Photoinduced time-resolved electrodynamics of superconducting metals and alloys

The photoexcited state in superconducting metals and alloys was studied via pump-probe spectroscopy. A pulsed Ti:sapphire laser was used to create the non-equilibrium state and the far-infrared pulses of a synchrotron storage ring, to which the laser is synchronized, measured the changes in the material optical properties. Both the time- and frequency- dependent photoinduced spectra of Pb, Nb, NbN, Nb{0.5}Ti{0.5}N, and Pb{0.75}Bi{0.25} superconducting thin films were measured in the low-fluence regime. The time dependent data establish the regions where the relaxation rate is dominated either by the phonon escape time (phonon bottleneck effect) or by the intrinsic quasiparticle recombination time. The photoinduced spectra measure directly the reduction of the superconducting gap due to an excess number of quasiparticles created by the short laser pulses. This gap shift allows us to establish the temperature range over which the low fluence approximation is valid.Comment: 12 pages with 10 figure

The first direct detection of gravitational waves opens a vast new frontier in astronomy

The first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), announced on 11 February 2016, has opened a vast new frontier in astronomy. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of these waves about a century ago as a consequence of his general theory of relativity. Radio astronomy observations of the binary pulsar system PSR 1913 + 16 over a 20 year period beginning in 1975 provided strong observational evidence that gravitational waves carried energy away from the orbits of neutron stars at precisely the level predicted by general relativity (GR). This relentless conversion of orbital energy into gravitational wave energy causes binary orbits to decay until the objects eventually collide and merge. The frontier of precision measurement science, using laser interferometers, was pushed for more than four decades to achieve this first direct detection, marking a milestone in experimental physics and engineering. Even more significantly, this milestone also opens a new window onto our universe and a completely new kind of astronomy to explore

Determination and optimization of mode matching into optical cavities by heterodyne detection

We report on a novel high-sensitivity method to characterize and improve mode matching into optical cavities. This method is based on heterodyne detection of cylindrical transverse cavity modes. A specially designed annular-segmented photodiode is used to measure the amplitude of nonresonant modes reflected by the cavity. Our measurements allow us to optimize cavity mode matching to nearly 99.98% and will play an important diagnostic role in gravitational-wave detectors

Bibliometrics to assess the productivity and impact of medical research

Background: Bibliometrics is the use of statistical and mathematical analysis to assess research production and quality. These metrics provide important insights into the quality and impact of research by applying standardised metrics. However, there are inherent limitations in their application. Objective: We aimed to review existing bibliometric indices and assess their comparative utility in the assessment of medical researchers. We specifically aimed to evaluate the utility of the h-index in identifying young or developing medical researchers with future research potential. Method: We conducted a focussed literature review on commonly used bibliometrics. To explore the utility of these metrics we then used them to evaluate a sample of researchers from a South African medical school faculty. Researchers were ranked with the following metrics: number of publications; h-index; citations per paper; citations per paper per year; and m-index. The h-index, citations and publication counts were drawn from ResearchGate and, if not available, from Google Scholar. The top 20 researchers, based on publication count, were then analysed further. Results: We identified 145 researchers for analysis of which 37 were excluded due to an inability to obtain additional information. Higher time-dependent metrics (publication count, citation count, h-index) were directly proportional to years since first publication. Indices that corrected for time, such as the m-index, provided more insight and better discrimination in identifying younger researchers with greater research potential. Conclusion: Bibliometrics have utility as part of the assessment of academic output but may be subject to time-dependent bias. Research quality is best measured using the h-index, g-index and m-index. The h-index is limited by being time dependent and field specific and overlooks highly cited papers. Bibliometrics that account for time, such as the m-index, should be considered in the early identification of young researchers, ideally accompanied by critical peer review

Near-field radiative heat transfer between macroscopic planar surfaces

Near-field radiative heat transfer allows heat to propagate across a small vacuum gap in quantities that are several orders of magnitude greater then the heat transfer by far-field, blackbody radiation. Although heat transfer via near-field effects has been discussed for many years, experimental verification of this theory has been very limited. We have measured the heat transfer between two macroscopic sapphire plates, finding an increase in agreement with expectations from theory. These experiments, conducted near 300 K, have measured the heat transfer as a function of separation over mm to $\mu$m and as a function of temperature differences between 2.5 and 30 K. The experiments demonstrate that evanescence can be put to work to transfer heat from an object without actually touching it

Parallel phase modulation scheme for interferometric gravitational-wave detectors

Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) requires multiple frequency sidebands to disentangle all of the main interferometer’s length signals. This paper presents the results of a risk reduction experiment to produce two sets of frequency sidebands in parallel, avoiding mixed ‘sidebands on sidebands’. Two phase modulation frequencies are applied to separate Electro-Optic Modulators (EOMs), with one EOM in each of the two arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In this system the Mach-Zehnder’s arm lengths are stabilized to reduce relative intensity noise in the recombined carrier beam by feeding a corrective control signal back to the Rubidium Titanyl Phosphate (RTP) EOM crystals to drive the optical path length difference to zero. This setup’s use of the RTP crystals as length actuators provides enough bandwidth in the feedback to meet arm length stability requirements for aLIGO

Small optic suspensions for Advanced LIGO input optics and other precision optical experiments

We report on the design and performance of small optic suspensions developed to suppress seismic motion of out-of-cavity optics in the Input Optics subsystem of the Advanced LIGO interferometric gravitational wave detector. These compact single stage suspensions provide isolation in all six degrees of freedom of the optic, local sensing and actuation in three of them, and passive damping for the other three

Characterization of thermal effects in the Enhanced LIGO Input Optics

We present the design and performance of the LIGO Input Optics subsystem as implemented for the sixth science run of the LIGO interferometers. The Initial LIGO Input Optics experienced thermal side effects when operating with 7 W input power. We designed, built, and implemented improved versions of the Input Optics for Enhanced LIGO, an incremental upgrade to the Initial LIGO interferometers, designed to run with 30 W input power. At four times the power of Initial LIGO, the Enhanced LIGO Input Optics demonstrated improved performance including better optical isolation, less thermal drift, minimal thermal lensing and higher optical efficiency. The success of the Input Optics design fosters confidence for its ability to perform well in Advanced LIGO

The first direct detection of gravitational waves opens a vast new frontier in astronomy

The first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), announced on 11 February 2016, has opened a vast new frontier in astronomy. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of these waves about a century ago as a consequence of his general theory of relativity. Radio astronomy observations of the binary pulsar system PSR 1913 + 16 over a 20 year period beginning in 1975 provided strong observational evidence that gravitational waves carried energy away from the orbits of neutron stars at precisely the level predicted by general relativity (GR). This relentless conversion of orbital energy into gravitational wave energy causes binary orbits to decay until the objects eventually collide and merge. The frontier of precision measurement science, using laser interferometers, was pushed for more than four decades to achieve this first direct detection, marking a milestone in experimental physics and engineering. Even more significantly, this milestone also opens a new window onto our universe and a completely new kind of astronomy to explore

Sub-nanosecond, time-resolved, broadband infrared spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation

A facility for sub-nanosecond time-resolved (pump-probe) infrared spectroscopy has been developed at the National Synchrotron Light Source of Brookhaven National Laboratory. A mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser produces 2 ps duration, tunable near-IR pump pulses synchronized to probe pulses from a synchrotron storage ring. The facility is unique on account of the broadband infrared from the synchrotron, which allows the entire spectral range from 2 cm-1 (0.25 meV) to 20,000 cm-1 (2.5 eV) to be probed. A temporal resolution of 200 ps, limited by the infrared synchrotron-pulse duration, is achieved. A maximum time delay of 170 ns is available without gating the infrared detector. To illustrate the performance of the facility, a measurement of electron-hole recombination dynamics for an HgCdTe semiconductor film in the far- and mid infrared range is presented.Comment: 11 pages with 9 figures include