Attosecond phase locking of harmonics emitted from laser-produced plasmas

Laser-driven coherent extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) sources provide pulses lasting a few hundred attoseconds(1,2), enabling real-time access to dynamic changes of the electronic structure of matter(3,4), the fastest processes outside the atomic nucleus. These pulses, however, are typically rather weak. Exploiting the ultrahigh brilliance of accelerator-based XUV sources(5) and the unique time structure of their laser-based counterparts would open intriguing opportunities in ultrafast X-ray and high-field science, extending powerful nonlinear optical and pump-probe techniques towards X-ray frequencies, and paving the way towards unequalled radiation intensities. Relativistic laser-plasma interactions have been identified as a promising approach to achieve this goal(6-13). Recent experiments confirmed that relativistically driven overdense plasmas are able to convert infrared laser light into harmonic XUV radiation with unparalleled efficiency, and demonstrated the scalability of the generation technique towards hard X-rays(14-19). Here we show that the phases of the XUV harmonics emanating from the interaction processes are synchronized, and therefore enable attosecond temporal bunching. Along with the previous findings concerning energy conversion and recent advances in high-power laser technology, our experiment demonstrates the feasibility of confining unprecedented amounts of light energy to within less than one femtosecond.

Hänsch--Couillaud locking of Mach--Zehnder interferometer for carrier removal from a phase-modulated optical spectrum

We describe and analyse the operation and stabilization of a Mach--Zehnder interferometer, which separates the carrier and the first-order sidebands of a phase-modulated laser field, and which is locked using the H\"ansch--Couillaud method. In addition to the necessary attenuation, our interferometer introduces, via total internal reflection, a significant polarization-dependent phase delay. We employ a general treatment to describe an interferometer with an object which affects the field along one path, and we examine how this phase delay affects the error signal. We discuss the requirements necessary to ensure the lock point remains unchanged when phase modulation is introduced, and we demonstrate and characterize this locking experimentally. Finally, we suggest an extension to this locking strategy using heterodyne detection.

Atomistic studies of <110] screw dislocation core structures and glide in γ-TiAl

The core structure of <110] superdislocations in L10 TiAl was investigated with a view to clarifying their dissociation abilities and the mechanisms by which they may become sessile by self-locking. A detailed knowledge of the fine structure of dislocations is essential in analysing the origin of the various deformation features. Atomistic simulation of the core structure and glide of the screw <110] superdislocation was carried out using a bond order potential for ?-TiAl. The core structure of the screw <110] superdislocation was examined, starting with initial unrelaxed configurations corresponding to various dislocation dissociations discussed in the literature. The superdislocation was found to possess in the screw orientation either planar (glissile) or non-planar (sessile) core structures. The response of the core configurations to externally applied shear stress was studied. Some implications were considered of the dissociated configurations and their response to externally applied stress on dislocation dynamics, including the issue of dislocation decomposition, the mechanism of locking and the orientation dependence of the dislocation substructure observed in single-phase ?-TiAl. An unexpectedly rich and complex set of candidate core structures, both planar and non-planar, was found, the cores of which may transform under applied stress with consequent violation of Schmid's law.

Suggested Binding Mechanism of the HIV-gp120 to its CD4 Receptor

The molecular recognition and attachment of the CD4 molecule and the HIV envelope glycoprotein (gp120) might be described as a consecutive three-step molecular recognition process. 1. (a) Long range interaction: electrostatic pre-orientation, 2. (b) short range interaction: electronic attachment followed by a ‘Locking-in’ (via aromatic ring orientation) and 3. (c) internal interaction (induced fit): conformational readjustment of the protein molecules. On the basis of the preliminary investigations (X-ray structures of CD4 and biological studies of CD4 and gp120 point mutants) we described a computational model. This approach consists of empirical calculations as well as ab initio level of quantum chemistry. The conformational analysis of the wild type and mutant CD4 molecules was supported by molecular mechanics and dynamics (Amber force field). The latter analysis involves the application of a novel method, the Amino Acid Conformation Assignment of Proteins (ACAP) software, developed for the notation of secondary protein structures. According to the cardinal role of the electrostatic factors during this interaction, several ab initio investigations were performed for better understanding of the recognition process on submolecular level. Using the above mentioned computational model, we could interpret the basic behaviours and predict some additional features of CD4-gp120 interaction, in spite of the missing gp120 X-ray structure.

Interactions between the budding yeast IQGAP homologue Iqg1p and its targets revealed by a split-EGFP bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay.

A split-EGFP based bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assay has been used to detect interactions between the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytoskeletal scaffolding protein Iqg1p and three targets: myosin essential light chain (Mlc1p), calmodulin (Cmd1p) and the small GTPase Cdc42p. The format of the BiFC assay used ensures that the proteins are expressed at wild type levels thereby avoiding artefacts due to overexpression. This is the first direct in vivo detection of these interactions; in each case, the complex is localised to discrete regions of the yeast cytoplasm. The labelling with EGFP fragments results in changes in growth kinetics, cell size and budding frequency. This is partly due to the reassembled EGFP locking the complexes into essentially permanent interactions. The consequences of this for Iqg1p interactions and BiFC assays in general are discussed. (c) 2008 International Federation for Cell Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phase synchronization from noisy univariate signals

We present methods for detecting phase synchronization of two unidirectionally coupled, self-sustained noisy oscillators from a signal of the driven oscillator alone. One method detects soft phase locking; another hard phase locking. Both are applied to the problem of detecting phase synchronization in von Karman vortex flow meters.

Data-driven optimal filtering for phase and frequency of noisy oscillations: Application to vortex flow metering

A method for measuring the phase of oscillations from noisy time series is proposed. To obtain the phase, the signal is filtered in such a way that the filter output has minimal relative variation in the amplitude over all filters with complex-valued impulse response. The argument of the filter output yields the phase. Implementation of the algorithm and interpretation of the result are discussed. We argue that the phase obtained by the proposed method has a low susceptibility to measurement noise and a low rate of artificial phase slips. The method is applied for the detection and classification of mode locking in vortex flow meters. A measure for the strength of mode locking is proposed.

Residual stress due to curing can initiate damage in porous bone cement: experimental and theoretical evidence

Residual stress due to shrinkage of polymethylmethacrylate bone cement after polymerisation is possibly one factor capable of initiating cracks in the mantle of cemented hip replacements. No relationship between residual stress and observed cracking of cement has yet been demonstrated. To investigate if any relationship exists, a physical model has been developed which allows direct observation of damage in the cement layer on the femoral side of total hip replacement. The model contains medial and lateral cement layers between a bony surface and a metal stem; the tubular nature of the cement mantle is ignored. Five specimens were prepared and examined for cracking using manual tracing of stained cracks, observed by transmission microscopy: cracks were located and measured using image analysis. A mathematical approach for the prediction of residual stress due to shrinkage was developed which uses the thermal history of the material to predict when stress-locking occurs, and estimates subsequent thermal stress. The residual stress distribution of the cement layer in the physical model was then calculated using finite element analysis. Results show maximum tensile stresses normal to the observed crack directions, suggesting a link between residual stress and preload cracking. The residual stress predicted depends strongly on the definition of the reference temperature for stress-locking. The highest residual stresses (4-7 MPa) are predicted for shrinkage from maximum temperature, in this case, magnitudes are sufficiently high to initiate cracks when the influence of stress raisers such as pores or interdigitation at the bone/cement interface are taken into account (up to 24 MPa when calculating stress around a pore according to the method of Harrigan and Harris (J. Biomech. 24(11) (1991) 1047-1058)). We conclude that the damage accumulation failure scenario begins before weight-bearing due to cracking induced by residual stress around pores or stress raisers. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Controlling the divergence of high harmonics from solid targets: a route toward coherent harmonic focusing

Harmonic generation from relativistically oscillating plasma surfaces formed during the interaction of high contrast lasers with solid-density targets has been shown to be an efficient source of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray radiation. Recent work has demonstrated that the exceptional coherence properties of the driving laser can be mirrored in the emitted radiation, permitting diffraction limited performance and attosecond phase locking of the harmonic radiation. These unique properties may allow the coherent harmonic focusing (CHF) of high harmonics generated from solid density targets to intensities on the order of the Schwinger limit of 10(29) W cm(-2) with laser systems available in the near future [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 115002 (2004)] and thus pave the way for unique experiments exploring the nonlinear properties of vacuum on ultra-fast timescales. In this paper we investigate experimentally as well as numerically the prospect of focusing high harmonics under realistic experimental conditions and demonstrate, using particle in cell (PIC) simulations, that precise control of the wavefronts and thus the focusability of the generated harmonics is possible with pre-shaped targets.

Parallel Programming of General-Purpose Programs Using Task-Based Programming Models

The prevalence of multicore processors is bound to drive most kinds of software development towards parallel programming. To limit the difficulty and overhead of parallel software design and maintenance, it is crucial that parallel programming models allow an easy-to-understand, concise and dense representation of parallelism. Parallel programming models such as Cilk++ and Intel TBBs attempt to offer a better, higher-level abstraction for parallel programming than threads and locking synchronization. It is not straightforward, however, to express all patterns of parallelism in these models. Pipelines are an important parallel construct, although difficult to express in Cilk and TBBs in a straightfor- ward way, not without a verbose restructuring of the code. In this paper we demonstrate that pipeline parallelism can be easily and concisely expressed in a Cilk-like language, which we extend with input, output and input/output dependency types on procedure arguments, enforced at runtime by the scheduler. We evaluate our implementation on real applications and show that our Cilk-like scheduler, extended to track and enforce these dependencies has performance comparable to Cilk++.

The ParaPhrase Project:Parallel patterns for adaptive heterogeneous multicore systems

This paper describes the ParaPhrase project, a new 3-year targeted research project funded under EU Framework 7 Objective 3.4 (Computer Systems), starting in October 2011. ParaPhrase aims to follow a new approach to introducing parallelism using advanced refactoring techniques coupled with high-level parallel design patterns. The refactoring approach will use these design patterns to restructure programs defined as networks of software components into other forms that are more suited to parallel execution. The programmer will be aided by high-level cost information that will be integrated into the refactoring tools. The implementation of these patterns will then use a well-understood algorithmic skeleton approach to achieve good parallelism. A key ParaPhrase design goal is that parallel components are intended to match heterogeneous architectures, defined in terms of CPU/GPU combinations, for example. In order to achieve this, the ParaPhrase approach will map components at link time to the available hardware, and will then re-map them during program execution, taking account of multiple applications, changes in hardware resource availability, the desire to reduce communication costs etc. In this way, we aim to develop a new approach to programming that will be able to produce software that can adapt to dynamic changes in the system environment. Moreover, by using a strong component basis for parallelism, we can achieve potentially significant gains in terms of reducing sharing at a high level of abstraction, and so in reducing or even eliminating the costs that are usually associated with cache management, locking, and synchronisation. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Line-driven radiative outflows in luminous quasars

An analysis of ≃19 500 narrow (≲200 km s^-1) CIV λλ1548.2,1550.8 absorbers in ≃34 000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar spectra is presented. The statistics of the number of absorbers as a function of outflow velocity shows that in approximately two-thirds of outflows, with multiple C IV absorbers present, absorbers are line-locked at the 500 km s^-1 velocity separation of the C IV absorber doublet; appearing as 'triplets' in the quasar spectra. Line-locking is an observational signature of radiative line-driving in outflowing material, where the successive shielding of 'clouds' of material in the outflow locks the clouds together in outflow velocity. Line-locked absorbers are seen in both broad absorption line (BAL) quasars and non-BAL quasars with comparable frequencies and with velocities out to at least 20 000 km s^-1. There are no detectable differences in the absorber properties and the dust content of single C IV doublets and line-locked C IV doublets. The gas associated with both single and line-locked CIV absorption systems includes material with a wide range of ionization potential (14-138 eV). Both single and line-locked CIV absorber systems show strong systematic trends in their ionization as a function of outflow velocity, with ionization decreasing rapidly with increasing outflow velocity. Initial simulations, employing CLOUDY, demonstrate that a rich spectrum of line-locked signals at various velocities may be expected due to significant opacities from resonance lines of Li-, He- and H-like ions of O, C and N, along with contributions from He II and HI resonance lines. The simulations confirm that line-driving can be the dominant acceleration mechanism for clouds with N(H I) ≃ 10¹⁹ cm^-2.

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey XXI. Stellar spin rates of O-type spectroscopic binaries

Context: The initial distribution of spin rates of massive stars is a fingerprint of their elusive formation process. It also sets a key initial condition for stellar evolution and is thus an important ingredient in stellar population synthesis. So far, most studies have focused on single stars. Most O stars are, however, found in multiple systems. 

Aims: By establishing the spin-rate distribution of a sizeable sample of O-type spectroscopic binaries and by comparing the distributions of binary subpopulations with one another and with that of presumed-single stars in the same region, we aim to constrain the initial spin distribution of O stars in binaries, and to identify signatures of the physical mechanisms that affect the evolution of the spin rates of massive stars. 

Methods: We use ground-based optical spectroscopy obtained in the framework of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) to establish the projected equatorial rotational velocities (ν_esini) for components of 114 spectroscopic binaries in 30 Doradus. The ν_esini values are derived from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of a set of spectral lines, using a FWHM vs. ν_esini calibration that we derive based on previous line analysis methods applied to single O-type stars in the VFTS sample. 

Results: The overall ν_esini distribution of the primary stars resembles that of single O-type stars in the VFTS, featuring a low-velocity peak (at ν_esini<200 kms^-1) and a shoulder at intermediate velocities (200 <ν_esini<300 kms^-1). The distributions of binaries and single stars, however, differ in two ways. First, the main peak at ν_esini ~ 100kms^-1 is broader and slightly shifted towards higher spin rates in the binary distribution than that of the presumed-single stars. This shift is mostly due to short-period binaries (P_orb~<10 d). Second, the ν_esini distribution of primaries lacks a significant population of stars spinning faster than 300 kms^-1, while such a population is clearly present in the single-star sample. The ν_esini distribution of binaries with amplitudes of radial velocity variation in the range of 20 to 200 kms^-1 (mostly binaries with P_orb ~ 10-1000 d and/or with q<0.5) is similar to that of single O stars below ν_esini_~<170kms^-1. 

Conclusions: Our results are compatible with the assumption that binary components formed with the same spin distribution as single stars, and that this distribution contains few or no fast-spinning stars. The higher average spin rate of stars in short-period binaries may either be explained by spin-up through tides in such tight binary systems, or by spin-down of a fraction of the presumed-single stars and long-period binaries through magnetic braking (or by a combination of both mechanisms). Most primaries and secondaries of SB2 systems with P_orb~<10 d appear to have similar rotational velocities. This is in agreement with tidal locking in close binaries where the components have similar radii. The lack of very rapidly spinning stars among binary systems supports the idea that most stars with ν_esini_~> 300kms^-1 in the single-star sample are actually spun-up post-binary interaction products. Finally, the overall similarities (low-velocity peak and intermediate-velocity shoulder) of the spin distribution of binary and single stars argue for a massive star formation process in which the initial spin is set independently of whether stars are formed as single stars or as components of a binary system.

Designing Short Term Wave Traces to Assess Wave Power Devices

In recent years modern numerical methods have been employed in the design of Wave Energy Converters (WECs), however the high computational costs associated with their use makes it prohibitive to undertake simulations involving statistically relevant numbers of wave cycles. Experimental tests in wave tanks could also be performed more efficiently and economically if short time traces, consisting of only a few wave cycles, could be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic characteristics of a particular device or design modification. Ideally, accurate estimations of device performance could be made utilizing results obtained from investigations with a relatively small number of wave cycles. However the difficulty here is that many WECs, such as the Oscillating Wave Surge Converter (OWSC), exhibit significant non-linearity in their response. Thus it is challenging to make accurate predictions of annual energy yield for a given spectral sea state using short duration realisations of that sea. This is because the non-linear device response to particular phase couplings of sinusoidal components within those time traces might influence the estimate of mean power capture obtained. As a result it is generally accepted that the most appropriate estimate of mean power capture for a sea state be obtained over many hundreds (or thousands) of wave cycles. This ensures that the potential influence of phase locking is negligible in comparison to the predictions made. In this paper, potential methods of providing reasonable estimates of relative variations in device performance using short duration sea states are introduced. The aim of the work is to establish the shortness of sea state required to provide statistically significant estimations of the mean power capture of a particular type of Wave Energy Converter. The results show that carefully selected wave traces can be used to reliably assess variations in power output due to changes in the hydrodynamic design or wave climate.