Certified reference material for analytical quality assurance of minor and trace elements in food and related matrixes based on a typical Japanese diet: interlaboratory study

A Certified Reference Material (CRM) was prepared at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan, in collaboration with the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Japan, for the analytical quality assurance of minor and trace elements in food and related matrixes. The starting material for the CRM was all food served in 29 households in Japan over two 3-day periods in 1997-1998, and thus the CRM represented a typical Japanese diet. All foods (meals, snacks, and beverages) were homogenized, freeze-dried, pulverized, blended, dispensed into 1,100 bottles, and sterilized. The within- and between-bottle homogeneity of the prepared CRM was satisfactory for most of the elements. The concentrations of 14 elements (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Sr, Cd, Sn, Ba, and U) were certified based on a collaborative analysis involving NIES, NIRS, and 20 other laboratories. Reference values were given for the concentrations of 12 additional elements (P, Cl, Fe, Co, Ni, Br, Rb, Mo, I, Cs, Pb, and Th). The elements certified and those given reference values include minerals, essential trace elements, contaminant elements, and long-lived radionuclides. Thus, this CRM is of practical value in the quality assurance of element analysis of foods and diets in nutritional, environmental, and radiological research.     

On the interpretation of multiplicative white noise

The interpretation of a stochastic differential equation as an approximation to a stochastic difference equation is discussed. A criterion is presented for determining which stochastic calculus should be used.     

Hydrogen bonding on the surface of poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate)

Hydrogen bonding on the interface and in the bulk of a poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) (PMEA) thin film has been investigated by sum frequency generation, infrared reflection absorption, and Raman scattering measurements in different kinds of solutions containing hydrogen-bonding donators. These results indicate that the majority of the carbonyl groups on the PMEA surface are hydrogen-bonded with water or ethanol molecules, while the PMEA bulk is still dominated by the free carbonyl group.     

Optical pulse compression to 3.4 fs in the monocycle region by feedback phase compensation

We compensated for chirp of optical pulses with an over-one-octave bandwidth (495-1090 nm; center wavelength of 655.4 nm) produced by self-phase modulation in a single argon-filled hollow fiber and generated 3.4-fs, 1.56 optical-cycle pulses (500 nJ, 1-kHz repetition rate). This was achieved with a feedback system combined with only one 4-f phase compensator with a spatial light modulator and a significantly improved phase characterizer based on modified spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse in the visible-to-infrared region.     

Second harmonic generation due to quadrupole interaction in a photonic crystal slab: angle dependence and symmetry of the unit cell

We investigate second harmonic generation (SHG) from a photonic crystal slab consisting of centrosymmetric materials. The SHG signal is observed in the transmission direction when the incident laser excites the quasiwaveguide mode. As the SHG frequency approaches the exciton level, the SHG intensity increases resonantly. When the incident angle is exactly 0, the SHG signal vanishes even if the transmission dip is excited. This fact is readily explained by a quadrupole theory based on the Lorentz oscillator model, where the source of the nonlinearity is the Lorentz force. When the unit cell in the photonic crystal lacks inversion symmetry, the SHG signal is expected even for the normal incidence. It is experimentally demonstrated for a square array of triangular semiconductor slabs.     

Evidence for a narrow S = +1 baryon resonance in photoproduction from the neutron

The gamman-->K(+)K(-)n reaction on 12C has been studied by measuring both K+ and K- at forward angles. A sharp baryon resonance peak was observed at 1.54+/-0.01 GeV/c(2) with a width smaller than 25 MeV/c(2) and a Gaussian significance of 4.6sigma. The strangeness quantum number (S) of the baryon resonance is +1. It can be interpreted as a molecular meson-baryon resonance or alternatively as an exotic five-quark state (uuddsmacr;) that decays into a K+ and a neutron. The resonance is consistent with the lowest member of an antidecuplet of baryons predicted by the chiral soliton model.     

Energetic protons from a few-micron metallic foil evaporated by an intense laser pulse

With detailed experimental studies and hydrodynamics and particle-in-cell simulations we investigate the role of the prepulse in laser proton acceleration. The prepulse or pedestal (amplified spontaneous emission) can completely evaporate the irradiated region of a sufficiently thin foil; therefore, the main part of the laser pulse interacts with an underdense plasma. The multiparametric particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that the main pulse generates the quasistatic magnetic field, which in its turn produces the long-lived charge separation electrostatic field, accelerating the ions.