Growth and study of single crystals of (Na,K)NbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> solid solutions

(Na, K)NbO₃ crystals with a perovskite structure and a KNbO₃ content up to 40 mol % were grown from flux with the use of the solvent NaBO₂. The dielectric measurements of the crystals grown revealed phase transitions that had never been observed before in ceramic samples.     

Sound propagation in an unstable atmospheric layer

The equation of sound propagation in an unstable medium produced by the presence of supersaturated water vapor in it, which can appear in a hurricane area, is derived. This equation takes into account the effects of sound velocity dispersion, amplification, damping, and nonlinear effects. Some solutions to this equation are presented, illustrating the specific features of sound propagation in an unstable medium. Published in Akusticheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2007, Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 477–480.     

Time-resolved fluorescence study of the single tryptophan in thiocyanate and azide derivatives of horseradish peroxidase: Implication for a p H-induced conformational change in the heme cavity

Detailed pH-dependent steady state and picosecond time-resolved tryptophan fluorescence studies on thiocyanate and azide complexes of horseradish peroxidase have been carried out. The fluorescence decay of the single tryptophan in these species was fitted to a discrete three exponential model. Maximum entropy method analysis also gave three distinct regions of lifetime distributions. The fast subnanosecond lifetime component was found to have > 97% amplitude contribution while other two longer lifetime components have small contributions. Small contributions from the nanosecond lifetime components possibly arise from apoprotein impurity or some small amount of disordered heme conformer of the protein. pH dependence of the fast picosecond lifetime components was found to show a systematic behavior which has been interpreted in the light of obligatory conformation change associated with activation of the enzyme at low pH.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of the linear optical response of YBa2Cu4O8 The relevance of LDA calculations

We report results of ellipsometric measurements of the dielectric tensor of YBa₂Cu₄O₈ as well as calculations employing density functional theory in the local density approximation (LDA). For the computation of the one-electron eigenvalues and states the linear-muffin-tin-orbital method (LMTO) was used. Measured and calculated results show good agreement. In particular, the calculation predicts different band structures for YBa₂Cu₃O₇ and YBa₂Cu₄O₈ in the vicinity of the Fermi energy which lead to significant differences in the optical spectra. One such difference is a region of small ε₂ in the near infrared which is a fingerprint of the high (relative to the top of the highest fully occupied band) Fermi energy as compared to the situation in YBa₂Cu₃O₇. Our experimental results confirm the theoretical findings.     

Influence of layer and anisotropic fluctuations of the refractive index on the beyond-the-horizon SHF propagation in the troposphere over the sea when there is an evaporation duct

On the basis of the invariant imbedding method the disturbance theory for complex constants of propagation is proposed. This approach allows us to consider the influence of layer and anisotropic fluctuations of refractive index on the beyond-the-horizon propagation in the adiabatic approximation with the existence of an evaporation duct. Finally, the authors consider some examples of the calculations and investigate stochastic effects connected with the interaction between fluctuating and regular waveguides.     

Linear optical switching in a FLC/waveguide composite device

A fast electrooptic modulation in a polymer waveguide using a ferroelectric liquid crystal has been proposed. In this device, the surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal and the soft mode ferroelectric liquid crystal are used as an active material on the passive polymer waveguide, and electrooptic switching is realized by controlling the total reflection at the polymer waveguide-liquid crystal interface. The response time is of the order of several microseconds. The analogue electrooptic modulation in the waveguide is realized using the field induced linear molecular tilt of the electroclinic effect in the soft mode ferroelectric liquid crystal.