Atom movement on a dislocated surface

The standard picture of growth at a screw dislocation assumes that the movement of adatoms on a dislocation loop is the same as on an ideal plane. We have examined this proposition by investigating the movement of a single tungsten adatom on a W(110) plane intersected by a screw dislocation. Surprisingly enough, adatom movement was entirely different than on a normal (110) plane: the overall diffusivity was higher, and the mobility varied with the location of the adatom relative to the dislocation core. This study demonstrates that surface transport is strongly affected in the vicinity of dislocations.     

Direct four-photon excitation of amplified spontaneous emission in a nonlinear organic chromophore

We report four-photon pumped amplified spontaneous emission in an organic chromophore. The phenomenon is observed when intense infrared laser radiation illuminates a nonlinear chromophore solution. As a result of this illumination, a strong and highly directional radiation in the visible wavelength range is generated in both the forward and the backward directions, with an angular divergence similar to that of the pump beam.     

A long-pitch orthoconic antiferroelectric mixture modified by isomeric and racemic homostructural dopants

Orthoconic Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystals (OAFLC) are recognised as a promising medium for display and photonic applications due to their unique electrooptical properties. The application of OAFLC is still hampered by a number of parasitic effects deteriorating the electrooptical performance of contemporary available materials. An attempt elaborating of a working OAFLC mixture with the helical pitch longer than the typical cell gap is reported. Using this mixture, near-perfect optical uniformity and excellent dark state at the zero electric field applied were obtained. Basic OAFLC mixture was doped with two homostructural analogues to study the influence of the molecular polarity and chirality on the electrooptical performance and chosen physical parameters. The physical and structural properties of admixtures and their electrooptical performance are presented and discussed.     

Simultaneous treatment of polymer surface by EUV radiation and ionized nitrogen

In this paper chemical modification of a poly(vinylidene fluoride) surface by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiation in a presence of ionized nitrogen was demonstrated for the first time. Nitrogen gas, injected into an interaction region, was ionized and excited by the EUV radiation from a laser-plasma source. The ionization degree and excited states of nitrogen were investigated using EUV spectrometry and the corresponding spectra are presented. Chemical modification of polymer after combined EUV and ionized nitrogen treatment was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A?significant contribution of nitrogen atoms in near-surface layer of the polymer after the treatment was demonstrated.     

Discontinuous synchrony in an array of Van der Pol oscillators

We show the phenomenon of complete synchronization in an network of coupled oscillators. We confirm that non-diagonal coupling can lead to the appearance or disappearance of synchronous windows (ragged synchronizability phenomenon) in the coupling parameter space. We also show the appearance of clusters (synchronization in one or more group) between coupled systems. Our numerical studies are confirmed by an electronic experiment.     

Electrochemically Induced Synthesis of Poly(2,6‐carbazole)

The formation of a poly(2,6‐carbazole) derivative during an electrochemical polymerization process is shown. Comparison of 3,5‐bis(9‐octyl‐9H‐carbazol‐2‐yl)pyridine and 3,5‐bis(9‐octyl‐9H‐carbazol‐3‐yl)pyridine by electrochemical and UV–Vis‐NIR spectroelectrochemical measurements and DFT (density functional theory) calculation prove the formation of a poly(2,6‐carbazole) derivative. Both of the compounds form stable and electroactive conjugated polymers.

     

Terahertz properties of fluorinated liquid crystals

In this article, optical properties of four fluoro-substituted 4-propyl-4′-[(4-ethylphenyl)ethynyl] biphenyls and liquid crystal mixture A are presented in the terahertz (THz) range. Birefringence, refractive indices and absorption coefficients for ordinary and extraordinary ray of liquid crystals are described in the range of 0.3 to 3.0 THz. It shows that the measured parameters are dependent on the number and placement of fluorine atoms in the molecules. Measurements have been performed using time-pulsed spectroscopy.     

The Gompertzian curve reveals fractal properties of tumor growth

The normalized Gompertzian curve reflecting growth of experimental malignant tumors in time can be fitted by the power function y(t)=at^b with the coefficient of nonlinear regression r0.95, in which the exponent b is a temporal fractal dimension, (i.e., a real number), and time t is a scalar. This curve is a fractal, (i.e., fractal dimension b exists, it changes along the time scale, the Gompertzian function is a contractable mapping of the Banach space R of the real numbers, holds the Banach theorem about the fix point, and its derivative is 1). This denotes that not only space occupied by the interacting cancer cells, but also local, intrasystemic time, in which tumor growth occurs, possesses fractal structure. The value of the mean temporal fractal dimension decreases along the curve approaching eventually integer values; a fact consistent with our hypothesis that the fractal structure is lost during tumor progression.