Noise generated in an ultrasonic receiver circuit consisting of transducer and amplifier is usually ignored, or treated as a nuisance. Here it is argued that acoustic thermal fluctuations, with displacement amplitudes of 3 fm, contain substantial ultrasonic information. It is shown that the noise autocorrelation function is the waveform that would be obtained in a direct pulse/echo measurement. That thesis is demonstrated in experiments in which direct measurements are compared to correlation functions. The thermal nature of the elastodynamic noise that generates these correlations is confirmed by an absolute measurement of their strength, essentially a measurement of the sample temperature.

It had been conjectured that diffusion limited aggregates and Laplacian growth patterns (with small surface tension) are in the same universality class. Using iterated conformal maps we construct a one-parameter family of fractal growth patterns with a continuously varying fractal dimension. This family can be used to bound the dimension of Laplacian growth patterns from below. The bound value is higher than the dimension of diffusion limited aggregates, showing that the two problems belong to two different universality classes.

We propose a simple method for the accurate reconstruction of slowly changing external forces acting on nonlinear dynamical systems. The method traces the evolution of the external force by locally linearizing the map dependency with the shifting parameter. Application of our algorithm to synthetic data corresponding to discrete models of evolving ecosystems shows an accuracy that outperforms those of previous methods in the literature. In addition, an application to the real-world sunspot time series recovers recently reported changes in solar activity during the last century.

The problem of inverse statistics (statistics of distances for which the signal fluctuations are larger than a certain threshold) in differentiable signals with power law spectrum, $E\left(k\right)\sim k^{-\alpha }$, $3\le \alpha <5\mathrm{}$, is discussed. We show that for these signals, with random phases, exit-distance moments follow a bifractal distribution. We also investigate two dimensional turbulent flows in the direct cascade regime, which display a more complex behavior. We give numerical evidences that the inverse statistics of 2D turbulent flows is described by a multifractal probability distribution; i.e., the statistics of laminar events is not simply captured by the exponent $\alpha$ characterizing the spectrum.

We show that aberration corrections can be made in any arbitrary linear imaging system provided the aberrations are well characterized and at least one of these aberrations can be independently varied in a well-controlled manner. We derive a generalization of the Schrödinger equation for wave propagation in aberration space assuming forward scattering. Transport equations in aberration space are derived. A general iterative algorithm which can retrieve the phase, and is robust in the presence of noise, is also derived. This is demonstrated using simulated data pertinent to electron microscopy, from a series of images with differing spherical aberration.

The evolution of the transverse momentum of monochromatic light entering a multimode planar waveguide at large angle is investigated. We report on oscillations of the momentum caused by the beatings between the adjacent populated modes of the waveguide and their periodic collapses and revivals. A new type of an interferometer based on this effect with fringe spacing as small as $\lambda /9\mathrm{}$ is demonstrated experimentally, and periods as small as $\lambda /1000\mathrm{}$ seem to be feasible.

A causality problem in the time-dependent scattering of classical waves from point scatterers is pointed out and analyzed. Based on an alternative model, the leading pole approximation of the exact scattering matrix of the square-well potential, transparent expressions for the time- and position-dependent Green function in a disordered medium are derived.

When shaken vertically, a hanging chain displays a startling variety of distinct behaviors. We find experimentally that instabilities occur in tonguelike bands of parameter space, to swinging or rotating pendular motion, or to chaotic states. Mathematically, the dynamics are described by a nonlinear wave equation. A linear stability analysis predicts instabilities within the well-known resonance tongues; their boundaries agree very well with experiment. Full simulations of the 3D dynamics reproduce and elucidate many aspects of the experiment. The chain is also observed to tie knots in itself, some quite complex. This is beyond the reach of the current analysis and simulations.

Long term simulations of Hamiltonian dynamical systems benefit from enforcing the symplectic symmetry. One of the several available methods to perform this symplectification is provided by the recently developed theory of extended generating functions. The theory offers an infinite supply of generator types that can be used for symplectification. Using Hofer's metric, a condition for optimal symplectification is given. In the weakly nonlinear case, the condition provides a generator type that, based on the limited information available on the system, in general gives optimal results.

We demonstrate the possibility to control the spatial mode of a narrow-linewidth, continuous-wave, infrared radiation beam generated by difference frequency in a periodically poled crystal. This can be achieved by acting directly on a few experimental parameters. We show that hollow beams can be generated. A numerical routine has been developed and results agree with experimental observations, without requiring any free parameters. The relevance of these results for high-resolution spectroscopy and atom manipulation is discussed.

We study numerically classical and quantum dynamics of a piecewise parabolic area preserving map on a cylinder which emerges from the bounce map of elongated triangular billiards. The classical map exhibits anomalous diffusion. Quantization of the same map results in a system with dynamical localization and pure point spectrum.

Asymmetric kinks bridging two adjacent potential valleys of equal depth but different curvature are unstable against phonon modes. When coupled to a heat bath, a kink-bearing string tends to cross over into the shallower valley; kinks are thus predicted to drift in the appropriate direction with velocity proportional to the temperature, in close agreement with numerical simulation. When contrasted by a mechanical bias, these entropic forces give rise to a rich phenomenology that includes configurational phase transitions, double-kink dissociation, and noise-directed signal transmission.

We develop a theory of modulational instability of multiparameter solitary waves and analyze the transverse instability of composite (or vector) optical solitons in a saturable nonlinear medium. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that a soliton stripe breaks up into an array of ( $2+1$)-dimensional dipole-mode vector solitons, thus confirming the robust nature of those solitons as fundamental composite structures of incoherently coupled fields.

We demonstrate that Burgers turbulence subject to large-scale white-noise-in-time random forcing has a universal power-law tail with exponent $-7/2\mathrm{}$ in the probability density function of negative velocity gradients, as predicted by E, Khanin, Mazel, and Sinai [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1904 (1997)]. A particle and shock tracking numerical method gives about five decades of scaling. Using a Lagrangian approach, the $-7/2\mathrm{}$ law is related to the shape of the unstable manifold associated to the global minimizer.

We calculate the harmonic spectrum generated by a model HD molecule in a strong laser pulse. The unequal nuclear masses lead to the emission of even harmonics, i.e., photon frequencies which are even multiples of the laser frequency. The effect does not occur within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. In the high-frequency region, the even harmonics are almost of the same order of magnitude as the odd ones.

We report angle-resolved second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements from suspensions of centrosymmetric micron-size polystyrene spheres with surface-adsorbed dye (malachite green). The second-harmonic scattering profiles differ qualitatively from linear light scattering profiles of the same particles. We investigated these radiation patterns using several polarization configurations and particle diameters. We introduce a simple Rayleigh-Gans-Debye model to account for the SHG scattering anisotropy. The model compares favorably with our experimental data. Our measurements suggest scattering anisotropy may be used to isolate particle nonlinear optics from other bulk nonlinear optical effects in suspension.

We report temperature cross correlation and velocity profile measurements in the aspect-ratio-one convection cell filled with water. A sharp transition from a random chaotic state to a correlated turbulent state of finite coherence time is found when the Rayleigh number becomes larger than a critical value ${\mathrm{Ra}}_c\simeq 5\times {10}^7$. The experiment reveals a unique mechanism for the onset of coherent oscillations in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection.

The probability distribution of the proper delay times during scattering on a chaotic system is derived in the framework of the random matrix approach and the supersymmetry method. The result obtained is valid for an arbitrary number of scattering channels as well as arbitrary coupling to the energy continuum. The case of statistically equivalent channels is studied in detail. In particular, the semiclassical limit of an infinite number of weak channels is paid appreciable attention.

The drop pinch-off at a nozzle is studied experimentally for a glycerin-water mixture in surrounding air. The neck diameter of the fluid shrinks with constant velocity. After a distinct transition point, the shrink velocity switches to a smaller value. Before that transition point, the shape of the neck can well be described by a symmetric scaling function, as obtained from Stokes-flow theory of drop formation. This function gives way to an asymmetric scaling function in the final stage before pinch-off.

We show that broad-area cascade lasers with no absorbing intracavity elements support the spontaneous formation of two-dimensional bright localized structures in a dark background. These cavity solitons consist of islands of two-photon emission embedded in a background of single-photon emission. We discuss the mechanisms through which these structures are formed and interact, along with their properties and stability.