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An average laser power of 0.975 W is obtained from a small-bore copper vapor laser with an active volume of 0.377 cm3, i.e. a record specific average power of 2.6 W.cm− 3 is achieved for copper lasers of any type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of experimental studies of the formation of narrow-band high-energy radiation in a discharge single-module KrF laser are presented. The conditions for the combustion of a diffuse discharge in a KrF laser are revealed, which provide a maximum specific energy of radiation pulses of 9.5 J/l, with an internal energy efficiency of ~4%. The duration of radiation generation for several half periods of the pump current is realized. The operating conditions of the optical system generator-amplifier allowing narrow-band (2 pm) high-energy radiation in the spectral range of 247.5–249.6 nm are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart rate and blood pressure oscillate in phase with respiratory activity. A component of these oscillations is generated centrally, with respiratory neurons entraining the activity of pre-sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiovascular neurons. Using a combination of optogenetic inhibition and excitation in vivo and in situ in rats, as well as neuronal tracing, we demonstrate that preBötzinger Complex (preBötC) neurons, which form the kernel for inspiratory rhythm generation, directly modulate cardiovascular activity. Specifically, inhibitory preBötC neurons modulate cardiac parasympathetic neuron activity whilst excitatory preBötC neurons modulate sympathetic vasomotor neuron activity, generating heart rate and blood pressure oscillations in phase with respiration. Our data reveal yet more functions entrained to the activity of the preBötC, with a role in generating cardiorespiratory oscillations. The findings have implications for cardiovascular pathologies, such as hypertension and heart failure, where respiratory entrainment of heart rate is diminished and respiratory entrainment of blood pressure exaggerated.

Two important enabling technologies for pulsed coherent detection wind lidar are the laser and realtime signal processing. In particular, fiber laser is limited in peak power by nonlinear effects, such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). We report on various technologies that have been developed to mitigate SBS and increase peak power in 1.5-μmfiber lasers, such as special large mode area fiber designs or strain management. Range-resolved wind profiles up to a record range of 16 km within 0.1-s averaging time have been obtained thanks to those high-peak power fiber lasers. At long range, the lidar signal gets much weaker than the noise and special care is required to extract the Doppler peak from the spectral noise. To optimize real-time processing for weak carrier-to-noise ratio signal, we have studied various Doppler mean frequency estimators (MFE) and the influence of data accumulation on outliers occurrence. Five real-time MFEs (maximum, centroid, matched filter, maximum likelihood, and polynomial fit) have been compared in terms of error and processing time using lidar experimental data. MFE errors and data accumulation limits are established using a spectral method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unique ultraviolet laser system has been developed for a lidar intended to detect nitrogen oxide molecules in the atmosphere. The electric-discharge KrF laser system is capable of producing a highly coherent laser beam with practically the same energy over a spectral range of 247.5-249.5 nm. At the edge of the amplification band in the range 247.5-247.8 nm, the system produces a beam of energy 0.3 J, pulse duration 16 ns, and spectral line width 2 pm. Atmospheric sounding by using this beam with an energy density of 200 mJ/cm in the scattered signal has detected noise in the 226 and 236 nm bands whose intensity increases the laser beam pulse repetition rate and energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical and experimental investigations have been carried out to study the spectral and spatial behavior of monolithically integrated distributed-feedback tapered master-oscillators power-amplifiers emitting around 973 nm. Introduction of self and cross heating effects and the analysis of longitudinal optical modes allows us to explain experimental results. The results show a good qualitative agreement between measured and calculated characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate direct simultaneous seeding of a few-cycle optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) in the 700-1000-nm spectral range, and of a Nd:YLF amplifier emitting 30-ps pulses at 1053 nm by use of a chirped-mirror 6-fs Ti:sapphire oscillator. This approach of employing a single master oscillator to drive two power amplifiers simplifies the pump laser design and is applied to eliminate the timing jitter between the seed and the pump pulses in the OPCPA chain. We show that 10 mJ fundamental picosecond pump pulses with the intensity contrast in excess of 104 relative to the nanosecond Q-switched background can be achieved with the seed intensity available in the edge of the oscillator spectrum around 1053 nm. Cross-correlation measurements between the picosecond pump and femtosecond oscillator pulses reveal no traceable timing jitter between the OPCPA pump and seed pulses. The estimated long-term jitter of 0.3 ps is attributed to the thermal expansion of the cavity of the Nd:YLF regenerative amplifier. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We report on the application of double-clad doped fiber amplifiers for coherent space communication systems using a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) design at 1.06 μm. The master oscillator is either a single-frequency Nd:YAG solid-state laser or a distributed-feedback fiber laser. The power amplifier is a diode-laser-pumped double-clad Nd doped fiber with polarization control, 20 dB gain, and about 1.3 W output power. A dual stage configuration using a solid-state Nd:YAG amplifier as second stage is presented as well, increasing the output power to 3.5 W with 28 dB gain. We also report on the possibility to integrate a single-frequency fiber laser, an all-fiber phase modulator, and a fiber amplifier to build an all-fiber phase-modulated MOPA. Up to 1 W continuous-wave output phase-modulated with a bandwidth of 196 MHz has been achieved [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We report a femtosecond pulse source that uses a mode-locked Tm-Ho oscillator and a self-frequency shift of Raman solitons in Tm-Ho power amplifier. The master oscillator mode-locked by an antimonide-based saturable absorber mirror produces 750-fs transform-limited soliton pulses over the tuning range from 1912 to 1972 nm. The soliton self-frequency shift in the amplifier resulted in transform-limited pulses with the wavelength adjusted by varying the amplifier pump power. We obtain ~150-fs soliton pulses at the wavelength of 2150 nm with average power up to 230 mW corresponding to the peak power of 27 kW. The efficiency of Raman conversion ranges from 47% to 62% over the tuning range [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Heart rate and blood pressure oscillate in phase with respiratory activity. A component of these oscillations is generated centrally, with respiratory neurons entraining the activity of pre-sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiovascular neurons. Using a combination of optogenetic inhibition and excitation in vivo and in situ in rats, as well as neuronal tracing, we demonstrate that preBötzinger Complex (preBötC) neurons, which form the kernel for inspiratory rhythm generation, directly modulate cardiovascular activity. Specifically, inhibitory preBötC neurons modulate cardiac parasympathetic neuron activity whilst excitatory preBötC neurons modulate sympathetic vasomotor neuron activity, generating heart rate and blood pressure oscillations in phase with respiration. Our data reveal yet more functions entrained to the activity of the preBötC, with a role in generating cardiorespiratory oscillations. The findings have implications for cardiovascular pathologies, such as hypertension and heart failure, where respiratory entrainment of heart rate is diminished and respiratory entrainment of blood pressure exaggerated., Competing Interests: CM, AC, JB, MM, SL, JK, NK, SM, SM, AA No competing interests declared, (© 2020, Menuet et al.)