High-resolution gamma-ray radiography produced by a laser-plasma driven electron source

An electron beam from a laser-plasma accelerator is converted into a gamma-ray source using bremsstrahlung radiation in a dense material. The gamma-ray beam has a pointlike source size because it is generated by a high quality electron beam with a small source size and a low divergence. Using this gamma-ray source, the radiography of complex and dense objects with submillimeter resolution is performed. It is the first evidence of a gamma-ray source size of a few hundreds micrometers produced with laser-driven accelerators. This size is consistent with results from Monte Carlo simulations.     

Coding of shape from shading in area V4 of the macaque monkey

Background  

The shading of an object provides an important cue for recognition, especially for determining its 3D shape. However, neuronal mechanisms that allow the recovery of 3D shape from shading are poorly understood. The aim of our study was to determine the neuronal basis of 3D shape from shading coding in area V4 of the awake macaque monkey.     

不同应用条件下最佳绝缘子构型

绝缘子的沿面闪络制约着脉冲功率系统向高电压、大电流方向发展,总结了几种实际应用条件下的最佳绝缘子构型,并对不同角度下绝缘子表面的带电情况进行了分析。结果表明,表面电荷对不同绝缘子构型的性能起着至关重要的作用,需要根据不同的应用条件来开展实验研究以确定最佳的绝缘子构型。     

斑头雁不同组织氨基酸的组成和含量分析

采用高效液相色谱法对斑头雁卵、肌肉和羽毛中17种氨基酸进行了含量的测定,并分析其中必需氨基酸的含量,为斑头雁的保护和利用提供依据。结果表明,斑头雁的卵、腿肌、胸肌和羽毛中均含有17种氨基酸,必需氨基酸含量较高,配比合理,有较高的营养价值。     

Pinning and depinning process of an incommensurate CDW as revealed by coherent X-ray diffraction

Experiments on the coherent X-ray diffraction, and their modeling, have been performed on the Charge Density Wave (CDW) system NbSe₃. The 2k_F$2k_F$ satellite reflection associated with the CDW has been measured with respect to external dc currents. Below the threshold current, reflection displays several fringes in the transverse direction which disappear when the threshold current is exceeded. In the sliding state, the transverse satellite profile has a form of two nonsymmetric peaks, one of them being centered at the same position as below the threshold and another one being shifted. The shift of the longitudinal peak position below the threshold current and the nonsymmetric peak in the transverse direction above the threshold one is interpreted as the influence of strong linear defect like a crystal step present on the sample surface, combined with induced arrays of dislocations. Coherent X-rays provide a new access to processes in a CDW driven by an external force in a random pinning potential.     

ICP-MS测定血中镁、铜、铅浓度时的基体效应单一内标校正方法研究

ICP-MS测定模拟全血基体中不同质量段的Mg, Cu, Pb元素,考察基体效应对测定值的影响,分别采用传统内标法和单一内标CAIS方法(common analyte internal standardization)对其进行校正和比较。结果表明CAIS方法适用于不同浓度血液基体中多种元素的同时校正,且效果良好,其相对平均误差仅为3.05%,明显低于传统内标法的12.39%和校正前的23.91%;CAIS方法不受内标元素和被测元素质量数差异、测定强度差异以及电极电位差异的限制;使用全血和血清标准物质对CAIS方法可靠性进行验证,测定值全部落在标准值范围内。     

Direct measurement of the photon statistics of a triggered single photon source

We studied intensity fluctuations of a single photon source relying on the pulsed excitation of the fluorescence of a single molecule at room temperature. We directly measured the Mandel parameter Q(T) over 4 orders of magnitude of observation time scale T by recording every photocount. On time scale of a few excitation periods, sub-Poissonian statistics is clearly observed and the probablility of two-photons events is 10 times smaller than Poissonian pulses. On longer times, blinking in the fluorescence, due to the molecular triplet state, produces an excess of noise.     

Investigating nonlinear dynamics from time series: The influence of symmetries and the choice of observables

When a dynamical system is investigated from a time series, one of the most challenging problems is to obtain a model that reproduces the underlying dynamics. Many papers have been devoted to this problem but very few have considered the influence of symmetries in the original system and the choice of the observable. Indeed, it is well known that there are usually some variables that provide a better representation of the underlying dynamics and, consequently, a global model can be obtained with less difficulties starting from such variables. This is connected to the problem of observing the dynamical system from a single time series. The roots of the nonequivalence between the dynamical variables will be investigated in a more systematic way using previously defined observability indices. It turns out that there are two important ingredients which are the complexity of the coupling between the dynamical variables and the symmetry properties of the original system. As will be mentioned, symmetries and the choice of observables also has important consequences in other problems such as synchronization of nonlinear oscillators. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Tracer studies on f-actin fluctuations

We present a study on the fluctuations of semiflexible actin filaments using fluorescence videomicroscopy, focusing on the end-to-end fluctuations of single filaments. In order to specifically measure the position of the polymer's ends, we developed a novel noninvasive method that consists of annealing short end tags to the filaments. This allows us to probe polymer fluctuations to a very high accuracy. We compared the distribution of the end-to-end distance with recent theoretical results, and found excellent agreement. We also studied the dynamics of the mean-square end-to-end distance deltaR2(t) and orientation of the ends, deltaTheta(2)(t), finding power laws t(3/4) and t(1/4), respectively. Scaling behavior for deltaR2(t) is observed over several decades in relaxation time in agreement with theoretical results.     

Nature of the high-pressure transition in Fe2O3 hematite

We present a new method to separate the crystallographic and electronic phase transitions in hematite using x-ray emission spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. Our observations, based on the behavior of a metastable high-pressure phase in the stability domain of the low-pressure phase, show that the electronic transition is preempted by the crystallographic transition. The former occurs only afterwards in the high-pressure phase, possibly as a result of a Mott transition. The idea that the electronic transition drives the transition in hematite is therefore invalidated. Such methods should help elucidate the mechanics and the driving forces behind a number of first-order high-pressure phase transitions.