Development of a time-resolved white-light interference microscope for optical phase measurements during fs-laser material processing

A modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer set-up combined with microscope objectives has been developed for the measurement of phase changes in the processed material sample, like modification and melting of glass. The white light is generated by focusing ultrafast laser radiation (t _p=80 fs) in a sapphire crystal using a micro-lens array to minimize temporal and spatial fluctuations in the white-light continuum. Lateral and coaxial pump-probe measurements of the phase changes during material processing are performed using two coupled ultrafast laser sources at different repetition rates (f _rep=1 Hz–1 MHz). The optical phase shift and therefore the refractive index of the material are calculated from the interference images using two approaches. The knowledge of the refractive index during the laser processing with a temporal resolution in the ps-range and a spatial resolution of several microns leads to a better understanding of the initial processes for the permanent material modifications.     

Quantum-chemical study of the interface formed by carboxylic species on TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles. 1. Nanoparticle surface

The current paper presents results of a quantum-chemical study of the surface structure of nanoparticles of both rutile and anatase crystallographic modifications. Different stages of the surface relaxation are discussed. Water adsorption is considered. The calculations were performed in the spd-basis by using semi-empirical quantum-chemical codes, both sequential and parallel. The results are mainly addressed to the study of the interface formed by titania nanoparticles and a set of carboxylated species, namely, benzoic, bi-isonicotinic acids as well as tris-(2,2′-dcbipyridine) Fe(II) complex placed on the surface of either rutile or anatase polymorphs.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected issue number.     

Ring resonator in a Sagnac interferometer as a birefringence magnifier

A novel birefringence magnification technique that uses a ring resonator in a Sagnac interferometer is proposed and demonstrated. An enhancement factor of 38 was obtained experimentally. The scheme can be used to increase measurement sensitivity to small birefringence and polarization mode dispersion and to decrease the threshold for nonlinear switching and laser mode locking by a Sagnac interferometer.     

Complete band gaps in one-dimensional left-handed periodic structures

Artificially fabricated structures with periodically modulated parameters such as photonic crystals offer novel ways of controlling the flow of light due to the existence of a range of forbidden frequencies associated with a photonic band gap. It is believed that modulation of the refractive index in all three spatial dimensions is required to open a complete band gap and prevent the propagation of electromagnetic waves in all directions. Here we reveal that, in sharp contrast to what was known before and contrary to the accepted physical intuition, a one-dimensional periodic structure containing the layers of transparent left-handed (or negative-index) metamaterial can trap light in three-dimensional space due to the existence of a complete band gap.     

Electrophilic aromatic substitution by the fluorofullerene C60F18

The FeCl3-catalysed arylation of C60F18 gives tri-substituted compounds C60F15Ar3, where Ar=phenyl, 4-tolyl, 4-methoxyphenyl, 4-phenoxyphenyl, 4-chlorophenyl, 3,4-dichlorophenyl, 2-biphylenyl and 2-fluorenyl, together with some bis- and mono-substituted product. Bis-substitution was achieved with biphenylene and fluoranthene, and mono-substitution with biphenylene (2-position), pyrene (1-position), and naphthalene (1- and 2-positions); the tris-phenyl and tris-biphenylene derivatives are fluorescent. The 2-naphthyl substituent freely rotates at 328 K, whereas rotation of the 1-naphthyl substituent is prevented by interaction of the peri-hydrogen atom with fluorine. The 1-naphthyl derivative eliminates a molecule of HF during EI mass spectrometry, whilst the 2-naphthyl derivative eliminates HF and all fluorenes to give a naphthaleno[60]fullerene. The reaction rate is relatively unaffected by electron supply in the aryl rings, but no product was obtained with benzotrifluoride which defines the lower reactivity limit. The low discrimination between aromatics makes it possible to isolate derivatives having different aryl groups attached to the cage. Reactions occur mainly when the reagent solutions (or solutions in 1,2-dichlorobenzene) are evaporated to dryness. In most FeCl3-catalysed reactions, unreacted C60F18 was recovered, more if the less effective SnCl4 was used as a catalyst; use of AlCl3 resulted in polyarylation and degradation of the C60F18. The structure of C60F17(1-biphenylyl) was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Reaction of C60F18 with perylene/FeCl3/o-dichlorobenzene gave red fluorescent "tagliatelli"-like threads (up to 1 cm long) of self-assembled pi-stacked tetrachloroperylene arising from chlorination by FeCl3.     

Electromagnetic realization of orders-of-magnitude tunneling enhancement in a double well system

We report on tunneling enhancement in a periodically perturbed double well system. The double well system was realized by a structure of two optical waveguides. The transfer of light power from one waveguide to the another as induced by the periodic variations of the waveguide geometry was investigated. Our experimental measurements show that, in the presence of periodic perturbation, this transfer of light power can be enhanced by more than 500 times. We use an analogy between electromagnetic wave optics and the quantum wave phenomena to provide an experimental support to the theoretical model of tunneling enhancement of a quantum particle, facilitated by its interaction with auxiliary quantum states.     

Two-detector reactor neutrino oscillation experiment Kr2Det at Krasnoyarsk: Status report

We consider the status of the Kr2Det project aimed at sensitive searches for neutrino oscillations in the atmospheric neutrino mass parameter region around Δm² ～ 3×10^?3 eV² and at obtaining new information on the electron neutrino mass structure (U_e3).