Threshold Laws for the Break-up of Atomic Particles into Several Charged Fragments

The processes with three or more charged particles in the final state exhibit particular threshold behavior, as inferred by the famous Wannier law for (2e + ion) system. We formulate a general solution which determines the threshold behavior of the cross section for multiple fragmentation. Applications to several systems of particular importance with three, four and five leptons (electrons and positrons) in the field of charged core; and two pairs of identical particles with opposite charges are presented. New threshold exponents for these systems are predicted, while some previously suggested threshold laws are revised.Comment: 40 pages, Revtex, scheduled for the July issue of Phys.Rev.A (1998

Revealing the nanoparticles aspect ratio in the glass-metal nanocomposites irradiated with femtosecond laser

We studied a femtosecond laser shaping of silver nanoparticles embedded in soda-lime glass. Comparing experimental absorption spectra with the modeling based on Maxwell Garnett approximation modified for spheroidal inclusions, we obtained the mean aspect ratio of the re-shaped silver nanoparticles as a function of the laser fluence. We demonstrated that under our experimental conditions the spherical shape of silver nanoparticles changed to a prolate spheroid with the aspect ratio as high as 3.5 at the laser fluence of 0.6J/cm2. The developed approach can be employed to control the anisotropy of the glass-metal composites

Fast noise in the Landau-Zener theory

We study the influence of a fast noise on Landau-Zener transitions. We demonstrate that a fast colored noise much weaker than the conventional white noise can produce transitions itself or can change substantially the Landau-Zener transition probabilities. In the limit of fast colored or strong white noise we derive asymptotically exact formulae for transition probabilities and study the time evolution of a spin coupled to the noise and a sweeping magnetic field.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Adiabatic theory of Wannier threshold laws and ionization cross sections

The Wannier threshold law for three-particle fragmentation is reviewed. By integrating the Schroedinger equation along a path where the reaction coordinate R is complex, anharmonic corrections to the simple power law are obtained. These corrections are found to be non-analytic in the energy E, in contrast to the expected analytic dependence upon E

Giant birefringence and dichroism induced by ultrafast laser pulses in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

A femto- and picosecond laser assisted periodic nanostructuring of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) is demonstrated. The grating structure with the subwavelength modulation of refractive index shows form birefringence (Delta.n ~ -0.6) which is two orders of magnitude higher than commonly observed in uniaxial crystals and femtosecond laser nanostructured silica glass. The laser-induced giant birefringence and dichroism in α-Si:H film introduce extra dimensions to the polarization sensitive laser writing with applications that include data storage, security marking, and flat optics