Influence of the sulfonate countercation on the thermal stability of nafion perfluorosulfonate membranes

We report a strong dependence of the thermal stability of Nafion® perfluorosulfonate ionomer on the nature of the counterion associated with the fixed sulfonate site. These results were obtained using thermal gravimetric analysis on a series of alkali metal and alkyl ammonium cation-exchanged Nafion films. We have found that the temperature of decomposition of Nafion is inversely dependent on the size of the exchanged cation; i.e., Nafion films show improved thermal stability as the size of the counter cation decreases. We attribute this inverse relationship of thermal stability with counterion size to an initial decomposition reaction which is strongly influenced by the strength of the sulfonate-coun-terion interaction. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Surface grating formation and erasing on a-Se films

Surface relief formation at holographic recording on amorphous selenium films was demonstrated and investigated. The presence of this optical phase modulation component is essential for ensuring significant, stable and erasable optical recording in a-Se films at 290–320 K temperatures, where conventional photodarkening was known as insignificant and unstable. Photocrystallization can only be observed in super-exposed a-Se films at the given experimental conditions of hologram recording. Erasing behavior of surface relief gratings under heat treatment was also investigated in order to reveal further details of the mechanism. Photoinduced structural transformations within the amorphous phase, connected to local ordering under the condition of light-induced fluidity, are proposed as an explanation for the relief formation and erasing. The observed reversible optical recording process may be useful for the various optoelectronic applications of photoconductive a-Se layers. Received: 12 June 2000 / Accepted: 6 June 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

A statistical approach to the solution of ill-posed problems in geophysics

The article surveys the main results of the statistical approach to the solution of ill-posed problems of mathematical physics, in application to specific ill-posed inverse problems in geophysics.Invited paper presented at the International Seminar on Mathematical Foundations of the Interpretation of Geophysical Fields, Moscow, May–June 1972.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 79, pp. 67–81, 1978.     

Temperature dependence of corundum roentgenoluminescence and thermoluminescence

Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 438–444, March, 1991.     

Effect of trapping centers of luminescent properties of bismuth orthogermanate

Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 54, No. 6, pp. 970–975, June, 1991.     

Self-transparency effect in a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell

In a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell we report and study the self-transparency effect induced by the creation of an isotropic droplet. A simple theoretical model is presented and good agreement with experimental data is found. In a two beams configuration transistor-like behavior is observed and theoretically discussed.     

Coherent Type-B e + e- Pair Production by Photons in a Crystal

An overview of theoretical and experimental studies of the coherent type-B e ⁺ e-pair production by photons in aligned crystals performed at Nuclear Physics Institute at Tomsk Polytechnic University is given.