Potential formation and high density plasma production on the tandem mirror GAMMA 10

GAMMA 10 experiments have advanced in high density experiments after the last EPS Workshop where we reported high density plasma production by using an ion cyclotron range of frequency heating at a high harmonic frequency and neutral beam injection in the central cell. Recently a high density plasma was obtained with much improved reproducibility than before and without degradation of diamagnetic signal. The high density plasma was attained by adjusting the spacing of the conducting plates installed in the anchor transition regions. Dependencies of particle confinement time, ion energy confinement time and plasma confining potential on plasma density were obtained for the first time in the high density region. Presented at 5th Workshop “Role of Electric Fields in Plasma Confinement and Exhaust”, Montreus, Switzerland, June 23–24, 2002.     

Modification of the surface state of rough substrates by two different varnishes and influence on the reflected light

Modification of the visual appearance when a rough surface is covered by a varnish is mostly attributed to the levelling of the substrate surface, which depends on the molecular weight of the varnish. The topography of varnished surfaces, however, has never been measured directly. Surfaces of varnishes applied over glass substrates of varying roughness were studied, therefore, using mechanical profilometry. Two different varnishes made with a low and a high molecular weight resin were studied. Both varnishes lower the r.m.s. roughness of the substrates and filter the high spatial frequencies. These results are amplified for the varnish containing the low molecular weight resin. The light reflected by the varnished samples is modelled from these topographical data. Its angular distribution, calculated from the probability density of slopes is presented, taking into account separately the air/varnish and the varnish/substrate interfaces. These analyses are presented in a back-scattering configuration. They show that varnishing significantly reduces the angular width of the reflected light and that this effect is magnified for the low molecular weight resin. Modelling furthermore shows that the influence of the roughness of the varnish/substrate interface is negligible in the total reflected light.     

Temperature dependence of the exafs spectrum in YBa2Cu3O7−δ compounds

The temperature dependence of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) is studied in the high T_c superconductors, YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ. The measurements were done at the Cu K-edge for samples of two orthorhombic phases (T_c≈90 K and ≈58 K, respectively) and a nonsuperconducting tetragonal phase. Interatomic distances and mean square relative displacements σ² for Cu-O bonds are determined by the least squares refinement. The results indicate that values of σ² increase near T_c for both the orthorhombic samples. It is concluded that this anomalous behavior related to T_c is caused by an anomalous vibration of oxygen atoms in the Ba-O layer. Changes in the Cu-O distances from 300 to 20 K are not found.     

Changes in the near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra of long-chain diacetylene derivatives through photopolymerization in Langmuir–Blodgett films

Photopolymerization of cadmium 10,12-pentacosadiynoate (CdDA) in Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films, with the molecular packing well arranged by moderate preannealing, was investigated with near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Greenish films of polydiacetylene with an absorption wavelength of 705 nm were obtained through the photopolymerization of preannealed monomer LB films, and this resulted in an extended π-conjugate system based on the well-ordered monomer in a two-dimensional arrangement. The electronic structures of the polydiacetylenes were found to be correlated to the variation of the molecular arrangements in the films from the changes in the NEXAFS spectra through photopolymerization in the LB films. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2329–2336, 2004     

Characterization of metal binding properties of rhamnogalacturonan II from plant cell walls by size-exclusion HPLC/ICP-MS.

The binding properties of metal ions to a pectic polysaccharide, rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II), from plant cell walls were analyzed by size-exclusion HPLC/ICP-MS. The dimeric RG-II borate complex (dRG-II-B) from sugar beet and red wine contained 0.8 - 1.1 mol/mol of B, 0.8 - 1.1 mol/mol of Ca, 0.1 - 0.3 mol/mol of Sr, and 0.03 - 0.07 mol/mol of Ba. The treatment of dRG-II-B with Sr2+, Ba2+, Pb2+ or La3+ exchanged the originally present Ca, Sr and Ba. In contrast, monomeric RG-II (mRG-II), which contained approximately 0.1 mol/mol of Ca, formed complexes with La3+, Eu3+, and Lu3+ added to the solution, but did not do so with Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+ and Pb2+. The HPLC/ICP-MS and HPLC/RI (refractive index detector) analysis of the partially hydrolyzed mRG-II that was treated with La3+ indicated that the side chains and backbone of mRG-II together form a lanthanoid binding site.     

On the group extension of the transformation associated to non-archimedean continued fractions

Summary Let F_q be a finite field with q elements. We consider formal Laurent series of F_q -coefficients with their continued fraction expansions by F_q -polynomials. We prove some arithmetic properties for almost every formal Laurent series with respect to the Haar measure. We construct a group extension of the non-archimedean continued fraction transformation and show its ergodicity. Then we get some results as an application of the individual ergodic theorem. We also discuss the convergence rate for limit behaviors.     

Novel pattern formation in the collapse process of floating monolayer at the air-water interface

We have observed a remarkable two-armed spiral in the collapse process of a floating monolayer at the air-water interface by phase contrast microscopy. This demonstrates that the floating monolayer as a form of soft condensed matter reorganizes itself due to a certain kind of macroscopic or collective behavior of molecules as it collapses. This pattern formation is caused by the breakdown of a critical dynamical balance between the deformation of solid domain and the applied surface pressure. The fragility as well as the flexibility of the floating monolayer can be associated with the observed pattern growth. There are also observed interesting, periodically arranged collections of molecules in numerous collapsed regions. Received: 8 July 1997 / Accepted: 4 November 1997     

Gamma-ray spectroscopy of the neutron-rich Ni region through heavy-ion deep-inelastic collisions

Nuclei in the neutron-rich Ni region have been studied by γ-ray spectroscopy. Gamma-rays emitted from isomers, with T _1/2 > 1 ns, produced in heavy-ion deep-inelastic collisions were measured with an isomer-scope. The nuclear structure of the doubly magic ⁶⁸Ni and its neighbor ^69,71Cu is discussed on the basis of the shell model. Future experiments for more neutron-rich Ni nuclei are also viewed. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

Density functional calculations of dangling bonds for CN and SiN films

Hyperfine interaction constants (HFICs) of dangling bonds for CN and SiN films were calculated by density-functional theory. The averaged ¹⁴N isotropic HFICs for C dangling bonds are almost equal to those for Si dangling bonds. The anisotropic ¹⁴N HFICs calculated for C dangling bonds are larger than those for Si dangling bonds by a factor 2. The calculated results were compared with experimental results obtained by electron spin resonance and electron nuclear double resonance. It was indicated that the carbon dangling bonds are located such that they avoid N atoms in CN films.     

Analysis of atomic arrangement in magnetic Fe–Pt nanoparticles

The order parameter S of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is estimated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The total intensity of a diffraction peak is obtained by Rietveld analysis as well as simply integrating the intensity. The Rietveld analysis is found to provide a plausible value of S even for a sample showing an XRD pattern with broad and overlapped peaks. Another order parameter Q, which is obtained from Mössbauer spectra, is introduced, and it is confirmed that Q is equivalent to the probability of Fe atoms being in the L1₀-type atomic arrangement. The coercivity of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is directly proportional to Q, while it vanishes at S=0.4, indicating that the magnetic property of Fe–Pt nanoparticles has a closer relationship to Q than S.