm^-3 power enhancement appeared in both X-band and the T-G modes. Power enhancement of the S-band in this mode collaboration region reached up to 8 dB. Electric fields measured by the Stark-effect method were as high as 34 kV/cm while the BWO power level was 80 MW. These electric fields lasted throughout the high-power microwave pulse     

Infrared and Raman investigation of the charge–density-wave state in rare-earth tri-telluride compounds

We summarize our recent efforts in investigating the charge–density-wave (CDW) state of the rare-earth tri-tellurides RTe₃ by means of infrared and Raman techniques. We identify the CDW gap, as order parameter of the broken-symmetry ground state, as well as the collective mode of the CDW condensate.     

Phase diagram of the A and B phases of superfluid 3He in aerogel

We report the first measurements of the A-B phase transition of superfluid 3He confined within 98% silica aerogel in high magnetic fields and low temperatures. A disk of aerogel is attached to a vibrating wire resonator. The resonant frequency yields a measure of the superfluid fraction rho(s)/rho of the 3He within the aerogel. The inferred rho(s)/rho value increases substantially at the A-to- B transition of the confined superfluid, allowing us to map the A-B phase diagram as a function of field and temperature. At 4.8 bars, the B-T transition curve looks very similar to that in bulk with a simple reduction factor of order 0.45 for both transition field and temperature.     

Reconnection dynamics for quantized vortices

By analyzing trajectories of solid hydrogen tracers in superfluid ⁴He, we identify tens of thousands of individual reconnection events between quantized vortices. We characterize the dynamics by the minimum separation distance δ(t) between the two reconnecting vortices both before and after the events. Applying dimensional arguments, this separation has been predicted to behave asymptotically as δ(t)≈A(κ|t−t₀|)^1/2, where κ=h/m is the quantum of circulation. The major finding of the experiments and their analysis is strong support for this asymptotic form with κ as the dominant controlling feature, although there are significant event to event fluctuations. At the three-parameter level the dynamics may be about equally well-fit by two modified expressions: (a) an arbitrary power-law expression of the form δ(t)=B|t−t₀|^α and (b) a correction-factor expression δ(t)=A(κ|t−t₀|)^1/2(1+c|t−t₀|). The measured frequency distribution of α is peaked at the predicted value α=0.5, although the half-height values are α=0.35 and 0.80 and there is marked variation in all fitted quantities. Accepting (b) the amplitude A has mean values of 1.24±0.01 and half height values of 0.8 and 1.6 while the c distribution is peaked close to c=0 with a half-height range of −0.9 s⁻¹ to 1.5 s⁻¹. In light of possible physical interpretations we regard the correction-factor expression (b), which attributes the observed deviations from the predicted asymptotic form to fluctuations in the local environment and in boundary conditions, as best describing our experimental data. The observed dynamics appear statistically time-reversible, which suggests that an effective equilibrium has been established in quantum turbulence on the time scales (≤0.25 s) investigated. We discuss the impact of reconnection on velocity statistics in quantum turbulence and, as regards classical turbulence, we argue that forms analogous to (b) could well provide an alternative interpretation of the observed deviations from Kolmogorov scaling exponents of the longitudinal structure functions.     

Suppression of magnetic relaxation by a transverse alternating magnetic field

The evolution of the spatial distribution of the magnetic induction in a superconductor after the action of the alternating magnetic field perpendicular to the trapped magnetic flux has been analyzed. The observed stabilization of the magnetic induction profile is attributed to the increase in the pinning force, so that the screening current density becomes subcritical. The last statement is corroborated by direct measurements.