Optical amplification of photoinduced polarizability gratings in phosphate glasses

It is experimentally demonstrated that second-order polarizability gratings preliminarily recorded using bichromatic light in a phosphate glass can be amplified under the action of monochromatic radiation. The amplification effect takes place irrespective of the polarization and direction of propagation of the amplifying radiation and is achieved at various wavelengths. The phenomenon is related to the asymmetry of optical transitions between local centers in an isotropic medium in the presence of electric field. It is theoretically shown that this system may feature the formation of alternating electric field domains with dimensions depending on the grating amplitude.     

High accuracy description of radiative return production of low-mass muon and pion pairs at <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> colliders

The process of muon (pion) pair production with small invariant mass in electron-positron high-energy annihilation, accompanied by emission of a hard photon at large angles, is considered. We find that the Drell-Yan picture for the differential cross section is valid in the charge-even experimental setup. Radiative corrections both for the electron block and for the final-state block are taken into account.     

Thermodynamically stable fractal-like domain structures in magnetic films

A fractal-like structure of the domain boundaries was revealed in “overcritical” uniaxial Permalloy magnetic films. The fractal dimension of domain boundaries at the film surfaces was determined as a function of the film thickness. It is shown that the phase transition between the two possible types of fractal-like structures is accompanied by a jump in fractal dimension.

     

On the sigma-model structure of type IIA supergravity action in doubled field approach

In this letter, we describe how to string together the doubled field approach by Cremmer, Julia, Lü, and Pope with the Pasti-Sorokin-Tonin technique to construct the sigma-model-like action for type IIA supergravity. The relation of the results with those obtained in the context of searching for superstring/M-theory hidden symmetry group is discussed.     

On a collective attack on the key in quantum cryptography on two nonorthogonal states

A “collective” attack on the key is considered, and its connection with the classical capacity of a quantum communication channel is analyzed. It has been shown that the allowable error probability for legitimate users to which the secure key can be extracted is less than half the value for “translucent” eavesdropping and individual measurements.     

Spatial-temporal ion structures in the earth’s magnetotail: Beamlets as a result of nonadiabatic impulse acceleration of the plasma

The properties of high-energy ion beams (beamlets) observed in the boundary layer of the plasma sheet of the Earth’s magnetotail during short time intervals (1–2 min) have been considered. Beamlets are induced by nonlinear impulse accelerating processes occurring in the current sheet of the far regions of the geomagnetic tail. Then, moving toward the Earth along the magnetic field lines, they are detected in the magnetotail (in the plasma sheet boundary layer) and in the high-latitude part of the auroral zone in the form of short bursts of high-energy ions (with energies of several tens of keVs). The size of the localization region of the beamlets in the magnetotail and auroral zone has been determined by the epoch-superposition method, and it has been shown that beamlets are concentrated in a narrow region near the plasma sheet boundary, whose latitude size is no more than 0.8δ. This conclusion corroborates the theoretical prediction that the nonadiabatic resonant acceleration of ions occurs in a spatially localized region near the separatrix separating the open magnetic field lines and closed field lines, which contain the hot and isotropic plasmas of the plasma sheet. Based on the CLUSTER multisatellite measurements, the spatial structure of beamlets is analyzed and it has been found that the Alfvén wave arises due to the excitation of fire-hose instability at the instant of the exit of the ion beam from the current sheet to the high-latitude region of the far tail of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The longitudinal (along the magnetic field) and transverse sizes of a beamlet are estimated. It has been found that the beamlet is a dynamic plasma structure whose longitudinal size is several hundred times larger than its transverse size.     

Self-Diffraction of Bessel Light Beams in a Nonlinear Medium

The phenomenon of self-diffraction of Bessel light beams (BLB) in a nonlinear liquid medium has been studied experimentally and theoretically for the first time. Diffraction maxima which do not correspond to integer orders for an induced periodic structure have been registered. It has been shown that the appearance of these maxima is due to the initial BLB modulation, which can be caused by the departure of the axicon refracting surface from the ideal conical surface, as well as by the imperfection of the form of the Gaussian beam incident on the axicon.     

An interference method for studying a substance in the vicinity of its critical point

An interference method for measuring certain parameters of a substance in the vicinity of the critical state is proposed. The essence of the method is to decipher the interference pattern arising upon grazing incidence of a laser beam on a curved liquid-vapor interface. The deciphering allows one to determine the difference between the refractive indices of the two phases and the scaling factor of the wetting meniscus shape. This, in turn, makes it possible to calculate the critical exponents for the temperature dependences of the surface tension and the difference in the densities of the two phases. The ratio of these critical exponents for xenon, measured in the paper, is 3.81±0.03.     

Capacity Constrained Transit Assignment with Common Lines

This paper proposes the use of absorbing Markov chains to solve the capacity constrained transit network loading problem taking common lines into account. The approach handles congested transit networks, where some passengers will not be able to board because of the absence of sufficient space. The model also handles the common lines problem, where choice of route depends on frequency of arrivals. The mathematical formulation of the problem is presented together with a numerical example. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characteristic polynomials of complex random matrix models

We calculate the expectation value of an arbitrary product of characteristic polynomials of complex random matrices and their Hermitian conjugates. Using the technique of orthogonal polynomials in the complex plane our result can be written in terms of a determinant containing these polynomials and their kernel. It generalizes the known expression for Hermitian matrices and it also provides a generalization of the Christoffel formula to the complex plane. The derivation we present holds for complex matrix models with a general weight function at finite-N, where N is the size of the matrix. We give some explicit examples at finite-N for specific weight functions. The characteristic polynomials in the large-N limit at weak and strong non-hermiticity follow easily and they are universal in the weak limit. We also comment on the issue of the BMN large-N limit.