Effect of the spiral phase element on the radial-polarization (0, 1) LG beam

Radially-polarized beams can be strongly amplified without significant birefringent-induced aberrations. However, radially-polarized beam is a high-order beam, and therefore has to be transformed into a fundamental Gaussian beam for reduction the beam-propagation factor M². In effort to transform the radially-polarized beam to a nearly-Gaussian beam, we consider effect of a spiral phase element (SPE) on the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) (0, 1)^∗ beam with radial polarization, and compare this with the case when the input beam is a LG (0, 1)^∗ beam with spiral phase and uniform or random polarization. The LG (0, 1)^∗ beam with radial polarization, despite its identity in intensity profile to the beam with spiral phase, has distinctly different properties when interacting with the SPE. With the SPE and spatial filter, we transformed the radially-polarized (0, 1)^∗ mode with M² = 2.8 to a nearly-Gaussian beam with M² = 1.7. Measured transformation efficiency was 50%, and the beam brightness P/(M²)² was practically unchanged. The SPE affects polarization state of the radially-polarized beam, leading to appearance of spin angular momentum in the beam center at the far-field.     

Study of η -production reaction πp → ηn in the near-threshold region⋆

The differential cross-sections (DCS) of the η -production reaction π^- p → ηn are measured at momenta of incident π^- mesons (700, 710 and 720MeV/c) close to the threshold of this reaction. The experiment is carried out at the pion channel of the PNPI synchrocyclotron (with the momentum spread of the pion beam equal to 1.5%) using the Neutral Meson Spectrometer (NMS) designed and created at the Meson Physics Laboratory for detecting two photons from the decay η → 2γ . This spectrometer consisting of two electromagnetic total absorption calorimeter (24 CsI(Na) crystals in each calorimeter) allowed to obtain the DCS in the whole angular range from 0^° to 180^° in the c.m.s. It is shown that at 700MeV/c the DCS angular dependence is isotropic, indicating on the S -wave character of the η -production process while at higher momenta a significant contribution of the D -wave has led to the anisotropic angular dependence having a bowl-like shape.     

Crystallization processes of Li2O-Ga2O3-SiO2-NiO system glasses

Crystallization processes of Li₂O-Ga₂O₃-SiO₂-NiO system glasses have been studied by X-ray diffraction, differential calorimetry and optical absorption. Transparent glass-ceramic containing LiGa₅O₈:Ni²⁺ as the sole crystalline phase has been obtained from glass with the composition of 13Li₂O-23Ga₂O₃-64SiO₂-0.1NiO (in mol%) by the heat treatment in the temperature range from 923 to 953 K. It was revealed that the specific surface area of samples enhances crystallization of LiGaSi₂O₆ but obstructed that of LiGa₅O₈. LiGa₅O₈ grew to nano-sized crystallites dispersed in the glass matrices and did not affect the transparency seriously. In contrast, LiGaSi₂O₆ grew to crystallites with diameters more than 100 nm on the surface and made the glasses opaque. Optical absorption measurements revealed that doped Ni²⁺ occupied five-folded trigonal bipyramidal sites in the as-quenched glass matrices but six-folded octahedral sites of precipitated LiGa₅O₈ in the glass-ceramics. It was confirmed that transparent glass-ceramic containing Ni²⁺:LiGa₅O₈ was effectively obtained by the heat treatment at a temperature of 953 K for 10 h.     

Periodic orbits for anisotropic perturbations of the Kepler problem

We study the Kepler problem perturbed by an anisotropic term, that is a potential conformed by a Newtonian term, 1/r$1/r$, plus an anisotropic term, b/(r²[1+?cos²θ])^β/2$b/{\left(r^2[1+?{cos}^2\theta ]\right)}^{\beta /2}$. Because of the anisotropic term, although the system is conservative the angular momentum is not a constant of motion.     

Tilted smectic layers of a liquid crystal between homeotropically treated plates

We investigated SmC^* films sandwiched between silane coated glass plates and observed formation of textures exhibiting a uniform tilt of the smectic layers with respect to the boundary plates. The layer tilt angle increases from zero to as the sample is cooled from the smectic A phase to room temperature. These films show linear electro-optical effects because the permanent polarization can be aligned so that it has a component parallel to the applied field without changing the layer structure. Our analysis indicates that mainly two effects determine the layer tilt. On the one hand, the surface tension tends to minimise the layer tilt. On the other hand, the surface energy promotes the director to be normal to the boundary plates. Received 17 July 1998     

Director field configurations around a spherical particle in a nematic liquid crystal

We study the director field around a spherical particle immersed in a uniformly aligned nematic liquid crystal and assume that the molecules prefer a homeotropic orientation at the surface of the particle. Three structures are possible: a dipole, a Saturn-ring, and a surface-ring configuration, which we investigate by numerically minimizing the Frank free energy supplemented by a magnetic-field and a surface term. In the dipole configuration, which is the absolutely stable structure for micron-size particles and sufficiently strong surface anchoring, a twist transition is found and analyzed. We show that a transition from the dipole to the Saturn ring configuration is induced by either decreasing the particle size or by applying a magnetic field. The effect of metastability and the occurrence of hysteresis in connection with a magnetic field are discussed. The surface-ring configuration appears when the surface-anchoring strength W is reduced. It is also favored by a large saddle-splay constant K₂₄. A comparison with recent experiments [#!itapdb:Poulin1997!#,#!itapdb:Poulin1998!#] gives a lower bound for W, i.e., for the interface of water and pentylcyanobiphenyl (5CB) in the presence of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate. Received 2 November 1998     

Structure and rheology of the defect-gel states of pure and particle-dispersed lyotropic lamellar phases

We present important new results from light-microscopy and rheometry on a moderately concentrated lyotropic smectic, with and without particulate additives. Shear-treatment aligns the phase rapidly, except for a striking network of oily-streak defects, which anneals out much more slowly. If spherical particles several microns in diameter are dispersed in the lamellar medium, part of the defect network persists under shear-treatment, its nodes anchored on the particles. The sample as prepared has substantial storage and loss moduli, both of which decrease steadily under shear-treatment. Adding particles enhances the moduli and retards their decay under shear. The data for the frequency-dependent storage modulus after various durations of shear-treatment can be scaled to collapse onto a single curve. The elasticity and dissipation in these samples thus arises mainly from the defect network, not directly from the smectic elasticity and hydrodynamics. Received 19 April 1999 and Received in final form 20 May 1999     

The multi-configuration Dirac-Fock calculation of the low-lying levels of Sm

The excitation energies and hyper-fine structure constants of the low-lying levels of Sm atom are calculated using the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method. The results show that the excitation energies of the ground state multiplets can be calculated accurately using a small orbital set but the higher levels need larger orbital sets. Similar inference can also be drawn from the discrepancy between the calculated values of the hyper-fine constants and the experimental data. A sequence of MCDF calculation demonstrates the effect of the MCDF potential on the orbitals. Among the rare earth atoms Sm is a promising candidate for discrete symmetry violation experiments in atoms. This makes accurate theoretical calculations necessary since parameters in particle physics can be derived by combining the experimental results with the theoretical results. And these could be a probe for the physics beyond the standard model. Received 10 October 2000 and Received in final form 23 January 2001     

Design and characterization of a near-diffraction-limited femtosecond 100-TW 10-Hz high-intensity laser system

We present the design and characterization of a femtosecond high-intensity laser system emitting a near-diffraction-limited beam. This system was dimensioned in order to reach intensities in excess of 10²⁰ W/cm² at a high repetition rate for ultrahigh-field physics experiments. We describe the improvements that were added to a conventional chirp pulse amplification configuration in order to decrease the deleterious effects of gain narrowing, gain shifting, thermal focusing in the amplifier stages, and spatial degradation due to multipass amplification processes. Received: 4 January 2002 / Published online: 14 May 2002     

Double- and multi-photon pair production and electron-positron entanglement

We investigate entanglement of electrons and positrons produced via absorption by a vacuum of two or several photons from two external electromagnetic waves. The waves are modelled by finite-length focused pulses. Structures of the arising electron and positron wave packets are investigated in the momentum and coordinate representations. Conditional and unconditional widths of these wave packets, as well as the Schmidt number K are found, and they are used to evaluate the degree of entanglement. The conditions are found when entanglement is large. It is shown that the highest entanglement can be reached at nonrelativistic energies of electrons and positrons. Possibilities of observing the entanglement effects in experiments on pair production are discussed.