Ion acceleration with mixed solid targets interacting with circularly polarized lasers

The interaction of a circularly polarized laser pulse with a mixed solid target containing two species of ions is studied by particle in cell simulations and analytical model. After the interaction tends to be stable, it is demonstrated that the acceleration is more efficient for the heavier ions than that in plasmas containing a single kind of heavy ion and the acceleration efficiency is higher when its proportion is lower. To obtain monoenergetic heavy-ion beams, a sandwich target with a thin mixed ion layer between two light ion layers and a microstructured target are proposed. The influences of parameters of the laser pulse and target on ion acceleration are discussed in detail. It is found that, when the target is thick enough, a cold target is more appropriate for heavy-ion acceleration than a warm target, and the velocity of the reflected heavy ions is proportional to the laser amplitude.

Vacuum heating in the interaction of ultrashort, relativistically strong laser pulses with solid targets

An analytical fluid model for vacuum heating during the oblique incidence by an ultrashort ultraintense p-polarized laser on a solid-density plasma is proposed. The steepening of an originally smooth electron density profile as the electrons are pushed inward by the laser is included self-consistently. It is shown that the electrons being pulled out and then returned to the plasma at the interface layer by the wave field can lead to a phenomenon like wave breaking since the front part of the returning electrons always move slower than the trailing part. This can lead to heating of the plasma at the expense of the wave energy. An estimate for the efficiency of laser energy absorption by the vacuum heating is given. It is also found that for the incident laser intensity parameter, a(L)> 0.5, the absorption rate peaks at an incident angle 45 degrees-52 degrees and it reaches a maximum of 30% at a(L)approximate to 1.5.

Generation of strong quasistatic magnetic fields in interactions of ultraintense and short laser pulses with overdense plasma targets

An analytical fluid model is proposed for the generation of strong quasistatic magnetic fields during normal incidence of a short ultraintense Gaussian laser pulse with a finite spot size on an overdense plasma. The steepening of the electron density profile in the originally homogeneous overdense plasma and the formation of electron cavitation as the electrons are pushed inward by the laser are included self-consistently. It is shown that the appearance of the cavitation plays an important role in the generation of quasistatic magnetic fields: the strong plasma inhomogeneities caused by the formation of the electron cavitation lead to the generation of a strong axial quasistatic magnetic field B-z. In the overdense regime, the generated quasistatic magnetic field increases with increasing laser intensity, while it decreases with increasing plasma density. It is also found that, in a moderately overdense plasma, highly intense laser pulses can generate magnetic fields similar to 100 MG and greater due to the transverse linear mode conversion process.

The modulated grating hologram

A phase and amplitude, off-axis hologram has been synthesized from three computer-generated transmission masks, using a multiple-exposure holographic recording method. Each of the masks controls one fixed-phase component of the complex hologram transmittance. The basic grating is generated optically, relieving the computer of the burden of drawing details the size of each fringe. The maximum information capacity of the computer plotting device can then be applied to the generation of the grating modulation function. By this method large digital holograms (25 mm by 25 mm) have been synthesized in dichromated gelatin. The recording method is applicable to virtually any holographic medium.

The modulated grating hologram was designed primarily for the application of spatial filtering, in which the requirement is a hologram with large dynamic range and large free spectral range. Choice of a low-noise, high-efficiency medium such as dichromated gelatin will allow exceptionally large dynamic range. Independence of the optically-generated carrier grating from the computer-generated modulation functions allows arbitrarily large free spectral range.

The performance of a holographic spatial filter will be limited ultimately by noise originating from imperfections in the holographic medium. The characteristics of this noise are analyzed, and in the case of a high diffraction efficiency hologram are shown to differ significantly from previous analyses. The dominant noise source in holograms of high diffraction efficiency will be scattering of the first order or imaging wave by deformations in the hologram surface or other effects of low spatial frequency. Experimental measurements in various low-noise holographic media verify these predictions.

The energy spectra of uranium atoms sputtered from uranium metal and uranium dioxide targets

The energy spectra of ²³⁵U atoms sputtered from a 93% enriched ²³⁵U metal foil and a hot pressed ²³⁵U0₂ pellet by an 80 keV ⁴⁰Ar⁺ beam have been measured in the range 1 eV to 1 keV. The measurements were made using a mechanical time-of-flight spectrometer in conjunction with the fission track technique for detecting ²³⁵U. The design and construction of this spectrometer are discussed in detail, and its operation is mathematically analyzed.

The results of the experiment are discussed in the context of the random collision cascade model of sputtering. The spectrum obtained by the sputtering of the ²³⁵U metal target was found to be well described by the functional form E(E+E_b)^-2.77, where E_b = 5.4 eV. The ²³⁵U0₂ target produced a spectrum that peaked at a lower energy (~ 2 eV) and decreased somewhat more rapidly for E ≳ 100 eV.

Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor for multiplexed measurement with high resolution

A novel fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated with a long-period grating as a linear response edge filter to convert wavelength into intensity-encoded information for interrogation. The sensor is embedded into an aluminum substrate with a larger coefficient of thermal expansion to enhance its temperature sensitivity. A large dynamic range of 110 degreesC and a high resolution of 0.02 degreesC are obtained in the experiments. The technique can be used for multiplexed measurements with one broadband source and one long-period grating, and therefore is low Cost. (C) 2004 Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers.

Grating-encoded multichannel photorefractive incoherent-to-coherent optical conversion

A dynamic multichannel incoherent-to-coherent optical converter based on the photorefractive effect of SBN:Ce is described. A number of grating-encoded input images, illuminated by incoherent light, are projected onto the crystal to yield photoinduced phase gratings. Coherent positive replicas of these images are simultaneously reconstructed by a coherent read beam. A simple theoretical description of this converter and corresponding experimental results are presented.

Generation of near-field hexagonal array illumination with a phase grating

A hexagonal array not only is a nature-preferred pattern but also is widely used in optoelectronical materials and devices. We report a simple method of hexagonal array illumination based on the Talbot effect that has a theoretical efficiency of 100%. An experimental efficiency of 90.6% with a binary phase (0, pi) hexagonal grating is given. This method should be highly interesting for applications of hexagonal array illumination in optical devices as well as in other hexagonal cells. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.

Splitting of femtosecond laser pulses by using a Dammann grating and compensation gratings

When a Dammann grating is used to split a beam of femtosecond laser pulses into multiple equal-intensity beams, chromatic dispersion will occur in beams of each order of diffraction and with different scale of angular dispersion because the incident ultrashort pulse contains a broad range of spectral bandwidths. We propose a novel method in which the angular dispersion can be compensated by positioning an m-time-density grating to collimate the mth-order beam that has been split, producing an array of beams that are free of angular dispersion. The increased width of the compensated output pulses and the spectral walk-off effect are discussed. We have verified this approach theoretically and validated it through experiments. It should be highly interesting in practical applications of splitting femtosecond laser pulses for pulse-width measurement, pump-probe measurement, and micromachining at multiple points. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Generation of millimeter-wave in optical pulse carrier by using an apodized Moire fiber grating

A novel scheme is proposed to transform a Gaussian pulse to a millimeter-wave frequency modulation pulse by using an apodized Moire fiber Bragg grating in radio-over-fiber system. The relation between the input and output pulses is analyzed theoretically by Fourier transformation method and the requirements for the proposed fiber grating are presented. An apodized Moire fiber Bragg grating is designed and its characteristics are studied. It is shown that the proposed device is feasible, and the new scheme is believed to be an effective solution for the generation of millimeter-wave sub-carrier in future radio-over-fiber systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of the group delay ripple of chirped fiber grating on composite second-order in optical fiber CATV system

The effect of group delay ripple of chirped fiber gratings on composite second-order (CSO) performance in optical fiber CATV system is investigated. We analyze the system CSO performances for different ripple amplitudes, periods and residual dispersion amounts in detail. It is found that the large ripple amplitude and small ripple period will deteriorate the system CSO performance seriously. Additionally, the residual dispersion amount has considerable effect on CSO performance in the case of small ripple amplitude and large ripple period. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Composite second-order performance improvement in optical fibre CATV transmission system using chirped fibre grating

Theoretically, we analyse the dispersion compensation characteristics of the chirped fibre grating (CFG) in an optical fibre cable television (CATV) system and obtain the analytic expression of the composite second-order (CSO) distortion using the time-domain form of the field envelope wave equation. The obtained result is in good agreement with the numerical simulation result. Experimentally, we verify the result by making use of the tunable characteristics of CFG to change the dispersion compensation amount and obtain an optimal CSO performance in a 125km fibre transmission link. Both the theoretical and experimental results show that the CSO performance can be improved by properly choosing the dispersion compensation amount for a certain fibre transmission link.

Analysis of dispersion compensation for position-dependence in externally modulated CATV lightwave systems by using chirped fiber grating

The dispersion compensation characteristics of the chirped fiber grating (CFG) for different dispersion compensation positions are analyzed in externally modulated cable television (CATV) lightwave system and the analytic expression of the composite second order (CSO) distortion is derived. The analyses give a reasonable explanation for the position-dependent effect of CFG dispersion compensator, which was found in practical systems. Moreover, the theoretical result is also verified by an experiment. It is believed that the theory will be helpful in designing optical CATV fiber links with nodes at proper positions both for intensity amplification and dispersion compensation.

Optimizations for the uniformity of the non-volatile volume grating in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals

The formation of the non-uniformity of the non-volatile volume grating in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals is studied in detail. We find that the non-uniformity of the grating is mainly caused by strong ultraviolet light absorption, and the average saturation space-charge field is small and the diffraction efficiency is low as a result of the non-uniformity of the grating. In order to optimize the uniformity of the grating, we propose the recording scheme by using two sensitizing beams simultaneously from the two opposite sides of the crystals. Theoretical simulations and experimental verifications are performed. Results show that the well uniformed grating with high diffraction efficiency can be obtained by using this optimization scheme. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.