Observation and analysis of near-surface atmospheric aerosol optical properties in urban Beijing

Year-round measurements of the mass concentration and optical properties of fine aerosols(PM_2.5) from June 2009 to May 2010 at an urban site in Beijing were analyzed.The annual mean values of the PM_2.5 mass concentration,absorption coefficient（Ab）,scattering coefficient（Sc） and single scattering albedo（SSA）at 525 nm were 67±66μg/m³,64 ±62 Mm^-1,360 ±405 Mm^-1 and 0.82 ±0.09,respectively.The bulk mass absorption efficiency and scattering efficiency of the PM_2.5 at 525 nm were 0.78 m²/g and 5.55 m²/g,respectively.The Ab and Sc showed a similar diurnal variation with a maximum at night and a minimum in the afternoon,whereas SSA displayed an opposite diurnal pattern.Significant increases in the Ab and Sc were observed in pollution episodes caused by the accumulation of pollutants from both local and regional sources under unfavorable weather conditions.Aerosol loadings in dust events increased by several times in the spring,which had limited effects on the Ab and Sc due to the low absorption and scattering efficiency of dust particles.The frequency of haze days was the highest in autumn because of the high aerosol absorption and scattering under unfavorable weather conditions.The daily PM_2.5concentration should be controlled to a level lower than 64 μg/m³ to prevent the occurrence of haze days according to its exponentially decreased relationship with visibility.     

Prospects for p̄p → ȲY studies at PANDA

Strangeness and charm production provide an excellent probe of QCD in the confinement domain. With the PANDA detector at FAIR, this can be studied in e.g., hyperon production in the p?p → ?Y reactions. In PANDA, all ground state strange hyperons and single charmed Λ’s will be accessible. Simulations show that the differential cross sections and spin observables can be well reconstructed for these reaction channels.     

Facile filling of metal particles in small carbon nanotubes for catalysis

A versatile wet chemistry method is developed for filling of subnanometer sized metal particles in carbon nanotubes with a diameter smaller than 1.5 nm. As an example, we showed that a confined bi-component Pd-V catalyst exhibit a higher benzene hydroxylation activity compared with that within multi-walled carbon nanotubes.     

Ammonia-treatment assisted fully encapsulation of Fe2O3 nanoparticles in mesoporous carbons as stable anodes for lithium ion batteries

To improve the initial coulombic efficiency and bulk density of ordered mesoporous carbons, active Fe2O3 nanoparticles were introduced into tubular mesopore channels of CMK-5 carbon, which possesses high specific surface area (>1700 m 2 g-1 ) and large pore volume (>1.8 cm 3 g-1 ). Fine Fe2O3 nanoparticles with sizes in the range of 5 7 nm were highly and homogenously encapsulated into CMK-5 matrix through ammonia-treatment and subsequent pyrolysis method. The Fe2O3 loading was carefully tailored and designed to warrant a high Fe2O3 content and adequate buffer space for improving the electrochemical performance. In particular, such Fe2O3 and mesoporous carbon composite with 47 wt% loading exhibits a considerably stable cycle performance (683 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles, 99% capacity retention against that of the second cycle) as well as good rate capability. The fabrication strategy can effectively solve the drawback of single material, and achieve a high-performance lithium electrode material.     

Photolyses of mammalian carboxy-hemoglobin studied by photoacoustic calorimetry

The enthalpy and conformational volume changes in the photolyses of carboxy-hemoglobin (HbCO) of human, bovine, pig, horse and rabbit are investigated by photoacoustic calorimetry. Considering the time scales of the exciting laser pulse and the receiving ultrasound transducers (PVDF films and PZT ceramics), as well as the reaction lifetimes in the photolysis processes of HbCO, the measured results are related to the geminate recombination and tertiary relaxation in photolyses of HbCO. Moreover, the quantum yields of the five mammals are also measured by laser pump-probe technique. The results show that the dynamic parameters, such as enthalpy and conformational volume changes, differ between the processes of the geminate recombination and tertiary relaxation. Also, the dynamic parameters differ among the five mammals although some of them may be consistent with each other.     

Optical bistability based on surface plasmon coupled between two noble metal films involving Kerr materials

We successfully investigate an optical bistability phenomenon in a layered structure consisting of Kretschmann configuration involving the Kerr-type nonlinear and the silver film. Pure theoretical approaches are employed to investigate that the surface plasmon could easily be coupled and both the reflection and transmission curves versus the incident intensity forms optical bistability. The transmission curves are greatly influenced by the thickness of the second silver film. These results may be useful for designing novel surface plasmon-based optical devices and will be essential for future classical and quantum information processes.     

MgO(001) barrier based magnetic tunnel junctions and their device applications

Spintronics has received a great attention and significant interest within the past decades,and provided considerable and remarked applications in industry and electronic information etc.In spintronics,the MgO based magnetic tunnel junction(MTJ) is an important research advancement because of its physical properties and excellent performance,such as the high TMR ratio in MgO based MTJs.We present an overview of more than a decade development in MgO based MTJs.The review contains three main sections.(1) Research of several types of MgO based MTJs,including single-crystal MgO barrier based-MTJs,double barrier MTJs,MgO based MTJs with interlayer,novel electrode material MTJs based on MgO,novel barrier based MTJs,novel barrier MTJs based on MgO,and perpendicular MTJs.(2) Some typical physical effects in MgO based MTJs,which include six observed physical effects in MgO based MTJs,namely spin transfer torque(STT) effect,Coulomb blockade magnetoresistance(CBMR) effect,oscillatory magnetoresistance,quantum-well resonance tunneling effect,electric field assisted magnetization switching effect,and spincaloric effect.(3) In the last section,a brief introduction of some important device applications of MgO based MTJs,such as GMR & TMR read heads and magneto-sensitive sensors,both field and current switching MRAM,spin nano oscillators,and spin logic devices,have been provided.     

Escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance with low-temperature quantum fluctuations

In this paper, we investigate the escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance (SR) with low-temperatures quantum fluctuations by using the quantum Smoluchowski equations at low-temperature. Two specific examples have been considered: one is the example of bistable system, and the other is the example of metastable system. The explicit expressions of the mean-first passage time (MFPT) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for both specific examples are obtained, respectively. Based on the numerical compu...     

Effects of initial crystal size of diamond powder on surface residual stress and morphology in polycrystalline diamond (PCD) layer

Polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDC) were synthesized using diamond powder of average crystal size 3-20 μm by the Ni 70 Mn 25 Co 5 alloy infiltration technique at high temperature and high pressure (HPHT).The surface residual stress of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) layer was measured using micro-Raman spectroscopy with hydrostatic stress model and X-ray diffraction (XRD).Measurements of the stress levels of PCDs show that the residual compressive stresses range from 0.12 to 0.22 GPa,which increase with th...