Effect of electric field on reentrance transition in a binary mixture of liquid crystals

Employing a phenomenological mean field theory, we analyze the effect of an electric field on the N ? SmA phase transition for pure liquid crystal and on the reentrant nematic phase in a binary mixture of liquid crystals exhibiting the phase sequence I ? N ? SmA ? N_R on cooling. The basic idea of the work is to explain the phase transition behavior of the system by assuming that certain Landau coefficients associated with the order parameters coupling terms of the free-energy density expansion are field dependent. These parameters play a crucial role and show a rapid variation at the SmA ? N_R transition as compared to the SmA ? N transition.     

The electron effective mass under strong electric field

The electron effective mass dependence on the high static electric field has been found. The dependence is determined by the field effect on the scattering processes of electrons. The mechanism of “impurity” self-induced transparence of conductors is considered for the case of intense high-frequency electric field.     

Polaron in a strong alternating electric field

The solution is found for the transport equation for a Feynman polaron having arbitrary coupling interacting with the acoustic oscillations in an alternating electric field. In the low-frequency case, this solution cannot be normalized — there are runaway polarons. For high frequencies, this effect is absent. Equations are obtained for the electrical conductivity of polaron semiconductors for various particular cases, including the runaway regime.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 45–49, April, 1979.     

The c-axis fluctuation conductivity in layered superconductors in a strong electric field under a magnetic field

The effect of a high electric field on the c-axis fluctuation conductivity in layered superconductors near the superconducting transition is investigated by the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. The c-axis fluctuation conductivity is calculated in self-consistent Gaussian approximation for an arbitrarily strong electric field and a magnetic field perpendicular to the layers. Our results include all Landau levels and have refined analytical form. The results in linear response are in good agreement with the experimental data in a wide region around T _c in high T _c superconductor. We also show that high electric fields can be effectively used to suppress the c-axis fluctuation conductivity in high-temperature superconductors.     

Critical fluctuations of a binary fluid mixture confined in a porous medium

We have performed small angle neutron scattering experiments on the binary fluid mixture n-C₆H₁₄+n-C₈F₁₈ imbibed inside porous Vycor glass in the thermodynamic region corresponding to the bulk critical one. The resulting structure can be represented as the sum of a temperature dependent Lorentzian term and a term describing the interference between the porous matrix, a shell part richer in one component coating the glass surface, and a core part richer in the other component. We observe critical fluctuations extending over distances markedly larger than the mean pore size. Received 20 May 1999     

Stability of a block-copolymer lamella in a strong electric field

Using self-consistent field theory, we examine the stability of a lamellar layer of diblock copolymer subject to strong orthogonal electric fields. Two competing instabilities are identified; one is a peristaltic mode that leads to perpendicular lamellae, and the other is an undulatory mode that results in the formation of an undesirable grain boundary. The former kinetic pathway is favored when the central domain is relatively thin and composed of the low-dielectric material.     

Differential thermopower of a superlattice in a strong electric field

The effect of an electric field on the differential thermopower α(E) of a one-dimensional superlattice is investigated in the semiclassical approximation. A nonmonotonic temperature dependence of α(0) is established for a degenerate electron gas. It is shown that, in principle, an electric field can be used to control the thermoelectric properties of superlattices. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1314–1316 (July 1999)     

Trap ionization in phosphors in a strong electric field

Temperature dependences of the intensity of Gudden-Pohl flashes in zinc sulfide crystals in various electric fields were measured in order to study trap ionization by electric fields. The decrease in the flash intensity from trap levels of a given depth in a certain temperature range is due to a decrease in the probability for the liberation of an electron from a trap as the temperature decreases. The temperature dependences of the flash intensity found in various electric fields are compared with the theoretical temperature dependence of the probability for electron liberation from a trap. The agreement between experimental and theoretical curves indicates that electrons are liberated from the deeper levels through ionization by an electric field involving many phonons.Translated from Izvestiya VUZ. Fizika, No. 10, pp. 53–58, October, 1969.     

Double photoexcitation of helium in a strong dc electric field

We report the first experimental measurements of the effect of an applied field on the photoexcitation and autoionization of doubly excited states of helium. Ground-state photoionization spectra have been measured in the region below the He+(N=2) threshold with static electric fields of up to 84.4 kV/cm across the interaction region. The results are compared to the theoretical calculations of Chung et al. [J. Phys. B 34, 165 (2001)]], which are the only calculations available in this regime. Transitions to several states in the N=2, n=6 manifold are assigned, and a wealth of new structure is observed. Our data show that many more series are mixed in by the field than those predicted by theory.     

Ionization of an air-methane mixture in a near-critical electric field

The process of effective ionization at the early stages of development of an electric discharge in methane-air mixtures at moderate and high pressures is analyzed. The ionization in an external electric field with consideration given to background electrons, electron attachment to and detachment from atoms and oxygen molecule, recharging, and anion-neutral electron exchange is considered. The dependences of the rates of ion-molecular processes on the temperature and electric field strength are examined.     

Nonlinear motion of dielectric microparticles in nematic liquid crystal under strong electric field

Nonlinear electrophoretic motion of spherical dielectricmicroparticles in a cell filled with nematic liquid crystal was experimentally studied for the first time. It was shown that the average microparticle velocity v _EPH depends on the cubic electric field strength E, v _EPH ∼ E ³. It was found that the signal shape of the control electric field has no effect on the functional dependence v _EPH (E ³).