Critical temperature and orthorhombicity of Y2Ba4Cu7O15−δ

Superconducting properties have been systematically studied for oxygen content controlled Y₂Ba₄O₇O_15?δ (Y247) polycrystalline bulks sintered under various conditions, 940–975 °C and P(O₂) = 4–16 atm. T_c of oxygen annealed Y247 samples at 400 °C varied largely depending on the sintering conditions from ～60 to ～90 K. Samples sintered under higher P(O₂) exhibited lower T_c, whereas they were confirmed to be of Y247 single phase by powder X-ray analyses. Strong relationship between orthorhombicity defined as 1000(b ? a)/(a + b) and T_c was found in Y247 as in the cases of REBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ with light rare-earth elements, such as La, Nd, Sm, Eu and Gd. In addition, T_c‘s of samples with nominal compositions of Y_2+xBa_4?xO₇O_15?δ systematically decreased with an increase of x. These results indicated that partial substitution of Y for Ba occurred in the Y247 compounds possibly due to high occupancy ratio of oxygen at the Cu–O_1-δ chain during the sintering process.     

Effects of RE2O3 (RE = Tm, Sc, Yb) addition on the superconducting properties of ErBa2Cu3Oy

We investigated the effects of added Tm₂O₃, Sc₂O₃, and Yb₂O₃ on the superconducting properties of sintered Er123 samples. Tm₂O₃ addition caused the least T_c degradation, exhibiting a T_c above 90 K even for 17 vol% addition. Samples with added Sc₂O₃ maintained a T_c at above 90 K up to an addition of 7.2 vol%, while Yb₂O₃-containing samples showed a monotonic decrease in T_c with increased vol% of added Yb₂O₃. Tm₂O₃-containing samples exhibited a slight increase in J_c(0.1 T)/J_c(0) and had constant J_c values even for 17 vol% addition. XRD and SEM results indicate that the Tm₂O₃ is very stable in the superconducting matrix.     

A Concentric Ring Electrode for a Wall‐jet Cell in a Microfluidic Device

A concentric ring array electrode that amplifies the current signal without redox cycling has been developed for highly sensitive electrochemical detection at a single potential in a microfluidic platform. Herein, the effect of ring‐electrode width on the current and current density was examined. A ring‐array electrode with widths that decrease from the inner to the outer ring was shown to exhibit the highest sensitivity. This electrode delivered a current density that was approximately 50 % higher than that of a conventionally used disc electrode. We used numerical simulations to further optimize this type of array electrode, which led to a limit of detection for catechol of 6.2 nmol/L. This ring array electrode has great potential for use in a variety of applications because it can be used to detect irreversible targets with a simple apparatus at a single potential and requires no electrode modification to achieve high sensitivity.     

Synthesis and Bowl-in-Bowl Assembly of a Geodesic Phenylene Bowl

A phenylene multiring with a corannulenoidal skeleton was synthesized. Geodesic constraints over 20 phenylene panels resulted in its nanometer-sized, bowl-shaped molecular structure, which was unequivocally revealed by crystallographic analysis. The crystal structure also showed the presence of a bowl-in-bowl dimeric assembly, which was driven by entropic factors in solution.     

ELECTRIC DICHROISM OF PURPLE MEMBRANE SUSPENSIONS

Abstract— Suspensions of purple membranes were exposed to reversing rectangular pulses of relatively low electric field (less than 100V/cm) at various frequencies. Orientation of the membranes was estimated by measuring linear dichroism at 565nm. In the electric field of frequency lower than about 10Hz the purple membranes tended to align perpendicular to the electric field. This orientation was induced mostly by permanent dipole which was perpendicular to the membrane surface. The value of permanent dipole moment was determined to be 140D per protein at pH 7.0, 25°C, in the presence of 5m M phosphate buffer.
In an electric field of frequency more than 100Hz the membrane tended to align parallel to the electric field. Electric polarizability parallel to the membrane surface was estimated to be 1 ± 10⁻¹² cm³ under the same conditions.
Electric dichroism of light-adapted and dark-adapted purple membranes was found to coincide with each other at high frequency. From this result the angle of retinal to the membrane surface was concluded to be the same between light-adapted and dark-adapted bacteriorhodopsins.     

Extra‐Large Mechanical Anisotropy of a Hydrogel with Maximized Electrostatic Repulsion between Cofacially Aligned 2D Electrolytes

In our previous work, we have shown that “electrostatic forces”, when generated anisotropically in aqueous media by 2D electrolytes upon cofacial orientation, enable the formation of a hydrogel with an anisotropic parameter, as defined by the ratio of elastic moduli E_⊥/E_∥, of 3.0. Herein, we successfully developed the design strategy for a hydrogel with an anisotropic parameter of no less than 85. This value is not only 28 times greater than that of our previous anisotropic hydrogel but also 6 times larger than the current champion record in synthetic hydrogels (E_⊥/E_∥～15). Firstly, we simply lowered ionic contaminants in the hydrogel and were able to enhance the anisotropic parameter from 3.0 to 18. Then, we chose a supporting polymer network allowing the hydrogel to carry a higher interior permittivity. Consequently, the anisotropic parameter was further enhanced from 18 to 85. Owing to the enhanced mechanical anisotropy, our new hydrogel displayed a superb ability of seismic isolation.     

A Direct S0→Tn Transition in the Photoreaction of Heavy-Atom-Containing Molecules

According to the Grotthuss–Draper law, light must be absorbed by a substrate to initiate a photoreaction. There have been several reports, however, on the promotion of photoreactions using hypervalent iodine during irradiation with light from a non-absorbing region. This contradiction gave rise to a mystery regarding photoreactions involving hypervalent iodine. We demonstrated that the photoactivation of hypervalent iodine with light from the apparently non-absorbing region proceeds via a direct S₀→T_n transition, which has been considered a forbidden process. Spectroscopic, computational, and synthetic experimental results support this conclusion. Moreover, the photoactivation mode could be extended to monovalent iodine and bromine, as well as bismuth(III)-containing molecules, providing new possibilities for studying photoreactions that involve heavy-atom-containing molecules.     

A new synthesis of d1-coriolin A. Application of a new SN2 reaction at a neopentylic position

Dicyclopentadiene has been stereoselectively converted to a key tricyclic intermediate for the total synthesis of coriolin, through a route which involves a new S_N2 reaction at a neopentylic position.     

An efficient algorithm for finding all solutions of separable systems of nonlinear equations

An efficient algorithm is proposed for finding all solutions of systems of nonlinear equations with separable mappings. This algorithm is based on interval analysis, the dual simplex method, the contraction method, and a special technique which makes the algorithm not require large memory space and not require copying tableaus. By numerical examples, it is shown that the proposed algorithm could find all solutions of a system of 2000 nonlinear equations in acceptable computation time. AMS subject classification (2000)  65H10, 65G10     

Spin-dependent tunneling and Coulomb blockade in ferromagnetic nanoparticles

In this paper we review studies on spin-dependent transport in systems containing ferromagnetic nanoparticles. In a tunnel junction with a nanometer-scale-island, the charging effect leads to an electric current blockade phenomenon in which a single electron charge plays a significant role in electron transport, resulting in single-electron tunneling (SET) properties such as Coulomb blockade and Coulomb staircase. In a tunnel junction with a ferromagnetic nano-island and electrode, it was expected that the interplay of spin-dependent tunneling (SDT) and SET, i.e., spin-dependent single-electron tunneling (SD-SET), would give rise to remarkable tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) phenomena. We investigated magnetotransport properties in both sequential tunneling and cotunneling regimes of SET and found the enhancement and oscillation of TMR. The self-assembled ferromagnetic nanoparticles we have employed in this study consisted of a Co–Al–O granular film with cobalt nanoparticles embedded in an Al–O insulating matrix. A _Co36Al22O42${\mathrm{Co}}_{36}{\mathrm{Al}}_{22}{\mathrm{O}}_{42}$ film prepared by a reactive sputtering method produced a TMR ratio reaching 10% and superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. The TMR ratio exhibited an anomalous increase at low temperatures but no indication of change with bias voltage. In Section 4, we show that the anomalous increase of the MR provided evidence for higher-order tunneling (cotunneling) between large granules through intervening small granules. We emphasize that the existence of higher-order tunneling is a natural consequence of the granular structure, since broad distribution of granule size is an intrinsic property of granular systems. In Section 5, we concentrate on SD-SET properties in sequential tunneling regimes. We fabricated two types of device structures with Co–Al–O film using focused ion-beam milling or electron-beam lithography techniques. One had a granular nanobridge structure: point-shaped electrodes separated by a very narrow lateral gap filled with the Co–Al–O granular film. The other had a current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) geometry structure: a thin Co–Al–O granular film sandwiched by ferromagnetic electrodes with the current flowing in the direction perpendicular to the film plane through a few Co particles. We found the enhancement and oscillation of TMR due to spin-dependent SET in sequential tunneling regimes. In Section 6, we report experimental evidence of a spin accumulation effect in Co nanoparticles leading to the oscillation of TMR with alternate sign changes. Furthermore, we discovered that the spin relaxation time in the nanoparticles is unprecedentedly enhanced up to the order of more than hundreds of nanoseconds, compared to that evaluated from the spin-diffusion length of ferromagnetic layers in previous CPP-GMR studies, i.e., the order of tens of picoseconds.