Günter Steinmeyer, Lukas Gallmann, Florian W. Helbing, Ursula Keller
{"title":"New directions in sub-10-fs optical pulse generation","authors":"Günter Steinmeyer, Lukas Gallmann, Florian W. Helbing, Ursula Keller","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01276-8","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01276-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Sub-10-fs pulse generation has reached a maturity and robustness that gave rise to a rapid increase of new ultrafast applications. Some of these novel applications rely on the octave-spanning spectral width, the coherence properties, or the extremely high peak intensity of femtosecond lasers, which sets them apart from the traditional use of femtosecond lasers in ultrafast spectroscopy. In this review, we concentrate on the sub-10-fs regime and first discuss the state of the art in ultrashort pulse generation. We then report on ultrabroadband wavelength conversion schemes and dispersion control by chirped mirrors. We also review advances in pulse characterization methods, with which we can measure pulse properties with much higher accuracy than simple autocorrelation methods and which support even a bandwidth in the single-cycle regime. With the recent demonstrations of pulses with a duration of merely two optical cycles, a regime is entered where the relative phase between the carrier and the envelope of the pulse starts to play a role. We discuss methods to measure and control the carrier–envelope phase and point out applications in frequency metrology. A wealth of further novel directions and developments in femtosecond research is reviewed in this article.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 10","pages":"Pages 1389-1406"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01276-8","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"109542109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Benoit Deveaud, Francesco Quochi, Michele Saba, Cristiano Ciuti, Jean-Louis Staehli
{"title":"Femtosecond dynamics and non-linearities of exciton–photon coupling in semiconductor microstructures","authors":"Benoit Deveaud, Francesco Quochi, Michele Saba, Cristiano Ciuti, Jean-Louis Staehli","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01281-1","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01281-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We have studied the femtosecond dynamics of excitonic resonances in quantum well microcavities under strong excitation. Very strong non-linearities are observed, which bear clear resemblance to the non-linearities of an atomic two-level system. The fact that the excitonic system undergoes Rabi flopping and AC Stark splitting is clearly evidenced in a number of cases. Excitation induced dephasing shows an effect much stronger than the light dressing and prevents the observation of the Rabi flopping only when exciting in the continuum. Most of the experimental findings are well reproduced by a dynamical solution of the Maxwell–Bloch equations for an ensemble of two-level systems. This allows in particular understanding of the occurrence of strong coherent gain in microcavities. An exhaustive description of the experiments is given within the framework of semiconductor Maxwell–Bloch optical equations at the Hartree–Fock level.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 10","pages":"Pages 1439-1451"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01281-1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"100024120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantum vacuum fluctuations","authors":"Serge Reynaud , Astrid Lambrecht , Cyriaque Genet , Marc-Thierry Jaekel","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01270-7","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01270-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The existence of irreducible field fluctuations in vacuum is an important prediction of quantum theory. These fluctuations have many observable consequences, like the Casimir effect, which is now measured with good accuracy and agreement with theory, provided that the latter accounts for differences between real experiments and the ideal situation considered by Casimir. But the vacuum energy density calculated by adding field mode energies is much larger than the density observed around us through gravitational phenomena. This ‘vacuum catastrophe’ is one of the unsolved problems at the interface between quantum theory on one hand, inertial and gravitational phenomena on the other hand. It is however possible to put properly formulated questions in the vicinity of this paradox. These questions are directly connected to observable effects bearing upon the principle of relativity of motion in quantum vacuum.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 9","pages":"Pages 1287-1298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01270-7","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76256212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fundamental physics with the ESA mission GAIA","authors":"François Mignard","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01268-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01268-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>esa</span> advisory committees have selected the astrometry mission <span>gaia</span> as one of the future cornerstones of the science program. <span>gaia</span> is primarily a mission to study the history, formation and evolution of the Galaxy from astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic measurements, but it also displays remarkable capabilities in some areas of fundamental physics. After introducing briefly the measurement principles and the expected accuracy, I focus on the three topics most relevant for the physicists: the definition and realization of a quasi-inertial machian frame, the testing of the PPN formulation of the gravitational theory and finally a determination of the possible time change of the gravitational constant.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 9","pages":"Pages 1299-1311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01268-9","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92105953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Avant-propos","authors":"Christian J. Bordé, Pierre Touboul","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01266-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01266-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 9","pages":"Pages 1243-1248"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01266-5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91977277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New space missions for mapping the Earth's gravity field","authors":"Georges Balmino","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01269-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01269-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The knowledge of the gravity field of the Earth and of an associated reference surface of altitudes (the geoid) is necessary for geodesy, for improving theories of the physics of the planet interior and for modeling the ocean circulation in absolute. This knowledge comes from several observing techniques but, although it benefited from the artificial satellite approach, it remains incomplete and erroneous in places. Within a reasonable future, a substantial improvement can only come from new space techniques. Thanks to the intense lobbying by the concerned geoscientists, the coming decade will see the advent of three techniques already proposed in the seventies and to be implemented by different space agencies; these are the CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE missions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 9","pages":"Pages 1353-1359"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01269-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92105952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jonathan Ophir , Faouzi Kallel , Tomy Varghese , Elisa Konofagou , S.K.S.Kaisar Alam , Thomas Krouskop , Brian Garra , Raffaella Righetti
{"title":"Elastography","authors":"Jonathan Ophir , Faouzi Kallel , Tomy Varghese , Elisa Konofagou , S.K.S.Kaisar Alam , Thomas Krouskop , Brian Garra , Raffaella Righetti","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01255-0","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01255-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We present a concise summary of some of the fundamentals and of our work in the field of elastography over the past 12 years. This summary is not exhaustive, since several recent reviews of this area are available. We begin by presenting some relevant background material from the field of biomechanics, which forms the foundation of this work. We then proceed to discuss the basic principles and limitations that are involved in the production of strain images (elastograms) of biological tissues. Early results as well as current results from biological tissues in vitro and in vivo are shown. We conclude with some thoughts regarding the potential of elastography for medical diagnosis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 8","pages":"Pages 1193-1212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01255-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86985808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A.Claude Boccara (Rédacteur en chef invités / Guest editor), Mathias Fink (Rédacteur en chef invités / Guest editor)
{"title":"","authors":"A.Claude Boccara (Rédacteur en chef invités / Guest editor), Mathias Fink (Rédacteur en chef invités / Guest editor)","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01263-X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01263-X","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 8","pages":"Pages 1069-1070"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01263-X","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136931706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tissue harmonic ultrasonic imaging","authors":"Michalakis A. Averkiou","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01259-8","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01259-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Harmonic imaging was originally developed for microbubble contrast agents in the early 90s under the assumption that tissue is linear and all harmonic echoes are generated by the bubbles. In fact, tissue, like bubbles, is a nonlinear medium. Whereas the harmonic echoes from bubbles have their origins in nonlinear scattering, those from tissue are a result of nonlinear propagation. The clinical benefits of tissue harmonic imaging are reduced reverberation noise and overall clutter level, improved border delineation, increased contrast resolution, and reduced phase aberration artifacts. To a large extent these benefits are explained by the properties of nonlinear propagation of the transmitted ultrasonic pulses in the tissue.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 8","pages":"Pages 1139-1151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01259-8","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"111674113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Claire Gerbeaud , Joanna Giermanska-Kahn , Philippe Meleard , Bernard Pouligny , Marie-Pascale Latorse
{"title":"Using capillary forces to estimate the adhesion strength of Magnaporthe grisea spores on glass","authors":"Claire Gerbeaud , Joanna Giermanska-Kahn , Philippe Meleard , Bernard Pouligny , Marie-Pascale Latorse","doi":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01247-1","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01247-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The <em>Magnaporthe grisea</em> is a fungus whose spores strongly adhere to plant leaves, and to solid surfaces in general. In this note, we give an estimate of the adhesion force, <em>F</em><sub>det</sub>, of a spore on a glass surface, in water. <em>F</em><sub>det</sub> is defined as the force to be applied to a spore to pull it out from the surface. In our experiments, spores are detached from the glass in a few milliseconds by means of a capillary force. The latter is provided by a water/air or a water/oil interface, in contact with the spore body. We thus find <em>F</em><sub>det</sub> of the order of 10<sup>−6</sup> N.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100307,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IV - Physics-Astrophysics","volume":"2 8","pages":"Pages 1235-1240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2001-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S1296-2147(01)01247-1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75756197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}