New cesium titanate layer structures

A phase study of the Cs₂OTiO₂ system in the composition range 75–100 mole% TiO₂ and the temperature range 850–1200°C revealed the existence of two new cesium titanates, with compositions Cs₂Ti₅O₁₁ and Cs₂Ti₆O₁₃. The former compound undergoes a reversible hydration reaction below 200°C to form Cs₂Ti₅O₁₁ · (1 + x)H₂O, 0.5 < x < 1. The structures of the three phases have been determined. They are based on corrugated layers of edge-shared octahedra, with cesium ions (and H₂O) packing between the layers. In Cs₂Ti₆O₁₃, the layers are continuous in two dimensions, whereas in Cs₂Ti₅O₁₁ and Cs₂Ti₅O₁₁ · (1 + x)H₂O, the layers are periodically stepped to give 5-octahedra wide, corner-linked ribbons.     

Effect of Pr-Ca substitution on the transport and magnetic behavior of LaMnO3 perovskite

The effect of simultaneous substitution of a fluctuating cation and a divalent cation in LaMnO₃ perovskite modifies the properties of the material to exhibit large valence colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effect. A good example of these properties is (La_1−2x Pr _x Ca _x )MnO₃ (LPCMO) type CMR material. In this communication it is reported that, with the increase in x (for x=0.1, 0.15, 0.2), the T _c varies between 100 and 120 K with improvisation in metal-insulator transition. Interestingly, resistance increases with x from few hundred ohms to few kilo ohms with corresponding decrease in the unit cell volume. The results of the studies using X-ray diffraction (XRD), electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance and ac susceptibility measurements on LPCMO samples for understanding the structural, transport and magnetic properties are discussed in detail.     

The octupole giant resonance strength in 16O

Angular distributions for polarized proton inelastic scattering cross sections along with the analysing power for the reaction ${}^{16}\text{O}\text{(}\text{p}\text{,}\text{p}\text{′)}{}^{16}\text{O}{}^1\text{(2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{, 8.88}\text{MeV}\text{)}$ at E_p=42.5, 44.0 and 49.3 MeV have been measured. A semidirect reaction analysis augments the evidence for octupole giant resonance strength in the 30 to 50 MeV energy region.     

Linearly constrained minimax optimization

We present an algorithm for nonlinear minimax optimization subject to linear equality and inequality constraints which requires first order partial derivatives. The algorithm is based on successive linear approximations to the functions defining the problem. The resulting linear subproblems are solved in the minimax sense subject to the linear constraints. This ensures a feasible-point algorithm. Further, we introduce local bounds on the solutions of the linear subproblems, the bounds being adjusted automatically, depending on the quality of the linear approximations. It is proved that the algorithm will always converge to the set of stationary points of the problem, a stationary point being defined in terms of the generalized gradients of the minimax objective function. It is further proved that, under mild regularity conditions, the algorithm is identical to a quadratically convergent Newton iteration in its final stages. We demonstrate the performance of the algorithm by solving a number of numerical examples with up to 50 variables, 163 functions, and 25 constraints. We have also implemented a version of the algorithm which is particularly suited for the solution of restricted approximation problems.This work has been supported by the Danish Natural Science Research Council, Grant No. 511-6874.     

Evidence for the production of slow antiprotonic hydrogen in vacuum

We present evidence showing how antiprotonic hydrogen, the quasistable antiproton (p)-proton bound system, has been synthesized following the interaction of antiprotons with the molecular ion H2+ in a nested Penning trap environment. From a careful analysis of the spatial distributions of antiproton annihilation events, evidence is presented for antiprotonic hydrogen production with sub-eV kinetic energies in states around n=70, and with low angular momenta. The slow antiprotonic hydrogen may be studied using laser spectroscopic techniques.     

Evaluation of 27Al and 51V electric field gradients and the crystal structure for aluminum orthovanadate (AlVO4) by density functional theory calculations

Three sets of crystal-structure data reported for AlVO(4) from two powder-XRD studies and a density functional theory (DFT) investigation, employing the Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP), have been examined and refined using the DFT structure-optimization scheme implemented in the WIEN2k software. The crystal structures are evaluated on the basis of (27)Al and (51)V quadrupole coupling parameters recently reported for AlVO(4), employing the corresponding electric-field gradient (EFG) tensor elements obtained from the DFT calculations. The DFT calculations provide a reliable assignment of the (27)Al/(51)V resonances from three distinct Al and three V environments to the specific crystallographic sites in the asymmetric unit for AlVO(4). An improved agreement between experimental quadrupole tensor elements and calculated EFG tensors is achieved after the DFT structure optimizations and consistent results are obtained using the three different structures as starting points. The improvement of the structural data is also supported by an evaluation of the Al-O and V-O bond lengths before and after DFT structure optimization. The (51)V nuclear quadrupole moment, |Q((51)V)| = 4.8 +/- 0.1 fm(2), derived from the present analysis, represents a value of higher accuracy than earlier reported Q((51)V) values. The origin of the (27)Al and (51)V EFGs are investigated by an evaluation of the orientations of the EFG tensors in the crystal frame and by an examination of the individual contributions from the valence electrons and the surrounding lattice. The latter investigation shows that the magnitude and orientation of the tensors are largely determined by the p-p((27)Al) and p-p, d-d((51)V) orbital contributions to the valence electrons, while the lattice part only gives a minor contribution for both nuclei.     

Assessing the polarization of a quantum field from stokes fluctuations

We propose an operational degree of polarization in terms of the variance of the Stokes vector minimized over all the directions of the Poincaré sphere. We examine the properties of this second-order definition and carry out its experimental determination. Quantum states with the same standard (first-order) degree of polarization are correctly discriminated by this new measure. We argue that a comprehensive quantum characterization of polarization properties requires a whole hierarchy of higher-order degrees.     

Low-loss chalcogenide waveguides on lithium niobate for the mid-infrared

We demonstrate low-loss chalcogenide (As(2)S(3)) waveguides on a LiNbO(3) substrate for the mid-IR wavelength (4.8 μm). Designed for single-mode propagation, they are fabricated through photolithography and dry-etching technology and characterized on a mid-IR measurement setup with a quantum cascade laser. For straight waveguides, propagation loss as low as 0.33 dB/cm is measured and low-loss bends on the order of 100 μm are simulated, with measurement results showing <3 dB for a 250 μm bend radius. The coupling efficiency is estimated to be 81%. In addition, the influences of variations in width and bend radius are also investigated.