Vol 25, No 3 (2017)

The optical properties of nanocomposites of metal nanoparticles and polymers of two types have been studied. Gold and silver nanoparticles were obtained by laser ablation of corresponding metal targets in acetone and chloroform. The thus formed colloidal solutions were used to prepare nanocomposites of these nanoparticles in polymer matrices of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and fluorine-containing polymer LF-32. The polymer matrix is found to promote aggregation of the metal nanoparticles under study into elongated chains. In turn, metal nanoparticles affect the polymer matrix. In the case of PMMA, suppression of the vibrational peaks of polymer in the low-frequency region of its Raman spectrum occurs. In the case of LF-32, gold and silver nanoparticles amplify the Raman signal of the polymer matrix. In addition, the Raman spectra of nanocomposites indicate aggregation of disordered carbon around the nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation in organic solvents. The possibilities of studying the ultrafast (about 1 ps) optical response of the nanocomposites obtained in order to use it in photonics elements are discussed.

Coupled optical Tamm states localized at the edges of a photonic crystal enclosed with a nanocomposite are theoretically studied. The nanocomposite consists of nanoparticles with a dielectric core and a metal shell, which are dispersed in a transparent matrix. It is shown that the positions of the spectral peaks are sensitive to the thickness of the outermost photonic crystal layer.

Analysis is given to the effect of polarization deviation due to spontaneous parametric downconversion on the states of polarization-entangled photons generated via a cascaded two-crystal geometry with type I phase matching (e−oo).

The spatial position of the long-wavelength chlorophylls in trimer of pigment-protein complex of photosystem I (PSI) have been determined bymodeling the optical fluorescence absorption and emission spectra for two hypothetical models of PSI trimer. The calculation has been performed using X-ray diffraction data on the spatial position of chlorophylls in PSI monomer; the pigment site energies were taken from the studies of other researchers, while interactions between monomers in trimer are considered as fitting parameters. The interaction energy between the chlorophylls spaced by a distance smaller than 10 Å was estimated based on the concept of extended dipole−dipole interaction. The model under study allowed us to evaluate the influence of the exciton interaction between peripheral pigments on the optical response of PSI trimer. The intensity and shape of stationary fluorescence line turned out to be sensitive to the PSI monomer packing in trimer. A visualization of the density matrix for low-energy exciton states has made it possible to estimate the localization of long-wavelength chlorophylls in PSI trimer.

Visible light is a necessary condition for the existence of life on the Earth. The food and oxygen consumed by humans, directly or mediately, are products of photosynthesis: conversion of light energy into the energy of chemical bonding in organic matter. Visible light not only provides photosynthesis in plants; it is also involved in the regulation of many reactions (from molecular to behavioral) in the animal world. This review is devoted to the questions concerning the role of light in the life of biological objects and the physical mechanisms of interaction of visible light with matter. The effect of light on the molecular and physiological reactions of a human and its microflora is analyzed. The existing methods and the application potential of light effects in diagnostics and therapy are considered.

It is shown that the radiation pattern of laser diode radiation can quantitatively be analyzed without labor-intensive and expensive measurements of the radiation intensity distribution in the near-field zone. Formulas are obtained in the explicit form, which analytically describe the radiation pattern of laser diode radiation in free space, and a simple algorithm is developed for determining the fundamental lasing mode.

An experiment on laser diagnostics of gas bubbles moving in aqueous solutions of different electrolytes has revealed that efficient suppression of gas bubble coalescence (collapse) occurs at certain concentrations of cation−anion pairs. It is experimentally proven that there is an optimal ion composition at which the coalescence is suppressed in a wide range of velocities of gas particle flow through a column with liquid. It is shown that the threshold ion concentrations corresponding to the onset of coalescence suppression decrease with an increase in the external pressure in the liquid. The results obtained can be used in oil production technologies to solve the problem of burning associated oil gas in torches.

Detection of ship wakes is utterly important for ship traffic monitoring, security of sea borders, etc. Among standard detection methods there are radar and acoustic sensing, photographing, hyperspectral measurements, and water sample analysis. However, these methods are hardly suitable for detecting wakes of light high-speed boats. An alternative is optical methods, in particular laser remote sensing. In this work, laboratory experiments on laser remote sensing of water perturbed by a propeller rotating at up to 20 000 rpm are described. A long (over 5 h) decrease in the integral of the band of OH stretching vibrations inH2Omolecules in the Raman scattering spectrum and a blueshift of theOHband center by 2.5 to 3 cm−1 are demonstrated.

Temperature dynamics of the dielectric spectra and domain structure in the triglycine sulfate (TGS) hydrogen-containing ferroelectric under heating and cooling has been studied using the dielectric spectroscopy and atomic-force microscopy methods. The dielectric spectra are analyzed by the temperature-frequency dependences of the losses ε″ and by the temperature behavior of the maximum losses ε″_max in the dispersion region at frequencies ranging from 102 to 106 Hz. A dynamic conductivity model is proposed for calculating temperature dependences of losses ε″_max. The domain structure dynamics during the heating and cooling of the TGS crystal near the phase transition is studied using the in situ piezoresponse force microscopy. It is experimentally and theoretically shown that the relaxation dispersion is governed by the binding of strongly correlated dipoles with the main lattice that serves as a thermostat.

We performed a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of a vircator with counter electron beams in a cylindrical cavity with metal walls. Two pairs of counter-propagating superlimiting electron beams with different energy and current in each pair are injected along the cylinder axis. It is found that the electron charge in the cavity is formed as a sequence of pulses corresponding to slow accumulation and fast discharge. It is shown that the pulses are related to the characteristic dynamics of the squeezed beam state, the distributed virtual cathode. This regime can be used to generate anHF sequence of ultrawideband electromagnetic pulses.

The Editorial Board apologizes for this error in the paper “An Enhanced Refractive Index with Suppressed Absorption in a Graphene Nanostructure under External Magnetic Field” by A. Raheli, H.R. Hamedi, and M. Sahrai.