Recording and reading of three-dimensional optical memory in glasses

We report on three-dimensional (3D) optical memory recording and reading in glass by femtosecond pulses. Optically induced dielectric breakdown of glass is a mechanism of recording. The formulae of dielectric breakdown presented are applicable, in principle, for any crystalline or amorphous dielectric material. Scaling dependences of the probabilities of multi-photon and impact ionization are given. The measured threshold of an in-bulk dielectric breakdown of silica was reproduced numerically by implementing the ionization potential of Si (8.15 eV) for calculations. Exact measures of focal spot size and pulse duration at the focus allowed us to evaluate the intensity of a pulse during recording of 3D optical memory bits with high accuracy. The readout of the 3D optical memory was carried out by the white-light continuum generated from the previously damaged sites (recorded memory bits). The mechanism of the readout was a four-photon parametric interaction. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Ky; 42.70.Ce; 42.79.Vb     

Investigation of preheating of laser thermonuclear targets

The preheating level of the thermonuclear fuel and of the gas-compressing shell is the main criterion of the target-compression efficiency in experiments on laserdriven thermonuclear fusion. This paper contains the result of investigations of electronic, radiative, and impact preheating in experiments on compression and heating of hlgh-aspect shell targets in the Del'fin-l laser-derived thermonuclear facility. A procedure, based on analysis of the epithermal emission of the plasma, is considered for measuring the target preheating by fast electrons. The radiative and impact preheating of compressing shells in DD gas are estimated. The results of the investigation demonstrate the high degree of adiabaticity of the compression of the thermonuclear fuel in experiments with the Del'fin-l facility.Nuclear Plasma Laboratory of the Lebedev Physics Institute. Translated from Preprint No. 3, Lebedev Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1990.     

The effect of electron detachment on the structure and properties of the chlorine-acetonitrile anionic complex

The results of the theoretical study of ground state potential energy surfaces for the chlorine-acetonitrile anion and its photodetachment product are presented. The shallow potential surfaces allow for the nondefinitive position of the chlorine within the complex. The dissociation energy of the neutral complex, estimated through the thermodynamic cycle, indicates significant structural changes due to the photodetachment process. The excess negative charge is localized mostly on the chlorine atom, and the electron detachment proceeds as an electron is removed from chlorine. The process leads to drastic changes in the electrostatic interactions within the complex. The first electronic excited state corresponds to the excess electron transfer from chlorine to acetonitrile fragment. This state is a precursor of the observed charge-transfer-to-solvent state.     

Dampfdruck- und Leitfähigkeitsuntersuchungen der Ionensolvatation in Amiden

The solvating properties of formamide, N-methylformamide, dimethylformamide, N-ethylformamide and diethylformamide have been investigated by means of vapour pressure and conductivity measurements. For the salts and ions, resp. average solvation numbers have been calculated from vapour pressure data and limiting ionic conductances. The solvation numbers are used for a discussion of the influence of N-substituents on the solvating properties of the amides.

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Reaction kinetics of the selective liquid phase hydrogenation of styrene oxide to β-phenethyl alcohol

Liquid phase hydrogenation of styrene oxide using 1% Pd/C and NaOH as a promoter was found to give selectively β-phenethyl alcohol (PEA) under very mild conditions (313–333 K; 0.68–5.5 MPa). The kinetics of this system was investigated by collecting initial rate data in a batch slurry reactor. Rate of hydrogenation was found to decrease beyond a certain concentration of both hydrogen (>3 MPa) and styrene oxide (>0.5 kmol/m³). A Langmuir–Hinshelwood type rate equation has been proposed based on the initial rate data in the kinetic regime. The model predictions agree very well with the experimentally observed concentration–time data indicating the applicability of the proposed rate model.     

Quantum chemical aspects of the chelate effect in complexes

A typical “chelate” effect is demonstrated by means of all-electron ab initio LCGO SCF calculations on the [Li(HCONH₂)₂]⁺ complex in different geometrical arrangements. Energetic factors and the electronic structure of the complexes are discussed, showing the chelate effect to be connected with striking changes in bonding, density distribution and electronic energy.     

On Raman optical activity sign-switching between the ground and excited states leading to an unusual resonance ROA induced chirality

Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra recorded for a chiral naphthalene diimide derivative (nBu-NDI–BINAM) dissolved in a series of solvents exhibit strong solute to solvent induced chirality with: (1) dominating bands of solvents, (2) nBu-NDI–BINAM resonance ROA (RROA) bands which are barely visible, (3) monosignate RROA Solvent spectra with an unexpected sign concordant with that of the ECD band of the resonant electronic state, (4) bisignate RROA bands for a few solvents, and (5) superposition of non-resonant and resonant ROA bands of the chiral solvents. The unusual ROA enhancement was explained in terms of resonance energy transfer with resonant Raman emission. The surprising RROA sign-switching was found to be due to specific conformational equilibria where one solute conformer dominates in the ground and the other in the first excited singlet state, and, the signs of the related ECD bands of these two conformers are opposite.

Unusual solute to solvent induced chirality in ROA comes from specific conformer equilibria in the ground and the excited states.     

An extended ab initio QM/MM MD approach to structure and dynamics of Zn(II) in aqueous solution

Structural and dynamical properties of Zn(II) in aqueous solution were investigated, based on an ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulation at double-zeta Hartree-Fock quantum mechanical level including the first and second hydration shells into the QM region. The inclusion of the second shell in the QM region resulted in significant changes in the properties of the hydrate. The first shell coordination number was found to be 6, the second shell consists of approximately 14 water molecules. The structural properties were determined in terms of RDF, ADF, tilt and theta angle distributions, while dynamics were characterized by mean ligand residence times, ion-ligand stretching frequencies and the vibrational and librational motions of water ligands.     

Cu(II) in liquid ammonia: an approach by hybrid quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical molecular dynamics simulation.

To investigate the solvation structure of the Cu(II) ion in liquid ammonia, ab initio quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out at Hartree Fock (HF) and hybrid density functional theory (B3 LYP) levels. A sixfold-coordinated species was found to be predominant in the HF case whereas five- and sixfold-coordinated complexes were obtained in a ratio 2:1 from the B3 LYP simulation. In contrast to hydrated Cu(II), which exhibits a typical Jahn-Teller distortion, the geometrical arrangement of ligand molecules in the case of ammonia can be described as a [2 + 4] ([2 + 3]) configuration with 4 (3) elongated copper-nitrogen bonds. First shell solvent exchange reactions at picosecond rate took place in both HF and B3 LYP simulations, again in contrast to the more stable sixfold-coordinated hydrate. NH3 ligands apparently lead to strongly accelerated dynamics of the Cu(II) solvate due to the "inverse" [2 + 4] structure with its larger number of elongated copper-ligand bonds. Several dynamical properties, such as mean ligand residence times or ion-ligand stretching frequencies, prove the high lability of the solvated complex.     

Structure and ultrafast dynamics of liquid water: a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics simulations study

A quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics simulation was performed for liquid water to investigate structural and dynamical properties of this peculiar liquid. The most important region containing a central reference molecule and all nearest surrounding molecules (first coordination shell) was treated by Hartree-Fock (HF), post-Hartree-Fock [second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2)], and hybrid density functional B3LYP [Becke's three parameter functional (B3) with the correlation functional of Lee, Yang, and Parr (LYP)] methods. In addition, another HF-level simulation (2HF) included the full second coordination shell. Site to site interactions between oxygen-oxygen, oxygen-hydrogen, and hydrogen-hydrogen atoms of all ab initio methods were compared to experimental data. The absence of a second peak and the appearance of a shoulder instead in the gO-O graph obtained from the 2HF simulation is notable, as this feature has been observed so far only for pressurized or heated water. Dynamical data show that the 2HF procedure compensates some of the deficiency of the HF one-shell simulation, reducing the difference between correlated (MP2) and HF results. B3LYP apparently leads to too rigid structures and thus to an artificial slow down of the dynamics.