672 research outputs found
High dispersive and monolithic 100% efficiency grisms
We present a type of grism, a series combination of transmission grating and
prism, in which we reduce the number of diffraction orders and achieve a
configuration with very high angular dispersion. The grism can be fabricated
from a single dielectric material and requires no metallic or dielectric film
layers for high transmission diffraction efficiency. One can reach 100% in the
-1st transmission diffraction order and the equal damage threshold as the
dielectric bulk material. We realized such an element in fused silica with an
efficiency of more then 99%. The bevel backside reflection is reduced by a
statistical antireflective structure, so we measured an efficiency of the
entire grism of 95% at a single wavelength
Asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized light at optical metamaterials
We experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional chiral optical metamaterial
that exhibits an asymmetric transmission for forwardly and backwardly
propagating linearly polarized light. The observation of this novel effect
requires a metamaterial composed of three-dimensional chiral metaatoms without
any rotational symmetry. Our analysis is supported by a systematic
investigation of the transmission matrices for arbitrarily complex, lossy media
that allows deriving a simple criterion for asymmetric transmission in an
arbitrary polarization base. Contrary to physical intuition, in general the
polarization eigenstates in such three-dimensional and low-symmetry
metamaterials do not obey fxed relations and the associated transmission
matrices cannot be symmetrized
Multi-Pulse Laser Wakefield Acceleration: A New Route to Efficient, High-Repetition-Rate Plasma Accelerators and High Flux Radiation Sources
Laser-driven plasma accelerators can generate accelerating gradients three
orders of magnitude larger than radio-frequency accelerators and have achieved
beam energies above 1 GeV in centimetre long stages. However, the pulse
repetition rate and wall-plug efficiency of plasma accelerators is limited by
the driving laser to less than approximately 1 Hz and 0.1% respectively. Here
we investigate the prospects for exciting the plasma wave with trains of
low-energy laser pulses rather than a single high-energy pulse. Resonantly
exciting the wakefield in this way would enable the use of different
technologies, such as fibre or thin-disc lasers, which are able to operate at
multi-kilohertz pulse repetition rates and with wall-plug efficiencies two
orders of magnitude higher than current laser systems. We outline the
parameters of efficient, GeV-scale, 10-kHz plasma accelerators and show that
they could drive compact X-ray sources with average photon fluxes comparable to
those of third-generation light source but with significantly improved temporal
resolution. Likewise FEL operation could be driven with comparable peak power
but with significantly larger repetition rates than extant FELs
Diffractive Optics for Gravitational Wave Detectors
All-reflective interferometry based on nano-structured diffraction gratings
offers new possibilities for gravitational wave detection. We investigate an
all-reflective Fabry-Perot interferometer concept in 2nd order Littrow mount.
The input-output relations for such a resonator are derived treating the
grating coupler by means of a scattering matrix formalism. A low loss
dielectric reflection grating has been designed and manufactured to test the
properties of such a grating cavity
Potential mechanical loss mechanisms in bulk materials for future gravitational wave detectors
Low mechanical loss materials are needed to further decrease thermal noise in
upcoming gravitational wave detectors. We present an analysis of the
contribution of Akhieser and thermoelastic damping on the experimental results
of resonant mechanical loss measurements. The combination of both processes
allows the fit of the experimental data of quartz in the low temperature region
(10 K to 25 K). A fully anisotropic numerical calculation over a wide
temperature range (10 K to 300 K) reveals, that thermoelastic damping is not a
dominant noise source in bulk silicon samples. The anisotropic numerical
calculation is sucessfully applied to the estimate of thermoelastic noise of an
advanced LIGO sized silicon test mass.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference
Series (AMALDI8
High-sensitivity tool for studying phonon related mechanical losses in low loss materials
Fundamental mechanical loss mechanisms exist even in very pure materials, for
instance, due to the interactions of excited acoustic waves with thermal
phonons. A reduction of these losses in a certain frequency range is desired in
high precision instruments like gravitational wave detectors. Systematic
analyses of the mechanical losses in those low loss materials are essential for
this aim, performed in a highly sensitive experimental set-up. Our novel method
of mechanical spectroscopy, cryogenic resonant acoustic spectroscopy of bulk
materials (CRA spectroscopy), is well suited to systematically determine losses
at the resonant frequencies of the samples of less than 10^(-9) in the wide
temperature range from 5 to 300 K. A high precision set-up in a specially built
cryostat allows contactless excitation and readout of the oscillations of the
sample. The experimental set-up and measuring procedure are described.
Limitations to our experiment due to external loss mechanisms are analysed. The
influence of the suspension system as well as the sample preparation is
explained.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of PHONONS07, submitted to Journal of
Physics: Conference Serie
Single-shot autocorrelator for KrF subpicosecond pulses based on two-photon fluorescence of cadmium vapor at X = 508 nm
By excitation of cadmium vapor with a high-peak-power KrF excimer laser pulse, fluorescence of an atomic transition at X = 508 nm is induced by a two-photon ionization process followed by fast recombination. The nonlinear response of the medium is used to develop a simple single-shot autocorrelator for subpicosecond KrF excimer laser pulses operating down to intensities of less than 109W/cm.2 We have measured 360-fs (FWHM) pulses at X = 248 nm with a time resolution of 15 fs
Demonstration of 3-port grating phase relations
We experimentally demonstrate the phase relations of 3-port gratings by
investigating 3-port coupled Fabry-Perot cavities. Two different gratings which
have the same 1st order diffraction efficiency but differ substantially in
their 2nd order diffraction efficiency have been designed and manufactured.
Using the gratings as couplers to Fabry-Perot cavities we could validate the
results of an earlier theoretical description of the phases at a three port
grating
Infrared recombination lasers pumped by low energy Nd: YAG and excimer lasers
24 infrared laser lines on atomic and ionic transitions have been observed in recombining plasmas by vaporizing and ionizing Cd, Pb, Sn, Zn, and Mg with low energy Nd:YAG or excimer pump-lasers. For operation and optimization of the recombination lasers separated plasma spots and a plasma confinement have been used. The operation of shorter wavelength systems by isoelectronic scaling is discussed
Two-dimensional solitons at interfaces between binary superlattices and homogeneous lattices
We report on the experimental observation of two-dimensional surface solitons
residing at the interface between a homogeneous square lattice and a
superlattice that consists of alternating "deep" and "shallow" waveguides. By
exciting single waveguides in the first row of the superlattice, we show that
solitons centered on deep sites require much lower powers than their respective
counterparts centered on shallow sites. Despite the fact that the average
refractive index of the superlattice waveguides is equal to the refractive
index of the homogeneous lattice, the interface results in clearly asymmetric
output patterns.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review
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