Investigation of system parameters towards safer impact based shock-to-detonation transition in a novel laser driven flyer plate prototype

Laser driven flyer plate technology offers improved safety and reliability for detonation of explosives in industrial applications ranging from mining and stone quarrying to the aerospace and defense industries.This study is based on developing a safer laser driven flyer plate prototype comprised of a laser initiator and a flyer plate subsystem that can be used with secondary explosives.System parameters were optimized to initiate the shock-to-detonation transition(SDT)of a secondary explosive based on the impact created by the flyer plate on the explosive surface.Rupture of the flyer was investigated at the mechanically weakened region located on the interface of these subsystems,where the product gases from the deflagration of the explosive provide the required energy.A bilayer energetic material was used,where the first layer consisted of a pyrotechnic component,zirconium potassium perchlorate(ZPP),for sustaining the ignition by the laser beam and the second layer consisted of an insensitive explosive,cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine(HMX),for deflagration.A plexiglass interface was used to enfold the energetic material.The focal length of the laser beam from the diode was optimized to provide a homogeneous beam profile with maximum power at the surface of the ZPP.Closed bomb experiments were conducted in an internal volume of 10 cm^(3) for evaluation of performance.Dependency of the laser driven flyer plate system output on confinement,explosive density,and laser beam power were analyzed.Measurements using a high-speed camera resulted in a flyer velocity of 670±20 m/s that renders the prototype suitable as a laser detonator in applications,where controlled employment of explosives is critical.

Human lens epithelial cell apoptosis and epithelial to mesenchymal transition in femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery

AIM： To evaluate human lens epithelium cell apoptosis and epithelial to mesenchymal transition （EMT） induced by femtosecond laser in femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery （FLACS）. METHODS： Sixty cataract patients with N2 to N3 stage according to the LOCS III were enrolled in this study and divided into three groups randomly： FLACSl group （cataract surgery by FLACS with LenSx）, FLACS2 group （cataract surgery by FLACS with LensAR） and manual group （cataract surgery by phacoemulsification）. Patients in two FLACS groups performed anterior capsulotomy by LenSx or LensAR laser system. Patients in the manual group were performed continuous curvilinear capsulorrhexis （CCC） manually. The anterior capsules were fixed right after moved out of eye. Hematoxylin-eosine staining, immunofluorescence staining and real-time PCR were performed in order to observe human lens epithelium cells changes after cataract surgery. RESULTS： The capsule cutting edge was shown irregularity and roughness in two FLACS groups and smooth edge in manual capsulotomy by pathologic staining. Irregularities of the cell configuration with partly swollen and destroyed nuclei were observed in two FLACS groups. Femtosecond laser could induce a significantly higher cell apoptosis in human lens epithelium cell than manually performed CCC （P〈0.05）. Lens epithelium cells apoptosis were correlated with femtosecond laser duration according to Pearson correlation analysis. Decreased N-cadherin expression, alpha-SMA and FSP-1 level in two FLACS groups showed the inhibition of cell EMT. CONCLUSION： Femtosecond laser may affect the apoptosis and EMT of lens epithelium cells which are under the peeled central lens capsule.

Phase transition model of water flow irradiated by high-energy laser in a chamber

In the absorption chamber of a high-energy laser energy meter, water is directly used as an absorbing medium and the interaction of the high-power laser and the water flow can produce a variety of physical phenomena such as phase transitions. The unit difference method is adopted to deduce the phase transition model for water flow irradiated by a high-energy laser. In addition, the model is simulated and verified through experiments. Among them, the experimental verification uses the photographic method, shooting the distribution and the form of the air mass of water flow in different operating conditions, which are compared with the simulation results. The research shows that it is achievable to reduce the intensity of the phase transition by increasing the water flow, reducing the power intensity of the beam, shortening the distance the beam covers, reducing the initial water temperature or adopting a shorter wavelength laser. The study＇s results will provide the reference for the design of a water-direct-absorption-type high-energy laser energy meter as well as an analysis of the interaction processes of other similar high-power lasers and water flow.

Keyhole formation and its characteristics in laser welding mode transition

Keyhole is the most important characteristic for laser deep penetration welding, and its formation indicates the beginning of laser deep penetration welding mode. The keyhole developing process was analyzed and the keyhole formation time was calculated according to welding speed and the length of weld bead formed in the keyhole formation process. The results showed that the keyhole forms in 40 -70 ms at different rate of change of laser power. In laser deep penetration welding process, the variation of light intensity radiated by laser induced plasma can identify the keyhole formation, but it can not be used to estimate the keyhole formation time because of delay effect.

Transition state to mode locking in a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fibre ring laser

The transition state between the continuous wave region and the mode-locked region in a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fibre ring laser has been experimentally observed by utilizing the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. When the pump power reaches the mode-locked threshold, the metastable pulse train with a tunable repetition rate is obtained in the transition from the continuous wave state to the passive mode-locked state via proper adjustment of the polarization controller. A simpie model has been established to explain the experimental observation.

Non-integer Quantum Transition, a True Non-perturbation Effect in Laser-Atom Interaction

We show that in the quantum transition of an atom interacting with an intense laser of circular frequency ω, the energy difference between the initial and the final states of the atom is not necessarily an integer multiple of the quantum energy hω. This kind of non-integer transition is a true non-perturbation effect in laser-atom interaction.

Transition Metal Dichalcogenides(WS2 and MoS2)Saturable Absorbers for Mode-Locked Erbium-Doped Fiber Lasers

We demonstrate an ultrafast fiber laser based on transition metal dichalcogenide materials which are tungsten disulfide (WS2) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as saturable absorber (SA). These materials are fabricated via a simple drop-casting method. By employing WS2, we obtain a stable harmonic mode-locking at the threshold pump power of 184 mW, and the generated soliton pulse has 3.48 MHz of repetition rate. At the maximum pump power of 250 mW, we also obtain a small value of pulse duration, 2.43 ps with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 57 dB. For MoS2 SA, the pulse is generated at 105 mW pump power with repetition rate of 1.16 MHz. However, the pulse duration cannot be detected by the autocorrelator device as the pulse duration recorded is 468 ns, with the SNR value of 35 dB.

Realization of laser textured brass surface via temperature tuning for surface wettability transition

Superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted extensive interests and researches into their fundamentals and potential applications.Laser texturing provides the convenience to fabricate the hierarchical micro/nanostructures for superhydrophobicity.However,after laser texturing,long wettability transition time from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity is a barrier to mass production and practical industrial applications.External stimuli have been applied to change the surface composition and/or the surface morphology to reduce wettability transition time.Herein,by temperature tuning,wettability transition of laser textured brass surfaces is investigated.Scanning electron microscopy and surface contact angle measurement are employed to characterize the surface morphology and wettability behavior of the textured brass surfaces.By low-temperature heating(100℃~150℃),partial deoxidation of the top Cu O layer occurs to form hydrophobic Cu_2O.Therefore,superhydrophobicity without any chemical coating and surface modification could be achieved in a short time.Furthermore,after low-temperature heating,the low adhesive force between the water droplet and the sample surface is demonstrated for the laser textured brass surface.This study provides a simple method to fabricate the micro/nanostructure surfaces with controllable wettability for the potential applications.

OBSERVATION ON MICROSTRUCTURE OF LASER MELTED TRANSITION ZONE

The surface alloying specimen was made from the steel 45 substrate overcoating by oxygen-acetylene flame spraying Fe-Cr-Ni alloy powder and laser remelting.The chemical heterogeneity was clearly observed on the transition zone between the laser melted zone and heat-affected zone by means of EPMA,AES and SEM.This heterogeneity is rather serious during high temperature tempering,so the decarburization on the transition zone side and the recarburization on the melted zone side were found.

Laser-manipulated the of a harmonically multiphoton transitions trapped particle

A single particle magneto-confined in a one-dimensional （1D） quantum wire experiences a harmonic potential, and imposing a sharply focused laser beam on an appropriate site shapes a δ potential. The theoretical investigation has demonstrated that for a sufficiently strong δ pulse the quantum motional stationary state of the particle is one of the eigenstates of the free harmonic oscillator, and it is determined by the site of the laser beam uniquely, namely a quantum state is admissible if and only if the laser site is one of its nodes. The numerical computation shows that all the nodes of the lower energy states with quantum numbers n ≤ 20, except the coordinate origin, are mutually different. So we can manipulate the multiphoton transitions between the quantum states by adjusting the position of the laser δ pulse and realize the transition from an unknown higher excitation state to a required lower energy state.

Welding mode transition and process stability in high power laser welding

For high-power CO2 laser welding, besides two well known stable welding processes, i.e. stable deep penetration welding (DPW) and stable heat conduction welding (HCW), the authors have found the third welding process, i.e. unstable-mode welding (UMW) under the certain condition. UMW has its basic feature that the two welding modes (DPW and HCW) appear intermittently, with jumping of penetration depth and weld width between large and small levels. In this paper, effects of welding parameters (focal position, laser power and traveling speed) on laser welding mode and weld appearance have been comprehensively studied. Double-U curves of laser welding mode transition have been obtained, which indicate the ranges of the three mentioned welding processes. This work affords science foundation for selecting the welding process parameters correctly and obtaining stable laser welding.

Plasma density transition-based electron injection in laser wake field acceleration driven by a flying focus laser

By using a high-intensity flying focus laser,the dephasingless[Phys.Rev.Lett.124134802(2020)]or phase-locked[Nat.Photon.14475(2020)]laser wakefield acceleration(LWFA)can be realized,which may overcome issues of laser diffraction,pump depletion,and electron dephasing which are always suffered in usual LWFA.The scheme thus has the potentiality to accelerate electrons to Te V energy in a single acceleration stage.However,the controlled electron injection has not been self-consistently included in such schemes.Only external injection was suggested in previous theoretical studies,which requires other accelerators and is relatively difficulty to operate.Here,we numerically study the actively controlled density transition injection in phase-locked LWFA to get appropriate density profiles for amount of electron injection.The study shows that compared with LWFA driven by lasers with fixed focus,a larger plasma density gradient is necessary.Electrons experience both transverse and longitudinal loss during acceleration due to the superluminal group velocity of the driver and the variation of the wakefield structure.Furthermore,the periodic deformation and fracture of the flying focus laser in the high-density plasma plateau make the final injected charge also depend on the beginning position of the density downramp.Our studies show a possible way for amount of electron injection in LWFA driven by flying focus lasers.

Heat Transfer and Mode Transition for Laser Ablation Subjected to Supersonic Airflow

When laser ablation is subjected to supersonic flow, the influence mechanism of airflow on laser ablation behavior is still unclear. A coupled thermal-fluid-structure model is presented to investigate the influence of supersonic airflow on the development of a laser ablation pit. Results show that the aerodynamic convection cooling effect not only reduces the ablation velocity but also changes the symmetry morphology of the ablation pit due to the non-uniform convective heat transfer. Flow mode transition is also observed when the pit becomes deeper, and significant change in flow pattern and heat transfer behavior are found when the open mode is transformed into the closed mode.

Two-Photon Transitions of ^(85)Rb 5D_(5/2) State by Using an Optical Frequency Comb and a Continuous-Wave Laser

A high-resolution two-photon spectrum of 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 5D5/2 transitions in a thermal SSRb vapor cell is presented by using an optical frequency comb and a cw laser. The fluorescence of 6P3/2 → 5S1/2 spontaneous emission is detected when the cw laser frequency is scanned from the 5S1/2 ground state to 5P3/2 hyperfine levels and the optical frequency comb repetition rate is fixed. The hyperfine splittings （Ff = 2-5） of the 5D5/2 excited state are well resolved. The dependences of fluorescence intensities on the cw laser intensity and temperature of SSRb vapor eel1 are studied, respectively. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analyses.

Onion-structured transition metal dichalcogenide nanoparticles by laser fabrication in liquids and atmospheres

Since the discovery of transition metal dichalcogenide(TMDC)nanoparticles(NPs)with the onion-like structure,many efforts have been made to develop their fabrication methods.Laser fabrication(LF)is one of the most promising methods to prepare onion-structured TMDC(or OS-TMDC)NPs due to its green,flexible,and scalable syntheses.In this mini-review article,we systematically introduce various laser-induced OS-TMDC(especially the OS-MoS_(2))NPs,their formation mechanism,properties,and applications.The preparation routes mainly include laser ablation in liquids and atmospheres,and laser irradiation in liquids.The various formation mechanisms are then introduced based on the different preparation routes,to describe the formations of the corresponding OS-NPs.Finally,some interesting properties and novel applications of these NPs are briefly demonstrated,and a short outlook is also given.This review could help to understand the progress of the laser-induced OS-TMDC NPs and their applications.

Nanosecond laser shock detonation of nanodiamonds:from laser-matter interaction to graphite-to-diamond phase transition

Nanodiamonds(NDs)have been widely explored for applications in drug delivery,optical bioimaging,sensors,quantum computing,and others.Room-temperature nanomanufacturing of NDs in open air using confined laser shock detonation(CLSD)emerges as a novel manufacturing strategy for ND fabrication.However,the fundamental process mechanism remains unclear.This work investigates the underlying mechanisms responsible for nanomanufacturing of NDs during CLSD with a focus on the laser-matter interaction,the role of the confining effect,and the graphite-to-diamond transition.Specifically,a first-principles model is integrated with a molecular dynamics simulation to describe the laser-induced thermo-hydrodynamic phenomena and the graphite-to-diamond phase transition during CLSD.The simulation results elucidate the confining effect in determining the material’s responses to laser irradiation in terms of the temporal and spatial evolutions of temperature,pressure,electron number density,and particle velocity.The integrated model demonstrates the capability of predicting the laser energy threshold for ND synthesis and the efficiency of ND nucleation under varying processing parameters.This research will provide significant insights into CLSD and advance this nanomanufacturing strategy for the fabrication of NDs and other high-temperature-high-pressure synthesized nanomaterials towards extensive applications.

Large Signal Modulation Characteristics in the Transition Regime for Two-State Lasing Quantum Dot Lasers

Large-signal modulation capability, as an important performance indicator, is directly related to the high-speed optical communication technology involved. We experimentally and theoretically investigate the large-signal modulation characteristics of the simultaneous ground-state （GS） and the excited-state （ES） lasing in InAs/OaAs quantum dot laser diodes. The large-signal modulation capability of total light intensity in the transition regime from OS lasing to two-state lasing is unchanged as the bias-current increases. However, GS and ES large-signal eye diagrams show obvious variations during the transition. Relaxation oscillations and large-signal eye diagrams for OS, ES, and total light intensities are numerically simulated and analyzed in detail by using a rate-equation model. The -ndings show that a complementary relationship between the light intensities for OS and ES lasing exists in both the transition regime and the two-state lasing regime, leading to a much smaller overshooting power and a shorter settling time for the total light intensity. Therefore, the eye diagrams of GS or ES lasing are diffuse whereas those of total light intensity are constant as the bias-current increases in the transition regime.

Relationship measurement between ac-Stark shift of^40Ca^+clock transition and laser polarization direction

Ac-Stark shift of atom levels is caused by an ac-electromagnetic field. As an electromagnetic wave, laser light does induce ac-Stark shift. It is proved experimentally that if the light is linearly polarized, the dynamic polarizability changes with polarization direction. The polarization direction of the linearly-polarized laser is tuned by 720°, and the ac-Stark shifts of the 4S1/2,m=±1/2→3D5/2,m=±1/2 clock transitions in ^40Ca^＋ are measured in steps of 10°. The frequency shifts change with laser polarization in a periodical manner and have values opposite to each other.

Time-resolved spectroscopy for 5s^('4)D_(7/2) state transitions undergoing electron–ion recombination in femtosecond laser-produced copper plasma

In the femtosecond laser-produced Cu-plasma, the transient transition dynamics that the excited state 5s4D7/2 via electron-ion recombination transfers to 4p4F9/20 （465.11 nm, Λ1 line） and 4p4D7/20 （529.25 nm, Λ2 line） states are investigated by using the time-resolved spectroscopy. The occupation number and relevant lifetime of the excited state 5s4D7/2, the temporal evolutions of spectral intensities for Λ1 line and Λ2 line emissions are demonstrated to be in direct proportion to the employed laser intensity, which reveals the transient features of transition dynamics clearly differing from that resulted in the traditional collision excitation. Furthermore, some unique characteristics for Λ1 and Λ2 transitions stemming from electron-ion recombination are examined in detail.

The Ductile to Brittle Transition Behavior of the Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel and Its Laser Welds

The ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel and its laser welds was studied. The increase in grain size of the weld structure ascended the DBTT of the steel significantly. The transformation of retained austenite at martensite interlath boundaries into untempered and/or twinned martensite could also contribute to increased DBTTs of the steel and its welds tempered at 540℃.