Laser-induced nanopatterning of PET using a-SiO2 microspheres

A regular lattice of SiO₂ microspheres on a quartz support is used as a microlens array for laser-induced nanopatterning of polyethylene terephthalate foils. Received: 2 January 2002 / Accepted: 6 January 2002 / Published online: 27 March 2002     

Coherent switching of semiconductor resonator solitons

We demonstrate the switching on and off of spatial solitons in a semiconductor microresonator by injection of light coherent with the background illumination. The results give evidence that the formation of the solitons and their switching are not limited by thermal processes. Received: 11 February 2002 / Revised version: 25 April 2002 / Published online: 8 August 2002     

Present knowledge of atomic masses

Progress is reviewed of available data for evaluation of atomic masses since the 1995 one. Many more direct mass measurements have become available, especially in the region of proton-rich nuclides. The number of alpha- and, especially, proton-decay data increased considerably. In the region of superhigh mass numbers, many very interesting new observations were made. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: wapstra@nikhef.nl     

Random deflection of the white light beam during self-focusing and filamentation of a femtosecond laser pulse in water

Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulse filamentation in competition with optical breakdown in condensed matter is studied both experimentally and numerically using water as an example. Strong random deflection and modulation of the supercontinuum under tight focusing conditions were observed. They manifest the beginning of the filamentation process near the highly disordered plasma created by optical breakdown at the geometrical focus. Received: 13 June 2002 / Revised version: 16 August 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-418/656-2623, E-mail: wliu@phy.ulaval.ca     

On the Spectrum of a Class of Second Order Periodic Elliptic Differential Operators

Under an additional symmetry condition, we prove that the spectrum of a second order self-adjoint elliptic differential operator with periodic coefficients is purely absolutely continuous. Received: 19 December 2001 / Accepted: 10 January 2002?Published online: 24 July 2002     

Observation of light filaments induced in air by visible picosecond laser pulses

We report the observation of light filaments produced by a picosecond laser pulse in the visible. The pulse trapped in the filamentary mode experiences large-scale self-phase modulation, with almost 100-fold spectral broadening along with apparent shortening of the leading edge. Spatial-temporal properties of the light filament reveal rather complex propagation dynamics. Received: 7 August 2002 / Revised version: 12 September 2002 / Published online: 11 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +370-2/3660-06, E-mail: audrius.dubietis@ff.vu.lt     

Statistical modeling of imaging process in active night vision systems with gate-light detection

Characteristics of object images observed through scattering media with an active vision system operating in the mode of spatial selection are estimated using the Monte Carlo method. The effect of optical and geometrical conditions of observation on the contrast in images of reflecting objects is considered. Interpretation is given to the obtained dependences. Received: 11 February 2002 / Revised version: 31 May 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +7-38/2225-9086, E-mail: belov@iao.ru     

Secondary reggeons in perturbative QCD

Using the Kirschner-Lipatov equation as a basis, we study high energy elastic quark-quark amplitudes, which correspond to secondary reggeons and pion exchange in the double-logarithmic approximation of perturbative QCD. Received: 19 March 2002 / Revised version: 14 May 2002 / Published online: 26 July 2002     

Proton-neutron structure of collective excitations in 94Mo

Due to the recent development of radioactive beam production, various direct reaction studies in reversed kinematics have been made to investigate the behavior of the N = 20 shell closure in the neutron-rich region. Coulomb excitation, proton inelastic scattering, and fragmentation of unstable nuclei have been studied with γ-ray detection. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: motobaya@rikkyo.ne.jp     

Nonlinearity of strong interaction and doorway states for one-nucleon transfer reactions

The experimental data on the doorway states for one-nucleon transfer reactions permit to reveal the many-particle nucleon-nucleon forces resulting from the nonlinearity of strong interaction. The three-particle and four-particle forces are found to be of the same magnitude as the two-particle ones in contrast to the finding from the few-nucleon systems. The origin of this difference is explained. Received: 14 May 2002 / Accepted: 4 June 2002 / Published online: 19 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: birbrair@thd.pnpi.spb.ru Communicated by V.V. Anisovich     

Resonances and spectral properties of detuned OPOs pumped by fluctuating sources

Twin-beam fluctuations are analyzed for detuned and mismatched OPO configurations. Resonances and frequency responses to the quantum noise sources (quantum and pump amplitude/phase fluctuations) are examined as functions of cavity decay rates, excitation parameters and detuning. The dependence of self- and mutual correlations of beam amplitudes and phases on detuning, mismatch and damping parameters is discussed. Received: 25 January 2002 / Revised version: 28 May 2002 / Published online: 15 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +39-81/676-346, E-mail: alberto.porzio@na.infn.it     

Fermion families and chirality through extra dimensions

We give a simple model to explain the origin of fermion families and chirality through the use of a domain wall-anti-domain wall pair placed in a five dimensional space-time. Received: 14 March 2002 / Revised version: 3 July 2002 / Published online: 27 September 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: erdem@likya.iyte.edu.tr     

Ordered thin films of alkyloxy-substituted benzaldehydes on a graphite surface studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

The molecular assembly of three different trialkyloxy-substituted benzaldehydes on graphite has been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). It is found that these benzaldehydes, which do not have intermolecular hydrogen bonding, could form a lamella arrangement in which the headgroups are aligned side by side. The effect due to the alkyl chain length on the lamella structure is also presented. Received: 21 January 2002 / Accepted: 22 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +86-10/6255-7908     

Direct mass measurements of exotic nuclei

The present status and recent results from direct mass measurements of exotic nuclei are presented. ISOL, in-flight, and combined facilities provide a wide variety of nuclides far-off stability covering a wide range of half-lives down to the sub-millisecond region. Modern direct mass measurements are carried out using frequency and time-of-flight techniques. The obtained accurate mass data point to nuclear-structure phenomena and serve as a basis for astrophysical and weak-interaction studies. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: c.scheidenberger@gsi.de     

A simple wet-chemical synthesis and characterization of CuO nanorods

Using a simple wet-chemical route, we synthesized CuO nanorods with diameters of ca. 5–15 nm and lengths of up to 400 nm. The purity, crystallinity, morphology, structure features, and chemical composition of the as-prepared CuO nanorods were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Received: 22 March 2002 / Accepted: 12 June 2002 / Published online: 28 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +86-25/359-5535, E-mail: wangqun@nju.edu.cn     

$\beta$-Boundedness, Semipassivity, and the KMS-Condition

 The proof of a recent result by Guido and Longo establishing the equivalence of the KMS-condition with complete $\beta$-boundedness [2] is shortcut and generalized in such a way that a covariant version of the theorem is obtained. Received: 17 January 2002 / Accepted: 16 April 2002 Published online: 6 August 2002     

Simultaneous measurement of absolute OH concentration,temperature and flow velocity in a flame by photothermal deflection spectroscopy

We demonstrate the use of photothermal deflection spectroscopy for a simultaneous measurement of absolute minority-species concentration, temperature and flow velocity in a flame from the analysis of a single data trace. The ability to make absolute concentration measurements, as well as the ability to measure three important combustion parameters simultaneously, may make this technique quite useful in many circumstances. Received: 27 August 2002 / Revised version: 26 September 2002 / Published online: 11 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-479/575-4580, E-mail: rgupta@uark.edu     

Laser-induced nano-patterning by means of interference subpatterns generated by microspheres

Interference patterns generated by a regular lattice of SiO₂ microspheres on a transparent support are used for the surface patterning of polyimide (PI) foils. Using 248 nm excimer-laser radiation, thousands to millions of holes with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 160±40 nm can be generated with a single laser pulse. Received: 1 March 2002 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +43-732/2468-9242, E-mail: dieter.baeuerle@jku.at     

In-beam studies of very neutron-deficient heavy nuclei

The JYFL gas-filled recoil separator RITU, combined with Ge detector arrays and a SACRED magnetic solenoid spectrometer, has been successfully employed in recoil-decay-tagging (RDT) experiments in order to probe structures of very neutron-deficient heavy nuclei. The present contribution focuses on the light Pb region where the new data extend the systematics of shape-coexisting yrast states towards the proton dripline. Similarities between band structures and their relation to possible multi-particle multi-hole intruder excitations will be discussed. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: rauno.julin@phys.jyu.fi     

Momentum distribution of relativistic nuclei with Hartree-Fock mesonic correlations

The impact of Hartree-Fock correlations on the nuclear momentum distribution is studied in a fully relativistic one-boson-exchange model. Hartree-Fock equations are exactly solved to first order in the coupling constants. The renormalization of the Dirac spinors in the medium is shown to affect the momentum distribution, as opposed to what happens in the non-relativistic case. The unitarity of the model is shown to be preserved by the present renormalization procedure. Received: 7 June 2002 / Accepted: 24 September 2002 / Published online: 10 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: juan@nucle.us.es Communicated by G. Orlandini