Of 28 white fabrics tested, 19 offered less protection than a sunscreen with SPF 15. Polyester fabrics offered increased protection over cotton. The presence of dyes increased protection considerably.

The absorption of 250-fs KrF laser pulses incident on solid targets of aluminum and gold has been measured as a function of polarization and angle of incidence for the intensity range of 10' -2.5x10" Wcm . Maximum absorption of over 60% occurs for p-polarized radiation at angles of incidence in the range of 48'-57'. The measured results are in agreement with absorption on a steep density gradient.

Polarized second-harmonic generation and terahertz radiation in reflection from ͑100͒, ͑110͒, and ͑111͒ faces of n-type InAs crystals are investigated as a function of the sample azimuthal orientation under excitation from femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser pulses. The expressions describing the second-order response ͑optical secondharmonic generation and optical rectification͒ in reflection from zinc-blende crystals, such as InAs, are calculated taking into account the bulk electric-dipole contribution and the first-order surface electric-field-induced contribution. It is shown that the two contributions can be separated based on rotation symmetry considerations. Moreover, a direct comparison of the second-harmonic generation and terahertz radiation emission indicates that the observed dominant surface electric-field-induced optical rectification component may be attributed to the large free-carrier contribution to the third-order susceptibility in InAs.

The development of a methodology to manipulate surface properties of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of alkanethiol on a gold film using direct laser patterning is the objective of this paper. The present study demonstrates proof of the concept for the feasibility of laser patterning monolayers and outlines theoretical modeling of the process to predict the resulting feature size. This approach is unique in that it eliminates the need for photolithography, is noncontact, and can be extended to other systems such as SAMs on silicon wafers or potentially polymeric substrates. A homogeneous SAM made of 1-hexadecanethiol is formed on a 300-A sputtered film of gold (supported by a soda lime glass substrate). Localized regions are then desorbed by scanning the focal spot of a 488-nm continuous-wave argon ion laser beam under a nitrogen atmosphere. The desorption occurs as a result of a high substrate temperature produced by the moving laser beam with a Gaussian spatial profile at a constant speed of 200 microm/s. After completing the scans, the sample is dipped into a dilute solution of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid and a hydrophilic monolayer self-assembles along the previously irradiated regions. The resultant lines are viewed, and line widths are measured using both wetting with tridecane under a light microscope and scanning electron microscopy. Using the direct laser patterning method, we have produced straight line patterns with widths of 28-170 microm. A thermal model was constructed to predict the line width of the desorbed monolayer. The effect of the laser power, beam waist, and temperature dependence of the substrate conductivity on the theoretical predictions is considered. It is shown that the theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results, and, thus, the model can effectively be used to predict experimental results.

The far-infrared properties of spruce wood are examined with a terahertz time-domain spectrometer. The solid wood is shown to exhibit both birefringence and diattenuation. The birefringence properties are sufficient for construction of a quarter-wave plate operating at 0.36 THz, and a half-wave plate operating at 0.71 THz. The origin of the birefringence is attributed to preferential fiber orientation within the wood. Similar birefringence is observed in lens paper in which the fibers are preferentially oriented in one direction.