Relaxation of Distortions in a Nematic Thin Film with Weak Anchoring Condition

Dynamical properties of a nematic thin film are investigated under the weak anchoring condition on the boundaries. By solving the equations for small distortions, their asymptotic behaviors are found. Numerical solutions of nonlinear equations for the director field are obtained both in case of small and large distortions around the lower and upper threshold fields. The asymptotic behaviors of these solutions are compared with the analytical results. It is concluded that the dynamics around the upper critical field is governed by the boundaries and strongly space dependent.     

Nonequilibrium identities of granular vibrating beds

We derive the integral fluctuation theorem around a nonequilibrium stationary state for frictionless and soft core granular particles under an external vibration achieved by a balance between an external vibration and inelastic collisions. We also derive the standard fluctuation theorem and the generalized Green–Kubo formula for this system.     

An approximation scheme for the anisotropic and nonlocal mean curvature flow

In 2004 Chambolle proposed an algorithm for mean curvature flow based on a variational problem. Since then, the convergence, extensions and applications of his algorithm have been studied by many people. In this paper we give a proof of the convergence of an anisotropic version of Chambolle’s algorithm by use of the signed distance function. An application of our scheme to an approximation of the nonlocal curvature flow such as crystalline one is also discussed.     

Spin-polarization of radioactive 123Ing.s. by the tilted-foil method

A spin-polarized radioactive ¹²³In (I ^π , g = 1.220(2) , T _1/2 = 5.97(5) s) beam has been successfully generated by the tilted-foil method. This nuclide is the heaviest ever polarized in its ground state by this method. Using the ISOL-based re-acceleration-type facility TRIAC, an ¹²³In_g.s. beam of 305 keV/nucleon went through a stack of 15 carbon foils with a tilt angle of 70^° , and an asymmetry of 0.76 ± 0.25% of β-decays was observed by the β-NMR technique. The asymmetry shows that the tilted-foil method combined with a re-acceleration facility is useful for producing spin-polarized beams for applications such as nuclear physics and materials science.     

Photoemission investigation of interaction between L-cysteine and silver surface

In this study, the formation of Ag–S bond was systematically elucidated by thickness-dependent ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) in order to understand the L-cysteine interaction with silver surface. A clean Ag(111) as the model system for silver surface was used, and L-cysteine films on silver substrate were formed by vacuum evaporation. The orbital configurations at the interface was estimated including work function, secondary electron cutoff (SECO), highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) onset, position of an interface state, charge injection barrier, and ionization energy. A clear spectral feature was appeared in between Fermi edge and HOMO of L-cysteine, and the feature can be attributed to the formation of Ag–S bonding. In the case of SECO, the maximum shift was 0.46 eV to the higher binding energy side at the nominal thickness of 1 Å. However, from the nominal thickness of 2 Å, SECO started to shift to the lower binding energy side, and at 16 Å, the SECO shifted to a value of around 0.4 eV to the lower binding energy side to almost cancel the initial vacuum level shift. This behavior can be attributed to weakening of the silver-sulfur bond with increasing of L-cysteine coverage referring to the literature. The photoelectron yield spectroscopy (PYS) was also performed as an additional spectroscopic work, which exhibited that the work function of silver once decreased and then recovered at low coverage. This behavior can also be assigned to a weakening the interaction of L-cysteine with silver by increasing of L-cysteine coverage.     

Deep-ultraviolet near band-edge emissions from nano-polycrystalline diamond

ABSTRACT

Deep-ultraviolet continuous-wave photoluminescence spectroscopy is performed for nano-polycrystalline diamond (NPD) synthesized by a high pressure high-temperature technique. NPD exhibits clear deep-ultraviolet emissions, which originate from intrinsic excitonic transitions assisted by a momentum-conserving phonon with a photon. Surprisingly, the peak emission energy is about 30?meV higher than that of the single-crystalline diamond. Raman scattering spectroscopy indicates that the energy difference should originate from the excitonic properties of the NPD and not the phonon. Hence, NPD has a large bandgap compared to single-crystalline diamond.     

2D Nanoarchitectonics: Soft Interfacial Media as Playgrounds for Microobjects,Molecular Machines,and Living Cells

Soft and flexible two-dimensional (2D) systems, such as liquid interfaces, would have much more potentials in dynamic regulation on nano–macro connected functions. In this Minireview article, we focus especially on dynamic motional functions at liquid dynamic interfaces as 2D material systems. Several recent examples are selected to be explained for overviewing features and importance of dynamic soft interfaces in a wide range of action systems. The exemplified research systems are mainly classified into three categories: (i) control of microobjects with motional regulations; (ii) control of molecular machines with functions of target discrimination and optical outputs; (iii) control of living cells including molecular machine functions at cell membranes and cell/biomolecular behaviors at liquid interface. Sciences on soft 2D media with motional freedom and their nanoarchitectonics constructions will have increased importance in future technology in addition to popular rigid solid 2D materials.