Two-phonon resonant Raman scattering at the indirect exciton in silver chloride

Resonant Raman scattering in AgCl is reported for the first time. With excitation in the indirect absorption edge at 1.8K the observed scattering processes involve pairs of momentum-conserving TA(L) and LA(L) phonons with energies of 8.2 meV and 12.9 meV, respectively. The dependence of the scattered intensity on excitation energy suggests that, in contrast to AgBr, intravalley scattering by long wavelength acoustic phonons and intervalley scattering are negligibly small, the main relaxation mechanism of the free exciton being self-trapping. Some enhancement in the 2LO scattering intensity observed is probably due to resonance with the lowest direct exciton.     

Radiative recombination of donor-acceptor pairs in ZnTe

Lifetime of the first excited state of donor-acceptor pairs has been measured in ZnTe as a function of the donor-acceptor distance. The measured lifetime for the radiative recombinations of donor-acceptor pairs agrees well with the calculated one in which the central cell correction for the 1s state of the acceptors is taken into account. It has been found that the lifetime depends on the impurity concentration. The concentration dependence is discussed in connection with the non-exponential decay of the luminescence observed for more distant donor-acceptor pairs.     

Photon-echo profile in the ultrashort time region for pentacene molecules in crystals

Photon-echo behavior in the ultrashort time region is studied for pentacene molecules in p-terphenyl crystals at 1.7 K by means of the accumulated three-pulse echo. We show highly resolved echo spectra with a parameter of time separation and also time behavior of echo intensity as a function of pulse separation measured at various frequencies near the peak position of the absorption line of the S₀–S₁ transition. We demonstrate various features of echo profile in both time and frequency domains, which are dependent on the time region of observation.     

Interaction of two parallel plane jets of different velocities

The interaction of two parallel plane jets of different velocities is studied by flow visualization and PIV measurement to examine the influence of velocity ratio on the development ofjets in the initial region. It is found that the parallel plane jets develop toward the high velocity side and the jet width is reduced with a decrease in the jet velocity ratio. Corresponding to the variation of mean velocity field to the velocity ratio, the magnitudes of turbulence intensities, Reynolds stress and static pressure are weakened in the merging region of the jets and their peak locations of the properties are shifted to the high velocity side. These results indicate that the interaction of two parallel jets is weakened with a decrease in the velocity ratio of the jets.     

Detection of high-energy gamma rays from winter thunderclouds

A report is made on a comprehensive observation of a burstlike gamma-ray emission from thunderclouds on the Sea of Japan, during strong thunderstorms on 6 January 2007. The detected emission, lasting for approximately 40 sec, preceded cloud-to-ground lightning discharges. The burst spectrum, extending to 10 MeV, can be interpreted as consisting of bremsstrahlung photons originating from relativistic electrons. This ground-based observation provides the first clear evidence that strong electric fields in thunderclouds can continuously accelerate electrons beyond 10 MeV prior to lightning discharges.     

Controlling the generation of high frequency electromagnetic pulses with relativistic flying mirrors using an inhomogeneous plasma

A method for the controlled generation of intense high frequency electromagnetic fields by a breaking Langmuir wave (relativistic flying mirrors) in a gradually inhomogeneous plasma is proposed. The wave breaking threshold depends on the local plasma density gradient. Compression, chirping and frequency multiplication of an electromagnetic wave reflected from relativistic mirrors is demonstrated using Particle-In-Cell simulations. Adjusting the shape of the density profile enables control of the reflected light properties.