Phase Stable RF-over-fiber Transmission using Heterodyne Interferometry

New scientific applications require phase-stabilized RF distribution to multiple remote locations. These include phased-array radio telescopes and short pulse free electron lasers. RF modulated onto a CW optical carrier and transmitted via fiber is capable of low noise, but commercially available systems aren't long term stable enough for these applications. Typical requirements are for less than 50fs long term temporal stability between receivers, which is 0.05 degrees at 3GHz. Good results have been demonstrated for RF distribution schemes based on transmission of short pulses, but these require specialized free-space optics and high stability mechanical infrastructure. We report a method which uses only standard telecom optical and RF components, and achieves less than 20fs RMS error over 300m of standard single-mode fiber. We demonstrate stable transmission of 3GHz over 300m of fiber with less than 0.017 degree (17fs) RMS phase error. An interferometer measures optical phase delay, providing information to a feed-forward correction of RF phase

A Compact Beam Spreader Using RF Deflecting Cavities for the LCLS-II

The LCLS-II project currently under development is designed to accelerate electron bunches up to 4 GeV and transport them to one of two FEL undulators located more than 2 km downstream of the end of the LCLS-II linac. The upgrade requires a spreader system to separate the baseline electron bunches and transport them to two undulator lines or a local dump. Fast bipolar kickers (FK) or transverse electric rf deflectors (RFD) are considered as fast-switching devices (FSD). In the RFD approach described here three design options operating at 325 MHz are studied including a superconducting rf-dipole cavity, a normal conducting rf-dipole cavity, and a normal conducting 4-rod cavity. Optional compact splitting schemes involving a combination of vertical and horizontal initial deflections are addresse

Resolving long-range spatial correlations in jammed colloidal systems using photon correlation imaging

We introduce a new dynamic light scattering method, termed photon correlation imaging, which enables us to resolve the dynamics of soft matter in space and time. We demonstrate photon correlation imaging by investigating the slow dynamics of a quasi two-dimensional coarsening foam made of highly packed, deformable bubbles and a rigid gel network formed by dilute, attractive colloidal particles. We find the dynamics of both systems to be determined by intermittent rearrangement events. For the foam, the rearrangements extend over a few bubbles, but a small dynamical correlation is observed up to macroscopic length scales. For the gel, dynamical correlations extend up to the system size. These results indicate that dynamical correlations can be extremely long-ranged in jammed systems and point to the key role of mechanical properties in determining their nature.Comment: Published version (Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 085702 (2009)) The Dynamical Activity Mapsprovided as Supplementary Online Material are also available on http://w3.lcvn.univ-montp2.fr/~lucacip/dam/movies.ht

Stability problem for the torque-free gyrostat by using algebraic methods

We apply an algebraic method for studying the stability with respect to a set of conserved quantities for the problem of torque-free gyrostat. If the conditions of this algebraic method are not fulfilled then the Lyapunov stability cannot be decided using the specified set of conserved quantities

PEP-II Transverse Feedback Electronics Upgrade

The PEP-II B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) requires an upgrade of the transverse feedback system electronics. The new electronics require 12-bit resolution and a minimum sampling rate of 238 Msps. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used to implement the feedback algorithm. The FPGA also contains an embedded PowerPC 405 (PPC-405) processor to run control system interface software for data retrieval, diagnostics, and system monitoring. The design of this system is based on the Xilinx{reg_sign} ML300 Development Platform, a circuit board set containing an FPGA with an embedded processor, a large memory bank, and other peripherals. This paper discusses the design of a digital feedback system based on an FPGA with an embedded processor. Discussion will include specifications, component selection, and integration with the ML300 design

A Femtosecond-Level Fiber-Optics Timing Distribution System Using Frequency-Offset Interferometry

An optical fiber-based frequency and timing distribution system based on the principle of heterodyne interferometry has been in development at LBNL for several years. The fiber drift corrector has evolved from an RF-based to an optical-based system, from mechanical correctors (piezo and optical trombone) to fully electronic, and the electronics from analog to fully digital, all using inexpensive off-the-shelf commodity fiber components. Short-term optical phase jitter and long-term phase drift are both in the femtosecond range over distribution paths of 2 km or more

Telehealth Services to Improve Nonadherence: A Placebo-Controlled Study

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/tmj.2006.12.289.The objective of this study was to test whether a telehealth intervention could improve the compliance with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) by patients with sleep apnea. These patients had been nonadherent for the initial 3 months of therapy even after receiving the initial standard and then supplemental audiotaped/videotaped patient education for adhering to CPAP nightly. The materials and methods included a randomized testing of experimental and placebo interventions. Interventions were delivered by nurses to two groups in their homes by telehealth over a 12-week period. The placebo intervention was used to control for Hawthorne effect, time and attention influences and the novelty of having telehealth in the home. Results following the telehealth interventions were that significantly more patients in the experimental group 1 (n = 10) than the placebo group 2 (n = 9) were adhering nightly to CPAP (χ2 = 4.55, p = 0.033). Group 1 patients reported greater satisfaction with their intervention. However, both groups rated telehealth delivery positively. The mean cost of each 20-minute telehealth visit was $30 while the total cost of the telehealth intervention for each patient was$420. These costs included telehealth equipment, initial installation, longdistance telephone charges, nurse salary, and intervention materials. Conclusions are that telehealth interventions are a potentially cost-effective service for increasing adherence to prescribed medical treatments. Replication studies with large samples and in other clinical groups are recommended

Locking Lasers to RF in an Ultra Fast FEL

Using a novel, phase-stabilized RF-over-fiber scheme, they transmit 3GHz over 300m with 27fs RMS error in 250kHz bandwidth over 12 hours, and phase lock a laser to enable ultrafast pump-probe experiments. Free-electron lasers (FELs) are capable of producing short-duration (< 10fs), high-energy X-ray pulses for a range of scientific applications. The recently activated Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) FEL facility at SLAC will support experiments which require synchronized light pulses for pump-probe schemes. They developed and operated a fiber optic RF transmission system to synchronize lasers to the emitted X-ray pulses, which was used to enable the first pump-probe experiments at the LCLS

Techniques for synchronization of X-Ray pulses to the pump laser in an ultrafast X-Ray facility

Accurate timing of ultrafast x-ray probe pulses emitted from a synchrotron radiation source with respect to the signal initiating a process in the sample under study is critical for the investigation of structural dynamics in the femtosecond regime. We describe schemes for achieving accurate timing of femtosecond x-ray synchrotron radiation pulses relative to a pump laser, where x-rays pulses of <100 fs duration are generated from the proposed LUX source based on a recirculating superconducting linac. We present a description of the timing signal generation and distribution systems to minimize timing jitter of the x-rays relative to the experimental lasers