Directing droplets using microstructured surfaces

Systematic variation of microscale structures has been employed to create a rough superhydrophobic surface with a contact angle gradient. Droplets are propelled down these gradients, overcoming contact angle hysteresis using energy supplied by mechanical vibration. The rough hydrophobic surfaces have been designed to maintain air traps beneath the droplet by stabilizing its Fakir state. Dimensions and spacing of the microfabricated pillars in silicon control the solid-liquid contact area and are varied to create a gradient in the apparent contact angle. This work introduces the solid-liquid contact area fraction as a new control variable in any scheme of manipulating droplets, presenting theory, fabricated structures, and experimental results that validate the approach.     

FT-IR, FT-raman and SERS spectra of L-proline

IR, Raman and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of L-proline were recorded and analyzed. The molecular plane assumes a tilted orientation with respect to the metal surface. The vibrational wavenumbers and corresponding vibrational assignments are examined theoretically using the Gaussian 03 set of quantum chemistry codes.     

Estimates of the number of quantal bound states in one and three dimensions

Using the relation between the number of bound states and the number of zeros of the radial eigen-functionψ(r), or equivalently, that ofφ(r)=rψ(r) in the range 0⩽r⩽∞, the upper bounds on the number of bound states generated by potentialV(r) in different angular momentum channels are obtained in three dimension. Using a similar procedure, the upper bound on the number of bound states in one dimension is also deduced. The analysis is restricted to a class of potentials for whichE=0 is the threshold. By taking a number of specific examples, it is demonstrated that both in one and three dimensions, the estimate of the upper bound obtained by this procedure is very close to or equal to the exact number of bound states. The correlation of the present method with the Levison’s theorem and WKB approximation is discussed.     

Quasi-bound states, resonance tunnelling, and tunnelling times generated by twin symmetric barriers

In analogy with the definition of resonant or quasi-bound states used in three-dimensional quantal scattering, we define the quasi-bound states that occur in one-dimensional transmission generated by twin symmetric potential barriers and evaluate their energies and widths using two typical examples: (i) twin rectangular barrier and (ii) twin Gaussian-type barrier. The energies at which reflectionless transmission occurs correspond to these states and the widths of the transmission peaks are also the same as those of quasi-bound states. We compare the behaviour of the magnitude of wave functions of quasi-bound states with those for bound states and with the above-barrier state wave function. We deduce a Breit-Wigner-type resonance formula which neatly describes the variation of transmission coefficient as a function of energy at below-barrier energies. Similar formula with additional empirical term explains approximately the peaks of transmission coefficients at above-barrier energies as well. Further, we study the variation of tunnelling time as a function of energy and compare the same with transmission, reflection time and Breit-Wigner delay time around a quasi-bound state energy. We also find that tunnelling time is of the same order of magnitude as lifetime of the quasi-bound state, but somewhat larger.     

Threshold conditions and bound states for locally periodic delta potentials

We present a systematic study of the conditions for the generation of threshold energy eigen states and also the energy spectrum generated by two types of locally periodic delta potentials each having the same strength λV and separation distance parameter a: (a) sum of N attractive potentials and (b) sum of pairs of attractive and repulsive potentials. Using the dimensionless parameter g = λV a in case (a) the values of g = g _n , n = 1, 2, …, N at which threshold energy bound state gets generated are shown to be the roots of Nth order polynomial D ₁(N, g) in g. We present an algebraic recursive procedure to evaluate the polynomial D ₁(N, g) for any given N. This method obviates the need for the tedious mathematical analysis described in our earlier work to generate D ₁(N, g). A similar study is presented for case (b). Using the properties of D ₁(N, g) we establish that in case (a) the critical minimum value of g which guarantees the generation of the maximum possible number of bound states is g = 4. The corresponding result for case (b) is g = 2. A typical set of numerical results showing the pattern of variation of g _n as a function of n and several interesting features of the energy spectrum for different values of g and N are also described.