261 research outputs found
Engineering of spin-lattice relaxation dynamics by digital growth of diluted magnetic semiconductor CdMnTe
The technological concept of "digital alloying" offered by molecular-beam
epitaxy is demonstrated to be a very effective tool for tailoring static and
dynamic magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors. Compared to
common "disordered alloys" with the same Mn concentration, the spin-lattice
relaxation dynamics of magnetic Mn ions has been accelerated by an order of
magnitude in (Cd,Mn)Te digital alloys, without any noticeable change in the
giant Zeeman spin splitting of excitonic states, i.e. without effect on the
static magnetization. The strong sensitivity of the magnetization dynamics to
clustering of the Mn ions opens a new degree of freedom for spin engineering.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Electric field control of magnetization dynamics in ZnMnSe/ZnBeSe diluted-magnetic-semiconductor heterostructures
We show that the magnetization dynamics in diluted magnetic semiconductors
can be controlled separately from the static magnetization by means of an
electric field. The spin-lattice relaxation (SLR) time of magnetic Mn2+ ions
was tuned by two orders of magnitude by a gate voltage applied to n-type
modulation-doped (Zn,Mn)Se/(Zn,Be)Se quantum wells. The effect is based on
providing an additional channel for SLR by a two-dimensional electron gas
(2DEG). The static magnetization responsible for the giant Zeeman spin
splitting of excitons was not influenced by the 2DEG density
Probing electron acceleration and X-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerator
While laser-plasma accelerators have demonstrated a strong potential in the
acceleration of electrons up to giga-electronvolt energies, few experimental
tools for studying the acceleration physics have been developed. In this paper,
we demonstrate a method for probing the acceleration process. A second laser
beam, propagating perpendicular to the main beam is focused in the gas jet few
nanosecond before the main beam creates the accelerating plasma wave. This
second beam is intense enough to ionize the gas and form a density depletion
which will locally inhibit the acceleration. The position of the density
depletion is scanned along the interaction length to probe the electron
injection and acceleration, and the betatron X-ray emission. To illustrate the
potential of the method, the variation of the injection position with the
plasma density is studied
Tuning the electron energy by controlling the density perturbation position in laser plasma accelerators
A density perturbation produced in an underdense plasma was used to improve
the quality of electron bunches produced in the laser-plasma wakefield
acceleration scheme. Quasi-monoenergetic electrons were generated by controlled
injection in the longitudinal density gradients of the density perturbation. By
tuning the position of the density perturbation along the laser propagation
axis, a fine control of the electron energy from a mean value of 60 MeV to 120
MeV has been demonstrated with a relative energy-spread of 15 +/- 3.6%,
divergence of 4 +/- 0.8 mrad and charge of 6 +/- 1.8 pC.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Tracing nuclear fuel: Monitoring and characterization of low-level radiocontaminations by laser mass spectrometry in bulk materials and environmental nanoparticles
For the determination of lowest level radiocontaminations from anthropogenic sources, the use of mass spectrometric methods often is a favourable approach. For many long-lived α- and β-emitters, mass spectrometry can significantly outperform conventional radiometric detection technology with respect to sensitivity, selectivity and significance. In these cases, the quantification of atom numbers of individual radioisotopes in a sample not only excels decay counting and prevents potential interferences, but can deliver robust additional information on elemental composition, spatial distribution on a microscopic or macroscopic scale and on the origin of a contamination. These data are highly relevant for counteractions, control and forensics. Elemental selective laser mass spectrometry, applied either on bulk material or for depth profiling, surface layer mapping or non-destructive hot particle inspection, today has achieved maturity to serve as routine technique for numerous applications in the fields of radioecology and radiation protection
Dynamic Control of Laser Produced Proton Beams
The emission characteristics of intense laser driven protons are controlled
using ultra-strong (of the order of 10^9 V/m) electrostatic fields varying on a
few ps timescale. The field structures are achieved by exploiting the high
potential of the target (reaching multi-MV during the laser interaction).
Suitably shaped targets result in a reduction in the proton beam divergence,
and hence an increase in proton flux while preserving the high beam quality.
The peak focusing power and its temporal variation are shown to depend on the
target characteristics, allowing for the collimation of the inherently highly
divergent beam and the design of achromatic electrostatic lenses.Comment: 9 Pages, 5 figure
Demonstration of the synchrotron-type spectrum of laser-produced Betatron radiation
Betatron X-ray radiation in laser-plasma accelerators is produced when
electrons are accelerated and wiggled in the laser-wakefield cavity. This
femtosecond source, producing intense X-ray beams in the multi kiloelectronvolt
range has been observed at different interaction regime using high power laser
from 10 to 100 TW. However, none of the spectral measurement performed were at
sufficient resolution, bandwidth and signal to noise ratio to precisely
determine the shape of spectra with a single laser shot in order to avoid shot
to shot fluctuations. In this letter, the Betatron radiation produced using a
80 TW laser is characterized by using a single photon counting method. We
measure in single shot spectra from 8 to 21 keV with a resolution better than
350 eV. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with theoretical
predictions and demonstrate the synchrotron type nature of this radiation
mechanism. The critical energy is found to be Ec = 5.6 \pm 1 keV for our
experimental conditions. In addition, the features of the source at this energy
range open novel perspectives for applications in time-resolved X-ray science.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Non parametric estimation of the structural expectation of a stochastic increasing function
International audienceThis article introduces a non parametric warping model for functional data. When the outcome of an experiment is a sample of curves, data can be seen as realizations of a stochastic process, which takes into account the variations between the different observed curves. The aim of this work is to define a mean pattern which represents the main behaviour of the set of all the realizations. So, we define the structural expectation of the underlying stochastic function. Then, we provide empirical estimators of this structural expectation and of each individual warping function. Consistency and asymptotic normality for such estimators are proved
Controlling the spectrum of x-rays generated in a laser-plasma accelerator by tailoring the laser wavefront
By tailoring the wavefront of the laser pulse used in a laser-wakefield
accelerator, we show that the properties of the x-rays produced due to the
electron beam's betatron oscillations in the plasma can be controlled. By
creating a wavefront with coma, we find that the critical energy of the
synchrotron-like x-ray spectrum can be significantly increased. The coma does
not substantially change the energy of the electron beam, but does increase its
divergence and produces an energy-dependent exit angle, indicating that changes
in the x-ray spectrum are due to an increase in the electron beam's oscillation
amplitude within the wakefield.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. Let
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