The short-time critical behaviour of the Ginzburg-Landau model with long-range interaction

The renormalisation group approach is applied to the study of the short-time critical behaviour of the d-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau model with long-range interaction of the form in momentum space. Firstly the system is quenched from a high temperature to the critical temperature and then relaxes to equilibrium within the model A dynamics. The asymptotic scaling laws and the initial slip exponents and of the order parameter and the response function respectively, are calculated to the second order in . Received 9 June 2000 and Received in final form 2 August 2000     

Anisotropy of sound velocity for a new PbB4O7 crystal as determined by the laser ultrasonic technique

4 O₇ crystal is a new nonlinear optical crystal. For the first time the anisotropy of the velocities of its longitudinal and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are determined by laser ultrasonic technique. The velocities of surface waves for X-, Y-, and Z-cut crystals are also calculated. The theoretical calculations of slowness curves are in good agreement with experimental results. The SAW slowness curve is elliptical for Y- or Z-cut crystal wafers, and circular for an X-cut wafer. Received: 27 January 1997/Accepted: 30 July 1997     

Ionic diffusion on a lattice: Effects of the order-disorder transition on the dynamics of non-equilibrium systems

We examine the behaviour of the concentration profiles of particles with repulsive interactions diffusing on a host lattice. At low temperature, the diffusion process is strongly influenced by the presence of ordered domains. We use mean field equations and Monte-Carlo simulations to describe the various effects which influence the kinetic behaviour. An effective diffusion coefficient is determined analytically and is compared with the simulations. Finite gradient effects on the ordered domains and on the diffusion are discussed. The kinetics studied is relevant for superionic conductors, for intercalation and also for the diffusion of particles adsorbed on a substrate. Received: 26 June 1997 / Revised: 18 September 1997 / Accepted: 10 November 1997     

Description of Unstable Systems in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics in the Lax-Phillips Theory

We discuss some of the experimental motivation for the need for semigroup decay laws and the quantum Lax-Phillips theory of scattering and unstable systems. In this framework, the decay of an unstable system is described by a semigroup. The spectrum of the generator of the semigroup corresponds to the singularities of the Lax-Phillips S-matrix. In the case of discrete (complex) spectrum of the generator of the semigroup, associated with resonances, the decay law is exactly exponential. The states corresponding to these resonances (eigenfunctions of the generator of the semigroup) lie in the Lax-Phillips Hilbert space, and, therefore, all physical properties of the resonant states can be computed. We show that the parametrized relativistic quantum theory is a natural setting for the realization of the Lax-Phillips theory.     

Shear instabilities of freely standing thermotropic smectic- A films

In this Letter we discuss theoretically the instabilities of thermotropic freely standing smectic- A films under shear flow [3]. We show that, in Couette geometry, the centrifugal force pushes the liquid crystal toward the outer boundary and induces smectic layer dilation close to the outer boundary. Under strong shear, this effect induces a layer buckling instability. The critical shear rate is proportional to 1/sqrt[d], where d is the thickness of the film.     

Negative and positive magnetoresistance manipulation in an electrodeposited nanometer Ni contact

We show that, in a nanometric size stable electrodeposited Ni contact, it is possible to modify the magnetoresistance by applying current pulses and external magnetic fields whereby the same current path is used for detection and modification. We can pass from positive to negative magnetoresistance with values as large as 25% at room temperature, all in the same contact. We propose that the effect may be due to switching and moving domain walls in the contact region under the combination of current effects and external fields.     

Application of adaptive time-frequency decomposition in ultrasonic NDE of highly-scattering materials

In the paper, adaptive time-frequency decomposition by basis pursuit (BP) is utilized to improve ultrasonic flaw detection in highly-scattering materials as an alternative to the Wavelet Transform technique. The detection of ultrasonic pulses using the BP is described. Computer simulation was performed to verify the signal detection improvements for an ultrasonic wave embodied in white noise, and numerical results show good detection even for signal-noise ratio (SNR) of -18 dB. The improvement in detection is experimentally verified using cast steel samples with artificial flaws.     

Critical behavior of metal-insulator transition in La1-(x)Sr(x)VO3

Critical behavior of the metal-insulator transition (MIT) coupled with spin/orbital correlations has been investigated for single crystals of La1-(x)Sr(x)VO3. In the paramagnetic (PM) metal phase (x > 0.260), the precursor to the MIT manifests itself as an enhancement of carrier effective mass. In the antiferromagnetic (AF) metal phase (0.178 < or = x < or = 0.260), the carrier density decreases and the correlation of the orbital seems to evolve towards the MIT (x = 0.178). In the AF insulating phase (x < 0.178), the distinct first-order structural phase transition occurs with the decrease of temperature, perhaps concomitantly with the orbital ordering.     

Phase-resolved optical coherence tomography and optical Doppler tomography for imaging blood flow in human skin with fast scanning speed and high velocity sensitivity

We have developed a novel phase-resolved optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical Doppler tomography (ODT) system that uses phase information derived from a Hilbert transformation to image blood flow in human skin with fast scanning speed and high velocity sensitivity. Using the phase change between sequential scans to construct flow-velocity imaging, this technique decouples spatial resolution and velocity sensitivity in flow images and increases imaging speed by more than 2 orders of magnitude without compromising spatial resolution or velocity sensitivity. The minimum flow velocity that can be detected with an axial-line scanning speed of 400 Hz and an average phase change over eight sequential scans is as low as 10 microm/s, while a spatial resolution of 10 microm is maintained. Using this technique, we present what are to our knowledge the first phase-resolved OCT/ODT images of blood flow in human skin.     

Fragmentation of the two-phonon γ-vibration in166Er

Two-phonon γ-vibrational states in¹⁶⁶Er have been populated using Coulomb excitation. The K^π=4⁺ component of the vibration appears to be fragmented over several states, whereas only one K^π=0⁺ state is observed.