Hypothesis of macroscopic quantum state in biological systems and discussion on the possibility of its experimental verification.

Earlier it was noted that the functioning of biological systems is accompanied by a very low level of energy dissipation, and it was assumed that a physical mechanism similar to that which works in superconductivity can operate here. The paper proposes a hypothesis that the phenomenon of life is not based on superconductivity, but on some so far unexplored macroscopic quantum state of organic structures making up the cell. It is assumed that this state is also characterized by the presence of an energy gap in the electronic spectrum, which makes the state stable and provides a low level of energy dissipation.

Optical elements containing semitransparent wavelike films: erratum.

This erratum corrects errors in Eqs. (12) and (19) of the original paper, Appl. Opt.

Optical elements containing semitransparent wavelike films.

Novel optical elements containing semitransparent wavelike films embedded into the bulk of transparent material, which form a reflection image without transmitted light distortion, are studied. The dynamic theory of light diffraction by a locally periodic multilayer semitransparent wavelike film is developed. A simple analytical formula for near Bragg diffraction order intensity is obtained for the case when only one diffraction order lies within the hologram angular selectivity.

Achromatic reconstruction of femtosecond holograms in the planar optical waveguide.

Holograms were recorded by 30 fs laser pulses in 20 microm film of dichromated gelatin on the polished quartz substrate and reconstructed in the waveguide mode. The geometric-optical regime of waveguide hologram reconstruction was obtained: the direction of the reconstructed beam was observed to be independent on the reconstructing wavelength within the hologram spectral selectivity band. We discuss the possibility of producing achromatic waveguide optical elements containing only a few periods.

Achromatic optical elements.

The principles of wavefront reconstruction by means of a geometric-optical reflection of radiation from surfaces of interference fringe maxima are discussed. The optical elements based on these principles should be achromatic. Two methods of the optical elements design are proposed.