Surface science goes liquid !

Ionic liquids are a new class of materials with most interesting properties. They are liquid at room temperature, but have a negligible vapour pressure. Consequently they can, in contrast to normal liquids, be investigated by all UHV-based methods of surface science. This allows to determine their properties with the same atomic level accuracy that is presently common for solid surfaces and conventional adsorbate systems. Apart from the investigation of the specific properties of ionic liquids, which are relevant for many applications, this also opens the possibility to obtain more detailed insight in the general physical and chemical properties of liquids. In that sense it opens the door to a new chapter of surface science – “Ionic Liquid Surface Science”.     

Exact Buffer Overflow Calculations for Queues via Martingales

Let _n be the first time a queueing process like the queue length or workload exceeds a level n. For the M/M/1 queue length process, the mean _n and the Laplace transform e^-sn is derived in closed form using a martingale introduced in Kella and Whitt (1992). For workload processes and more general systems like MAP/PH/1, we use a Markov additive extension given in Asmussen and Kella (2000) to derive sets of linear equations determining the same quantities. Numerical illustrations are presented in the framework of M/M/1 and MMPP/M/1 with an application to performance evaluation of telecommunication systems with long-range dependent properties in the packet arrival process. Different approximations that are obtained from asymptotic theory are compared with exact numerical results.     

13C NMR spectra of diazastilbenes. I—trans-styryldiazines

The ¹³C NMR spectra of all trans-styryldiazines, methyldiazines and trans-styrylpyridines have been fully assigned. Empirical shift increments were obtained for the chemical shifts of the carbon atoms; these are discussed in the light of theoretical considerations.     

«Push-Pull»-Acetylene als Hilfsmittel zur Synthese von Amiden

Amide Synthesis by Means of ‘Push-Pull’-Acetylenes ‘Push-Pull’-acetylenes react easily with carbon acids, Addition of amines to the crude reaction mixture gives amides in an excellent yield by a simple one-pot procedure. Because of the high selectivity of the acetylenes 1 towards carboxylic functions and of the high selectivity of the enol esters 4 towards amine functions, ‘push-pull’-acetylenes could be excellent reagents for peptide synthesis.     

Self-organization of gold atoms on a polar FeO(111) surface

The spatial distribution of single Au atoms on a thin FeO film has been investigated by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The adatoms preferentially adsorb on distinct sites of the Moiré cell formed by the oxide layer and the Pt(111) support and arrange into a well-ordered hexagonal superlattice with 25 angstroms lattice constant. The self-organization is the consequence of an inhomogeneous surface potential within the FeO Moiré cell and substantial electrostatic repulsion between the adatoms.     

Fiber-optic ring-down spectroscopy using a tunable picosecond gain-switched diode laser

Visible and near-infrared laser light pulses were coupled into two different types of optical fiber cavities. One cavity consisted of a short strand of fiber waveguide that contained two identical fiber Bragg gratings. Another cavity was made using a loop of optical fiber. In either cavity ∼40 ps laser pulses, which were generated using a custom-built gain-switched diode laser, circulated for a large number of round trips. The optical loss of either cavity was determined from the ring-down times. Cavity ring-down spectroscopy was performed on 200 pL volumes of liquid samples that were injected into the cavities using a 100 μm gap in the fiber loop. A detection limit of 20 ppm of methylene blue dye in aqueous solution, corresponding to a minimum absorptivity of εC<6 cm^-1, was realized. PACS 42.62.Fi; 42.81.-i