Hitoki Yoneda

LARGE-SCALE CRYOGENIC GRAVITATIONAL WAVE TELESCOPE

We present here the Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational wave Telescope (LCGT) project which is aimed to improve the sensitivity of the existing gravitational wave projects by ten times. LCGT is the project constructing the km-scale gravitational wave detector in Japan succeeding the TAMA project, which adopts cryogenic mirrors with a higher power laser. We are planing to build it in an underground site in Kamioka mine. If its target sensitivity is attained, we will be able to catch a few events per month.

Atomic inner-shell laser at 1.5-angstrom wavelength pumped by an X-ray free-electron laser

Since the invention of the first lasers in the visible-light region, research has aimed to produce short-wavelength lasers that generate coherent X-rays; the shorter the wavelength, the better the imaging resolution of the laser and the shorter the pulse duration, leading to better temporal resolution in probe measurements. Recently, free-electron lasers based on self-amplified spontaneous emission have made it possible to generate a hard-X-ray laser (that is, the photon energy is of the order of ten kiloelectronvolts) in an ångström-wavelength regime, enabling advances in fields from ultrafast X-ray spectrosopy to X-ray quantum optics. An atomic laser based on neon atoms and pumped by a soft-X-ray (that is, a photon energy of less than one kiloelectronvolt) free-electron laser has been achieved at a wavelength of 14 nanometres. Here, we use a copper target and report a hard-X-ray inner-shell atomic laser operating at a wavelength of 1.5 ångströms. X-ray free-electron laser pulses with an intensity of about 1019 watts per square centimetre tuned to the copper K-absorption edge produced sufficient population inversion to generate strong amplified spontaneous emission on the copper Kα lines. Furthermore, we operated the X-ray free-electron laser source in a two-colour mode, with one colour tuned for pumping and the other for the seed (starting) light for the laser.

High-power terahertz radiation emitter with a diamond photoconductive switch array

A photoconductive switch-arrayed antenna with a chemical vapor-deposited diamond film was developed to generate high-power terahertz (THz) radiation. With this device, an electric field stress of 2 x 10(6) V/cm can be applied to photoconductive gaps because of the high breakdown threshold of diamond and the overcoated gap structure for the prevention of surface flashover. This level of field stress can alleviate the current problem of saturation in THz emission by use of a photoconductive antenna. The device consists of more than two thousand 20 micron x 2.8 mm emitters. In an experiment using an ultrashort pulse Kr*F laser, we obtained an energy density of 10 microJ/cm(2) on the emitter surface at E = 10(5) V/cm. This density was larger than that of the current large-aperture antenna. There was no severe saturation in photoconductive current up to E = 10(6) V/cm, and a focused intensity of 200 MW/cm(2) can be expected.

Saturable absorption of intense hard X-rays in iron

In 1913, Maurice de Broglie discovered the presence of X-ray absorption bands of silver and bromine in photographic emulsion. Over the following century, X-ray absorption spectroscopy was established as a standard basis for element analysis, and further applied to advanced investigation of the structures and electronic states of complex materials. Here we show the first observation of an X-ray-induced change of absorption spectra of the iron K-edge for 7.1-keV ultra-brilliant X-ray free-electron laser pulses with an extreme intensity of 10(20) W cm(-2). The highly excited state yields a shift of the absorption edge and an increase of transparency by a factor of 10 with an improvement of the phase front of the transmitted X-rays. This finding, the saturable absorption of hard X-rays, opens a promising path for future innovations of X-ray science by enabling novel attosecond active optics, such as lasing and dynamical spatiotemporal control of X-rays.

Laser Damage Threshold of Ceramic YAG

Bulk laser damage thresholds of doped and undoped ceramic Y3Al5O12 (YAG) materials are reported. These materials were found to resist 100 J/cm2, 4-ns pulses at 1.064 µm wavelength. Single-crystal YAG materials of similar composition yielded similar damage thresholds. Hence, ceramic microstructure does not contribute to lower damage threshold. Beam-size dependence of damage threshold fluence was also studied by repeating the experiment using a lens with a longer focal length. The evolution of damage probability with laser fluence was found to strongly depend on the beam diameter; however, damage threshold was not found to vary significantly with beam diameter.

Present status of large-scale cryogenic gravitational wave telescope

The large-scale cryogenic gravitational wave telescope (LCGT) is the future project of the Japanese gravitational wave group. Two sets of 3 km arm length laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors will be built in a tunnel of Kamioka mine in Japan. LCGT will detect chirp waves from binary neutron star coalescence at 240 Mpc away with a S/N of 10. The expected number of detectable events in a year is two or three. To achieve the required sensitivity, several advanced techniques will be employed such as a low-frequency vibration-isolation system, a suspension point interferometer, cryogenic mirrors, a resonant side band extraction method, a high-power laser system and so on. We hope that the beginning of the project will be in 2005 and the observations will start in 2009.

Study of the thermo-optical constants of Yb doped Y 2 O 3 , Lu 2 O 3 and Sc 2 O 3 ceramic materials

Thermally induced depolarization and thermal lens of three Konoshima Chemical Co. laser-ceramics samples Yb(3+):Lu(2)O(3)(C(Yb) ≈ 1.8 at.%), Yb(3+):Y(2)O(3)(C(Yb) ≈ 1.8 at.%), and Yb(3+):Sc(2)O(3) (C(Yb) ≈ 2.5 at.%) were measured in experiment at different pump power. The results allowed us to estimate the thermal conductivity of the investigated ceramic samples and compare their thermo-optical properties. The thermo-optical constants P and Q and its sign measured for these materials at the first time.

The grain size dependence of the mobility and lifetime in chemical vapor deposited diamond photoconductive switches

The grain size dependence of the carrier lifetimes and collection distances of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond films of 0.1–10 μm average grain size was measured. The estimated values of the mobilities and lifetimes indicated that the dominant recombination process had occurred inside the grains, not the grain boundaries. This finding was confirmed by measuring the electric field dependence of the lifetime and the collection distance. Under a high electric field, however, a major decrease in decay time is expected for smaller grain sizes, due to the increase in the number of carriers which reach the grain boundaries during their lifetime. Such a decrease was observed in a 0.8-μm grain size sample at E=105 V/cm. The data also showed that a 1-ps kV electrical pulse from a dc bias across a diamond film coated gap can be achieved with a CVD-deposited diamond photoconductive switch of sub-μm grain size.

Photoconductive properties of chemical vapor deposited diamond switch under high electric field strength

Photoconductive properties of diamond optical switch made by chemical vapor deposition method were investigated. A new configuration of the diamond gap was proposed to reduce the surface leakage current and avoid surface flashover. This technology made it possible to apply static high electric field up to 2×106 V/cm. The dependence of the mobility‐lifetime product (μτ) on the grain size was measured for a wide range of electric field. The μτ value was increased to be linearly proportional to the electric field for every grain size sample, and no saturation was measured even at a high electric field of E=3×105 V/cm. Larger grain size samples had larger μτ values. The grain size dependence was attributed to the decreasing of the mobility or the lifetime inside the grain not due to the increasing recombination ratio at the grain boundary in smaller grain size samples.

Japanese large-scale interferometers

The objective of the TAMA 300 interferometer was to develop advanced technologies for kilometre scale interferometers and to observe gravitational wave events in nearby galaxies. It was designed as a power-recycled Fabry–Perot–Michelson interferometer and was intended as a step towards a final interferometer in Japan. The present successful status of TAMA is presented. TAMA forms a basis for LCGT (large-scale cryogenic gravitational wave telescope), a 3 km scale cryogenic interferometer to be built in the Kamioka mine in Japan, implementing cryogenic mirror techniques. The plan of LCGT is schematically described along with its associated R&D.