Laser ablation of ceramic Al2O3 at 193 nm and 248 nm: The importance of single-photon ionization processes

9 págs.; 8 figs.The aim of this work is to demonstrate that single-photon photoionization processes make a significant difference in the expansion and temperature of the plasma produced by laser ablation of ceramic Al2O3 in vacuum as well as to show their consequences in the kinetic energy distribution of the species that eventually will impact on the film properties produced by pulsed laser deposition. This work compares results obtained by mass spectrometry and optical spectroscopy on the composition and features of the plasma produced by laser ablation at 193 nm and 248 nm, i.e., photon energies that are, respectively, above and below the ionization potential of Al, and for fluences between threshold for visible plasma and up to ≈2 times higher. The results show that the ionic composition and excitation of the plasma as well as the ion kinetic energies are much higher at 193 nm than at 248 nm and, in the latter case, the population of excited ions is even negligible. The comparison of Maxwell-Boltzmann temperature, electron temperatures, and densities of the plasmas produced with the two laser wavelengths suggests that the expansion of the plasma produced at 248 nm is dominated by a single population. Instead, the one produced at 193 nm is consistent with the existence of two populations of cold and hot species, the latter associated to Al+ ions that travel at the forefront and produced by single photon ionization as well as Al neutrals and double ionized ions produced by electron-ion impact. The results also show that the most energetic Al neutrals in the plasma produced at the two studied wavelengths are in the ground state. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.This work has been partially supported by project IZK0Z2 of the Swiss National Science Foundation. R.P. acknowledges a grant from the JAE-doc program, co-funded by European Social Fund.Peer Reviewe

Dynamics of laser induced metal nanoparticle and pattern formation

5 págs.; 4 figs.© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Discontinuous metal films are converted into either almost round, isolated, and randomly distributed nanoparticles (NPs) or fringed patterns of alternate non transformed film and NPs by exposure to single pulses (20 ns pulse duration and 193 nm wavelength) of homogeneous or modulated laser beam intensity. The dynamics of NPs and pattern formation is studied by measuring in real time the transmission and reflectivity of the sample upon homogeneous beam exposure and the intensity of the diffraction orders 0 and 1 in transmission configuration upon modulated beam exposure. The results show that laser irradiation induces melting of the metal either completely or at regions around intensity maxima sites for homogeneous and modulated beam exposure, respectively, within ≤10 ns. The aggregation and/or coalescence of the initially irregular metal nanostructures is triggered upon melting and continues after solidification (estimated to occur at ≤80 ns) for more than 1 μs. The present results demonstrate that real time transmission rather than reflectivity measurements is a valuable and easy-to-use tool for following the dynamics of NPs and pattern formation. They provide insights on the heat-driven processes occurring both in liquid and solid phases and allow controlling in-situ the process through the fluence. They also evidence that there is negligible lateral heat release in discontinuous films upon laser irradiation.R.J.P., T.K., and C.E.R., respectively, acknowledge the Grant No. JCI-2012_13034 from the Juan de la Cierva program, the support of DAAD, and CONACYT-Mexico postdoctoral fellowship No. 175641. The authors gratefully thank Professor P. Leiderer from University of Konstanz for his support and the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of CENIM for helping with the SEM observations.Peer Reviewe

Nature of the f_0(600) from its N_c dependence at two loops in unitarized Chiral Perturbation Theory

By using unitarized two-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory partial waves to describe pion-pion scattering we find that the dominant component of the lightest scalar meson does not follow the q-qbar dependence on the number of colors that, in contrast, is obeyed by the lightest vectors. The method suggests that a subdominant q-qbar component of the f_0(600) possibly originates around 1 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Figure. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Two-meson cloud contribution to the baryon antidecuplet self-energy

We study the self-energy of the SU(3) antidecuplet coming from two-meson virtual clouds. Assuming that the exotic Theta+ belongs to an antidecuplet representation with N(1710) as nucleon partner, we derive effective Lagrangians that describe the decay of N(1710) into N pi pi with two pions in s- or p-wave. It is found that the self-energies for all members of the antidecuplet are attractive, and the larger strangeness particle is more bound. From two-meson cloud, we obtain about 20 % of the empirical mass splitting between states with different strangeness.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, Talk given at the 10th International Conference on Baryons (Baryons04), Palaiseau (France), October 25-29, 200

Fast CP Violation

$B$ flavor tagging will be extensively studied at the asymmetric $B$ factories due to its importance in CP asymmetry measurements. The primary tagging modes are the semileptonic decays of the $b$ (lepton tag), or the hadronic $b \to c (\to s)$ decays (kaon tag). We suggest that looking for time dependent CP asymmetries in events where one $B$ is tagged leptonically and the other one is tagged with a kaon could result in an early detection of CP violation. Although in the Standard Model these asymmetries are expected to be small, $\sim 1$, they could be measured with about the same amount of data as in the ``gold-plated'' decay $B_d \to \psi K_S$. In the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model, these asymmetries could be as large as $\sim 5$, and the first CP violation signal in the $B$ system may show up in these events. We give explicit examples of new physics scenarios where this occurs.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, no figures. Discussion of new physics effects on CP violation with two lepton tags expanded. Factors of 2 correcte

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Quebrada del Churqui, camino La Viña-AmblayopublishedVersio

Complex 2D Matrix Model and Geometrical Map on Complex-Nc Plane

We study the parameter dependence of the internal structure of resonance states by formulating Complex two-dimensional (2D) Matrix Model, where the two dimensions represent two-levels of resonances. We calculate a critical value of the parameter at which "nature transition" with character exchange occurs between two resonance states, from the viewpoint of geometry on complex-parameter space. Such critical value is useful to know the internal structure of resonance states with variation of the parameter in the system. We apply the model to analyze the internal structure of hadrons with variation of the color number Nc from infinity to a realistic value 3. By regarding 1/Nc as the variable parameter in our model, we calculate a critical color number of nature transition between hadronic states in terms of quark-antiquark pair and mesonic molecule as exotics from the geometry on complex-Nc plane. For the large-Nc effective theory, we employ the chiral Lagrangian induced by holographic QCD with D4/D8/D8-bar multi-D brane system in the type IIA superstring theory.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, figures and appendixes added, results unchange

Two-meson cloud contribution to the baryon antidecuplet binding

We study the two-meson virtual cloud contribution to the self-energy of the SU(3) antidecuplet, to which the Theta+ pentaquark is assumed to belong. This is motivated by the large branching ratio of the N(1710) decay into two pions and one nucleon. We derive effective Lagrangians that describe the N(1710) decay into N-pi-pi with two pions in s or p wave. We obtain increased binding for all members of the antidecuplet and a contribution to the mass splitting between states with different strangeness which is at least 20 % of the empirical one. We also provide predictions for three-body decays of the pentaquark antidecuplet.Comment: 13 pages, To appear in Phys. Rev.

Amaranthus asplundii Thell. var. australis Hunz.

Quebrada del Churqui, camino La Viña-AmblayopublishedVersio