Energy deposition in air by moderately focused femtosecond laser filaments

Filamentation of high-power femtosecond laser pulses in air is accompanied by a fairly strong release of optical energy into the propagation medium due to laser-induced ionization of air molecules and production of an underdense plasma of charged species. We present the results of our laboratory experiments and numerical simulations aimed to the estimation of energy deposition amount by laser filament upon propagation in air depending on the conditions of spatial focusing, pulse energy, and radiation wavelength. For the first time to our knowledge, our study reveals a more than 50% decrease in the filament energy deposited in air in the range of moderate numerical aperture values, approximately from 0.003 to 0.007, at the carrier wavelengths of 740 nm and 470 nm. We attribute such a considerable reduction in the laser pulse energy release for femtosecond plasma to the competing effects of Kerr self-focusing and geometric divergence of focused laser pulse

Phase formation in the (1- y )BiFeO 3 - y BiScO 3 system under ambient and high pressure

Formation and thermal stability of perovskite phases in the BiFe1-yScyO3 system (0≤y≤0.70) were studied. When the iron-to-scandium substitution rate does not exceed about 15 at%, the single-phase perovskite ceramics with the rhombohedral R3c symmetry (as that of the parent compound, BiFeO3) can be prepared from the stoichiometric mixture of the respective oxides at ambient pressure. Thermal treatment of the oxide mixtures with a higher content of scandium results in formation of two main phases, namely a BiFeO3-like R3c phase and a cubic (I23) sillenite-type phase based on γ-Bi2O3. Single-phase perovskite ceramics of the BiFe1-yScyO3 composition were synthesized under high pressure from the thermally treated oxide mixtures. When y is between 0 and 0.25 the high-pressure prepared phase is the rhombohedral R3c with the √2ap×√2ap×2√3ap superstructure (ap ~ 4 Å is the pseudocubic perovskite unit-cell parameter). The orthorhombic Pnma phase (√2ap×4ap×2√2ap) was obtained in the range of 0.30≤y≤0.60, while the monoclinic C2/c phase (√6ap×√2ap×√6ap) is formed when y=0.70. The normalized unit-cell volume drops at the crossover from the rhombohedral to the orthorhombic composition range. The perovskite BiFe1-yScyO3 phases prepared under high pressure are metastable regardless of their symmetry. At ambient pressure, the phases with the compositions in the ranges of 0.20≤y≤0.25, 0.30≤y<0.50 and 0.50≤y≤0.70 start to decompose above 970, 920 and 870 K, respectivelypublishe

The July 2010 outburst of the NLS1 PMN J0948+0022

We report about the multiwavelength campaign on the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) Galaxy PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846) performed in 2010 July-September and triggered by high activity as measured by Fermi/LAT. The peak luminosity in the 0.1-100 GeV energy band exceeded, for the first time in this type of source, the value of 10^48 erg/s, a level comparable to the most powerful blazars. The comparison of the spectral energy distribution of the NLS1 PMN J0948+0022 with that of a typical blazar - like 3C 273 - shows that the power emitted at gamma rays is extreme.Comment: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C11050

Exchange bias effect in bulk multiferroic BiFe0.5Sc0.5O3

Below the Néel temperature, TN ∼ 220 K, at least two nano-scale antiferromagnetic (AFM) phases coexist in the polar polymorph of the BiFe0.5Sc0.5O3 perovskite; one of these phases is a weak ferromagnetic. Non-uniform structure distortions induced by high-pressure synthesis lead to competing AFM orders and a nano-scale spontaneous magnetic phase separated state of the compound. Interface exchange coupling between the AFM domains and the weak ferromagnetic domains causes unidirectional anisotropy of magnetization, resulting in the exchange bias (EB) effect. The EB field, HEB, and the coercive field strongly depend on temperature and the strength of the cooling magnetic field. HEB increases with an increase in the cooling magnetic field and reaches a maximum value of about 1 kOe at 5 K. The exchange field vanishes above TN with the disappearance of long-range magnetic ordering. The effect is promising for applications in electronics as it is large enough and as it is tunable by temperature and the magnetic field applied during cooling.publishe

Multiferroic Bi 0.65 La 0.35 Fe 0.5 Sc 0.5 O 3 perovskite:Magnetic and thermodynamic properties

Magnetic and thermodynamic properties of polycrystalline multiferroic Bi 0.65 La 0.35 Fe 0.5 Sc 0.5 O 3 synthesized under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions are reported. Magnetic properties were studied using a SQUID magnetometer technique over the temperature range of 5−300 K in magnetic fields up to H=10 kOe. The field dependent magnetization M(H) was measured in magnetic fields up to 50 kOe at different temperatures up to 230 K after zero-field cooling procedure. A long-range magnetic ordering of the AFM type with a weak FM contribution occurs below the Néel temperature T N ~237 K. Magnetic hysteresis loops taken below T N show a huge coercive field up to H c ~10 kOe. A strong effect of magnetic field on the magnetic properties of the compound has been found. Derivative of the initial magnetization curves demonstrates a temperature-dependent anomaly in fields of H=15−25 kOe. Besides, an anomaly of the temperature dependent zero-field cooled magnetization measured in magnetic fields of 6−7 kOe has been found. Origin of both anomalies is associated with inhomogeneous magnetic state of the compound. The heat capacity has been measured from 2 K up to room temperature and a significant contribution from the magnon excitations at low temperatures has been detected. From the low-temperature heat capacity, an anisotropy gap of the magnon modes of the order 3.7 meV and Debye temperature T D =189 K have been determined

Polar and antipolar polymorphs of metastable perovskite BiFe0.5Sc0.5O3

A metastable perovskite BiFe0.5Sc0.5O3 synthesized under high-pressure (6 GPa) and high-temperature (1500 K) conditions was obtained in two different polymorphs, antipolar Pnma and polar Ima2, through an irreversible behavior under a heating/cooling thermal cycling. The Ima2 phase represents an original type of a canted ferroelectric structure where Bi3+ cations exhibit both polar and antipolar displacements along the orthogonal [110](p) and [1 (1) over bar0](p) pseudocubic directions, respectively, and are combined with antiphase octahedral tilting about the polar axis. Both the Pnma and the Ima2 structural modifications exhibit a long-range antiferromagnetic ordering with a weak ferromagnetic component below T-N similar to 220 K. Analysis of the coupling between the dipole, magnetic, and elastic order parameters based on a general phenomenological approach revealed that the weak ferromagnetism in both phases is mainly caused by the presence of the antiphase octahedral tilting whose axial nature directly represents the relevant part of Dzyaloshinskii vector. The magnetoelectric contribution to the spontaneous magnetization allowed in the polar Ima2 phase is described by a fifth-degree free-energy invariant and is expected to be small

Giant and tunable excitonic optical anisotropy in single-crystal CsPbX3_3 halide perovskites

During the last years, giant optical anisotropy demonstrated its paramount importance for light manipulation which resulted in numerous applications ranging from subdiffraction light guiding to switchable nanolasers. In spite of recent advances in the field, achieving continuous tunability of optical anisotropy remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we present a solution to the problem through chemical alteration of the ratio of halogen atoms (X = Br or Cl) in single-crystal CsPbX$_3$ halide perovskites. It turns out that the anisotropy originates from an excitonic resonance in the perovskite, which spectral position and strength are determined by the halogens composition. As a result, we manage to continually modify the optical anisotropy by 0.14. We also discover that the halide perovskite can demonstrate optical anisotropy up to 0.6 in the visible range -- the largest value among non-van der Waals materials. Moreover, our results reveal that this anisotropy could be in-plane and out-of-plane, depending on perovskite shape -- rectangular and square. Hence, it can serve as an additional degree of freedom for anisotropy manipulation. As a practical demonstration, we created perovskite anisotropic nanowaveguides and show a significant impact of anisotropy on high-order guiding modes. These findings pave the way for halide perovskites as a next-generation platform for tunable anisotropic photonics.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

The first gamma-ray outburst of a Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy: the case of PMN J0948+0022 in July 2010

We report on a multiwavelength campaign on the radio-loud Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) Galaxy PMN J0948+0022 (z=0.5846) performed in 2010 July-September and triggered by a high-energy gamma-ray outburst observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The peak flux in the 0.1-100 GeV energy band exceeded, for the first time in this type of source, the value of 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1, corresponding to an observed luminosity of 10^48 erg s^-1. Although the source was too close to the Sun position to organize a densely sampled follow-up, it was possible to gather some multiwavelength data that confirmed the state of high activity across the sampled electromagnetic spectrum. The comparison of the spectral energy distribution of the NLS1 PMN J0948+0022 with that of a typical blazar - like 3C 273 - shows that the power emitted at gamma rays is extreme.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for the publication on MNRAS Main Journal. Typo in bibliography correcte

Metastable perovskite Bi1-xLaxFe0.5Sc0.5O3 phases in the range of the compositional crossover

Perovskite ceramics of the Bi1- xLaxFe0.5Sc0.5O3 composition (0.30 ≤ x ≤ 0.35) that cannot be sintered in bulk form as a single phase using the conventional ceramic route were successfully prepared using the high-pressure/high-temperature technique. It has been shown that the room-temperature compositional crossover from the antipolar phase whose incommensurate modulation of displacements of Bi/La and oxygen is described by the Imma(00γ)s00 superspace group to the non-polar Pnma phase occurs in the narrow range between x = 0.33 and x = 0.34 with no phase coexistence. The features of this compositional crossover are discussed in comparison with that observed in the Bi1- xLaxFeO3 system.publishe