Laser trapping of small colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal: clouds and ghosts

We show that, contrary to intuition, small (< or =1 microm) transparent particles can be trapped and manipulated in a nematic liquid crystal using an intense laser beam, although their index of refraction is lower than both refractive indices of the surrounding birefringent fluid. Two mechanisms are identified that are responsible for this anomalous trapping: (i) surface-induced distortion of the birefringent media around the particle, creating a high-index "cloud" around the colloid, and (ii) laser-induced distortion or (partial) melting of a nematic, creating a ghost colloid.     

Mechanism of enhancement in electromagnetic properties of MgB2 by Nano SiC doping

A comparative study of pure, SiC, and C doped MgB2 wires has revealed that the SiC doping allowed C substitution and MgB2 formation to take place simultaneously at low temperatures. C substitution enhances H_{c2}, while the defects, small grain size, and nanoinclusions induced by C incorporation and low-temperature processing are responsible for the improvement in J_{c}. The irreversibility field (H_{irr}) for the SiC doped sample reached the benchmarking value of 10 T at 20 K, exceeding that of NbTi at 4.2 K. This dual reaction model also enables us to predict desirable dopants for enhancing the performance properties of MgB2.     

Observation of condensed phases of quasiplanar core-softened colloids

We experimentally study the condensed phases of repelling core-softened spheres in two dimensions. The dipolar pair repulsion between superparamagnetic spheres trapped in a thin cell is induced by a transverse magnetic field and softened by suitably adjusting the cell thickness. We scan a broad density range and we materialize a large part of the theoretically predicted phases in systems of core-softened particles, including expanded and close-packed hexagonal, square, chainlike, stripe or labyrinthine, and honeycomb phase. Further insight into their structure is provided by Monte Carlo simulations.     

Cleaning of Porous Aluminium Titanate by Oxygen Plasma

The removal of organic contaminants from porous Al₂TiO₅ during treatment in oxygen plasma was studied by optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The samples of Al₂TiO₅ were immersed into water emulsion of mineral oil for 3 h to get soaked. Then, they were thoroughly cleaned in ultrasound to remove oil from the surface. Samples were later exposed to RF oxygen plasma at the pressure of 75 Pa. The plasma density was about 2 × 10¹⁶ m⁻³, the electron temperature was about 6 eV and the density of neutral oxygen atoms was about 2 × 10²¹ m⁻³. Optical emission spectra between 200 and 1,000 nm were measured continuously during plasma treatment. The CO peak resulting from oil oxidation reached a well-pronounced maximum between 100 and 150 s of plasma treatment. The maximum in CO corresponded well with a minimum in O peaks. Concentration of oil in the samples was estimated by energy dispersion X-ray analysis. Initially the samples showed high concentration of carbon (about 38 at.%), while after plasma treatment the carbon concentration decreased below the detection limit. The cleaning efficiency was explained by diffusion of oil towards the surface where it was removed by oxidation with oxygen radicals.     

Preparation and characterisation of ribonuclease monolithic bioreactor

In gene therapy and DNA vaccination, RNA removal from DNA preparations is vital and is typically achieved by the addition of ribonuclease into the sample. Removal of ribonuclease from DNA samples requires an additional purification step. An alternative is the implementation of immobilized ribonuclease. In our work, ribonuclease was covalently coupled onto the surface of methacrylate monoliths via epoxy or imidazole carbamate groups. Various immobilization conditions were tested by changing immobilization pH. Ribonuclease immobilized on the monolith via imidazole carbamate groups at pH 9 was found to be six times more active than the ribonuclease immobilized on the monolith via epoxy groups. Under optimal immobilization conditions the Michaelis-Menten constant, Km, for cytidine-2,3-cyclic monophosphate, and turnover number, k3 were 0.52 mM and 4.6s(-1), respectively, and mirrored properties of free enzyme. Enzyme reactor was found to efficiently eliminate RNA contaminants from DNA samples. It was active for several weeks of operation and processed 300 column volumes of sample. Required residence time to eliminate RNA was estimated to be around 0.5 min enabling flow rates above 1 column volume per min.     

Noise-enhanced performance of ratchet cellular automata

We present the first experimental realization of a ratchet cellular automaton (RCA) which has recently been suggested as an alternative approach for performing logical operations with interacting (quasi)particles. Our study was performed with interacting colloidal particles which serve as a model system for other dissipative systems, i.e., magnetic vortices on a superconductor or ions in dissipative optical arrays. We demonstrate that noise can enhance the efficiency of information transport in RCA and consequently enables their optimal operation at finite temperatures.     

Hyperfine field distribution in amorphous Fe40Ni40B20

From the Mössbauer investigation of amorphous Fe₄₀Ni₄₀B₂₀ and Fe₈₀B₂₀ alloys it was found that the substitution of Fe by Ni only shifts but does not influence the shape of the iron hyperfine field distribution contrary to that of crystalline f.c.c. Ni-Fe alloys suggesting a rather localized type of behaviour. The distributions of the linear combinations of isomer shift and quadrupole splitting are affected by this substitution.     

2D interactions and binary crystals of dipolar and quadrupolar nematic colloids

In this Letter, we demonstrate that the symmetry of the elastic interaction between the dipolar and quadrupolar colloidal particles in the nematic liquid crystal leads to a novel variety of 2D nematic "binary" colloidal crystals, which have not been observed in any colloidal system. The dipolar-quadrupolar interaction is highly anisotropic and shows a power-law dependence when the particles approach each other along the director field with a pair-binding energy of the order of several thousands of k(B)T for 4 microm diameter colloids.     

Noise abatement measures at airports: Contributing factors and mutual dependence

Airports are known to cause noise-related environmental concerns, mostly because significant environmental impact correlated with operation of airports arises from aircraft generated noise. In order to address this concern, many airports have applied a variety of actions that alleviate negative effects of noise i.e. noise abatement measures (NAMs). Although there are similarities between airports applying some of the NAMs, numbers and types of applied measures are quite different among them. This paper focuses on finding statistical evidence to support the hypothesis that there is a significant correlation between applied NAMs and specific characteristics related to airports. To determine the reasons why airports apply NAMs, a logistic regression method was used on the data set for 246 European airports. As predictor variables, five specific characteristics related to airports (number of runways, number of aircraft movements, distance from the city, population of the city it serves, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the country an airport is located in), and ten NAMs based on their mutual dependencies were used. The results demonstrate a significant correlation between the applied NAMs and particular airport-related characteristics, but also between NAMs themselves. These findings can be used to determine the likelihood of applying a particular NAM to any airport, based on the characteristics that show a significant correlation with the corresponding NAM.