Cosmic rays from the ankle to the cutoff

Recent advances in measuring and interpreting cosmic rays from the spectral ankle to the highest energies are briefly reviewed. The prime question at the highest energies is about the origin of the flux suppression observed at $E\simeq 4\cdot {10}^{19}\text{eV}$. Is this the long-awaited GZK-effect or the exhaustion of sources? The key to answering this question will be provided by the largely unknown mass composition at the highest energies. The high level of isotropy observed even at the highest energies challenges models of a proton-dominated composition if extragalactic magnetic fields are on the order of a few nG or less. We shall discuss the experimental and theoretical progress in the field and the prospects for the next decade.     

Cosmic rays from the knee to the ankle

The shape and composition of the primary spectrum as well as the large-scale anisotropy in the arrival direction of cosmic rays are key elements to understand the origin, acceleration and propagation of the Galactic radiation. Besides the well-known knee and ankle features, the measured energy spectrum exhibits also a less pronounced but still clear deviation from a single power law between the knee and the ankle, with a spectral hardening at $\sim 2\times {10}^{16}\text{eV}$ and a steepening at $\sim {10}^{17}\text{eV}$. The average mass composition gets heavier after the knee till $\sim {10}^{17}\text{eV}$, where a bending of the heavy component is observed. An indication of a hardening of the light component just above ${10}^{17}\text{eV}$ has been measured as well. First indications of anisotropy of the arrival direction in the southern hemisphere have been reported at $\sim {10}^{15}\text{eV}$.     

Application of medium energy plasma focus device in study of radioisotopes

Pulsed neutrons generated in a plasma focus device are used for the thermal neutron activation analysis (TNAA) of selected three elements having widely different half-lives varying from a few seconds to a few days [Dysprosium (Dy), Manganese (Mn) and Gold (Au)]. Neutron pulse having strength of $(1.2\pm 0.3)\times {10}^9$ neutrons/pulse with a pulse width of $46\pm 5\text{ns}$ is produced by “MEPF-12” device operated at a filling gas (deuterium + 0.5% krypton) pressure of 3 mbar. The fast 2.45 MeV D–D neutrons are thermalized before irradiating the sample. The decay gammas from the radioisotopes ^165mDy ($T_{1/2}=1.26\text{min.}$), ⁵⁶Mn ($T_{1/2}=2.58\text{hrs.}$), and ¹⁹⁸Au ($T_{1/2}=2.69\text{days}$) produced via reactions, ¹⁶⁴Dy($n,\gamma$)^165mDy, ⁵⁵Mn($n,\gamma$) ⁵⁶Mn, and ¹⁹⁷Au($n,\gamma$) ¹⁹⁸Au respectively are counted off-line in a lead shielded well type $76\times 76{\text{mm}}^2$ NaI(Tl) detector coupled to a calibrated 2048 channel analyzer. The values of half-lives evaluated from the measured decay gammas, $1.43\pm 0.3\text{min.}$, $2.56\pm 0.5\text{hrs.}$ and $2.84\pm 0.6\text{days}$ respectively for the radioisotopes of Dy, Mn and Au, are seen to be close to the values reported in literature.     

Superconductivity in transuranium elements and compounds

We present here an overview of the properties of transuranium superconductors, but also of the (non-superconducting) transuranium analogues of uranium superconductors. We briefly review superconductivity in actinide elements and uranium compounds and focus in particular on the ${\text{PuTX}}_5$ ($T=\text{Co},\text{Rh}$; $\text{X}=\text{Ga},\text{In}$) series, the largest superconducting system in actinides and ${\text{NpPd}}_5{\text{Al}}_2$, the so far unique neptunium superconductor. The effects of chemical substitution, ageing and pressure on the properties of transuranium superconductors are also discussed.     

Electron spin relaxation of exchange coupled pairs of transition metal ions in solids. Ti2+–Ti2+ pairs and single Ti2+ ions in SrF2 crystals

EPR (X- and Q-band) and electron spin relaxation measured by electron spin echo method (X-band) were studied for ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}(S=1)$ and ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}''–''{\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ pairs in ${\text{SrF}}_2$ crystal at room temperature and in the temperature range 4.2–115 K. EPR spectrum consists of a strong line from ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ and quartets 2:3:3:2 from titanium pairs $(S=2)$. Spin-Hamiltonian parameters of the pairs are $g_{\parallel }=1.883$, $g_{\perp }=1.975$ and $D=0.036{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. Temperature behavior of the dimer spectrum indicates ferromagnetic coupling between ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$. Spin–lattice relaxation of individuals ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ is dominated by the ordinary two-phonon Raman process involving the whole phonon spectrum up to the Debye temperature ${\Theta }_{\text{D}}=380\text{K}$ with spin–phonon coupling parameter equal to $215{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. Important contribution to the relaxation arises from local mode vibrations of energy $133{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. The pair relaxation is faster due to the exchange coupling modulation mechanism with the relaxation rate characteristic for ferromagnetic ground state of the pairs $1/T_1\propto [\exp (2J/\mathit{kT})-1{]}^{-1}$ which allowed to estimate the exchange coupling $J=36{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. The theories of electron–lattice relaxation governed by exchange interaction are outlined for extended spin systems, for clusters and for individual dimers. Electron spin echo decay is strongly modulated by coupling with surrounding ¹⁹F nuclei. FT-spectrum of the modulations shows a dipolar splitting of the fluorine lines, which allows the evaluation of the off-center shift of ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ in pair as 0.132 nm. The electron spin echo dephasing is dominated by an instantaneous diffusion at low temperatures and by the spin–lattice relaxation processes above 18 K.     

Feasible homopolar dynamo with sliding liquid-metal contacts

We present a feasible homopolar dynamo design consisting of a flat, multi-arm spiral coil, which is placed above a fast-spinning metal ring and connected to the latter by sliding liquid-metal electrical contacts. Using a simple, analytically solvable axisymmetric model, we determine the optimal design of such a setup. For small contact resistance, the lowest magnetic Reynolds number, $\mathit{Rm}\approx 34.6$, at which the dynamo can work, is attained at the optimal ratio of the outer and inner radii of the rings $R_i/R_o\approx 0.36$ and the spiral pitch angle 54.7°. In a setup of two copper rings with the thickness of 3 cm, $R_i=10\text{cm}$ and $R_o=30\text{cm}$, self-excitation of the magnetic field is expected at a critical rotation frequency around 10 Hz.     

Enhanced energy storage and pyroelectric properties of highly (100)-oriented (Pb1−x−yLaxCay)Ti1−x/4O3 thin films derived at low temperature

Highly (100)-oriented (Pb_1?x?yLa_xCa_y)Ti_1?x/4O₃ ($x=0.15$, $y=0.05$; $x=0.1$, $y=0.1$; $x=0.05$, $y=0.15$) thin films were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates at a low temperature of 450?°C via a sol–gel route. It was found that all the (Pb_1?x?yLa_xCa_y)Ti_1?x/4O₃ thin films could be completely crystallized and the content of La/Ca showed a significant effect on the electrical properties of films. Among the three films, the (Pb_1?x?yLa_xCa_y)Ti_1?x/4O₃ ($x=0.1$, $y=0.1$) thin film exhibited the enhanced overall electrical properties, such as a low dielectric loss ($\tan ?\delta <0.08$) and leakage current ($J～4.6\times {10}^{?5}$ A/cm²), a high recoverable energy density (W_re ～ 15 J/cm³), as well as a large pyroelectric coefficient (p ～ 190 μC/m²K) and figure of merit ($F_{\mathrm{d}}^{\prime }～77\mathrm{\mu }\text{C}/{\text{m}}^2$K). The findings suggest that the fabricated thin films with a good (100) orientation can be an attractive candidate for applications in Si-based energy storage and pyroelectric devices.     

The first principle study of the electronic structure of SixGe(1−x) alloy films

First principles calculation based on density functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) are carried out to investigate the electronic band structures of ${\text{Si}}_x{\text{Ge}}_{(1?x)}$ alloys nanofilms. The calculation results show that the band gaps of (100), (110) and (111) surfaces ${\text{Si}}_x{\text{Ge}}_{(1?x)}$ alloy films with different thickness first increase with the increase of Si content, then flatten out, and finally decrease. At the same time, the transformation of direct band gap and indirect band gap occurs when the thickness of films and Si content of the three surface ${\text{Si}}_x{\text{Ge}}_{(1?x)}$ alloy films changes to a certain critical condition. It will be a good way to obtain direct-gap band emission in ${\text{Si}}_x{\text{Ge}}_{(1?x)}$ alloys materials.     

A new characterization of the Berger sphere in complex projective space

We give a complete classification of Lagrangian immersions of homogeneous 3-manifolds (the Berger spheres, the Heisenberg group ${\text{Nil}}_3$, the universal covering of the Lie group $\text{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ and the Lie group ${\text{Sol}}_3$) in 3-dimensional complex space forms. As a corollary, we get a new characterization of the Berger sphere in complex projective space.