Coherent XUV generation driven by sharp metal tips photoemission

It was already experimentally demonstrated that high-energy electrons can be generated using metal nanotips as active media. In addition, it has been theoretically proven that the high-energy tail of the photoemitted electrons is intrinsically linked to the recollision phenomenon. Through this recollision process it is also possible to convert the energy gained by the laser-emitted electron in the continuum in a coherent XUV photon. It means the emission of harmonic radiation appears to be feasible, although it has not been experimentally demonstrated hitherto till now. In this paper, we employ a quantum mechanical approach to model the electron dipole moment including both the laser experimental conditions and the bulk matter properties and predict is possible to generate coherent UV and XUV radiation using metal nanotips as sources. Our quantum mechanical results are fully supported by their classical counterparts.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1309.034

Modificación superficial de nanotubos de carbono mediante un plasma de CO2

En el presente trabajo se estudió la funcionalización de nanotubos de carbono de pared múltiple (NTCPM) con un plasma de CO2, donde se determinó el efecto del tiempo de tratamiento por plasma sobre las propiedades de los NTCPM. Para determinar el cambio en la hibridación de los NTCPM se utilizó espectroscopia Raman y espectroscopia de infrarrojo para identificar los grupos funcionales. Adicionalmente se determinó el ángulo de contacto y se hicieron dispersiones en agua para corroborar el cambio de polaridad de los NTCPM. Se encontró que a medida que se incrementa el tiempo de exposición al plasma de CO2, se observan dos incrementos, uno en la banda de infrarrojo de 1070 cm-1 asociada al grupo C-O y otro en la relación de intensidades D/G del espectro Raman asociado a la hibridación sp3, los cuales corroboran el injerto de oxígeno en la superficie de los NTCPM

Submillimeter H2O masers in water-fountain nebulae

We report the first detection of submillimeter water maser emission toward water-fountain nebulae, which are post-AGB stars that exhibit high-velocity water masers. Using APEX we found emission in the ortho-H2O (10_29-9_36) transition at 321.226 GHz toward three sources: IRAS 15445-5449, IRAS 18043-2116 and IRAS 18286-0959. Similarly to the 22 GHz masers, the submillimeter water masers are expanding with a velocity larger than that of the OH masers, suggesting that these masers also originate in fast bipolar outflows. In IRAS 18043-2116 and IRAS 18286-0959, which figure among the sources with the fastest water masers, the velocity range of the 321 GHz masers coincides with that of the 22 GHz masers, indicating that they likely coexist. Towards IRAS 15445-5449 the submillimeter masers appear in a different velocity range, indicating that they are tracing different regions. The intensity of the submillimeter masers is comparable to that of the 22 GHz masers, implying that the kinetic temperature of the region where the masers originate should be Tk > 1000 K. We propose that the passage of two shocks through the same gas can create the conditions necessary to explain the presence of strong high-velocity 321 GHz masers coexisting with the 22 GHz masers in the same region.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Carrier-wave Rabi flopping signatures in high-order harmonic generation for alkali atoms

We present the first theoretical investigation of carrier-wave Rabi flopping in real atoms by employing numerical simulations of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in alkali species. Given the short HHG cutoff, related to the low saturation intensity, we concentrate on the features of the third harmonic of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) atoms. For pulse areas of 2$\pi$ and Na atoms, a characteristic unique peak appears, which, after analyzing the ground state population, we correlate with the conventional Rabi flopping. On the other hand, for larger pulse areas, carrier-wave Rabi flopping occurs, and is associated with a more complex structure in the third harmonic. These new characteristics observed in K atoms indicate the breakdown of the area theorem, as was already demonstrated under similar circumstances in narrow band gap semiconductors

Determination of biosorption mechanism in biomass of agave, using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques for the purification of contaminated water

[Abstract] Lead (Pb2+) and copper (Cu2+) are polluting metals due to their toxicity; however, the extraction of these metals is essential for economic development, so it is important to look for efficient and low-cost alternatives that can remove heavy metals from the various bodies of water. One of the alternatives used in this work is biosorption, for which an agroindustrial waste (epidermis from Agave atrovirens) was used to evaluate the affinity of removal of lead and copper in aqueous solutions; in addition, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques were used to elucidate and corroborate the removal and affinity capacity of the agave epidermis for both metals studied. The optimal pH value for the removal of both metals was 3. The adsorption isotherms yielded a qmax of 25.7 and 8.6 mg/g for lead and copper, respectively. Adjusting to the Langmuir-Freundlich model, the adsorption kinetics were pseudo-second order, and it was found that the equilibrium time was at 140 min. The spectroscopy and microscopy analyses corroborated the affinity between metals and functional groups of the agave, as well as with the elemental analysis, which reported 17.38% of lead and 4.25% of copper.[Resumen] El plomo (Pb2+) y el cobre (Cu2+) son metales contaminantes debido a su toxicidad; sin embargo, la extracción de estos metales es indispensable para el desarrollo económico, por lo que es importante buscar alternativas eficientes y de bajo costo que puedan remover metales pesados de los diversos cuerpos de agua. Una de las alternativas utilizadas en este trabajo es la biosorción, para la cual se utilizó un residuo agroindustrial (epidermis de Agave atrovirens), para evaluar la afinidad de remoción del plomo y cobre en soluciones acuosas; adicionalmente, se emplearon técnicas de espesctroscopía y microscopía que permitieron elucidar y corroborar la capacidad de remoción y afinidad que tuvo la epidermis de A. atrovirens para ambos metales estudiados. El valor óptimo de pH para la remoción de ambos metales fue 3. Las isotermas de adsorción arrojaron una qmax de 25.7 y 8.6 mg/g para el plomo y cobre, respectivamente. Ajustando al modelo de Langmuir-Freundlich, las cinéticas de adsorción resultaron de pseudo-segundo orden, se encontró que el tiempo de equilibrio es a los 140 min. El análisis espectroscópico y microscópico, corroboró la afinidad entre metales y grupos funcionales del agave, así como con el análisis elemental, el cual reportó 17.38% de plomo y 4.25% de cobre

Above threshold ionization by few-cycle spatially inhomogeneous fields

We present theoretical studies of above threshold ionization (ATI) produced by spatially inhomogeneous fields. This kind of field appears as a result of the illumination of plasmonic nanostructures and metal nanoparticles with a short laser pulse. We use the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation (TDSE) in reduced dimensions to understand and characterize the ATI features in these fields. It is demonstrated that the inhomogeneity of the laser electric field plays an important role in the ATI process and it produces appreciable modifications to the energy-resolved photoelectron spectra. In fact, our numerical simulations reveal that high energy electrons can be generated. Specifically, using a linear approximation for the spatial dependence of the enhanced plasmonic field and with a near infrared laser with intensities in the mid- 10^{14} W/cm^{2} range, we show it is possible to drive electrons with energies in the near-keV regime. Furthermore, we study how the carrier envelope phase influences the emission of ATI photoelectrons for few-cycle pulses. Our quantum mechanical calculations are supported by their classical counterparts

Flavor-changing top quark rare decays in the Bestest Little Higgs Model

This paper investigates the effects of parameters in the Bestest Little Higgs Model (BLHM) on rare flavor-changing decays of the top quark. As a result, flavor-changing phenomena are introduced in the BLHM for the first time. In this study, we incorporate new flavor mixing terms between the light quarks of the Standard Model (SM) and the fermions and bosons of the BLHM. We compute the one-loop contributions from the heavy quark $(B)$ and the heavy bosons $(W^{\prime\pm}, \phi^{\pm}, \eta^{\pm},H^{\pm})$. Our findings demonstrate that the branching ratios of decays $t\to qV$ and $t\to qh^0$, where $q=u,c$ and $V=Z, \gamma, g$, exhibit improvements compared to their counterparts in the SM, except for the gluon case. Moreover, we observe that the processes with higher sensitivity are $Br(t\to cZ)\sim 10^{-5}$, $Br(t\to c\gamma)\sim 10^{-6}$ and $Br(t \to ch^0) \sim 10^{-8}$ within the appropriate parameter space.Comment: 13 pages and 10 figure