Light-induced specular-reflectivity suppression at a gallium/silica interface

The reflectivity of a gallium/silica interface formed on an optical flat or at the tip of a cleaved optical fiber can be reduced in a reversible fashion when the interface is excited by a few milliwatts of laser power. This phenomenon occurs at temperatures just below gallium's melting point. We believe that the effect can be attributed to light-induced structuring at the interface.     

Planar rectifiable curves are determined by their projections

In 1954 Steinhaus raised the question of whether a rectifiable curve is characterized by its projections. A projection onto a lineG at the pointp counts the number of points in the set which lie on the line which is perpendicular toG and passes throughp. We prove this is so, and give a method to reconstruct a closed connected rectifiable set from its projections.     

Greater than 20%-efficient frequency doubling of 1532-nm nanosecond pulses in quasi-phase-matched germanosilicate optical fibers

We fabricated second-order nonlinear gratings in D-shaped germanosilicate fibers, using thermal poling and periodic electrodes defined by standard photolithography. These gratings, which are up to 75 mm long, were used for efficient quasi-phase-matched frequency doubling of 1.532-mum nanosecond pulses from a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier. Average second-harmonic powers as high as 6.8 mW and peak powers greater than 1.2 kW at 766 nm were generated, with average and peak conversion efficiencies as high as 21% and 30%, respectively.     

Time-resolved X-ray spectrometry of UV laser produced plasmas

Preliminary experiments using an X-ray streak filter spectrometer employing a Au/CsI bifurcated photocathode to investigate the X-ray history of UV (350 nm) laser produced plasmas are reported. Novel use of the streak spectrometer permits a direct and precise fiducial record of the laser pulse to be made from specularly scattered laser light, in true streak time relative to the X-ray record. Initial data indicates a constant 700 eV temperature during the laser pulse; time-resolved particulars are compared to simulations made by the design code LILAC.     

Optical parametric oscillation in periodically poled lithium niobate driven by a diode-pumped Q-switched erbium fiber laser

We describe what is to our knowledge the first nanosecond periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) driven by a fiber laser. The source was frequency doubled by a PPLN sample before pumping a second, 20-mm-long, PPLN crystal. The OPO threshold was <10muJ, with pump depletions of as much as 45% and a tunable signal range of 945-1450 nm (1690-4450-nm idler range). We demonstrated 130-nm signal tuning by varying the pump wavelength and doubling crystal's temperature. Also, we achieved 15-nm tuning with all crystals at a constant temperature. The results demonstrate the potential of the fiber laser:PPLN combination for practical, versatile, and tunable sources.     

Measurements of the HCN ν3 band broadened by N2

N₂-broadened halfwidths have been measured for 51 absorption lines belonging to the ν₃ fundamental band of hydrogen cyanide (¹H¹²C¹⁴N) near 3311 cm^?1. The data were recorded at room temperature using a Fourier transform spectrometer with a nominal resolution of 0.06 cm^?1. A nonlinear least-squares spectral-fitting procedure was used to obtain both line intensities and collision-broadened halfwidths from scans recorded at several different pressures. The N₂-broadened halfwidths, determined for all lines with J ≤ 25 in both the P and R branches of the band, show the expected distribution with J for broadening by a nonpolar gas. The halfwidth values range from approximately 0.17 cm^?1 atm^?1 near the band center to 0.11 cm^?1 atm^?1 for high-J lines. The band intensity for the ν₃ fundamental derived from these measurements is 236.2 ± 9.5 cm^?2 atm^?1 at 296 K, and empirical coefficients for the vibration-rotation interaction F-factor were also determined.     

The dynamics of ring rotation in ferrocene,nickelocene and ruthenocene by incoherent quadi-elastic neutron scattering

Incoherent quasi-elastic neutron scattering has been used to study the reorientational motions of the cyclopentadienyl rings in ferrocene, nickelocene and ruthenocene. The results for ferrocene show that the activation energy for ring rotation drops above the 164 K phase transition to 4.4 ± 0.5 kJ mol^?1 (which is approximately half its low temperature value) but the rings still appear to jump between only five orientations on the observable time scale. At room temperature, the rings in nickelocene appear to behave the same as in ferrocene but in ruthenocene they reorientate much less frequently and resemble those in ferrocene below 164 K.     

Split supersymmetry at colliders

We consider the collider phenomenology of split-supersymmetry models. Despite the challenging nature of the signals in these models the long-lived gluino can be discovered with masses above 2 TeV at the LHC. At a future linear collider we will be able to observe the renormalization group effects from split supersymmetry, using measurements of the neutralino and chargino masses and cross sections.Received: 15 August 2004, Revised: 29 September 2004, Published online: 11 January 2005