Search results for "Lasers"
showing 10 items of 316 documents
Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser
2014
We describe a method to measure ultrafast protein structural changes using time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering at an X-ray free-electron laser. We demonstrated this approach using multiphoton excitation of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center, observing an ultrafast global conformational change that arises within picoseconds and precedes the propagation of heat through the protein. This provides direct structural evidence for a 'protein quake': the hypothesis that proteins rapidly dissipate energy through quake-like structural motions. peerReviewed
Nanosecond-level time synchronization of autonomous radio detector stations for extensive air showers
2016
To exploit the full potential of radio measurements of cosmic-ray air showers at MHz frequencies, a detector timing synchronization within 1 ns is needed. Large distributed radio detector arrays such as the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) rely on timing via the Global Positioning System (GPS) for the synchronization of individual detector station clocks. Unfortunately, GPS timing is expected to have an accuracy no better than about 5 ns. In practice, in particular in AERA, the GPS clocks exhibit drifts on the order of tens of ns. We developed a technique to correct for the GPS drifts, and an independent method is used to cross-check that indeed we reach a nanosecond-scale timing accura…
Absolute momentum calibration of the HARP TPC
2008
In the HARP experiment the large-angle spectrometer is using a cylindrical TPC as main tracking and particle identification detector. The momentum scale of reconstructed tracks in the TPC is the most important systematic error for the majority of kinematic bins used for the HARP measurements of the double-differential production cross-section of charged pions in proton interactions on nuclear targets at large angle. The HARP TPC operated with a number of hardware shortfalls and operational mistakes. Thus it was important to control and characterize its momentum calibration. While it was not possible to enter a direct particle beam into the sensitive volume of the TPC to calibrate the detect…
Alignment of the ALICE Inner Tracking System with cosmic-ray tracks
2010
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 micron in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurement…
Experimental evidence on photo-assisted O$^-$ ion production from Al$_2$O$_3$ cathode in cesium sputter negative ion source
2020
The production of negative ions in cesium sputter ion sources is generally considered to be a pure surface process. It has been recently proposed that ion pair production could explain the higher-than-expected beam currents extracted from these ion sources, therefore opening the door for laser-assisted enhancement of the negative ion yield. We have tested this hypothesis by measuring the effect of various pulsed diode lasers on the O$^-$ beam current produced from Al$_2$O$_3$ cathode of a cesium sputter ion source. It is expected that the ion pair production of O$^-$ requires populating the 5d electronic states of neutral cesium, thus implying that the process should be provoked only with s…
Integrated InGaAlAs/InP laser-modulator using an identical multiple quantum well active layer
2005
We present experimental results on 40 Gb/s large-signal modulation performance of 1.31 μm monolithic integrated laser-modulator in the InGaAlAs/InP material system, exploiting the gain and absorption properties of an identical multiple quantum well (MQW) active layer. In continuous wave operation, at 15◦ C, the devices achieved threshold currents < 28 mA, fiber coupled optical power levels up to +0.4 dBm. The measured small signal modulation bandwidth was about 32 GHz. An air-cavity based Fabry-Perot interferometer has been realized to characterize the spectral chirp of the integrated structures in the time domain up to 40 Gb/s.
High-visibility interference fringes with femtosecond laser radiation.
2009
We propose and experimentally demonstrate an interferometer for femtosecond pulses with spectral bandwidth about 100 nm. The scheme is based on a Michelson interferometer with a dispersion compensating module. A diffractive lens serves the purpose of equalizing the optical-path-length difference for a wide range of frequencies. In this way, it is possible to register high-contrast interference fringes with micrometric resolution over the whole area of a commercial CCD sensor for broadband femtosecond pulses.
Spatial hole burning in thin-disk lasers and twisted-mode operation.
2018
Spatial hole burning prevents single-frequency operation of thin-disk lasers when the thin disk is used as a folding mirror. We present an evaluation of the saturation effects in the disk for disks acting as end-mirrors and as folding-mirrors explaining one of the main obstacles towards single-frequency operation. It is shown that a twisted-mode scheme based on a multi-order quarter-wave plate combined with a polarizer provides an almost complete suppression of spatial hole burning and creates an additional wavelength selectivity that enforces efficient single-frequency operation.
Photodetachment o F- by a few-cycle circularly polarized laser field
2009
We report on calculations of the above threshold detachment of F(-) by a few-cycle circularly polarized laser field, discussing the effects of both the carrier-envelope relative phase and the number of the cycle contained in a pulse on the angular distribution of ejected photoelectron. The results are analyzed in terms of a two-step semiclassical model: after the electrons are detached through tunnelling their motion is determined by the electric field pulse according to the classical dynamics laws. Anisotropies in the angular distributions of the electrons ejected on the plane perpendicular to the laser propagation direction are found that depend on the number of cycle of the laser pulse.
Dynamics of the transition from polarization disorder to antiphase polarization domains in vector fiber lasers
2014
We demonstrate that nonlinear polarization coupling in a fiber ring laser without polarization-selective elements, subject to the effects of average anomalous dispersion, Kerr effect, and nonlinear gain saturation, can lead to the antisynchronization of spatiotemporal chaos into a wide variety of ordered laminar states of orthogonal polarization temporal domains. These antiphase polarization domains include stable lattices of soliton trains with high duty cycle at repetition rates of hundreds of MHz, as well as sparse trains of coupled dark and bright solitary waves.