Dynamics of ultra-intense circularly polarized solitons under inhomogeneous plasmas

The dynamics of the ultra-intense circularly polarized solitons under inhomogeneous plasmas are examined. The interaction is modeled by the Maxwell and relativistic hydrodynamic equations and is solved with fully implicit energy-conserving numerical scheme. It is shown that a propagating weak soliton can be decreased and reflected by increasing plasma background, which is consistent with the existing studies based on hypothesis of weak density response. However it is found that ultra-intense soliton is well trapped and kept still when encountering increasing background. Probably, this founding can be applied for trapping and amplifying high-intensity laser-fields.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Plasma

Work fluctuations in a nonlinear micromechanical oscillator driven far from thermal equilibrium

We explore fluctuation relations in a periodically driven micromechanical torsional oscillator. In the linear regime where the modulation is weak, we verify that the ratio of the work variance to the mean work is constant, consistent with conventional fluctuation theorems. We then increase the amplitude of the periodic drive so that the response becomes nonlinear and two nonequilibrium oscillation states coexist. Due to interstate transitions, the work variance exhibits a peak at the driving frequency at which the occupation of the two states is equal. Moreover, the work fluctuations depend exponentially on the inverse noise intensity. Our data are consistent with recent theories on systems driven into bistability that predict generic behaviors different from conventional fluctuation theorems.Comment: To appear in Phys.Rev.

Nodeless superconductivity in Ca3Ir4Sn13: evidence from quasiparticle heat transport

We report resistivity $\rho$ and thermal conductivity $\kappa$ measurements on Ca$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$ single crystals, in which superconductivity with $T_c \approx 7$ K was claimed to coexist with ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations. Among three crystals, only one crystal shows a small hump in resistivity near 20 K, which was previously attributed to the ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations. Other two crystals show the $\rho \sim T^2$ Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperature. For both single crystals with and without the resistivity anomaly, the residual linear term $\kappa_0/T$ is negligible in zero magnetic field. In low fields, $\kappa_0(H)/T$ shows a slow field dependence. These results demonstrate that the superconducting gap of Ca$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$ is nodeless, thus rule out nodal gap caused by ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Infrared spectroscopy of the charge ordering transition in Na0.5_{0.5}CoO2_2

We report infrared spectra of a Na$_{0.5}$CoO$_2$ single crystal which exhibits a sharp metal-insulator transition near 50 K due to the formation of charge ordering. In comparison with x=0.7 and 0.85 compounds, we found that the spectral weight associated with the conducting carriers at high temperature increases systematically with decreasing Na contents. The charge ordering transition only affects the optical spectra below 1000 cm$^{-1}$. A hump near 800 cm$^{-1}$ develops below 100 K, which is accompanied by the appearance of new lattice modes as well as the strong anti-resonance feature of phonon spectra. At lower temperature $T_{co}$, an optical gap develops at the magnitude of 2$\Delta\approx3.5k_BT_{co}$, evidencing an insulating charge density wave ground state. Our experimental results and analysis unequivocally point towards the importance of charge ordering instability and strong electron-phonon interaction in Na$_x$CoO$_2$ system.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Suppressing longitudinal double-layer oscillations by using elliptically polarized laser pulses in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime

It is shown that well collimated mono-energetic ion beams with a large particle number can be generated in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime by using an elliptically polarized laser pulse with appropriate theoretically determined laser polarization ratio. Due to the $\bm{J}\times\bm{B}$ effect, the double-layer charge separation region is imbued with hot electrons that prevent ion pileup, thus suppressing the double-layer oscillations. The proposed mechanism is well confirmed by Particle-in-Cell simulations, and after suppressing the longitudinal double-layer oscillations, the ion beams driven by the elliptically polarized lasers own much better energy spectrum than those by circularly polarized lasers.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Phys. Plasmas (2013) accepte