Photochromic and fluorescence properties of coumarin fulgimides

Four new fulgimides possessing a fluorescent coumarin unit were synthesized from the corresponding fulgides, and their photochromic as well as fluorescence properties were investigated. The open-ring forms of coumarin fulgimides were found to exhibit fluorescence in the visible region. Upon exposure to UV light, the fulgimides were transformed into the nonfluorescent closed-ring forms, which can be reverted to the initial fluorescent open-ring forms on exposure to visible light. The efficiency of quenching of fluorescence was as high as 95% at the photostationary state of UV irradiation.     

Spin-incoherent transport in quantum wires

When a quantum wire is weakly confined, a conductance plateau appears at e;{2}/h with decreasing carrier density in zero magnetic field accompanied by a gradual suppression of the 2e;{2}/h plateau. Applying an in-plane magnetic field B_{ parallel} does not alter the value of this quantization; however, the e;{2}/h plateau weakens with increasing B_{ parallel} up to 9 T, and then strengthens on further increasing B_{ parallel}, which also restores the 2e;{2}/h plateau. Our results are consistent with spin-incoherent transport in a one-dimensional wire.     

Low-temperature collapse of electron localization in two dimensions

We report direct experimental evidence that the insulating phase of a disordered, yet strongly interacting two-dimensional electron system becomes unstable at low temperatures. As the temperature decreases, a transition from insulating to metal-like transport behavior is observed, which persists even when the resistivity of the system greatly exceeds the quantum of resistivity h/e2. The results have been achieved by measuring transport on a mesoscopic length scale while systematically varying the strength of disorder.     

The kinetics of slow-initiated living polymerizations

Equations permitting derivation of initiation and propagation rate constants in non-ideal living polymerizations are presented. Earlier formulations are compared, simplified and tested against experimental data for the polymerizations of n-vinyl carbazole and n-butyl cyanoacrylate. Novel cases having more complex initiation processes (in the polymerization of cyanoacrylates by amines) are formulated and tested.     

Intermolecular Electron Spin Transfer between Naphthalene π-Systems Separated by a Variable Number of Spirobonded Cyclobutane Rings,An. ESR and ENDOR Study

The radical anions of the compounds N1N, N3N and N5N , in which two naphthalen π-systems are separated by 1, 3 and 5 spirobonded cyclobutane rings, respectively, and tha tof the reference compound N1 , containing one naphthalene π-system and one cyclobutane ring, have been studied by ESR and ENDOR spectroscopy under a variety of experimental conditions. The intramolecular electrons spin transfer between the two π-moieties in N3N and N5N is slow on the hyperfine time-scale, irrespective of the applied conditions. It is also slow in N1N , except for media of high solvating power. In such media, with a slight reduction of N1N to its radical anion, a paramagnetic species is observed, the hyperfine data for which are consistent with N1N to its radical anion, a paramagnetic species is observed, the hyperfine data of which are consistent with N1N , undergoing a fast intramolecular electron spin tansfer. The ESR and ENDOR spectra of this species are superimposed on those characteristic of a slow transfer. It is suggested that the fast and slow transfer involve the syn- and anti-conformations, respectively, since the distance, r, between the two naphthalene π-systems of N1N is considerably shorter in the former than in the latter (r = 740 vs. 880 Pm for the distance between the centres of the π-systems). Glassy solutions of exhaustively reduced N1N display signals of the dianion triplet state, whereas no such signals are found for N3N and N5N . The zero-field splitting parameter, D , is 4.7 mT, corresponding to r ≈ 480 pm.     

Fano factor reduction on the 0.7 conductance structure of a ballistic one-dimensional wire

We have measured the nonequilibrium current noise in a ballistic one-dimensional wire which exhibits an additional conductance plateau at 0.7x2e(2)/h. The Fano factor shows a clear reduction on the 0.7 structure, and eventually vanishes upon applying a strong parallel magnetic field. These results provide experimental evidence that the 0.7 structure is associated with two conduction channels that have different transmission probabilities.     

Possible evidence of a spontaneous spin polarization in mesoscopic two-dimensional electron systems

We have experimentally studied the nonequilibrium transport in low-density clean two-dimensional (2D) electron systems at mesoscopic length scales. At zero magnetic field (B), a double-peak structure in the nonlinear conductance was observed close to the Fermi energy in the localized regime. From the behavior of these peaks at nonzero B, we could associate them with the opposite spin states of the system, indicating a spontaneous spin polarization at B=0. Detailed temperature and disorder dependence of the structure shows that such a splitting is a ground-state property of low-density 2D systems.