Adsorption on stepped substrates

An analysis is given of the behavior of an interface above a stepped substrate in the presence of an external pinning potential for the lattice solid-on-solid (SOS) interface model in 2D. Step-free energy including step-step interaction free energy is calculated, for large step separation. It is found it vanishes at temperatures lower thanT _w (wetting transition temperature), which is different from the case having only one step on a substrate where, as it is well known, step-free energy vanishes at the wetting transition.     

Initial State Interaction in the (π+,3p) Reaction on N, Ar and Xe

The pion absorption reaction (π^{+,3 p} ) on Ar was studied at pion energies of 70, 118, 162 and 239 MeV, and on N and Xe at 239 MeV. The 3p cross section with a 50 MeV cut on the missing energy is presented. The existence of an initial state interaction (ISI) component to the reaction was investigated. The portion of the 3p cross section assigned to the ISI process is less than one half and at lower energies significantly so. Received: 11 December 1997     

Planar waveguide lasers and structures created by laser ablation — an overview

The parameters of planar and channel waveguide lasers fabricated by different techniques are reviewed. Materials and properties of thin films used for creation of planar waveguide lasers are summarized. The parameters of active and passive planar waveguides created by the method of pulsed laser deposition and problems of laser deposition are described. The aspects of laser generation of planar waveguide lasers, resonators and channel waveguides are presented. The results of our experiments of laser deposition of thin Ti:sapphire layers and thin layers of Nd:YAG and Nd:YAP are briefly discussed. This work was supported by the grant of Czech Grant Agency No. 102/96/0429.     

Analysis of surface layers of an iron axe from Early Medieval Age

An ancient axe from Early Medieval Age which was unearthed on a territory of the archaeological excavation site near the village Borovce (Slovakia) is investigated. The surface of the axe was supposed to be covered with a sort of glassy system. Mössbauer effect measurements performed in backscattering and transmission geometry upon original as well as powdered pieces of the axe confirmed that the surface layers of the axe consist of goethite, lepidocrite, akageneite, and/or magnetite. After temperature treatment at 400°C/100 min hematite and maghemite were found; these are products of thermal decomposition of the above mentioned iron phases. These findings ruled out the hypothesis that the surface covering substance was put on the axe by intention.     

Production of fast evaporation residues by the reaction20Ne+208Pb at projectile energies of 8.6, 11.4 and 14.9 A.MeV

Velocity distributions and production cross sections of evaporation residues have been measured in the reaction²⁰Ne+²⁰⁸Pb at projectile energies of 8.6, 11.4, 14.9 A.MeV. Essential deviations from statistical model of deexcitation have been observed. Monte Carlo simulations involving emission of non-equilibrium particles have been used in order to reproduce experimental velocity, charge and mass distributions of evaporation residues and to estimate indirectly multiplicities of pre-equilibrium particles. Communicated by V. Metag     

Fluorescent Profiling of Venom-Selected Cobra Species

The aim of this paper was to characterize and compare spitting cobras of Africa. The autofluorescence of Naja ashei and Naja nigricollis venoms was investigated by atomic force microscopy and fluorescence analysis. The synchronous fluorescence analysis showed higher endogenous fluorescence of Naja ashei venom in comparison with Naja nigricollis venom. The atomic force microscopy revealed different surfaces of compared venoms as a result of different amounts of proteins. Our results confirmed different structures of Naja nigricollis and Naja ashei venom. The practical advantages of selected techniques are high sensitivity, minimal quantity of venom, and capability to measure the spitting cobra by autofluorescence.