The μSR facilities at PSI

TheSR Facility Instruments presently available at PSI and the envisaged medium- and long-term developments are presented. The plans focus on further upgrades of the existing instruments and the development of new techniques using the very high fluxes becoming available at PSI, in particular the setup of a beamline with a fast kicker for muons on request (MORE) and the development of very low energy muon beams.     

On biaccessible points in the Julia set of a Cremer quadratic polynomial

We prove that the only possible biaccessible points in the Julia set of a Cremer quadratic polynomial are the Cremer fixed point and its preimages. This gives a partial answer to a question posed by C. McMullen on whether such a Julia set can contain any biaccessible point at all.

     

Cathodic synthesis of 2-amino-2-propene-1-ones electrolytical studies on vinylazides,VII

The cathodic preparation of enamino ketones from enazidoketones has been generalised to include heteroaromatic and aliphatic derivatives. Mechanistically the role of different sites of protonation, either on N¹ of the N₃-group or on carbonyl depending on electrolysis potential and acid strength, apparent by product distribution, is clarified. Aldehydic groups are preferentially reduced compared to the vinylazide part. Purely aliphatic azidoketones yield conjugated dienes under reductive acetylation, which might be useful for cycloaddition reactions.Die kathodische Synthese von Enaminoketonen aus ungesättigten Azidoketonen wurde auf heteroaromatisch substituierte und auf rein aliphatische Derivate übertragen. Zum Reduktionsmechanismus wurde der Einfluß verschiedener Stellen der Protonierung (am N¹ der N₃-Gruppe bzw. an der Carbonylgruppe), abhängig von Potential und Säurestärke, untersucht. Aldehydische Gruppen als weitere funktionelle Gruppen im Enazid werden leichter als die Vinylazide reduziert. Die rein aliphatischen Enazidoketone ergeben bei reduktiver Acylierung konjugierte Diene.

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Elektrolytische Untersuchungen an Vinylaziden, 7. Mitt.: Kathodische Synthese von 2-Amino-2-propen-1-onen

     

Diffusionless crystal growth in a eutectic system during rapid solidification

Experiments on nonequilibrium rapid eutectic growth are surveyed. The applicability limits of the modern theoretical models describing rapid solidification of binary systems are assessed. A problem of rapid eutectic growth when the local equilibrium is violated in the solute diffusion field (in the bulk liquid and at the solid-liquid interface) is formulated. An analytical solution to the problem of rapid lamellar eutectic growth under local nonequilibrium conditions in the solute diffusion field is found. It is shown that the diffusion-limited growth of a eutectic pattern ceases as soon as a chemically homogeneous crystalline phase begins to grow when the critical point V=V _D is achieved (V is the solid-liquid interface velocity and V _D is the solute diffusion speed in the bulk liquid). At V ≥ V _D, eutectic decomposition is suppressed and the nascent homogeneous crystalline phase has the initial (nominal) chemical composition of the binary system.     

Muon trapping and diffusion in Al and In after electron irradiation at 9 K

The transverse spin relaxation of positive muons has been measured on an Al single crystal and on polycrystalline In after irradiation with 2 MeV electrons at 9 K or 11 K, sample transfer at 4.2 K, and various subsequent annealing treatments. The Al data are analysed in terms of diffusion-limited trapping by vacancies. This yields a muon diffusivityD _μ which within experimental accuracy is proportional toT between 4 K and 50 K, indicating that in this temperature intervalD _μ is dominated by one-phonon-assisted incoherent tunnelling. In In only very small effects due to the irradiation could be observed. The muons appear to be localized in octahedral interstices. From the motional averaging taking place above about 20 K the diffusivity ofD _μ in In is deduced.     

Synthese von ungesättigten und gesättigten Aminosäurederivaten durch kathodische Reduktion von Azidozimtsäureester

Cathodic reduction of -azidocinnamic ester under aprotic conditions on Hg, Pt, or graphite electrodes can be directed to high yields of N,N-diacylated dehydroaminoacid derivates (f.i. addition of acetic anhydride) or to almost quantitative yields of -aminocinnamic ester in very pure form by careful addition of H⁺-donors. The dehydroamino compounds in turn can be further reduced to the corresponding saturated compounds by following H⁺-addition and changed electrolysis potential. Almost no dimerization occurs.

     

A new quasi-Ising magnet

We have performed measurements of the magnetization and differential magnetic susceptibility of Dy_0.62Y_2.38Fe₅O₁₂ single crystals in pulsed magnetic fields up to 45 T at liquid-helium temperature for three orientations of the external field: H‖[100], H‖[110], and H‖[111]. It was found that the magnetization reversal in the rare-earth magnetic subsystem occurs via several phase transitions, whose number depends on the direction of the external field, as is characteristic for Ising magnets. The anomalies in the field dependences of the magnetization are interpreted on the assumption of quasi-Ising ordering of the rare-earth ions. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 8, 552–556 (25 April 1998)     

Radio-frequency muon spin resonance (RFμSR) experiments on condensed matter

In this paper we present an overview of the radio-frequency muon spin resonance (RFμSR) technique, an analogue to continuous-wave NMR, and an introduction to time-integral (TI) and time-differential (TD) RFμSR on muons in diamagnetic or in paramagnetic environments. The general form of the resonance line for TI-RFμSR as well as the expression for the time-dependence of the longitudinal muon spin polarization at resonance are given. Since RFμSR does not require phase coherence of the muon spin ensemble, this technique allows us to investigate muon species that are generated by transitions from, or in the course of reactions of, a precursor muon species even if in transverse-field (TF) μSR measurements the signal is lost due to dephasing. This ability of RFμSR is clearly demonstrated by measurements on doped Si. In this example, at low temperatures, a very pronounced signal from a muon species in diamagnetic environment has been found in RFμSR measurements, whereas in TFμSR experiments only a very small signal from muons in diamagnetic environment could be detected and a large fraction of the implanted muons escaped detection. These findings could be interpreted in terms of the delayed formation of a diamagnetic muonium-dopant complex, and, due to the large diamagnetic RFμSR signal, the RFμSR technique is a unique tool to study how the variation of parameters and experimental conditions such as illumination affects formation and behavior of these complexes. First results obtained on illuminated boron doped Si are reported. However, as illustrated by the example of experiments on the muonated radical in solid C₆₀, results from conventional TI-RFμSR cannot always be interpreted unambiguously since different parameters, namely the fraction of muons forming the investigated muon species, the longitudinal and the transverse relaxation rates, have similar effects on height and shape of the RFμSR resonance line. These ambiguities, however, may be resolved by collecting time-differential data. With this extension RFμSR becomes a very powerful complementary method to TFμSR in the studies of dynamic effects.     

Electrolytic reduction of azidochalcones

Cathodic reduction of -azidochalcones under slightly protic conditions proves to be an excellent method for a selective conversion of the azido function to an amino group without affecting other reducible parts of the molecules. The amino-propenones retain theZ-configuration about the C=C-bond of the starting material, whereas N-acetyl derivatives, obtained under mildly acetylating conditions, are partially isomerised. The low reduction potential of N,N-diacetyl-enamines of this type prevents their direct one step synthesis by electrolysis of azidochalcones under strongly acetylating conditions. The voltammetric behaviour of the azides and their reduction pathway is discussed.

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Elektrolytische Untersuchungen an Vinylaziden, 6. Mitt.Elektrolytische Reduktion von Azidochalkonen

Zusammenfassung Die kathodische Reduktion von -Azidopropenon erweist sich als ausgezeichneter Weg, um selektiv zu Enaminen zu gelangen, ohne (wie chemische Reduktionsmittel) auch andere Gruppierungen anzugreifen. Durch die Kontrolle von Protonierungs- bzw. Acetylierungsschritten lassen sich die stabileren N-Acetylamine erhalten. Das niedrig liegende Reduktionspotential der N,N-Diacetylamino-propenone verhindert, daß sie in einer Einstufensynthese bei der Reduktion der Azidochalkone unter stark acylierenden Bedingungen erhältlich sind. Das voltammetrische Verhalten der Azide und ihr Reaktionsweg bei der kathodischen Reduktion werden diskutiert.