Light-light and light-electron interactions in a nonlinear and spatially modulated medium
Abstract
This thesis is divided into two portions. The first part explores the cross-interaction of two counter-propagating plane waves in a Kerr-like medium. It is shown analytically and numerically that due to cross-induced anisotropy, the "input-output" characteristics of such a system have not only multivalued hysteretic response but also multiple isolated branches (the so called isolas). We demonstrate also that the system may exhibit dispersion-related temporal instability above certain threshold intensity of pumping waves. Most of these effects may find applications in optical bistable and switching devices and optical signal processing. In the second part, the generation of x-ray transition radiation by low energy electron beams traversing a periodic solid-state layered medium is considered. We investigate the influence of photoabsorption and electron scattering on the phenomenon and develop a optimization procedure for selecting parameters of the system to maximize the radiation. We show that a combination of materials with high and low atomic numbers can produce an intense x-ray radiation with very narrow spectral peaks at the vicinity of K, L, $\dots$ atomic absorption edges of each of the materials. Our results demonstrate that the proposed inexpensive x-ray source with relatively low electron beam energy can be used to generate narrow-line x-ray radiation.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Kaplan, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Electrical engineering
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