Rabi oscillations in the dynamics of a fully quantized SQUID ring-electromagnetic field system

In this paper, a study based on a fully quantum-mechanical model for the coupling between a super-conducting quantum interference device (an rf SQUID) and a single-mode quantized electromagnetic field is presented. The aim of this work is the prediction of the existence of some interesting phenomena, characterized by more than one Rabi frequency, occurring in the dynamics of the total coupled system when our analysis is developed inside a reduced low-lying energy 4D Hilbert subspace.     

Computational design of multifunctional materials

We propose a general scheme for the computational design of new materials using density functional theory. We then apply the scheme to two classes of materials; ferromagnetic ferroelectrics and half-metallic antiferromagnets. Our first “designer” ferromagnetic ferroelectric has subsequently been synthesized and the predicted properties verified. Our computations on half-metallic antiferromagnets have stimulated experimental study but the phenomenon remains unconfirmed.     

Photofragmentation of Halogenated Pyrimidine Molecules in the VUV Range

In the present work, we studied the photoinduced ion chemistry of the halogenated pyrimidines, a class of prototype radiosensitizing molecules, in the energy region 9–15 eV. The work was stimulated by previous studies on inner shell site-selective fragmentation of the pyrimidine molecule, which have shown that the fragmentation is governed by the population/formation of specific ionic states with a hole in valence orbitals, which in turn correlate to accessible dissociation limits. The combined experimental and theoretical study of the appearance energies of the main fragments provides information on the geometric structure of the products and on the role played by the specific halogen atom and the site of halogenation in the dissociation process. This information can be used to gain new insights on the elementary mechanisms that could possibly explain the enhanced radiation damage to the DNA bases or to the medium in which the bases are embedded, thereby contributing to their radiosensitizing effect.