Passively Q-switched diode-pumped Raman laser with third-order Stokes eye-safe oscillation

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched all-solid-state laser system with intracavity Raman frequency conversion to the eye-safe spectral region. Laser oscillation at the 1.064 μm wavelength with a pulse repetition rate of several kilohertz was provided by a Nd:YAG crystal and a Cr:YAG passive absorber. Third Stokes oscillations at the 1.599 and 1.494 μm wavelengths were obtained in Ba(NO₃)₂ and PbWO₄ crystals with output pulse energies of 5 μJ and 6 μJ, respectively. The results of the numerical simulation of the pulse dynamics are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Study on the effect of laser irradiation on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) variety PBW-373 seeds on zinc uptake by wheat plants

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of He?CNe laser irradiations on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) variety PBW-373 seeds on uptake and internal distribution of zinc ion in wheat plants for different irradiation time in soil culture. The transport of zinc from root system to shoot and grain was studied by incorporating radioactive zinc as zinc chloride (Zn^*Cl₂) with the nutrient solution to the plants. The ⁶⁵Zn activity absorbed by the matured plants and distributed in different parts (root, shoot and grain) was measured with a calibrated NaI (Tl) gamma ray spectrometer. The results led the conclusion that translocation of zinc from shoot to grain in mature plants in treated soaked seeds showed a better result in comparison to dry treated and control seeds. The utilization of zinc from roots to shoots was higher in the plants grown from dry seeds in all given treatments and from shoot to grain was best in soaked seeds at 2?min irradiation period.     

Nonlinear analysis of capillary instability with heat and mass transfer

The nonlinear capillary instability of the cylindrical interface between the vapor and liquid phases of a fluid is studied when there is heat and mass transfer across the interface, using viscous potential flow theory. The fluids are considered to be viscous and incompressible with different kinematic viscosities. Both asymmetric and axisymmetric disturbances are considered. The analysis is based on the method of multiple scale perturbation and the nonlinear stability is governed by first-order nonlinear partial differential equation. The stability conditions are obtained and discussed theoretically as well as numerically. Regions of stability and instability have been shown graphically indicating the effect of various parameters. It has been observed that the heat and mass transfer has stabilizing effect on the stability of the system in the nonlinear analysis for both axisymmetric as well as asymmetric disturbances.     

Fractional optimal control of a 2-dimensional distributed system using eigenfunctions

This paper presents an eigenfunctions expansion based scheme for Fractional Optimal Control (FOC) of a 2-dimensional distributed system. The fractional derivative is defined in the Riemann–Liouville sense. The performance index of a FOC problem is considered as a function of both state and control variables, and the dynamic constraints are expressed by a Partial Fractional Differential Equation (PFDE) containing two space parameters and one time parameter. Eigenfunctions are used to eliminate the terms containing space parameters and to define the problem in terms of a set of generalized state and control variables. For numerical computation Grünwald–Letnikov approximation is used. A direct numerical technique is proposed to obtain the state and the control variables. For a linear case, the numerical technique results into a set of algebraic equations which can be solved using a direct or an iterative scheme. The problem is solved for different number of eigenfunctions and time discretization. Numerical results show that only a few eigenfunctions are sufficient to obtain good results, and the solutions converge as the size of the time step is reduced.     

Optimization of Bilinear Systems Using a Higher-Order Variational Method

This paper derives some optimization results for bilinear systems using a higher-order method by characterizing them over matrix Lie groups. In the derivation of the results, first a bilinear system is transformed to a left-invariant system on matrix Lie groups. Then, the product of exponential representation is used to express this system in canonical form. Next, the conditions for optimality are obtained by the principles of variational calculus. It is demonstrated that closed-form analytical solutions exist for classes of bilinear systems whose Lie algebra are nilpotent.     

Induced twisted-grain-boundary phases in the binary mixtures of a cholesteric and a nematic compound

Thermodynamical, optical-texture and dielectric studies have been performed to study the phase diagram of the binary system of 5-cholesten-3β-ol-octanoate and 4-n-nonyloxybenzoic acid. It is observed that low concentrations of 5-cholesten-3β-ol-octanoate (2–30?mol?%) in 4-n-nonyloxybenzoic acid induce a mean-field phase diagram derived by Renn within the framework of the chiral Chen–Lubenski model. Various optical textures of the twisted-grain-boundary (TGB) phases under different conditions of molecular anchoring have been observed. Weak transitions related to the TGB phases have been detected by temperature dependent dielectric spectroscopy.     

Study of size dependent features of swift heavy ion irradiation in nanosized zinc ferrite

In the present work zinc ferrite nanoparticles of different crystallite size were irradiated with 200 MeV Ag¹⁵⁺ ion beam. The structural and magnetic characterization performed for these samples indicate the presence of size dependent irradiation induced changes in the nanoparticles. The superparamgnetic nanoparticles do not alter their behavior after irradiation; however paramagnetic samples exhibit weak ferrimagnetism in the irradiated specimen. Results obtained from these measurements are in agreement with results obtained from the electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.     

Temperature dependence of volume and surface symmetry energy coefficients of nuclei

The thermal evolution of the energies and free energies of a set of spherical and near-spherical nuclei spanning the whole periodic table are calculated in the subtracted finite-temperature Thomas–Fermi framework with the zero-range Skyrme-type KDE0 and the finite-range modified Seyler–Blanchard interaction. The calculated energies are subjected to a global fit in the spirit of the liquid-drop model. The extracted parameters in this model reflect the temperature dependence of the volume symmetry and surface symmetry coefficients of finite nuclei, in addition to that of the volume and surface energy coefficients. The temperature dependence of the surface symmetry energy is found to be very substantial whereas that of the volume symmetry energy turns out to be comparatively mild.     

Molecular dynamics investigations on polishing of a silicon wafer with a diamond abrasive

During the final stages of polishing silicon wafers, much of the interactions between silicon and diamond abrasive takes place at the silicon asperities. These interactions, leading to material removal, were investigated in a MD simulation of polishing of a silicon wafer with a diamond abrasive under dry conditions. Simulations were conducted with silicon asperities of different geometries, different abrasive configurations, and polishing speeds. Under the conditions of polishing, the silicon atoms from the asperities were found to bond chemically to the surface of the diamond abrasive. Continued transverse motion of the diamond abrasive (relative to the silicon asperity) leads to tensile pulling, necking, and ultimate separation of the silicon asperity material instead of conventional material removal in polishing (chip formation) involving cutting/ploughing, which takes place in the absence of chemical bonding between the abrasive and the asperity material. This phenomenon has not been reported previously in the literature. The thrust and cutting forces initially increase due to the increase in the number of asperity atoms affected finally reaching a maximum. This is followed by a decrease of these forces due to tensile pulling and formation of individual strings followed by ultimate separation or breakage of the final string. The ratio of thrust force (F _z ) to the cutting force (F _x ), i.e. |(F _z /F _x )| was found to increase continuously to a maximum of ～0.8 followed by continuous decrease to ～0.25. This is in contrast to a more or less constant value of ～2 in the case of tools with rounded radii or tools with large negative rake angles, where material is removed in the form of chips ahead of the tool. Three regions of the asperity have been identified that are useful in the development of a phenomenological model for polishing that enables computation of material removal rates: (1) the region directly in front of the abrasive for which the probability of the removal of an asperity atom is close to unity, (2) the distant region where this probability is nearly zero, and (3) an intermediate region from which the probability of removal is close to half.     

A hybrid FVM–LBM method for single and multi‐fluid compressible flow problems

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has established itself as an alternative approach to solve the fluid flow equations. In this work we combine LBM with the conventional finite volume method (FVM), and propose a non‐iterative hybrid method for the simulation of compressible flows. LBM is used to calculate the inter‐cell face fluxes and FVM is used to calculate the node parameters. The hybrid method is benchmarked for several one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional test cases. The results obtained by the hybrid method show a steeper and more accurate shock profile as compared with the results obtained by the widely used Godunov scheme or by a representative flux vector splitting scheme. Additional features of the proposed scheme are that it can be implemented on a non‐uniform grid, study of multi‐fluid problems is possible, and it is easily extendable to multi‐dimensions. These features have been demonstrated in this work. The proposed method is therefore robust and can possibly be applied to a variety of compressible flow situations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.