Quantitative Multi-Element Analysis in Soil Using 532 nm and 1064 nm Lasers in LIBS Technique

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been considered a promising tool for agricultural analysis in the recent years due to its advantages over...     

Coercivity analysis in R17Fe83−χBχ magnets

We studied the coercivity in magnets of composition R₁₇Fe_83−χB_χ (R = Nd, Pr and χ = 8, 30), using measurements of the coercive field H_c, its angular dependence, and the magnetic viscosity coefficient S_v, for temperatures between 4.2 and 500 K. The results are discussed in relation to a model which does not specifically consider the detailed mechanisms involved in magnetization reversal, but which provides information about the magnetic properties in the activation volume v where magnetization reversal is initiated. It is concluded that the ordering temperature in v tends to be slightly smaller than in the bulk and that the room temperature anisotropy in v is not strongly reduced with respect to the bulk value. Finally, a direct evaluation of the dipolar interactions is in good agreement with results obtained from H_c(T).     

Analysis of high-molecular-weight fructan polymers in crude plant extracts by high-resolution LC-MS

The main water-soluble carbohydrates in temperate forage grasses are polymeric fructans. Fructans consist of fructose chains of various chain lengths attached to sucrose as a core molecule. In grasses, fructans are a complex mixture of a large number of isomeric oligomers with a degree of polymerisation ranging from 3 to >100. Accurate monitoring and unambiguous peak identification requires chromatographic separation coupled to mass spectrometry. The mass range of ion trap mass spectrometers is limited, and we show here how monitoring selected multiply charged ions can be used for the detection and quantification of individual isomers and oligomers of high mass, particularly those of high degree of polymerization (DP > 20) in complex plant extracts. Previously reported methods using linear ion traps with low mass resolution have been shown to be useful for the detection of fructans with a DP up to 49. Here, we report a method using high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) using an Exactive Orbitrap MS which greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio and allows the detection of fructans up to DP = 100. High-sugar (HS) Lolium perenne cultivars with high concentrations of these fructans have been shown to be of benefit to the pastoral agricultural industry because they improve rumen nitrogen use efficiency and reduce nitrous oxide emissions from pastures. We demonstrate with our method that these HS grasses not only contain increased amounts of fructans in leaf blades but also accumulate fructans with much higher DP compared to cultivars with normal sugar levels.     

Influence of stoichiometry on the luminescent properties of InAs quantum dots grown on a heterostructure

We report photoluminescence (PL) spectra of InP/In_xGa_1-xAs/InAs/InP dot-in-a-well structures grown by MOVPE, with different compositions of the ternary layer. Measurements with atomic force microscopy showed that the largest quantum dot (QD) height is obtained when the InAs QDs are grown on the In_xGa_1-xAs layer with a mismatch of 1000 ppm, and the height decreases as the mismatch departs from this value. PL spectra of the QDs showed an asymmetric band, which involves transitions between dot energy levels and can be deconvoluted into two peaks. The highest energy PL peak of this band was observed for the sample with the QDs grown on top of the lattice-matched In_xGa_1-xAs layer and it shifted to lower energies for strained samples as the degree of mismatch increased. Theoretical calculations of the energy levels of the entire structure were used to interpret the obtained PL spectra and determine the possible detection tunability range.     

Effect of Ti and C additions on structural and magnetic properties of (Pr,Nd)–Fe–B nanocrystalline magnetic materials

Effects of titanium carbide (TiC) addition on structural and magnetic properties of isotropic (Pr,Nd)–Fe-B nanocrystalline magnetic materials have been investigated. In this work, we investigate the effect of TiC addition on a (Pr,Nd)-poor and B-rich composition, as well as on a B-poor and (Nd,Pr)-rich composition. Rapidly solidified (Pr,Nd)–Fe–B alloys were prepared by melt-spinning. The compositions studied were (Pr_1−xNd_x)₄Fe₇₈B₁₈ (x=0, 0.5, and 1) with addition of 3 at% TiC. Unlike the (Pr_xNd_1−x)_9.5Fe_84.5B₆ materials that present excellent values for coercive field and energy product, the (Pr,Nd)-poor and B-rich composition alloys with TiC addition present lower values. Rietveld analysis of X-ray data and Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed that samples are predominantly composed of Fe₃B and -Fe. For the RE-rich compositions (Pr_xNd_1−x)_9.5Fe_84.5B₆ (x=0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1) with the addition of 3 at% TiC, the highest coercive field and energy product (8.4 kOe and 14.4 MGOe, respectively) were obtained for the composition Pr_9.5Fe_84.5B₆.     

Nanocrystalline magnetic PrFeCrB alloys

Ribbons of Pr₅Fe_77−xCr_xB₁₈ (x=0$x=0$, 1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5) were produced by melt spinning and then annealed to develop an enhanced-remanence nanocrystalline magnetic material. These nanocomposites with Cr present a coercive field at least 50% higher than the Cr-free ones, which makes them promising materials for bonded magnets. Four different types of annealing were used in order to develop the nanocrystalline state and to optimize the magnetic properties of these alloys. The first was a conventional annealing, where the ribbons were wrapped in a tantalum foil and annealed in an argon atmosphere, but not encapsulated. The second was a flash annealing, where the ribbons were annealed by passing a current through them. The third was a conventional annealing in an external magnetic field. Finally, the fourth was a conventional annealing, where the ribbons were wrapped in a tantalum foil and encapsulated in quartz tubes with argon gas and then annealed. The annealed samples were studied by magnetic measurements, X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The best magnetic properties are found for Pr₅Fe₇₄Cr₃B₁₈, annealed by the fourth method, which resulted in the lowest oxygen content in the annealed nanocrystalline material as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The value for the coercive field for this composition is at least 50% higher than for the material without Cr (≈560 vs. ≈320 kA/m) and 40% higher than for the Nd₂Fe₁₄B/Fe₃B nanocomposite with Cr. Curie temperature measurements and X-ray diffraction data showed that the main phases present in all the samples are Pr₂Fe₁₄B, Fe₃B and α-Fe, Pr₂Fe₁₄B being the majoritary phase. From Curie temperature measurements it was also found that Cr atoms preferentially dissolve in the Fe₃B phase.     

Epipyrone A,a Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Compound Produced by Epicoccum nigrum ICMP 19927

We have isolated a filamentous fungus that actively secretes a pigmented exudate when growing on agar plates. The fungus was identified as being a strain of Epicoccum nigrum. The fungal exudate presented strong antifungal activity against both yeasts and filamentous fungi, and inhibited the germination of fungal spores. The chemical characterization of the exudate showed that the pigmented molecule presenting antifungal activity is the disalt of epipyrone A—a water-soluble polyene metabolite with a molecular mass of 612.29 and maximal UV–Vis absorbance at 428 nm. This antifungal compound showed excellent stability to different temperatures and neutral to alkaline pH.     

Nonclassical behavior of an intense cavity field revealed by quantum discord

We investigate the quantum-to-classical crossover of a dissipative cavity field by measuring the correlations between two noninteracting atoms coupled to the cavity mode. First, we note that there is a time window in which the mode shows a classical behavior, which depends on the cavity decay rate, the atom-field coupling strength, and the number of atoms. Then, considering the steady state of two atoms inside the cavity, we note that the entanglement between the atoms disappears while the mean number of photons of the cavity field (n) rises. However, the quantum discord reaches an asymptotic nonzero value even in the limit of n→∞, whether n is increased coherently or incoherently. Therefore, the cavity mode always preserves some quantum characteristics in the macroscopic limit, which is revealed by the quantum discord.     

First-order-reversal-curve analysis of Pr-Fe-B-based nanocomposites

Ribbons of nominal composition (Pr_9.5Fe_84.5B₆)_0.96Cr_0.01(TiC)_0.03 were produced by arc-melting and melt-spinning the alloys on a Cu wheel. X-ray diffraction reveals two main phases, one based upon α-Fe and the other upon Pr₂Fe₁₄B. The ribbons show exchange spring behavior with H_c=12.5 kOe and (BH)_max=13.6 MGOe when these two phases are well coupled. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the coupled behavior is observed when the microstructure consists predominantly of α-Fe grains (diameter ∼100 nm.) surrounded by hard material containing Pr₂Fe₁₄B. A first-order-reversal-curve (FORC) analysis was performed for both a well-coupled sample and a partially-coupled sample. The FORC diagrams show two strong peaks for both the partially-coupled sample and for the well-coupled material. In both cases, the localization of the FORC probability suggests demagnetizing interactions between particles. Switching field distributions were calculated and are consistent with the sample microstructure.