Nanowire as pico-gram balance at workplace atmosphere

The mechanical resonance behavior of a ZnO nanowire/nanorod at ambient condition has been studied under optical microscope by cutting its length using focused ion beam microscopy. Nanobalance using a ZnO nanowire as the cantilever has been demonstrated for measuring the mass in the order of pico-grams in working atmosphere (see optical microscopy images). The measurement limit of the balance is estimated to be ∼1 pg. The technique demonstrated here has potential for commercial applications in general laboratories, especially for measuring the mass of wet biological cells or species.     

From Autonomous Coherence Resonance to Periodically Driven Stochastic Resonance

In periodically driven nonlinear stochastic systems, noise may play a role of enhancing the output periodic signal （termed as stochastic resonance or SR）. While in autonomous excitable systems, noise may play a role of increasing coherent motion （termed as coherence resonance or CR）. So far the topics of SR and CR have been investigated separately as two major fields of studying the active roles of noise in nonlinear systems. We find that these two topics are closely related to each other. Specifically, SR occurs in such periodically driven systems that the corresponding autonomous systems show CR. The SR with sensitive frequency dependence can be observed when the corresponding autonomous system shows CR with finite characteristic frequency. Moreover, ‘resonant noise＇ and ‘resonant frequency＇ of SR coincide with those of CR.     

The Casimir atomic pendulum

We want to introduce an atomic pendulum whose driving force (torque) is due to the quantum vacuum fluctuations. Applying the well-known Casimir-Polder effect to a special configuration (a combined structure of an atomic nanostring and a conducting plate), an atomic pendulum (Casimir atomic pendulum) is designed. Using practically acceptable data corresponding to the already known world of nanotechnology and based on reasonable/reliable numerical estimates, the period of oscillation for the pendulum is computed. This pendulum can be considered as both a new micro(nano)-electromechanical system and a new simple vacuum machine. Its design may be considered as a first step towards realizing the visualized vacuum (Casimir) clock!     

An Implicit Scheme of Lattice Boltzmann Method for Sine-Gordon Equation

We establish an implicit scheme of lattice Boltzmann method for simulating the sine-Gordon equation, which can be transformed into the explicit one, so the computation of the scheme is simple. Moreover, the parameter θ of the implicit scheme is independent of the relaxation time, which makes the model more flexible. The numerical results show that this method is very effective.     

Spectra of Hamiltonians with generalized single-site dynamical disorder

Starting from the deformed commutation relationsa _q (t) a ^q (s)–q a ^q (s) a _q (t)=(t–s)1, –1q1 with a covariance (t–s) and a parameterq varying between –1 and 1, a stochastic process is constructed which continuously deforms the classical Gaussian and classical compound Poisson process. The moments of these distinguished stochastic processes are identified with the Hilbert space vacuum expectation values of products of with fixed parametersq, and . Thereby we can interpolate between dichotomic, random matrix and classical Gaussian and compound Poisson processes. The spectra of Hamiltonians with single-site dynamical disorder are calculated for an exponential covariance (coloured noise) by means of the time convolution generalized master equation formalism (TC-GME) and the partial cumulants technique. The final result for the spectral function is given as aq-dependent infinite continued fraction. In the case of the random matrix processes the infinite continued fraction can be summed up yielding a self-consistent equation for the one-particle Green function.     

Fluorescence Detection and Buffer Gas Cooling of Trapped Mercury Ions in Paul Trap

Pig ions are confined in a hyperboloid ion trap. With the rf discharge ^202 Hg isotope lamp, the fluorescence signal of trapped Hg ions is observed. By means of buffer gas cooling, the ionic temperature is reduced. As a result, the trapping time is increased and the signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） of the fluorescent signal is improved. The temperature of ion cloud is estimated by measuring the space charge shift.     

Sensitivity of Josephson junctions to high-pass filtered noise of black-body radiation

The influence of the nonwhite noise on the Josephson junction is considered by using the averaging principle. It is shown that in contrast to the case of white noise there is a non-zero critical current, but it has high sensitivity to the noise power. The dependence of noise power on the critical current can be used for the detection of cold black-body radiation.     

Diffusion and correlation in a coherent representation

Using a Fock-space formalism for the Master equation and introducing the density operator we present an unified method to derive kinetic equations for hopping processes with and without exclusion on a lattice. The corresponding Liouvillians are written in terms of Fermi or Bose operators, respectively. Although the Liouvillians are different the averaged particle numbers obey the same diffusion equation. Differences appear in the correlation functions only. The Master equation can be transformed into a differential equation in a coherent state representation. Using the algebraic properties of Grassmann numbers we are able to find the exact statonary solution for diffusion with exclusion. The conductivity can be derived in the bosonic and the fermionic case. The results are in accordance with those obtained with different other methods.     

A theoretical analysis of acoustic microscopy with converging acoustic beams

A theoretical analysis is carried out to synthesize acoustic material signatures (AMS) of solid plates immersed in water. The distinctive feature of this analysis is that it avoids three major simplifying assumptions of the presently available techniques, which are, paraxial approximation, assumption of perfect reflection and Gaussian summation of the incident field. Presently available techniques can avoid some but not all of these simplifying assumptions for computing the AMS. In this paper the analysis is carried out for lowfrequency acoustic waves generated by a cylindrical transducer without a lens rod. Reasons for these changes in the conventional acoustic microscope geometry is given. The AMS is synthesized for an aluminium plate in presence as well as in absence of water on its one side. As expected a significant difference is observed between the signatures generated under these two situations.     

A Simple Systematical Law of E2＋ Values for Heavy Nuclei in the NpNn Scheme and the Evolution of the Z=64 Shell Gap

A systematics of excitation energy of the first 2^＋ state E2＋ in even-even heavy nuclei （A ≥ 120） is studied in the NpNn scheme. It is found that a simple exponential function describes the dependence of E2＋ values on NpNn values very well. In addition, the Z = 64 shell gap is reexamined by investigating the systematics of the 52 ≤ Z ≤66 region. It is found that the Z = 64 shell gap is largest at N = 82 and becomes smMler with either increasing or decreasing of neutron numbers. The effects of this shell gap become negligible for counting the valence proton numbers when N ≥ 92 or N ≤ 72.     

Noise induced energy excitation by a general environment

We analyze the effects that general environments, namely ohmic and non-ohmic, at zero and high temperature induce over a quantum Brownian particle. We state that the evolution of the system can be summarized in terms of two main environmental induced physical phenomena: decoherence and energy activation. In this Letter we show that the latter is a post-decoherence phenomenon. As the energy is an observable, the excitation process is a direct indication of the system-environment entanglement particularly useful at zero temperature.     

Non-universality of dephasing in quantum transport

We investigate the influence of the environment on coherent quantum transport. While random processes with classical stochastic potentials can be treated in the concept of phase memory, this is not possible for fully quantized system-plus-reservoir models. In the latter case, the decay of coherences is not only depending on the coupled dynamics, but also crucially on the special geometry of the physical system in regard. We introduce a microscopic model with localized environmental modes where the geometry dependence is removed and calculate the coherence length.     

Cantilevered actuator using magnetostrictive thin film

This paper describes a cantilevered magnetic actuator driven by magnetostriction in a low magnetic field. The dimensions of the two layers actuator were 1×5 mm and amorphous FeSiB was used as the magnetostrictive material. Since the FeSiB has excellent soft magnetic characteristics, the actuator with FeSiB was able to work in magnetic field strength of less than 10 kA/m. The theoretical formulas for the amount of the displacement and the force of the actuator were obtained. The theoretical results agreed with the experimental one. According to the theoretical formula, the displacement was calculated with the parameter of the mechanical properties of the substrate. To obtain the large displacement, the actuator with Co substrate was designed based on the theoretical formula. The displacement of 153 μm was obtained using Cu substrate of 1.1 μm thickness in the magnetic field of 10 kA/m. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved     

Study ofA+A→0 with probability of reaction and diffusion in one dimension and in fractal substrata

We present Monte Carlo simulations of annihilation reactionA+A0 in one dimensional lattice and in three different fractal substrata. In the model, the particles diffuse independently and when two of them attempt to occupy the same substratum site, they react with a probabilityp. For different kinds of initial distributions and in the short an intermediate time regimes, the results for 0<p1 show that the density ofA particles approximately behaves as (t)=(t=0)f(t/t ₀), with the scaling functionf(x)1 forx1,f(x)x ^–y forx1. The crossover timet ₀, behaves ast _{0 0eff} ^–1y where theeffective initial density _0eff depends on (t=0) and on the kind of initial distribution. For a given substratum of spreading dimensiond _s, the exponenty(d _s/2<y<1) depends only onp and its value increases asp decreases (y1 whenp0). In the very long time regime it is expected thatp(t)t ^–ds/2 independently ofp.     

Four-photon processes stimulated by a fluctuating pump

Four-photon parametric light amplification stimulated by noisy pump in a dispersive medium, is theoretically analyzed. The model of the fluctuating phase is used. The increments in case of temporal as well as of spatial laser pump modulation are considered. It is shown that the efficiency of the four-photon process due to a broad-band pump is comparable to that of monochromatic pump. Quantitative estimates for the medium of metal vapor are given, too.     

An Effective Method on Two-Dimensional Lattice Boltzmann Simulations with Moving Boundaries

We propose a lattice Boltzmann scheme for two-dimensional complex boundaries moving in fluid flow. The hydrodynamic forces exerting on the moving boundaries are calculated based on a stress-integration method proposed before, but the extrapolation procedure is avoided, and the stability of this model is improved. The accuracy and robustness are demonstrated by numerical simulations of a circular particle settling in a twodimensional vertical channel. The numerical convergence is studied by varying the time-step and the dimensionless particle sizes.     

Charge and Heat Transport in Polycrystalline Metallic Nanostructures

Metals are typically good conductors in which the abilities to transport charge and to transport heat can be related through the Wiedemann-Franz law. Here we report on an abnormal charge and heat transport in polycrystalline metallic nanostructures in which the ability to transport charge is weakened more obviously than that to transport heat. We attribute it to the influence of the internal grain boundaries and have formulated a novel relation to predict the thermal conductivity. The Wiedemann-Franz law is then modified to account for the influence of the grain boundaries on the charge and heat transport with the predictions now agreeing well with the measured results.     

Empirical evidences of a common multifractal signature in economic, biological and physical systems

Recent developments in microcanonical multifractal formalism have lead to a sensible improvement in the numerical techniques for the determination of the multifractal characteristics of real signals. With the aid of these techniques, we have found empirical evidence of a common multifractal signature in six very different systems, ranging from stock market time series to sea surface temperature records. These systems are not only found to be multifractal, but their singularity spectra are coincident. We propose an explanation of this striking coincidence in terms of a cascade process and analyze its consequences.     

Detection of Isotopes of Mercury Ions by Resonant Ejection in Paul Trap

A simple method to detect mercury ions confined in a Paul trap has been developed by resonant ejection. In this method, frequency of the additional ejection ac voltage is scanned instead of the amplitude of the rf drive voltage in conventional methods. It is possible not only to observe the spectra of the secular oscillation of the trapped ions directly, but also to eject the confined ions from the trap mass-selectively.