Correlation between helical surface waves and guided modes of an infinite immersed elastic cylinder

Scattering of obliquely incident plane acoustic waves from immersed infinite solid elastic cylinders is a complex phenomenon that involves generation of various types of surface waves on the body of the cylinder. Mitri [F.G. Mitri, Acoustic backscattering enhancement resulting from the interaction of an obliquely incident plane wave with an infinite cylinder, Ultrasonics 50 (2010) 675-682] recently showed that for a solid aluminum cylinder, there exist acoustic backscattering enhancements at a normalized frequency of ka?0.1. The incidence angle α_c at which these enhancements are observed lies between the first (longitudinal) and second (shear) coupling angles of the cylinder. He also confirmed the observations previously reported by the authors that there exist backscattering enhancements of the dipole mode at large angles of incidence where no wave penetration into the cylinder is expected. In this paper, physical explanations are provided for the aforementioned observations by establishing a correlation between helical surface waves generated by oblique insonification of an immersed infinite solid elastic cylinder and the longitudinal and flexural guided modes that can propagate along the cylinder. In particular, it is shown that the backscattering enhancement observed at ka?0.1 is due to the excitation of the first longitudinal guided mode travelling at the bar velocity along the cylinder. It is also demonstrated that the dipole resonance mode observed at incidence angles larger than the Rayleigh coupling angle is associated with the first flexural guided mode of the cylinder. The correlation established between the scattering and propagation problems can be used in both numerical and experimental studies of interaction of mechanical waves with cylinders.     

Acoustic scattering of a high-order Bessel beam by an elastic sphere

The exact analytical solution for the scattering of a generalized (or “hollow”) acoustic Bessel beam in water by an elastic sphere centered on the beam is presented. The far-field acoustic scattering field is expressed as a partial wave series involving the scattering angle relative to the beam axis and the half-conical angle of the wave vector components of the generalized Bessel beam. The sphere is assumed to have isotropic elastic material properties so that the nth partial wave amplitude for plane wave scattering is proportional to a known partial-wave coefficient. The transverse acoustic scattering field is investigated versus the dimensionless parameter ka(k is the wave vector, a radius of the sphere) as well as the polar angle θ for a specific dimensionless frequency and half-cone angle β. For higher-order generalized beams, the acoustic scattering vanishes in the backward (θ = π) and forward (θ = 0) directions along the beam axis. Moreover it is possible to suppress the excitation of certain resonances of an elastic sphere by appropriate selection of the generalized Bessel beam parameters.     

Amorphous Ni-Al underlayer-accelerated L10 ordering transition of FePt thin films

In the present study, we succeeded in accelerating the L1₀ ordering transition of FePt thin films by employing amorphous Ni-Al as underlayers. The coercivity H_c = 5 kOe and ordering parameter S = 0.67 of FePt thin films deposited on a Ni-Al underlayer with a thickness of ∼5 nm after 380 °C annealing for 30 min are significantly higher than those H_c = 0.4 kOe and S = 0.35 of the films without the Ni-Al underlayer. The L1₀ ordering process of and the coercivity of FePt thin films can be significantly tuned by varying the thickness of the Ni-Al underlayer.     

Rovibrational spectrum and potential energy surface of the N2-N2O van der Waals complex

The rovibrational spectrum of the N₂-N₂O van der Waals complex has been recorded in the N₂O ν₁ region (∼1285 cm⁻¹) using a tunable diode laser spectrometer to probe a pulsed supersonic slit jet. The observed transitions together with the data observed previously in the N₂O ν₃ region are analyzed using a Watson S-reduced asymmetric rotor Hamiltonian. The rotational and centrifugal distortion constants for the ground and excited vibrational states are accurately determined. The band-origin of the spectrum is determined to be 1285.73964(14) cm⁻¹. A restricted two-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface for a planar structure of N₂-N₂O has been calculated at the CCSD(T) level of theory with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets and a set of mid-bond functions. With the intermolecular distance fixed at the ground state value R = 3.6926 Å, the potential has a global minimum with a well depth of 326.64 cm⁻¹ at θ_N2 = 11.0° and θ_N2O = 84.3° and has a saddle point with a barrier height of 204.61 cm⁻¹ at θ_N2 = 97.4° and θ_N2O = 92.2°, where θ_N2(θ_N2O) is the enclosed angle between the N-N axis (N-N-O axis) and the intermolecular axis.     

Excitation of ultrasonic Lamb waves using a phased array system with two array probes: Phantom and in vitro bone studies

Long bones are good waveguides to support the propagation of ultrasonic guided waves. The low-order guided waves have been consistently observed in quantitative ultrasound bone studies. Selective excitation of these low-order guided modes requires oblique incidence of the ultrasound beam using a transducer-wedge system. It is generally assumed that an angle of incidence, θ_i, generates a specific phase velocity of interest, c_o, via Snell’s law, θ_i = sin⁻¹(v_w/c_o) where v_w is the velocity of the coupling medium. In this study, we investigated the excitation of guided waves within a 6.3-mm thick brass plate and a 6.5-mm thick bovine bone plate using an ultrasound phased array system with two 0.75-mm-pitch array probes. Arranging five elements as a group, the first group of a 16-element probe was used as a transmitter and a 64-element probe was a receiver array. The beam was steered for six angles (0°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, and 60°) with a 1.6-MHz source signal. An adjoint Radon transform algorithm mapped the time-offset matrix into the frequency-phase velocity dispersion panels. The imaged Lamb plate modes were identified by the theoretical dispersion curves. The results show that the 0° excitation generated many modes with no modal discrimination and the oblique beam excited a spectrum of phase velocities spread asymmetrically about c_o. The width of the excitation region decreased as the steering angle increased, rendering modal selectivity at large angles. The phenomena were well predicted by the excitation function of the source influence theory. The low-order modes were better imaged at steering angle ?30° for both plates. The study has also demonstrated the feasibility of using the two-probe phased array system for future in vivo study.     

Angular dependences of critical current density in YBCO thin films with crossed columnar defects

We investigated the dependences of the critical current density J_c on the magnetic field angle θ in YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ thin films with the crossed configurations of the columnar defects (CDs). To install the crossed CDs, the films were irradiated using the high energetic Xe ions at two angles relative to the c-axis. The additional peak around the c-axis appears in the J_c(θ) for all irradiated films. In lower magnetic fields, the height of the J_c(θ) peak caused by the crossed CDs with the crossing angles θ_i = ±10° was higher than that for the parallel CDs. It is considered that the correlation of the flux pinning by the crossed CDs along the c-axis occurs even in the case of θ_i = ±25°, which was also suggested by the kink behaviors of the scaling parameters of the current–voltage characteristics near 1/3 of the matching field. In higher magnetic fields, on the other hand, the height and width of the J_c(θ) peak for the crossed CD configurations rapidly reduce with increasing the magnetic field compared to the parallel ones. In the crossed CD configurations, the dispersion in the direction of CDs would prevent the correlation of flux pinning along the c-axis in high magnetic fields, which occurs in the parallel CD configurations due to the collective pinning of flux lines including the interstitial flux lines between the directly pinned flux lines by CDs.     

Angular dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 step-edge junctions

La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) junctions have been fabricated on step-edge (0 0 1) SrTiO₃ substrates with a high step-edge angle. In the measurement of magnetoresistance (MR) ratio versus external magnetic field H, butterfly-like MR curves are clearly observed. The MR(H  ) curves vary with θ$\theta$, the angle between the applied magnetic field and the current direction in the substrate plane, showing anisotropic MR properties. A much broader MR(H) response is observed for the configuration of H perpendicular to the substrate plane. Additionally, the maxima-MR field H_p almost coincides with the coercive field H_c for θ<60°$\theta <60°$ but obeys a different form from _Hc(θ)$H_{\mathrm{c}}(\theta )$. The high-field junction resistance shows an intrinsic sin²θ${\sin }^2\theta$ angular dependence, while the low-field resistance shows an extrinsic cos(4θ)$\cos (4\theta )$ angular dependence. The distinctive features are mainly due to the induced magnetization anisotropy in the artificial steps of grain boundaries.     

On the mass and mixings of the ZE

The experimental data on the neutral current couplings are used to derive lower bounds on the mass of Z_E, the extra neutral gauge boson appearing in the minimal ‘beyond the standard model’ scenario favoured in superstring compactifications. This is based on the gauge group SU(3)_c×SU(2)_L×U(1)_Y×U(1)_E. Taking sin²θ_w=0.229, m_W=80.76 GeV and m_Z=91.59 GeV it is found that the mixing angle θ between Z and Z_E must satisfy −0.136<sin θ<−0.007 corresponding to m_ZE>152 GeV or, assuming E₆ unification m_ZE>155 GeV.     

Damping constant of Co/Pt multilayer thin-film media

Gilbert's damping constants, α, of Co(t_Co)/Pt (1.4 nm) multilayer thin films are investigated by Q-band FMR analysis. α is calculated from the resonance width of the FMR spectrum. With decreasing t_Co, the α value decreases from 0.034 (t_Co=8.7 nm) to 0.023 (t_Co=1.8 nm), and then increases to 0.037 (t_Co=1.0 nm). The decrease of α with t_Co>1.8 nm is probably due to the eddy current loss effects. The increase of α with t_Co<1.8 nm would be caused by the increase of the distortion between the Co and the Pt layers at the interface. When the magnetic field direction was changed from θ=90° (parallel to the specimen) to θ=0° (perpendicular to the specimen), the α of all the specimens increased, and a sharp step in α was observed around θ=40°, where the α has the maximum value.     

Residual surface stress measurements in YBa2Cu3Ox superconductors

XRD and residual surface stress (sin² ψ) measurements were carried out on YBa₂Cu₃O_x superconductors with varying oxygen stoichiometry (6.3 < x < 7.0). Slopes of the surface strain versus sin² ψ were plotted against oxygen content for certain reflections. Compressional surface stress has been found along the c-axis, while a tensile surface stress has been observed along the ab-plane. Both surface stresses were found to vary slightly with oxygen content. These findings qualitatively agree with a very small hydrostatic pressure effect on T_c for fully oxygenated YBa₂Cu₃O_x (x = 7) compared to oxygen deficient material at the surface.     

Synthesis and characterization of Co7(OH)12(C2H4S2O6)(H2O)2—a single crystal structural study of a ferrimagnetic layered cobalt hydroxide

A novel layered hydrotalcite-like material, Co₇(H₂O)₂(OH)₁₂(C₂H₄S₂O₆), has been prepared hydrothermally and the structure determined using single crystal X-ray diffraction (a=6.2752(19) Å, b=8.361(3) Å, c=9.642(3) Å, α=96.613(5)°, β=98.230(5)°, γ=100.673(5)°, R1=0.0551). The structure consists of brucite-like sheets where 1/6 of the octahedral sites are replaced by two tetrahedrally coordinated Co(II) above and below the plane of the layer. Ethanedisulfonate anions occupy the space between layers and provide charge balance for the positively charged layers. The compound is ferrimagnetic, with a Curie temperature of 33 K, Curie-Weiss θ of −31 K, and a coercive field of 881 Oe at 5 K.     

Mechanism of the quasi-zero axial acoustic radiation force experienced by elastic and viscoelastic spheres in the field of a quasi-Gaussian beam and particle tweezing

The present analysis investigates the (axial) acoustic radiation force induced by a quasi-Gaussian beam centered on an elastic and a viscoelastic (polymer-type) sphere in a nonviscous fluid. The quasi-Gaussian beam is an exact solution of the source free Helmholtz wave equation and is characterized by an arbitrary waist w₀ and a diffraction convergence length known as the Rayleigh range z_R. Examples are found where the radiation force unexpectedly approaches closely to zero at some of the elastic sphere’s resonance frequencies for kw₀ ? 1 (where this range is of particular interest in describing strongly focused or divergent beams), which may produce particle immobilization along the axial direction. Moreover, the (quasi)vanishing behavior of the radiation force is found to be correlated with conditions giving extinction of the backscattering by the quasi-Gaussian beam. Furthermore, the mechanism for the quasi-zero force is studied theoretically by analyzing the contributions of the kinetic, potential and momentum flux energy densities and their density functions. It is found that all the components vanish simultaneously at the selected ka values for the nulls. However, for a viscoelastic sphere, acoustic absorption degrades the quasi-zero radiation force.     

Probabilistically perfect quantum cloning and unambiguous state discrimination

We consider the N → M probabilistically perfect quantum cloning machine that perfectly produces M faithful copies from N identical input states, where the input states are selected, with prior probabilities η₁and η₂ = 1 − η₁, from a given set of the two linearly independent states |ψ₁〉^⊗ N = (cosθ|0〉 + sinθ|1〉)^⊗ N and |ψ₂〉^⊗ N = (sinθ|0〉 + cosθ|1〉)^⊗ N (θ∈(0,π/2)). We derive the optimal distribution of the success probabilities. When M approaches infinite, the probabilistically perfect quantum cloning can be regarded as a kind of the unambiguous state discrimination, and theoretically provides the upper bound of the unambiguous state discrimination. By using the optimal distribution of the success probabilities of the optimal asymmetric 1 → M probabilistically perfect quantum cloning, we can derive the maximum average success probability of the unambiguous discrimination of two nonorthogonal quantum states |ψ₁〉and|ψ₂〉. As an example, we give the explicit transformation of the optimal symmetric 1 → M probabilistically perfect quantum cloning to copy the two input states |ψ₁〉 and |ψ₂〉.     

Magnetic properties and microstructure study of high coercivity Au/FePt/Au trilayer thin films

High-coercivity Au(60 nm)/FePt(δ nm)/Au(60 nm) trilayer samples were prepared by sputtering at room temperature, followed by post annealing at different temperatures. For the sample with δ=60 nm, L1₀ ordering transformation occurs at 500 °C. Coercivity (H_c) is increased with the annealing temperature in the studied range 400–800 °C. The H_c value of the trilayer films is also varied with thickness of FePt intermediate layer (δ), from 27 kOe for δ=60 nm to a maximum value of 33.5 kOe for δ=20 nm. X-ray diffraction data indicate that the diffusion of Au atoms into the FePt L1₀ lattice is negligible even after a high-temperature (800 °C) annealing process. Furthermore, ordering parameter is almost unchanged as δ is reduced from 60 to 15 nm. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) photos indicate that small FePt Ll₀ particles are dispersed amid the large-grained Au. We believe that the high coercivity of the trilayer sample is attributed to the small and uniform grain sizes of the highly ordered FePt particles which have perfect phase separation with Au matrix.     

Nanostructuring of Fe films by oblique incidence deposition on a FeSi2 template onto Si(1 1 1): Growth, morphology, structure and faceting

The growth of thin Fe films deposited at oblique incidence on an iron silicide template onto Si(1 1 1) single crystal has been investigated as a function of Fe thickness (0 < t_Fe ? 180 monolayers (MLs)) and incidence angle (0 ? θ ? 80°). The growth mode is determined in situ by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). Stripes oriented perpendicularly to the incident atomic flux are formed for θ ? 30°. Self-correlation functions are used to extract characteristic lengths from STM images. The correlation lengths in the direction of the incident flux (ξ_x) and perpendicular to the atomic flux (ξ_y) grow with different powers versus time (ξ_x∝t^σ and ξ_y∝t^ρ, with σ = 0.34 ± 0.03 and ρ = 0.67 ± 0.03) following the exact solution of the (1 + 1) dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation. The root mean square roughness follows also a scaling law for t_Fe < 120 ML leading to a growth exponent β = 0.73 ± 0.02. Shadowing and steering effects are discussed on the basis of our STM data.     

Enhancement effect in photon-stimulated ion desorption for benzene adsorbed on silicon surfaces observed using angle-dependent technique

We have investigated photon-stimulated ion desorption from deuterated benzene (C₆D₆) adsorbed on Si(1 0 0) and Si(1 1 1) surfaces following C 1s core excitation. Using time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with angle-dependent technique, we measured the dependences of mass-spectra of desorption ions on photon energies and on incident angle (θ) of synchrotron beam. We have found the ion yields for adsorbate-derived fragments of CD⁺ and CD₂⁺ are enhanced in very small angles of incident X-rays. Moreover, molecular orientation effect appeared in excitation energy dependences of D⁺ ions from the Si(1 0 0) and Si(1 1 1) surfaces; that is, ion yield spectra measured at θ = 10° are different from that at θ = 65°. Furthermore, it was found that desorption ion yields increase greatly with decreasing incident angles. The angular dependences are consistently similar for all ion species, excitation energies, and indexes of substrates. Possible desorption processes are described on the basis of the observations.     

Angular dependence of coercivity and remanence of Ni nanowire arrays and its relevance to magnetoviscosity

Ni nanowire arrays with varying wire dimensions (diameter d, length l) and center-to-center distances d_CC were synthesized by pulsed electrodeposition of Ni in porous Al templates. The magnetization-reversal behavior of the arrays was investigated by means of magnetometry for different angles θ between the wire axes and the applied magnetic field. The functional dependences of the characteristic parameters coercivity H_C(θ) and reduced remanence m_R/m_S(θ) exhibit a strong dependence on the wire dimensions and the center-to-center distance. For instance, for nanowire arrays with d=40 nm, d_CC=100 nm, and for θ=0°, the coercivity takes on a rather large value of μ₀H_C=85 mT and m_R/m_S≅94%; reducing d_CC to 30 nm and d to 17 nm results in μ₀H_C=49 mT and m_R/m_S≅57%, an observation which suggests an increasing magnetostatic interwire interaction at increased (d/d_CC)-ratio. The potential application of nanowires as the constituents of ferrofluids is discussed.     

High-throughput characterization of BixY3−xFe5O12 combinatorial thin films by magneto-optical imaging technique

Bi_xY_3−xFe₅O₁₂ thin films have been grown on GGG (Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂) (1 1 1) substrates by the combinatorial composition-spread techniques under substrate temperature (T_sub) ranging from 410 to 700 °C and O₂ pressure of 200 mTorr. In order to study the effect of substrates on the deposition of Bi_xY_3−xFe₅O₁₂ thin films, garnet substrates annealed at 1300 °C for 3 h were also used. Magneto-optical properties were characterized by our home-designed magneto-optical imaging system. From the maps of Faraday rotation angle θ_F, it was evident that the Faraday effect appears only when T_sub = 430-630 °C. θ_F reaches to the maximum value (∼6°/μm, λ = 632 nm) at 500 °C, and is proportional to the Bi contents. XRD and EPMA analyses showed that Bi ions are easier to substitute for Y sites and better crystallinity is obtained for annealed substrates than for commercial ones.     

Torsional analysis of 2-butynol

The microwave spectrum of 2-butynol, CH₃CCCH₂OH, has been investigated in the frequency range of 6-26.5 GHz. The spectra of the A and E torsional states were observed using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. Due to the presence of the cylindrically symmetric CC “spacer” between the methyl group and the rest of the molecule, the barrier to internal rotation, V₃, is only 7 cm⁻¹. One conformer of 2-butynol was observed and assigned. The spectrum was analyzed with the ρ-axis method using a very flexible Hamiltonian which gives a fit an order of magnitude better than that obtained with more standard code for internal rotation. The spectroscopic constants are: 23744.(18), 2093.429(1), 1966.358(1), and −400.34(2) MHz for A, B, C, and D_ab; 0.48(1) kHz, −30.3(4) kHz, and 4.5(5) MHz for Δ_J, Δ_JK, and Δ_K; and 0.1406(6), 6.93(9) cm⁻¹, −33.4(7) kHz, and 192.0(9) GHz for ρ, V₃, L_V, and F, respectively. The root mean squared error of the fit is 14 kHz. The angles between the internal rotor axis and principal axes are θ_a=12°, θ_b=78°, with θ_c held fixed at 90°.     

Giant Faraday rotation in Fe–ZnSe granular films

The giant magneto-optical Faraday effect (giant Faraday rotation) of ferromagnetic metal–semiconductor matrix Fe–ZnSe granular films prepared by radio frequency sputtering is studied. The result shows that the Faraday rotation angle θ_F value of the granular films sample with Fe volume fraction x=35% is of the order of 10⁵ °/cm at room temperature. Temperature dependence of the θ_F of Fe_0.35(ZnSe)_0.65 granular films shows that θ_F value, below 150 K, increases rapidly with the decrease of the temperature, and when T=10 K θ_F value is 6×10⁵ °/cm. Through the study of the structure and dependence of magnetic properties on temperature, it has been found that the remarkable increase of the θ_F value of Fe_0.35(ZnSe)_0.65 granular films below 150 K seems to arise from the sp–d exchange interaction inside the granular films.