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J. Fuchs

Publications and source records attributed to J. Fuchs.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Acceleration of collimated 45 MeV protons by collisionless shocks driven in low-density, large-scale gradient plasmas by a 10^20 W/cm^2, 1 micron wavelength laser

A new type of proton acceleration stemming from large-scale gradients, low-density targets, irradiated by an intense near-infrared laser is observed. The produced protons are characterized by high-energies (with a broad spectrum), are emitted in a very directional manner, and the process is associated to relaxed laser (no need for high-contrast) and target (no need for ultra-thin or expensive targets) constraints. As such, this process appears quite effective compared to the standard and commonly used Target Normal Sheath Acceleration technique (TNSA), or more exploratory mechanisms like Radiation Pressure Acceleration (RPA). The data are underpinned by 3D numerical simulations which suggest that in these conditions Low Density Collisionless Shock Acceleration (LDCSA) is at play, which combines an initial Collisionless Shock Acceleration (CSA) to a boost procured by a TNSA-like sheath field in the downward density ramp of the target, which leads to an overall broad spectrum. Experiments performed at 10^20 W/cm^2 laser intensity show that LDCSA can accelerate, from ~1% critical density, mm-scale targets, up to 5x10^9 protons/MeV/sr/J with energies up to 45(+/- 5) MeV in a collimated (~6$^\circ$ half-angle) manner.

physics.plasm-ph

Gaia Data Release 1: The variability processing & analysis and its application to the south ecliptic pole region

The ESA Gaia mission provides a unique time-domain survey for more than one billion sources brighter than G=20.7 mag. Gaia offers the unprecedented opportunity to study variability phenomena in the Universe thanks to multi-epoch G-magnitude photometry in addition to astrometry, blue and red spectro-photometry, and spectroscopy. Within the Gaia Consortium, Coordination Unit 7 has the responsibility to detect variable objects, classify them, derive characteristic parameters for specific variability classes, and provide global descriptions of variable phenomena. We describe the variability processing and analysis that we plan to apply to the successive data releases, and we present its application to the G-band photometry results of the first 14 months of Gaia operations that comprises 28 days of Ecliptic Pole Scanning Law and 13 months of Nominal Scanning Law. Out of the 694 million, all-sky, sources that have calibrated G-band photometry in this first stage of the mission, about 2.3 million sources that have at least 20 observations are located within 38 degrees from the South Ecliptic Pole. We detect about 14% of them as variable candidates, among which the automated classification identified 9347 Cepheid and RR Lyrae candidates. Additional visual inspections and selection criteria led to the publication of 3194 Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars, described in Clementini et al. (2016). Under the restrictive conditions for DR1, the completenesses of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars are estimated at 67% and 58%, respectively, numbers that will significantly increase with subsequent Gaia data releases. Data processing within the Gaia Consortium is iterative, the quality of the data and the results being improved at each iteration. The results presented in this article show a glimpse of the exceptional harvest that is to be expected from the Gaia mission for variability phenomena. [abridged]

astro-ph.IM

Calibration of Time Of Flight Detectors Using Laser-driven Neutron Source

Calibration of three scintillators (EJ232Q, BC422Q and EJ410) in a time-of-flight (TOF) arrangement using a laser drive-neutron source is presented. The three plastic scintillator detectors were calibrated with gamma insensitive bubble detector spectrometers, which were absolutely calibrated over a wide range of neutron energies ranging from sub MeV to 20 MeV. A typical set of data obtained simultaneously by the detectors are shown, measuring the neutron spectrum emitted from a petawatt laser irradiated thin foil.

physics.ins-det

Characterisation of deuterium spectra from laser driven multi-species sources by employing differentially filtered image plate detectors in Thomson spectrometers

A novel method for characterising the full spectrum of deuteron ions emitted by laser driven multi-species ion sources is discussed. The procedure is based on using differential filtering over the detector of a Thompson parabola ion spectrometer, which enables discrimination of deuterium ions from heavier ion species with the same charge-to-mass ratio (such as C6+, O8+, etc.). Commonly used Fuji Image plates were used as detectors in the spectrometer, whose absolute response to deuterium ions over a wide range of energies was calibrated by using slotted CR-39 nuclear track detectors. A typical deuterium ion spectrum diagnosed in a recent experimental campaign is presented.

physics.plasm-ph

Buffered spectrally-peaked proton beams in the relativistic-transparency regime

Spectrally-peaked proton beams ($E_{p}\approx 8$ MeV, $ΔE\approx 4$ MeV) have been observed from the interaction of an intense laser ($> 10^{19 }$ Wcm$^{-2}$) with ultrathin CH foils, as measured by spectrally-resolved full beam profiles. These beams are reproducibly generated for foil thicknesses (5-100 nm), and exhibit narrowing divergence with decreasing target thickness down to $\approx 8^\circ$ for 5 nm. Simulations demonstrate that the narrow energy spread feature is a result of buffered acceleration of protons. Due to their higher charge-to-mass ratio, the protons outrun a carbon plasma driven in the relativistic transparency regime.

physics.plasm-ph

Evidence of resonant surface wave excitation in the relativistic regime through measurements of proton acceleration from grating targets

The interaction of laser pulses with thin grating targets, having a periodic groove at the irradiated surface, has been experimentally investigated. Ultrahigh contrast ($\sim 10^{12}$) pulses allowed to demonstrate an enhanced laser-target coupling for the first time in the relativistic regime of ultra-high intensity $>10^{19} \mbox{W/cm}^{2}$. A maximum increase by a factor of 2.5 of the cut-off energy of protons produced by Target Normal Sheath Acceleration has been observed with respect to plane targets, around the incidence angle expected for resonant excitation of surface waves. A significant enhancement is also observed for small angles of incidence, out of resonance.

physics.plasm-ph

Astrophysics of magnetically collimated jets generated from laser-produced plasmas

The generation of astrophysically relevant jets, from magnetically collimated, laser-produced plasmas, is investigated through three-dimensional, magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. We show that for laser intensities I ~ 10^12 - 10^14 W/cm^2, a magnetic field in excess of ~ 0.1 MG, can collimate the plasma plume into a prolate cavity bounded by a shock envelope with a standing conical shock at its tip, which re-collimates the flow into a super magneto-sonic jet beam. This mechanism is equivalent to astrophysical models of hydrodynamic inertial collimation, where an isotropic wind is focused into a jet by a confining circumstellar torus-like envelope. The results suggest an alternative mechanism for a large-scale magnetic field to produce jets from wide-angle winds. (abridged version)

physics.plasm-ph

Dynamics of self-generated, large amplitude magnetic fields following high-intensity laser matter interaction

The dynamics of magnetic fields with amplitude of several tens of Megagauss, generated at both sides of a solid target irradiated with a high intensity (? 1019W/cm2) picosecond laser pulse, has been spatially and temporally resolved using a proton imaging technique. The amplitude of the magnetic fields is sufficiently large to have a constraining effect on the radial expansion of the plasma sheath at the target surfaces. These results, supported by numerical simulations and simple analytical modeling, may have implications for ion acceleration driven by the plasma sheath at the rear side of the target as well as for the laboratory study of self-collimated high-energy plasma jets.

physics.plasm-ph

Anomalous Self-Generated Electrostatic Fields in Nanosecond Laser-Plasma Interaction

Electrostatic (E) fields associated with the interaction of a well-controlled, high-power, nanosecond laser pulse with an underdense plasma are diagnosed by proton radiography. Using a current 3D wave propagation code equipped with nonlinear and nonlocal hydrodynamics, we can model the measured E-fields that are driven by the laser ponderomotive force in the region where the laser undergoes filamentation. However, strong fields of up to 110 MV/m measured in the first millimeter of propagation cannot be reproduced in the simulations. This could point to the presence of unexpected strong thermal electron pressure gradients possibly linked to ion acoustic turbulence, thus emphasizing the need for the development of full kinetic collisional simulations in order to properly model laser-plasma interaction in these strongly nonlinear conditions.

physics.plasm-ph

Binding Energies of 6Li p-wave Feshbach Molecules

We present measurements of the binding energies of $^6$Li p-wave Feshbach molecules formed in combinations of the (F = 1/2, m_F = +1/2), (1), and (F = 1/2, m_F = -1/2), (2), states. The binding energies scale linearly with magnetic field detuning for all three resonances. The relative molecular magnetic moments are found to be $113 \pm 7 μ$K/G, $111 \pm 6 μ$K/G and $118 \pm 8 μ$K/G for the (1)-(1), (1)-(2) and (2)-(2) resonances, respectively, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Closed channel amplitudes and the size of the p-wave molecules are obtained theoretically from full closed-coupled calculations.

cond-mat.other

Local Persistence in the Directed Percolation Universality Class

We revisit the problem of local persistence in directed percolation, reporting improved estimates of the persistence exponent in 1+1 dimensions, discovering strong corrections to scaling in higher dimensions, and investigating the mean field limit. Moreover, we introduce a graded persistence probability that a site does not flip more than n times and demonstrate how local persistence can be studied in seed simulations. Finally, the problem of spatial (as opposed to temporal) persistence is investigated.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Molecular Bose-Einstein condensation in a versatile low power crossed dipole trap

We produce Bose-Einstein condensates of 6Li2 molecules in a low power (22 W) crossed optical dipole trap. Fermionic 6Li atoms are collected in a magneto-optical trap from a Zeeman slowed atomic beam, then loaded into the optical dipole trap where they are evaporatively cooled to quantum degeneracy. Our simplified system offers a high degree of flexibility in trapping geometry for studying ultracold Fermi and Bose gases.

cond-mat.other

Category theory for conformal boundary conditions

We study properties of the category of modules of an algebra object A in a tensor category C. We show that the module category inherits various structures from C, provided that A is a Frobenius algebra with certain additional properties. As a by-product we obtain results about the Frobenius-Schur indicator in sovereign tensor categories. A braiding on C is not needed, nor is semisimplicity. We apply our results to the description of boundary conditions in two-dimensional conformal field theory and present illustrative examples. We show that when the module category is tensor, then it gives rise to a NIM-rep of the fusion rules, and discuss a possible relation with the representation theory of vertex operator algebras.

math.CT

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in 6Li

We report electromagnetically induced transparency for the D1 and D2 lines in $^{6}$Li in both a vapour cell and an atomic beam. Electromagnetically induced transparency is created using co-propagating mutually coherent laser beams with a frequency difference equal to the hyperfine ground state splitting of 228.2 MHz. The effects of various optical polarization configurations and applied magnetic fields are investigated. In addition, we apply an optical Ramsey spectroscopy technique which further reduces the observed resonance width.

physics.atom-ph

Nonsemisimple Fusion Algebras and the Verlinde Formula

We find a nonsemisimple fusion algebra F_p associated with each (1,p) Virasoro model. We present a nonsemisimple generalization of the Verlinde formula which allows us to derive F_p from modular transformations of characters.

hep-th

Logarithmic Conformal Field Theories via Logarithmic Deformations

We construct logarithmic conformal field theories starting from an ordinary conformal field theory -- with a chiral algebra C and the corresponding space of states V -- via a two-step construction: i) deforming the chiral algebra representation on V\tensor End K[[z,1/z]], where K is an auxiliary finite-dimensional vector space, and ii) extending C by operators corresponding to the endomorphisms End K. For K=C^2, with End K being the two-dimensional Clifford algebra, our construction results in extending C by an operator that can be thought of as \partial^{-1}E, where \oint E is a fermionic screening. This covers the (2,p) Virasoro minimal models as well as the sl(2) WZW theory.

hep-th

Conformal Correlation Functions, Frobenius Algebras and Triangulations

We formulate two-dimensional rational conformal field theory as a natural generalization of two-dimensional lattice topological field theory. To this end we lift various structures from complex vector spaces to modular tensor categories. The central ingredient is a special Frobenius algebra object A in the modular category that encodes the Moore-Seiberg data of the underlying chiral CFT. Just like for lattice TFTs, this algebra is itself not an observable quantity. Rather, Morita equivalent algebras give rise to equivalent theories. Morita equivalence also allows for a simple understanding of T-duality. We present a construction of correlators, based on a triangulation of the world sheet, that generalizes the one in lattice TFTs. These correlators are modular invariant and satisfy factorization rules. The construction works for arbitrary orientable world sheets, in particular for surfaces with boundary. Boundary conditions correspond to representations of the algebra A. The partition functions on the torus and on the annulus provide modular invariants and NIM-reps of the fusion rules, respectively.

hep-th