Continuity of Effect Algebra Operations in the Interval Topology

We study the continuity of and of effect algebras in the interval topology, and present several examples of effect algebras with interesting properties.     

Direct experimental limit on neutron-mirror-neutron oscillations

In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron n', could potentially mix and undergo nn' oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the n' amplitude in the n wave function and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time taunn' > 103 s (95% C.L.) is derived.     

棒状纳米纤维素仿生矿化及光谱分析

以棒状纳米纤维素为模板,采用仿生矿化的方法制备纳米纤维素/纳米羟基磷灰石复合材料。并利用X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、扫描电镜能谱分析(SEM-EDAX)对仿生矿化前后纳米纤维素中碳、氧、钙、磷元素的变化情况及分布状态进行了表征,并探讨了纳米羟基磷灰石的生长机理。结果表明纳米纤维素表面形成了纳米羟基磷灰石;纳米纤维素的碳氧比为1.81,仿生矿化后下降为1.54;仿生矿化后纳米纤维素的钙磷比nCa/nP=1.70;纳米羟基磷灰石成核是在纳米纤维素的羟基上,并且纳米纤维素表面羟基和纳米羟基磷灰石的钙离子之间发生了配位作用。纳米羟基磷灰石较为均一的形成在纳米纤维素的基体中。通过原子力显微镜(AFM)图片可以看出,直径为20nm左右的羟基磷灰石生长在纳米纤维素的表面。     

Phase composition and tribological properties of Ti-Al coatings produced on pure Ti by laser cladding

Ti-Al coatings with ∼14.7, 18.1, 25.2 and 29.7 at.% Al contents were fabricated on pure Ti substrate by laser cladding. The laser cladding Ti-Al coatings were analyzed with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that with the increase of Al content, the diffraction peaks shifted gradually to higher 2θ values. The laser cladding Ti-Al coatings with 14.7 and 18.1 at.% Al were composed of α-Ti and α₂-Ti₃Al phases, while those with 25.2 and 29.7 at.% Al were composed of α₂-Ti₃Al phase. With the increase of Al content, the cross-sectional hardness increased, while the fracture toughness decreased. For the laser cladding Ti-Al coatings, when the Al content was ≤18.1 at.%, the wear mechanism was adhesive wear and abrasive wear; while when the Al content ≥25.2 at.%, the wear mechanism was adhesive wear, abrasive wear and microfracture. With the increase of Al content, the wear rate of laser cladding Ti-Al coatings decreased under 1 N normal load, while the wear rate firstly decreased and then increased under a normal load of 3 N. Due to its optimized combination of high hardness and high fracture toughness, the laser cladding Ti-Al coating with 18.1 at.% Al showed the best anti-wear properties at higher normal load.     

Microwave photonics reconfigurable mixer based on polarization modulator

A reconfigurable and stable mixer is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. It mainly consists of a dual-driven Mach–Zehnder modulator and a polarization modulator with several polarization controllers (PC) and polarizers (Pol). According to the theoretical analysis, different functions (such as single ended mixer, balanced mixer, I/Q mixer and image rejection mixer) can be realized by adjusting the PCs and Pols. The simulation results verify the possibility of multi-functions that realized by the reconfigurable mixer. In addition, another research on how the non-ideal parameters affect the image rejection ratio (ISR) and conversion efficiency of the mixer is also carried. The results show that both of them perform better as the extinction ratio gets higher. However, they are incurring a sharp decrease if the DC bias points deviate from the settled values. In the meantime, the results also indicate that the higher modulation indices lead to a better ISR. A 57.12 dB ISR can be achieved with conversion efficiency of ? 9.53 dB.     

Rotation-invariant pattern recognition using morphological phase-only correlation

We present a rotation-invariant nonlinear correlator based on the circular harmonic filter (CHF) and the previously proposed morphological phase-only correlator (MPC) [Q. Wang, S. Liu, Opt. Commun. 244 (2005) 93]. We refer to this correlator as a rotation-invariant MPC (RIMPC). Through computer simulation, we compare the output results of RIMPC with those of rotation-invariant MC (RIMC) and CHF when input scene is corrupted by salt-and-pepper noise, white additive Gaussian noise and cluttered background. Our results show that RIMPC yields higher discriminability, sharper and higher correlation peaks and displays better stability against the above three kinds of noise than do the RIMC and common CHF.     

The simplified material parameter equation for elliptical cylinder cloaks

We simplify the material parameter equation for elliptical cylinder cloaks under transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic models, respectively, and confirm these simplified equations by numerical simulations. As a result, the number of the component parameters is reduced from three to two, which simplifies the design of meta-materials and thus opens up the possibility of achieving elliptical cylinder cloaks in an easy way.     

Interaction Between Methylene Blue and CalfThymus Deoxyribonucleic Acid by Spectroscopic Technologies

Characterization of the interaction between methylene blue (MB) and calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (ctDNA) was investigated by UV absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra, fluorescence polarization and fluorescence quenching experiments by ferrocyanide. The above results indicated that the binding modes of MB to ctDNA were relative to the molar ratio γ (γ=[DNA]/[MB]). At low γ ratios (γ < 4), remarkable hypochromic effect with no shift of λ_max in the absorption spectra of MB was observed in the presence of increasing amounts of ctDNA, the fluorescence of MB was efficiently quenched by the ctDNA bases and the fluorescence polarization of MB was slightly increased, which indicated that MB cations bound to phosphate groups of ctDNA by electrostatic interaction and then stacked on the surface of ctDNA helix. While at high γ ratios (γ > 6), besides the fluorescence of MB was quenched efficiently by the ctDNA bases, a red shift (about 3 nm) in the absorption spectra of MB was observed and the fluorescence polarization of MB was obviously increased, which indicated the intercalation binding that MB molecules were intercalated into the space of two neighbouring DNA base pairs was the preferred mode. Effects of K₄Fe(CN)₆ on the fluorescence quenching of the MB-ctDNA system at low and high γ ratios were also performed. The results showed that at γ = 1.7, the quenching effect by ferrocyanide was higher than that of pure MB, while at γ = 13.6 a decreased quenching of the fluorescence intensity was observed as compared with that of pure MB, which further proved the above conclusion. In addition, the mechanisms of the hypochromic effect and the fluorescence quenching were also discussed in detail.     

Self-organized periodic surface structures on ZnO induced by femtosecond laser

Self-organized periodic surface structures on ZnO have been observed after multiple linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. The observed self-organized structures are attributed to the second harmonics in the sample surface excited by the incident laser. The grating orientation could be adjusted by the laser polarization direction. We also find that fluences play an important role in the formation of self-organized nanostructures.