We used laser guide star adaptive optics at the Lick and Keck Observatories to study active galactic nuclei and galaxies, with emphasis on those in the early Universe. The goals were to observe large galaxies like our own Milky Way in the process of their initial assembly from sub-components, to identify central active galactic nuclei due to accreting black holes in galaxy cores, and to measure rates of star formation and evolution in galaxies. In the distant universe our focus was on the GOODS and GEMS fields (regions in the Northern and Southern sky that include the Hubble Deep Fields) as well as the Extended Groth Strip and COSMOS fields. Each of these parts of the sky has been intensively studied at multiple wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the XMM Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and several ground-based telescopes including the Very Large Array radio interferometer, in order to gain an unbiased view of a significant statistical sample of galaxies in the early universe.

The differences in the saturated zone hydrochemistry with depth at borehole NC-EWDP-22PC reflect the addition of recharge along Fortymile Wash. The differences in water chemistry with depth at borehole NC-EWDP-19PB appear to indicate that other processes are involved. Water from the lower part of NC-EWDP-19PB possesses chemical characteristics that clearly indicate that it has undergone cation exchange that resulted in the removal of calcium and magnesium and the addition of sodium. This water is very similar to water from the Western Yucca Mountain facies that has previously been thought to flow west of NC-EWDP-19PB. Water from the lower zone in NC-EWDP-19PB also could represent water from the Eastern Yucca Mountain facies that has moved through clay-bearing or zeolitized aquifer material resulting in the altered chemistry. Water chemistry from the upper part of the saturated zone at NC-EWDP-19PB, both zones at NC-EWDP-22PC, and wells in the Fortymile Wash facies appears to be the result of recharge through the alluvium south of Yucca Mountain and within the Fortymile Wash channel.

We report on the observation of ultrafast photo-enhanced ferromagnetism in GaMnAs. It is manifested as a transient magnetization increase on a 100-ps time scale, after an initial sub-ps demagnetization. The dynamic magnetization enhancement exhibits a maximum below the Curie temperature {Tc} and dominates the demagnetization component when approaching {Tc}. We attribute the observed ultrafast collective ordering to the p-d exchange interaction between photoexcited holes and Mn spins, leading to a correlation-induced peak around 20K and a transient increase in {Tc}.