Nonlinear optical transformation of the polarization state of circularly polarized light with holographic-cut cubic crystals

n/

Spatial-domain interferometer for measuring plasma mirror expansion

International audienceWe present a practical spatial-domain interferometer for characterizing the electronic density gradient of laser- induced plasma mirrors with sub-30-femtosecond temporal resolution. Time-resolved spatial imaging of an intensity- shaped pulse reflecting off an expanding plasma mirror in- duced by a time-delayed pre-pulse allows us to measure characteristic plasma gradients of 10–100 nm with an ex- pansion velocity of 10.8 nm/ps. Spatial-domain interferom- etry (SDI) can be generalized to the ultrafast imaging of nm to μm size laser-induced phenomena at surfaces

Brunel-Dominated Proton Acceleration with a Few-Cycle Laser Pulse

International audienceExperimental measurements of backward accelerated protons are presented. The beam is produced when an ultrashort (5 fs) laser pulse, delivered by a kHz laser system, with a high temporal contrast (10 8), interacts with a thick solid target. Under these conditions, proton cutoff energy dependence with laser parameters, such as pulse energy, polarization (from p to s), and pulse duration (from 5 to 500 fs), is studied. Theoretical model and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, in good agreement with a large set of experimental results, indicate that proton acceleration is directly driven by Brunel electrons, in contrast to conventional target normal sheath acceleration that relies on electron thermal pressure

Elements Discrimination in the Study of Super-Heavy Elements using an Ionization Chamber

Dedicated ionization chamber was built and installed to measure the energy loss of very heavy nuclei at 2.7 MeV/u produced in fusion reactions in inverse kinematics (beam of 208Pb). After going through the ionization chamber, products of reactions on 12C, 18O targets are implanted in a Si detector. Their identification through their alpha decay chain is ambiguous when their half-life is short. After calibration with Pb and Th nuclei, the ionization chamber signal allowed us to resolve these ambiguities. In the search for rare super-heavy nuclei produced in fusion reactions in inverse or symmetric kinematics, such a chamber will provide direct information on the nuclear charge of each implanted nucleus.Comment: submitted to NIMA, 10 pages+4 figures, Latex, uses elsart.cls and grahpic

Energy averages and fluctuations in the decay out of superdeformed bands

We derive analytic formulae for the energy average (including the energy average of the fluctuation contribution) and variance of the intraband decay intensity of a superdeformed band. Our results may be expressed in terms of three dimensionless variables: $\Gamma^{\downarrow}/\Gamma_S$, $\Gamma_N/d$, and $\Gamma_N/(\Gamma_S+\Gamma^{\downarrow})$. Here $\Gamma^{\downarrow}$ is the spreading width for the mixing of a superdeformed (SD) state $|0>$ with the normally deformed (ND) states $|Q>$ whose spin is the same as $|0>$'s. The $|Q>$ have mean level spacing $d$ and mean electromagnetic decay width $\Gamma_N$ whilst $|0>$ has electromagnetic decay width $\Gamma_S$. The average decay intensity may be expressed solely in terms of the variables $\Gamma^{\downarrow}/\Gamma_S$ and $\Gamma_N/d$ or, analogously to statistical nuclear reaction theory, in terms of the transmission coefficients $T_0(E)$ and $T_N$ describing transmission from the $|Q>$ to the SD band via $|0\angle$ and to lower ND states. The variance of the decay intensity, in analogy with Ericson's theory of cross section fluctuations depends on an additional variable, the correlation length \Gamma_N/(\Gamma_S+\Gamma^{\downarrow})=\frac{d}{2\pi}T_N/(\Gamma_S+\Gamma^{\d ownarrow}). This suggests that analysis of an experimentally obtained variance could yield the mean level spacing $d$ as does analysis of the cross section autocorrelation function in compound nuclear reactions. We compare our results with those of Gu and Weidenm\"uller.Comment: revtex4, 14 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review

First observation of excited states in 173Hg

The neutron-deficient nucleus 173Hg has been studied following fusion-evaporation reactions. The observation of gamma rays decaying from excited states are reported for the first time and a tentative level scheme is proposed. The proposed level scheme is discussed within the context of the systematics of neighbouring neutron-deficient Hg nuclei. In addition to the gamma-ray spectroscopy, the alpha decay of this nucleus has been measured yielding superior precision to earlier measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Observation of Positive-Parity Bands in 109^{109}Pd and 111^{111}Pd: Enhanced γ\gamma-Softness

The neutron-rich nuclei $^{109}$Pd and $^{111}$Pd were produced as fission fragments following the $^{30}$Si + $^{168}$Er reaction at 142 MeV. Using the identification based on the coincidences with the complementary fission fragments, the only positive-parity bands observed so far in $^{109}$Pd and $^{111}$Pd emerged from this work. A band, built on top of the 5/2$^+$ ground state exhibiting $\Delta I$ = 1 energy-level staggering, was observed in each of these nuclei. Both nuclei of interest, $^{109}$Pd and $^{111}$Pd, are suggested to lie in the transitional region of Pd isotopes of maximum $\gamma$-softness. The ground states of both nuclei are predicted by TRS calculations to be extremely $\gamma$-soft with shallow triaxial minima. The first crossing in the new bands is proposed to be due to an alignment of $h^2_{11/2}$ neutrons

Relative spins and excitation energies of superdeformed bands in 190Hg: Further evidence for octupole vibration

An experiment using the Eurogam Phase II gamma-ray spectrometer confirms the existence of an excited superdeformed (SD) band in 190Hg and its very unusual decay into the lowest SD band over 3-4 transitions. The energies and dipole character of the transitions linking the two SD bands have been firmly established. Comparisons with RPA calculations indicate that the excited SD band can be interpreted as an octupole-vibrational structure.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 4 figures available via WWW at http://www.phy.anl.gov/bgo/bc/hg190_nucl_ex.htm