Nano-tribological study on a super-hydrophobic film formed on rough aluminium substrates

A novel super-hydrophobic stearic acid (STA) film with a water contact angle of 166^o was prepared by chemical adsorption on aluminum wafer coated with polyethyleneimine (PEI) film. The micro-tribological behavior of the super-hydrophobic STA monolayer was compared with that of the polished and PEI-coated Al surfaces. The effect of relative humidity on the adhesion and friction was investigated as well. It was found that the STA monolayer showed decreased friction, while the adhesive force was greatly decreased by increasing the surface roughness of the Al wafer to reduce the contact area between the atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and the sample surface to be tested. Thus the friction and adhesion of the Al wafer was effectively decreased by generating the STA monolayer, which indicated that it could be feasible and rational to prepare a surface with good adhesion resistance and lubricity by properly controlling the surface morphology and the chemical composition. Both the adhesion and friction decreased as the relative humidity was lowered from 65% to 10%, though the decrease extent became insignificant for the STA monolayer. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50375151, 50323007, 10225209) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJCX-SW-L2)     

Photorefractive Four-Wave Mixing Switches Utilizing Pockels Effect -Longitudinal and Lateral Switches-

We carried out detailed calculations for photorefractive wave-mixing switches based on one of three crystals with high electro-optic coefficients, namely, BaTiO₃, Strontium Barium Niobate (SBN (0.75)), and Potasium Sodium Strontium Barium Niobate (KNSBN). A comparison of results for the three crystals shows that a 0_-cut BaTiO³ crystal is suitable for a longitudinal switch and requires a voltage of about 80 for a 2-mm-thick crystal to induce sufficient phase mismatch. The electrodes must be transparent for the incident and diffracted beams. A 45_-cut SBN (0.75) crystal, however, is suitable for a lateral switch and requires a voltage of about 150 for a 1-mm-wide crystal. The electrodes do not need to be transparent.     

Decay kinetics of the green emission in tungstates and molybdates

Luminescence characteristics of a number of undoped and variously doped PbWO₄ crystals were studied at 0.4–400 K by the time-resolved spectroscopy and compared with those of ZnWO₄,CdWO₄ and PbMoO₄ crystals. Two types of green emission centres are detected in PbWO₄ crystals. The centres of the first type are responsible for the low-temperature 2.3–2.4 eV emission observed under excitation around 3.90–3.95 eV. The structure and parameters of their relaxed excited states were determined. It was concluded that the origin of defects responsible for the green emission of the first type could vary for different crystals. The centres of the second type with the emission around 2.5 eV appear in crystals containing oxygen vacancies after the thermal destruction of Pb⁺-WO₃ centres at T>180 K. Decomposition of the exciton and various defect-related states was also studied, and activation energies of this process were calculated.     

Rare earth photoionization study by the resonant microwave cavity technique

Photoconductivity spectra of rare earth-doped insulating materials are measured using the resonant microwave cavity method. This technique is based on the detection of the cavity Q-factor changes induced by irradiation of the sample (inserted in the cavity) by a pulsed tunable laser. Results obtained with Lu₂(SiO₄)O:Ce³⁺ and BaF₂:Eu²⁺ are presented and discussed. Photoionization thresholds at 400 nm (3.1 eV) and 310 nm (4.0 eV) are measured for Lu₂(SiO₄)O:Ce³⁺ and BaF₂:Eu²⁺, respectively.     

Errata: “Universality in Orthogonal and Symplectic Invariant Matrix Models with Quartic Potential”

The errata concern mainly the last computations for the universality of the local statistics of eigenvalues at the edge of the spectrum in parts (iii) of Theorems 2.3 and 2.4.     

Electron spin lifetimes in Hg0.78Cd0.22 Te and InSb

We have made direct pump–probe measurements of spin lifetimes in long wavelength narrow-gap semiconductors at wavelengths between 4 and 10 μm and from 4 to 300 K. In particular, we measure remarkably long spin lifetimes, τ_s300 ps, even at 300 K for epilayers of degenerate n-type InSb. In this material the mobility is approximately constant between 77 and 300 K, and we find that τ_s is approximately constant in this temperature range. In order to determine the dominant spin relaxation mechanism we have investigated the temperature dependence of τ_s in non-degenerate lightly n-type Hg_0.78Cd_0.22Te of approximately the same band gap as InSb, and find that τ_s varies from 356 ps at 150 K to 24 ps at 300 K. Our results, both in magnitude and temperature dependence of τ_s, imply that the Elliott–Yafet model dominates in these materials.     

Color Zone Map in Peripheral Vision at Various Illuminance Levels

We measured the entire region of mesopic and photopic vision to determine the color zone covering the visual field with unique red, yellow, green, and blue hue components. Eight kinds of test stimuli in the natural color system (NCS) color notation system were used. These stimuli were presented at horizontal and vertical meridians, and at meridians inclined at 45° angles. The illuminance level was set at six levels: 0.01 lx-1000 lx. The evaluation method measured chromatic, white, and black components as well as the hue component of the stimuli. Results show that the color zone of the retina extended further into the periphery with increasing illuminance; the response of opponent colors y-b was shown to be greater than that of the opponent colors r-g.     

A realistic coronary artery phantom for particle image velocimetry

Myocardial infarction results from the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque, which occurs in response to both mechanical stress and inflammatory processes. In order experimentally observe flow into atherosclerotic coronary artery morphologies, a novel technique for molding realistic compliant phantom featuring injection-molded inclusions and multiple layers has been developed. This transparent phantom allows for particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow analysis and can supply experimental data to validate computational fluid dynamics algorithms and hypothesis.