Dynamic holograms and optical limiting: Asymmetric two-wave interactions

The conditions for obtaining a high efficiency of energy exchange upon two-wave interactions in dynamic holograms are found by analysis and numerical simulation of a system of nonlinear equations. Use of an asymmetric scheme of beam interaction in a medium with two nonlinearities, one of which determines the amplitude and relaxation time of a grating and the other of which provides phase modulation of the interacting beams, is proposed. It is shown that such a scheme in combination with the specific properties of a medium makes it possible to radically reduce the requirements for the nonlinearity of a medium and the intensity of a light flux in limiting systems, as well as to significantly decrease the time of the transition process. As a result, it becomes possible to attain an efficiency of energy transfer higher than 90% and to increase the corresponding attenuation of a high-power beam by almost two orders of magnitude, which is of interest for optical limiting of intense light fluxes.     

Quantum diffusion

Basic ideas and results which characterize quantum diffusion of defects in quantum crystals like solid helium as a new phenomenon are presented. Quantum effects in such media lead to a delocalization of point defects (vacancies, impurities etc.) and they turn into quasiparticles of a new type—defectons, which are characterized not by their position in the crystal lattice but by their quasimomentum and dispersion law. Defecton-defecton and defecton-phonon scattering are considered and an interpolation formula for the diffusion coefficient valid in all interesting temperature and concentration regions is presented. A comparison with the experimental data is made. Some alternative points of view are discussed in detail and the inconsistency of the Kisvarsanyi-Sullivan theory is shown.     

Higher Order Peak Algebras

Using the theory of noncommutative symmetric functions, we introduce the higher order peak algebras (Sym(N))_N≥1, a sequence of graded Hopf algebras which contain the descent algebra and the usual peak algebra as initial cases (N=1 and N=2). We compute their Hilbert series, introduce and study several combinatorial bases, and establish various algebraic identities related to the multisection of formal power series with noncommutative coefficients. Received November 19, 2004     

The effect of traffic noise on sleep of young adults in their homes

The disturbance of sleep by traffic noise is a major problem area in noise pollution. Extensive laboratory tests using multichannel electroencephalograms (EEG) have been carried out by many workers to determine the general response of people when exposed to noise during sleep. An experimental technique for obtaining results in people's homes has been developed using a simplified one-channel EEG. The responses of six people in the age range 19-24 were measured. A significant correlation was found between sleep disturbance and traffic noise when the noise is expressed in EPNdB. In the home experiments the subjects appeared to be approximately 10 dB less sensitive to noises than laboratory subjects for similar noise exposure. There also appeared to be some adaptation to the noise exposure; however, only one subject was tested for a period of 20 days and was insufficient to give definite results on adaptation.     

Development of a quantitative FI-MS technique for the characterization of high- and nonboiling saturated hydrocarbon mixtures

Summary Using a saturated non-boiling hydrocarbon mixture, the influence of two parameters on the results of field ionization mass spectrometry (FI-MS) measurements was studied: (a) the potential difference between the FI emitter and the counterelectrode; (b) the emitter temperature.Variation of the potential difference had only a minor effect on the average molecular mass measured and had no evident effect on the relative ring number distribution in the sample. In contrast, when the emitter temperature was increased, higher average molecular masses were recorded. Moreover, the average molecular masses shifted to higher ring numbers. In order to control the relationship between the described influences during mixture analysis, measuring instructions have been developed that enable the quantitative analysis of unknown saturated samples. However, average molecular mass of the mixture must be known.

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Entwicklung einer quantitativen FI-MS-Methode zur Charakterisierung von gesättigten hoch- und nichtsiedenden Kohlenwasserstoffgemischen

     

Tensile behaviour of corroded and hydrogen embrittled 2024 T351 aluminum alloy specimen

The synergetic effect of corrosion and corrosion induced hydrogen embrittlement damage processes which occur at local scale has been found to result in a dramatic macroscopic tensile ductility loss of the 2024 aluminum alloy. In the present work, the tensile behaviour of corroded 2024 T351 specimens has been estimated on the basis of FE analysis by taking into account the local material properties in the damaged areas. A parametric study is involved to account for the effect of thickness in the results. Calculated tensile properties obtained with the analysis agree well with experimental data.     

Investigation of multicomponent fluoride optical materials in the UV spectral region: I. Single crystals of Ca1−x R xF2+x (R = Sc, Y, La, Yb, Lu) solid solutions

Crystalline materials that are transparent in the vacuum UV spectral region and currently used have been reviewed. Transmission of crystals of solid solutions with the fluorite structure Ca_1?x R _xF_2+x (R = Sc, Y, La, Yb, Lu) in the UV and vacuum UV spectral regions has been investigated. It is shown that application of different methods of purification of fluorides from some impurities can significantly improve the optical quality of fluoride multicomponent crystals in the short-wavelength spectral region.     

Representations of Positive Projections II

In this paper we obtain a number of Maharam-type slice integral representations, with respect to scalar measures, for positive projections in Dedekind complete vector lattices and f-algebras. AMS Classification: 47B65, 46A40, 06F25     

Amplifiers and Lasers in PCF Configurations

In this paper we will present an overview of the use of photonic crystal fibers as fiber amplifiers. We will describe the basic concepts of optical amplification, and how to do numerical modelling of such components. We will then identify advantages and disadvantages of amplifiers based on PCF technology compared to conventional fibers, and then go into greater detail on some of these specific applications, such as low pump power amplifiers, and high-power double-clad amplifiers and lasers.