In the past years, laser ablation synthesis in solution (LASiS) emerged as a reliable alternative to traditional chemical reduction methods for obtaining noble metal nanoparticles (NMNp). LASiS is a "green" technique for the synthesis of stable NMNp in water or in organic solvents, which does not need stabilizing molecules or other chemicals. The so obtained NMNp are highly available for furthe...

A laser ablation microanalysis system has been developed that can analyze trace elements with a sensitivity in the ppb range, using a CETAC LSX-200 laser ablation system with a Finnigan Element. This capability has been applied to a set of iron meteorites to demonstrate the laser microprobe's analytical capability for the determination of platinum group elements (PGEs) with a spatial resolution...

Insight into the properties of isolated atoms and molecules is achieved by looking at their interactions with light. Upon absorption of one or more photons, the atoms or molecules are in an excited state and often undergo complex dynamics. The absorbed energy can be channeled for instance into a (i) radiative relaxation (ii) dissociation of molecular bonds or (iii) even ionization of the atom/m...

Laser radiation-induced decomposition of gaseous organic selenides and tellurides resulting in chemical deposition of nanostructured materials on cold surfaces is reviewed with regard to the mechanism of the gas-phase decomposition and properties of the deposited materials. The laser photolysis and laser thermolysis of the Se and Te precursors leading to chalcogen deposition can also serve as a...

The quantity of ablated mass and its composition strongly depend on the number of laser pulses and laser fluence at the sample target surface. For chemical analysis, thin-film deposition, cutting, and other laser-ablation applications, the quantity of mass removed vs. number of laser pulses is important. In addition, the composition of the vapor can be critical, for example, in providing accura...

Intense laser fields, comparable in magnitude with the Coulomb field within atoms and molecules, can be generated by focussing high-energy and ultrashort laser pulses. When exposed to such a strongly perturbing field, molecules exhibit various exotic features that cannot be observed in weak laser fields. We are seeking a deeper understanding of the behavior of molecules in intense laser fields,...

Nuclear spin optical rotation (NSOR) arising from the Faraday effect constitutes a novel, advantageous method for detection of nuclear magnetic resonance, provided that a distinction is seen between different chemical surroundings of magnetic nuclei. Efficient first-principles calculations for isolated water, ethanol, nitromethane, and urea molecules at standard laser wavelengths reveal a range...

Single crystalline InP was ablated in air with p-polarized Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser at a fixed laser fluence of 82 mJ/cm. Ripples parallel to the laser polarization direction were found by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to form for laser pulses ranging from 50 to 1000, whereas flower-like structures appeared for laser pulses of 10 and above. Analysis by X-ray phot...

A materials structural and chemical composition influences its optical scattering properties. In this paper we investigate the use of subsurface laser scattering (SLS) for inferring structural and chemical information of food products. We have constructed a computer vision system based on a supercontinuum laser light source and an AcoustoOptic Tunable Filter (AOTF) to provide a collimated light...

This paper presents an analytical modeling of a piezoelectric multi-layer cantilever used as a micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) chemical sensor. Selectively coated microcantilevers have been developed for highly sensitive chemical sensor applications. The proposed piezoelectric chemical sensor consists of an array of multi-layer piezoelectric cantilevers with voltage output in the millivo...