Effects of plastic coating on K-alpha yield from ultra-short pulse

A study of the K-alpha radiation emitted from Ti foils irradiated with intense, similar to0.2 J, 67 fs, 800 nm laser pulses, scanning a range of intensities (similar to10(15)-10(18) W cm(-2)), is reported. The brightness of single-shot K-alpha line emission from the front of the targets is recorded. The yield from bare titanium (Ti) is compared to that from plastic (parylene-E) coated Ti. It is demonstrated that, for a defocused beam, a thin layer of plastic increases the yield.

The effects of short and long incubations on DNA fragmentation of testicular

DNA fragmentation in testicular sperm from men with obstructive azoospermia is increased by 4 hr and 24 hr incubations, and after cryopreservation. The effect is intensified by post-thaw incubations. Testicular sperm to be used clinically in ICSI should be injected without delay.

Photodiodes array as potential diagnostic for measuring short bursts of K-alpha radiation from Ti targets irradiated with 45 fs laser pulses

We report on a study comparing absolute K-alpha yield from Ti foils measured with a calibrated system of an X-ray CCD coupled to a curved LiF Von-Hamos crystal spectrometer to the difference in the signals measured simultaneously with two similar photodiodes fitted with two different filters. Our data indicate that a combination of photodiodes with different filters could be developed into an alternative and inexpensive diagnostic for monitoring single shot pulsed emission in a narrow band of X-ray region.

Scale-length optimising of short pulse Cu K-alpha laser plasma sources

The authors present experimental results showing how the use of a high contrast femtosecond laser system allows better optimization of K emission from a Cu target. The shorter scale-length preformed plasma is better optimized for resonance absorption of the laser light when the laser is moved away from best focus. The experimental data show a central peak of K emission at tight focus with strong secondary peaks at large offset. The use of these secondary peaks results in a much reduced hard x-ray background and should lead to shorter K pulses than at tight focus.

Conformations, vibrational frequencies and Raman intensities of short-chain fatty acid methyl esters using DFT with 6-31G(d) and Sadlej pVTZ basis sets

Density functional calculations, using B3LPY/6-31G(d) methods, have been used to investigate the conformations and vibrational (Raman) spectra of three short-chain fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) with the formula CnH2nO2 (n = 3-5). In all three FAMEs, the lowest energy conformer has a simple 'all-trans' structure but there are other conformers, with different torsions about the backbone, which lie reasonably close in energy to the global minimum. One result of this is that the solid samples we studied do not appear to consist entirely of the lowest energy conformer. Indeed, to account for the 'extra' bands that were observed in the Raman data but were not predicted for the all-trans conformer, it was necessary to add-in contributions from other conformers before a complete set of vibrational assignments could be made. Provided this was done, the agreement between experimental Raman frequencies and 6-31G(d) values (after scaling) was excellent, RSD = 12.6 cm(-1). However, the agreement between predicted and observed intensities was much less satisfactory. To confirm the validity of the approach followed by the 6-3 1 G(d) basis set, we used a larger basis set, Sadlej pVTZ, and found that these calculations gave accurate Raman intensities and simulated spectra (summed from two different conformers) that were in quantitative agreement with experiment. In addition, the unscaled Sadlej pVTZ, and the scaled 6-3 1 G(d) calculations gave the same vibrational mode assignments for all bands in the experimental data. This work provides the foundation for calculations on longer-chain FAMEs (which are closer to those found as triglycerides in edible fats and oils) because it shows that scaled 6-3 1 G(d) calculations give equally accurate frequency predictions, and the same vibrational mode assignments, as the much more CPU-expensive Sadlej pVTZ basis set calculations.