Yanping Chen

Dual-frequency terahertz emission from splitting filaments induced by lens tilting in air

Dual-frequency terahertz radiation from air-plasma filaments produced with two-color lasers in air has been demonstrated experimentally. When a focusing lens is tilted for a few degrees, it is shown that the laser filament evolves from a single one to two sub-filaments. Two independent terahertz sources emitted from the sub-filaments with different frequencies and polarizations are identified, where the frequency of terahertz waves from the trailing sub-filament is higher than that from the leading sub-filament.

Determination of Metal Elements in Wine Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

We developed a method for sensitive elemental analysis of wines using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In order to overcome the inefficiency of direct ablation of bulk wine (an organic liquid), a thin layer of wine residue was prepared on a metallic target according to an appropriated heating procedure applied to an amount of liquid wine dropped on the target surface. The obtained ensemble was thus ablated. Such a sample preparation procedure used a very small volume of 2u2009mL of wine and took only 30u2009min without reagent or solvent. The results show the detection of tens of metal and non-metal elements including majors (Na, Mg, K, Ca), minors, and traces (Li, B, Si, P, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ba, and Pb) in wines purchased from local supermarkets and from different production places in France. Commercially available wines were then spiked with certified standard solutions of Ti and Fe. Three series of laboratory reference samples were thus prepared using three different wines (a red wine and a white wine from a same production region and a red wine from another production region) with concentrations of Ti and Fe in the range of 1–40u2009mg/L. Calibration graphs established with the spiked samples allowed extracting the figures-of-merit parameters of the method for wine analysis such as the coefficient of determination (R2) and the limits of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ). The calibration curves built with the three wines were then compared. We studied the residual matrix effect between these wines in the determination of the concentrations of Ti and Fe.

Spectral interference of terahertz pulses from two laser filaments in air

Spectral interference is experimentally demonstrated by two terahertz pulses emitting from filaments induced by two successive femtosecond laser pulses in air. Here, a leading pulse is set to be weaker than a trailing pulse and their temporal separation is larger than the pulse duration of the terahertz pulses. When the leading pulse is stronger than the trailing pulse, the frequency modulation within the whole terahertz envelope is greatly deteriorated due to nonlinear effects applying on the trailing pulse through the plasmas generated by the leading pulses. Such unique terahertz spectrum may find applications in terahertz spectroscopy.