Decoherence in josephson phase qubits from junction resonators

Although Josephson junction qubits show great promise for quantum computing, the origin of dominant decoherence mechanisms remains unknown. Improving the operation of a Josephson junction based phase qubit has revealed microscopic two-level systems or resonators within the tunnel barrier that cause decoherence. We report spectroscopic data that show a level splitting characteristic of coupling between a two-state qubit and a two-level system. Furthermore, we show Rabi oscillations whose "coherence amplitude" is significantly degraded by the presence of these spurious microwave resonators. The discovery of these resonators impacts the future of Josephson qubits as well as existing Josephson technologies.     

Observation of eta'c production in gammagamma fusion at CLEO

We report on the observation of the eta(')(c)(2(1)S0), the radial excitation of the eta(c)(1(1)S0) ground state of charmonium, in the two-photon fusion reaction gammagamma-->eta(')(c)-->K(0)(S)K+/-pi(-/+) in 13.6 fb(-1) of CLEO II/II.V data and 13.1 fb(-1) of CLEO III data. We obtain M(eta(')(c))=3642.9+/-3.1(stat)+/-1.5(syst) MeV and M(eta(c))=2981.8+/-1.3(stat)+/-1.5(syst) MeV. The corresponding values of hyperfine splittings between 1S0 and 3S1 states are DeltaM(hf)(1S)=115.1+/-2.0 MeV and DeltaM(hf)(2S)=43.1+/-3.4 MeV. Assuming that the eta(c) and eta(')(c) have equal branching fractions to K(S)Kpi, we obtain Gamma(gammagamma)(eta(')(c))=1.3+/-0.6 keV.     

Imidazolium ion-terminated self-assembled monolayers on Au: effects of counteranions on surface wettability

Self-assembled monolayers presenting imidazolium ions at the tail ends (SAMIMs) having different counteranions have been prepared on Au, and the measurement of water contact angles of the surfaces proved to be an extremely valuable simple technique for quantifying the effects of counteranions on hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of SAMIMs, which will be extrapolated to the water miscibility of the related ionic liquids.     

A nondestructive method for estimation of the fracture toughness of CrMoV rotor steels based on ultrasonic nonlinearity

The objective of this paper is to develop a nondestructive method for estimating the fracture toughness (K(IC)) of CrMoV steels used as the rotor material of steam turbines in power plants. To achieve this objective, a number of CrMoV steel samples were heat-treated, and the fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT) was determined as a function of aging time. Nonlinear ultrasonics was employed as the theoretical basis to explain the harmonic generation in a damaged material, and the nonlinearity parameter of the second harmonic wave was the experimental measure used to be correlated to the fracture toughness of the rotor steel. The nondestructive procedure for estimating the K(IC) consists of two steps. First, the correlations between the nonlinearity parameter and the FATT are sought. The FATT values are then used to estimate K(IC) using the K(IC) versus excess temperature (i.e., T-FATT) correlation that is available in the literature for CrMoV rotor steel.     

Room-temperature multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser employing sinusoidal phase-modulation feedback

An effective method for achieving a room-temperature multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser is presented. Simultaneous multiwavelength lasing with 0.5-nm intervals is achieved both experimentally and theoretically by addition of sinusoidal phase modulation in the ring cavity to prevent single-wavelength oscillation.     

Wave-front phase measurements of high-order harmonic beams by use of point-diffraction interferometry

We report the wave-front phase measurement of high-order harmonics employing point-diffraction interferometry. The high-order harmonics generated in a gas-filled hollow tube showed excellent spatial coherence over nearly the whole cross section of the harmonic beams. Using this coherent harmonic source in the extreme-ultraviolet-soft-x-ray region, we have demonstrated the operation of a point-diffraction interferometer and measured the wave-front phase of high-order harmonics.     

Exact dynamic and static stiffness matrices of shear deformable thin-walled beam-columns

Total potential energy of non-symmetric thin-walled beam-columns in the general form is presented by introducing the displacement field based on semitangential rotations and deriving transformation equations between displacement and force parameters defined at the arbitrary axis and the centroid-shear center axis, respectively. Next, governing equations and force-deformation relations are derived from the total potential energy for a shear-deformable, uniform beam element and a system of linear eigenproblem with non-symmetric matrices is constructed based on 14 displacement parameters. And then explicit expressions for displacement parameters are derived and exact dynamic stiffness matrices are determined using force-deformatin relationships. In addition, the modified numerical method to eliminate multiple zero eigenvalues and to evaluate the exact static stiffness matrix is developed for spatial stability analysis. Finally, in order to demonstrate the validity and the accuracy of this study, the spatially coupled natural frequencies and buckling loads are evaluated and compared with analytical solutions or results analyzed by thin-walled beam elements and ABAQUS's shell elements.     

The hit problem for the Dickson algebra

Let the mod 2 Steenrod algebra, , and the general linear group, , act on with in the usual manner. We prove the conjecture of the first-named author in Spherical classes and the algebraic transfer, (Trans. Amer. Math Soc. 349 (1997), 3893-3910) stating that every element of positive degree in the Dickson algebra is -decomposable in for arbitrary 2$">. This conjecture was shown to be equivalent to a weak algebraic version of the classical conjecture on spherical classes, which states that the only spherical classes in are the elements of Hopf invariant one and those of Kervaire invariant one.