Study of indoor radon and thoron progeny levels in surrounding areas of Nalbari, Assam, India

With the growing understanding of the role of radon and its daughter products as major sources of radiation exposure, the importance of large number of estimation of radon concentration in various parts of the country is realized. Inhalation of radon, thoron and their decay products is the major source of the total radioactive dose received by the human population from natural radiation. The indoor radon and thoron progeny levels in Nalbari area of Assam are studied by using the LR-115 (type II) Solid State Nuclear Track Detector in Plastic Twin Chamber dosimeter. Radon and thoron progeny levels in different types of dwellings for one full calendar year are presented in this paper. For Assam Type (A.T.) houses, indoor radon progeny concentrations vary from 0.17 to 0.64 mWL with an annual geometric mean of 0.27 mWL and that for Reinforced Cement Concrete (R.C.C.) houses vary from 0.22 mWL to 0.60 mWL with the annual geometric mean of 0.37 mWL. The thoron progeny levels in A.T. houses also vary from 0.01 to of 0.05 mWL with an annual geometric mean of 0.02 mWL and that for R.C.C. houses vary from 0.02 to 0.08 mWL with the annual geometric mean of 0.04 mWL.      

Observation of enhanced orbital electron-capture nuclear decay rate in a compact medium

The eigenstate energies of an atom increase under spatial confinement and this effect should increase the electron density of the orbital electrons at the nucleus thus increasing the decay rate of an electron capturing radioactive nucleus. We have observed that the orbital electron capture rates of ¹⁰⁹In and ¹¹⁰Sn increased by (1.00±0.17)%$(1.00\pm 0.17)\mathrm{\%}$ and (0.48±0.25)%$(0.48\pm 0.25)\mathrm{\%}$ respectively when implanted in the smaller Au lattice compared to implantation in a larger Pb lattice. These observations are interpreted to be a result of the higher compression experienced by the large radioactive atoms in the smaller spatial confinement of the Au lattice.     

Effect of anomalous diffusion on directed motion in a multiplicative noise driven flashing ratchet system

In this paper we have studied the directed motion of a Brownian particle in a multiplicative noise driven flashing ratchet system. Our investigation shows the current (j) is either maximum or minimum in the super-diffusion (SPD) region depending on the asymmetric character of the ratchet potential. But the optimum behavior disappears for the symmetric ratchet potential and there is a current inversion around the normal diffusion (ND). With increase of half cycle period(t_p/2) (which controls the on-off operation mechanism of the potential), j passes through a maximum and the peak height is the highest for the SPD. Also at low asymmetry in the system, the mobility is more dominating for the normal and the super-diffusion cases than the sub-diffusion. For large asymmetry in the ratchet potential, the diffusion control positive current is larger for the ND compared to the other cases. Finally, we observe that there is a maximum in the variation of current as a function of noise correlation time for SPD. But it disappears for the other cases.     

Experimental studies on the microstructure and hardness of laser-treated steel specimens

An experimental investigation with 5 kW CW CO₂ laser system was carried out to study the effects of different laser and process parameters on the microstructure and hardness of carbon steel specimen with varying carbon percentage. The laser beam is allowed to scan on the surface of the work piece varying the power (1.1–2.5 kW) and traverse speed (6–15 mm/s) at two different spot sizes using TEM_01* mode laser beam. The most hardenable microstructure achieved in case of three grades of carbon steel and the most influencing parameter on the value of hardness are reported. Besides the above study, some multipass operations are also carried out to recommend an appropriate gap between consecutive passes.     

Structured Surfaces for Generation of Negative Index of Refraction

Materials with negative index of refraction have properties that are not naturally available. Such properties can be used to develop novel devices like the superlens which can surpass the diffraction limit. Optical cloaking can be achieved through this negative refractive index method. This article reviews the progress made in the area of negative refractive index materials from the first generation of negative electrical permittivity to the demonstration of negative index of refraction at optical frequency, with the relevant discussion on the physics of these materials. The prime focus of this article is on experimental demonstrations and fabrication related issues of negative refractive index materials which makes use of structured surfaces.     

Laser phase modulation approaches towards ensemble quantum computing

Selective control of decoherence is demonstrated for a multilevel system by generalizing the instantaneous phase of any chirped pulse as individual terms of a Taylor series expansion. In the case of a simple two-level system, all odd terms in the series lead to population inversion, while the even terms lead to self-induced transparency. These results also hold for multiphoton transitions that do not have any lower-order photon resonance or any intermediate virtual state dynamics within the laser pulse width. Such results form the basis of a robustly implementable CNOT gate.     

Crossed beam reaction of phenyl and D5-phenyl radicals with propene and deuterated counterparts--competing atomic hydrogen and methyl loss pathways

We conducted the crossed molecular beams reactions of the phenyl and D5-phenyl radicals with propylene together with its partially deuterated reactants at collision energies of ~45 kJ mol(-1) under single collision conditions. The scattering dynamics were found to be indirect and were mainly dictated by an addition of the phenyl radical to the sterically accessible CH(2) unit of the propylene reactant. The resulting doublet radical isomerized to multiple C(9)H(11) intermediates, which were found to be long-lived, decomposing in competing methyl group loss and atomic hydrogen loss pathways with the methyl group loss leading to styrene (C(6)H(5)C(2)H(3)) and the atomic hydrogen loss forming C(9)H(10) isomers cis/trans 1-phenylpropene (CH(3)CHCHC(6)H(5)) and 3-phenylpropene (C(6)H(5)CH(2)C(2)H(3)). Fractions of the methyl versus hydrogen loss channels of 68 ± 16% : 32 ± 10% were derived experimentally, which agrees nicely with RRKM theory. As the collision energy rises to 200 kJmol(-1), the contribution of the methyl loss channel decreases sharply to typically 25%; the decreased importance of the methyl group loss channel was also demonstrated in previous crossed beam experiments conducted at elevated collision energies of 130-193 kJ mol(-1). The presented work highlights the interesting differences of the branching ratios with rising collision energies in the reaction dynamics of phenyl radicals with unsaturated hydrocarbons related to combustion processes. The facility of forming styrene, a common molecule found in combustion against the elusiveness of forming the cyclic indane molecule demonstrates the need to continue to explore the potential surfaces through the combinative single collision experiment and electronic structure calculations.     

Synthesis of cyclic α-hydrazino acids

Synthesis of five-, six-, seven-, eight-, and nine-membered cyclic α-hydrazino acids from a common starting material ‘diethylmalonate’ with 26, 16, 34, 13.5, and 13.33% overall yields is described. Sequential allylation or homoallylation and electrophilic amination followed by cyclization gave the desired rings. The methyl esters of eight- and nine-membered rings were synthesized by RCM and the corresponding free acids were generated after hydrolysis in the presence of 1 M BBr₃ solution in DCM.