Virtual Journal of Laser

David M. French, Brad W. Hoff, Wilkin Tang, Susan Heidger, Jordan Allen-Flowers et al.
Gated field emission cathodes can provide short electron pulses without the requirement of laser systems or cathode heating required by photoemission or thermionic cathodes. The large electric field requirement for field emission to take place can be achieved by using a high aspect ratio cathode wit ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 123302 (2012)] published Wed Dec 19, 2012.

Paul C. Nordine, Dennis Merkley, Jeffrey Sickel, Steve Finkelman, Rainer Telle et al.
A new aero-acoustic levitation instrument (AAL) has been installed at the Institute for Mineral Engineering at RWTH University in Aachen, Germany. The AAL employs acoustically stabilized gas jet levitation with laser-beam heating and melting to create a contact-free containerless environment for hig ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 125107 (2012)] published Fri Dec 14, 2012.

H. J. van der Meiden, A. R. Lof, M. A. van den Berg, S. Brons, A. J. H. Donne et al.
An advanced Thomson scattering system has been built for a linear plasma generator for plasma surface interaction studies. The Thomson scattering system is based on a Nd:YAG laser operating at the second harmonic and a detection branch featuring a high etendue (f /3) transmission grating spectromete ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 123505 (2012)] published Thu Dec 13, 2012.

Sungman Lee, Sangsoon Park, Kitae Lee, and Hyungki Cha
A laser-induced repetitively operated fast neutron source was developed for applications in laser-driven nuclear physics research. The developed neutron source, which has a neutron yield of approximately 4 x 10 n/pulse and can be operated up to a pulse repetition rate of 10 Hz, was applied for a g ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 123504 (2012)] published Fri Dec 7, 2012.

J. Metzkes, L. Karsch, S. D. Kraft, J. Pawelke, C. Richter et al.
In recent years, a new generation of high repetition rate (~10 Hz), high power (~100 TW) laser systems has stimulated intense research on laser-driven sources for fast protons. Considering experimental instrumentation, this development requires online diagnostics for protons to be added to the estab ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 123301 (2012)] published Thu Dec 6, 2012.

J. R. Rygg, J. H. Eggert, A. E. Lazicki, F. Coppari, J. A. Hawreliak et al.
A method of obtaining powder diffraction data on dynamically compressed solids has been implemented at the Jupiter and OMEGA laser facilities. Thin powdered samples are sandwiched between diamond plates and ramp compressed in the solid phase using a gradual increase in the drive-laser intensity. The ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 113904 (2012)] published Wed Nov 28, 2012.

R. Loetzsch, O. Jackel, S. Hofer, T. Kampfer, J. Polz et al.
We developed a detection scheme, capable of measuring X-ray line shape of tracer ions in [mu]m thick layers at the rear side of a target foil irradiated by ultra intense laser pulses. We performed simulations of the effect of strong electric fields on the K-shell emission of silicon and developed a ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 113507 (2012)] published Wed Nov 28, 2012.

N. A. MacDonald, M. A. Cappelli, and W. A. Hargus, Jr.
A novel approach to time-synchronizing laser-induced fluorescence measurements to an oscillating current in a 60 Hz xenon discharge lamp using a continuous wave laser is presented. A sample-hold circuit is implemented to separate out signals at different phases along a current cycle, and is followed ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 113506 (2012)] published Tue Nov 27, 2012.

James D. White and Robert E. Scholten
We describe a compact laser wavelength measuring instrument based on a small diffraction grating and a consumer-grade webcam. With just 1 pW of optical power, the instrument achieves absolute accuracy of 0.7 pm, sufficient to resolve individual hyperfine transitions of the rubidium absorption spect ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 113104 (2012)] published Tue Nov 27, 2012.

John W. Harter, Philip D. C. King, Eric J. Monkman, Daniel E. Shai, Yuefeng Nie et al.
We describe a tunable low-energy photon source consisting of a laser-driven xenon plasma lamp coupled to a Czerny-Turner monochromator. The combined tunability, brightness, and narrow spectral bandwidth make this light source useful in laboratory-based high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy expe ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 113103 (2012)] published Mon Nov 26, 2012.