A prism reflector of anti-resonant ring configuration

Two identical prisms are combined to form an anti-resonant ring reflector, giving total reflection without the use of coatings or roof edges. When used as the total reflector in a Q-switched NdYAG laser this device has shown a damage threshold twice that of a multilayer reflector.     

The stability of an interface between miscible fluids in a porous medium

Résumé On étudie la nature de stabilité de l'interface horizontale de deux fluides miscibles qui se filtrent verticalement à travers une couche poreuse. Initialement, le profile de densité vertical est une fonction de Heaviside; on admet l'existence d'un déplacement ondé d'une amplitude infinitésimale à l'interface. Subséquemment, la diffusion moléculaire et la dispersion mécanique font décroître les gradients de densité et des autres caractéristiques des fluides. La vitesse d'accroissement d'amplitude de la perturbation dépend de la répartition de densité variable et du nombre d'onde et de l'amplitude initiale de chaque composante de Fourier de cette perturbation. On obtient une expansion en séries d'une composante typique, et de résultants numériques pour la perturbation symétrique qui se trouve par suite des conditions initiales.     

Molybdenum blue: binding to collagen fibres and microcrystal formation

Collagen fibres have been shown by transmission electron microscopy to progressively bind the polyoxomolybdate ring-complex, termed molybdenum blue. Nucleation of cuboidal molybdenum blue microcrystals occurs on the surface of the collagen fibres, leading eventually to extensive coating of the fibres with microcrystals.     

Factors affecting d-block metal-ligand bond lengths: toward an automated library of molecular geometry for metal complexes

Metal-ligand (M-L) bond lengths for a range of ligands (carboxylates, chlorides, pyridines, water, tertiary phosphines, and alkenes) and a variety of metals have been retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database, CSD. Analysis of the factors which affect M-L bond lengths (for example, ligand coordination mode, oxidation state, metal coordination number and geometry, spin and Jahn-Teller effects, and ligand trans to M-L bond) shows that it is generally possible to subdivide the M-L data sets systematically to obtain better defined, unimodal, bond length distributions with means and sample standard deviations (SSDs) which reflect the nature of the bond in question. Typically, the SSDs for the M-L data sets can be reduced to 0.04-0.05 A by these methods. This work is an extension to tables of bond lengths in organometallic compounds and coordination complexes published in 1989. The importance of the factors which affect M-L bond lengths for particular metal-ligand groups are discussed. From the case studies reported, an algorithm is proposed by which compilation of a library of molecular geometry for metal complexes may be automated. The points that need to be considered to produce such a molecular library from the data stored in the CSD are discussed. The development of such a library would allow users to retrieve chemically well-defined geometric data rapidly and accurately. This should be of use, for example, to crystallographers and molecular modelers.     

High-accuracy optical clock via three-level coherence in neutral bosonic 88Sr

An optical atomic clock scheme is proposed that utilizes two lasers to establish coherent coupling between the 5s2 1S0 ground state of 88Sr and the first excited state, 5s5p 3P0. The coupling is mediated by the broad 5s5p 1P1 state, exploiting the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency. The effective linewidth of the clock transition can be chosen at will by adjusting the laser intensity. By trapping the 88Sr atoms in an optical lattice, long interaction times with the two lasers are ensured; Doppler and recoil effects are eliminated. Based on a careful analysis of systematic errors, a clock accuracy of better than 2 x 10(-17) is expected.     

High harmonic XUV spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction

We demonstrate the first experimental complete temporal characterization of high-harmonic XUV pulses by spectral phase interferometry, with an all-optical setup. This method allows us to perform single-shot measurements of the harmonic temporal profile and phase, revealing a remarkable shot-to-shot stability. We characterize harmonics generated in argon by a 50 fs 800 nm laser pulse. The 11th harmonic is found to be 22 fs long with a negative chirp rate of -4.8 x 10(27) s(-2). This duration can be reduced to 13 fs by modulating the polarization of the generating laser. The technique is easy to implement and could be routinely used in femtosecond XUV pump-probe experiments with harmonics.     

Multiwavelength investigation of laser-damage performance in potassium dihydrogen phosphate after laser annealing

The laser-induced damage performance of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate nonlinear optical crystals after pre-exposure to lower-energy laser pulses (laser annealing, also known as laser conditioning) is investigated as a function of wavelength for both the damaging and conditioning pulses. We obtain a quantitative evaluation of the bulk damage performance of these materials by measuring the density of damage events as a function of laser parameters. This new method allows for a detailed assessment of the improvement of material performance from laser conditioning and reveals the key parameters for optimizing performance depending on the operational wavelength.     

Orthomodular lattices from 3-dimensional quadratic spaces

If E is a vector space over a field K, then any regular symmetric bilinear form on E induces a polarity on the lattice of all subspaces of E. In the particular case where E is 3-dimensional, the set of all subspaces M of E such that both M and are not N-subspaces (which, in most cases, is equivalent to saying that M is nonisotropic), ordered by inclusion and endowed with the restriction of the above polarity, is an orthomodular lattice T(E, ). We show that if K is a proper subfield of K, with K F₂, and E a 3-dimensional K -subspace of E such that the restriction of to E × E is, up to multiplicative constant, a bilinear form on the K -space E , then T(E , ) is isomorphic to an irreducible 3-homogeneous proper subalgebra of T(E, ). Our main result is a structure theorem stating that, when K is not of characteristic 3, the converse is true, i.e., any irreducible 3-homogeneous proper subalgebra of T(E, ) is of this form. As a corollary, we construct infinitely many finite orthomodular lattices which are minimal in the sense that all their proper subalgebras are modular. In fact, this last result was our initial aim in this paper.Received June 4, 2003; accepted in final form May 18, 2004.     

Parity-violating electron deuteron scattering and the proton's neutral weak axial vector form factor

We report on a new measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in quasielastic electron scattering from the deuteron at backward angles at Q2=0.038 (GeV/c)2. This quantity provides a determination of the neutral weak axial vector form factor of the nucleon, which can potentially receive large electroweak corrections. The measured asymmetry A=-3.51+/-0.57 (stat)+/-0.58 (syst) ppm is consistent with theoretical predictions. We also report on updated results of the previous experiment at Q2=0.091 (GeV/c)2, which are also consistent with theoretical predictions.