Single Cycle Thin Film Compressor Opening the door to Zeptosecond-Exawatt Physics

This article demonstrates a new compression scheme that has the potential to compress a high energy pulse as high as a few hundred Joules in a pulse as short as one optical cycle at 0.8{\mu}m making a true ultra-relativistic {\lambda}^3 pulse. This pulse could have a focused intensity of 10^24W/cm2 or a0 of 1000. It could form an efficient, 10%, relativistic mirror that could compress the pulse to the atto-zeptosecond regime, with an upshifted wavelength of 1-10keV. This technique could be a watershed making the entry of petawatt pulses into the exawatt and zeptosecond regime possible.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

A Cryogenic Test Set-Up for the Qualification of Pre-Series Test Cells for the LHC Cryogenic Distribution Line

Three pre-series Test Cells of the LHC Cryogenic Distribution Line (QRL) [1], manufactured by three European industrial companies, will be tested in the year 2000 to qualify the design chosen and verify the thermal and mechanical performances. A dedicated test stand (170 m x 13 m) has been built for extensive testing and performance assessment of the pre-series units in parallel. They will be fed with saturated liquid helium at 4.2 K supplied by a mobile helium dewar. In addition, LN2 cooled helium will be used for cool-down and thermal shielding. For each of the three pre-series units, a set of end boxes has been designed and manufactured at CERN. This paper presents the layout of the cryogenic system for the pre-series units, the calorimetric methods as well as the results of the thermal calculation of the end box test

Signatures of the Unruh effect from electrons accelerated by ultra-strong laser fields

We calculate the radiation resulting from the Unruh effect for strongly accelerated electrons and show that the photons are created in pairs whose polarizations are maximally entangled. Apart from the photon statistics, this quantum radiation can further be discriminated from the classical (Larmor) radiation via the different spectral and angular distributions. The signatures of the Unruh effect become significant if the external electromagnetic field accelerating the electrons is not too far below the Schwinger limit and might be observable with future facilities. Finally, the corrections due to the birefringent nature of the QED vacuum at such ultra-high fields are discussed. PACS: 04.62.+v, 12.20.Fv, 41.60.-m, 42.25.Lc.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Limitations on the attainable intensity of high power lasers

It is shown that even a single $e^-e^+$ pair created by a super strong laser field in vacuum would cause development of an avalanche-like QED cascade which rapidly depletes the incoming laser pulse. This confirms the old N. Bohr conjecture that the electric field of the critical QED strength $E_S=m^2c^3/e\hbar$ could never be created.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Antagonism and Antimicrobial Capacity of Epiphytic and Endophytic Bacteria against the Phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa

Olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), which is caused by Xylella fastidiosa, poses a severe threat to the agriculture of Mediterranean countries and causes severe damage to the olive trees in Italy. Since no effective control measures are currently available, the objective of this study was the screening of antagonistic bacteria that are potentially deployable as biocontrol agents against X. fastidiosa. Therefore, two approaches were used, i.e., the evaluation of the antagonistic activity of (i) endophytic bacteria isolated from two different cultivars of olive trees (Leccino and Ogliarola salentina) and (ii) epiphytic bacteria isolated from the phyllospheres of different host plant species of X. fastidiosa. In vitro dual culture tests showed that 12 out of 200 isolates inhibited X. fastidiosa growth, with appearances of clear zones between 4.0 and 38.6 mm. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed different species of the genera Paenibacillus, Bacillus, Pantoea, Microbacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Delftia, and Pseudomonas. Furthermore, an investigation for antimicrobial activity identified 5 out of the 12 antagonistic bacteria, Paenibacillus rigui, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus pumilus, Microbacterium oxydans, and Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, that were able to produce culture filtrates with inhibitory activities. Our results are promising for further investigation to develop an eco-sustainable strategy to control X. fastidiosa using biocontrol agents or their secreted metabolites

Born-Infeld Electrodynamics and Euler-Heisenberg-like Model: outstanding examples of the lack of commutativity among quantized truncated actions and truncated quantized actions

We calculate the lowest-order corrections to the static potential for both the generalized Born-Infeld Electrodynamics and an Euler-Heisenberg-like model, in the presence of a constant external magnetic field. Our analysis is carried out within the framework of the gauge-invariant but path-dependent variables formalism. The calculation reveals a long-range correction ( {\raise0.7ex\hbox{1} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 {r^5}}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \lower0.7ex\hbox{{r^5}}}-type) to the Coulomb potential for the generalized Born-Infeld Electrodynamics. Interestingly enough, in the Euler-Heisenberg-like model, the static potential remains Coulombian. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the quantized truncated action and the truncated quantized action do not commute at all.Comment: 7 pages. Title changed, revised version. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Anomalous Radiative Trapping in Laser Fields of Extreme Intensity

We demonstrate that charged particles in a sufficiently intense standing wave are compressed toward, and oscillate synchronously at, the maxima of the electric field. This unusual trapping behaviour, which we call 'anomalous radiative trapping' (ART), opens up new possibilities for the generation of radiation and particle beams, both of which are high-energy, directed and collimated. ART also provides a mechanism for particle control in high-intensity QED experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 pdf figures. Version 2: extended discussion of particle trajectories, references adde

Line shape diagnostics for solid density plasmas produced by ultra intense subpicosecond laser

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87325/2/158_1.pd