Strain of an anisotropic monolith during the excavation of minerals

We solve the problem of the normal and transverse shear in an anisotropic monolith during the excavation of a stratum of solid mineral. It is shown that the stress perturbation field in the rock is due to the whole extent of the excavated portion of the stratum. We study way in which the friction that arises between the interacting rock of the roof and the floor influences the strain and stress fields as the front of the excavation evolves, and also the influence of the extent of the excavated portion of the rock stratum on the magnitude of the accumulated tangential displacements. Three figures. Translated fromTeoreticheskaya i Prikladnaya Mekhanika, No. 25, 1995, pp. 62–69.     

Photodiffraction in InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum wells enclosed in a microcavity

We report new results on the diffraction properties of photoinduced gratings in InGaAs/InGaAsP MQW structures. The original feature of this device is that the QWs are enclosed in an asymmetric Fabry–Perot microcavity in order to increase the diffraction efficiency. We observe oscillations in the diffraction efficiency due to resonant effects in the microcavity. The experimental spectra are compared with theory. Diffraction efficiency at 1.55 μm attains a maximum value of 2.7% at a write beam fluence of 260 μ J cm⁻², and then decreases at higher fluences. We explain this phenomenon by an absorption saturation at high excitation.     

Free Groups from Fields

In the nineteenth century, field theory brilliantly resolveda number of questions that had taxed mathematicians for centuries;for example, ‘The circle cannot be squared’ by straightedge and compass, and solving polynomial equations by radicalsis not always possible. These successes have continued to beheld up as superb examples of the power of mathematical thought,and are demonstrated at an undergraduate level. The purposeof this article is to provide another such natural example whichleads to a concrete realisation of the free group on 2 generators.