Approaching the full octave: noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification with two-color pumping.

We present a new method to broaden the amplification range in optical parametric amplification toward the bandwidth needed for single cycle femtosecond pulses. Two-color pumping of independent stages is used to sequentially amplify the long and short wavelength parts of the ultrabroadband seed pulses. The concept is tested in two related experiments. With multi-mJ pumping pulses with a nearly octave spanning spectrum and an uncompressed energy of 3 mJ are generated at low repetition rate. The spectral phase varies slowly and continuously in the overlap region as shown with 100 kHz repetition rate. This should allow the compression to the Fourier limit of below 5 fs in the high energy system.

Few-cycle laser-driven electron acceleration.

We report on an electron accelerator based on few-cycle (8 fs full width at half maximum) laser pulses, with only 40 mJ energy per pulse, which constitutes a previously unexplored parameter range in laser-driven electron acceleration. The produced electron spectra are monoenergetic in the tens-of-MeV range and virtually free of low-energy electrons with thermal spectrum. The electron beam has a typical divergence of 5-10 mrad. The accelerator is routinely operated at 10 Hz and constitutes a promising source for several applications. Scalability of the few-cycle driver in repetition rate and energy implies that the present work also represents a step towards user friendly laser-based accelerators.

A comparative study of neck muscle motor neurons in a cricket and a locust.

The gross morphology of the neck muscles of a cricket (Gryllus campestris) and their innervation are described and compared with a locust (Schistocerca gregaria). The motor neurons innervating the neck muscles were stained in crickets and locusts with cobalt chloride introduced via the nerve endings in the muscle. The two species show overall similarities, not only in position of the neck motor neurons in suboesophageal, prothoracic, and mesothoracic ganglia but also in motor neuron morphology. However, muscle 60 in the cricket is innervated by a unique motor neuron with its axon in prothoracic nerve 3, instead of sharing motor neurons in suboesophageal nerve 8 and mesothoracic nerve 1 with muscle 59, as in locust. Muscle 62 has the same attachments and innervation with similar motor neurons in cricket and locust but a different mechanical function in the two species. The findings are discussed with respect to possible segmental homologies and to the origins of the muscles as either dorso-ventral or longitudinal. As several muscles share the same motor neurons, we suggest that neck muscle function be described in terms of "behavioural units of action."

Antennal neuropile in the brain of the crayfish: morphology of neurons.

The cellular composition of the antennal neuropile of the crayfish is described. As a context for this work the distribution of neuronal cell bodies throughout the supraoesophageal ganglion (brain) is also described. The neuronal cell bodies in the brain are concentrated in 19 distinct clusters. Three paired clusters are located on the dorsal side of the brain, four paired and one midline cluster bend around the brain laterally and frontally respectively. Fewer than ten somata lie outside of these clusters. The antennal neuropile is composed of primary afferent terminals, efferents, and projecting and local interneurons. The structures of individual neurons of all four types were determined by filling them with Lucifer yellow, and an overview of the neuropile structure was obtained with cobalt backfills of selected nerves. The antennal afferents are concentrated in four main tracts that run medially in the outer layer of the antennal neuropile. Up to 11 orthogonal side branches occur at equal distances (25-35 microns) along the main branches and penetrate the neuropile. The efferents contribute very thin dendrites to the antennal neuropile. The majority of the neuronal mass of the antennal lobe consists of projecting and local interneurons. The branching pattern of the interneurons within the antennal neuropile also shows an orthogonal arrangement of main branches and higher-order branches. Thus the antennal neuropile displays a strong geometrical regularity: Main processes of all four types of neurons run in bundles the length of the long axis of the neuropile (lateral to medial inside the brain) giving rise to orthogonal side branches at regular intervals. This branching pattern leads to a striped appearance of the antennal lobe.