Focusing of linearly-, and circularly polarized Gaussian background vortex beams by a high numerical aperture system afflicted with third-order astigmatism

Effects of third-order astigmatism on the focused structure of linearly and circularly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beams have been investigated by using vectorial Debye-Wolf integral. The results have been presented for total intensity distribution and squares of the polarization components at the focal plane of a high numerical aperture system, for two values of the topological charge. Astigmatism results in the stretching of the intensity pattern as well as of the squares of the polarization components. A split is observed in the intensity pattern of a focused beam having double topological charge, and also in the pattern of the longitudinal polarization component of circularly polarized beam even with unit topological charge.     

Vertically aligned N-doped carbon nanotubes by spray pyrolysis of turpentine oil and pyridine derivative with dissolved ferrocene

Vertically aligned nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes were synthesized from the pyrolysis of a mixture of turpentine oil, 4-tert-butylpyridine (C₉H₁₃N) and ferrocene on silicon and quartz substrate in nitrogen atmosphere at 700 °C by simple spray pyrolysis technique. SEM, TEM, TGA/DTA, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and electron probe micro analysis (EPMA) techniques were used to characterize the structural analysis and composition of the as-grown N-doped carbon nanotubes. Morphology of the films was greatly affected by the nature of the substrate. From the XPS and EPMA data, it was found that nitrogen content of the nanotubes were 1.6 at.% and 2 at.% on silicon and quartz substrate, respectively. Our studies show that two different types of N atoms can be present in these materials. These are ‘pyridinic’ and ‘graphitic’ nitrogen with binding energies of 398.2 eV and 400.4 eV, respectively. Raman spectroscopy reveals that graphitization of carbon nanotubes grown on silicon is better than nanotubes grown on quartz substrate. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the thermal stability of as-prepared nanotubes grown on silicon substrate is higher than the nanotubes deposited on quartz substrate.     

Flattened Gain Profile of Raman-Fiber Optical Parametric Hybrid Amplifier in C+L Band for SD-WDM System

Journal of Russian Laser Research - Variations in gain with the least noise figure and noise are the challenging issues for the hybrid amplifier. This is resolved in the proposed model of...     

Meticulous assessment of natural compounds from NPASS database for identifying analogue of GRL0617, the only known inhibitor for SARS-CoV2 papain-like protease (PLpro) using rigorous computational workflow

Molecular Diversity - The latest global outbreak of 2019 respiratory coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is triggered by the inception of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2. If recent events are of any...     

Identification of potential inhibitors of coronavirus hemagglutinin-esterase using molecular docking,molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation

Molecular Diversity - The pandemic outbreak of the Corona viral infection has become a critical global health issue. Biophysical and structural evidence shows that spike protein possesses a high...     

Synthesis and Electronic Properties of Novel 5,7-Diazapentacene Derivatives

A route to the synthesis of novel 5,7-diazapentacenes and some preliminary studies on their properties is reported. A single crystal X-ray diffraction study of the dihexyl derivative showed it had formed a dimer during the analysis. The materials possess lower lying frontier orbitals than pentacene and may have potential applications in organic electronic devices. This synthetic method may be applicable to the synthesis of other azaacenes.     

A fluorescent di-zinc(II) complex of bis-calix[4]arene conjugate as chemosensing-ensemble for the selective recognition of ATP

A triethylene glycol di-imine locked triazole linked bis-calix[4]arene conjugate L has been synthesised and characterised. Conjugate L exhibits high fluorescence enhancement towards Zn²⁺ among the 13 metal ions studied down to a lower detection limit of ～12 ppb. The absorption and visual colour change experiments differentiated the Zn²⁺ from the other metal ions studied. The isolated zinc complex, [Zn₂L] has been used as a chemo-sensing ensemble for the recognition of anions based on their binding affinities towards Zn²⁺. [Zn₂L] was found to be sensitive and selective towards phosphate-bearing species and in particular to adenosine triphosphate (ATP^2 ? ) among the other 20 anions studied as observed based on the changes occurred in the fluorescence intensity. The selectivity of the ATP^2 ?  has been shown on the basis of the changes observed in the emission and absorption spectral studies. The lowest detectable concentration for ATP^2 ?  with the chemo-sensing ensemble [Zn₂L] is 348 ppb in methanol. The fluorescence quenching by the phosphate-based anions has been modelled by molecular mechanics studies and found that the anions possessing two or more phosphate moieties can only bridge between the two zinc centres, and hence those possessing only one phosphate moiety (H₂PO₄^?  and AMP^2 ? ) are ineffective.     

Uranium in ground water of Rajnandgaon District of Central India

The present study highlights uranium levels, associated health effects, and physicochemical properties of ground water samples collected from Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh State, Central India. Uranium concentrations of ground water samples are found to exceed than 30 µg/L (United States Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organisation recommended limit) at two villages in summer and at one village in winter while it is found higher than 60 µg/L (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Department of Atomic Energy, India recommended limit) at only one village in summer. Correlation analysis between uranium and physicochemical parameters suggest that Ca²⁺ ion and total alkalinity play an important role in uranium contamination of ground water.