Concentrating particles on drop surfaces using external electric fields

We propose to use an externally applied uniform electric field to alter the distribution of particles on the surface of a drop immersed in another immiscible liquid. Specifically, we seek to generate well-defined concentrated regions at the drop surface while leaving the rest of the surface particle free. Experiments show that when the dielectric constant of the drop is greater than that of the ambient liquid the particles for which the Clausius-Mossotti factor is positive move along the drop surface to the two poles of the drop. Particles with a negative Clausius-Mossotti factor, on the other hand, move along the drop surface to form a ring near the drop equator. The opposite takes place when the dielectric constant of the drop is smaller than that of the ambient liquid, namely particles for which the Clausius-Mossotti factor is positive form a ring near the equator while those for which such a factor is negative move to the poles. This motion is due to the dielectrophoretic force that acts upon particles because the electric field on the surface of the drop is nonuniform, despite the uniformity of the applied electric field. Experiments also show that when small particles collect at the poles of a deformed drop the electric field needed to break the drop is smaller than without particles. These phenomena could be useful to concentrate particles at a drop surface within well-defined regions (poles and equator), separate two types of particles at the surface of a drop or increase the drop deformation to accelerate drop breakup.     

Thomson scattering in strong external fields

In the present paper we shall investigate relativistic Thomson scattering in two external fields. A free classical electron will be embedded in a strong, constant and homogeneous magnetic field and in a powerful electromagnetic field. Both fields will be considered in the Redmond configuration, in which case the electromagnetic wave is circularly polarized and propagates in the direction of the homogeneous magnetic field. The electron will be allowed to have arbitrary initial conditions and the electromagnetic wave will be switched on either suddenly or adiabatically. We shall present the exact solution of the Lorentz equation of motion in the above external field configuration and we shall evaluate the spectrum and cross sections of the scattered radiation. In particular, we shall consider scattering close to resonance and we shall compare our results with the findings of earlier work.     

The use of external magnetic fields in spectroscopic analysis of traces in DC arc

Summary The use of external magnetic fields leads to an increase of intensity of spectral lines of traces. This makes possible the elaboration of new methods for spectrochemical trace analysis. The intensification of lines is connected with the broad shape of the arc plasma and with the residence time of particles in it.

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Zusammenfassung Durch Anwendung von Fremdmagnetfeldern kann eine Intensitätserhöhung der Spektrallinien von Spurenelementen im Lichtbogen erreicht werden. Dadurch ergibt sich die Möglichkeit der Entwicklung neuer spektrochemischer Verfahren zur Spurenanalyse.Die Intensitätserhöhung der Spektrallinien steht im Zusammenhang mit der breiten Plasmaform und der längeren Verweilzeiten der Teilchen im Bogenplasma.

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Dedicated to Prof. Dr. H.Kaiser on his 60th birthday.     

Quantification of small amounts of ionic liquids in solutions using CHN analysis

A method for the quantification of small amounts (0.01–0.03 mol L^–1) of ionic liquids (IL) [BMIM]Br, Bu₄NBr, and Bu₄NHSO₄ in solutions using CHN analysis was proposed. The sample preparation procedure is based on evaporating the volatile components from the solution and concentrating of IL in an inert porous material (SiO₂). Prior to preparation and analysis, the solid samples were heated at a temperature selected based on DTA data. This procedure can be used to determine the content of IL in solutions and catalytic mixtures.     

The Breit interaction in external magnetic fields

The Breit energy of a system, which is shown to depend on the external magnetic vector potential, is exactly transformed, by applying Gordon decompositions, to a form explicitly exhibiting some of the field dependence. The result is used to derive the leading Breit contributions to NMR chemical shifts and atomic g factors.     

On-chip classification of micro-particles using laser light scattering and machine learning

The rapid detection of microparticles exhibits a broad range of applications in the field of science and technology. The proposed method differentiates and identifies the 2 μm and 5 μm sized particles using a laser light scattering. The detection method is based on measuring forward light scattering from the particles and then classifying the acquired data using support vector machines. The device is composed of a microfluidic chip linked with photosensors and a laser device using optical fiber....     

Phase behavior of polarizable spherocylinders in external fields

Applied electric fields are known to induce significant changes in the properties of systems of polarizable molecules or particles. For rod-shaped molecules, the field-induced behavior can be rather surprising, as in the case of the negative electric birefringence of concentrated solutions of rodlike polyelectrolytes. We have investigated the interplay of shape anisotropy and field-induced anisotropy in molecular dynamics simulations of systems of polarizable soft spherocylinders in an electric field, in the limit of infinitely anisotropic polarizability, taking full account of mutual induction effects. We find a novel crystalline structure (K(2)) in the high-field limit, whose formation is driven by interactions between induced dipoles. For high pressures, the phase diagram exhibits a polar nematic phase between the hexagonal close-packed crystal phase and the K(2) phase. We also compare this system with an analogous system of spherocylinders with permanent electric dipoles and find that qualitatively similar behavior is obtained in the limit of strong coupling of the permanent dipoles to the external field.     

Ionic liquids in vacuo: analysis of liquid surfaces using ultra-high-vacuum techniques

Ultra-high-vacuum (UHV)-based techniques can offer the scientist a tremendous amount of information about samples of interest. However, until recently the range of samples that could be routinely investigated using unmodified instrumentation was limited to solid samples and frozen solutions. In this paper we report the investigation of low-vapor-pressure, liquid samples using both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. We demonstrate the suitability of UHV techniques in the investigation of a range of room-temperature ionic liquids, offering the opportunity to measure high-quality solution-phase spectra using unmodified instrumentation.     

J-coupling nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of liquids in nT fields

In ultralow magnetic fields, liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of homonuclear spin systems exhibit line widths dominated by their natural lifetime. Chemical shifts become negligible, and heteronuclear NMR spectra show predominantly the electron-mediated field-independent J-coupling. However, weak polarization and Larmor frequencies down to a few hertz require special detectors, such as Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUID), that also enable the simultaneous detection of broad band spectra of heteronuclear spin systems. We acquired spectra of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol and trimethyl phosphate at detection fields varying from 444 nT to 3.34 muT after prepolarizing the sample in a field of 250 muT. Down to a 1H Larmor frequency of 40 Hz, the spectra of trifluoroethanol exhibited four clearly resolvable peaks. The numerical simulation agreed well with the measured spectra. Trimethyl phosphate exhibited two major groups of nonresolved proton lines. At 1H Larmor frequencies below 150 Hz, the separation of the two groups decreased, reflecting the transition from weakly to strongly coupled spin systems. Direct determination of 3J(H,P) from the peak separation is possible only at Larmor frequencies above 150 Hz. The experimental setup allowed an easy adjustment of the detection field over several octaves. This enabled us to adapt the detection field to the best-suited measurement window providing the maximum spectral information. Low-field NMR may open new applications, such as monitoring heteronuclear reactions, low-field imaging, simultaneous NMR/magnetoencephalography measurements, or quantum computing.     

Hyperfine structure of atoms in combined external fields

In order to interpret experimental hyperfine spectra of the resonance lines of the alkali atoms in presence of external electric and magnetic fields in arbitrary direction relative to each other a computer programme has been developed which computes the splitting of hyperfine components of spectral lines and their expected relative transition probabilities. The computed data can be directly compared with experimental spectra taken by laser-atomic-beam spectroscopy. Splitting parameters, like hyperfine structure constants or polarizabilities, can be evaluated with the help of a fitting procedure. The theoretical approach used in the programme has rather general validity, therefore the programme can be utilized, within the validity of the applied theoretical assumptions, for any kind of atom.     

Creation of magnetic cerasomes through electroless plating and their manipulation using external magnetic fields

Magnetic cerasome, an artificial cell membrane having ultrathin magnetic metal layers on the surface, was prepared through electroless plating of magnetic metal alloy onto an organic–inorganic vesicular nanohybrid “cerasome.” Morphological and functional characteristics of the magnetic cerasome were evaluated using various physical measurements: scanning and transmission electron microscopies, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electron tomography, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The results proved that high morphological stability of the cerasome was important for constructing the magnetic lipid vesicle and that insertion of an alkylated metal ligand into the cerasome was essential to the magnetic metal alloy deposition on the cerasome surface. Fluorescence microscopic observations revealed that the magnetic cerasomes were collected reversibly on the slide glass surface and manipulated depending on external motion of a magnet. The potential use of the magnetic cerasomes as a novel vesicular nanohybrid is also described in this report.     

Coherent control of wavepacket dynamics by locally designed external field

A new coherent control theory for manipulating quantum mechanical dynamics is proposed. The control field is designed locally (in time domain) so as to realize monotonous increase of the overlap between currently evolving wavefunction and the time-dependent target state, which will eventually reach to a desired quantum state under field-free condition. The present theory is applied to one-dimensional harmonic oscillator and Morse potential systems.     

Water absorption in polyethylene under external electric fields

Monte Carlo simulations of the solubility and structure of water in polyethylene in thermodynamic equilibrium with liquid water were performed in external fields ranging from 2 x 10(5) to 4 x 10(9) V/m. For a given equilibrium temperature and pressure, the water solubility decreases at higher fields. This occurs since it is energetically favorable for water molecules to be in the pure water phase than in the polyethylene matrix at high field strengths, and results in an increased density in the water phase. However, fields relevant to high voltage conduction (in the absence of defects that can lead to large local field strengths) do not change the solubility. In addition, at large fields the number of water clusters decreases for all cluster sizes. The rate of decrease is highest for large clusters, and a larger fraction of water molecules exist as monomers in the polyethylene matrix at high fields. Large fields also cause alignment of the water molecules, which leads to more clusters with linear topologies and hence an increase in the cluster radius of gyration.     

Anomalous dielectric relaxation in strong ac external fields

Dielectric relaxation of complex polar fluids is considered in the context of the anomalous diffusion characterized by a fractional parameter alpha < or = 1 (subdiffusion). An infinite hierarchy of three-term differential-recurrence equations governing the time evolution of the electric polarization is established by following a purely phenomenological procedure. The matrix-continued fraction method is used to derive the exact numerical solution of the stationary regime for an assembly of nonelectrically interacting, polar symmetric-top molecules in presence of a strong ac electric field. The results so obtained are valid to any order in the field strength parameter gamma1, thus extending previous theories applicable to fields of very small amplitudes only. This is illustrated by Cole-Cole diagrams and three-dimensional relaxation spectra for the first- and third-harmonic components of the electric polarization as a function of alpha, gamma1, and the angular frequency.     

Phase transitions of two-dimensional dipolar fluids in external fields

In this work, we study condensation phase transitions of two-dimensional Stockmayer fluids under additional external fields using Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations in the grand-canonical ensemble. We employ two recently developed methods to determine phase transitions in fluids, namely Wang-Landau (WL) MC simulations and successive-umbrella (SU) sampling. Considering first systems in zero field (and dipolar coupling strengths μ(2)∕εσ(3) ≤ 6), we demonstrate that the two techniques yield essentially consistent results but display pronounced differences in terms of efficiency. Indeed, comparing the computation times for these systems on a qualitative level, the SU sampling turns out to be significantly faster. In the presence of homogeneous external fields, however, the SU method becomes plagued by pronounced sampling difficulties, yielding the calculation of coexistence lines essentially impossible. Employing the WL scheme, on the other hand, we find phase coexistence even for strongly field-aligned systems. The corresponding critical temperatures are significantly shifted relative to the zero-field case.     

Theory of dilute polyampholyte solutions in external electrical fields

In this work we display recent findings on the conformations and dynamics of polyampholytes (PAs; polymers with positively and negatively charged monomers) in external electrical fields. We consider the case in which the interactions between the charges are less important (weak coupling limit) and also the case in which they are fundamental (strong coupling case). In the weak coupling limit we present analytical results for Gaussian and also for freely-jointed chains. Through scaling arguments we discuss the influence of the excluded volume on the PA's configurations. Furthermore we evaluate the dynamics of PAs in the framework of the Rouse and of the Zimm models. In the strong-coupling regime PAs with vanishing total charge form spherical globules. Using a droplet analogy we examine the response of PAs to external fields and show the onset of an instability reminiscent of a first-order phase transition.     

Capillary electrophoretic analysis of neutral carbohydrates using ionic liquids as background electrolytes

In this study, ionic liquids (ILs) as BGE additives were applied for the analysis of neutral carbohydrates in CE. The ILs served primarily as chromophores for indirect UV detection. The influence of imidazolium-based ionic liquids on the separation, detection limits and mobility of underivatized neutral carbohydrates was investigated. BGEs consisting of 10-50 mM of ILs at pH 12.4 without other additives provided fast separation of neutral sugars. This method was used to determine sucrose, glucose and fructose in certain vegetable juices.     

A new lattice-based theory for hydrogen-bonding liquids in uniform electric fields

We propose a new lattice-based, mean-field theory for predicting alignment of molecular dipoles and hydrogen bonds in liquids subject to uniform electric fields. The theory is presently restricted to liquids whose molecules possess one (proton) donor and one acceptor sites each, and wherein the H-bond axis is collinear with the dipole moments of the bonded molecules. The final expressions for hydrogen bond stoichiometry and polarization are free of lattice parameters, are interpretable using simple phenomenological arguments, and reduce to known limiting forms. The theory is applied to understand the internal structure of hydrogen cyanide in the liquid state at different electric fields.     

Molecular kerr relaxation theory for nondipolar liquids in reorienting pulse fields

The time variations of the difference in refractive index in optical birefringence are calculated for a liquid composed of nondipolar anisotropically polarizable molecules acted on by reorienting pulse fields. The molecular dynamics is based on Sack's equation, taking into account small inertial effects (a modification of the Smoluchowski rotational diffusion equation). The time variations in birefringence are analyzed for rectangular and cosine pulse shapes on the basis of Sack's equation and are plotted for a gaussian pulse on the basis of Smoluchowski's equation. Measurements are proposed of the birefringence component with frequency 4ω related to the square of the electric anisotropy reorientation parameter of the molecules.