Foundations of Plasmonics

Plasma physics is a very mature field, studied extensively for well over a century. The cross-disciplinary field of plasmonics (electromagnetics of metallic nanostructures), on the other hand, with its potential for an extraordinary light control through novel class of materials and the resulting applications, has become very fashionable only recently. Inevitably, as a result of this rapid development, the deep connections with the mother discipline, the plasma physics, have sometimes been overlooked. The goal of this work is to review some of these basic connections, which are relevant, and ultimately helpful for researchers in the new field. We focus on the solid-state structured plasmas and address the issue of classical versus quantum treatments. We discuss the little known subtleties of the surface plasmons at metallic surfaces (e.g. multipole plasmons) and their consequences on plasmonics of the textured metallic films. Plasmonics of nanoparticles has been preceded by studies of plasma effects in metallic clusters and semiconducting quantum dots (QDs). In this context, we discuss the little known connection between the Mie resonance in metallic particles and the collective resonance in wide parabolic quantum wells (QWs) and QDs. Researchers dealing with plasmonics of thin films can benefit from earlier studies of plasmons in the semiconductor modulation doped heterojunctions and QWs, with its rich spectrum of intersubband and two-dimensional plasmons. In non-equilibrium plasmonic systems, generation of plasmons can be stimulated, leading to the exciting possibility of the plasmon instability. Extraordinarily complex is the plasmonics of carbon nanotubes and graphene, with its numerous van Hove, one- and three-dimensional plasmons, and we discuss how the plasmonics of metamaterials can benefit from this complexity. Finally, we discuss a few applications, which could directly benefit from plasmonics, including medical and the novel class of solar cells.     

Vibrational Spectroscopy of Phenols and Phenolic Polymers. Theory,Experiment, and Applications

In the first part of this review, the authors give a survey on the literature of vibrational spectroscopy of phenol, phenol derivatives, and other phenolic componds from the last decade of the last century through today. The classical and modern methods of vibrational spectroscopy are also introduced and a glossary is included to aid comprehension. The second part deals with the literature regarding the importance of vibrational spectroscopy in the investigation and identification of phenolic compounds in natural substances, the application of vibrational spectroscopy in composite and synthetic polymer chemistry, and following of chemical processes and investigating their resulting products. Vibrational spectroscopy is a very good tool for determination of molecular structures and is important in chemical analysis and in the chemical industry.     

Calculus demonstrations using MATLAB

The note discusses ways in which technology can be used in the calculus learning process. In particular, five MATLAB programs are detailed for use by instructors or students that demonstrate important concepts in introductory calculus: Newton's method, differentiation and integration. Two of the programs are animated. The programs and the graphical user interface have been specifically designed to help the student understand the processes behind these important introductory concepts. Each program has a series of demonstrations that show unusual, difficult or important cases.     

Histochemical and Phytochemical Analysis of Lamium album subsp. album L. Corolla: Essential Oil,Triterpenes, and Iridoids

The aim of this study was to conduct a histochemical analysis to localize lipids, terpenes, essential oil, and iridoids in the trichomes of the L. album subsp. album corolla. Morphometric examinations of individual trichome types were performed. Light and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to show the micromorphology and localization of lipophilic compounds and iridoids in secretory trichomes with the use of histochemical tests. Additionally, the content of essential oil and its components were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Qualitative analyses of triterpenes carried out using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) coupled with densitometric detection, and the iridoid content expressed as aucubin was examined with spectrophotometric techniques. We showed the presence of iridoids and different lipophilic compounds in papillae and glandular and non-glandular trichomes. On average, the flowers of L. album subsp. album yielded 0.04 mL/kg of essential oil, which was dominated by aldehydes, sesquiterpenes, and alkanes. The extract of the L. album subsp. album corolla contained 1.5 × 10⁻³ ± 4.3 × 10⁻⁴ mg/mL of iridoid aucubin and three triterpenes: oleanolic acid, β-amyrin, and β-amyrin acetate. Aucubin and β-amyrin acetate were detected for the first time. We suggest the use of L. album subsp. album flowers as supplements in human nutrition.     

Finitely presented and coherent ordered modules and rings

We extend the usual definition of coherence, for modules over rings, to partially ordered right modules over a large class of partially ordered rings, called po-rings. In this situation, coherence is equivalent to saying that solution sets of finite systems of inequalities are finitely generated semimodules. Coherence for ordered rings and modules, which we call po-coherence, has the following features:.

(i) Every subring of Q, and every totally ordered division ring, is po-coherent.

(ii) For a partially ordered right module Aover a po-coherent poring R Ais po-coherent if and only if Ais a finitely presented .R-module and A ⁺is a finitely generated R ⁺-semimodule.

(iii) Every finitely po-presented partially ordered right module over a right po-coherent po-ring is po-coherent.

(iv) Every finitely po-presented abelian lattice-ordered group is po-coherent.     

Lie symmetries and nonlocally related systems of the continuous and discrete dispersive long waves system by geometric approach

By using the extended Harrison and Estabrook's differential forms approach, in this paper, we investigate the Lie symmetries of the continuous and discrete dispersive long waves system, respectively. Based on this method, two closed ideals written in terms of a set of differential forms are constructed for the dispersive long waves systems. Furthermore, some invariant solutions are presented for such systems. By a direct computation, it is shown that the discrete dispersive long waves system admits a Kac-Moody-Virasoro type and a Virasoro-like type Lie algebra, respectively. Finally, we present an interesting relationship between the continuous case and a modified dispersive long waves system, which can be used to find nonlocal properties for such systems with each other.     

Argon and krypton ion-induced changes in permalloy thin films

The effects of 75-keV Ar and 100-keV Kr ion irradiations of 72-nm thin DC-sputtered permalloy (Ni₈₁Fe₁₉) films on Si(100) wafers were studied at fluences of up to 10¹⁶ ions/cm². The changes of the structural and magnetic properties were measured via X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and magneto-optical Kerr effect. The irradiations increase the lattice constant and improve the crystallinity of the samples. They induce also strong changes of the magnetic polarisation and the coercive field for increasing ion fluence. The hysteresis loops suggest that, with increasing ion fluence, the reversal of the magnetisation changes gradually from rotation-dominated in the as-deposited films to domain-wall-motion dominated at the highest ion fluences. The results are compared with those obtained for Ni-, Cr-and Xe-ion irradiated permalloy films.     

FTO – an Electrode Material for the Stable Electrochemical Determination of Dopamine

Dopamine and other catecholamines play a keyrole for the interaction of numerous processes in the neuronal network. Hence, numerous detection methods have been developed. Electrochemical sensor developments for catecholamines are characterized mostly by complex modification strategies in order to avoid a disturbance of the sensor signal by interfering substances. Here the application of fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) as electrode material for dopamine detection is reported avoiding the necessity of expensive modifications and stability problems. This FTO based electrode allows the discrimination between dopamine and its precursor as well as its methylated degradation product and is not disturbed by typical interfering compounds (ascorbic acid, uric acid) and is characterized by high linearity and stability of the sensor signal for repeated measurements.     

Migration of perfluorinated compounds from paperbag to Tenax® and lyophilised milk at different temperatures

ABSTRACT

Migration tests of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from a grease-proof paperbag used for packaging of pet food have been carried out. No migration of perfluorocaboxylic acids (PFCAs), from PFBA to PFTeDA, to the simulant Tenax® was found after 10 days at 40°C. However, the increase of temperature in the range 80–160°C gave rise to the migration of the PFCAs. Finally, the migration to real foods such as lyophilised whole and low-fat milk samples at 80 and 120°C was studied. The results indicate that the migration percentages of the PFCASs into food samples are much higher than those obtained into Tenax®.     

Separation of enantiomers of new psychoactive substances by high‐performance liquid chromatography

New psychoactive substances are defined as compounds with consciousness‐changing effects and have been developed simultaneously with classical drugs. They arise through structural modifications of illegal substances and are mainly produced to circumvent laws. Availability is simple, since new psychoactive substances can be purchased from the Internet. Among them many chemical drug compound classes are chiral and thus the two resulting enantiomers can differ in their effects. The aim of this study is to develop a suitable chiral high‐performance liquid chromatography separation method for a broad spectrum of new psychoactive substances using cellulose tris(3,5‐dichlorophenylcarbamate) as a chiral selector. Experiments were performed by high‐performance liquid chromatography in normal‐phase mode under isocratic conditions using ultraviolet detection. Direct separation was carried out on a high‐performance liquid chromatography column (Lux® i‐Cellulose‐5, 3.5 μm, Phenomenex®), available since 2016. Excellent separation results were obtained for cathinones. After further optimization, even 47 instead of 39 out of 52 cathinones showed baseline separation. For amphetamine derivatives, satisfactory results were not achieved. Further, new psychoactive substances from other compound classes such as benzofuranes, thiophenes, phenidines, phenidates, morpholines, and ketamines were partially resolved, depending on the polarity and degree of substitution. All analytes, which were mainly purchased from the Internet, were proven to be traded as racemates.