Generation of frequency shifted picosecond pulses with low temporal jitter

Transient stimulated Raman scattering is used for the generation of a frequency shifted picosecond light pulse; part of this Raman shifted pulse is subsequently coherently scattered at a material excitation of a second Raman cell. Starting with the second harmonic pulse (tp = 4 ps) of a mode-locked Nd : glass laser system, both the stimulated and the coherently produced pulses have durations of 2.3 ps at different wavelengths. By the appropriate choice of the Raman medium pulses between 13 000 and 21 000 cm-1 can be generated. The coherent generation process minimizes the temporal jitter between the two pulses and allows to obtain a high time resolution of better than 0.3 ps in excite and probe experiments

Feasibility of High-Power Diode Laser Array Surrogate to Support Development of Predictive Laser Lethality Model

Predictive modeling and simulation of high power laser-target interactions is sufficiently undeveloped that full-scale, field testing is required to assess lethality of military directed-energy (DE) systems. The cost and complexity of such testing programs severely limit the ability to vary and optimize parameters of the interaction. Thus development of advanced simulation tools, validated by experiments under well-controlled and diagnosed laboratory conditions that are able to provide detailed physics insight into the laser-target interaction and reduce requirements for full-scale testing will accelerate development of DE weapon systems. The ultimate goal is a comprehensive end-to-end simulation capability, from targeting and firing the laser system through laser-target interaction and dispersal of target debris; a 'Stockpile Science' - like capability for DE weapon systems. To support development of advanced modeling and simulation tools requires laboratory experiments to generate laser-target interaction data. Until now, to make relevant measurements required construction and operation of very high power and complex lasers, which are themselves costly and often unique devices, operating in dedicated facilities that don't permit experiments on targets containing energetic materials. High power diode laser arrays, pioneered by LLNL, provide a way to circumvent this limitation, as such arrays capable of delivering irradiances characteristic of De weapon requires are self-contained, compact, light weight and thus easily transportable to facilities, such as the High Explosives Applications Facility (HEAF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where testing with energetic materials can be performed. The purpose of this study was to establish the feasibility of using such arrays to support future development of advanced laser lethality and vulnerability simulation codes through providing data for materials characterization and laser-material interaction models and to validate the accuracy of code predictions. This project was a Feasibility Study under the LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Advances in optical materials for large aperture lasers

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is using large aperture Nd: glass lasers to investigate the feasibility of inertial confinement fusion. In our experiments high power laser light is focussed onto a small (100 to 500 micron) target containing a deuterium-tritium fuel mixture. During the short (1 to 5 ns) laser pulse the fuel is compressed and heated, resulting in fusion reactions. The generation and control of the powerful laser pulses for these experiments is a challenging scientific and engineering task, which requires the development of new optical materials, fabrication techniques, and coatings. LLNL with the considerable cooperation and support from the optical industry, where most of the research and development and almost all the manufacturing is done, has successfully applied several new developments in these areas

Correlations, Causes and the Logic of Obscuration: Donor Shaping of Dominant Narratives in Indonesia's Irrigation Development

This article analyses policy trends in Indonesian irrigation, particularly during the last five decades, from the perspective of dominant narratives, as authored, suggested and pushed by international donors. It argues that international donors' adherence to ‘deferred maintenance’ as the core element of irrigation policy problem framing does not match with farmers' and the irrigation agency staff perceptions and practices. The logic of obscuration and the discursive manoeuvers that maintain it are analysed. The article concludes that there is space for more profound conceptual contestation and for alternative actions pathways even within the ‘dominant paradigm’ to address management problems more effectively

user centered design approaches and methods for p5 ehealth

As seen throughout this book, eHealth informed by P5 approach gives full recognition to patients' contexts, needs, desires, and personal characteristics. These aspects should not only be considered as cornerstones for technology evaluation, but as fundamental guidelines for design in the first place. This relates to User-Centered Design, that is, any technology/service design where final users influence how the design itself takes place. In other words, eHealth development should be based on research data gathered among final users about their needs and contexts of use, in order to be specifically tailored on final users even before the realization of low-level prototypes. This methodological contribution presents a critical presentation, description, and evaluation of research tools to be employed not to evaluate technology's results and effectiveness, but the specific characteristics of users in order to orient design and development. Such an approach should be considered the "gold standard" of P5 eHealth solutions

Population, resources, and environment: Implications of human behavioral ecology for conservation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43481/1/11111_2005_Article_BF02207996.pd