Lightning in a Forest (Wild) Fire: Mechanism at the Molecular Level

The mechanism of lightning that ignites a forest fire and the lightning that occurs above a forest fire are explained at the molecular level. It is based on two phenomena, namely, internal charge separation inside the atmospheric cloud particles and the existence of a layer of positively charged hydrogen atoms sticking out of the surface of the liquid layer of water on the surface of rimers. Strong turbulence-driven collisions of the ice particles and water droplets with the rimers give rise to breakups of the ice particles and water droplets into positively and negatively charged fragments leading to charge separation. Hot weather in a forest contributes to the updraft of hot and humid air, which follows the same physical/chemical processes of normal lightning proposed and explained recently[1]. Lightning would have a high probability of lighting up and burning the dry biological materials in the ground of the forest, leading to a forest (wild) fire. The burning of trees and other plants would release a lot of heat and moisture together with a lot of smoke particles (aerosols) becoming a strong updraft. The condition for creating lightning is again satisfied which would result in further lightning high above the forest wild fire.

Charging Mechanism of Lightning at the Molecular Level

Cloud electrification is one of the oldest unresolved puzzles in the atmospheric sciences. Though many mechanisms for charge separation in clouds have been proposed, a quantitative understanding of their respective contribution in a given meteorological situation is lacking. Here we suggest and analyze a hitherto little discussed process. A qualitative picture at the molecular level of the charge separation mechanism of lightning in a thundercloud is proposed. It is based on two key physical/chemical natural phenomena, namely, internal charge separation of the atmospheric impurities/aerosols inside an atmospheric water cluster/droplet/ice particle and the existence of liquid water layers on rimers (graupels and hailstones) forming a layer of dipoles with H+ pointing out from the air-water interface. Charge separation is achieved through strong collisions among ice particles and water droplets with the rimers in the turbulence of the thundercloud. This work would have significant contribution to cloud electrification and lightning formation.

CTAB下真空搅拌制备车用AZ80合金阳极氧化膜腐蚀性能分析

在氧化液中加入2 g/L十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(CTAB)的情况下测试了车用AZ80镁合金表面形成的阳极氧化膜特性,并分析CTAB和基体组织之间的具体反应机制以及极氧化膜腐蚀性能。研究结果表明:在加入CTAB的情况下,CTAB与部分分解产物会在孔洞附近与镁反应。添加CTAB之后,氧化膜孔隙率减小近50%,并且孔洞尺寸与数量发生降低。添加CTAB氧化膜内并未形成大尺寸孔洞,小孔数量也明显减少,形成了更加致密的氧化膜。相比较未添加CTAB,添加CTAB氧化膜厚度增大明显,可见CTAB有助于氧化膜的成长。发生火花放电时,熔融物获得了更强的流动能力,孔隙率与孔径尺寸都发生了减小。添加CTAB氧化膜获得了比未添加CTAB更高的自腐蚀电位,能够显著增强阳极氧化膜的耐蚀能力。在添加CTAB氧化膜内存在C4H6MgO4、MgO、Mg2SiO4多种成分。

Femtosecond filamentation induced fluorescence technique for atmospheric sensing

Recent progress in filament-induced atmospheric sensing is reviewed. Self-guided propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in air induces laser filamentation. All molecules in the path of a filament can be dissociated into highly excited fragments, resulting in emission of characteristic fluorescence spectra. The fluorescence spectra provide information about the various molecules in the filaments. By using a filament-induced ＂fingerprinting＂ fluorescence technique, molecules in the atmosphere can be identified.

Population inversion in fluorescing fragments of super-excited molecules inside an air filament

An original idea is reviewed. When a molecule is pumped into a super-excited state, one of its decay channels is neutral dissociation. One or more of the neutral fragments will fluoresce. Hence, if a lower state of such fluorescing fragments was populated through other channels but with a lower probability, population inversion of the fluorescing fragments would be naturally realized. This idea seems to be validated, so far, by comparing published work on three hydrocarbon molecules, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, and water vapor, H2 O. After super-excitation in a femtosecond laser filament in air mixed with these molecules, the fluorescence from the CH or OH fragments exhibits population inversion, i.e., amplified spontaneous emission was observed in the backscattering direction of the filament.

Stable,intense supercontinuum light generation at 1 kHz by electric field assisted femtosecond laser filamentation in air

Supercontinuum(SC)light source has advanced ultrafast laser spectroscopy in condensed matter science,biology,physics,and chemistry.Compared to the frequently used photonic crystal fibers and bulk materials,femtosecond laser filamentation in gases is damage-immune for supercontinuum generation.A bottleneck problem is the strong jitters from filament induced self-heating at kHz repetition rate level.We demonstrated stable kHz supercontinuum generation directly in air with multiple mJ level pulse energy.This was achieved by applying an external DC electric field to the air plasma filament.Beam pointing jitters of the 1 kHz air filament induced SC light were reduced by more than 2 fold.The stabilized high repetition rate laser filament offers the opportunity for stable intense SC generation and its applications in air.

超快激光成丝现象研究综述

超快激光成丝是高功率超快激光在透明光学介质中传输时出现的一种独特非线性光学现象,所产生长度远超共焦范围的离子体通道被称为光丝;同时伴随超连续谱产生、荧光辐射和受激放大、脉冲自压缩等丰富的光学效应,在大气遥感、超快激光技术、人工干预天气、激光超精细加工等方面具有广泛应用前景。本文对成丝现象研究的历史发展进行了简单介绍,包括实验技术、基本物理机制和调控方法的主要研究进展,并对成丝在大气远程应用、物理化学机制、强THz波产生等方面的研究所面临的挑战进行了展望。

飞秒激光人工影响天气的物理机理及研究进展

综述了飞秒激光人工影响天气的相关研究结果。从飞秒激光成丝产生的光氧化副产物、热沉积效应、气溶胶形成和水凝结及沉降过程等4个方面展开,综述了飞秒激光在诱导水凝结及降水、人工引雷等领域的研究进展。提出了飞秒激光人工影响环境大气的初步物理图像,并综述了该技术未来应用于人工影响天气所面临的问题,探讨了可能的解决方案。

飞秒激光诱导0.3～2.0μm气溶胶的生成

在室温条件下的小型云室中,研究了不同参数对飞秒激光诱导较大尺寸气溶胶生成的影响。实验结果表明,在亚饱和条件下,随着环境相对湿度的提高,不同尺寸气溶胶的数密度增大,尺寸分布以0.3～0.5μm为主;当环境相对湿度达到近饱和条件时,较大尺寸(直径D≥0.7μm)气溶胶的数密度显著增大,1.0～2.0μm气溶胶与0.3～0.5μm气溶胶的数密度可相比拟。此时,通过延长激光照射时间或者缩紧激光聚焦条件,不同尺寸气溶胶的数密度可同等程度地增大,尺寸分布规律基本不变。理论分析结果表明,环境相对湿度条件是制约飞秒激光诱导较大尺寸气溶胶生成的关键因素。

Competition between multiphoton/tunnel ionization and filamentation induced by powerful femtosecond laser pulses in air

In this work we present experiments by focusing 42 femtosecond laser pulses in air using three differentfocal length lenses: f=100, 30 and 5 cm. For the longest focal length, only the filament, which is aweak plasma column,is observed. When the shorter focal length lens is used, a high density plasma isgenerated near the geometrical focus and coexists with a weak plasma channel of the filamemt. Under thetightest focusing condition, filamentation is prevented and only a strong plasma volume appears at tehgeometrical focus.

Watt-level and spectrally flat mid-infrared supercontinuum in fluoroindate fibers

We report on infrared supercontinuum(SC) generation in step-index fluoroindate-based fiber by using an all-fiber laser source. In comparison to widely used ZBLAN fibers for high-power mid-infrared(MIR) SC generation, fluoroindate fibers have multiphoton absorption edges at significantly longer wavelengths and can sustain similar intensities. Recent developments highlighted in the present study allowed the production of fluoroindate fibers with MIR background loss of 2 dB/km, which is similar to or even better than ZBLAN fibers.By using an all-fiber picosecond laser source based on an erbium amplifier followed by a thulium power amplifier,we demonstrate the generation of 1.0 W infrared SC spanning over 2.25 octaves from 1 μm to 5 μm. The generated MIR SC also exhibits high spectral flatness with a 6 dB spectral bandwidth from 1.91 μm to 4.77 μm and an average power two orders of magnitude greater than in previous demonstrations with a similar spectral distribution.

Intense broadband THz generation from femtosecond laser filamentation

Broadband and energetic terahertz （THz） pulses can be remotely generated in air through filamentation. We review such THz generation and detection in femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser induced remote filaments. New results are presented on the direct relationship between THz generation in a two color filament and induced N2 fluorescence through population trapping during molecular alignment and revival in air. This further supports the new technique of remote THz detection in air through the sensitive measurement of N2 fluorescence.

Spectroscopic analysis of high electric field enhanced ionization in laser filaments in air for corona guiding

We report on a systematic experimental study on the fluorescence spectra produced from a femtosecond laser filament in air under a high electric field. The electric field alone was strong enough to create corona discharge(CD). Fluorescence spectra from neutral and ionic air molecules were measured and compared with pure high-voltage CD and pure laser filamentation(FIL). Among them, high electric field assisted laser FIL produced nitrogen fluorescence more efficiently than either pure CD or pure FIL processes. The nonlinear enhancement of fluorescence from the interaction of the laser filament and corona discharging electric field resulted in a more efficient ionization along the laser filament zone, which was confirmed by the spectroscopic measurement of both ionization-induced fluorescence and plasma-scattered 800 nm laser pulses. This is believed to be the key precursor process for filament-guided discharge.

Chip-scale full-Stokes spectropolarimeter in silicon photonic circuits

Wavelength dependent polarization state of light carries crucial information about light-matter interactions.However,its measurement is limited to bulky,high energy-consuming devices,which prohibits many modern,portable applications.Here,we propose and demonstrate a chip-scale spectropolarimeter implemented using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatible silicon photonics technology.Four compact Vernier microresonator spectrometers are monolithically integrated with a broadband polarimeter consisting of a 2D nanophotonic antenna and a polarimetric circuit to achieve full-Stokes spectropolarimetric analysis.The proposed device offers a solid-state spectropolarimetry solution with a small footprint of 1 mm × 0.6 mm and low power consumption of 360 mW.Full-Stokes spectral detection across a broad spectral range of 50 nm with a resolution of 1 nm is demonstrated in characterizing a material possessing structural chirality.The proposed device may enable a broader application of spectropolarimetry in the fields ranging from biomedical diagnostics and chemical analysis to observational astronomy.

Vortices formation induced by femtosecond laser filamentation in a cloud chamber filled with air and helium

We report on the experimental observation of the airflow motion induced by an 800 nm, 1 kHz femtosecond filament in a cloud chamber filled with air and helium. It is found that vortex pairs with opposite rotation directions always form both below and above the filaments. We do not observe that the vortices clearly formed, above the filament in air just because of the formation of smaller particles with weaker Mie scattering. Simulations of the airflow motion in helium are conducted by using the laser filament as a heat source, and the simulated pattern of vortices and airflow velocity agree well with the experimental results.

Focus-tunable microscope for imaging small neuronal processes in freely moving animals

Miniature single-photon microscopes have been widely used to image neuronal assemblies in the brain of freely moving animals over the last decade. However,these systems have important limitations for imaging in-depth fine neuronal structures. We present a subcellular imaging single-photon device that uses an electrically tunable liquid crystal lens to enable a motion-free depth scan in the search of such structures. Our miniaturized microscope is compact (10 mm×17 mm×12 mm) and lightweight (≈1.4 g),with a fast acquisition rate (30–50 frames per second),high magnification (8.7×),and high resolution (1.4μm) that allow imaging of calcium activity of fine neuronal processes in deep brain regions during a wide range of behavioral tasks of freely moving mice.

Reconfigurable single-shot incoherent optical signal processing system for chirped microwave signal compression

We propose and demonstrate a reconfigurable and single-shot incoherent optical signal processing system for chirped microwave signal compression, using a programmable optical filter and a multiwavelength laser(MWL). The system is implemented by temporally modulating a specially shaped MWL followed by a suitable linear dispersive medium. A microwave dispersion value up to 1.33 ns/GHz over several GHz bandwidth is achieved based on this approach. Here we demonstrate a singleshot compression for different linearly chirped microwave signals over several GHz bandwidth. In addition, the robustness of the proposed system when input RF signals are largely distorted is also discussed.

Sub-picosecond chirped laser pulse-induced airflow and water condensation in a cloud chamber

Sub-picosecond chirped laser pulse-induced airflow and water condensation were investigated in a cloud chamber.The results indicate that the positively chirped sub-picosecond laser pulses generate a more uniform intensity distribution inside the plasma column, leading to a weaker airflow and an elliptic-shaped snow pile. The negatively chirped sub-picosecond laser pulses generate a spark-like intensity distribution inside the plasma column, which produces a wider range of airflow and a round snow pile. The amount of snow weight and the concentration of NO3-- are found to be dependent on the intensity distribution inside the plasma column. The visibly stronger plasma column generates much more snow and a higher concentration of NO3--. These experimental results provide a reference for sub-picosecond laser-induced water condensation in realistic atmospheric conditions.

Understanding the beam self-cleaning behavior of ultrashort laser pulse filamentation

In this paper we report a recent study on the beam self-cleaning behavior occurred during the ultrashort laser pulse filamentation process. The propagation of a Gaussian beam with distorted beam profile is numerically simulated based on the nonlinear wave equation. Our results demonstrate that when the power is not too high so that multiple filaments are not yet induced, the intensity perturbation con-tained in the initial beam profile could be treated as high order spatial modes su-perpositioning on a fundamental mode. Then the self-focusing of the laser beam acts as a spatial filter. It focuses the fundamental mode toward the propagation axis, and produces a fundamental mode profile at the self-focus. While the strong diffraction of higher order modes could not be counteracted by the self-focusing. Therefore their propagation is mainly governed by the divergence without de-stroying the high profile quality at the self-focal region. These lead to the observa-tion of beam profile self-cleaning behavior.

Mode-conversion-based silicon photonic modulator loaded by a combination of lateral and interleaved p-n junctions

We experimentally demonstrate a silicon photonic modulator that can be loaded with a combination of lateral and interleaved p-n junctions to enhance its phase modulation.We use an asymmetric Bragg grating to introduce mode conversion in the active area,allowing the modulator to operate in reflection without introducing additional on-chip loss.With a compact footprint(phase shifter length of 290μm),the modulator demonstrates a modulation speed up to 45 Gb/s with a bit error rate below the 7% forward-error-correction(FEC)threshold(up to 55 Gb/s with 20% FEC),and a low power consumption of 226 fJ/bit.