Measurement of the neutron beam polarization of BL05/NOP beamline at J-PARC

We measured the neutron beam polarization of the BL05/NOP (Neutron Optics and Physics) beamline at J-PARC with an accuracy of less than 10⁻³ using polarized ³He gas as a neutron spin analyzer. Precise polarimetry of the neutron beam is necessary to understand the beamline optics as well as for the asymmetry measurements of the neutron beta decay, which are planned in this beamline.     

Observation of turbulent-driven shear flow in a cylindrical laboratory plasma device

An azimuthally symmetric radially sheared plasma fluid flow is observed to spontaneously form in a cylindrical magnetized helicon plasma device with no external sources of momentum input. A turbulent momentum conservation analysis shows that this shear flow is sustained by the Reynolds stress generated by collisional drift turbulence in the device. The results provide direct experimental support for the basic theoretical picture of drift-wave-shear-flow interactions.     

Structural, optical and electromagnetic properties of aluminum-clay nanocomposites

Aluminum pillared and exchanged bentonite particles were synthesized by the ion exchange method. The characteristics of the particles were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), reflectance spectrophotometer (RS) and electromagnetic transition instrument (ETI). FTIR spectra showed a successful incorporation of Al complexes into the clay interlayer. The TGA result demonstrated an improvement in thermal stability of the Al-pillared clay compared with the untreated particles. SEM and EDX results showed the presence of aluminum aggregates on the surface of clay. It was also found that Al ions affect electromagnetic properties of the clay particles.     

Evidence for a transition in deformation mechanism in nanocrystalline pure titanium processed by high-pressure torsion

Nanocrystalline titanium with an average grain size of about 60–70 nm was prepared by high-pressure torsion. The results of hardness and structural evolutions indicate that a strain-induced hardening–softening–hardening–softening behaviour occurs. For coarse-grained titanium, 〈a〉-type dislocation multiplication, twinning and a high pressure-induced α-to-ω phase transformation play major roles to accommodate deformation, leading to a significant strain hardening. As deformation proceeds, dynamic recrystallisation leads to a decrease in dislocation density, especially for 〈a〉-type dislocations, leading to a slight strain softening. The 〈c〉-component dislocation multiplication dominates the deformation when the grain size decreases to 100 nm and 〈c〉-component dislocation multiplication, grain refinement and the α-to-ω phase transformation contribute to the second strain hardening. The following strain softening is attributed to dynamic recovery.     

Analysis and design of simple low-loss wide-angle waveguide bends

In this paper a simple low-loss planar waveguide wide-angle bend is proposed and analyzed. The waveguide bend of this work consists of a curved tapered angle such that its tapering can be adjusted for a minimum loss (maximum transmission coefficient) and small dimension of bend. The analysis is done using wide-angle BPM (beam propagation method) type Pade (4,4). The simulated results of different bends show that at the same transmission coefficient the area required for the proposed bends are smaller than those of the abrupt bends.     

Anomalous behavior of linear resistivity arising in intergrain ordering process of weak-sintered ceramic system YBa2Cu4O8

Faint electric resistivity behavior is searched experimentally near and below intergrain ordering temperature of weakly sintered ceramic YBa₂Cu₄O₈ (Y124). For this purpose, a new method to detect linear and nonlinear resistivity sensitively by combination of pulse delta method and numerical Fourier-transformation has been designed. Making use of the experimental system for several weak sintered Y124 samples, it is revealed that linear resistivity just above the intergrain ordering point first drops toward zero steeply with decreasing temperature, and then turns abruptly upward to forms faint maximum at lower temperature. Such a novel behavior of ‘revival of resistivity’ is confirmed to be reproducible, and considered to be an essential frustration effect for d-wave type grain system with irregular or inhomogeneous ceramic structure.     

Water stability of cobalt doped ZIF-8: a quantitative study using optical analyses

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), in particular ZIF-8 (made of Zn²⁺ and 2-methyilimidazolate) and cobalt-doped-ZIF-8, are found important for many energy and environmental applications. It was reported that ZIFs show excellent structural stability in water and thus ideal for aqueous applications. However, recent studies also found some evidence that ZIF-8 undergoes hydrolysis in water. Despite the importance of ZIF's stability in many aqueous applications, the extent of ZIFs' degradation in water is still not yet fully understood. In this study, we report a quantitative study of the water stability of 0–100 at% cobalt-doped ZIF-8, using a new combination of analytical tools. The study demonstrated the importance of analyzing both filtered powders and the filtrate liquid systematically, in particular by using UV–Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The combination of analytical tools allowed the study on the effects of ZIF concentrations in water, cobalt doping levels, and amounts of ligands in water on the water stability of ZIF samples. The effect of cobalt-doping was investigated by using ZIF particles with identical sizes (200–400 nm), in order to eliminate the effects of particle size on hydrolysis. Unlike other synthesis methods, a mechanochemical ball milling method allowed the production of nano-scale ZIF-8 particles with similar sizes, independent of cobalt-doping levels. The proposed combination of analytical tools including UV–Vis spectroscopy can be applied to the study of the water stability of other MOF materials.     

Strong versus weak local minimizers for the perturbed Dirichlet functional

Let be a bounded domain and . In this paper we consider functionals of the form where the admissible function belongs to the Sobolev space of vector-valued functions and is such that the integral on the right is well defined. We state and prove a sufficiency theorem for local minimizers of where . The exponent is shown to depend on the dimension and the growth condition of and an exact expression is presented for this dependence. We discuss some examples and applications of this theorem. Received: 20 July 2000 / Accepted: 7 June 2001 / Published online: 19 October 2001