Amidoliganden zum Aufbau von mehrkernigen Lanthanoidkomplexen

Amido Ligands for the Synthesis of Polynuclear Lanthanoid Complexes By 1 : 1 reaction of LnBr₃ with NaNHPh in THF the Rare-Earth Complexes [Ln₂Br₄(μ₂-NHPh)₂(thf)₅] (Ln = Sm ( 1 ), Ln = Gd ( 2 )) with two bridging anilido ligands are obtained. In the system LnBr₃/NaNHPh/(Me₂SiO)₃ the tetranuclear compounds [Ln₄(μ₄-O)(NHPh)₃(OSiMe₂NPh)₆Na₅(thf)₇] · THF (Ln = Gd ( 3 ), Ln = Yb ( 4 )) can be built up. They have a central μ₄-oxygene atom in the Ln₄-tetrahedron. It has an oxa-dimethylsilyl-N-phenylamido ligand over all edges and an anilido ligand on three vertexes. By this reaction small amount of [Na₄(thf)₆Yb₂(OSiMe₂NPhSiMe₂O)₂(OSiMe₂NPh)₂(NHPh)₂] ( 5 ) with a O- and N-bridged Yb–Na polyhedron and N-phenyl-bis(dimethylsilanolato)-ligands coordinating μ₂-η² with its oxygen atoms are obtained. Reaction of Lanthanideshalides with LiNH^tBu leads to dimeric complexes. The formation of bridging oxasilylamido ligands is also observed. The compound [Li₂Ln(OSiMe₂N^tBu)₂(HN^tBu)(thf)]₂ (Ln=Sm ( 6 ), Gd ( 7 ) and Yb ( 8 )) contains now an O- and N-bridged Ln–Li polyhedron. (Crystal Data of 1–8 see ‘‘Inhaltsverzeichnis”︁”︁).     

Signatures of the Unruh effect via high-power, short-pulse lasers

The ultra-high fields of high-power short-pulse lasers are expected to contribute to understanding fundamental properties of the quantum vacuum and quantum theory in very strong fields. For example, the neutral QED vacuum breaks down at the Schwinger field strength of 1.3×10¹⁸ V/m, where a virtual e⁺e^- pair gains its rest mass energy over a Compton wavelength and materializes as a real pair. At such an ultra-high field strength, an electron experiences an acceleration of a_S=2×10²⁸g and hence fundamental phenomena such as the long predicted Unruh effect start to play a role. The Unruh effect implies that the accelerated electron experiences the vacuum as a thermal bath with the Unruh temperature. In its accelerated frame the electron scatters photons off the thermal bath, corresponding to the emission of an entangled pair of photons in the laboratory frame. While it remains an experimental challenge to reach the critical Schwinger field strength within the immediate future even in view of the enormous thrust in high-power laser developments in recent years, the near-future laser technology may allow to probe the signatures of the Unruh effect mentioned above. Using a laser-accelerated electron beam (γ～300) and a counter-propagating laser beam acting as optical undulator should allow to create entangled Unruh photon pairs (i.e., signatures of the Unruh effect) with energies of the order of several hundred keV. An even substantially improved experimental scenario can be realized by using a brilliant 20 keV photon beam as X-ray undulator together with a low-energy (γ≈2) electron beam. In this case the separation of the Unruh photon pairs from background originating from linearly accelerated electrons (classical Larmor radiation) is significantly improved. Detection of the Unruh photons may be envisaged by Compton polarimetry in a 2D-segmented position-sensitive germanium detector.     

Tuning the excitonic and plasmonic properties of copper chalcogenide nanocrystals

The optical properties of stoichiometric copper chalcogenide nanocrystals (NCs) are characterized by strong interband transitions in the blue part of the spectral range and a weaker absorption onset up to ~1000 nm, with negligible absorption in the near-infrared (NIR). Oxygen exposure leads to a gradual transformation of stoichiometric copper chalcogenide NCs (namely, Cu(2-x)S and Cu(2-x)Se, x = 0) into their nonstoichiometric counterparts (Cu(2-x)S and Cu(2-x)Se, x > 0), entailing the appearance and evolution of an intense localized surface plasmon (LSP) band in the NIR. We also show that well-defined copper telluride NCs (Cu(2-x)Te, x > 0) display a NIR LSP, in analogy to nonstoichiometric copper sulfide and selenide NCs. The LSP band in copper chalcogenide NCs can be tuned by actively controlling their degree of copper deficiency via oxidation and reduction experiments. We show that this controlled LSP tuning affects the excitonic transitions in the NCs, resulting in photoluminescence (PL) quenching upon oxidation and PL recovery upon subsequent reduction. Time-resolved PL spectroscopy reveals a decrease in exciton lifetime correlated to the PL quenching upon LSP evolution. Finally, we report on the dynamics of LSPs in nonstoichiometric copper chalcogenide NCs. Through pump-probe experiments, we determined the time constants for carrier-phonon scattering involved in LSP cooling. Our results demonstrate that copper chalcogenide NCs offer the unique property of holding excitons and highly tunable LSPs on demand, and hence they are envisaged as a unique platform for the evaluation of exciton/LSP interactions.     

Fusion around the barrier for 7Li+12C

Fusion cross-sections for the ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction have been measured at energies above the Coulomb barrier by the direct detection of evaporation residues. The heavy evaporation residues with energies below 3 MeV could not be separated out from the α-particles in the spectrum and hence their contribution was estimated using statistical model calculations. The present work indicates that suppression of fusion cross-sections due to the breakup of ⁷Li may not be significant for ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction at energies around the barrier.     

Advantages and Limitations of Solid Layer Experiments in Muon Catalyzed Fusion

Since the discovery that muonic deuterium at energies near a few eV could travel distances of the order of 1 mm in condensed hydrogen, and in particular that muonic tritium and muonic deuterium could emerge from the surface of a solid hydrogen layer, the advantages of solid targets have enabled the study of several processes important in muon catalyzed fusion. A review of the results is presented, emphasizing the strengths and limitations of the use of solid hydrogen layer targets. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.