Twist-bend nematics,liquid crystal dimers,structure–property relations

ABSTRACT

One of the current challenges in liquid crystal science is to understand the molecular factors leading to the formation of the intriguing twist-bend nematic phase (N_TB) and determine its properties. During our earlier hunt for the N_TB phase created on cooling directly from the isotropic phase and not the nematic phase, we had prepared 30 symmetric liquid crystal dimers. These had odd spacers and methylene links to the two mesogenic groups; desirable but clearly not essential features for the formation of the N_TB. Here, we report the phases that the dimers exhibit and their transition temperatures as functions of both the lengths of the spacer and the terminal chains. In addition we describe the transitional entropies, their optical textures, the X-ray scattering patterns and the ²H NMR spectra employed in characterising the phases. All of which may lead to important properties of the twist-bend nematic phase.     

Spectral beam combining of 2 μm Tm fiber laser systems

Output beams from three independently frequency-stabilized thulium master-oscillator power-amplifier fiber laser systems were spectrally combined using a plane-ruled metal diffraction grating. Two laser channels were frequency-stabilized with guided mode resonance filters and the third was stabilized using a plane-ruled metal diffraction grating. The systems had output wavelengths between 1984 and 2015 nm, each with a spectral width of 100-450 pm and output powers between 40-120 W. The combined beam had powers up to 49 W and was 32% efficient with respect to the launched pump power.     

Comparative extreme ultraviolet emission measurements for lithium and tin laser plasmas

Detailed spectroscopic studies on extreme UV emission from laser plasmas using tin and lithium planar solid targets were completed. At 13.5 nm, the best conversion efficiency (CE) for lithium was found to be 2.2% at intensities near 7 x 10(10) W/cm(2). The highest CE measured for tin was near 5.0% at an intensity close to 1 x 10(11) W/cm(2).     

Volume Bragg grating stabilized spectrally narrow Tm fiber laser

A Tm-doped large mode area (LMA) silica fiber laser has been locked to a stable wavelength of 2,053.9 nm using a volume Bragg grating (VBG). The measured spectral width of the laser output was <300 pm, limited by the spectrometer resolution. Although this laser had modest output (approximately 5W) and slope efficiency (41%), this new approach to spectrally limiting the output of LMA fiber lasers is inherently extendable to kilowatt powers, opening up several applications including high-power pulsed fiber lasers and spectral beam combining. Performance characteristics of the laser compared to one using a dielectric mirror as a high reflector are described, and the results imply low VBG losses.     

蒙药材肋柱花中盐酸小檗碱的反相高效液相色谱法分析

用高效液相色谱法测定蒙药材肋柱花中小檗碱的含量.色谱流动相为乙腈:水(V:V=30:70,每1000mL水中加入KH2PO43.4g),流速为0.8mL/min,紫外检测波长为345nm.结果表明,盐酸小檗碱在6.25-50μg/mL范围内具有良好的线性关系,相关系数为0.9992,实验测得平均回收率为97.7%,RSD=0.94%(n=6).方法操作简便,灵敏度高,结果准确可靠.     

A Theoretical Study of ãA2 CH2

The potential energy surface and dipole moment surfaces of the ã⁴A₂ electronic state of CH₂⁺ are calculated ab initio using an augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence quadruple-ζ (aug-cc-pVQZ) basis set, with the incorporation of dynamical correlation using the coupled cluster method with single and double excitations and perturbatively connected triple excitations [CCSD(T)]. We use these surfaces in the MORBID program system to calculate rotation and rotation-vibration term values for ã-state CH₂⁺, CD⁺₂, and CHD⁺ and to simulate the rotation and rotation-vibration absorption spectrum of CH₂⁺ in the ã⁴A₂ electronic state. Our work is motivated by studies of CH₂⁺ that use the Coulomb explosion imaging technique and by the goal of predicting spectra that may be obtained from discharge sources. Although the ã state is the lowest-lying excited state above the X?/Ã ground state pair, it turns out to be relatively high-lying, and we determine that T_e(ã)=30447.5 cm⁻¹. The equilibrium bond angle for ã-state CH₂⁺ is only 77.1°; as a result the asymmetric top κ value is close to 0, and the molecule is equally far from the oblate and prolate symmetric top limits in this electronic state.     

Investigation of Brillouin effects in small-core holey optical fiber: lasing and scattering

We demonstrate for what is believed to be the first time a Brillouin laser based on a holey fiber (HF). Using a simple Fabry-Perot resonator scheme containing a 73.5-m-long highly nonlinear HF with an effective area of 2.85 microm(2) , we obtain a threshold of 125 mW and a slope efficiency of ~70% . Stimulated and spontaneous Brillouin scattering effects are investigated in the HF, and we show that the high lasing threshold is due mainly to reduction of the effective gain coefficient caused by structural nonuniformity along the fiber length.     

Greater than 20%-efficient frequency doubling of 1532-nm nanosecond pulses in quasi-phase-matched germanosilicate optical fibers

We fabricated second-order nonlinear gratings in D-shaped germanosilicate fibers, using thermal poling and periodic electrodes defined by standard photolithography. These gratings, which are up to 75 mm long, were used for efficient quasi-phase-matched frequency doubling of 1.532-mum nanosecond pulses from a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier. Average second-harmonic powers as high as 6.8 mW and peak powers greater than 1.2 kW at 766 nm were generated, with average and peak conversion efficiencies as high as 21% and 30%, respectively.     

Measurements of the HCN ν3 band broadened by N2

N₂-broadened halfwidths have been measured for 51 absorption lines belonging to the ν₃ fundamental band of hydrogen cyanide (¹H¹²C¹⁴N) near 3311 cm^?1. The data were recorded at room temperature using a Fourier transform spectrometer with a nominal resolution of 0.06 cm^?1. A nonlinear least-squares spectral-fitting procedure was used to obtain both line intensities and collision-broadened halfwidths from scans recorded at several different pressures. The N₂-broadened halfwidths, determined for all lines with J ≤ 25 in both the P and R branches of the band, show the expected distribution with J for broadening by a nonpolar gas. The halfwidth values range from approximately 0.17 cm^?1 atm^?1 near the band center to 0.11 cm^?1 atm^?1 for high-J lines. The band intensity for the ν₃ fundamental derived from these measurements is 236.2 ± 9.5 cm^?2 atm^?1 at 296 K, and empirical coefficients for the vibration-rotation interaction F-factor were also determined.     

The dynamics of ring rotation in ferrocene,nickelocene and ruthenocene by incoherent quadi-elastic neutron scattering

Incoherent quasi-elastic neutron scattering has been used to study the reorientational motions of the cyclopentadienyl rings in ferrocene, nickelocene and ruthenocene. The results for ferrocene show that the activation energy for ring rotation drops above the 164 K phase transition to 4.4 ± 0.5 kJ mol^?1 (which is approximately half its low temperature value) but the rings still appear to jump between only five orientations on the observable time scale. At room temperature, the rings in nickelocene appear to behave the same as in ferrocene but in ruthenocene they reorientate much less frequently and resemble those in ferrocene below 164 K.