2013, Groß, S., Esselborn, M., Abicht, F., Wirth, M., Fix, A., Minikin, A.

Airborne high spectral resolution lidar observations over Europe during the EUCAARI-LONGREX field experiment in May 2008 are analysed with respect to the optical properties of continental pollution aerosol. Continental pollution aerosol is characterized by its depolarisation and lidar ratio. Over all, the measurements of the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio of pollution aerosols provide a narrow range of values. Therefore, this data set allows for a distinct characterization of the aerosol type "pollution aerosol" and thus is valuable both to distinguish continental pollution aerosol from other aerosol types and to determine mixtures with other types of aerosols.

2010, Maksimov, E.G., Kulić, M.L., Dolgov, O.V.

In this paper we discuss experimental evidence related to the structure and origin of the bosonic spectral function α2 F(ω) in high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates at and near optimal doping. Global properties of α2 F(ω), such as number and positions of peaks, are extracted by combining optics, neutron scattering, ARPES and tunnelling measurements. These methods give evidence for strong electron-phonon interaction (EPI) with 1<λep3.5 in cuprates near optimal doping. We clarify how these results are in favor of the modified Migdal-Eliashberg (ME) theory for HTSC cuprates near optimal doping. In Section 2 we discuss theoretical ingredientssuch as strong EPI, strong correlationswhich are necessary to explain the mechanism of d-wave pairing in optimally doped cuprates. These comprise the ME theory for EPI in strongly correlated systems which give rise to the forward scattering peak. The latter is supported by the long-range part of EPI due to the weakly screened Madelung interaction in the ionic-metallic structure of layered HTSC cuprates. In this approach EPI is responsible for the strength of pairing while the residual Coulomb interaction and spin fluctuations trigger the d-wave pairing. Copyright © 2010 E. G. Maksimov et al.

2017, Laage, Damien, Elsaesser, Thomas, Hynes, James T.

The structure and function of biomolecules are strongly influenced by their hydration shells. Structural fluctuations and molecular excitations of hydrating water molecules cover a broad range in space and time, from individual water molecules to larger pools and from femtosecond to microsecond time scales. Recent progress in theory and molecular dynamics simulations as well as in ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy has led to new and detailed insight into fluctuations of water structure, elementary water motions, electric fields at hydrated biointerfaces, and processes of vibrational relaxation and energy dissipation. Here, we review recent advances in both theory and experiment, focusing on hydrated DNA, proteins, and phospholipids, and compare dynamics in the hydration shells to bulk water.

2015, Buchner, Franziska, Nakayama, Akira, Yamazaki, Shohei, Ritze, Hans-Hermann, Lübcke, Andrea

Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is performed on thymine and thymidine in aqueous solution to study the excited-state relaxation dynamics of these molecules. We find two contributions with sub-ps lifetimes in line with recent excited-state QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations (J. Chem. Phys.2013, 139, 214304). The temporal evolution of ionization energies for the excited ππ* state along the QM/MM molecular dynamics trajectories were calculated and are compatible with experimental results, where the two contributions correspond to the relaxation paths in the ππ* state involving different conical intersections with the ground state. Theoretical calculations also show that ionization from the nπ* state is possible at the given photon energies, but we have not found any experimental indication for signal from the nπ* state. In contrast to currently accepted relaxation mechanisms, we suggest that the nπ* state is not involved in the relaxation process of thymine in aqueous solution.

2015, Kim, Jun Wan, Young Choi, Sun, Aravazhi, Shanmugam, Pollnau, Markus, Griebner, Uwe, Petrov, Valentin, Bae, Sukang, Jun Ahn, Kwang, Yeom, Dong-Il, Rotermund, Fabian

A diode-pumped Yb:KYW planar waveguide laser, single-mode Q-switched by evanescent-field interaction with graphene, is demonstrated for the first time. Few-layer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition is transferred onto the top of a guiding layer, which initiates stable Q-switched operation in a 2.4-cm-long waveguide laser operating near 1027 nm. Average output powers up to 34 mW and pulse durations as short as 349 ns are achieved. The measured output beam profile, clearly exhibiting a single mode, agrees well with the theoretically calculated mode intensity distribution inside the waveguide. As the pump power is increased, the repetition rate and pulse energy increase from 191 to 607 kHz and from 7.4 to 58.6 nJ, respectively, whereas the pulse duration decreases from 2.09 μs to 349 ns.

2011, Hempel, M., Tomm, J.W., Baeumler, M., Konstanzer, H., Mukherjee, J., Elsaesser, T.

Near-field properties of the emission of broad area semiconductor diode lasers under extremely high pumping of up to ∼50 times the threshold are investigated. A transition from a gain to thermally-induced index guiding is shown under operation with single pulses of 300 ns duration. At highest output powers, catastrophic optical damage is observed which is studied in conjunction with the evolution of time-averaged filamentary near-field properties. Dynamics of the process is resolved on a picosecond time scale.

2013, Rosenfeld, A., Höhm, S., Bonse, J., Krüger, J.

The dynamics of the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on fused silica upon irradiation with linearly polarized fs-laser pulses (50 fs pulse duration, 800 nm center wavelength) is studied experimentally using a double pulse experiment with cross polarized pulse sequences and a trans illumination femtosecond time-resolved (0.1 ps - 1 ns) pump-probe diffraction approach. The results in both experiments confirm the importance of the ultrafast energy deposition and the laser-induced free-electron plasma in the conduction band of the solids for the formation of LIPSS.

2014, Ullrich, B., Singh, A.K., Bhowmick, M., Barik, P., Ariza-Flores, D., Xi, H., Tomm, J.W.

The merger of the absorption coefficient dispersion, retrieved from transmission by the modified Urbach rule introduced by Ullrich and Bouchenaki [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 30, L1285, 1991], with the extended Roosbroeck-Shockley relation reveals that the optical absorption in ZnO distinctively determines the photoluminescence lineshape. Additionally, the ab initio principles employed enable the accurate determination of the carrier lifetime without further specific probing techniques.

2016, Isaenko, Ludmila, Yelisseyev, Alexander, Lobanov, Sergei, Vedenyapin, Vitaliy, Krinitsyn, Pavel, Petrov, Valentin

LiGaSe2 (LGSe) and LiInSe2 (LISe) are wide band-gap nonlinear crystals transparent in the mid-IR spectral range. LiGa0.5In0.5Se2 (LGISe) is a new mixed crystal, a solid solution in the system LGSe–LISe, which exhibits the same orthorhombic structure (mm2) as the parent compounds in the same time being more technological with regard to the growth process. In comparison with LGSe and LISe its homogeneity range is broader in the phase diagram. About 10% of the Li ions in LGISe occupy octahedral positions (octapores) with coordination number of 3. The band-gap of LGISe is estimated to be 2.94 eV at room temperature and 3.04 eV at 80 K. The transparency at the 0-level extends from 0.47 to 13 µm. LGISe crystals exhibit luminescence in broad bands centered near 1.7 and 1.25 eV which is excited most effectively by band-to-band transition. From the measured principal refractive indices and the fitted Sellmeier equations second-harmonic generation from 1.75 to 11.8 μm (fundamental wavelength) is predicted. The nonlinear coefficients of LGISe have values between those of LGSe and LISe. 6LGISe crystals are considered promising also for detection of thermal neutrons.

2014, Schell, A.W., Engel, P., Werra, J.F.M., Wolff, C., Busch, K., Benson, O.

Their intrinsic properties render single quantum systems as ideal tools for quantum enhanced sensing and microscopy. As an additional benefit, their size is typically on an atomic scale that enables sensing with very high spatial resolution. Here, we report on utilizing a single nitrogen vacancy center in nanodiamond for performing three-dimensional scanning-probe fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. By measuring changes of the single emitter's lifetime, information on the local density of optical states is acquired at the nanoscale. Three-dimensional ab initio discontinuous Galerkin time-domain simulations are used in order to verify the results and to obtain additional insights. This combination of experiment and simulations to gather quantitative information on the local density of optical states is of direct relevance for the understanding of fundamental quantum optical processes as well as for the engineering of novel photonic and plasmonic devices.