Giant deuteron migration during the isosymmetric phase transition in deuterated 3,5-pyridinedicarboxylic acid

Deuterated 3,5‐pyridinedicarboxylic acid exhibits reversible temperature‐induced deuteron migration of a magnitude unprecedented in this class of compounds. We used a combination of variable‐temperature powder and single‐crystal neutron diffraction and density functional theory (DFT)‐based computational methods to elucidate the origin of this remarkable behaviour. Single‐crystal neutron diffraction shows that between 15 and 300 K, the deuteron moves by 0.32(1) Å and the structure changes from a low‐temperature N? D???O form to a high‐temperature N???D? O form. Variable‐temperature powder neutron‐diffraction data, which was fitted by using parametric Rietveld refinement, show that this deuteron migration is due to an isosymmetric, first‐order phase transition that occurs by growth of the daughter phase in the parent‐phase matrix. Similar phase transitions are observed in two selectively deuterated forms of the material. DFT calculations demonstrate the role of phonons and show that vibrational free‐energy stabilisation, which plays a key role in the observed structural phase transitions, is more pronounced in the fully deuterated material and proportional to the mass of the molecule, that is, the level of deuteration. This is consistent with our experimental work, for which distinct crystallographic phase transitions were clearly observed for the three deuterated systems, but not for the fully protonated material.     

Phase diagram of the Gross-Neveu model: exact results and condensed matter precursors

Recently the revised phase diagram of the (large N) Gross-Neveu model in 1 + 1 dimensions with discrete chiral symmetry has been determined numerically. It features three phases, a massless and a massive Fermi gas and a kink-antikink crystal. Here we investigate the phase diagram by analytical means, mapping the Dirac-Hartree-Fock equation onto the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation with the (single gap) Lamé potential. It is pointed out that mathematically identical phase diagrams appeared in the condensed matter literature some time ago in the context of the Peierls-Fröhlich model and ferromagnetic superconductors.     

Polysulfonylamine. CLXVI [1] Kristallstrukturen von Metall‐di(methansulfonyl)amiden. 15 [1] Die isotypen Kristallstrukturen von Ammonium‐ und Caesium‐dimesylamid: Kristallographische Kongruenz zwischen Wasserstoffbrücken N—H···O/N und Metall‐Ligand‐Bindungen Cs—O/N

Polysulfonylamines. CLXVI. Crystal Structures of Metal Di(methanesulfonyl)amides. 15. The Isotypic Crystal Structures of Ammonium and Cesium Dimesylamide: Crystallographic Congruency of Hydrogen Bonds N—H···O/N and Metal‐Ligand Interactions Cs—O/N The ammonium salt NH₄[N(SO₂CH₃)₂] and its previously reported cesium analogue Cs[N(SO₂CH₃)₂] are isostructural (monoclinic, space group P2₁/n, Z = 4, V at —140 °C: 0.761 and 0.832 nm³ respectively). The cesium ion adopts an irregular (O₆N)‐heptacoordination by forming close contacts to one (O, N)‐chelating, one (O, O)‐chelating and three κ¹O‐bonding anions, whereas in the ammonium‐based structure each of the seven Cs—O/N interactions is perfectly mimicked by an N—H···O/N hydrogen‐bond component. To this effect, three N—H donors are engaged in asymmetric three‐centre bonds, the fourth in a moderately strong and approximately linear two‐centre bond. The crystal packings consist of anion monolayers that intercalate planar zigzag rows of cations propagating around symmetry centres (Cs···Cs alternatingly 422.5 and 487.5 pm, Cs···Cs···Cs 135.7°; N···N alternatingly 397.4 and 474.1 pm, N···N···N 136.1°). Each cation row is surrounded by and bonded to four translation‐generated anion stacks, and each anion stack connects two cation rows. The net effect is that the packings display congruent three‐dimensional networks of metal‐ligand bonds or hydrogen bonds, respectively. Moreover, close C—H···O/N interanion contacts consistent with weak hydrogen bonding are observed in both structures.     

Experimental demonstration of continuous variable quantum erasing

We experimentally demonstrate the concept of continuous variable quantum erasing. The amplitude quadrature of the signal state is labeled to another state via a quantum nondemolition interaction, leading to a large uncertainty in the determination of the phase quadrature due to the inextricable complementarity of the two observables. We show that by erasing the amplitude quadrature information we are able to recover the phase quadrature information of the signal state.     

High average power spectral beam combining of four fiber amplifiers to 8.2 kW

We report on the incoherent beam combination of the four narrow-linewidth fiber amplifier chains running at different wavelengths. Each main amplifier stage consists of a large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber delivering more than 2 kW of optical power. The four output beams are spectrally combined to a single beam with an output power of 8.2 kW using a polarization-independent dielectric reflective diffraction grating mainly preserving the beam quality of the individual fiber amplifiers.     

Ab initio investigation of the vibrational hyper-Raman spectra of ethylene, ethane, and dimethyl ether

The time-dependent Hartree–Fock approach is employed with the aug-cc-pVDZ or 6-311++G** basis set to simulate, in the harmonic approximation, the hyper-Raman spectra of ethylene, ethane, and dimethyl ether. Comparison with the experiment of Verdieck etal. [(1970) Chem. Phys. Lett. 7:219] is performed for ethylene and ethane. Effects of the polarization of the incident light and the detected light are studied for ethylene. Special focus is given on these vibrational normal modes that cannot be detected in IR and Raman spectroscopies.Contribution to the Jacopo Tomasi Honorary Issue     

Imaging reflection IR spectroscopy as a tool to achieve higher integration for high-throughput experimentation in catalysis research

FTIR spectroscopy in reflection mode combined with a focal plane array (FPA) detector was employed for high-throughput screening of activity of catalysts in n-pentane hydroisomerization. The reactor system was evaluated using reference catalysts Pt-MOR and gamma-alumina of known catalytic activity. By using the reflection setup, a higher degree of parallelization was possible, as compared to previous reports, in which transmission cells had been used. The 49-channel parallel reactor in combination with the FPA-IR optical setup was able to provide reliable information about the activity of different catalysts with relative data error of less than +/-20%.