Orientation and relaxation of polymer–clay solutions studied by rheology and small-angle neutron scattering

The influence of shear on viscoelastic solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and clay [montmorillonite, i.e., Cloisite NA+ (CNA)] was investigated with rheology and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The steady-state viscosity and SANS were used to measure the shear-induced orientation and relaxation of the polymer and clay platelets. Anisotropic scattering patterns developed at much lower shear rates than in pure clay solutions. The scattering anisotropy saturated at low shear rates, and the CNA clay platelets aligned with the flow, with the surface normal parallel to the gradient direction. The cessation of shear led to partial and slow randomization of the CNA platelets, whereas extremely fast relaxation was observed for laponite (LRD) platelets. These PEO–CNA networklike solutions were compared with previously reported PEO–LRD networks, and the differences and similarities, with respect to the shear orientation, relaxation, and polymer–clay interactions, were examined. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3102–3112, 2004     

Synchronization of periodic self-oscillations by common noise

We consider the effect of external noise on the stability properties of self-oscillations. A stochastic equation for the phase is derived at the limit of weak noise (in the appropriate sense). The stationary probability-density distribution is used for an analytic calculation of the Lyapunov exponent. We show that the exponent is always negative for the small noise level, which corresponds to synchronization of self-oscillations.     

A new model for a mode-locked semiconductor laser

We consider a new model for passive mode locking in a semiconductor laser comprising a set of delay differential equations. Bifurcations leading to the appearance and break-up of the mode-locking regime are studied numerically.     

A Miura of the Painlevé I Equation and Its Discrete Analogs

We present Miura transformations for the continuous and several discrete Painlev\'e I equations. In the case of the continuous P_I, we use the Hamiltonian formulation of the Painlev\'e equations and show that there exists a Miura transformation between P_I and the binomial, second degree, equation of Cosgrove SD_V. In the case of the discrete P_I's we obtain two different kinds of Miuras. One kind relates a d-P_I to some other d-P_I while the other leads to discrete four-point equations which are the discrete analogs of the derivative of Cosgrove's equation SD_V.     

Laser ablation from Lithium niobate

Received: 21 May 1997/Accepted: 4 July 1997     

Numerical modeling of a XeCl laser excited by microwave discharge

12 , 169 (1987). Reasonably good agreements in the peak output power and laser efficiency have been achieved. Model calculations also predict that an efficiency as high as 2.7% can be obtained once the conditions of the above-mentioned experiments have been optimized. From the consideration that the skin depth effectively limits the absorption length of the microwave pumping and hence the excitable volume, it is concluded that high input power densities (>2 MW/cm³) and higher gas pressures (between 3 and 10 atm) are the preferable conditions to achieve higher efficiency. Preliminary calculations on CCl₄ containing XeCl gas mixtures show that improvement in laser efficiency by several folds may be achieved as a result of the higher intrinsic efficiency of excimer formation. Received: 23 September 1996 / Revised version: 25 March 1997     

Determination of the largest lyapunov index for short chaotic time sequences in self-oscillating chemical reactions

A method was developed for the determination of largest Lyapunov index for short chaotic time sequences with allowance for the presence of noise in the response of the system. For this purpose a simple unidimensional representation modelling the dynamics of irregular self-oscillations was investigated. Conditions were found for adequate determination of the largest Lyapunov index from the noise-distorted signals. The results were used to obtain the largest Lyapunov index for the Belousov—Zhabotinskii reaction taking place in an ideal-mixing closed reactor and in a constant-mixing flow-type reactor. Institute of Organic Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 136–142, May–June, 1997.