Intra-cavity spectroscopy with diode lasers

A multi-mode diode laser with an external cavity is studied experimentally and theoretically for its application to intra-cavity spectroscopy. One facet of a typical Ga_0.89Al_0.11As laser diode was antireflection-coated by deposition of HfO₂ such that 10^–3 residual reflectivity was left over. This diode was placed in an external optical cavity. The emission spectrum of this diode laser is highly sensitive to any frequency-dependent loss in the cavity, and the detectivity of such a loss grows with the pump rate. Even close to threshold, the absorption at 780 nm of Rb atoms with a density of 5×10¹⁰ cm^–3 has been detected. An adequate model for diode lasers based on rate equations and including frequency-dependent gain saturation is developed and applied to the calculations of output spectra. The sensitivity of these spectra to intra-cavity absorption is determined by the overall cavity loss — which is rather high — and the fraction of spontaneous emission in the total emission, in contrast with dye lasers where it is limited by nonlinear mode coupling. Various criteria for the sensitivity are suggested. The smallest detectable absorption with a perfectly antireflection-coated laser is 10^–6 cm^–1. Improvement of the characteristics of the laser diode would increase the sensitivity.     

Line Narrowing of a Tunable High Pressure CO2 Laser by Means of an Improved Non-Littrow Cavity

A model is reported to foresee ,for different mirror choices, the spectral properties of a high pressure, frequency tunable, CO₂ laser, operating with a non-Littrow grating mounting. The calculations show a larger frequency selectivity for not collimated plane cavities. The model is experimentally verified in a suitable high pressure laser. In particular narrowed linewidths less than 300MHz ( FWHM) are obtained.     

Some aerodynamic and acoustic characteristicsof acute laryngitis

The purpose of the present study was to describe the effects ofacute laryngitis on some aerodynamic, acoustic, and perceptual measures. Eleven subjects with diagnosed acute laryngitis due to upper respiratory infection were recorded during a laryngitic episode and 1 week to 10 days after amelioration of the laryngitic condition. Fundamental frequency values, collapsed across the five vowels, were significantly reduced in the laryngitic compared with the normal speaking condition. The decrease in fundamental frequency associated with acute laryngitis suggests an increase in the mass of the vocal folds. In addition, aerodynamic values differed significantly for the laryngitic condition compared with the normal speaking condition, suggesting the presence of laryngeal hypofunction. Perceptual data indicated that speakers in the laryngitic condition were judged to have a hoarse voice when compared with the normal speaking condition.     

Arc erosion reduction on electrical contacts using transversecurrent injection

Electrical contact lifetime is often directly determined by arc erosion. A method for reducing are erosion was developed consisting of injecting from an external current source an additional electrical current flowing parallel to the contact surface. This method was examined in three are environments using the additional transverse electrical current with a density less than 1 A/mm²: 1) automobile ignition contacts; 2) pulsed air arc; and 3) low pressure (P=100 mTorr) arc in nitrogen, SEM and X-ray examination showed that application of a transverse current in a contact during arcing changed the phase composition and microstructure of the contact surface. Under optimal conditions, the microstructure which is formed is significantly more erosion resistant than without the transverse current injection     

Gain saturation in quantum-well heterostructures

The effect of radiation gain saturation in quantum-well heretostructures was investigated in the system GaAs—AlGaAs with regard to the spectral line broadening and the type of radiation polarization. Belarusian State University, 4, F. Skorina Ave., Minsk, 220050, Belarus. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 64, No. 6, pp. 797–800, November–December, 1997.     

Quark models and polarized electroproduction of the Roper resonance

We calculate the recoil polarization observables for neutral pion electroproduction on the proton. In particular, for theN(938)→N ^*(1440) transition, we study these observables for several quark models of the resonant amplitudes. We find that the polarization response functions, unlike the unpolarized cross section, have encouragingly large sensitivity to the presence of the Roper. Furthermore, these observables can clearly reveal the presence of a longitudinal coupling.     

Improved ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the quantification of a wide variety of nucleotides and sugar-nucleotides in animal cells.

An improved method including extraction procedures is presented for the analysis of nucleotides in suspension-cultivated animal cells. Quantification was performed by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography after perchloric acid extraction. It was found that the amount of perchloric acid taken for extraction influenced the yield and that cell washing procedures caused deterioration of the analysis results for triphosphates. More than thirty nucleotides and sugar-nucleotides were separated within 25 min using a Supelcosil reversed-phase column (3 microns) with tetrabutylammonium hydrogensulphate as pairing agent and methanol-pH gradient elution. Cultivated hybridoma cells showed variations in intracellular nucleotide concentrations as well as relative amounts during different growth phases, which could reflect the physiological state of a cell culture.     

The colloid-structure of semicrystalline low-density polyethylene

The length-distribution of stereoregular sequences in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is determined by a computer-aided analysis of cp-melting curves within the framework of thermodynamics of eutectoid copolymers. Small-angle x-ray scattering patterns are then described by using the structure data derived. One of the results is that fluctuations of the mean electron-density are increasingly reduced with an increasing degree of crystallinity.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. W. Pechhold on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

On the possibility of designing interacting semiconductor quantum wells with zero perturbation coupling

The paper describes the possibility of designing matched interacting semiconductor quantum wells. It is shown that for a given eigenstate of a quantum well (QW), it is always possible to find another QW in such a way that the coupling leaves the original eigenstate of the host QW unperturbed irrespective of the strength of interaction. For rectangular QWs, the condition is met with whenever the second QW has appropriate width and depth so that phase travelled by an electron wave through it is an integral multiple of π.