Chirped pulse Raman amplification in warm plasma: towards controlling saturation

Stimulated Raman backscattering in plasma is potentially an efficient method of amplifying laser pulses to reach exawatt powers because plasma is fully broken down and withstands extremely high electric fields. Plasma also has unique nonlinear optical properties that allow simultaneous compression of optical pulses to ultra-short durations. However, current measured efficiencies are limited to several percent. Here we investigate Raman amplification of short duration seed pulses with different chirp rates using a chirped pump pulse in a preformed plasma waveguide. We identify electron trapping and wavebreaking as the main saturation mechanisms, which lead to spectral broadening and gain saturation when the seed reaches several millijoules for durations of 10's - 100's fs for 250 ps, 800 nm chirped pump pulses. We show that this prevents access to the nonlinear regime and limits the efficiency, and interpret the experimental results using slowly-varying-amplitude, current-averaged particle-in-cell simulations. We also propose methods for achieving higher efficiencies.close0

Simultaneous Comparison of Many Triphasic Defibrillation Waveforms

Biphasic defibrillation waveforms are now accepted as being more effective at terminating ventricular fibrillation (VF) than monophasic waveforms. If two phases are better than one, this naturally leads to the hypothesis that additional phases improve efficacy. This study tests the hypothesis by adding one additional phase. We examined the efficacy of 18 different triphasic waveforms simultaneously

Simulations of magnetic and magnetoelastic properties of Tb2Ti2O7 in paramagnetic phase

Magnetic and magnetoelastic properties of terbium titanate pyrochlore in paramagnetic phase are simulated. The magnetic field and temperature dependences of magnetization and forced magnetostriction in Tb2Ti2O7 single crystals and polycrystalline samples are calculated in the framework of exchange charge model of crystal field theory and a mean field approximation. The set of electron-deformation coupling constants has been determined. Variations of elastic constants with temperature and applied magnetic field are discussed. Additional strong softening of the crystal lattice at liquid helium temperatures in the magnetic field directed along the rhombic symmetry axis is predicted.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Batch drying in sintering

An adapted mathematical model of sintering permits analysis of the thermophysical characteristics of batch drying, primarily in the main sintering period. Over the whole length of the sintering machine, most of the bed volume corresponds to equilibrium moisture content, which may be higher or lower than the initial value. The temperature of the gas entering the drying zone is calculated, and its dependence on the parameters of the batch and gas is determined. © 2013 Allerton Press, Inc

Nonequilibrium orientational patterns in two-component Langmuir monolayers

A model of a phase-separating two-component Langmuir monolayer in the presence of a photo-induced reaction interconvering two components is formulated. An interplay between phase separation, orientational ordering and treaction is found to lead to a variety of nonequilibrium self-organized patterns, both stationary and traveling. Examples of the patterns, observed in numerical simulations, include flowing droplets, traveling stripes, wave sources and vortex defects.Comment: Submitted to the Physical Review

Observation of a red-blue detuning asymmetry in matter-wave superradiance

We report the first experimental observations of strong suppression of matter-wave superradiance using blue-detuned pump light and demonstrate a pump-laser detuning asymmetry in the collective atomic recoil motion. In contrast to all previous theoretical frameworks, which predict that the process should be symmetric with respect to the sign of the pump-laser detuning, we find that for condensates the symmetry is broken. With high condensate densities and red-detuned light, the familiar distinctive multi-order, matter-wave scattering pattern is clearly visible, whereas with blue-detuned light superradiance is strongly suppressed. In the limit of a dilute atomic gas, however, symmetry is restored.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

An ultra-high gain and efficient amplifier based on Raman amplification in plasma

Raman amplification arising from the excitation of a density echelon in plasma could lead to amplifiers that significantly exceed current power limits of conventional laser media. Here we show that 1-100 J pump pulses can amplify picojoule seed pulses to nearly joule level. The extremely high gain also leads to significant amplification of backscattered radiation from "noise", arising from stochastic plasma fluctuations that competes with externally injected seed pulses, which are amplified to similar levels at the highest pump energies. The pump energy is scattered into the seed at an oblique angle with 14 J sr(-1), and net gains of more than eight orders of magnitude. The maximum gain coefficient, of 180 cm(-1), exceeds high-power solid-state amplifying media by orders of magnitude. The observation of a minimum of 640 J sr(-1) directly backscattered from noise, corresponding to approximate to 10% of the pump energy in the observation solid angle, implies potential overall efficiencies greater than 10%

Contrasting controls on seasonal and spatial distribution of marine cable bacteria (Candidatus Electrothrix) and Beggiatoaceae in seasonally hypoxic Chesapeake Bay

Marine cable bacteria (Candidatus Electrothrix) and large colorless sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (e.g., Beggiatoaceae) are widespread thiotrophs in coastal environments but may exert different influences on biogeochemical cycling. Yet, the factors governing their niche partitioning remain poorly understood. To map their distribution and evaluate their growth constraints in a natural setting, we examined surface sediments across seasons at two sites with contrasting levels of seasonal oxygen depletion in Chesapeake Bay using microscopy coupled with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and biogeochemical characterization. We found that cable bacteria, dominated by a single phylotype closely affiliated to Candidatus Electrothrix communis, flourished during winter and spring at a central channel site which experiences summer anoxia. Here, cable bacteria density was positively correlated with surface sediment chlorophyll, a proxy of phytodetritus sedimentation. Cable bacteria were also present with a lower areal density at an adjacent shoal site which supports bioturbating macrofauna. Beggiatoaceae were more abundant at this site, where their biomass was positively correlated with sediment respiration, but additionally potentially inhibited by sulfide accumulation which was evident during one summer. A springtime phytodetritus sedimentation event was associated with a proliferation of Beggiatoaceae and multiple Candidatus Electrothrix phylotypes, with cable bacteria reaching 1000 m length cm−2. These observations indicate the potential impact of a spring bloom in driving a hot moment of cryptic sulfur cycling. Our results suggest complex interactions between benthic thiotroph populations, with bioturbation and seasonal oscillations in bottom water dissolved oxygen, sediment sulfide, and organic matter influx as important drivers of their distribution

Parity doubling in particle physics

Parity doubling in excited hadrons is reviewed. Parity degeneracy in hadrons was first experimentally observed 40 years ago. Recently new experimental data on light mesons caused much excitement and renewed interest to the phenomenon, which still remains to be enigmatic. The present retrospective review is an attempt to trace the history of parity doubling phenomenon, thus providing a kind of introduction to the subject. We begin with early approaches of 1960s (Regge theory and dynamical symmetries) and end up with the latest trends (manifestations of broader degeneracies and AdS/QCD). We show the evolution of various ideas about parity doubling. The experimental evidence for this phenomenon is scrutinized in the non-strange sector. Some experiments of 1960s devoted to the search for missing non-strange bosons are re-examined and it is argued that results of these experiments are encouraging from the modern perspective.Comment: Version to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 63 pages, 9 figure

Optical evidence for symmetry changes above the Neel temperature in KCuF3

We report on optical measurements of the 1D Heisenberg antiferromagnet KCuF3. The crystal-field excitations of the Cu2+ ions have been observed and their temperature dependence can be understood in terms of magnetic and exchange-induced dipole mechanisms and vibronic interactions. Above T_N we observe a new temperature scale T_S characterized by the emergence of narrow absorption features that correlate with changes of the orbital ordering as observed by Paolasini et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 106403 (2002)]. The appearance of these optical transitions provides evidence for a symmetry change above the Neel temperature that affects the orbital ordering and paves the way for the antiferromagnetic ordering.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure