Abstract: A wheeled hand truck system is provided having a removable and/or stackable bin or container formed by sidewalls and a bottom surface, the container having a plurality of leg slots and strap slots on one or more of the side walls, and a plurality of base plates secured to or formed with the exterior of the bottom surface and configured for engaging with a load supporting platform or support blade of a hand truck. The truck system may be configured for utilization of one or more bins or containers. More specifically, provided is a combination hand truck and bin that comprises a body, a load supporting platform or support blade, an axle, a wheel assembly having a pair of wheels, a bin or container, and a restraining device for retaining the bin or container securely on the platform or blade of the hand truck.

Abstract: A color center laser is provided with a crystal disposed within a longitudinally pumped cavity. Optics are provided to transversely excite the crystal. Both a circular lens and a cylindrical lens focus an auxiliary beam into the crystal of the color center laser to produce (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A color centers for lasing. The cylindrical lens is used to focus the auxiliary beam to a narrow focal line. The circular lens is used to adjust the length of the focal line. By adjusting the length of the focal line, an entirety of the pump beam is used for excitation. The lenses thus collimate and focus the focal line to a length within an active volume in the crystal of the color center laser essentially equal to a length of the crystal.

Abstract: (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A color centers can be produced in additively-colored KI:Li or RbI:Li crystals provided that the material is colored in a nitrogen-free atmosphere. Copious (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A centers are produced in lithium-doped KI:Li or RbI:Li crystals using a procedure in which the crystals are grown, additively colored, and annealed in an argon ambient; and optically excited at successively-lower temperatures with a light of a wavelength readily absorbed by the crystal situated in a vacuum.

Abstract: A laser material for a solid state tunable laser comprises a potassium or rubidium halide crystal with lithium and/or sodium cation impuritites in a crystalographic structure with point defects consisting essentially of F.sub.2.sup.+ and (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A color centers and electron traps. The crystals are colored both additively and with ionizing radiation.

Abstract: A polarimetric image recorder which records only the net polarization of the viewed scene. An optical lens system projects the light originating from the viewed scene onto a thin layer of an alkali halide crystal containing anisotropic color centers. Polarized light reorients the color centers and creates a net polarization in the layer. The net polarization of the layer is read by such means as shining polarized light through the layer and then through a polarizer set perpendicularly to the polarization of the light source. Whatever light is viewed through the reader represents a net polarization in the scene.

Abstract: The improvement of the electrolytic and additive methods of coloring alkali fluoride crystals comprising the step of selecting an alkali fluoride crystal having the impurities of between 0 and 5 ppmA of OH; between 0 and 50 ppmA of one or more alkaline earth cations, of which between 0 and 10 ppmA Mg.sup.++ and between 0 and 10 ppmA Ca.sup.++ ; between 0 and 50 ppmA of non-fluorine halide anions; between 0 and 10 ppmA of SiF.sub.6.sup.= ; between 0 and 30 ppmA of other ions; and the method of preparing these crystals which comprises converting the alkali fluoride to alkali hydrofluoride, crystallizing and vacuum drying the alkali hydrofluoride crystals, regenerating the alkali fluoride by expelling hydrogen fluoride, and crystallizing the alkali fluoride.

Abstract: Broadly tunable, c.w. laser action in the ir(infrared) spectral region is obtained from (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A color centers in an alkali halide crystal having F.sub.A, F.sub.B, F.sub.A ', F.sub.B ' (F.sub.2).sub.A and (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A color centers in a dynamic equilibrium. The laser material is prepared by additively coloring an alkali halide crystal, exposing the colored crystal to light in the high-energy edge (i.e., between 450-300 nm) of the F-center absortion range at a temperature from about 253K to about 300K, cooling the crystal to a temperature not greater than 100K, and re-exposing the crystal to the same light to create a dynamic equilibrium state in which (F.sub.2.sup.+).sub.A centers are present.

Abstract: The improvement of the electrolytic and additive methods of coloring alkali fluoride crystals comprising the step of selecting an alkali fluoride crystal having the impurities of between 0 and 5 ppmA of OH; between 0 and 50 ppmA of one or more alkaline earth cations, of which between 0 and 10 ppmA Mg.sup.++ and between 0 and 10 ppmA Ca.sup.++ ; between 0 and 50 ppmA of non-fluorine halide anions; between 0 and 10 ppmA of SiF.sub.6.sup.= ; between 0 and 30 ppmA of other ions; and the method of preparing these crystals which comprises converting the alkali fluoride to alkali hydrofluoride, crystallizing and vacuum drying the alkali hydrofluoride crystals, regenerating the alkali fluoride by expelling hydrogen fluoride, and crystallizing the alkali fluoride.

Abstract: An imperforate, highly heat-absorbent pellet is enclosed between vertically-spaced upper and lower wall members which are sealed together only at their outer peripheries. A layer of thermal insulation is interposed between the pellet and the lower wall. The pellet is maintained in a centered position in the serving base primarily by a peripheral, upwardly-inclined, thin flange about the pellet which contacts an upwardly-inclined side portion of the upper wall. A raised center portion of the upper wall has a wall descending to a depressed ring just inwardly of the side portion; the pellet has a corresponding downward step contacting the descending wall and assisting in aligning the parts. The pellet and server base thereby are made rigid against deformation and rendered substantially non-burstable upon heating.

Abstract: A method of improving the holographic storage of data by yielding brighter olograms with higher densities which comprises recording an interferogram of an object wave and a reference wave into a holographically recordable medium consisting of an ionic crystal initially with a random distribution of anisotropic centers, and mutually off-set at an angle of at least sin.sup..sup.-1 10.lambda./d wherein d is the crystal thickness and .lambda. the wavelength of the coherent source; and then consecutively exposing the crystal to the object wave and the reference wave, each with a .pi./2 rotation in the plane of polarization but without any change in light intensity, wavelength, or crystal temperature.

Abstract: A method for determining the capability and optimum operating parameters of alkali halide crystals with anisotropic centers as holographic recording media by assessing the dispersion and absorption of polarized light by the anisotropic centers through a measurement of the difference in refractive index and absorption for light of different polarizations, the former through utilization of an ellipsometric technique wherein light passes successively through a polarizer, test crystal, analyzer, and detector.

Abstract: A refractive index-based sensor uses a light source and an optical fiber to direct an optical beam towards a sensor/environment face at a specific angle. The sensor has a predetermined shape selected such that the light directed into the sensor will have a specific angle of incidence designed to detect a plurality of liquids. A second optical fiber carries the light reflected off the sensor/environment face to a photodetector. The optical beam will either be transmitted through or reflected off the sensor/environment face based upon the refractive indices of the sensor and the environment and upon the angle of incidence of the optical beam. The amount of light reflected is indicative of the refractive index of the material in a given area of the sensor/environment face and, thus, the type of material. By adjusting the angle at which the light is directed to the sensor/environment face, the photodetector response can be calibrated to identify the type of liquid present at the sensor/environment face.