Simple modeling of dipolar coupled 7Li spins and stimulated-echo spectroscopy of single-crystalline beta-eucryptite

Stimulated-echo spectroscopy has recently been applied to study the ultra-slow dynamics of nuclear spin-3/2 probes such as 7Li and 9Be in solids. Apart from the dominant first-order quadrupolar interaction in the present article also the impact of the homonuclear dipolar interactions is considered in a simple way: the time evolution of a dipole coupled pair of spins with I = 3/2 is calculated in an approximation, which takes into account that the satellite transitions usually do not overlap. Explicit analytical expressions describing various aspects of a coupled quadrupolar pair subjected to a Jeener-Broekaert pulse sequence are derived. Extensions to larger spin systems are also briefly discussed. These results are compared with experimental data on a single-crystalline Li ion conductor.     

Atomic Force Microscopy Analysis of Statistical Roughness of GaAs Surfaces Originated by Thermal Oxidation

We have determined the important statistical quantities of the rough boundary between a GaAs single crystal and its oxide film formed by thermal oxidation. Thermal oxidation of the GaAs surfaces was performed at the temperature of 500°C. Using mathematical procedures developed for treating AFM data consisting of a family of the values of the heights of the irregularities of this roughness the values of the important statistical quantities of roughness were determined for 11 samples of the GaAs surfaces created by dissolution of the thermal oxide films originated during thermal oxidation of the smooth GaAs samples (the times of oxidation of these 11 samples were within interval of 20min–8 hours). From the AFM analysis of the roughness of GaAs surfaces it was found that the roughnening of these surfaces was the most pronounced for shorter oxidation times, i.e. for times smaller than about 2 hours.     

In situ ammonia generation as a strategy for catalytic NOx reduction under oxygen rich conditions

Under highly oxygen rich conditions palladium/alumina catalysts exhibit strongly enhanced NOx reduction activity in the presence of CO:H2 mixtures due to in situ generation of ammonia via the formation and subsequent hydrolysis of isocyanate (NCO) species.     

A novel family of ordered,mesoporous inorganic/organic hybrid polymers containing covalently and multiply bound microporous organic hosts

We have prepared a new family of periodic hybrid polymers containing microporous cavities provided by covalently bound organic hosts. Cyclodextrin (CD) or calixarene (CX) hosts are attached to four or more trialkoxysilyl groups, which are polymerized to form a polysilsesquioxane matrix. Structural integrity is provided by copolymerization with tetraethoxysilane, which produces a polysilicate co-matrix. Periodic order is created by carrying out the polymerization in the presence of a surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The resulting as-synthesized polymers from these three starting materials were characterized by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The (13)C and (29)Si spectra provided evidence for intact polysilsesquioxane, polysilicate, organic host, and surfactant. Removal of the surfactant by washing produced a polymer containing cavities of mesoporous dimensions, in addition to the microporous host cavities. The purpose of introducing mesoporosity is to allow enhanced access of guests to the microporous hosts. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that both as-synthesized and solvent-extracted polymers have a periodic structure. All polymers are completely insoluble in water. The as-synthesized CD-containing polymers extracted up to >99% of 4-nitrophenol from aqueous solution, and the solvent-extracted CX-containing polymers extracted up to 67% of Fe(3+) and lesser amounts of other metal cations from aqueous solution, with interesting selectivity patterns. Simple filtration then removes the polymer containing the extracted organic molecule or metal cation. These extraction abilities are superior to previous materials.     

Surface plasmon resonance and Raman scattering effects studied for layers deposited on Spreeta sensors

The possibility to detect and prospectively to characterize deposited organic layers directly on Spreeta sensors by Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy was studied. A special holder of sensors that enabled measurement of FT Raman spectra was developed. The effects of various angles of incidence of the laser beam on the sensor surface were studied with respect to the intensity of Raman spectra and to the risks of artifacts. No effect of measurement of FT Raman spectra on SPR functionality of sensors was proven. The key role of the surface morphology of the sensing gold layer on repeatability of SPR curves and the possibility to check the surface by optical microscopy was demonstrated.     

N2,N2,7-trimethylguanine, a new trimethylated guanine natural product from the New Zealand ascidian, Lissoclinum notti

From the New Zealand ascidian, Lissoclinum notti a new natural product, N2,N2,7-trimethylguanine (1) has been isolated. The structure of 1 was elucidated by analysis of spectroscopic data.     

Improving the parallelized Pollard lambda search on anomalous binary curves

The best algorithm known for finding logarithms on an elliptic curve is the (parallelized) Pollard lambda collision search. We show how to apply a Pollard lambda search on a set of equivalence classes derived from , which requires fewer iterations than the standard approach. In the case of anomalous binary curves over , the new approach speeds up the standard algorithm by a factor of .

     

Anomalous behavior of superconducting-normal mesoscopic structures near T(c)

We observe a maximum in the conductance of Al/n-GaAs junctions at temperatures 20 mK lower than the superconducting transition temperature (T(c)). This is the first observation of a peak in the conductance near the superconducting transition in superconducting-normal (S/N) junctions. To accommodate this effect we calculate the full temperature dependence of the conductance of these structures, invoking quasiclassical Green's functions in the diffusive limit. In addition to the well-known low-temperature peak at temperatures on the order of the Thouless energy, we find a maximum near T(c). This peak has the same origin as the subgap conductance observed in S/N junctions at low temperatures.