Backscatter reduction using combined spatial, temporal, and polarization beam smoothing in a long-scale-length laser plasma

Spatial, temporal, and polarization smoothing schemes are combined for the first time to reduce to a few percent the total stimulated backscatter of a NIF-like probe laser beam (2x10(15) W/cm (2), 351 nm, f/8) in a long-scale-length laser plasma. Combining temporal and polarization smoothing reduces simulated Brillouin scattering and simulated Raman scattering (SRS) up to an order of magnitude although neither smoothing scheme by itself is uniformly effective. The results agree with trends observed in simulations performed with the laser-plasma interaction code F3D simulations [R. L. Berger et al., Phys. Plasma 6, 1043 (1999)].     

Synthesis of superheavy nuclei in the reactions of 244Pu and 248Cm with 48Ca

This paper presents results of the experiments aimed at producing long-lived superheavy elements located near the spherical-shell closures with Z ⩾ 114 and N ⩾ 172 in the ²⁴⁴Pu + ⁴⁸Ca and ²⁴⁸Cm + ⁴⁸Ca reactions. The large measured α-particle energies of the newly observed nuclei, together with the long decay times and spontaneous fission terminating the chains, offer evidence of the decay of nuclei with high atomic numbers. The decay properties of the synthesized nuclei are consistent with the consecutive α-decays originating from the parent nuclides ^{288, 289}114 and ²⁹²116, produced in the 3n and 4n evaporation channels with cross-sections of about a picobarn. The present observations can be considered as experimental evidence of the existence of the “island of stability” of superheavy elements. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: utyonkov@sungns.jinr.ru     

Lattice substitution systems and model sets

This paper studies ways in which the sets of a partition of a lattice in \Bbb R ⁿ become regular model sets. The main theorem gives equivalent conditions which assure that a matrix substitution system on a lattice in \Bbb R ⁿ gives rise to regular model sets (based on p -adic-like internal spaces), and hence to pure point diffractive sets. The methods developed here are used to show that the n -dimensional chair tiling and the sphinx tiling are pure point diffractive. Received January 13, 2000, and in revised form May 30, 2000. Online publication January 17, 2001.     

Production of double-sided targets by electrodeposition: initial evaluation and optimization of performance

The Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) located at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is used to perform neutron capture cross-section measurements on radioactive and non-radioactive isotopes. Thin actinide targets for the DANCE detector are typically prepared by molecular deposition on thin titanium foils. For the preparation of double-sided deposits, a Teflon electrodeposition cell was constructed with two liquid chambers with a foil substrate in between, allowing electrodeposition on both sides of the foil. We have been studying the electrodeposition of uranium from isopropyl alcohol solutions using this cell. Effects of acid composition, uranium concentration, current, and deposition time will be described.     

Fusion-fission of heavy and superheavy nuclei

The process of fusion-fission of heavy and superheavy nuclei (SHE) with Z=82–122 formed in the reactions with ⁴⁸Ca and ⁵⁸Fe ions at energies near and below the Coulomb barrier has been studied. The experiments were carried out at the U-400 accelerator of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (JINR) and at the XTU Tandem accelerator of the National Laboratory of Legnaro (LNL) using the time-of-flight spectrometer of fission fragments CORSET and the neutron multidetector DEMON. As a result of the experiments, mass and energy distributions (MED) of fission fragments; fission, quasifission, and evaporation residue cross sections; and multiplicities of neutrons and γ-quanta and their dependences on the mechanism of formation and decay of compound systems have been studied.     

On computing minimal realizable spectral radii of non‐negative matrices

For decades considerable efforts have been exerted to resolve the inverse eigenvalue problem for non‐negative matrices. Yet fundamental issues such as the theory of existence and the practice of computation remain open. Recently, it has been proved that, given an arbitrary (n–1)‐tuple ?? = (λ₂,…,λ_n) ∈ ?^n–1 whose components are closed under complex conjugation, there exists a unique positive real number ?(??), called the minimal realizable spectral radius of ??, such that the set {λ₁,…,λ_n} is precisely the spectrum of a certain n × n non‐negative matrix with λ₁ as its spectral radius if and only if λ₁ ? ?(??). Employing any existing necessary conditions as a mode of checking criteria, this paper proposes a simple bisection procedure to approximate the location of ?(??). As an immediate application, it offers a quick numerical way to check whether a given n‐tuple could be the spectrum of a certain non‐negative matrix. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.