Noise reduction by dynamic signal preemphasis

In this work we propose an approach to reduce the digitization noise for a given dynamic range, i.e., the number of bits, of an analog to digital converter used in an NMR receiver. In this approach, the receiver gain is dynamically increased so that the free induction decay is recorded in such an emphasized way that the decaying signal is digitized using as many number of bits as possible, and at the stage of data processing, the original signal profile is restored by applying the apodization that compensates the effect of the preemphasis. This approach, which we call APodization after Receiver gain InCrement during Ongoing sequence with Time (APRICOT), is performed in a solid-state system containing a pair of (13)C spins, one of which is fully isotopically labeled and the other is naturally abundant. It is demonstrated that the exceedingly smaller peak buried in the digitization noise in the conventional approach can be revealed by employing APRICOT.     

Common-path achromatic rotational-shearing coronagraph

To suppress starlight for direct exoplanet observation, we propose a common-path achromatic rotational-shearing coronagraph (CP-ARC), which is an interferocoronagraph with an angular-adjustable field rotator. The CP-ARC aims to maintain unwanted detection of stellar light, which can be suppressed incompletely by interference because of the finite diameter of the star. Compared to the previous interferocoronagraph, which had a nonadjustable 180° field rotation, the proposed CP-ARC can improve the coronagraphic contrast by several orders if the CP-ARC is combined with medium or large telescopes where the companion-star separation is optically resolved by more than a few Airy radii. The CP-ARC is made robust against mechanical disturbances due to the common-path interferometer principle.     

Copper‐Catalyzed Ritter‐Type Reaction of Unactivated Alkenes with Dichloramine‐T

It was shown that dichloramine‐T ( 1 ) reacted with cyclohexene in acetonitrile to give N¹‐(2‐chlorocyclohexyl) amidine 2a and N‐(2‐chlorocyclohexyl)acetamide ( 3 ) via the competitive addition of acetonitrile and N‐chloro‐N‐tosylamino anion to cyclohexenechloronium ion. This reaction can be catalyzed by Cu(OAc)₂, primarily affording 2a . Furthermore, the resulting 2a can be cyclized to benzimidazol 14a in good yield by treating with KOH in dioxane.     

Determination of 13C concentration in biological materials using infrared absorption method

Tracer experiments on the transfer of carbon from culture solution to Daphnia magna through phytoplankton have been carried out using ¹³C and infrared absorption method. The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the experimental systems for the use of ¹³C in aquatic system. Daphnia magna was cultured in a 100 ml of solution containing phytoplankton and 20 mg of NaH¹³CO₃ for 24 hours in the light and dark conditions (2000 lux, 14 hour light and 10 hours dark at 25 C). The concentration of ¹³C in Daphnia magna under light condition was about 2.0% (atom% excess), while in the dark condition ¹³C tracer was not detected. The concentration of ¹³C in phytoplankton under light condition was around 20%. It was suggested that ¹³C added as carbonate in the culture solution was photosynthetically assimilated by phytoplankton and then transferred to Daphnia magna. Using this system, the effect of UV-B exposure on the ¹³C uptake of Daphnia magna has been examined. The UV-B intensity was 95 mW/cm² and exposure time was 15, 30, and 60 minutes. The concentration of ¹³C in Daphnia magna decreased with increasing exposure time. The Daphnia magna exposed to UV-B for 15 minutes intakes phytoplankton as much as control, while 30 minutes and 60 minutes exposures were lower than control. The lower concentrations of ¹³C observed in Daphnia magna were due to less intake of phytoplankton caused by the UV-B exposure.     

Spin States of Iron(III) in Highly Saddled Dodecaphenylporphyrin Complexes

The alignment correlation term in the β-decay angular distribution from purely nuclear spin aligned ²⁰Na has been measured for the first time. The final objective is to test the G parity symmetry, one of the fundamental symmetry in the weak nucleon current. For artificial creation of the alignment, the knowledge of the hyperfine interaction of ²⁰Na implanted in a single-crystal ZnO was utilized. *Research Abroad, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science     

Parallel Implementation of Successive Convex Relaxation Methods for Quadratic Optimization Problems

As computing resources continue to improve, global solutions for larger size quadrically constrained optimization problems become more achievable. In this paper, we focus on larger size problems and get accurate bounds for optimal values of such problems with the successive use of SDP relaxations on a parallel computing system called Ninf (Network-based Information Library for high performance computing).     

Effect of Comatic Aberration on the Propagation Characteristics of Laguerre--Gaussian Beams

Seidel comatic aberration is an important cause of deformation for a Laguerre--Gaussian (LG) beam. In addition, mono-axial comatic aberration, whose phase modulation depends only on one transverse coordinate, is also an important cause of beam deformation. Deformation of an LG beam by such aberrations is analyzed through numerical simulation based on the angular spectrum method. It is also shown that for holographically generated LG beams quadratic spatial variation of grating pitch can produce seidel and mono-axial comatic aberrations. An example of an experimentally generated LG beam with mono-axial comatic aberration is reported.     

Dispersive processes of light-induced defect creation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The growing curve of light-induced dangling bonds under illumination has been observed for various intensities of illumination in a-Si:H. It is fitted to a stretched exponential function and then two parameters β and τ involved in the function are estimated as a function of saturated dangling bond density . The experimental values of β, τ, and are compared with those calculated based on our model of light-induced defect creation in a-Si:H.