100-TW femtosecond laser based on parametric amplification

In experiments on the parametrical amplification of femtosecond pulses in wide-aperture DKDP crystals, a power of more than 100 TW has been reached, which is much higher than the record level achieved in such lasers. The energy efficiency obtained for the parametric amplifier is equal to 27%. The energy of a 72-fs pulse is equal to 10 J.     

Diblock copolymers based on allyl methacrylate: Synthesis,characterization, and chemical modification

Different diblock copolymers constituted by one segment of a monomer supporting a reactive functional group, like allyl methacrylate (AMA), were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Bromo‐terminated polymers, like polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) were employed as macroinitiators to form the other blocks. Copolymerizations were carried out using copper chloride with N,N,N′,N″,N″‐pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) as the catalyst system in benzonitrile solution at 70 °C. At the early stage, the ATRP copolymerizations yielded well‐defined linear block copolymers. However, with the polymerization progress a change in the macromolecular architecture takes place due to the secondary reactions caused by the allylic groups, passing to a branched and/or star‐shaped structure until finally yielding gel at monomer conversion around 40% or higher. The block copolymers were characterized by means of size exclusion chromatography (SEC), ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In addition, one of these copolymers, specifically P(BA‐b‐AMA), was satisfactorily modified through osmylation reaction to obtain the subsequent amphiphilic diblock copolymer of P(BA‐b‐DHPMA), where DHPMA is 2,3‐dihydroxypropyl methacrylate; demonstrating the feasibility of side‐chain modification of the functional obtained copolymers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3538–3549, 2007     

Quantification of trace elements in human serum fractions by liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

On‐line coupling of LC and ICP‐MS has been used for fractionation and detection of species of Cu, Fe, I, Se and Zn in human serum. It has been shown that anion exchange chromatography provided better separation capability (both intra‐ and inter‐element) than size‐exclusion chromatography. The mobile phases for ion exchange chromatography consisted of Tris–HNO₃ buffer and ammonium salt (nitrate, acetate or formate). Formate was found to be the best mobile phase counter ion, enabling good chromatographic separation, and is acceptable for mass spectrometry too. The quantitative evaluation of element concentrations adhering to individual fractions was performed by the peak area normalization method. The repeatability of results ranged from 3 to 15% (depending on the element concentration level) and represented the main part of the result uncertainty. The accuracy of Cu and Zn fraction determinations was confirmed by comparison with the isotope dilution technique. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finitely additive integration and local integration with respect to upper integrals

Summary We study the integration theory for general integral metrics when restricted to upper integrals q, finding improvements in the relation between the classes of the q-integrable and the q_l-integrable functions. We give new results and notions which lead to the desirable characterizations of q-integrable functions as q_l-integrable f with q(|f|) < ∞, and of q_l-integrable functions via the integrability of their upper truncations, under natural conditions which are fulfilled in most finitely additive integration theories.     

Structural phase transformations and physical properties of intercalation compounds in the Cr0.5Ti(Se1−x Tex)2 system

The atomic structure and magnetic and electric properties of the Cr_0.5TiSe₂-Cr_0.5TiTe₂ system of intercalated phases were studied in detail by gradually replacing selenium by tellurium. It was revealed that this replacement changes the crystalline structure from monoclinic in the initial compounds to hexagonal in the compounds containing various types of chalcogen atoms; this is accompanied by disordering of chromium atoms in the van der Waals gaps. The electrical resistance and magnetic characteristics vary nonmonotonically on replacement of selenium by tellurium, which is associated with a change in the degree of atomic disordering during the transition from Cr_0.5TiSe₂ to Cr_0.5TiTe₂.     

Quotient probabilistic normed spaces and completeness results

We introduce the concept of quotient in PN spaces and give some examples. We prove some theorems with regard to the completeness of a quotient.     

Hilbert Space of Probability Density Functions Based on Aitchison Geometry

The set of probability functions is a convex subset of L1 and it does not have a linear space structure when using ordinary sum and multiplication by real constants. Moreover, difficulties arise when dealing with distances between densities. The crucial point is that usual distances are not invariant under relevant transformations of densities. To overcome these limitations, Aitchison＇s ideas on compositional data analysis are used, generalizing perturbation and power transformation, as well as the Aitchison inner product, to operations on probability density functions with support on a finite interval. With these operations at hand, it is shown that the set of bounded probability density functions on finite intervals is a pre-Hilbert space. A Hilbert space of densities, whose logarithm is square-integrable, is obtained as the natural completion of the pre-Hilbert space.     

Category with a natural cone

Generally, in homotopy theory a cylinder object (or, its dual, a path object) is used to define homotopy between morphisms, and a cone object is used to build exact sequences of homotopy groups. Here, an axiomatic theory based on a cone functor is given. Suspension objects are associated to based objects and cofibrations, obtaining homotopy groups referred to an object and relative to a cofibration, respectively. Exact sequences of these groups are built. Algebraic and particular examples are given. We point out that the main results of this paper were already stated in [3], and the purpose of this article is to give full details of the foregoing.     

The LPCTrap experiment: measurement of the β–ν angular correlation in 6He using a transparent Paul trap

We report on the status of the LPCTrap experiment, devoted to measure the β–ν angular correlation in the pure Gamow–Teller decay of ⁶He. This measurement is motivated by the search for the presence of tensor type contributions to the weak interaction. The ⁶He ions are confined in a novel transparent Paul trap. The β particles and the recoil ions are detected in coincidence to deduce the angular correlation parameter. The commissioning run performed in 2005 has given the proof of principle of this experiment. Up to 10⁵ coincidences were recorded during a second run in 2006.     

Novel acrylic macromonomer with amphiphilic character derived from Triton X‐100: Radical copolymerization with methyl methacrylate and thermal properties

This article explores the synthesis of a novel methacrylic macromonomer with an amphiphilic character derived from poly(ethylene glycol) tert‐octylphenyl ether (MT) and its respective homopolymer. To know their reactivity in radical copolymerization reactions with methyl methacrylate (MMA), a model monomer (MTm) was synthesized to determine the reactivity ratios and compare them with the low molar fractions of copolymers of MT with MMA because they were difficult to isolate. They were r_MTm = 0.97 and r_MMA = 0.95. The compositional diagrams when representing the weight fraction of MT and MTm in the feed and the copolymer suggested that a clear correlation exists between the experimental points of the model monomer MTm and the macromonomer MT ones, suggesting that the length of the side poly(ethylene oxide) chain does not affect the reactivity of the methacrylic double bond in the prepared monomers for this type of polymerization reaction. The reactivity ratios of the copolymers have a tendency for the formation of random or Bernoullian copolymers. The glass‐transition temperatures (T_g's) of the prepared copolymers were determined by differential scanning calorimetry, deviated from the Fox equation, and discussed on the basis of treatments that consider the influence of the monomeric units along the copolymer chains, determining the T_g of the corresponding alternating dyads. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1641–1649, 2003