Super-quadratic behavior of luminescence decay excited by energy-transfer upconversion

For several decades, energy-transfer upconversion (ETU) in rare-earth-ion doped systems [1,2] has attracted much attention, firstly, because of the fundamental interest in the physical nature of this process and, secondly, because of very practical considerations, namely the demonstration of near-infrared pumped visible light sources and, in reverse, the detrimental influence of ETU on the efficiency of infrared emitting systems.\ud We investigate fundamentally the behavior of infrared luminescence emitted directly from a metastable level and visible luminescence emitted after ETU from this level to higher-lying levels. Although these two luminescences are connected by the same metastable level and influenced by the same ETU process, the infrared luminescence probes all ions, while the visible luminescence probes only the class of ions susceptible to ETU [3]. A simple analytical model [4] predicts that such luminescence decay curves exhibit a super-quadratic dependence of upconversion on direct luminescence decay.\ud The Nd3+ ion can serve as a model system for such investigations. It exhibits strong ETU from the metastable 4F3/2 level. When doped into oxide matrices, the 4F3/2 level is the only metastable level. The Nd3+ energy levels excited by ETU decay by fast multiphonon relaxation and, hence, the weak visible fluorescence emitted from these levels represents a quasi instantaneous reaction on the dynamics of the 4F3/2 level. Experimental results obtained after pulsed laser excitation of Nd3+-doped oxide host materials show indeed a super-quadratic behavior of upconversion versus direct luminescence decay, in accordance with the model predictions [4].\ud \ud [1] F. Auzel, Proc. IEEE 1973, 6, 758\ud [2] J.C. Wright, Top. Appl. Phys. 1976, 15, 239\ud [3] M. Pollnau, D.R. Gamelin, S.R. Lüthi, H.U. Güdel, M.P. Hehlen, Phys. Rev. B 2000, 61, 3337\ud [4] M. Pollnau, J. Alloys Compd. 2002, 341, 5

Superquadratic behavior of upconversion luminescence transients in rare-earth-ion doped laser crystals

Inhomogeneous active-ion distributions in laser materials lead to strong deviations of upconversion versus direct luminescence transients from the quadratic law of energy-transfer upconversion. Measured luminescence decay curves in LaSc3(BO3)4:Nd3+ and GdVO4:Nd3+ confirm experimentally the predicted deviations. Differences in energy migration within the metastable level of Nd3+ are identified

Dependence of upconversion on direct luminescence decay in energy-transfer upconversion

For several decades, energy-transfer upconversion (ETU) in rare-earth-ion doped systems [1,2] has attracted much attention, firstly, because of the fundamental interest in the physical nature of this process and, secondly, because of very practical considerations, namely the demonstration of near-infrared pumped visible light sources and, in reverse, the detrimental influence of ETU on the efficiency of infrared emitting systems. We investigate fundamentally the behavior of and interaction between infrared luminescence emitted directly from a metastable level and visible luminescence emitted after ETU from this metastable level to higher-lying levels. Although these two luminescences are connected by the same metastable level and influenced by the same ETU process, they probe different classes of ions. Whereas the infrared luminescence probes all ions, the visible luminescence probes only the class of ions susceptible to ETU [3]. A simple analytical model [4] predicts that such luminescence decay curves exhibit a super-quadratic dependence of upconversion on direct luminescence decay. The fraction of ions susceptible to ETU can be derived from this model. The Nd3+ ion can serve as a model system for such investigations. It exhibits strong ETU from the metastable 4F3/2 level. When doped into oxide matrices, the 4F3/2 level is the only metastable level within the 4f subshell. The Nd3+ energy levels excited by ETU decay by fast multiphonon relaxation and, hence, the weak visible fluorescence emitted from these levels represents a quasi instantaneous reaction on the dynamics of the 4F3/2 metastable level. Experimental results obtained after pulsed laser excitation of Nd3+-doped oxide host materials show indeed a super-quadratic behavior of upconversion versus direct luminescence decay, in accordance with the model predictions [4]. [1] F. Auzel, Proc. IEEE 6, 758 (1973) [2] J.C. Wright, Top. Appl. Phys. 15, 239 (1976) [3] M. Pollnau, D.R. Gamelin, S.R. Lüthi, H.U. Güdel, M.P. Hehlen, Phys. Rev. B 61, 3337 (2000) [4] M. Pollnau, J. Alloys Compd. 341, 51 (2002

Displacement power spectrum measurement of a macroscopic optomechanical system at thermal equilibrium

The mirror relative motion of a suspended Fabry-Perot cavity is studied in the frequency range 3-10 Hz. The experimental measurements presented in this paper, have been performed at the Low Frequency Facility, a high finesse optical cavity 1 cm long suspended to a mechanical seismic isolation system identical to that one used in the VIRGO experiment. The measured relative displacement power spectrum is compatible with a system at thermal equilibrium within its environmental. In the frequency region above 3 Hz, where seismic noise contamination is negligible, the measurement distribution is stationary and Gaussian, as expected for a system at thermal equilibrium. Through a simple mechanical model it is shown that: applying the fluctuation dissipation theorem the measured power spectrum is reproduced below 90 Hz and noise induced by external sources are below the measurement.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, to be submitte

A Cross-correlation method to search for gravitational wave bursts with AURIGA and Virgo

We present a method to search for transient GWs using a network of detectors with different spectral and directional sensitivities: the interferometer Virgo and the bar detector AURIGA. The data analysis method is based on the measurements of the correlated energy in the network by means of a weighted cross-correlation. To limit the computational load, this coherent analysis step is performed around time-frequency coincident triggers selected by an excess power event trigger generator tuned at low thresholds. The final selection of GW candidates is performed by a combined cut on the correlated energy and on the significance as measured by the event trigger generator. The method has been tested on one day of data of AURIGA and Virgo during September 2005. The outcomes are compared to the results of a stand-alone time-frequency coincidence search. We discuss the advantages and the limits of this approach, in view of a possible future joint search between AURIGA and one interferometric detector.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to CQG special issue for Amaldi 7 Proceeding

The variable finesse locking technique

Virgo is a power recycled Michelson interferometer, with 3 km long Fabry-Perot cavities in the arms. The locking of the interferometer has been obtained with an original lock acquisition technique. The main idea is to lock the instrument away from its working point. Lock is obtained by misaligning the power recycling mirror and detuning the Michelson from the dark fringe. In this way, a good fraction of light escapes through the antisymmetric port and the power build-up inside the recycling cavity is extremely low. The benefit is that all the degrees of freedom are controlled when they are almost decoupled, and the linewidth of the recycling cavity is large. The interferometer is then adiabatically brought on to the dark fringe. This technique is referred to as variable finesse, since the recycling cavity is considered as a variable finesse Fabry-Perot. This technique has been widely tested and allows us to reach the dark fringe in few minutes, in an essentially deterministic way

Astrophysically Triggered Searches for Gravitational Waves: Status and Prospects

In gravitational-wave detection, special emphasis is put onto searches that focus on cosmic events detected by other types of astrophysical observatories. The astrophysical triggers, e.g. from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites, optical telescopes and neutrino observatories, provide a trigger time for analyzing gravitational wave data coincident with the event. In certain cases the expected frequency range, source energetics, directional and progenitor information is also available. Beyond allowing the recognition of gravitational waveforms with amplitudes closer to the noise floor of the detector, these triggered searches should also lead to rich science results even before the onset of Advanced LIGO. In this paper we provide a broad review of LIGO's astrophysically triggered searches and the sources they target

Virgo calibration and reconstruction of the gravitational wave strain during VSR1

Virgo is a kilometer-length interferometer for gravitational waves detection located near Pisa. Its first science run, VSR1, occured from May to October 2007. The aims of the calibration are to measure the detector sensitivity and to reconstruct the time series of the gravitational wave strain h(t). The absolute length calibration is based on an original non-linear reconstruction of the differential arm length variations in free swinging Michelson configurations. It uses the laser wavelength as length standard. This method is used to calibrate the frequency dependent response of the Virgo mirror actuators and derive the detector in-loop response and sensitivity within ~5%. The principle of the strain reconstruction is highlighted and the h(t) systematic errors are estimated. A photon calibrator is used to check the sign of h(t). The reconstructed h(t) during VSR1 is valid from 10 Hz up to 10 kHz with systematic errors estimated to 6% in amplitude. The phase error is estimated to be 70 mrad below 1.9 kHz and 6 micro-seconds above.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, proceedings of Amaldi 8 conference, to be published in Journal of Physics Conference Series (JPCS). Second release: correct typo

Sensitivity to Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences Achieved during LIGO's Fifth and Virgo's First Science Run

We summarize the sensitivity achieved by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors for compact binary coalescence (CBC) searches during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. We present noise spectral density curves for each of the four detectors that operated during these science runs which are representative of the typical performance achieved by the detectors for CBC searches. These spectra are intended for release to the public as a summary of detector performance for CBC searches during these science runs.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using LIGO S5 science data

The gravitational-wave (GW) sky may include nearby pointlike sources as well as astrophysical and cosmological stochastic backgrounds. Since the relative strength and angular distribution of the many possible sources of GWs are not well constrained, searches for GW signals must be performed in a model-independent way. To that end we perform two directional searches for persistent GWs using data from the LIGO S5 science run: one optimized for pointlike sources and one for arbitrary extended sources. The latter result is the first of its kind. Finding no evidence to support the detection of GWs, we present 90% confidence level (CL) upper-limit maps of GW strain power with typical values between 2-20x10^-50 strain^2 Hz^-1 and 5-35x10^-49 strain^2 Hz^-1 sr^-1 for pointlike and extended sources respectively. The limits on pointlike sources constitute a factor of 30 improvement over the previous best limits. We also set 90% CL limits on the narrow-band root-mean-square GW strain from interesting targets including Sco X-1, SN1987A and the Galactic Center as low as ~7x10^-25 in the most sensitive frequency range near 160 Hz. These limits are the most constraining to date and constitute a factor of 5 improvement over the previous best limits.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure