Spin-polarization of radioactive 123Ing.s. by the tilted-foil method

A spin-polarized radioactive ¹²³In (I ^π , g = 1.220(2) , T _1/2 = 5.97(5) s) beam has been successfully generated by the tilted-foil method. This nuclide is the heaviest ever polarized in its ground state by this method. Using the ISOL-based re-acceleration-type facility TRIAC, an ¹²³In_g.s. beam of 305 keV/nucleon went through a stack of 15 carbon foils with a tilt angle of 70^° , and an asymmetry of 0.76 ± 0.25% of β-decays was observed by the β-NMR technique. The asymmetry shows that the tilted-foil method combined with a re-acceleration facility is useful for producing spin-polarized beams for applications such as nuclear physics and materials science.     

Collective phase sensitivity

The collective phase response to a macroscopic external perturbation of a population of interacting nonlinear elements exhibiting collective oscillations is formulated for the case of globally coupled oscillators. The macroscopic phase sensitivity is derived from the microscopic phase sensitivity of the constituent oscillators by a two-step phase reduction. We apply this result to quantify the stability of the macroscopic common-noise-induced synchronization of two uncoupled populations of oscillators undergoing coherent collective oscillations.     

Photoinduced precession of magnetization in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As

Precession of magnetization induced by pulsed optical excitation is observed in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As by time-resolved magneto-optical measurements. It appears as complicated oscillations of a polarization plane of linearly polarized probe pulses, but is reproduced by gyromagnetic theory incorporating an impulsive change in an effective magnetic field due to a change in the magnetic anisotropy. The shape of the impulse suggests a significant nonthermal contribution of photogenerated carriers to the change in anisotropy through spin-orbit interaction.     

High-resolution laser spectroscopy of ultracold ytterbium atoms using spin-forbidden electric quadrupole transition

We have successfully observed high-resolution spectra of spin-forbidden electric quadrupole transition (¹ S ₀→³ D ₂) in ytterbium (¹⁷⁴Yb) atoms. The differential light shifts between the ¹ S ₀ and the ³ D ₂ states in a far-off resonant trap at 532 nm are also measured. For the spectroscopy, we developed simple, narrow-linewidth, and long-term frequency stabilized violet diode laser systems. Long-term drifts of the excitation laser (404 nm) is suppressed by locking the laser to a length stabilized optical cavity. The optical path length of the cavity is stabilized to another diode laser whose frequency is locked to a strong ¹ S ₀→¹ P ₁ transition (399 nm) of Yb. Both lasers are standard extended-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs) in the Littrow configuration. Since the linewidth of a violet ECDL (～10 MHz) is broader than a typical value of a red or near infra-red ECDL (<1 MHz), we employ optical feedback from a narrow-band Fabry–Perot cavity to reduce the linewidth. The linewidth is expected to be <20 kHz for 1 ms averaging time, and the long-term frequency stability is estimated to be ～200 kHz/h.     

Tailored slice selection in solid-state MRI by DANTE under magic-echo line narrowing

We propose a method of slice selection in solid-state MRI by combining DANTE selective excitation with magic-echo (ME) line narrowing. The DANTE RF pulses applied at the ME peaks practically do not interfere with the ME line narrowing in the combined ME DANTE sequence. This allows straightforward tailoring of the slice profile simply by introducing an appropriate modulation, such as a sinc modulation, into the flip angles of the applied DANTE RF pulses. The utility of the method has been demonstrated by preliminary experiments performed on a test sample of adamantane.     

Optical Computed Tomography Imaging of Absorbers in a Highly Scattering Medium by Detection of Photons Preserving Initial Polarization

A method utilizing light polarization was applied to take the projection data of absorbers in a highly scattering medium. The floor level of the projection data due to diffused light was significantly suppressed by detection of photons which preserved initial polarization. An optical computed tomgraphy image was reconstructed from the projection data taken by this method and exhibited higher spatial resolution than the image reconstructed from the projection data by conventional method.     

1H(17F,α)14O反应截面测量

14O （α,p）17F是天体X射线暴中重要的突破反应。本工作通过厚靶方法测量其逆反应1H （17F,α）14O的反应截面来研究这一关键反应。本实验工作是在日本东京大学原子核科学研究中心（CNS）的低能次级束流线（CRIB）上完成的,后续的扣除本底实验是在兰州放射性束流线（RIBLL1）上完成的。CRIB实验是通过2H （16O,n）17F转移反应产生17F次级束,经过CRIB分离提纯之后,利用该次级束轰击氢气靶。在氢气靶后布置了三套望远镜探测器系统,用以探测不同实验角度的反冲α粒子,在数据处理的过程中经过动力学重构后得到了1H （17F,α）14O反应在质心系能区E_c.m.=2.7~3.4 MeV的反应截面。实验结果在3 MeV以上的高能区与前人的薄靶实验数据是一致的,在低能区本工作获得了新的实验数据,倾向于支持干涉相消的理论预言结果。The 14O(α, p)17F reaction is one of the important breakout reactions in type I X-ray burst. This work reported a new cross section measurement of its reverse reaction of 1H(17F,α)14O. The experiment was performed using the CNS radioactive ion beam separator (CRIB), located at the Center for Nuclear Study (CNS), the University of Tokyo. The sequent background measurement was carried out at Radioactive Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL1). 17F beam was produced via the transfer reaction of 2H(16O, n)17F, subsequently separated and purified by CRIB and bombarded a thick hydrogen H₂ gas target. The recoiling α particles were measured by three △E-E silicon telescopes at three different angles. The total cross sections of 1H(17F,α)14O have been derived at E_c.m.=2.7~3.4 MeV based on an isotropic angular distribution assumption. Our results are consistent with the previous ones in the energy region of E_c.m.>3 MeV, and we also obtained some new data in the low energy region, which partly support the destructive interference between the direct and resonant reaction mechanism predicted by the theory.     

Noise-induced synchronization and clustering in ensembles of uncoupled limit-cycle oscillators

We study synchronization properties of general uncoupled limit-cycle oscillators driven by common and independent Gaussian white noises. Using phase reduction and averaging methods, we analytically derive the stationary distribution of the phase difference between oscillators for weak noise intensity. We demonstrate that in addition to synchronization, clustering, or more generally coherence, always results from arbitrary initial conditions, irrespective of the details of the oscillators.     

Elemental distribution analysis of type I collagen fibrils in tilapia fish scale with energy-filtered transmission electron microscope

Elemental distribution of calcium, phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon in a single collagen fibril obtained from tilapia fish scales was identified with an electron energy-loss spectroscopy and an energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, for the first time. The carbon intensity profile of the single collagen fibril showed the specific D-periodic pattern at 67 nm of type I collagen fibrils. The calcium L_2,3-edge and oxygen K-edge peak positions were detected at 347/350 eV and 137 eV, respectively, and these positions were identical to those of hydroxyapatite. Calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen were present in the hole zones as the amorphous phase, while carbon was present in the overlap zone. Our results indicated that the hole zones preferentially attract calcium and phosphate ions and thus serve as possible nucleation sites for mineralization.