Mössbauer spectroscopic study of ferrocene derivatives in the adsorption and liquid-crystalline states

Mössbauer spectra of ferrocene derivatives in the solid, adsorption and liquidcrystalline states were measured at temperatures ranging from 78 to 423 K. The peak intensities of the Mössbauer spectra of ferrocene derivatives adsorbed on silica gel decreased markedly with an increase in temperature. The Mössbauer absorption of [4-(4-methoxyphenoxycarbonyl)-phenoxycarbonyl]alkyl 4-ferrocenylbenzoate at 295 K during the cooling process was observed in what was assumed to be the liquid-crystalline state.     

Gold-bead scanning near-field optical microscope with laser-force position control

We have developed a scanning near-field optical microscope with an optically trapped metallic particle that has a small diameter compared to the wavelength of visible light. In this microscope we employed spot illumination to enhance the intensity of light scattered from a probe particle so we could reduce the diameter of the probe particle to 40nm. We detected slight irregularities of the surface of the cover glass near 10-nm depth. Also, we observed gold colloidal particles on the surface of the cover glass.     

A new dual-type DMA for measuring nanoparticles emitted from combustion engines

A new dual-type differential mobility analyzer (dual-type DMA) was developed in order to detect transient number concentrations of airborne nanoparticles with diameters centralized at around 10 nm (for nuclei mode particles) and 100 nm (for accumulation mode particles) in automobile exhaust gas. The apparatus divides the gas sample into two parts, and each part is sent through one of two coaxially nested sections for analysis. For the scanning mode measurement, the nanoparticles are charged by ²⁴¹Am and their size distributions are determined by varying the applied voltage over 2 min. The transient mode measurement, on the other hand, fixes the voltages for the two sections at peaks near 10 and 100 nm in order to monitor the transient behavior of the exhaust nanoparticles. The measurement principles and design of the dual-type DMA are detailed and the results for time response experiments are presented using model nanoparticles charged by a corona charger. The transient concentrations of the nuclei mode and the accumulation mode particles from a diesel engine were shown to be detected by this method, when ²⁴¹Am was used for charging the particles.     

On the construction of exact solutions of the stationary axially symmetric Einstein equations

Summary For the stationary axially symmetric vacuum, field, the Einstein equations reduce to a system for the logarithmic derivatives of the unknown function. An inverse scattering formula and a Bäcklund transformation are presented for the reduced system. As the simplest case, successive uses of the Bäcklund transformation give the Kasner type solutions and their generalization starting from the Minkowski metric.     

Observation of Peregrine solitons in a multicomponent plasma with negative ions

The experimental observation of Peregrine solitons in a multicomponent plasma with the critical concentration of negative ions is reported. A slowly amplitude modulated perturbation undergoes self-modulation and gives rise to a high amplitude localized pulse. The measured amplitude of the Peregrine soliton is 3 times the nearby carrier wave amplitude, which agrees with the theory. The numerical solution of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation is compared with the experimental results.     

Evolution of the Kondo effect in a quantum dot probed by shot noise

We measure the current and shot noise in a quantum dot in the Kondo regime to address the nonequilibrium properties of the Kondo effect. By systematically tuning the temperature and gate voltages to define the level positions in the quantum dot, we observe an enhancement of the shot noise as temperature decreases below the Kondo temperature, which indicates that the two-particle scattering process grows as the Kondo state evolves. Below the Kondo temperature, the Fano factor defined at finite temperature is found to exceed the expected value of unity from the noninteracting model, reaching 1.8±0.2.     

Characterization of preformed plasmas with an interferometer for ultra-short high-intensity laser-plasma interactions

The evolution of an Al preformed plasma produced by a prepulse was observed before and after the arrival of the main pulse by an interferometer using a femtosecond probe pulse. A central density depression due to the ponderomotive force of the main laser pulse in the preformed plasma with a 100 m scale length was clearly visible after the main pulse irradiation at an intensity of 5×10¹⁶ W/cm². The temporal profiles of the prepulse, characterized by a cross-correlation in conjunction with a precise density profile measurement by an interferometer, contribute to the better understanding of femtosecond laser-matter interactions. PACS 52.38.-r; 52.50.Jm; 52.70.-m     

25 GHz bandwidth Brillouin slow light in optical fibers

Broadband slow light is demonstrated by using stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers based on a double Brillouin pump, the peaks of which are spectrally separated by twice the Brillouin frequency. The loss spectrum generated by one of the pump waves is fully compensated by the gain spectrum of the other one, which permits the enlargement of the bandwidth to 25 GHz and a variable time delay of up to 10.9 ps with 37 ps pulses.     

Discovery of temperature-dependent phenomena of muon-catalyzed fusion in solid deuterium and tritium mixtures

A systematic experimental study on muon-catalyzed fusion was conducted using a series of solid deuterium and tritium mixtures. A variety of conditions were investigated, i.e., tritium concentrations from 20% to 70%, and temperatures from 5 to 16 K. With decreasing temperature, we observed an unexpected decrease in the muon cycling rate (lambda(c)) and an increase in the muon loss probability (W). The origins of these observed changes were interpreted by the temperature-dependence in the dt mu formation process for lambda(c) and that in the muon reactivation process after muon-to-alpha sticking for W.