Direct observation of large electronic domains with memory effect in doped manganites

We use a spatially resolved, direct spectroscopic probe for electronic structure with an additional sensitivity to chemical compositions to investigate high-quality single crystal samples of La(1/4)Pr(3/8)Ca(3/8)MnO3, establishing the formation of distinct insulating domains embedded in the metallic host at low temperatures. These domains are found to be at least an order of magnitude larger in size compared to previous estimates and exhibit memory effects on temperature cycling in the absence of any perceptible chemical inhomogeneity, suggesting long-range strains as the probable origin.     

A novel synthesis of 5-functionalized oxazolidin-2-ones from enantiomerically pure 2-substituted N-[(R)-(+)-alpha-methylbenzyl]aziridines

5-Funtionalized enantiomerically pure oxazolidin-2-ones were prepared in one pot from commercially available chiral aziridines bearing an electron-withdrawing group at C-2 with retention of the configuration in high yields by regioselective aziridine ring-opening followed by intramolecular cyclization.     

Structure of the Ba-induced Si(111)- (3 x 2) reconstruction

The Ba/Si(111) surface, previously known as a 3 x 1 phase, is found to have a 3 x 2 periodicity and a semiconducting band gap. The substrate reconstructs into the honeycomb chain-channel (HCC) structure with Ba atoms in the channel, as in the alkali-metal-induced Si(111)-(3 x 1). However, the metal coverage is determined to be 1/6 monolayers, half the alkali-metal coverage. We propose that the structure and the metal coverage determined for the Ba adsorbate is universal for other alkaline-earth-metal adsorbates. With the alkali-metal-induced 3 x 1 case, our results lead to a rule that one donated electron per 3 x 1 surface unit is necessary to stabilize the HCC reconstruction of Si.     

A variational perturbation approximation method in Tsallis non-extensive statistical physics

For the generalized statistical mechanics based on the Tsallis entropy, a variational perturbation approximation method with the principle of minimal sensitivity is developed by calculating the generalized free energy up to the third order in variational perturbation expansion. The approximation up to the first order amounts to a variational approach which covers the variational method developed by E.K. Lenzi, L.C. Malacarne, R.S. Mendes [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80 (1998) 218] and the approximations up to higher orders can systematically improve variational results. As an illustrated example, the generalized free energy for a classical harmonic oscillator (considered in the Lenzi's joint work) are calculated up to the third order, and the resultant approximations up to the first, second, and third orders are numerically compared with the exact result.     

Simulation of two‐phase flow–body interaction problems using direct forcing/fictitious domain–level set method

In the present paper, a direct forcing/fictitious domain (DF/FD)–level set method is proposed to simulate the twophase flow–body interaction. The DF/FD does not sacrifice accuracy and robustness by employing a discrete δ (Dirac delta) function to transfer quantities between the Eulerian nodes and Lagrangian points explicitly as the immersed boundary method. The advantages of this approach are the simple concept, the easy implementation and the utilization of original governing equation without modification. The main idea is to combine DF/FD method with the level set method in the Cartesian coordinates. We present the results of a number of test cases to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for single‐phase flow–body interaction problem and the two‐phase flows with a stationary body. Eventually, the simulations of various water entry problems have been conducted to validate the capability and the accuracy of the present method on solving the twophase flow–body interaction. Consequently, the present results are found to be in good agreement with those of previous studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High speeds complementary integrated circuits fabricated with all‐printed polymeric semiconductors

Inkjet‐printed high speed polymeric complementary circuits are fabricated using an n‐type ([poly{[N,N′‐bis(2‐octyldodecyl)‐naphthalene‐1,4,5,8‐bis(dicarboximide)‐2,6‐diyl]‐alt‐5,5′‐(2,2′‐dithiophene)} [P(NDI2OD‐T2), Polyera ActivInk N2200] and two p‐type polymers [poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and a dithiophene‐based polymer (Polyera ActivInk P2100)]. The top‐gate/bottom‐contact (TG/BC) organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) exhibit well‐balanced and very‐high hole and electron mobilities (μ_FET) of 0.2–0.5 cm²/Vs, which were enabled by optimization of the inkjet‐printed active features, small contact resistance both of electron and hole injections, and effective control over gate dielectrics and its orthogonal solvent effect (selection of poly(methyl methacrylate) and 2‐ethoxyethanol). Our first demonstrated inkjet‐printed polymeric complementary devices have been integrated to high‐performance complementary inverters (gain >30) and ring oscillators (oscillation frequency ～50 kHz). We believe that the operating frequency of printable organic circuits can be further improved more than 10 MHz by fine‐tuning of the device architecture and optimization of the p‐ and n‐channel semiconductor processing. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2010     

Optical and Electrical Properties of Ferroelectric SBN Thin Films Prepared by Sol-Gel Process

Strontium barium niobate thin films were prepared by sol-gel method on various substrates using an improved process, two-step heating process. The two-step heating process applies an additive heat-treatment before crystallization for enhancement of the densification and the nucleation of films. Also, highly c-axis oriented SBN thin films with various compositions were obtained on MgO(100) and Pt(100)/MgO(100) substrates. Their optical and electrical properties such as optical propagation loss, refractive index, P-E hysteresis, and dielectric constant, were characterized as a function of the film composition.     

How to obtain magnetocapacitance effects at room temperature: The case of Mn-doped BiFeO3

The magnetoelectric properties of a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite BiFe_0.7Mn_0.3O₃ are reported. An anomaly in the dielectric constant, related to enhanced thermal fluctuations around the antiferromagnetic transition, was induced near room temperature by the substitution of Mn for Fe in BiFeO₃. This substitution also brings about non-trivial magnetocapacitance effects at room temperature.     

Effect of aromatic substitution on phase behavior of blends of halogenated polystyrene and conventional polystyrene

Miscibility phase behavior in blends of poly(bromostyrene) with polystyrene (PS) has been investigated by means of time‐resolved light scattering, optical microscopy, and DSC. Cloud point phase diagrams of blends of conventional PS with poly‐(2‐bromostyrene) (P2BrS), poly‐(3‐bromostyrene), and poly‐(4‐bromostyrene) of comparable molecular weights were established by light scattering. Of particular interest is the fact that ortho, meta, and para substitutions in the styrenic aromatic rings of poly(bromostyrene) show profound effects on the composition–temperature phase diagrams of their blends with PS, exhibiting a lower critical‐solution temperature (LCST), an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), and combined LCST/UCST diagrams, respectively. Poly‐(2‐chlorostyrene) exhibits an LCST behavior very close to that of the P2BrS blend, suggesting that these types of halogen atoms may be inconsequential to phase behavior. A similar study has been extended to a PS blend containing commercial brominated PS (66 mol % bromine substitution) to determine what location of bromine substitution is crucial for miscibility enhancement in the flame‐retardant brominated PS blends. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 1605–1615, 2001     

Iwasawa invariants of Λ-adic representation

It is a classical result that the number of primes ? for which τ(?) vanishes has Dirichlet density 0, where τ(?) is the Ramanujan τ function. We study an analogous question that arises in studying the Λ-adic representation whose image is full. In particular, we show that the set of primes ? for which the trace of the Frobenius at ? has positive μ-invariant has Dirichlet density 0. We also discuss the analogous Dirichlet densities related to λ-invariants.