Effect of hot acid etching on the mechanical strength of ground YAG laser elements

High-power pumped Nd:YAG elements may exceed their tensile strength under high thermally induced stress. Providing extra strength to such rods is essential for their employment in high-power lasers. The tensile strength of YAG elements was increased by chemical etching in concentrated phosphoric acid. The highest tensile strength was achieved by etching of fine-ground YAG components: an average for slabs, and for rods, which are 3.6 times and 5 times higher than those of non-etched elements, respectively. The measurements were carried out by four-point flexure strength test. We have established a dependency among the micro-roughness of YAG elements, the surface morphology obtained by etching, and the tensile strength: the tensile strength of the etched element improves for finer after-etch surface texture, which is obtained for finer initial micro-roughness.

To assure the withstanding of Nd:YAG rods under high thermal gradients, a new approach was employed, namely, increasing the pump-power applied to the Nd:YAG rod till fracture. Our results show an increase by more than 2.7 times in tensile strength of etched Nd:YAG rods as compared to standard commercial rods, which corresponds to a thermal loading of excess of 434 W/cm.     

Coordinating visualizations of polysemous action: values added for grounding proportion

We contribute to research on visualization as an epistemic learning tool by inquiring into the didactical potential of having students visualize one phenomenon in accord with two different partial meanings of the same concept. 22 Grade 4–6 students participated in a design study that investigated the emergence of proportional-equivalence notions from mediated perceptuomotor schemas. Working as individuals or pairs in tutorial clinical interviews, students solved non-symbolic interaction problems that utilized remote-sensing technology. Next, they used symbolic artifacts interpolated into the problem space as semiotic means to objectify in mathematical register a variety of both additive and multiplicative solution strategies. Finally, they reflected on tensions between these competing visualizations of the space. Micro-ethnographic analyses of episodes from three paradigmatic case studies suggest that students reconciled semiotic conflicts by generating heuristic logico-mathematical inferences that integrated competing meanings into cohesive conceptual networks. These inferences hinged on revisualizing additive elements multiplicatively. Implications are drawn for rethinking didactical design for proportions.     

The study of relations between loading history and yield surfaces in powder materials using discrete finite element simulations

Only a few studies in the literature have applied the finite-element method to analyse assemblies of meshed particles. These studies illustrated the relevance of this method for granular materials. Here, the compaction of ductile metal powders was studied through a numerical assembly of elastic–plastic and rate-independent spherical particles. The aim of this paper was to understand the evolution of yield surfaces with complex loading paths up to high relative density at the macroscopic scale and at the granular scale. Simulation results revealed that yield surfaces evolved with both isotropic and kinematic hardening mechanisms, depending on the compaction stage. An analysis of the sample microstructure was proposed, and a detailed study of contacts between particles revealed some of the mechanisms that led to the observed evolution of yield surfaces.     

Multiplicativity of the gamma factors of Rankin–Selberg integrals for SO 2l × GL n

Let SO _2l be the special even orthogonal group, split or quasi–split, defined over a local non–Archimedian field. The Rankin–Selberg method for a pair of generic representations of SO _2l × GL _n constructs a family of integrals, which are used to define γ and L-factors. Here we prove full multiplicative properties for the γ-factor, namely that it is multiplicative in each variable. As a corollary, the γ-factor is identical with Shahidi’s standard γ-factor.     

Poisson approximation for non-backtracking random walks

Random walks on expander graphs were thoroughly studied, with the important motivation that, under some natural conditions, these walks mix quickly and provide an efficient method of sampling the vertices of a graph. The authors of [3] studied non-backtracking random walks on regular graphs, and showed that their mixing rate may be up to twice as fast as that of the simple random walk. As an application, they showed that the maximal number of visits to a vertex, made by a non-backtracking random walk of length n on a high-girth n-vertex regular expander, is typically (1+o(1)))log n/log log n, as in the case of the balls and bins experiment. They further asked whether one can establish the precise distribution of the visits such a walk makes. In this work, we answer the above question by combining a generalized form of Brun’s sieve with some extensions of the ideas in [3]. Let N _t denote the number of vertices visited precisely t times by a non-backtracking random walk of length n on a regular n-vertex expander of fixed degree and girth g. We prove that if g = ω(1), then for any fixed t, N _t /n is typically 1/et! + o(1). Furthermore, if g = Ω(log log n), then N _t /n is typically 1+o(1)/et! niformly on all t ≤ (1 − o(1)) log n/log log n and 0 for all t ≥ (1 + o(1)) log n/log log n. In particular, we obtain the above result on the typical maximal number of visits to a single vertex, with an improved threshold window. The essence of the proof lies in showing that variables counting the number of visits to a set of sufficiently distant vertices are asymptotically independent Poisson variables.     

The distance between superspecial abelian varieties with real multiplication

Let L be a totally real field of strict class number one and let OL be its ring of integers. Let p be a rational prime which is unramified in L. We consider the distance between two superspecial abelian varieties with real multiplication in characteristic p, where by “distance” we mean the minimal degree of an OL-isogeny. We give upper and lower bounds on the distance between superspecial abelian varieties with real multiplication by L in characteristic p in terms of p and the degree and discriminant of L.     

Uniformly cross intersecting families

Let A and B denote two families of subsets of an n-element set. The pair (A,B) is said to be ℓ-cross-intersecting iff |A∩B|=ℓ for all A∈ A and B∈B. Denote by P _e (n) the maximum value of |A||B| over all such pairs. The best known upper bound on P _e (n) is Θ(2 ⁿ ), by Frankl and R?dl. For a lower bound, Ahlswede, Cai and Zhang showed, for all n ≥ 2ℓ, a simple construction of an ℓ-cross-intersecting pair (A,B) with |A||B| = $ \left( {{*{20}c} {2\ell } \\ \ell \\ } \right) $ \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {2\ell } \\ \ell \\ \end{array} } \right) 2 ^n−2ℓ = Θ(2 ⁿ /$ \sqrt \ell $ \sqrt \ell ), and conjectured that this is best possible. Consequently, Sgall asked whether or not P _e (n) decreases with ℓ.     

Revisiting Bohr's semiclassical quantum theory

Bohr's atomic theory is widely viewed as remarkable, both for its accuracy in predicting the observed optical transitions of one-electron atoms and for its failure to fully correspond with current electronic structure theory. What is not generally appreciated is that Bohr's original semiclassical conception differed significantly from the Bohr-Sommerfeld theory and offers an alternative semiclassical approximation scheme with remarkable attributes. More specifically, Bohr's original method did not impose action quantization constraints but rather obtained these as predictions by simply matching photon and classical orbital frequencies. In other words, the hydrogen atom was treated entirely classically and orbital quantized emerged directly from the Planck-Einstein photon quantization condition, E = h nu. Here, we revisit this early history of quantum theory and demonstrate the application of Bohr's original strategy to the three quintessential quantum systems: an electron in a box, an electron in a ring, and a dipolar harmonic oscillator. The usual energy-level spectra, and optical selection rules, emerge by solving an algebraic (quadratic) equation, rather than a Bohr-Sommerfeld integral (or Schroedinger) equation. However, the new predictions include a frozen (zero-kinetic-energy) state which in some (but not all) cases lies below the usual zero-point energy. In addition to raising provocative questions concerning the origin of quantum-chemical phenomena, the results may prove to be of pedagogical value in introducing students to quantum mechanics.