Scanning mirror on a vibrating membrane for dynamic optical trapping

A study of the variation of the spectral shape and the harmonic distribution of the high-order harmonics generated from silver plasma on the frequency chirp of the driving laser radiation (793 nm 48 fs) is reported. The results of the systematic study of the harmonic generation from the 21st order up to the 61st order (λ=13 nm) are presented. A tuning of the harmonic wavelength up to 0.8 nm can be accomplished by variation of the laser chirp. PACS 42.65.Ky; 42.79.Nv; 52.38.Mf     

Consequences of magnetic aging for iron losses in electrical steels

Electrical steels, when submitted to operation, present continuous decrease of their magnetic properties, depending on the carbon content. This effect is attributed to the increase of the size of carbides, a process also known as coarsening or Ostwald Ripening. Loss separation can offer a better understanding of this phenomenon. Experimental results show that all effect of aging is inside the hysteresis loss component, with the excess losses unaffected. The carbon content in electrical steels should be less than 25 ppm to avoid magnetic aging.     

A procedure for measuring the flexibility of single wood-pulp fibres

A way of determining the flexibility of wood-pulp fibres is developed, which involves i) a precise measurement of the topology of single-fibres by using a confocal laser scanning microscope and ii) the measurement of the elastic modulus of the fibres by using a single-fibre fatigue cell. Reported in this paper are the initial results of tests carried out on black spruce fibres, which have been subjected to three different levels of mechanical refining energy, namely ∼1100, 2300, and 3500 kWh/t. It is found that the fibre flexibility rises significantly between the first and second energy levels, but it does not change to the same degree between the second and third ones. The described procedure of measuring the flexibility of fibres may be used to establish the appropriate refiner energy necessary for the production of a specific grade of paper. Russian translation published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 115–128, January–February, 2006.     

X-PEEM/NEXAFS and AFM of polypyrrole and copper micro-patterns on insulating fluoropolymer substrates

Micro-patterns (80 μm and 10 μm) of copper and semi-conducting polypyrrole on insulating fluorinated ethylene propylene substrates were characterized using synchrotron-based X-ray Photoemission Electron Microscopy (X-PEEM), Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Electronic states in the polypyrrole are verified using the NEXAFS data, and sample degradation upon irradiation is addressed. X-PEEM images show homogeneous distributions of the corresponding elements in the patterns. They do not exhibit dichroic effects and give information about the growth of copper and polypyrrole (i.e. nucleation of Cu, overgrowth of PPy, formation of PPy granules). AFM results are used to verify the topography of the patterns and support the findings on pattern growth.     

In situ preparation of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconducting films by laser sputtering

Superconducting films of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O on (100) MgO substrates have been fabricated by XeCl-excimer-laser sputtering from ceramic targets of Bi_2.5Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_y in O₂ atmosphere. The films were polycrystalline with the c-axis (30.80±0.02Å) preferably oriented normal to the substrate surface. Without post-annealing the films showed metallic resistance behavior with zero resistance temperatures of up to T_c(0) }- 79 K. The critical current density of the films had values of up to j_c(50K)}- 10⁴ A/cm².     

Multiferroic TbMnO3 nanoparticles

We report on the synthesis of TbMnO₃ nanoparticles by chemical co-precipitation route and their structural, chemical bonding, magnetic and dielectric properties. It is shown that the interesting multiferroic properties of this system as reflected by the concurrent occurrence of magnetic and dielectric transitions are retained in the nanoparticles (size∼40 nm). However, the nanoparticle constitution and properties are seen to depend significantly on the calcination temperature. While the nanoparticles obtained by calcination at 800 °C correspond very well with the reported properties of single phase TbMnO₃ (all the key magnetic and dielectric features near 7, 27 and 41 K, albeit with reduced dielectric constant) the nanoparticles obtained by calcination at 900 °C develop a Tb deficient skin which softens the transitions, reducing the dielectric constant further.     

A class of Nevanlinna functions related to singular Sturm-Liouville problems

The class of Nevanlinna functions consists of functions which are holomorphic off the real axis, which are symmetric with respect to the real axis, and whose imaginary part is nonnegative in the upper halfplane. The Kac subclass of Nevanlinna functions is defined by an integrability condition on the imaginary part. In this note a further subclass of these Kac functions is introduced. It involves an integrability condition on the modulus of the Nevanlinna functions (instead of the imaginary part). The characteristic properties of this class are investigated. The definition of the new class is motivated by the fact that the Titchmarsh-Weyl coefficients of various classes of Sturm-Liouville problems (under mild conditions on the coefficients) actually belong to this class.