ALBERT

Notes: A picosecond study of ultrahigh-frequency acoustic phonons in specifically engineered GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs periodic multilayer structures is presented. The lattice-matched boundary conditions for photothermal acoustic generation and optical properties of these materials make these structures ideal for sound-wave generation in the 100 GHz to THz range. The acoustics are generated using ultrashort-laser-pulse excitation and detected in real time by measuring the strain-induced change in reflectivity with the pump-probe technique. By using 12 nJ, 90 fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser source, the generation and detection of ∼50 GHz acoustics in a 6-bilayer, [001]-oriented GaAs/Al0.4Ga0.6As structure, 500 A(ring) thickness per layer, on a GaAs substrate, are successfully demonstrated. The structure was specifically designed to give the maximum sensitivity to the acoustics through étalon-induced modulations in the reflectivity spectrum. With similarly designed multilayer structures, the upper frequency limit can be achieved for the thermoelastic generation of coherent acoustic phonons, that is, ∼300 GHz in GaAs for ∼1 eV above band-gap-energy photons.

Notes: A beta barium borate (β-BaB2O4 or BBO) crystal has been used to electro-optically Q switch both diode-pumped and lamp-pumped Nd:YLF laser systems, resulting in stable, high average power operation. Piezoelectric ringing was found to have negligible effects on the performance of the BBO Pockels cell at repetition rates up to 6 kHz. The high damage threshold and low insertion loss of BBO permitted operation up to average powers in excess of 6 kW/cm2, which makes a BBO Pockels cell well suited for high power, small mode volume operation, such as in diode-pumped solid state lasers. Based on typical diode-pumped laser parameters, BBO is expected to extend simple compact Q-switched operation of diode-pumped lasers to average powers of 30–100 W. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: We have used the atomic force microscope as a nanoindenter to both doped and undoped polycarbonate to probe the dependence of adhesion on topography and material inhomogeneities. Adhesion measurements at the same position are repeatable to 2%. The magnitude of the adhesion is found to decrease as the local curvature on the surface increases. Spatial adhesion maps of doped polymers show structure that is not apparent in surface topography. The spatial resolution of the measurement is at least 300 A(ring).

Notes: Photoelectrons with excess kinetic energy corresponding to several absorbed photons above the work function have been measured from atomically clean Cu(110) and Cu(100) surfaces under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The power dependence of the photoemission yield does not follow a simple power law dependence corresponding to the number of photons absorbed. This behavior is reminiscent of other above threshold ionization (ATI) or tunnel ionization (TI) processes observed for atoms in the gas phase. The photoelectrons are generated with laser pulsewidths less than 100 fs in duration and peak powers as low as 100 MW/cm2. These intensities are on the order of 105 times lower than that required to observe similar phenomena in the gas phase. The relatively low intensities and correlation with surface roughness suggests a contribution from a surface enhancement mechanism. Thermal heating and space charge effects have been ruled out, and the possibility of electric field enhancement at the surface due to the coupling of photons into surface plasmons is discussed. The nonlinear yield and enhancement of the photoemission produced by short pulse excitation needs to be considered when discussing photoinduced hot electron reaction channels at metal surfaces. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: This work exploits the passive phase stabilization of diffractive optics to implement heterodyne detection of the complete χ(5) tensor of liquid CS2 as an example of a simple liquid. This approach permits the use of two different colors for the excitation, probe, and detection beam protocols and enables full optimization of the signal with respect to discrimination against lower order cascaded third-order responses. This work extends the previous study of polarization selectivity, in combination with heterodyne detection, to all independent polarization components to provide further insight into the origins of the fifth-order response and its connection to the multitime correlation of the liquid dynamics. The characteristic feature that clearly distinguishes the direct fifth-order response from lower order cascades is the pronounced ridge along the τ4 axis (probe pulse delay) with very rapid decay along the τ2 axis (excitation pulse delay). This observation is in contrast to recent related work using one-color homodyne detection. With the determination of the direct fifth-order and cascaded third-order signal amplitudes made possible by heterodyne detection, this difference can be attributed to cross terms between the direct fifth-order and cascaded third-order terms inherent to homodyne detection under phase matching conditions used to discriminate against cascades. In support of theoretical treatments, the previously predicted enhancement of rephasing pathways for certain polarization components has been observed. However, even for these tensor elements the remarkable feature is the very rapid decay in the nuclear coherence along τ2. The experiment is predicated on the ability of a 2-quantum transition involving the Raman overtone to rephase the nuclear coherence. These findings indicate that the nuclear motions, in the frequency range accessed, are strongly damped and draw into question the validity of the overtone as a viable pathway for rephasing. With the isolation of the direct fifth-order Raman response, new information regarding relaxation and dephasing pathways in liquids can be determined for the highest frequency modes. The results are in very good agreement with a recent finite field molecular dynamics simulation of liquid CS2 with respect to the polarization dependence of signal magnitudes, relative cascade signal amplitudes, and qualitative agreement with respect to the predicted temporal profiles. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.