Relativistic Laser-Matter Interaction and Relativistic Laboratory Astrophysics

The paper is devoted to the prospects of using the laser radiation interaction with plasmas in the laboratory relativistic astrophysics context. We discuss the dimensionless parameters characterizing the processes in the laser and astrophysical plasmas and emphasize a similarity between the laser and astrophysical plasmas in the ultrarelativistic energy limit. In particular, we address basic mechanisms of the charged particle acceleration, the collisionless shock wave and magnetic reconnection and vortex dynamics properties relevant to the problem of ultrarelativistic particle acceleration.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figure

A new generation of 99.999% enriched 28Si single crystals for the determination of Avogadro's constant

A metrological challenge is currently underway to replace the present definition of the kilogram. One prerequisite for this is that the Avogadro constant, NA, which defines the number of atoms in a mole, needs to be determined with a relative uncertainty of better than 2  ×  10−8. The method applied in this case is based on the x-ray crystal density experiment using silicon crystals. The first attempt, in which silicon of natural isotopic composition was used, failed. The solution chosen subsequently was the usage of silicon highly enriched in 28Si from Russia. First, this paper reviews previous efforts from the very first beginnings to an international collaboration with the goal of producing a 28Si single crystal with a mass of 5 kg, an enrichment greater than 0.9999 and of sufficient chemical purity. Then the paper describes the activities of a follow-up project, conducted by PTB, to produce a new generation of highly enriched silicon in order to demonstrate the quasi-industrial and reliable production of more than 12 kg of the 28Si material with enrichments of five nines. The intention of this project is also to show the availability of 28Si single crystals as a guarantee for the future realisation of the redefined kilogram

99.992% 28Si CVD-grown epilayer on 300 mm substrates for large scale integration of silicon spin qubits

International audienceSilicon-based quantum bits with electron spins in quantum dots or nuclear spins on dopants are serious contenders in the race for quantum computation. Added to process integration maturity, the lack of nuclear spins in the most abundant (28)silicon isotope host crystal for qubits is a major asset for this silicon quantum technology. We have grown (28)silicon epitaxial layers (epilayers) with an isotopic purity greater than 99.992% on 300 mm natural abundance silicon crystals. The quality of the mono-crystalline isotopically purified epilayer conforms to the same drastic quality requirements as the natural epilayers used in our pre-industrial CMOS facility. The isotopically purified substrates are now ready for the fabrication of silicon qubits using state-of-the-art 300 mm Si CMOS-foundries equipments and processes