The discovery of nanometer fringes in laser self-mixing interference

We demonstrate the influences of optical feedback from an external mirror with high reflectivity in a He-Ne laser on self-mixing interference fringes and laser polarization states. When the external mirror is tilted to a certain level, the stable and uniform nanometer resolution fringes are generated. The fringe density is 40 times than that of the conventional self-mixing interference or two beam interference, and has still potential to be improved. Each self-mixing interference fringe corresponds to λ/80 displacement of the external mirror, i.e. 7.91 nm displacement of the external mirror. Moreover, when the movement direction of the external mirror is changed, the polarization flipping between two eigenstates will happen. The potential applications of the results are also discussed.     

Photodissociation and photoionization of sodium coated C $_\mathsf{60}$ clusters

At the Prague Asterix Laser System Center (PALS) the Asterix iodine laser delivering up to 700 J/0.5 ns is used as a pump source for X-ray laser experiments and applications. The prepulse technique was applied which is known to improve the neon-like X-ray laser output at the J = 0-1 transition dramatically. Since Zn slab targets were used the operating wavelength was 21.2 nm. A prepulse having up to 20 J precedes the main pulse by 10 ns. The main beam and the prepulse beam are focussed by two different optical systems separately and their foci are superimposed at the target surface. By implementing a half-cavity set-up for double-pass amplification using a Mo/Si multilayer mirror - which can be used for more than 100 shots - the X-ray laser output was more than 10 times stronger than at the single pass in a 30 mm long plasma. Double-pass amplification was observed to be most efficient when the pump pulse duration was at least 150 ps longer than the round trip time ( ≈ 260 ps) in the half-cavity. Under this fundamental condition the X-ray laser reached saturation in the double-pass regime containing approx. 4 mJ energy which has been proved to be enough for future applications. In this contribution, the X-ray laser features like divergence in two dimensions, the beam quality (symmetry), the pointing angle and the integrated intensity giving an estimation of the output energy are investigated over 110 shots. To characterize the stability of the X-ray laser the shot distribution, the mean value and the standard deviation for these parameters are evaluated. For 18 shots in a series - what was achievable during one day - the corresponding values are given, and a statistical analysis carrying out a chi-squared test characterize the Zn X-ray laser as a robust tool suitable for applications. In the future it is planned to allocate X-ray laser beam time to external research groups. Received 17 May 2002 / Received in final form 10 September 2002 Published online 6 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: praeg@fzu.cz     

Seven-terawatt Ti:sapphire laser system operating at 50 Hz with high beam quality for laser Compton femtosecond X-ray generation

We present a 7-TW Ti:sapphire laser system operating at 50 Hz for laser Compton femtosecond X-ray generation. This laser system delivers 8.4 W of average output power at a repetition rate of 50 Hz with a pulse width of 24 fs. It demonstrates successful management using a dynamically stable resonator in the regenerative amplifier and compensation for thermal lensing by a convex mirror in a ring-type four-pass power amplifier. We also present the results of closed-loop corrections for distorted wavefronts of amplified and compressed laser pulses, using an adaptive optical system consisting of a Shack–Hartmann-type wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror. This closed-loop correction results in dramatic improvements, reducing wavefront distortions below 0.05 λ rms. Received: 31 October 2002 / Revised version: 3 March 2003 / Published online: 5 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-298/61-3349, E-mail: ito@festa.or.jp     

On the chaining dynamics of inclusions in SmC* free standing films

A simplified model of an inclusion represented by (+1)-wedge disclination and an accompanying hyperbolic defect ((−1)-wedge disclination) in smectic C* free standing films is used to describe the early stage of the ordering process of inclusions into chains. The elastic interaction between inclusions and their associated hyperbolic defects is used to discuss the dynamics observed experimentally during the inclusion chaining when inclusions are at distances much larger than their radii. This work was also supported by Grant No. 202/02/0840 of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and by the research project AV0Z1-010-914.     

Multiply scattered component of lidar returns

The results of statistical simulation of the spatiotemporal structure of the multiply scattered component of lidar returns by the Monte Carlo method are discussed for the case of monostatic sensing geometry. The spatial characteristics of the region of the medium where occurs the last scattering of photon before arriving at the reciever. This region of the medium is called the instantaneous brightness body of multiply scattered radiation. It is demonstrated that the instantaneous brightness body of multiply scattered radiation that propagates toward the receiver may occupy a large volume that does not necessarily coincide with the region of formation of the singly scattered component. The main factors influencing the spatial and brightness characteristics of this volume source are established. The effect of scattering order on the spatiotemporal structure of lidar returns is analyzed for the case of sensing of aerosol haze and advective and radiative fogs with optical thickness 2<τ<8. Received: 2 August 2001 / Revised version: 7 January 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +7-38/2225-8026, E-mail: belov@iao.ru     

Colloidal interactions in two-dimensional nematics

The interaction between two disks immersed in a 2D nematic is investigated i) analytically using the tensor order parameter formalism for the nematic configuration around isolated disks and ii) numerically using finite-element methods with adaptive meshing to minimize the corresponding Landau-de Gennes free energy. For strong homeotropic anchoring, each disk generates a pair of defects with one-half topological charge responsible for the 2D quadrupolar interaction between the disks at large distances. At short distance, the position of the defects may change, leading to unexpected complex interactions with the quadrupolar repulsive interactions becoming attractive. This short-range attraction in all directions is still anisotropic. As the distance between the disks decreases, their preferred relative orientation with respect to the far-field nematic director changes from oblique to perpendicular. Received 1 October 2002 and Received in final form 12 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: miko@cii.fc.ul.pt     

Excited states of Ne isoelectronic ions: SAC-CI study

Excited states of the s, p, and d symmetries up to principal quantum number n = 4 are studied for the first eight members of Ne isoelectronic sequence (Ne to Cl⁷⁺) by the SAC-CI (symmetry-adapted-cluster configuration-interaction) method. The valence STO basis sets of Clementi et al. and the optimized excited STO are used by the STO-6G expansion method. The calculated transition energies agree well with the experimental values wherever available. Received 26 July 2000 and Received in final form 14 September 2000     

Thermally assisted writing for perpendicular MRAM

Spin valves composed of TbCo/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/TbFeCo were fabricated with perpendicular magnetization and GMR ratios of 4.5%. The (TbCo/CoFe) layers and (CoFe/TbFeCo) layers are referred to the free and the pinned layers, respectively. The compositions of two layers were chosen to have a lower Curie temperature (130 °C) but higher coercivity (13.2 kOe) of the free layer at room temperature than those of the pinned layer; therefore, the free layer is quite stable at room temperature but its magnetization can be easily switched at a relatively low temperature. Spin valves were patterned into 100-μm-wide cells and their coercivity was reduced with increasing writing current due to the temperature rise by current-heating. When the current density of the writing current was increased to 2.1×10⁶ A/cm², the required switching field for the free layer was only 10 Oe.     

A continuous-mode model of the mode locking in a pump-modulated laser

The active mode-locking process of the multimode laser with an external pump modulation is theoretically investigated in the frequency domain within the framework of the continuous-mode approximation. Intermode interaction and mode-coupling effects, including both AM and FM modulations, are naturally considered in a hierarchical equation of the mode components derived from the multimode Maxwell-Bloch equations. It is reduced to a continuous-mode equation that can be solved analytically in a stationary case, and used to discuss the spectral line shape and the phase dynamics of mode-components as a function of modulation amplitude and detuning of the modulation frequency. We predict a novel oscillation existing below the threshold of the ordinary complete mode-locking: The intensity of the total electric field yields a stable pulse train but its phase varies irregularly in time. This semi-locked state is characterized by a nonlinear chirping, an asymmetric spectrum, and drifting phases of the field mode-components.     

Magnetic and transport properties of YbRhIn5 and YbIrIn5 single crystals

Single crystals of YbRhIn₅ and YbIrIn₅ have been grown by flux method. The crystals were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, magnetic and electrical transport measurements. Both compounds were found to be weak diamagnets with metallic character of the electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient.