Quasi-phase-matched generation of tunable blue light in a quasi-periodic structure

We present what is to our knowledge a new approach to generating tunable blue light by cascaded nonlinear frequency conversion in a single LiTaO3 crystal. Simultaneous quasi-phase matching of an optical parametric generation process and a sum-frequency mixing process is achieved by means of structuring the crystal with a quasi-periodic optical superlattice. The spectral (wavelength tuning and bandwidth) and power characteristics of the blue-light generation are studied with a fixed-wavelength 532-nm picosecond laser and a wavelength-tunable nanosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) as the pump sources. By tuning the OPO wavelength, we could tune the blue output over approximately 20 nm. Temperature tuning of the blue output at a fixed pump wavelength of 532 nm was limited to approximately 1.5 nm. A maximum blue power of 15 microW was generated at a pump power of 0.5 mW, corresponding to an efficiency of 3%.     

Experiment and dynamic simulations of radiation damping of laser-polarized liquid<Superscript>129</Superscript>Xe at low magnetic field in a flow system

Radiation damping is generally observed when a sample with high spin concentration and high gyromagnetic ratio is placed in a high magnetic field. However, we firstly observed liquid-state¹²⁹Xe radiation damping with laser-enhanced nuclear polarization at low magnetic field in a flow system in which the polarization enhancement factor for the liquid-state¹²⁹Xe was estimated to be 5000, and, furthermore, theoretically simulated the envelopes of the¹²⁹Xe free induction decay and spectral lineshape in the presence of both relaxation and radiation damping with different pulse flip angles and ratios ofT ₂ ^* /T _rd. The radiation damping time constantT _rd of 5 ms was derived on the basis of the simulations. The reasons of depolarization and the further possible improvements were also discussed.     

Dissipative soliton in an amplifier with a Bragg grating

A dissipative soliton in an amplifier with a Bragg grating is numerically investigated by direct simulation of Maxwell-Bloch equations. The result of the simulation indicates that a solitary wave can exist in such a medium. However, the pulse shape of the dissipative soliton is asymmetrical because of the gain saturation effect. This gain saturation effect results from the high power of the ultrashort dissipative soliton. The influence of amplifier gain on the solitary wave is also investigated.     

Lasing action in air induced by ultra-fast laser filamentation

The backscattered fluorescence of nitrogen from filaments generated by intense ultra-fast Ti:sapphire laser pulses propagating in air is studied. The backscattered fluorescence from N₂ molecules and ions show an exponential increase with increasing filament length, indicating amplified spontaneous emission. Received: 11 October 2002 / Revised version: 3 December 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-418/6562-623, E-mail: qluo@phy.ulaval.ca     

Benzene thermal conversion to nanocrystalline indium nitride from sulfide at low temperature

A benzene thermal conversion route has been successfully developed to prepare nanocrystalline indium nitride at 180-200 degrees C by choosing NaNH(2) and In(2)S(3) as novel nitrogen and indium sources. This route has been also extended to the synthesis of other group III nitrides. The product InN was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The optical properties of nanocrystalline InN were also recorded by means of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, indicating that the as-prepared sample was within the quantum confinement regime. Finally, the formation mechanism was also investigated.     

A new strategy to induce gamma-turns: peptides composed of alternating alpha-aminoxy acids and alpha-amino acids

It is known that the seven-membered-ring intramolecular hydrogen bond (gamma-turn) is seldom formed in naturally occurring peptides composed of alpha-amino acids. Here we report a new strategy to induce gamma-turns in short linear peptides. We designed and synthesized several peptides (1-5) containing alternating alpha-l-aminoxy acids and alpha-d-amino acids. 1H NMR studies revealed that the gamma-turn could be initiated by the following N-O turn, an eight-membered-ring intramolecular hydrogen bond induced by an alpha-aminoxy acid. Moreover, NOESY and CD studies suggested peptides 4 and 5 form a novel secondary structure, a mixed 7-8 helix. Theoretical calculations on several di-, tri-, and tetrapeptide models provided strong support to the above conclusions.     

Simultaneous analysis of caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides in roots and extracts of Echinacea purpurea by high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection-electrospray mass spectrometry

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with UV photodiode-array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was developed for the simultaneous analysis of caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides in the roots and extracts of Echinacea purpurea. Caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides produced very abundant peaks in the total ion current chromatogram during negative and positive cone voltage switching. Cichoric acid and the isomer pair, dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10E/Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide, were used as a standard for quantification of caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides in E. purpurea. This novel method surpasses previously published ones in product quality control and providing the HPLC chromatographic fingerprints of biological active components in E. purpurea.     

A new strategy for solid phase synthesis of a secondary amide library using sulfonamide linker via radical traceless cleavage

A new strategy for solid phase synthesis of a secondary amide library using sulfonamide linker via radical traceless cleavage is reported. Polystyrylsulfonyl chloride (1) reacted with primary amines to afford polystyryl-supported N-alkyl sulfonamides (2), which were acylated with acid chlorides and followed by radical cleavage with TiCl₄/Zn to afford secondary amides. It was interestingly found that the products released from acyl alkanesulfonamide resins are closely dependent on the substituents of benzene rings of alkyl or acyl groups on the resins. When the substituent on benzene ring of N-benzyl group of sulfonamides is an electron rich MeO-group, the products released from sulfonamide resins are dependent on the substitution position on benzene ring: para-MeO- to yield 1,2-bis (p-methoxylphenyl)ethane and N-p-methoxylbenzyl benzamide (30:1); ortho-MeO- to give 1,2-bis (o-methoxylphenyl)ethane and N-o-methoxylbenzyl benzamide (1:15); and meta-MeO- only to release N-m-methoxylbenzyl benzamide. Neither N-benzoyl sulfonamide resins on benzene ring with electron-drawing para-O₂N-, nor the one with electron-donating para-H₂N- could release any amide product, while the N-benzoyl sulfonamide resins on benzene ring with para-acetamido group released para-acetamidobenzamides. The conjugation effect to stabilize the radical groups in the radical cleaving process was observed.     

Hadronic loop corrections to the muon anomalous magnetic moment

The dominant theoretical uncertainties in both the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and the value of the electromagnetic coupling at the Z scale, M(Z), arise from their hadronic contributions. Since these will ultimately dominate the experimental errors, we study the correlation between them, as well as with other fundamental parameters. To this end we present analytical formulas for the QCD contribution from higher energies and from heavy quarks. Including these correlations affects the Higgs boson mass extracted from precision data.