Shaping of picosecond pulses for pumping optical parametric amplification

The use of temporally shaped pump pulses for optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification can increase the efficiency and suppress possible spectral distortions in this process. With this goal in mind a novel method for shaping narrowband picosecond pulses has been developed. The method is based on the pulse stacking principle, where replicas of the incoming pulse are created in a specially designed four-beam interferometer. The replicas are recombined with appropriate relative delays. The interferometer design allows for a unique flexibility in varying the pulse shape, since all relevant degrees of freedom, such as relative intensities and delays between the pulse replicas are independently adjustable. Here we describe the design of our device in detail and report on the experimental demonstration of its pulse-shaping capabilities. PACS 42.65.Yj; 42.65.Re; 42.81.Gs     

Ultrasonic extraction of oil from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) seeds

The ultrasonic extraction (UE) of oil from the seeds of a semi-oriental tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plant strain by using n-hexane and petroleum ether was studied at different temperatures and seeds-to-solvent ratios. The oil yield depended on the seed comminution, the extraction temperature, the seeds-to-solvent ratio and the type of solvent. The oil yield was much higher if the seeds were ground before extraction. The oil yield increased with increasing the extraction temperature and with decreasing the seeds-to-solvent ratio. n-Hexane was somewhat more efficient in the oil extraction than petroleum ether. In recovering the tobacco seed oil (TSO), the UE was less efficient than the Soxhlet extraction. The advantage of the UE was a relatively high oil yield at 25 degrees C in a shorter time. The kinetics of UE of TSO was described using the model of unsteady diffusion through plant material.     

Zinc-phosphate nanoparticles with reversibly attached TNF-α analogs: an interesting concept for potential use in active immunotherapy

The authors’ intention was to prepare nanometer-sized zinc-phosphate nanoparticles that would be capable of binding histidine-rich TNF-α analogs onto their surface via a coordinative bond. Zinc-phosphate nanoparticles with a size of around 60 nm were prepared by a wet precipitation method and characterized using SEM, EDX, XRD, and DLS. First, BSA was bound as a testing protein, afterward two TNF-α analogs with decreased activity were bound to the described nanoparticles. The efficiency of binding and the existence of coordinative bond were confirmed with SDS-PAGE analysis. During binding, particle storage, and release experiments, the prepared TNF-α analogs retained their biological activity—hence the epitopes necessary for formation of antibodies stayed intact. The particle size did not change within a period of 2 weeks. No significant agglomeration was observed, the particles could be quickly dispersed in ultrasound. The present nanoparticles and the general approach of coordinative binding are widely applicable for natural and engineered histidine-rich proteins. The nanoparticles bearing appropriate TNF-α analogs could also be potentially used for active immunotherapy to tackle the chronic inflammatory diseases associated with pathogenically elevated levels of TNF-α.     

Landauer–Büttiker and Thouless Conductance

In the independent electron approximation, the average (energy/charge/entropy) current flowing through a finite sample \({\mathcal{S}}\) connected to two electronic reservoirs can be computed by scattering theoretic arguments which lead to the famous Landauer–Büttiker formula. Another well known formula has been proposed by Thouless on the basis of a scaling argument. The Thouless formula relates the conductance of the sample to the width of the spectral bands of the infinite crystal obtained by periodic juxtaposition of \({\mathcal{S}}\). In this spirit, we define Landauer–Büttiker crystalline currents by extending the Landauer–Büttiker formula to a setup where the sample \({\mathcal{S}}\) is replaced by a periodic structure whose unit cell is \({\mathcal{S}}\). We argue that these crystalline currents are closely related to the Thouless currents. For example, the crystalline heat current is bounded above by the Thouless heat current, and this bound saturates iff the coupling between the reservoirs and the sample is reflectionless. Our analysis leads to a rigorous derivation of the Thouless formula from the first principles of quantum statistical mechanics.     

Optical properties of semiconducting iron disilicide thin films

The iron silicides samples were prepared by annealing of iron films evaporated onto silicon wafers and capped with amorphous silicon thin overlayers. Semiconducting FeSi₂ phase is formed by annealing at the temperatures from 550°C to 850°C. The optical properties of the FeSi₂ layers have been deduced from reflectance and transmittance measurements carried out in the temperature range of (77–380) K. The spectral dependence of the absorption coefficient favours direct allowed transitions with forbidden energy gap of 0.87eV at the room temperature. The application of a simple three-parameter semiempirical formula to the temperature dependence of the direct energy gaps leads to the following best fit parameters: the band gap at zero temperature E _g (0) = (0.895 ± 0.004)eV, the dimensionless coupling parameter S = 2.0 ± 0.3, and the average phonon energy <hw> = (46 ± 8)meV. By examining all the reported triplets of parameters for -FeSi₂ fabricated by different techniques and thermal processes, an obvious discrepancy can be found for the lattice coupling parameter and average phonon energy, although the bandgaps at 0 K are very similar. Unlike the theoretical prediction and the earlier reported result, our results do not show any evidence of a particularly strong electron-phonon interaction, which would give the lower carrier mobilities. -FeSi₂ seems to be an intriguing material where states with energies near the band edges permit ambiguous interpretation of the character of transitions. From optical model for the thin film-substrate system we found the index of refraction to be (5–5.9) in the photon energy interval from 0.65 to 1.15eV. There is also indication of an additional higher-energy absorption edge at l.05eV.     

Elastic scattering from a sapphire microsphere placed on a silica optical fiber coupler: Possible applications to biosensing

Elastic light scattering is performed in the original band of optical fiber communication at 1300 nm for a 500 μm sapphire microsphere placed on a silica optical fiber half coupler. The morphology dependent resonances (MDRs) are observed in the transverse magnetically (TM) polarized and transverse electrically (TE) polarized 0^° transmission and 90^° elastic scattering obtained from the sapphire microsphere. The TE and TM MDRs can be detected selectively with the use of a Glan polarizer. The TE and TM polarization selectivity provides the ability to select relative MDR to BG levels. The TM polarization provides higher MDR signal to background ratio (SBR) and is suitable for optical monitoring, biological sensing or any other optoelectronic application that requires a high resolution optical filter. The polar angular mode spacing of 0.36 nm of the resonances correlates well with the optical size of the sapphire microsphere. The autocorrelation of the 90^° elastic scattering spectra also shows peaks at 0.36 nm. The spectral linewidths of the resonances are on the order of 0.1 nm, which corresponds to quality factors on the order of 10⁴. A sapphire sphere with a radius of 500 μm and relative refractive index of 1.31, resonances will red-shift by 1.01 nm (0.077%). This shift is on the order of 10 linewidths, making sapphire biophotonic sensors an interesting alternative to silica biophotonic sensors.     

Refractive index measurements by probe-beam deflection

Two deflection techniques for the measurement of the dispersive properties of an optical medium have been implemented. Prismatic deflection is used to measure the dispersion of a medium exhibiting Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) with the cascade system in ⁸⁵Rb and ⁸⁷Rb. In addition, the dispersion associated with a saturated absorption and hyperfine pumping spectrum is measured by deflection due to a spatial inhomogeneity of the refractive index induced by an expanded Gaussian-profile pump beam.Received: 19 December 2003, Published online: 20 April 2004PACS: 39.30. + w Spectroscopic techniques - 33.55.Ad Optical activity, optical rotation; circular dichroismG. Jundt: Present address: Institute of Quantum Electronics, Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg 8093, Switzerland     

Mechanism of hopping transport in disordered mott insulators

By using a combination of detailed experimental studies and simple theoretical arguments, we identify a novel mechanism characterizing the hopping transport in the Mott insulating phase of Ca2-xSrxRuO4 near the metal-insulator transition. The hopping exponent alpha shows a systematic evolution from a value of alpha=1/2 deeper in the insulator to the conventional Mott value alpha=1/3 closer to the transition. This behavior, which we argue to be a universal feature of disordered Mott systems close to the metal-insulator transition, is shown to reflect the gradual emergence of disorder-induced localized electronic states populating the Mott-Hubbard gap.     

Basics of NMR line shape in quasicrystals

The measurement and analysis of broad nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of quasicrystals require experimental methods and theoretical interpretations different from NMR investigations of regular periodic crystals. Frequency- and field-sweep methods for recording quasicrystalline NMR spectra are described and compared with the measurement of²⁷Al NMR spectra of icosahedral AlPdMn and decagonal AlNiCo quasicrystals. The nuclear spin interactions that determine the NMR line shape are the same for both types of the above Al-based quasicrystals, where the electric quadrupolar interaction with the broad distribution of its electric field gradient parameters predominantly determines the shape of the broad satellite “background” intensity. The essential observations are an almost isotropic²⁷Al NMR spectrum of the icosahedral quasicrystals and a strong angular dependence of the spectrum of decagonal quasicrystals.