Interface broadening during ion plating

Radiation damaged fluorite single crystals iso-thermally annealed showed an oscillating structure of the intensity of a diffracted neutron beam. This is in accord with previous report on crystalline cobaltic compound examined for reconstitution of parent complex ions from recoil hot atoms and for annealing of radiation damage by neutron diffraction. The oscillation phenomenon already found by radiochemical means in various solids irrespectively of their chemical constitution combined by a pure physical method as the neutron diffraction, greatly supports a hypothesis of a spatial temporal oscillatory diffusion of defects in isothermal annealing of radiation damaged crystalline lattice.     

Conditional dissipation of scalars in homogeneous turbulence: Closure for MMC modelling

While the mean and unconditional variance are to be predicted well by any reasonable turbulent combustion model, these are generally not sufficient for the accurate modelling of complex phenomena such as extinction/reignition. An additional criterion has been recently introduced: accurate modelling of the dissipation timescales associated with fluctuations of scalars about their conditional mean (conditional dissipation timescales). Analysis of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) results for a passive scalar shows that the conditional dissipation timescale is of the order of the integral timescale and smaller than the unconditional dissipation timescale. A model is proposed: the conditional dissipation timescale is proportional to the integral timescale. This model is used in Multiple Mapping Conditioning (MMC) modelling for a passive scalar case and a reactive scalar case, comparing to DNS results for both. The results show that this model improves the accuracy of MMC predictions so as to match the DNS results more closely using a relatively-coarse spatial resolution compared to other turbulent combustion models.     

GESFIDE-PROPELLER Approach for Simultaneous R2 and R2* Measurements in the Abdomen

Purpose

To investigate the feasibility of combining GESFIDE with PROPELLER sampling approaches for simultaneous abdominal R2 and R2* mapping.

Materials and Methods

R2 and R2* measurements were performed in 9 healthy volunteers and phantoms using the GESFIDE-PROPELLER and the conventional Cartesian-sampling GESFIDE approaches.

Results

Images acquired with the GESFIDE-PROPELLER sequence effectively mitigated the respiratory motion artifacts, which were clearly evident in the images acquired using the conventional GESFIDE approach. There was no significant difference between GESFIDE-PROPELLER and reference MGRE R2* measurements (p = 0.162) whereas the Cartesian-sampling based GESFIDE methods significantly overestimated R2* values compared to MGRE measurements (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The GESFIDE-PROPELLER sequence provided high quality images and accurate abdominal R2 and R2* maps while avoiding the motion artifacts common to the conventional Cartesian-sampling GESFIDE approaches.     

High-field MRS studies in brain slices

We are applying multi-nuclear high-field (500 MHz) MR spectroscopy of metabolising whole tissue preparations of the mammalian brain to studies on individual components of convulsions, which include prolonged depolarization, metabolic deprivation, and the effects of excitotoxins. The responses of glial cells and neurones can be partially distinguished by following labelling patterns of metabolic intermediates from ¹³C-labelled glucose or acetate (which enters only glial cells). This approach clearly confirmed our earlier indications that the metabolic response to depolarization (40 mM extracellular K⁺) occurs essentially in glial cells. Some evidence for metabolic shuttling between glia and neurones was obtained from the changes in C3/C4 ratios of glutamate and glutamine, and the C2/C3 of GABA. Mechanisms for metabolic support of neurones by glia may be of importance in neuronal protection under such metabolic stress as occurs in epilepsy. Changes in free intracellular divalent cations ([Ca²⁺]_i and [Zn²⁺]_i) were monitored using the ¹⁹F-MRS indicator, 5FBAPTA. Large increases in [Ca²⁺]_i and decreases in PCr were produced by excitotoxins (glutamate and NMDA), depolarization or ischaemia, but intracellular Zn²⁺ appeared only after exposure to the excitotoxins. The NMDA receptor blocker, MK801, removed all of the responses to NMDA, but only prevented the appearance of Zn²⁺ observed with glutamate. These results indicate that the damage caused to neurones by such insults as convulsions is not due simply to the presence of excessive excitotoxic glutamate.     

Rapid surface-to-volume ratio and tortuosity measurement using Difftrain

Analysis of diffusion measurements as a function of observation time (Delta), to calculate surface-to-volume ratios (S/V) and tortuosities (kappa), is a useful tool in the characterisation of porous media using NMR. However, using conventional pulsed field gradient (PFG) measurements, this requires long total experiment times (typically hours). Here, we show how the rapid diffusion measurement pulse sequence, Difftrain, can be used to provide the required experimental data much more rapidly (typically within minutes) with a consequential reduction in total experiment time of typically over an order of magnitude. Several novel modifications to the Difftrain pulse sequence are also presented to tailor it to this particular application; these include a variable delay between echoes (to ensure optimal echo position with respect to Delta) and a variable tip angle for the refocusing pulse (to ensure optimal use of available signal). Difftrain is applied to measure both S/V and kappa for a model glass bead pack; excellent agreement is found with both a conventional PFG measurement and with a bulk gravimetric measurement of S/V.     

Superfluidity and dimerization in a multilayered system of fermionic polar molecules

We consider a layered system of fermionic molecules with permanent dipole moments aligned perpendicular to the layers by an external field. The dipole interactions between fermions in adjacent layers are attractive and induce interlayer pairing. Because of the competition for pairing among adjacent layers, the mean-field ground state of the layered system is a dimerized superfluid, with pairing only between every other layer. We construct an effective Ising-XY lattice model that describes the interplay between dimerization and superfluid phase fluctuations. In addition to the dimerized superfluid ground state, and high-temperature normal state, at intermediate temperature, we find an unusual dimerized "pseudogap" state with only short-range phase coherence. We propose light-scattering experiments to detect dimerization.     

Structural and electronic properties of group III Rich In0.53Ga0.47As(001)

The structural and electronic properties of group III rich In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001) have been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS). At room temperature (300 K), STM images show that the In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) reconstruction is comprised of undimerized In/Ga atoms in the top layer. Quantitative comparison of the In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) and InAs(001)–(4 × 2) shows the reconstructions are almost identical, but In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) has at least a 4× higher surface defect density even on the best samples. At low temperature (77 K), STM images show that the most probable In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001) reconstruction is comprised of one In/Ga dimer and two undimerized In/Ga atoms in the top layer in a double (4 × 2) unit cell. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations at elevated temperature are consistent with the experimentally observed 300 K structure being a thermal superposition of three structures. DFT molecular dynamics (MD) show the row dimer formation and breaking is facilitated by the very large motions of tricoodinated row edge As atoms and z motion of In/Ga row atoms induced changes in As–In/Ga–As bond angles at elevated temperature. STS results show there is a surface dipole or the pinning states near the valence band (VB) for 300 K In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) surface consistent with DFT calculations. DFT calculations of the band-decomposed charge density indicate that the strained unbuckled trough dimers being responsible for the surface pinning.     

Measuring fluorescence to track a quantum emitter's state: a theory review

We review the continuous monitoring of a qubit through its spontaneous emission, at an introductory level. Contemporary experiments have been able to collect the fluorescence of an artificial atom in a cavity and transmission line, and then make measurements of that emission to obtain diffusive quantum trajectories in the qubit's state. We give a straightforward theoretical overview of such scenarios, using a framework based on Kraus operators derived from a Bayesian update concept; we apply this flexible framework across common types of measurements including photodetection, homodyne, and heterodyne monitoring and illustrate its equivalence to the stochastic master equation formalism throughout. Special emphasis is given to homodyne (phase-sensitive) monitoring of fluorescence. The examples we develop are used to illustrate basic methods in quantum trajectories, but also to introduce some more advanced topics of contemporary interest, including the arrow of time in quantum measurement, and trajectories following optimal measurement records derived from a variational principle. The derivations we perform lead directly from the development of a simple model to an understanding of recent experimental results.     

Sensing and compensation of femtosecond waveform distortion induced by all-order polarization mode dispersion at selected polarization states

We demonstrate full characterization of femtosecond pulse distortion induced by all-order polarization mode dispersion (PMD) at selected polarization states via second-harmonic generation (SHG) frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements at an average power of under 28 nW. By applying the inverse of the measured spectral phase via a programmable pulse shaper, we compress the distorted pulses from more than 3 ps to nearly bandwidth-limited durations of less than 500 fs. Our results show that SHG FROG measurements performed by using fiber-pigtailed aperiodically poled lithium niobate waveguides can serve as a robust and sensitive tool for characterization of PMD-induced spectral phase.