Laser-plasma accelerator group

Abstract:

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged and neutral kaons have been measured in e ^± p deep inelastic scattering with an integrated luminosity of 121   pb ^-1 using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The two-particle correlation function was studied as a function of the four-momentum difference of the kaon pairs, Q 12 = sqrt(- (p 1 - p 2) ²), assuming a Gaussian shape for the particle source. The values of the radius of the production volume, r, and of the correlation strength, λ, were obtained for both neutral and charged kaons. The radii for charged and neutral kaons are similar and are consistent with those obtained at LEP. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

A linear array of n calcite crystals is shown to allow the generation of a high contrast (>10:1) train of 2(n) high energy (>100 microJ) pulses from a single ultrafast laser pulse. Advantage is taken of the pulse-splitting properties of a single birefringent crystal, where an incident laser pulse can be split into two pulses with orthogonal polarizations and equal intensity, separated temporally in proportion to the thickness of the crystal traversed and the difference in refractive indices of the two optic axes. In the work presented here an array of seven calcite crystals of sequentially doubled thickness is used to produce a train of 128 pulses, each of femtosecond duration. Readily versatile properties such as the number of pulses in the train and variable mark-space ratio are realized from such a setup.

Abstract:

A simple method for generating trains of high-contrast femtosecond pulses is proposed and demonstrated: a linearly polarized, frequency-chirped laser pulse is passed through a multiple-order wave plate and a linear polarizer. It is shown theoretically that this arrangement forms a train of laser pulses, and in experiments the production of a train of approximately 100 pulses, each of 200 fs duration, is demonstrated. In combination with an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter this technique could be used to generate and control pulse trains with chirped spacing. Pulse trains of this type have widespread applications in ultrafast optics.

Abstract:

The production of energetic neutrons in ep collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The neutron energy and pT² distributions were measured with a forward neutron calorimeter and tracker in a 40   pb^-1 sample of inclusive deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data and a 6   pb^-1 sample of photoproduction data. The neutron yield in photoproduction is suppressed relative to DIS for the lower neutron energies and the neutrons have a steeper pT² distribution, consistent with the expectation from absorption models. The distributions are compared to HERA measurements of leading protons. The neutron energy and transverse-momentum distributions in DIS are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the predictions of particle exchange models. Models of pion exchange incorporating absorption and additional secondary meson exchanges give a good description of the data. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.