Influence of 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid on the orientational ordering of cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals at chemically functionalized surfaces

We report two methods that involve tailoring of the chemical composition of the nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl to achieve control over the orientational ordering of the liquid crystal on chemically functionalized surfaces. The first method involves the direct addition of 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid to 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl. The second method involves exposure of 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl to ultraviolet light and photochemical generation of a range of products, including 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid. The addition of the acid or exposure to ultraviolet light accelerated the rate at which the liquid crystal exhibited an orientational transition from planar to perpendicular (homeotropic) alignment on surfaces presenting ammonium groups. The appearance of the homeotropic orientation of the UV-treated 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl on ammonium-terminated surfaces was dependent on the thickness of the film of liquid crystal (13-50 mum), consistent with a dipolar coupling between the liquid crystal and the electric field associated with an electrical double layer generated at the ammonium surface. Although the addition of 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid or UV treatment of the liquid crystal also promoted homeotropic orientations on surfaces presenting hydroxyl groups, the orientations of the UV-treated liquid crystal on the hydroxyl-terminated surface did not change with thickness of the film of liquid crystal in the manner observed on the ammonium-terminated surfaces. The latter result indicates that the mechanism leading to homeotropic anchoring on hydroxyl-terminated surfaces is distinct from that on ammonium-terminated surfaces. Measurements performed using polarization modulation infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy suggest that hydrogen bonding between the 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid and the hydroxyl-terminated surface is responsible for the homeotropic anchoring on the surface. Finally, the orientation of the liquid crystal on methyl-terminated surfaces was not influenced by the addition of 4-cyano-4'-biphenylcarboxylic acid nor UV treatment. These results illustrate how the chemical composition of liquid crystals can be manipulated to achieve control over their ordering on surfaces that possess chemical functionality relevant to the development of liquid crystal-based sensors and diagnostic tools. We illustrate the utility of this approach by using the tailored liquid crystal to amplify and optically transduce the presence of proteins arrayed on ammonium-terminated surfaces.     

Laser-induced mutual transposition of the core and the shell of a Au@Pt nanosphere

The mutual transposition of the core and the shell of a Au@Pt core-shell nanosphere has been obtained by employing picosecond laser pulses to excite the surface-plasmon resonances of platinum. The thermalized energy of the plasmon resonances makes the core metal of the gold melt earlier than the shell metal of platinum because of melting temperature differences and causes the gold to soak out of the core to the surface of the nanosphere. A new reversed core/shell Pt@Au core-shell nanosphere is formed with further irradiation.     

Biphasic tautomerization dynamics of excited 7-hydroxyquinoline in reverse micelles

The excited-state tautomerization dynamics of 7-hydroxyquinoline in the water pools of reverse micelles has been investigated by monitoring time-resolved fluorescence spectra and kinetics as well as static absorption and emission spectra with a variation of water content and isotopic fractionation. The normal and the tautomeric species are found to reside preferentially in the bound- and the free-water regions of the micelles, respectively. The excited-state tautomerization of the normal species in the bound-water layers is suggested to occur via two different channels, depending on rotamers at the moment of excitation. The cis tautomerizes via proton relay from the enol group to the imino group along a hydrogen-bonded water bridge, unusual in water but common in alcohols, whereas the trans tautomerizes via the stepwise individual acid-base reactions of two prototropic groups as found in bulk water. Proton relay can take place because water in the pools has substantially reduced polarity and disrupted hydrogen-bond networks compared with bulk water.     

Femtosecond laser bonding of glasses and ion migration in the interface

We report femtosecond laser bonding with strengths of a few MPa and the material mixing during the laser bonding process by using Sm³⁺- and Cr³⁺-doped glasses and 180 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 1 kHz from an amplified Ti:sapphire laser at a wavelength of 785 nm. By analyzing fluorescence spectra taken around the interface using a confocal scanning microscope we observed the migration of Sm ions from the upper Sm-doped glass to the lower Cr-doped glass and the reduction from Sm³⁺ to Sm²⁺ ions just above the interface for the borate-borate material system. However, in Sm-doped borate-borosilicate, the laser bonding did not produce any reduction and migration of Sm³⁺ ions.     

Eu-doped B2O3–ZnO–PbO glass phosphor powders with?spherical shape and fine size prepared by spray pyrolysis

Eu-doped B₂O₃–ZnO–PbO glass phosphor powders with spherical shape and fine size were directly prepared by spray pyrolysis. The glass phosphor powders prepared at a temperature of 1100°C had broad XRD peak at around 28°. One glass phosphor powder was formed from one droplet at the preparation temperature range from 900 to 1100°C. The mean size of the glass phosphor powders was 0.75 μm. The glass transition temperature (T _g ) of the glass phosphor powders prepared by spray pyrolysis was 378.5°C. The excitation spectrum of the glass phosphor powders prepared at the optimum preparation temperature of 1100°C had bands at 362, 381, 392, 463, 525, and 532 nm. The glass phosphor powders had emission spectra with bands at 579, 614, and 653 nm. The glass phosphor powders with doping concentration of Eu of 7 wt% had the maximum photoluminescence intensity. The glass phosphor layer formed from the glass phosphor powders had high transparencies above 90%.     

Gammasphere上裂变丰中子核核结构若干前沿领域的新进展(Ⅰ:第一和第二部分)(英文)

(第一和第二部分):使用Gammasphere多探测器系统对252Cf裂变源瞬发γ射线进行γ-γ-γ和γ-γ(θ)符合测量,裂变丰中子原子核核结构若干前沿领域的深入研究获得了新的进展。高达5.7×1011以上的三重和更高重符合事件的数据统计,以及更少压缩的三维数据为宽广未知丰中子核区的寻找和研究提供了有利的条件。在具有重要物理意义的若干丰中子核区首次建立,或显著扩展了一批包括转晕态和转晕附近能态的高自旋能级纲图。在偶-偶丰中子核110,112Ru和108Mo中鉴别出了手征对称破缺结构。丰中子110,112Ru附近核的三轴形变基态具有最低的能量,在它们之中已确认了接近最大值的三轴形变。在这些Ru和Mo同位素中观察到的手征双线能带展示出手征破缺的一切特征,特别是其理想的能量简并,表明它们在迄今已报道的手征破缺结构中,具有最好的手征特性。研究了手征结构从具有γ软度的108Ru到具有大三轴形变的110,112Ru的过渡。斜轴推转(TAC)和随机相近似(RPA)理论计算成功地拟合了在这些偶-偶丰中子核中观察到的手征双线能带的特性,并指定其为软手征振动态。在这些偶-偶核中观察到的手征破缺不可能归纳为奇-奇核中那样的简化的几何图像。前者来自闭壳外所有中子的相互作用。对双幻核132Sn附近N=83同中素链的系统研究为这个极富吸引力的核区提供了大量新的谱学信息。N=83同中素135Te(Z=52),136I(Z=53),137Xe(Z=54),138Cs(Z=55)和139Ba(Z=56)的最新能级信息,特别是首次建立的138Cs高自旋能级纲图和壳模型理论计算表明,Z=50质子闭壳外少数g7/2价质子激发同N=82中子闭壳外之唯一f7/2价中子的耦合对该核区能级结构具有关键作用。观察到了132Sn和208Pb附近核区谱学信息的相似性和相对应的三粒子和五粒子态。在135Te中观察到了磁转动,这是在双幻核132Sn附近观察到的首例磁转动。     

POD analysis on the sphere wake at a subcritical Reynolds number

Abstract  

Flow characteristics of turbulent wake behind a sphere at a subcritical flow regime were experimentally investigated. The particle image velocimetry measurements and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modal analysis were employed to get detailed flow information such as the wavy structure, swirling motion and coherent structures of the sphere wake. The variation of turbulent intensities of the radial and circumferential velocity components showed the swirling motion of sphere wake in the cross-sectional planes. The relative contribution of the POD mode 1, 2 and 3 in eigenvalues was 26, 11, and 8%, respectively. The general pattern of velocity fields for the POD mode 1 in the near-wake region of x/d = 0.7–1.4 is similar with that of time-averaged mean velocity fields. In addition, the sweeping flow in the region from x/d = 1.5 to x/d = 2.0 possesses wavy structure of the sphere wake. The experimental results of the present study would contribute to the fundamental understanding of the turbulent near-wake behind a sphere.     

Global Hilbert Expansion for the Vlasov-Poisson-Boltzmann System

The dynamics of an electron gas in a constant ion background can be decribed by the Vlasov-Poisson-Boltzmann system at the kinetic level, or by the compressible Euler-Poisson system at the fluid level. We prove that any solution of the Vlasov-Poisson-Boltzmann system near a smooth local Maxwellian with a small irrotational velocity converges global in time to the corresponding solution to the Euler-Poisson system, as the mean free path ε goes to zero. We use a recent L ² − L ^∞ framework in the Boltzmann theory to control the higher order remainder in the Hilbert expansion uniformly in ε and globally in time.