Collective excitations of a degenerate gas at the BEC-BCS crossover

We study collective excitation modes of a fermionic gas of (6)Li atoms in the BEC-BCS crossover regime. While measurements of the axial compression mode in the cigar-shaped trap close to a Feshbach resonance confirm theoretical expectations, the radial compression mode shows surprising features. In the strongly interacting molecular BEC regime, we observe a negative frequency shift with increasing coupling strength. In the regime of a strongly interacting Fermi gas, an abrupt change in the collective excitation frequency occurs, which may be a signature for a transition from a superfluid to a collisionless phase.     

Atmospheric pressure laser desorption/ionization on porous silicon

A recently developed commercial atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) source (MassTech, Inc.) was modified to adopt commercially available DIOS plates (Mass Consortium Corp.) for the studies of laser desorption from the surface of porous silicon under atmospheric pressure conditions. The feasibility of atmospheric pressure laser desorption/ionization from the surface of porous silicon (AP-DIOS) was demonstrated. The advantages of this new AP-DIOS technique include reasonably good sensitivity (subpicomole range for standard peptide mixtures), simplicity of sample preparation, uniformity of target spots and the absence of matrix peaks in the spectra. The AP-DIOS source was interfaced with a commercial ion trap (LCQ Classic, Thermo Finnigan) which additionally provides a unique MS(n) capability. The AP-DIOS spectrum of 250 fmol of unseparated tryptic digest of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was compared with that of AP-MALDI for the same compound. AP-DIOS offers significantly better coverage for the digest components in the mass range 200-1000 Da. The combined data of both techniques enabled us to nearly double the number of matched peaks in BSA digest analysis compared with AP-DIOS or AP-MALDI analysis separately.     

Stable constant mean curvature hypersurfaces

Let be a Riemannian manifold with sectional curvatures uniformly bounded from below. When we prove that there are no complete (strongly) stable -hypersurfaces, without boundary, provided is large enough. In particular, we prove that there are no complete strongly stable -hypersurfaces in without boundary,

     

Caccioppoli’s inequalities on constant mean curvature hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds

We prove some Caccioppoli’s inequalities for the traceless part of the second fundamental form of a complete, noncompact, finite index, constant mean curvature hypersurface of a Riemannian manifold, satisfying some curvature conditions. This allows us to unify and clarify many results scattered in the literature and to obtain some new results. For example, we prove that there is no stable, complete, noncompact hypersurface in ${{\mathbb R}^{n+1}, n \leq 5}$ , with constant mean curvature ${H \not=0}$ , provided that, for suitable p, the L ^p norm of the traceless part of second fundamental form satisfies some growth condition.     

Discotic liquid crystals: from tailor-made synthesis to plastic electronics

Most associate liquid crystals with their everyday use in laptop computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, and other electronic devices. However, in contrast to their rodlike (calamitic) counterparts, first described in 1907 by Vorl?nder, disklike (discotic, columnar) liquid crystals, which were discovered in 1977 by Chandrasekhar et al., offer further applications as a result of their orientation in the columnar mesophase, making them ideal candidates for molecular wires in various optical and electronic devices such as photocopiers, laser printers, photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors, and holographic data storage. Beginning with an overview of the various mesophases and characterization methods, this Review will focus on the major classes of columnar mesogens rather than presenting a library of columnar liquid crystals. Emphasis will be given to efficient synthetic procedures, and relevant mesomorphic and physical properties. Finally, some applications and perspectives in materials science and molecular electronics will be discussed.     

Some remarks on embedded hypersurfaces in hyperbolic space of constant curvature and spherical boundary

We consider embedded hypersurfacesM in hyperbolic space with compact boundaryC and somer ^th mean curvature functionH _r a positive constant. We investigate when symmetries ofC are symmetries ofM. We prove that if 0H _r1 andC is a sphere thenM is a part of an equidistant sphere. Forr=1 (H ₁ is the mean curvature) we obtain results whenC is convex.     

Desorption/ionization of biomolecules from aqueous solutions at atmospheric pressure using an infrared laser at 3 μm

A new atmospheric pressure (AP) infrared (IR) matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) ion source was developed and interfaced with a Thermo Finnigan LCQ ion trap mass spectrometer. The source utilized a miniature all-solid-state optical parametric oscillator (OPO)-based IR laser system tunable in the lambda = 1.5-4 microm spectral range and a nitrogen ultraviolet (UV) laser (lambda = 337 nm) for use in comparative studies. The system demonstrated comparable performance at 3 microm and 337 nm wavelengths if UV matrices were used. However, AP IR-MALDI using a 3 microm wavelength showed good performance with a much broader choice of matrices including glycerol and liquid water. AP IR-MALDI mass spectra of peptides in the mass range up to 2000 Da were obtained directly from aqueous solutions at atmospheric conditions for the first time. A potential use of the new AP IR-MALDI ion source includes direct MS analysis of biological cells and tissues in a normal atmospheric environment as well as on-line coupling of mass spectrometers with liquid separation techniques.     

Crossover from a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate to a degenerate Fermi gas

We demonstrate a reversible conversion of a 6Li2 molecular Bose-Einstein condensate to a degenerate Fermi gas of atoms by adiabatically crossing a Feshbach resonance. By optical in situ imaging, we observe a smooth change of the cloud size in the crossover regime. On the Feshbach resonance, the ensemble is strongly interacting and the measured cloud size is 75(7)% of the one of a noninteracting zero-temperature Fermi gas. The high condensate fraction of more than 90% and the adiabatic crossover suggest our Fermi gas to be cold enough to form a superfluid.     

Buckling localization in a non‐elastic rotating disk

Buckling localization of a rotating disk made of elastic‐perfectly plastic material is investigated using stress‐rate formulation of the stability boundary‐value problem. The phenomenon of plastic buckling localization and its analogy with elastic buckling localization is discussed. For a thin rotating disk, it is shown that buckling develops at a speed lower than one at which the disk passes to fully plastic state, or in other words, before the limit load has been attained. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Zn(NCS)2‐3‐cyanopyridine Coordination Compounds: Synthesis,Crystal Structures,and Thermal Properties

The reaction of different stoichiometric amounts of Zn(NCS)₂ with 3‐cyanopyridine in different solvents leads to the formation of several new coordination compounds, which were structurally characterized and investigated for their thermal behavior. In Zn(NCS)₂(3‐cyanopyridine)₄ ( 1 ) and Zn(NCS)₂(3‐cyanopyridine)₂(H₂O)₂ · (3‐cyanopyridine)₂ ( 2 ) the zinc cations are octahedrally coordinated by two terminally N‐bonded thiocyanate anions and four 3‐cyanopyridine ( 1 ) or two 3‐cyanopyridine and two water molecules ( 2 ) within slightly distorted octahedra. Zn(NCS)₂(3‐cyanopyridine)₂ ( 3 ) and Zn(NCS)₂(3‐cyanopyridine)₂ · (H₂O)_0.5 ( 3‐H₂O ) also form discrete complexes but with tetrahedrally coordinated Zn cations. Upon heating compound 1 decomposes without the formation of any intermediate compound. In contrast, compound 2 loses the water molecules in the first step and transforms into compound 1 . Surprisingly, upon further heating a second TG step is observed, in which compound 3 is formed as an intermediate, which is not observed if compound 1 is heated directly. The tetrahedral complex 3 melts leading to the formation of an amorphous phase. If the hemihydrate 3‐H₂O is heated, it transforms into 3 via melting and crystallization but there are hints that a metastable phase might form as intermediate on water removal.