Temperature and junction-type dependency of Andreev reflection in MgB2

We studied the voltage and temperature dependency of the dynamic conductance of normal metal-MgB₂ junctions obtained either with the point-contact technique (with Au and Pt tips) or by making Ag-paint spots on the surface of MgB₂ samples. The fit of the conductance curves with the generalized BTK model gives evidence of pure s-wave gap symmetry. The temperature dependency of the gap, measured in Ag-paint junctions (dirty limit), follows the standard BCS curve with 2Δ/k_BT_c=3.3. In out-of-plane, high-pressure point-contacts we obtained almost ideal Andreev reflection characteristics showing a single small s-wave gap Δ=2.6±0.2 meV (clean limit).     

Towards Treating Correlations in Bose Condensates

 We use the adiabatic hyperspheric expansion and the Faddeev decomposition of the wave function with only s-waves. We derive for a fixed hyperradius an integro-differential equation for the angular eigenvalue and wave function. The correlations lower the interaction energy for N = 20 by about a factor of 5. Received October 22, 2001; accepted for publication November 5, 2001     

TOPOLOGY DESIGN OF STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO PERIODIC LOADING

Although a lot of attention in the topology optimization literature has focused on the optimization of eigenfrequencies in free vibration problems, relatively little work has been done on the optimization of structures subjected to periodic loading. In this paper, we propose two measures, one global and the other local, for the minimization of vibrations of structures subjected to periodic loading. The global measure which we term as the “dynamic compliance” reduces the vibrations in an overall sense, and thus has important implications from the viewpoint of reducing the noise radiated from a structure, while the local measure reduces the vibrations at a user-defined point. Both measures bring about a reduction in the vibration level by moving the natural frequencies which contribute most significantly to the measures, away from the driving frequencies, although, as expected, in different ways. Quite surprisingly, the structure of the dynamic compliance optimization problem turns out to be very similar to the structure of the static compliance optimization problem. The availability of analytical sensitivities results in an efficient algorithm for both measures. We show the effectiveness of the measures by presenting some numerical examples.     

Miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate with poly(methyl methacrylate)

The miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been reexamined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical indications for phase separation on heating, i.e., lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. Various methods have been used to prepare the blends including methylene chloride (CH₂Cl₂) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution casting, melt mixing, and precipitation of PC and PMMA simultaneously from THF solution by using the nonsolvents methanol and heptane. It is shown that the resulting phase behavior for PC/PMMA blends is strongly affected by the blend preparation method. However, these blends are miscible over the whole blend composition range (unambiguous single composition-dependent T_g's and LCST behavior) when prepared by precipitation from solution using heptane as the nonsolvent. To the contrary, solution-cast and melt-mixed PC/PMMA blends were all phase separated, which may be attributed to the “solvent” effect and LCST behavior, respectively, not discovered in previous reports. Methanol precipitation does not lead to fully mixed blends, which demonstrates the importance of the choice of nonsolvent when using the precipitation method.     

A Modified Quasi-Newton Method for Structured Optimization with Partial Information on the Hessian

This paper develops a modified quasi-Newton method for structured unconstrained optimization with partial information on the Hessian, based on a better approximation to the Hessian in current search direction. The new approximation is decided by both function values and gradients at the last two iterations unlike the original one which only uses the gradients at the last two iterations. The modified method owns local and superlinear convergence. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method is encouraging comparing with the methods proposed in [4] for structured unconstrained optimization Presented at the 6th International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications, Ballarat, Australia, December 9–11, 2004     

Stable all-optical formation of Bose–Einstein condensate using pointing-stabilized optical trapping beams

By stabilizing the beam pointing of optical trapping beams, we have succeeded in stable formation of Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of ⁸⁷Rb with all-optical method. The thermal effect of acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is usually one of the most serious problems to induce beam-pointing instability, especially for high power CO₂ laser. By passing the beam through AOM twice, we have improved the beam pointing from about 4.8 mrad to less than 0.4 mrad, which has been experimentally confirmed to be small enough to stably form BEC at the crossed region of CO₂ lasers as well as to perform experiments using an optical lattice which might have been affected by beam-pointing instability. PACS 32.80.Pj; 42.79.Jq; 03.75.Mn     

Illumination dependence of I-V and C-V characterization of Au/InSb/InP(1 0 0) Schottky structure

The effects of surface preparation and illumination on electric parameters of Au/InSb/InP(100) Schottky diode were investigated, in the later diode InSb forms a fine restructuration layer allowing to block In atoms migration to surface. In order to study the electric characteristics under illumination, we make use of an He-Ne laser of 1 mW power and 632.8 nm wavelength. The current-voltage I(V_G), the capacitance-voltage C(V_G) measurements were plotted and analysed. The saturation current I_s, the serial resistance R_s and the mean ideality factor n are, respectively, equal to 2.03 × 10⁻⁵ A, 85 Ω, 1.7 under dark and to 3.97 × 10⁻⁵ A, 67 Ω, 1.59 under illumination. The analysis of I(V_G) and C(V_G) characteristics allows us to determine the mean interfacial state density N_ss and the transmission coefficient θ_n equal, respectively, to 4.33 × 10¹² eV⁻¹ cm⁻², 4.08 × 10⁻³ under dark and 3.79 × 10¹² eV⁻¹ cm⁻² and 5.65 × 10⁻³ under illumination. The deep discrete donor levels presence in the semiconductor bulk under dark and under illumination are responsible for the non-linearity of the C⁻²(V_G) characteristic.     

An optodynamic method for the real-time determination of the depth of a laser-drilled hole

An experimental method for determining the real-time depth of laser-drilled holes is presented. The proposed method involves detecting the laser-induced optoacoustic waves generated during the interaction of the laser beam with the material. Our optodynamic study involved measuring the propagation times of these waves as they traveled through the material and analyzing their temporal behavior during the drilling process. The experimental observations revealed an exponential relationship between the propagation time of the longitudinal stress wave and the number of consecutive laser pulses. Received: 25 October 2001 / Accepted: 27 October 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Finslerian Extension of Lorentz Transformations and First-Order Censorship Theorem

Granted the post-Lorentzian relativistic kinematic transformations are described in the Finslerian framework, the uniformity between the actual light-velocity anisotropy change and the anisotropic deformation of measuring rods can be the reason proper for the null results of the Michelson-Morley-type experiments at the first-order level.