Pharmacists' smoking cessation counseling practices: a comparison between 2005 and 2010.

Introduction: To determine if smoking cessation counseling practices and related psychosocial characteristics improved among pharmacists between 2005 and 2010.

Methods: Data were collected in 2005 and 2010 from randomly selected pharmacists in Québec, Canada. Participants completed mailed self-report questionnaires on cessation counseling practices and psychosocial characteristics (i.

Respiratory therapists' smoking cessation counseling practices: a comparison between 2005 and 2010.

Objective: We assessed whether smoking cessation counseling practices and related psychosocial characteristics among respiratory therapists (RTs) improved between 2005 and 2010.

Methods: Data were collected in mailed self-report questionnaires in 2005 and in 2010, in random independent samples of active licensed RTs in Québec, Canada.

Results: The response proportion was 67.

Wavelength scaling of high harmonic generation efficiency.

Using longer wavelength laser drivers for high harmonic generation is desirable because the highest extreme ultraviolet frequency scales as the square of the wavelength. Recent numerical studies predict that high harmonic efficiency falls dramatically with increasing wavelength, with a very unfavorable lambda(-(5-6)) scaling. We performed an experimental study of the high harmonic yield over a wavelength range of 800-1850 nm.

Pulse compression and shaping of broadband optical parametric amplifier laser source.

We report pulse compression and shaping of a 100 Hz broadband optical parametric amplifier (OPA) laser source generated by self-phase modulation in a hollow-core fiber. The amplitude and phase of the broadband OPA laser pulses are controlled using an acousto optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF). Using the AOPDF, we demonstrate compression, characterization, and amplitude/phase control of 1300 nm 20 fs laser pulses with energies up to 10 microJ.

Dynamic two-center interference in high-order harmonic generation from molecules with attosecond nuclear motion.

We report a new dynamic two-center interference effect in high-harmonic generation from H2, in which the attosecond nuclear motion of H2+ initiated at ionization causes interference to be observed at lower harmonic orders than would be the case for static nuclei. To enable this measurement we utilize a recently developed technique for probing the attosecond nuclear dynamics of small molecules. The experimental results are reproduced by a theoretical analysis based upon the strong-field approximation which incorporates the temporally dependent two-center interference term.

Laser-induced electron tunneling and diffraction.

Molecular structure is usually determined by measuring the diffraction pattern the molecule impresses on x-rays or electrons. We used a laser field to extract electrons from the molecule itself, accelerate them, and in some cases force them to recollide with and diffract from the parent ion, all within a fraction of a laser period. Here, we show that the momentum distribution of the extracted electron carries the fingerprint of the highest occupied molecular orbital, whereas the elastically scattered electrons reveal the position of the nuclear components of the molecule.

Attosecond temporal gating with elliptically polarized light.

Temporal gating allows high accuracy time-resolved measurements of a broad range of ultrafast processes. By manipulating the interaction between an atom and an intense laser field, we extend gating into the nonlinear medium in which attosecond optical and electron pulses are generated. Our gate is an amplitude gate induced by ellipticity of the fundamental pulse.