Experimental Observations on Superelastic NiTi-Shape Memory Alloys and Suggestions for Modelling

During stress-induced transformation NiTi shows a distinct generation of transformation bands. A simple one-dimensional model for superelastic NiTi wires has been developed to show exemplarily methods to account for these bands in plasticitybased models. To clarify the dependence of the transformation bands on the distribution of latent heat and therefore on the mechanical behaviour, optical and thermographical experiments have been performed. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Pump spectral linewidth influence on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and self‐termination behavior of SRS in liquids

The threshold, temporal behavior, and conversion efficiency of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SBS) in three liquids (benzene, hexane, and dimethyl sulfoxide) and two crystals (calcite and barium nitrate) have been investigated under three largely different spectral linewidth conditions. Pumped with 532‐nm and nanosecond duration laser pulses of ≤ 0.01 cm^?1 linewidth, only SBS can be generated in all tested liquids with a high nonlinear reflectivity. However when the pump spectral linewidth is ～0.07 cm^?1 or ～0.8 cm^?1, both SBS and SRS can be observed in benzene while only SRS can be generated in dimethyl sulfoxide; in all these cases SRS is the dominant contribution to the stimulated scattering but the efficiency values are drastically decreased due to the self‐termination behavior of SRS in liquids, which arises from the thermal self‐defocusing of both pump beam and SRS beam owing to Stokes‐shift related opto‐heating effect. In contrast, for SRS process in the two crystals, the thermal self‐defocusing influence is negligible benefitting from their much greater thermal conductivity, and a higher conversion efficiency of SRS generation can be retained under all three pump conditions.

     

Sobolev functions on infinite-dimensional domains

We study extensions of Sobolev and BV functions on infinite-dimensional domains. Along with some positive results we present a negative solution of the long-standing problem of existence of Sobolev extensions of functions in Gaussian Sobolev spaces from a convex domain to the whole space.     

Phase transitions of nonlinear waves in quadratic waveguide arrays

We study two-color parametric nonlinear modes in waveguide arrays with a quadratic nonlinear response. We predict theoretically and observe experimentally a new type of phase transition manifested in an abrupt power-controlled change of the mode structure from unstaggered to staggered, due to the interplay of localization and synchronization in parametrically driven discrete systems.     

Pulse EPR, ENDOR, and ELDOR Study of Anionic Flavin Radicals in Na+-Translocating NADH:Quinone Oxidoreductase

The Na⁺-translocating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH):quinine oxidoreductase (Na⁺–NQR) is a component of respiratory chain of various bacteria and it generates a redox-driven transmembrane electrochemical Na⁺ potential. It contains four different flavin prosthetic groups, including two flavin mononucleotide (FMN) residues covalently bound to the subunits NqrB and NqrC. Na⁺–NQR from Vibrio harveyi was poised at different redox potentials to prepare two samples, containing either both FMN_NqrB and FMN_NqrC or only FMN_NqrB in a paramagnetic state. These two samples were comparatively studied using pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), and electron-electron double resonance (ELDOR) spectroscopy. The echo-detected EPR spectra and electron spin relaxation properties were very similar for flavin radicals in both samples. The splitting of the outer peaks in the proton ENDOR spectra, assigned to the C(8α) methyl protons, allows to identify both radicals as anionic flavosemiquinones. The mean interspin distance of 20.7 Å between these radicals was determined by pulse ELDOR experiment, which allows to estimate the edge-to-edge distance (r _e) between these flavin centers as: 11.7 Å < r _e < 20.7 Å. The direct electron transfer between FMN_NqrB and FMN_NqrC during the physiological turnover of the Na⁺–NQR complex is suggested.     

Combined frequency conversion and pulse compression in nonlinear tapered waveguides

We suggest an application of pump-degenerate four-wave mixing process in tapered waveguides for generation of ultrashort pulses with central frequency tunable over the material transparency range. Our method can produce strongly compressed frequency-converted pulses in presence of group-velocity mismatch and group-velocity dispersion. Additionally, the proposed technique does not require pulse phase synchronization and effectively operates for strongly chirped pump pulses, thus enabling the use of longer nonlinear media for high conversion efficiency.     

Reflected Brownian Motion in a Convex Polyhedral Cone: Tail Estimates for the Stationary Distribution

Consider a multidimensional obliquely reflected Brownian motion in the positive orthant, or, more generally, in a convex polyhedral cone. We find sufficient conditions for existence of a stationary distribution and convergence to this distribution at an exponential rate, as time goes to infinity, complementing the results of Dupuis and Williams (Ann Probab 22(2):680–702, 1994) and Atar et al. (Ann Probab 29(2):979–1000, 2001). We also prove that certain exponential moments for this distribution are finite, thus providing a tail estimate for this distribution. Finally, we apply these results to systems of rank-based competing Brownian particles, introduced in Banner et al. (Ann Appl Probab 15(4):2296–2330, 2005).     

Unexpectedly low affinity of aromatic disulfides for π-stacking interactions of the arene-polyfluoroarene type

1,2,3,4,5-Pentafluorodiphenyl disulfide (1) was synthesized from C₆F₅SCl and C₆H₅SSiMe₃ in quantitative yield. The homo-crystals of disulfide 1 and co-crystals of 1,1′,2,2′,3,3′,4,4′,5,5′-decafluorodiphenyl disulfide (2) with naphthalene (stoichiometry 1:2, complex 4) and diphenyl disulfide (3) with octafluoronaphthalene (stoichiometry 2:1, complex 5) were prepared followed by XRD characterization. In the crystal lattice of 1, face-to-face and face-to-edge Ph_H/Ph_F orientations of neighboring rings were observed together with face-to-edge Ph_F/Ph_F orientations. For the face-to-face Ph_H/Ph_F orientation, the large offset of Ph_H and Ph_F groups excludes their π-stacking interaction which is very non-typical of the field. The crystal lattice of 4 reveals standard π-stacking interactions of the arene-polyfluoroarene type. While in the lattice of 4 each Ph_F ring interacts alternating with naphthalenes, in 5 two disulfides 3 are bridged by one octafluoronaphthalene with only one of the Ph_H rings of each disulfide interacting with the polyfluoroarene π-system. The large offset of neighboring molecules excludes however their π-stacking interactions in complex 5. An attempt to prepare 2/3 co-crystals failed.     

Temperature and length scale dependence of tetraalkylammonium ion-amide interaction

We have studied the temperature and length scale dependence of the energetics of the pair interaction of well-established hydrophobic solutes tetraalkylammonium bromides with hydrophilic formamide (FA) and hydrophobic hexamethylphosphoric triamide (HMPT). Our results do indicate the anomalous length scale dependence of the tetraalkylammonium cation-amide interaction in water. As the cation size is increased, the unfavorable enthalpy of interaction is increased rather linearly until the maximum is reached, after which there appears to be a reversal of the trend. We believe that this phenomenon arises from the impossibility of water to maintain its H-bond network near large tetraalkylammonium cations that leads to the formation of a somewhat disordered solute hydration shell. The energetic cost for overlapping this shell with the amide hydration shell in water is noticeably smaller than that for tetraalkylammonium cations of a moderated size.     

Solid-state near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra of glycine in various charge states

The experimental solid-state near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra for a series of glycine-related samples including alpha-glycine, beta-glycine, glycinium chloride, glycinium trifluoroacetate, and sodium glycinate at the C, N, and O K-edges measured under identical conditions are reported and compared. An assignment of spectral features for alpha-glycine is proposed on the basis of extended theoretical simulations of polarization-dependent spectra performed within the real-space multiple-scattering formalism explicitly taking into account the intermolecular environment of a glycine molecule in a crystal.