Dynamics of fast pattern formation in porous silicon by laser interference

Patterns are fabricated on 290 nm thick nanostructured porous silicon layers by phase-mask laser interference using single pulses of an excimer laser (193 nm, 20 ns pulse duration). The dynamics of pattern formation is studied by measuring in real time the intensity of the diffraction orders 0 and 1 at 633 nm. The results show that a transient pattern is formed upon melting at intensity maxima sites within a time 1-µs) upon melting induced by homogeneous beam exposure and related to the different scenario for releasing the heat from hot regions. The diffraction efficiency of the pattern is finally controlled by a combination of laser fluence and initial thickness of the nanostructured porous silicon layer and the present results open perspectives on heat release management upon laser exposure as well as have potential for alternative routes for switching applications.Postprint (published version

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

Dispersive calculation of complex Regge trajectories for the lightest f_2 resonances and the K^∗(892)

We apply a recently developed dispersive formalism to calculate the Regge trajectories of the f_2(1270), f´_ 2(1525) and K^∗(892) mesons. Trajectories are calculated, not fitted to a family of resonances. Assuming that these resonances can be treated in the elastic approximation, the only input are the pole position and residue of a resonance. In all three cases, the predicted Regge trajectories are almost real and linear, with slopes in agreement with the universal value of order 1 GeV_(−2). We also show how these results barely change when considering more than two subtractions in the dispersive formalism

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

Strange resonance poles from K π scattering below 1.8 GeV

In this work we present a determination of the mass, width, and coupling of the resonances that appear in kaon-pion scattering below 1.8 GeV. These are: the much debated scalar ĸ- meson, nowadays known as K(_1)(*) (800), the scalar K(_1)(*) (1430), the K*(892) and K(_1)(*) (1410) vectors, the spin-two K(_1)(*) (1430) as well as the spin-three K(_1)(*) (1780). The parameters will be determined from the pole associated to each resonance by means of an analytic continuation of the Kπ scattering amplitudes obtained in a recent and precise data analysis constrained with dispersion relations, which were not well satisfied in previous analyses. This analytic continuation will be performed by means of Pade approximants, thus avoiding a particular model for the pole parameterization. We also pay particular attention to the evaluation of uncertainties

Improved unitarized Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory for π N scattering

We show how the unitarized description of pion nucleon scattering within Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory can be considerably improved, by a suitable reordering of the expansion over the nucleon mass. Within this framework, the ∆ resonance and its associated pole can be recovered from the chiral parameters obtained from low-energy determinations. In addition, we can obtain a good description of the six S and P wave phase shifts in terms of chiral parameters with a natural size and compatible with the Resonance Saturation Hypothesis

Floating Bare Tether as Upper Atmosphere Probe

Use of a (bare) conductive tape electrically floating in LEO as an effective e-beam source that produces artificial auroras, and is free of problems that have marred standard beams, is considered. Ambient ions impacting the tape with KeV energies over most of its length liberate secondary electrons, which race down the magnetic field and excite neutrals in the E-layer, resulting in auroral emissions. The tether would operate at night-time with both a power supply and a plasma contactor off; power and contactor would be on at daytime for reboost. The optimal tape thickness yielding a minimum mass for an autonomous system is determined; the alternative use of an electric thruster for day reboost, depending on mission duration, is discussed. Measurements of emission brightness from the spacecraft could allow determination of the (neutral) density vertical profile in the critical E-layer; the flux and energy in the beam, varying along the tether, allow imaging line-of-sight integrated emissions that mix effects with altitude-dependent neutral density and lead to a brightness peak in the beam footprint at the E-layer. Difficulties in tomographic inversion, to determine the density profile, result from beam broadening, due to elastic collisions, which flattens the peak, and to the highly nonlinear functional dependency of line-of-sight brightness. Some dynamical issues are discussed

Erratum: Meson-meson interactions in a nonperturbative chiral approach

©2007 The American Physical Society.Depto. de Física TeóricaFac. de Ciencias FísicasTRUEpu

Plasma generation and processing of interstellar carbonaceous dust analogs

ICPIG (2017) ; Presentación de 32 diapositivas ; Estoril, Lisbon, 9 to 14 July 2017 ; Invited Lecture to XXXIII ICPIG ; http://icpig2017.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/Different samples of plasma deposited amorphous hydrogenated carbon (HAC or a-C:H) are used as analogs of carbonaceous dust in the diffuse interstellar (IS) medium. Comparison of measured and theoretically calculated spectra suggests that IS dust grains are likely made of small aromatic islands linked by aliphatic chains. Irradiation of the HAC deposits with 5 keV electrons shows that the effects of cosmic rays on the aliphatic dust component, characterized by an absorption band at 3.4 m, are small and cannot explain the disappearance of this band in dense interstellar clouds.N