Picosecond optoelectronic characterization of diode lasers

New optoelectronic techniques for measuring semiconductor laser turn-on delay times and jitter with a picosecond temporal resolution are proposed and were employed for both conventional, homogeneous cavity and ion-bombarded picosecond diode laser characterization. Distinct differences in the characteristics of those lasers were found.     

Detection and characterization of breast tumours by time-domain scanning optical mammography

The paper gives a short overview of various methods of optical mammography, emphasizing scanning time-domain mammography. The results of a clinical study on time-domain optical mammography are reviewed, comprising 154 patients carrying a total of 102 carcinomas validated by histology. A visibility score attributed to each carcinoma as qualitative measure of tumour detectability indicates acceptable sensitivity but poor specificity for discrimination between malignant and benign lesions. Likewise, a multi-variate statistical analysis yields sensitivity and specificity between 80% and 85% for tumour detection and discrimination with respect to normal (healthy) breast tissue, but values less than 70% for discrimination between malignant and benign breast lesions, being too low to be of clinical relevance. For 87 of the 88 tumours detected retrospectively in both projection optical mammograms, optical properties and tissue parameters were derived based on the diffraction of photon density waves by a spherical inhomogeneity as forward model. Following injection of a bolus of indocyanine green as non-targeted absorbing contrast agent, dynamic contrast-enhanced time-domain optical mammography was carried out on a small number of patients, but no differences in wash-out kinetics of indocyanine green between tumours and healthy breast tissue were observed.     

Free precession and transverse relaxation of hyperpolarized <Superscript>129</Superscript>Xe gas detected by SQUIDs in ultra-low magnetic fields

We studied the free precession of the nuclear magnetization of hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe gas in external magnetic fields as low as B₀ = 4.5 nT, using SQUIDs as magnetic flux detectors. The transverse relaxation was mainly caused by the restricted diffusion of ¹²⁹Xe in the presence of ambient magnetic field gradients. Its pressure dependence was measured in the range from 30 mbar to 850 mbar and compared quantitatively to theory. Motional narrowing was observed at low pressure, yielding transverse relaxation times of up to 8000 s.     

Femtosecond time-resolved reflection second-harmonic generation on polycrystalline copper

Optical Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG) in reflection from a polycrystalline copper surface in air was studied using femtosecond time-resolved pump and probe measurements at =625 nm. The observed time dependence of second-harmonic yield from the probe beam demonstrates, that SHG is a very sensitive technique for measuring transient electron temperatures of metals even when these are covered by an oxide layer. For polycrystalline copper, an electron-phonon energy transfer time of 2 ps was observed, corresponding to a coupling constant of 3.75×10¹⁷ W/m³ K at average lattice temperatures of about 500 K. The analysis of experimental data indicates that the time dependence of SHG is governed by the linear dielectric function which, in turn, is affected by the electron temperature. There is no evidence for a temperature dependence of the nonlinear susceptibility ⁽²⁾.Paper presented at the 129th WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Surface Studies by Nonlinear Laser Spectroscopies, Kassel, Germany, May 30 to June 1, 1994