Pressure dependence of the Raman modes of LiIO3

The pressure dependence of the Raman modes of LiIO₃ at room temperature was studied up to 78 kbar in a gasketed sapphire-anvil cell. Nonlinear frequency increases were observed in all modes involving translation of the light Li⁺ atom. This behavior is more marked in the lowest frequency A mode, which involves translations along the c-axis. Other modes slow smaller linear frequency increases, with increasing pressure. The TO-LO splittings of all but the highest frequency modes are seen to be independent of pressure. This indicates that charge transfer between ions is negligible. For modes derived from internal vibrations of IO₃^- ions an increase in this splitting with increasing pressure is observed, indicating some intra-ion redistribution of charge. Mode Grüneissen parameters are obtained for representative modes of all allowed symmetries in each of the three frequency ranges in which the Raman spectrum of the material can be divided.     

μ+SR on ( La_1.85-x Ndx) Sr0.15 CuO_4

Below 30 K, magnetic order was found in La_1.85-x Nd_x Sr_0.15 CuO_4 with x ranging between 0.30 and 0.60. This order occurs in the low temperature tetragonal phase. Below 5 K, the interaction of Nd and Cu moments modifies the magnetic order in the Cu–O planes leading to an increase of the muon spin rotation frequency and the transverse damping rate. Even down to 0.1 K, considerable spin dynamics is observable. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Polarons in organic conjugated polymers

An unified treatment of the electronic structure of organic conjugated polymers based on a renormalization approach is presented. The changes in the electronic structures of trans-polyacetylene, poly-(p-phenylene), polypyrrole and polythiophene, brought about by the presence of polarons in these systems, are studied. For all systems, two localized states, which can be interpreted as the symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of soliton wavefunctions, are created at the central gap.     

Level structures of 95,97Mo — A comparative study

High-spin states of ^95,97Mo (Z=42, N=53,55) nuclei have been investigated through ⁸²Se(¹⁸O, xn) reaction at Eb=60 MeV. The level scheme in ⁹⁵Mo has been observed upto ≏ 10 MeV in the present experiment. The level structure shows mainly single particle character. In ⁹⁷Mo, the ground state level sequence has been extended to ≏ 4.5 MeV while the previous information had been up to 2.4 MeV. A negative parity band built on 1437 keV (11/2⁻) excited state has been extended to 5.5 MeV. The structure seems to show a coexistence of single particle and collective modes of excitation. Properties of both the nuclei have been compared with shell model calculations using OXBASH.     

High spin rotational bands in 65Zn

The nucleus ₃₀ ⁶⁵ Zn was studied using the ⁵²Cr(¹⁶O, 2pn)⁶⁵Zn reaction at a beam energy of 65 MeV. The level scheme is extended up to an excitation energy of 10.57 MeV for spin-parity (41/2?) with several newly observed transitions placed in it.     

Strong Convergence in Hilbert Spaces via Γ-Duality

We analyze a primal-dual pair of problems generated via a duality theory introduced by Svaiter. We propose a general algorithm and study its convergence properties. The focus is a general primal-dual principle for strong convergence of some classes of algorithms. In particular, we give a different viewpoint for the weak-to-strong principle of Bauschke and Combettes and unify many results concerning weak and strong convergence of subgradient type methods.     

Quantum nondemolition circuit for testing bipartite complementarity

We present a quantum circuit that implements a nondemolition measurement of complementary single- and bipartite properties of a two-qubit system: entanglement and single-partite visibility and predictability. The system must be in a pure state with real coefficients in the computational basis, which allows a direct operational interpretation of those properties. The circuit can be realized in many systems of interest to quantum information.     

Chemistry of diazafulvenium methides in the synthesis of functionalized pyrazoles

The chemistry of diazafulvenium methides generated by the thermal extrusion of sulfur dioxide from 2,2-dioxo-1H,3H-pyrazolo[1,5-c] [1,3]thiazoles is described. The diazafulvenium methides unsubstituted at C-7 participate in [8 pi + 2 pi] cycloadditions giving pyrazolo-annulated heterocycles resulting from the addition across the 1,7-position. 1-Methyl-diazafulvenium methides and 7,7-dimethyl-diazafulvenium methides undergo intramolecular sigmatropic [1,8]H shifts giving vinyl-1H-pyrazoles.     

Interplay of electrostatic and hydrophobic effects with binding of cationic gemini surfactants and a conjugated polyanion: experimental and molecular modeling studies

Understanding factors responsible for the fluorescence behavior of conjugated polyelectrolytes and modulation of their behavior are important for their application as functional materials. The interaction between the anionic poly{1,4-phenylene-[9,9-bis(4-phenoxy-butylsulfonate)]fluorene-2,7-diyl}copolymer (PBS-PFP) and cationic gemini surfactants alpha,omega-(CmH2m+1N+(CH3)2)2(CH2)s(Br-)2 (m-s-m; m=12, s=2, 3, 5, 6, 10, and 12) has been studied experimentally in aqueous solution. These surfactants are chosen to see whether molecular recognition and self-assembly occurs between the oppositely charged conjugated polyelectrolyte and gemini surfactant when the spacer length on the surfactant is similar to the intercharge separation on the polymer. Without surfactants, PBS-PFP exists as aggregates. These are broken up upon addition of gemini surfactants. However, as anticipated, the behavior strongly depends upon spacer length (s). Fluorescence measurements show three surfactant concentration regimes: At low concentrations (<2x10(-6) M) quenching occurs and is most marked with the small spacer 12-2-12; at intermediate concentrations (approximately 2x10(-6)-10(-3) M), fluorescence intensity is constant, with a 12-carbon spacer 12-12-12 showing the strongest fluorescence; above the critical micelle concentration (CMC; approximately 10(-3) M) increases in emission intensity are seen in all cases and are largest with the intermediate spacers 12-5-12 and 12-6-12, where the spacer length most closely matches the distance between monomer units on the polymer. With longer spacer length surfactants, surface tension measurements for concentrations below the CMC reveal the presence of polymer-surfactant aggregates at the air-water interface, possibly reflecting increased hydrophobicity. Above the CMC, small-angle neutron scattering experiments for the 12-6-12 system show the presence of spherical aggregates, both for the pure surfactant and for polyelectrolyte/gemini mixtures. Molecular dynamics simulations help rationalize these observations and show that there is a very fine balance between electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. With the shortest spacer 12-2-12, Coulombic interactions are dominant, while for the longest spacer 12-12-12 the driving force involves hydrophobic interactions. Qualitatively, with the intermediate 12-5-12 and 12-6-12 systems, the optimum balance is observed between Coulombic and hydrophobic interactions, explaining their strong fluorescence enhancement.