Nanoscale Science and Technology at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Research in the emerging field of nanoscale science and technology has grown steadily at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1990. This article summarizes some of this work, examining research highlights within the seven key categories of nanoscience in which Los Alamos has ongoing projects, capabilities, and facilities: (1) Materials and chemistry, (2) Theory and modeling, (3) Bioscience, (4) Investigative tools and facilities, (5) Sensors and devices, (6) Synthesis and fabrication, and (7) Education and outreach. Future research horizons are indicated throughout while institutional strategies for advancing nanoscale science are summarized at the end.     

Quantitation of trace levels of phenyltin compounds using HPTLC

Mixtures of tetraphenyltin, triphenyltin chloride, diphenyltin dichloride, and monophenyltin trichloride were resolved using high performance thin layer chromatography on silica gel with retention factor values of 0.80, 0.35, 0.20 and 0.01, respectively. Inorganic tin impurities were strongly adsorbed and did not migrate from the origin. Diphenyltin dichloride, monophenyltin trichloride, and inorganic tin components reacted with morin to produce fluorescent complexes. Postdevelopment exposure of the plate to ultraviolet light photodegraded the organic components which, after morin treatment, exhibited greater fluorescence than the organotins. This photolysis technique permitted the visualization of the otherwise non-fluorescent tetraphenyltin and weakly fluorescent triphenyltin spots.The components were quantitated using scanning densitometry. The working range varied from a maximum of 222 ng to a minimum of 1 ng, depending on the component and the excitation wavelength chosen. Thirty standards each containing five components were spotted, developed, derivatized, and scanned three times to produce 480 pieces of data within four hours. Calibration curves showed an instrumental error of 1.5% relative standard deviation units, and a spotter and intraplate variation of 9.0% relative standard deviation units. The inherent multiplicity of high performance thin layer chromatography allows for multiple sampling and analysis, thereby yielding significantly increased precision and high sample throughput. The chromatography and detection of butyltins and cyclohexyltins were also examined.     

A new approach to spontaneously broken conformal symmetry

In this paper we present a new method for constructing theories of gravitation which exhibit spontaneously broken conformal symmetry. It does not require introducing nongeometric terms (i.e., auxiliary gauge fields or potential terms for the conformal field) into the Lagrangian. It is based on a theory which initially is locally both Lorentz invariant and Weyl gauge invariant inD dimensions. It is shown that, if the field Lagrangian contains terms quadratic in curvature in addition to the Ricci scalar, then the field equations allow both the dilation field and some connection components to have nonvanishing vacuum values. Both Lorentz and Weyl symmetries are thereby broken simultaneously.     

Study of 169Hf at high rotational frequency

High-spin properties of the nucleus ¹⁶⁹Hf have been studied through the fusion evaporation reaction ⁹⁶Zr(⁷⁶Ge,3n)¹⁶⁹Hf at a beam energy of 310 MeV. The known rotational bands have been extended considerably and 6 new bands have been established, four of which form coupled bands with pronounced M1 connections. Quasiparticle assignments are suggested for the new band structures, and it appears that coupling to vibrational degrees of freedom plays a role. Both coupled bands involve the excitation of quasiprotons. In the region of highest spin, a large alignment gain is interpreted in terms of a mixed crossing where an h _9/2 and an h _11/2 quasiproton provide the two signatures of the aligning configuration. Received: 23 March 2001 / Accepted: 20 September 2001     

Preparation of polymandelide by reaction of α-bromophenylacetic acid and triethylamine

Polymandelide was prepared in 77% yield by reaction of α-bromophenylacetic acid and triethylamine. The product was characterized by ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR and IR spectra and isolation and identification of mandelic acid from hydrolysis of the polymer. The NMR spectra indicate the presence of tacticity at CH in the polymer. Molecular weights were determined by GPC and viscosity measurements; n values of 12–20 are comparable to those reported for polymandelides prepared by other methods. The x-ray powder diffraction pattern showed the product to be completely amorphous. Thermal decomposition was studied using DSC.     

Existence theory for spatially competitive network facility location models

Models for locating a firm's production facilities while simultaneously determining production levels at these facilities and shipping patterns so as to maximize the firm's profits are presented. In these models, existing firms, are assumed to act in accordance with an appropriate model of spatial equilibrium. A proof of existence of a solution to the combined location-equilibrium problem is provided.     

Weyl gauging and spontaneously broken Lorentz symmetry: Some alternative models

Some new effective actions are suggested for theories in which the affine connection is not completely specified by the metric. The new actions lead to models in which the metric, torsion, and Weyl vector fields all propagate. The dimensionally reduced versions do not contain third derivatives of the gauge potentials in the field equation. Some simple models which exhibit simultaneous breaking of Weyl andD-dimensional Lorentz symmetry are investigated. It is shown that it is possible for this effect to occur in any model in which the field action contains the Einstein-Hilbert term. This is due to the fact that the contortion occurs in this object as part of an indefinite quadratic form.