Complete structure determination of the astrophysically important nucleus Na below the proton threshold

The fusion–evaporation reaction ¹⁰B(¹²C, 2n) was used to make the first observation of in-beam γ decays from the astrophysically important nucleus ²⁰Na, lying adjacent to the proton drip-line. All states below the proton threshold in ²⁰Na were populated and identified in the experiment. These include new levels, previously unresolved levels, and states located with improved energy precision. The level structure of ²⁰Na, and its γ transitions, are compared to the mirror partner ²⁰F measured simultaneously in this experiment. In particular, a high degree of energy stability is found for all negative parity states. These results are discussed in the context of the nuclear shell model.     

Pulsed laser deposition of PZT/Pt composite thin films with high dielectric constants

PbZr_0.53Ti_0.47O₃ (PZT) thin films containing nanoparticles of Pt (3–10 nm) were produced using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The Pt content can be tuned by varying the energy density of the laser beam. Phase and microstructure analysis of the thin films was performed using XRD, SEM, TEM and AFM. The electrical properties were investigated by C–V and I–V measurements. The effective dielectric constant of the composite films increased substantially through the Pt dispersion. These films are promising candidates, for instance, for high-density dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices. PACS 77.22.Ch; 77.84.Lf; 81.15.Fg     

Production of heavy neutron-rich nuclei “south" of lead

The production of heavy neutron-rich nuclei is investigated using cold-fragmentation reactions. More than 25 new heavy neutron-rich nuclei were produced in the fragmentation of ²⁰⁸Pb projectiles at 1 A GeV impinging a beryllium target. The precise measurement of their production cross sections enables to benchmark the predictive power of different model calculations and make reliable predictions of the production rates expected in future radioactive beam facilities.     

Atomic-emission spectrum analysis of soil

A method of the atomic-emission spectrum analysis of soil has been developed for control of the accumulation of technogenic impurities in environmental objects. A sample, after calcination at 550°C, is evaporated in an arc discharge. Spectra are recorded by a DFS-8 spectrograph. Simultaneously, determination is made of Li, Ba, Sr, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Co, Pb, Bi, Mo, V, Ge, Ga, Y, Nb, Sn, Cd. For the majority of the elements the detection limits are lower than their percent abundance in the crust and their maximum permissible concentrations. Institute for Single Crystals, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 60, Lenin Ave., Khar'kov, 310001, Ukraine. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 396–399, May–June, 1997.     

Method of Eliminating Systematic Errors of Atomic Absorption Analysis in Atomization of a Material in a Graphite Furnace

By taking as an example the obtaining of the spectra of the gas phase over alkali metal iodides and calcium fluoride, we show the possibility of eliminating systematic errors of atomic absorption analysis which are due to nonselective absorption of light. It is been suggested that it makes sense to create a database that would contain molecular absorption spectra of the most abundant substances and would be intended for use by chemistsanalysts.     

On the tensor product of supersingleton representations ofosp(1, 2n)

The tensor product of two supersingleton representations _n of the Lie superalgebraosp (1, 2n) is studied forn2. The main results are as follows: (a) anticommutators and commutators of the odd generators in _{n n} form a skew-symmetric representation of the Lie algebrau(n, n); (b) simple explicit form of all irreducible components of _{n n}, which are labelled by a single parameterJ=0, 1, ..., has been found. Each of them is a^*-representation ofosp (1, 2n) for which assertion (a) is valid. The dimension of its vacuum subspace equals , i.e., the nondegenerate vacuum occurs for J=0 only. Basic property of this family of irreducible^*-representations of osp(1, 2n) are analogous to those of massless representations of osp(1, 4).Dedicated to Academician Václav Votruba on the occasion of his eightieth birthday.     

Precise half-life measurements for 38Ca and 39Ca

The half-lives of ³⁸Ca and ³⁹Ca have been measured at ISOLDE of CERN. The REXTRAP facility was used to prepare ultra-clean samples of radioactive nuclei for precision decay spectroscopy. ³⁸Ca is one of the T _z = - 1 , 0⁺ $ \rightarrow$ 0⁺ $ \beta$ -emitting nuclides used to determine the vector coupling constant of the weak interaction and the V_ud quark-mixing matrix element. The result obtained, T _1/2 = 443.8(19) ms, is four times more precise than the average of previous measurements. For ³⁹Ca , a half-life of T _1/2 = 860.7(10) ms is obtained, a result in agreement with the average value from the literature.