Photochromic radical compounds based on a naphthopyran system

[reaction: see text] Naphthopyran derivatives with aminoxyl substituents (4a,b) gave the corresponding open-formed isomers (5a,b) by irradiation, which could be changed back to the starting closed-formed naphthopyrans by the treatment with SiO(2) as a catalyst. The tuning of intermolecular magnetic interactions between the isomer couples was found to be possible in these reversible systems.     

Reduction of ion thermal diffusivity associated with the transition of the radial electric field in neutral-beam-heated plasmas in the large helical device

Recent large helical device experiments revealed that the transition from ion root to electron root occurred for the first time in neutral-beam-heated discharges, where no nonthermal electrons exist. The measured values of the radial electric field were found to be in qualitative agreement with those estimated by neoclassical theory. A clear reduction of ion thermal diffusivity was observed after the mode transition from ion root to electron root as predicted by neoclassical theory when the neoclassical ion loss is more dominant than the anomalous ion loss.     

Observation of the "self-healing" of an error field island in the large helical device

It was observed that the vacuum magnetic island produced by an external error magnetic field in the large helical device shrank in the presence of plasma. This was evidenced by the disappearance of flat regions in the electron temperature profile obtained by Thomson scattering. This island behavior depended on the magnetic configuration in which the plasmas were produced.     

Dispersion resulting from phase and amplitude errors in arrayed-waveguide grating multiplexers-demultiplexers

We report dispersion resulting from phase and amplitude errors in arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexers-demultiplexers. We measure the phase- and amplitude-error distributions of two different types of AWG and discuss their effects on the dispersion. The results show that the origin of the dispersion in the AWG is the low-order Fourier components of the symmetric phase and the antisymmetric amplitude errors. We also discuss the dependence of the dispersion on the passband shape in the presence of the same fabrication errors.     

Real three-dimensional microstructures fabricated by photopolymerization of resins through two-photon absorption

Effective energy windows for two-photon absorption (TPA) photopolymerization of resins were investigated and, with a properly selected laser pulse energy, exquisite three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with submicrometer spatial resolution were achieved. The results show the inherent utility of TPA in the fabrication of real 3D patterns. In particular, we propose and utilize a resin pre-exposure technique by which freely movable components affixed to an axle are built, demonstrating a new application of TPA in laser microfabrication.     

High-temperature protonic motion and low-temperature lattice deformation in one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded molecular chain in tetramethylpyrazine–chloranilic acid (1:1)

Recent theoretical advances have identified several computational algorithms that can be implemented utilizing quantum information processing (QIP), which gives an exponential speedup over the corresponding (known) algorithms on conventional computers. QIP makes use of the counter-intuitive properties of quantum mechanics, such as entanglement and the superposition principle. Unfortunately it has so far been impossible to build a practical QIP system that outperforms conventional computers. Atomic ions confined in an array of interconnected traps represent a potentially scalable approach to QIP. All basic requirements have been experimentally demonstrated in one and two qubit experiments. The remaining task is to scale the system to many qubits while minimizing and correcting errors in the system. While this requires extremely challenging technological improvements, no fundamental roadblocks are currently foreseen.     

22 dB all-fiber green amplifier using Er-doped fluoride fiber

We demonstrate a 22 dB all-fiber amplifier at 546 nm using Er³⁺-doped fluoride fiber by forward upconversion pumping of a 974 nm laser diode. The gain saturation effects and the power conversion efficiency of this amplifier are investigated in detail based on gain characteristics and numerical simulations.     

Controlled polymerization of epoxides: Metal‐free ring‐opening polymerization of glycidyl phenyl ether initiated by tetra‐n‐butylammonium fluoride in the presence of protic compounds

Metal‐free controlled ring‐opening polymerization of glycidyl phenyl ether (GPE) was achieved using tetra‐n‐butylammonium fluoride (Bu₄NF) as an initiator in the presence of water and ethanol as chain transfer agents (CTAs). Number‐averaged molecular weight of poly(GPE) increased with an increase of [GPE]₀/([Bu₄NF]₀ + [CTA]₀) values, showing relatively narrow molecular weight distributions. NMR spectroscopic analysis exhibited a formation of ethoxy groups as well as FCH₂ at the initiating polymer chain‐end when ethanol was used as the CTA in the polymerization. These results indicate that Bu₄NF acts as a catalyst as well as the initiator for this polymerization system. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011