Dielectric relaxation of a short molecule in a liquid-crystalline solvent

Dielectric relaxation measurements of 5 mole % 4-n-hexyloxycyanobenzene (I) dissolved in 4-n-pentyloxyphenyl-trans-4-n-octylcyclohexylcarboxylate (II) were carried out from 1 kHz to 10 MHz in the nematic, smectic A and smectic B phases. The relaxation frequency of I parallel to the director is about 05 MHz in the S_Bphase and increases rapidly at the transition from S_B to S_A.     

Evaluation of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence postcolumn detection of fluphenazine in urine and blood plasma using high performance liquid chromatography

Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence may be used for sensitive postcolumn detection of phenothiazine analytes separated by high performance liquid chromatography with appropriate optimization of measurement conditions such as solvent, pH and oxalate ester. Detectability of fluorescent analytes by chemical excitation varies greatly, but analytes with low oxidation potentials are generally more readily detected at low levels, as demonstrated for phenothiazines, an important class of fluorescent drugs. Some improvement in detection limits is observed for fluphenazine when chemiluminescence detection is compared to conventional fluorescence detection. Because of the specificity of chemical excitation, fewer interferences from fluorescent impurities in a urine matrix are observed.     

All-fibre optical system for exciting and detecting the vibration of silicon microresonator sensors

An all-fibre optical system for optical interrogation and detection of the vibrations of a silicon microresonator is reported. Metal-coated silicon microresonators are excited by intensity modulated laser light delivered through an optical fibre, while the vibration of the resonators is detected by an optical fibre interferometer. Measurements have shown that an average optical power of 10 μW is sufficient to maintain the flexural vibration of the resonator. When the resonator is used as a pressure sensor, its resonant frequency changes from 62 kHz to 130 kHz as the pressure varies from -0°6 bar to 1 bar (gauge). A silicon resonator with 700 nm aluminium coating functions as a temperature sensor, showing a frequency shift from 262 kHz to 251 kHz when the temperature changes from 25 °C to 80 °C.     

Capabilities and limits of ICP-MS for direct determination of element traces in saline solutions

An ICP-MS method for the determination of ultra-traces of 24 Elements (Li, Be, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Co, Zn, Cu, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Tl, Pb, Bi, U) at ng/L to μg/L levels in highly saline solutions (up to 30 g/L NaCl) was developed. Calculated to the salt content of the samples, limits of detection at the sub-μg/kg level were obtained. This allows the measurement of samples like sea water, or clinical samples like urine, serum and whole blood, with few or without sample preparation and a drastic improvement to the limits of detection. Compared to the determination in solutions of 1 g/L NaCl the limits of detection in the original sample were improved by one order of magnitude. Improvements in instrumental stability are achieved by the use of an additional gas, that is introduced to the aerosol stream and avoids salt deposition in the aerosol tube of the torch, the use of High Matrix Content (HMC) cones, that show no clogging even at NaCl-concentrations up to 50 g/L. With this setup the long term stability for measurements with changing matrix concentrations is < 10% without and < 5% with use of an internal standard for the individual samples. Cleaning up is necessary after 2 days of operation. The direct analysis of the Nearshore Seawater Reference Material NRC-CNRC CASS3 showed a good agreement with the certified and measured concentrations. Elements, that do not suffer from an isobaric overlap of matrix compounds can be determined clearly at ng/L levels. Measurement of different matrix concentrations showed, that acceptable results can be achieved with a single calibration for concentrations from 5 g/L NaCl to 30 g/L NaCl, though matrix matching shows the best results.     

Electronic phase separation in a low-temperature tetragonal phase of lanthanum-strontium cuprates according to 139La NQR data

A nonuniform electron density distribution is observed in La_{1−x− y} Nd_ySr_xCuO₄ and La_1−x−y Eu_ySr_xCuO₄, and long-lived magnetic fluctuations in these compounds are studied. The dynamics of the magnetic fluctuations depends strongly on the magnetic properties of the rare-earth ions, which stabilize the low-temperature tetragonal phase. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 5, 344–349 (10 March 1998)     

Anomalous anisotropies and field dependencies of the muon Knight shift and the relaxation rate in monocrystalline Bi

The angular dependence of the muon Knight shift,K _μ, and the muon relaxation rate in Bi at 11 K were measured in external magnetic fields up to 1 T. BothK _μ and the second moment,M ₂, are field dependent and involveP ₄ ⁰(cos θ) andP ₄ ³(cos θ) terms in the angular dependence. The Knight shift behaviour is discussed in terms of the dipole-dipole interaction and the de Haas-van Alphen effect, a consistent interpretation was not achieved in either case. The field dependence ofM ₂ is in complete contrast to the second moment calculations and points to a field dependent redistribution of the charge distribution around the interstitial site.     

Energy transfer between the flavin chromophores of electron-transferring flavoprotein fromMegasphaera elsdenii as inferred from time-resolved red-edge and blue-edge fluorescence spectroscopy

Both a mode-locked argon-ion laser and synchrotron radiation were used as excitation sources to obtain time-resolved polarized fluorescence of the two FAD cofactors in electron transferring flavoprotein fromMegasphaera elsdenii. Red-edge excited and blue-edge detected fluorescence anisotropy decay curves did not contain a fast relaxation process which was observed upon mainband excitation and detection. This relaxation was assigned to homo-energy transfer between the two FAD cofactors. Failure of energy transfer as observed with edge spectroscopy on this protein excludes restricted reorientational motion of the flavins as a possible mechanism of depolarization. From the global analysis of the fluorescence anisotropy decay surface obtained at multiple excitation and detection wavelengths, the distance between and the relative orientation of the flavins could be estimated. The methodology described has general applicability in other multichromophoric biopolymers and has the potential to acquire accurate geometrical parameters in these systems.     

Change in the nature of the Ni diffusion mechanism on the Si(111) surface with adsorption of Co atoms

The diffusion of Ni on a Si (111) surface is investigated by LEED and Auger electron spectroscopy. It is found that, in contrast to the process on the initially clean Si (111)−7×7 surface, on Si (111) surfaces with submonolayer Co coverages the nature of the Ni transport mechanism changes at a temperature of about 750 °C, and the Ni surface diffusion coefficients increase sharply below this temperature. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 9, 611–614 (10 November 1997)     

Algebraic composition operators

The focus of this paper is on the following problem. Given a linear space F of complex-valued functions on a set X and a polynomial p(z), is there an algebraic composition operator on F whose characteristic polynomial equals p(z)? We show that the supply of all the polynomials p(z) for which the answer to this question is affirmative depends heavily on the structure of the space F.