Search results for "Femtosecond"
showing 10 items of 238 documents
The primary structural photoresponse of phytochrome proteins captured by a femtosecond X-ray laser
2019
Phytochrome proteins control the growth, reproduction, and photosynthesis of plants, fungi, and bacteria. Light is detected by a bilin cofactor, but it remains elusive how this leads to activation of the protein through structural changes. We present serial femtosecond X-ray crystallographic data of the chromophore-binding domains of a bacterial phytochrome at delay times of 1 ps and 10 ps after photoexcitation. The data reveal a twist of the D-ring, which leads to partial detachment of the chromophore from the protein. Unexpectedly, the conserved so-called pyrrole water is photodissociated from the chromophore, concomitant with movement of the A-ring and a key signaling aspartate. The chan…
Application of time-resolved spectroscopy to concentration measurements in gas mixtures
2001
1296-2147; Concentration measurements using femtosecond Raman Induced Polarization Spectroscopy (RIPS) are performed in binary gas mixtures CO2-N2 and CO2-N2O at room temperature. The principle of these measurements is based on the nonlinear rotational time response of each molecular component of the mixture, The general form of this molecular response is a series of periodic transients with a period related to the rotational constant Be The relative strength of the individual responses allows an accurate determination of the concentration. Two techniques are presented using either two pulses (one pump and one probe) or three pulses (two pumps and one probe). (C) 2001 Academie des sciences/…
Femtosecond laser induced breakdown spectroscopy of air–methane mixtures
2013
Abstract Femtosecond laser pulses are used in order to induce dielectric breakdown in gaseous mixtures, namely in some reactive air–methane mixtures. The light emitted from the laser induced plasma was analyzed while the main emission features are identified and assigned. From the analysis of the emission spectra, a linear relationship was found to hold between the intensity of some spectral features and methane content. Finally, the use of femtosecond laser induced breakdown as a tool for the in situ determination of the composition of gaseous mixtures (e.g., equivalence ratio) is also discussed.
Diffractive optics for spectral tuning of second harmonic and supercontinuum generated in nonlinear crystals
2011
It is shown that diffractive lenses can tune the spectrum of femtosecond pulses after nonlinear optical processes. We focus on spectra of second-order pulses generated in birefringent crystals and supercontinuum in sapphire crystals. The tunability is achieved by changing the relative distance between the nonlinear crystal and the diffractive lens.
Parallel laser micromachining based on diffractive optical elements with dispersion compensated femtosecond pulses
2013
We experimentally demonstrate multi-beam high spatial resolution laser micromachining with femtosecond pulses. The effects of chromatic aberrations as well as pulse stretching on the material processed due to diffraction were significantly mitigated by using a suited dispersion compensated module (DCM). This permits to increase the area of processing in a factor 3 in comparison with a conventional setup. Specifically, 52 blind holes have been drilled simultaneously onto a stainless steel sample with a 30 fs laser pulse in a parallel processing configuration.
New photonic devices for ultrafast pulse processing operating on the basis of the diffraction-dispersion analogy
2008
The space-time analogy is a well-known topic within wave optics that brings together some results from beam diffraction and pulse dispersion. On the above basis, and taking as starting point some classical concepts in Optics, several photonic devices have been proposed during the last few years with application in rapidly evolving fields such as ultrafast (femtosecond) optics or RF and microwave signal processing. In this contribution, we briefly review the above ideas with particular emphasis in the generation of trains of ultrafast pulses from periodic modulation of the phase of a CW laser source. This is the temporal analogue of Fresnel diffraction by a pure phase grating. Finally, we ex…
Cooperative atomic motion probed by ultrafast transmission electron diffraction
2015
In numerous solids exhibiting broken symmetry ground states, changes in electronic (spin) structure are accompanied by structural changes. Femtosecond time-resolved techniques recently contributed many important insights into the origin of their ground states by tracking dynamics of the electronic subsystem with femtosecond light pulses. Moreover, several studies of structural dynamics in systems with periodic lattice modulation (PLD) were performed. Since intensities of the super-lattice diffraction peaks are in the first approximation proportional to the square of the PLD amplitude, their temporal dynamics provides access to cooperative atomic motion. This process takes place on a fractio…
Optical control of vibrational coherence triggered by an ultrafast phase transition
2019
Femtosecond time-resolved x-ray diffraction is employed to study the dynamics of the periodic lattice distortion (PLD) associated with the charge-density-wave (CDW) in K0.3MoO3. Using a multi-pulse scheme we show the ability to extend the lifetime of coherent oscillations of the PLD about the undistorted structure through re-excitation of the electronic states. This suggests that it is possible to enter a regime where the symmetry of the potential energy landscape corresponds to the high symmetry phase but the scattering pathways that lead to the damping of coherent dynamics are still controllable by altering the electronic state population. The demonstrated control over the coherence time …
Dispersion Compensation in Holograms Reconstructed by Femtosecond Light Pulses
2014
This chapter describes how the spatiotemporal dispersion associated with the diffraction of broadband femtosecond light pulses through computer generated holograms (CGHs) can be compensated to a first order with a properly designed dispersion compensation module (DCM). The angular dispersion of the beam associated to CGHs leads to both spatial and temporal distortion of the pulse. Some experiments in one-shot second harmonic generation, wide-field two-photon microscopy, and parallel micromachining are shown to study the quality of the compensation performed with the DCM.
Dynamique induite par champ laser femtoseconde intense : alignement moléculaire en milieu gazeux dense et effet Kerr
2011
This thesis is devoted to the study of dynamics induced by intense femtoseconds lasers pulses. The first studied dynamics deals with molecular alignment of CO2-X mixtures (X=CO2, Ar, N2), in dense gases (up to 20 bar). Up to now, this regime has never been studied experimentally. In the field-free regime (after laser/matter interaction), molecular alignment exhibits two components : a permanent alignment and a transient one. The influence of collisions appears through population transfers between rotational states, which leads to a decrease of these two contributions. Permanent alignment relaxation time is only tied to inelastics collisions whereas transient alignment relaxation time is tie…