Unitary spectrum and the fundamental group for actions of semisimple Lie groups

Research partially supported by NSF Grant     

Superthermal source of ultracold neutrons for fundamental physics experiments

Ultracold neutrons (UCNs) play an important role for precise measurements of the properties of the neutron and its interactions. During the past 25 years, a neutron turbine coupled to a liquid deuterium cold neutron source at a high-flux reactor has defined the state of the art for UCN production, despite a long history of efforts towards a new generation of UCN sources. This Letter reports a world-best UCN density available for users, achieved with a new source based on conversion of cold neutrons in superfluid helium. A conversion volume of 5 liters provides at least 274,000 UCN in a single accumulation run. Cyclically repeated operation of the source has been demonstrated, as well.     

Cluster and Molecular Mechanical Analysis of Cobalt(III) 14-Membered Macrocyclic Complexes

The configurational distribution of all the cobalt(III) complexes containing a 14-membered tetra-aza macrocyclic backbone in the Cambridge Structural Database was determined by cluster analysis, and the reason for some of the complexes adopting their configuration was established by molecular mechanics.     

Backside laser etching of fused silica using liquid gallium

Laser-induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) that is regularly performed with hydrocarbon solutions is demonstrated with the liquid metal gallium as a new class of absorbers for the first time. Well-contoured square etch pits in fused silica with smooth bottoms and well-defined edges were achieved already with the first pulse from a 248 nm excimer laser. The etching is characterized by a threshold fluence of 1.3 J/cm² and a straight proportional etch rate growth with the fluence up to 8.2 J/cm². In addition, the etch depth increases linearly for onward pulsed laser irradiation and gives evidence for an only marginal incubation effect. The high fluences necessary for etching originate from the high reflection losses as well as the high thermal conductivity of the metallic absorber. The suggested etch mechanism comprises the heating of the fused silica up to or beyond the fused silica melting point by the laser heated gallium and the removing of the softened or molten fraction of the material by mechanical forces from shock waves, bubbles, high pressures, or stress fields. PACS 81.65.C; 81.05.J; 79.20.D; 61.80.B; 42.55.L     

Coherent control of stationary light pulses

We present a detailed analysis of the recently demonstrated technique to generate quasi-stationary pulses of light [M. Bajcsy, A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, Nature (London) 426 (2003) 638] based on electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that the use of counter-propagating control fields to retrieve a light pulse, previously stored in a collective atomic Raman excitation, leads to quasi-stationary light field that undergoes a slow diffusive spread. The underlying physics of this process is identified as pulse matching of probe and control fields. We then show that spatially modulated control-field amplitudes allow us to coherently manipulate and compress the spatial shape of the stationary light pulse. These techniques can provide valuable tools for quantum nonlinear optics and quantum information processing.     

Excimer laser-induced etching of sub-micron surface relief gratings in fused silica using phase grating projection

Phase grating projection using a Schwarzschild objective is presented in conjunction with a process that allows laser-induced etching of transparent materials at the interface of liquids, in order to generate periodical surface relief structures with sub-micron resolution in fused silica. The achieved sinusoidal gratings exhibit a period of 780 nm and a depth of up to 180 nm, having a roughness lower than 5 nm r.m.s. The depth and roughness of the gratings are related to the applied laser fluence and pulse number. In addition to the grating formation, an overall removal of material at higher laser fluences was found. Received: 3 December 2001 / Accepted: 5 December 2001 / Published online: 11 February 2002     

Synthesis of 5-acetyloxazoles and 1,2-diketones from β-alkoxy-β-ketoenamides and their subsequent transformations

Lithiated alkoxyallenes, nitriles, and carboxylic acids have been employed as precursors in a three-component reaction leading to highly substituted β-alkoxy-β-ketoenamides. Upon treatment with trifluoroacetic acid, these enamides could be easily cyclized to 5-acetyloxazole derivatives. The synthesis is very flexible with respect to the substitution pattern at C-2 and C-4 of the oxazole core. A mechanistic suggestion for the oxazole formation is presented on the basis of (18)O-labeled compounds and their mass spectrometric analysis. In several cases, 1,2-diketones are formed as side products or even as major components. The acetyl moiety at C-5 of the oxazole derivatives can efficiently be converted into alkenyl or alkynyl moieties, which allows a multitude of subsequent reactions. Condensation reactions of the acetyl group provided the expected oxime or hydrazone. By applying a Fischer reaction, the phenylhydrazone could be transferred into an indole, which emphasizes the potential of 5-acetyloxazoles for the preparation of highly substituted (poly)heterocyclic systems. The alkynyl group at C-2 is prone to addition reactions, providing an enamine with interesting photophysical properties. Sonogashira couplings were performed with 5-alkynyl-substituted oxazoles, furnishing the expected aryl-substituted products. This alkynyl unit was employed for the preparation of a new, star-shaped trisoxazole derivative. The ability of this multivalent compound to form self-assembled monolayers between the basal plane of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and 1-phenyloctane was demonstrated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The star-shaped compound seems to prefer the C(3)-symmetric arrangement in this two-dimensional crystal. Two 1,2-diketones were smoothly converted into functionalized quinoxaline derivatives.