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Plasma and Beam Physics Commons

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2005

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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Plasma and Beam Physics

Multiple Channel Laser Beam Combination And Phasing Using Stimulated Brillouin Scattering In Optical Fibers, Brent W. Grime Dec 2005

Multiple Channel Laser Beam Combination And Phasing Using Stimulated Brillouin Scattering In Optical Fibers, Brent W. Grime

Theses and Dissertations

Brightness scaling lasers using stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in optical fibers is explored. A multiple-channel amplifier approach is used to increase the total power of a laser system while avoiding a significant burden on a single channel. The work explores two approaches utilizing both SBS beam cleanup and SBS piston error conjugation. A unique beam combiner that takes advantage of the SBS beam cleanup properties of a long, gradient-index multimode fiber was designed and tested. The beam combiner was developed to combine multiple-channel laser beams simultaneously with high input and output coupling efficiency. The design for the SBS beam combiner …


Liquid Crystal On Silicon Non-Mechanical Steering Of A Laser Vibrometer System, Kevin S. Kuciapinski Sep 2005

Liquid Crystal On Silicon Non-Mechanical Steering Of A Laser Vibrometer System, Kevin S. Kuciapinski

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the possibility of using a non-mechanical beam steering device to steer the beam of a coherent laser radar system. Non-mechanical beam steering devices offer many advantages in size, weight, power requirements, and steering speeds. Additionally, non-mechanical beam steering devices present the capabilities of splitting a single beam into multiple beams as well as beam forming and expanding. The coherent laser radar system used was a Laser Vibrometer System. The beam of the laser vibrometer was steered from 0 mrad to 3 mrad at 1 mrad increments using the liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) device. The laser vibrometer …


Compression Of Laser Radiation In Plasmas Using Electromagnetic Cascading, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets Jun 2005

Compression Of Laser Radiation In Plasmas Using Electromagnetic Cascading, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets

Serge Youri Kalmykov

Compressing high-power laser beams in plasmas via generation of a coherent cascade of electromagnetic sidebands is described. The technique requires two copropagating beams detuned by a near-resonant frequency, \Omega < \omega_{p}. The ponderomotive force of the laser beat wave drives an electron plasma wave which modifies the refractive index of plasma so as to produce a periodic phase modulation of the laser field with the beat period t_b = 2\pi/\Omega. A train of chirped laser beat notes (each of duration t_b) is thus created. The group velocity dispersion of radiation in plasma can then compress each beat note to a few-laser-cycle duration. As a result, a train of sharp electromagnetic spikes separated in time by t_b is formed. Depending on the plasma and laser parameters, chirping and compression can be implemented either concurrently in the same plasma or sequentially in different plasmas.


X-Ray Generation From Metal Targets Coated With Wavelength-Scale Spheres, D. R. Symes, H. A. Sumeruk, I. V. Churina, Thomas D. Donnelly, J. Landry, T. Ditmire May 2005

X-Ray Generation From Metal Targets Coated With Wavelength-Scale Spheres, D. R. Symes, H. A. Sumeruk, I. V. Churina, Thomas D. Donnelly, J. Landry, T. Ditmire

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

X-ray yield measurements from targets coated with wavelength-scale spheres are compared with measurements from polished targets. Evidence for a hotter resonant electron temperature due to field enhancements from Mie resonances in the spheres is investigated.


Strongly Coupled Large-Angle Stimulated Raman Scattering Of Short Laser Pulse In Plasma-Filled Capillary, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Patrick Mora Apr 2005

Strongly Coupled Large-Angle Stimulated Raman Scattering Of Short Laser Pulse In Plasma-Filled Capillary, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Patrick Mora

Serge Youri Kalmykov

Strongly coupled large-angle stimulated Raman scattering sLA SRSd of a short intense laser pulse develops in a plane plasma-filled capillary differently than in a plasma with open boundaries. Coupling the laser pulse to a capillary seeds the LA SRS in the forward direction (scattering angle smaller than \pi / 2 ) and can thus produce a high instability level in the vicinity of the entrance plane. In addition, oblique mirror reflections off capillary walls partly suppress the lateral convection of scattered radiation and increase the growth rate of the SRS under arbitrary (not too small) angle. Hence, the saturated convective …


Optimal Reconstruction Of Magnetopause Structures From Cluster Data, H Hasegawa, B U. Ö Sonnerup, B Klecker, G Paschmann Mar 2005

Optimal Reconstruction Of Magnetopause Structures From Cluster Data, H Hasegawa, B U. Ö Sonnerup, B Klecker, G Paschmann

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction tech- nique, a single-spacecraft based data analysis method for recovering approximately two-dimensional (2-D) magneto- hydrostatic plasma/field structures in space, is improved to become a multi-spacecraft technique that produces a single field map by ingesting data from all four Cluster spacecraft into the calculation. The plasma pressure, required for the technique, is measured in high time resolution by only two of the spacecraft, C1 and C3, but, with the help of spacecraft po- tential measurements available from all four spacecraft, the pressure can be estimated at the other spacecraft as well via a relationship, established from C1 …


Electro-Optic Beam Steering Using Domain Engineered Lithium Tantalate, Daren J. Chauvin Mar 2005

Electro-Optic Beam Steering Using Domain Engineered Lithium Tantalate, Daren J. Chauvin

Theses and Dissertations

The operation of a 14-channel five stage electro-optic beam steering device was studied. Beam deflection scanned from 0° to 10.1° was demonstrated. The maximum angle is within 0.3% of design. Many laser systems in operation today implement mechanical beam steering methods that are often expensive in terms of cost, weight and power. They are slow and subject to wear and vibration. A non-inertial beam scanning mechanism, such as one based on the device studied in this research could enhance the performance of these systems. The device studied here is fabricated in LiTaO3 using micro-patterned domain reversal. The 14 channels …


Laser Wakefield Acceleration By Petawatt Ultrashort Laser Pulses, Leonid M. Gorbunov, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Patrick Mora Feb 2005

Laser Wakefield Acceleration By Petawatt Ultrashort Laser Pulses, Leonid M. Gorbunov, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Patrick Mora

Serge Youri Kalmykov

An ultrashort (about 30 fs) petawatt laser pulse focused with a wide focal spot (about 100 mm) in a rarefied plasma (n_0 ~ 10^{17} cm^{−3}) excites a nonlinear plasma wakefield which can accelerate injected electrons up to GeV energies without any pulse channeling. Under these conditions, propagation of the laser pulse with an overcritical power for relativistic self-focusing is almost the same as in vacuum. The nonlinear quasiplane plasma wave, whose amplitude and phase velocity vary along the laser path, effectively traps and accelerates injected electrons with a wide range of initial energies. Electrons accelerated over two Rayleigh lengths (about …


Optimization Of Ultraviolet Emission And Chemical Species Generation From A Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge At Atmospheric Pressure, Xinpei Lu, Mounir Laroussi Jan 2005

Optimization Of Ultraviolet Emission And Chemical Species Generation From A Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge At Atmospheric Pressure, Xinpei Lu, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the attractive features of nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasmas is the ability to achieve enhanced gas phase chemistry without the need for elevated gas temperatures. This attractive characteristic recently led to their extensive use in applications that require low temperatures, such as material processing and biomedical applications. The agents responsible for the efficient plasma reactivity are the ultraviolet (UV) photons and the chemically reactive species. In this paper, in order to optimize the UV radiation and reactive species generation efficiency, the plasma was generated by a dielectric barrier discharge driven by unipolar submicrosecond square pulses. To keep the discharge …


Predicted Properties Of Microhollow Cathode Discharges In Xenon, J. P. Boeuf, L. C. Pitchford, K. H. Schoenbach Jan 2005

Predicted Properties Of Microhollow Cathode Discharges In Xenon, J. P. Boeuf, L. C. Pitchford, K. H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

A fluid model has been developed and used to help clarify the physical mechanisms occurring in microhollow cathode discharges (MHCD). Calculated current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and gas temperatures in xenon at 100 Torr are presented. Consistent with previous experimental results in similar conditions, we find a voltage maximum in the I-V characteristic. We show that this structure reflects a transition between a low-current, abnormal discharge localized inside the cylindrical hollow cathode to a higher-current, normal glow discharge sustained by electron emission from the outer surface of the cathode. This transition, due to the geometry of …


Room-Temperature Atmospheric Pressure Plasma For Biomedical Applications, Mounir Laroussi, Xinpei Lu Jan 2005

Room-Temperature Atmospheric Pressure Plasma For Biomedical Applications, Mounir Laroussi, Xinpei Lu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

As low-temperature non-equilibrium plasmas come to play an increasing role in biomedical applications, reliable and user-friendly sources need to be developed. These plasma sources have to meet stringent requirements such as low temperature (at or near room temperature), no risk of arcing, operation at atmospheric pressure, preferably hand-held operation, low concentration of ozone generation, etc. In this letter, we present a device that meets exactly such requirements. This device is capable of generating a cold plasma plume several centimeters in length. It exhibits low power requirements as shown by its current-voltage characteristics. Using helium as a carrier gas, very little …


Cluster Issue On Microplasmas, Kurt H. Becker, J. Gary Eden, Karl H. Schoenbach Jan 2005

Cluster Issue On Microplasmas, Kurt H. Becker, J. Gary Eden, Karl H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

Atmospheric-pressure diffuse discharge plasmas are susceptible to instabilities and, in particular, to arcing (the glow-to-arc transition). Some of the most promising approaches to ‘stabilizing’ atmospheric-pressure plasmas are based on the recognition that arc formation can be avoided when the plasmas are generated and maintained in spatially constricted geometries with dimensions from tens to hundreds of microns. Known as microplasmas or microdischarges, these weakly-ionized discharges represent a new and fascinating realm of plasma science in which several scientific issues, such as the potential breakdown of pd scaling and the role of boundary-based phenomena, come to the fore. In contrast to ‘macroplasmas’ …


Einstein’S Impact On Optics At The Frontier, Donald Umstadter Jan 2005

Einstein’S Impact On Optics At The Frontier, Donald Umstadter

Donald Umstadter Publications

The seminal contributions made by Einstein a century ago have enabled a new frontier area of science, called high-field science. This research involves the physics of the interactions of matter with electromagnetic fields at its highest levels ever achieved in the laboratory. Besides being of fundamental importance to physics research, the discoveries being made in this area are also leading to a new generation of compact and ultrashort-duration particle accelerators and X-ray light sources, with applications ranging from nuclear fusion to cancer therapy.


Levitation Using Microwave-Induced Plasmas, R. J. Exton, S. Popovic, G. C. Herring, M. Cooper Jan 2005

Levitation Using Microwave-Induced Plasmas, R. J. Exton, S. Popovic, G. C. Herring, M. Cooper

Physics Faculty Publications

The levitation of objects above a microwave horn is demonstrated. High-power microwave pulses generate a low-temperature, diffuse plasma on the surface of the horn window. The thermal effect of the surface plasma brings about a localized increase in the pressure and results in a vertical flow of air, thus levitating the object.