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A general technique for solving a system of rate equations describing the interaction of an electromagnetic field and a molecular system is presented. The method is used to obtain approximate time-dependent solutions for the upper-level population of fluorescent dyes in the presence of a pump field.
A general technique for solving a system of rate equations describing the interaction of an electromagnetic field and a molecular system is presented. The method is used to obtain approximate time-dependent solutions for the upper-level populations of fluorescent dyes in the presence of a pump field.
It has been demonstrated experimentally that by enhancing the simmer current in the flash lamps before the energy discharge, the lamp inductance is reduced and the dye laser efficiency is thus remarkably improved. This technique has advantages over the prepulsing technique for conditioning flash lamps; the electronic circuit for the simmer enhancement is simple, inexpensive and reliable, and accurate timing is not required. Furthermore, the simmer enhancement consumes much less power, thus minimizing the attendant thermal effects and improving overall laser efficiency.
Problems associated with the development of beam splitters for partitioning pump beams for pulsed dye laser systems are discussed. The operating characteristics of two types of splitters are calculated: a wedge type beam splitter and a constant-deviation prism type beam splitter. The effects of beta-angle variation on the performance of the prism type beam splitter are considered.
The trajectories of droplets i n the air flowing past a 36.5-percent-thick Joukowski airfoil at zero angle of attack were determined. The amount of water i n droplet form impinging on the airfoil, the area of droplet impingement, and the rate of droplet impingement per unit area on the airfoil surface were calculated from the trajectories and cover a large range of flight and atmospheric conditions. With the detailed impingement information available, the 36.5-percent-thick Joukowski airfoil can serve the dual purpose of use as the principal element in instruments for making measurements in clouds and of a basic shape for estimating impingement on a thick streamlined body. Methods and examples are presented for illustrating some limitations when the airfoil is used as the principal element in the dye-tracer technique.
Dye fading during archival storage of developed color photographic film is retarded by placing the film in a sealed, opaque vault, introducing a dry, pressurized inert gas into the vault while the latter is vented, and sealing the vault after the air within the vault has been purged and replaced by the inert gas. Preferably, the gas is nitrogen; and the vault is stored at a temperature below room temperature to preserve the color photographic emulsions on the film contained within the vault. For short-term storage, sodium thiocyanate pads charged with water are placed within the vault. For long term storage, the interior of the vault is kept at a low relative humidity.
A flashlamp pumped dye laser suitable for use as a single stage amplifier is described. Particular emphasis is placed on the efforts to increase output pulse energy and improve the temporal profile of the injected pulse. By using high power thin film polarizers, output energies reach from 4 to 45 mJ. Various dispersive elements are used to develop an amplified pulse with an extremely clean temporal profile.
For improved DIAL measurements of water vapor in the upper troposphere or lower stratosphere, narrowband (about 0.03/cm) laser radiation at 720- and 940-nm wavelengths was generated by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), using the narrow linewidth (about 0.02/cm) output of a Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser. For a hydrogen pressure of 350 psi, the first Stokes conversion efficiencies to 940 nm were 20 percent and 35 percent, when using a conventional and waveguide Raman cell, respectively. The linewidth of the first Stokes line at high cell pressures, and the inferred collisional broadening coefficients, agree well with those previously measured in spontaneous Raman scattering.
An experimental study of a high-Q Rhodamine 6G ring dye laser has been performed, and bichromatic emission (BE) with wavelength spacings as large as 110 A when the laser operated bidirectionally has been measured. The BE vanished at all excitations when the laser was forced into unidirectional operation using a Faraday isolator. However, when a weak reflected beam was allowed to make a single pass in the direction opposite to that allowed by the Faraday device, BE is recovered at the higher pump powers.
Time-resolved, quasi-continuous wave, intracavity dye-laser absorption spectroscopy is applied to the investigation of absolute absorption coefficients for vibrational-rotational overtone bands of water at visible wavelengths. Emphasis is placed on critical factors affecting detection sensitivity and data analysis. Typical generation-time dependent absorption spectra are given.
An efficient Raman shifted dye laser system that generates tunable radiation at 765 and 940 nm with a bandwidth of 0.03/cm is described. Operating a Raman cell at hydrogen pressure below 14 atm, optimum first Stokes energy conversions of 45 percent and of 37 percent at 765 and 940 nm, respectively, were recorded. Optical depth measurements made at the centers of twenty-five absorption lines in the P branch of the oxygen A band imply a high spectral purity for both the laser and the Raman shifted radiation, and thus indicate the feasibility of using the stimulated Raman scattered radiation for differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measurements.
The stable operation of a mode-locked dye laser synchronously pumped by the second harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser produced in an Nd codoped germanosilicate optical fiber is reported. The optical fiber preparation technique, which results in a second harmonic conversion efficiency of 2 percent, is described. This optical fiber SHG conversion efficiency is the highest reported to date using a continuous-wave mode-locked laser.
A pulsed laser source is effective in infrared laser long-path absorption measurements when the optical path length is very long or the reflection from a hard target is utilized, because higher signal-to-noise ratio is obtained in the detection of weak return signals. We have investigated the performance of a pulse-laser long-path absorption system using a hydrogen Raman shifter and a tunable dye laser pumped by a Nd:YAG laser, which generates second Stokes radiation in the 2-micron region.
We report water-vapor absorption line measurements that are made by using the first Stokes radiation (930-982 nm) with HWHM 0.015/cm generated by a narrow-linewidth, tunable dye laser. Forty-five absorption line strengths are measured with an uncertainty of 6 percent and among them are fourteen strong lines that are compared with previous measurements for the assessment of spectral purity of the light source. Thirty air-broadened linewidths are measured with 8 percent uncertainty at ambient atmospheric pressure with an average of 0.101/cm. The lines are selected for the purpose of temperature-sensitive or temperature-insensitive lidar measurements. Results for these line strengths and linewidths are corrected for broadband radiation and finite laser linewidth broadening effects and compared with the high-resolution transmission molecular absorption.
Gas dynamic quantities within an underexpanded nitrogen free jet, seeded with 0.5 percent NO, were measured nonintrusively by using an intracavity-doubled, rapid-tuning, CW ring dye laser. The UV beam passed obliquely through the jet axis, and its frequency repetitively scanned across adjacent rotational lines in the NO gamma band near 225 nm at a rate of 4 kHz. Spatially resolved excitation scans were obtained by monitoring the induced broadband fluoresence. Modeling the Doppler-shifted excitation scans with Voigt profiles permitted simultaneous determinations of NO velocity, rotational temperature, and pressure. Zero Doppler shift was referenced to an absorption trace obtained across a static cell and recorded concurrently with the excitation scan. Typically, the measured and predicted axial distributions agreed within 10 percent. At high Mach numbers there was evidence of rotational freezing of NO.
Organic fluorescent materials are expected to find many potential applications in optical devices and photo-functionalized materials. Although many investigations have been focused on heterocyclic compounds such as coumarins, bipyridines, rhodamines, and pyrrole derivatives, little is known for fluorescent imidazole materials. We discovered that one particular class of imidazole derivatives is highly fluorescent. A series of monomeric and polymeric based fluorescent dyes were prepared containing a thiophene unit at the second position of the imidazole ring. Dependence of fluorescence efficiency on parameters such as solvent polarity and substituent groups has been investigated. It was found that a formyl group at the 2-position of the thiophene ring dramatically enhance fluorescence properties. Ion recognition probes indicated their potential as sensor materials. These fluorophores have flexibility for introduction of versatile substituent groups that could improve the fluorescence efficiency and sensor properties.
Recent advances in nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells has lead NASA to investigate the potential of these devices for space power generation, Reported here is the first space environment characterization of these type of photovoltaic devices. Cells containing liquid electrolytes were exposed to simulated low-earth orbit conditions and their performance evaluated. All cells were characterized under simulated air mass zero (AMO) illumination. Complete cells were exposed to pressures less than 1 x 10(exp -7) torr for over a month, with no sign of sealant failure or electrolyte leakage. Cells from Solaronix SA were rapid thermal cycled under simulated low-earth orbit conditions. The cells were cycled 100 times from -80 C to 80 C, which is equivalent to 6 days in orbit. The best cell had a 4.6% loss in efficiency as a result of the thermal cycling,
This is a continuation of last year's project to synthesize tetraaryl substituted benzodifurans for use as molecular probes in biological systems. The project will involve the synthesis and chemical characterization of dyes and precursor molecules.