Diffusion of water in nano-porous polyamide membranes: Quasielastic neutron scattering study

Dynamics of water sorbed in a reverse osmosis polyamide membrane (ROPM) as studied by quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) is reported here. The trimesoylchloride-m-phenylene diamine based ROPM is synthesized by interfacial polymerization technique. QENS data indicates that translational motion of water confined in ROPM gets modified compared to bulk water whereas rotational motion remains unaltered. Translational motion of water in ROPM is found to follow random jump diffusion with lower diffusivity compared to bulk water. Translational diffusivity does not show the Arrhenius behaviour.     

Magnetic characterization of HSLA steel by power-law decay exponents of Barkhausen emission signal

The general trend of magnetic behaviour of materials is that the mechanically hard materials are also magnetically hard. However for the high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel tempered at various aging temperatures, the correlation was reported as negative. The anomaly could not be explained by the magnetic parameters like RMS voltage calculated from the Barkhausen emission signal and the coercivity from the magnetic hysteresis loop. This paper reports another magnetic parameter known as power-law decay exponent which shows excellent correlation with the mechanical properties and thus explains the progressive evolution of the microstructural constituents in HSLA steel.     

Shape- and field-dependent Morin transitions in structured α-Fe2O3

We report shape- and field-dependent magnetic properties of ellipsoid-, spindle-, flattened- and rhombohedra-shaped α-Fe₂O₃ samples prepared by solvothermal technique. We observed that a magnetic spin-flip mechanism, mostly known as Morin transition (T_M), depends on the shape of α-Fe₂O₃ as well as on the applied magnetic field. In each of these structures the obtained value of T_M was less than its bulk value of 263 K. We observed that T_M shifted from highest 251.4 K for ellipsoid to lowest 220.8 K for rhombohedra structure, with intermediate values of T_M for the other two structures. However, for rhombohedra structure T_M shifted from 220.8 to 177.5 K under the external magnetic field of 100 Oe-30 kOe, respectively. The observed lowering of T_M in the structured sample was analyzed in terms of elementary size, shape of the nanocrystallites, lattice parameters and occupancy of Fe⁺³ ions as well. These parameters were determined from the Rietveld refinement process using MAUD software.     

Synthesis of wurtzite-phase ZnS nanocrystal and its optical properties

The wurtzite phase of ZnS nanocrystal has been prepared by annealing in 200–600 °C temperature range, its cubic phase of 2–3 nm size, prepared through soft chemical method. Results of isochronal experiments of 2 h at different temperatures indicate that visible transformation to wurtzite from cubic ZnS appears at a temperature of 400 °C, which is about three times smaller than that of bulk ZnS phase transition temperature. The phases, nanostructures, and optical absorption characteristics are obtained through X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. A stable and green photoluminescence emission peaked at 518 nm is observed from the 600 °C annealed samples, under ultraviolet light excitation.     

Study of width and height of EIT resonance in a Doppler broadened five-level system with varying probe power

We report the experimental observation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a Doppler broadened rubidium vapour at room temperature for different probe intensities at a fixed pump intensity in a five-level Λ-type system formed by the D₂ transition of ⁸⁵Rb. For a constant pump intensity, we find that the EIT width and height change with the variation of probe intensity. We observe a nonlinear variation of the height of the EIT peak and a linear variation of the width (FWHM) of the EIT signal with probe intensity. In the Doppler broadened multilevel system, we also observe the velocity selective dips along with the EIT signal. A numerical simulation of the probe response signal based on density matrix representation in a five-level system is carried out to reproduce the experimentally observed spectra.     

Design optimization of fiber optic probes for remote fluorescence spectroscopy

Fiber optic probes are designed, developed and fabricated in the laboratories for remote fluorescence spectroscopic studies in various fields such as investigation of tissues, environmental monitoring, and analysis of samples in hostile environment. Optimized probe design is very much important for efficient transport and collection of photons, which ultimately helps in quantifying resultant emission and understanding light-matter interaction. Instead of the conventional ray optics, Monte Carlo technique has been used to optimize the design of fiber optic probes, comprising only of flat tipped fibers with and without focusing lenses, for remote fluorescence measurement in three different types of target media having different optical properties. Typical probe geometry consists of one excitation fiber surrounded by a ring of collection fibers. The effects of fiber parameters like fiber diameter, numerical aperture, core-clad ratio, arrangement of collection fibers around the excitation fiber and dead space between them, and optical properties of the medium on the performance of probes have been analysed and compared with the results of previous observations, wherever the data are available. The results show a significant difference between the collected emission with and without consideration of dead space, which plays a very significant role in probe design and is dependent on the number of collection fibers in the geometry, relative dimension of collection and excitation fibers and separation between the two. Introduction of a convex lens in the probe increases the amount of fluorescence signal for a given probe arrangement.     

Weak metamagnetic-like 1D manganese(II) complex with a double mu(1,1)-azido bridge: a structure and magnetic study

The azido-bridged manganese complex of formula [Mn(tptz)(mu(1,1)-N3)2]n [1; tptz = 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine] has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and a low-temperature magnetic study. The complex 1 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn, with a = 17.911(5) A, b = 15.804(5) A, c = 6.6538(18) A, and Z = 4. The Mn atoms are coordinated by three N atoms of the tptz ligands and connected to each other by double end-on (EO) azide ligands, forming a neutral 1D chain. The adjacent 1D chains are connected by face-to-face pi-pi-stacking interactions and C-H...pi interactions of pyridine rings of the tptz ligands, which leads to the formation of a supramolecular 2D sheet structure. Temperature- and field-dependent magnetic analyses reveal dominant intrachain ferromagnetic interactions with EO azide-bridge and weak interchain antiferromagnetic interactions with overall metamagnetic behavior having 3D magnetic ordering at 2.7 K. The critical field is approximately 80 G, at which the interlayer antiferromagnetic ground-state switches to a ferromagnetic state.     

Structural and Giant Magneto-impedance properties of Cr-incorporated Co-Fe-Si-B amorphous microwires

The investigation is focused on the effect of Cr incorporation for Co/Fe in (Co_0.5Fe_0.5)_78−xCr_xSi₈B₁₄ (x=0-12) amorphous microwires of 110 μm diameter prepared by in-water quenching technique. The rise in crystallization onset T_X1 with Cr addition revealed the elemental contribution against devitrification and a consequent thermal stability. Cr is unfavorable towards ferromagnetic ordering leading to a linear drop in Curie temperature T_ca with its rise in concentration. The presence of low Cr content upto Cr-4 at.% has been effective in drastically improving the Giant magneto-impedance (GMI) property. Cr content in the range of 4≤X≤10 has low magnetostriction and maximum field sensitivity in the as-quenched state. The GMI properties are further improved after annealing treatment. High content of Cr>10 is found to be deleterious towards GMI behavior and its consequent application as sensor material.     

Quantification of entanglement from magnetic susceptibility for a Heisenberg spin 1/2 system

We report temperature and magnetic field dependent magnetization and quantification of entanglement from the experimental data for dichloro (thiazole) copper (II), a Heisenberg spin chain system. The plot of magnetic susceptibility vs. temperature indicates an infinite spin chain. Isothermal magnetization measurements (as functions of magnetic field) were performed at various temperatures below the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering, where the AFM correlations persist significantly. These magnetization curves are fitted to the Bonner–Fisher model. Magnetic susceptibility is used as an entanglement witness to quantify the amount of entanglement in the system.     

Microstructure, morphology, and ultrafast dynamics of a novel edible microemulsion

An edible microemulsion (ME) composed of Tween 80/butyl lactate/isopropyl myristate (IPM)/water has been formulated. Pseudoternary phase diagram of the system contains a large single isotropic region. The phase behavior of the system is also studied at low pH (2.6) and in 0.9% NaCl solution. Conductivity, viscosity, ultrasonic velocity, and compressibility studies find consistent results in the structural transition (from water-in-oil (w/o) to bicontinuous, and from bicontinuous to oil-in-water (o/w)) behavior of the ME. Dynamic light scattering studies reveal the size of the MEs. The absorption and steady state emission spectra of 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylamino-styryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) successfully probe the polarity of the ME at its solvation shell and shows the efficacy of hosting model drug molecules. The rotational anisotropy of the dye has been studied to ascertain the geometrical restriction of the probe molecule. Picosecond-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy applies well to study the relaxation dynamics of water in the solvation shell of the MEs. The study finds strong correlation in the relaxation dynamics of water with the structure of host assembly and offers an edible ME system which could act as a potential drug delivery system and nontoxic nanotemplate for other applications.