Contested constitutions: Legitimacy of constitution-making and constitutional conflict in Central Europe

What were the effects of constitution-making procedures on the acceptance of the new "rules of the political game" in postcommunist Central Europe? This article sets out to scrutinise the increasingly popular claim among politicians and scholars of democratisation that inclusiveness and popular involvement in constitution-making processes enhance a constitution's legitimacy. The concept of constitutional conflict, referring to political contestation over the interpretation and application of constitutional relations among state institutions, is introduced as a way to assess constitutional acceptance among politicians. The investigation concentrates on constitutional conflict patterns during the five years following constitution-making in seven Central European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Constitution-making procedures varied substantially among the cases, as did the intensity and timing of constitutional conflict. The article finds that differences in constitution-making procedures do not necessarily determine the legitimacy of constitutions among political elites. Instead, ambiguity on the allocation of formal competencies among political actors and increasing political tensions between pro-reform and anti-reform parties during the early 1990s proved to be more important triggers of constitutional conflict. Accordingly, studies on constitution-making and democratisation should focus less on procedural aspects and take into account the fuzziness of important constitutional provisions and the extent to which constitutions can survive periods of intense political polarisation. © 2009 Sage Publications

Direct magneto-optical compression of an effusive atomic beam for application in a high-resolution focused ion beam

An atomic rubidium beam formed in a 70-mm-long two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT), directly loaded from a collimated Knudsen source, is analyzed using laser-induced fluorescence. The longitudinal velocity distribution, the transverse temperature, and the flux of the atomic beam are reported. The equivalent transverse reduced brightness of an ion beam with properties similar to the atomic beam is calculated because the beam is developed to be photoionized and applied in a focused ion beam. In a single two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping step, an equivalent transverse reduced brightness of (1.0+0.8−0.4)×106  A/(m2 sr eV) is achieved with a beam flux equivalent to (0.6+0.3−0.2)  nA. The temperature of the beam is further reduced with an optical molasses after the 2D MOT. This optical molasses increases the equivalent brightness to (6+5−2)×106  A/(m2 sr eV). For currents below 10 pA, for which disorder-induced heating can be suppressed, this number is also a good estimate of the ion-beam brightness that can be expected. Such an ion-beam brightness would be a 6× improvement over the liquid-metal ion source and could improve the resolution in focused ion-beam nanofabrication.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3

Direct magneto-optical compression of an effusive atomic beam for high resolution focused ion beam application

An atomic rubidium beam formed in a 70 mm long magneto-optical compressor, directly loaded from a collimated Knudsen source, is analyzed using laser-induced fluorescence. The longitudinal velocity distribution, the transverse temperature and the flux of the atomic beam are reported. The equivalent transverse reduced brightness of an ion beam with similar properties as the atomic beam is calculated because the beam is developed to be photoionized and applied in a focused ion beam. In a single magneto-optical compression step an equivalent transverse reduced brightness of $(1.0\substack{+0.8\\-0.4})$ $\times 10^6$ A/(m$^2$ sr eV) was achieved with a beam flux equivalent to $(0.6\substack{+0.3\\-0.2})$ nA. The temperature of the beam is further reduced by applying sub-Doppler cooling behind the magneto-optical compressor. This increased the equivalent brightness to $(6\substack{+5\\-2})$ $\times 10^6$ A/(m$^2$ sr eV). When fully ionized this will be a six times improvement over the liquid metal ion source, which would improve the resolution in focused ion beam nanofabrication