100-TW femtosecond laser based on parametric amplification

In experiments on the parametrical amplification of femtosecond pulses in wide-aperture DKDP crystals, a power of more than 100 TW has been reached, which is much higher than the record level achieved in such lasers. The energy efficiency obtained for the parametric amplifier is equal to 27%. The energy of a 72-fs pulse is equal to 10 J.     

Monitoring and managing of cyclotron beam distribution on the surface of irradiated targets

A system for monitoring and managing of the proton-beam distribution on the surface of the targets in the cyclotrons of the Cyclotron Co. is presented in this report. Parameters of proton beams, designs of the target and target devices, used for isotope production, and the system of the managing of the beam distribution on the target are given. The control is fulfilled via monitoring of the temperature distributions using infrared radiation from the target surface. The need in such system for increasing of the isotope productivity and reducing of the likelihood of the target damage is substantiated.     

A Structural Model of the Viscoelasticity of Polymers

Moscow University Chemistry Bulletin - A structural approach to describe the results of dynamic measurements of polymer melts is used. The possibility of approximating the loss modulus and storage...     

Stimulated emission from donor transitions in silicon

The observation of far-infrared stimulated emission from shallow donor transitions in silicon is reported. Lasing with a wavelength of 59 &mgr;m due to the neutral donor intracenter 2p(0)-->1s(E) transition in Si:P pumped by CO2 laser radiation is obtained. Populations of D0 and D- center states and the balance of the radiation absorption and amplification are theoretically analyzed.     

Two low-cost digital camera-based platforms for quantitative creatinine analysis in urine

In clinical analysis creatinine is a routine biomarker for the assessment of renal and muscular dysfunctions. Although several techniques have been proposed for a fast and accurate quantification of creatinine in human serum or urine, most of them require expensive or complex apparatus, advanced sample preparation or skilled operators. To circumvent these issues, we propose two home-made platforms based on a CD Spectroscope (CDS) and Computer Screen Photo-assisted Technique (CSPT) for the rapid assessment of creatinine level in human urine. Both systems display a linear range (r² = 0.9967 and 0.9972, respectively) from 160 μmol L⁻¹ to 1.6 mmol L⁻¹ for standard creatinine solutions (n = 15) with respective detection limits of 89 μmol L⁻¹ and 111 μmol L⁻¹. Good repeatability was observed for intra-day (1.7–2.9%) and inter-day (3.6–6.5%) measurements evaluated on three consecutive days. The performance of CDS and CSPT was also validated in real human urine samples (n = 26) using capillary electrophoresis data as reference. Corresponding Partial Least-Squares (PLS) regression models provided for mean relative errors below 10% in creatinine quantification.     

Generation of characteristic profiles of steroid hormones by reversed-phase HPLC

A method for the determination of steroid hormones by reversed-phase HPLC has been applied to the analysis of biological fluids from healthy individuals and patients with endocrine systems diseases. The obtained chromatographic profiles were processed by the method of principal component analysis and method of soft independent modeling of class analogy. The principle possibility of using the results of chemometric processing of the chromatographic profiles as an additional diagnostic criterion for the treatment of some endocrine pathologies has been shown.     

Complexes of titanium and zirconium based on [C5Me4CH2-(2-C5H4N)] ligand

Half-sandwich [η⁵:η¹-κN-C₅Me₄CH₂-(2-C₅H₄N)]MCl₃ (M = Ti (4), Zr (5)) and sandwich [η⁵-C₅Me₄CH₂-(2-C₅H₄N)][η⁵-C₅Me₅]ZrCl₂ (6) ring-peralkylated complexes have been prepared and characterized. Evidence of the intramolecular coordination of the side-chain pyridyl group both in 4 and 5 in solutions is provided by NMR spectroscopy data. Crystal structure of an adduct 5-py with one molecule of pyridine has been established by X-ray diffraction analysis.     

Retrieving the Amplitude and Phase Parameters of an Ultrashort Wave Packet by Autocorrelation Methods

Based on an analysis of the signal of an interferometric intensity autocorrelator, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally a simple technique for retrieving the temporal distributions of the amplitude and phase of an ultrashort light pulse. Assuming that a phase-modulated wave packet has a Gaussian envelope, we derive an analytical expression for the autocorrelator signal in the cases of linear- and quadratic-chirp optical pulses. The experimental and theoretical results are in excellent agreement. In particular, we show that a linear chirp (quadratic phase modulation) can be measured with a good experimental accuracy of no worse than 10%. This yields the possibility of measuring the parameter k₂, which describes the dispersion characteristics of a medium in the second order of the dispersion theory, with the same accuracy. Measuring a quadratic chirp by the proposed method is possible only if such a chirp is sufficiently large.