Self-assembled lamellar nanostructures of wholly aromatic rod-rod-type block molecules

Wholly aromatic rod-rod type di- and triblock molecules, oligo(ether sulfone)-b-oligo(ether ketone)s (OES-OEK), were synthesized to study a solid-state self-assembled nanostructure. The OES and OEK segments in the block molecules form segregated crystalline domains. The energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy images revealed that the di- and triblock OES-OEK co-oligomers formed lamellar nanostructures with a periodicity of approximately 9 and 13 nm, respectively. [structure: see text].     

Design of axisymmetric multi-mirror grazing incidence system to increase the numerical aperture of neutron and X-ray microscopes

An axisymmetric multi-mirror system for neutron and X-ray microscopes is proposed to increase their numerical aperture and collection efficiency. A Wolter type-I mirror is used as the basis of the multi-mirror system at grazing incidence. The addition of an even number of hyperboloid mirrors to the Wolter type-I mirror can satisfy both an equal optical path length and Abbe’s sine condition. The numerical aperture increases in proportion to the number of mirrors. The optical parameters of the system with four tandem mirrors are calculated for neutrons and X-rays with a wavelength of 0.4 nm by assuming that the average grazing angle of incidence is 5.4 mrad and the magnification is 10. The inner diameters of the mirrors are limited to <10 mm considering the total length of the optical system. Tolerance of off-axis distance was calculated using a ray-tracing computer simulation. Ray tracing shows that a blur size <14 nm will be possible at an off-axis displacement of 10 μm.     

Femtosecond laser micromachining and biological therapy

Nonlinear micromachining with femtosecond laser pulses has attracted much attention in microphotonics and biophotonics. In this paper, we demonstrate the fabrication of optical elements in bulk transparent materials, direct welding between transparent substrates, and subcellular ablation in living cells by focusing femtosecond laser pulses.     

Optical properties of natural quantum-well compounds (C6H5-CnH2n-NH3)2PbBr4 (n=1-4)

This paper describes the synthesis and characterization of self-assembled organic-inorganic layered perovskite compounds, (C₆H₅-C_nH_2n-NH₃)₂PbBr₄ (n=1-4). the effect of the number of carbon atoms of the alkyl chain length (n) on optical properties has been studied. (C₆H₅-C_nH_2n-NH₃)₂PbBr₄ films fabricated by spin-coating are microcrystalline form, single phase and oriented with the c-axis. Crystallinity, the maximum PL intensity and the lifetime of exciton emissions varied with the number of carbon atoms. the lowest-energy exciton splits into a few fine-structure levels at low temperatures. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra reveal that (C₆H₅-C_nH_2n-NH₃)₂PbBr₄ shows both singlet and triplet excitons. with decreasing temperature, triplet exciton emissions become dominant for (C₆H₅-C_nH_2n-NH₃)₂PbBr₄ (n=1-3), while (C₆H₅-C₄H₈-NH₃)₂PbBr₄ shows mainly singlet exciton emissions. The intersystem crossing from excited singlet state to triplet state plays an important role in the relaxation process of excitons.     

High-K multi-quasiparticle states in No

We report results from an experiment on the decay of the high-K isomers in ²⁵⁴No. We have been able to establish the decay from the known high-lying four-quasiparticle isomer, which we assign as a Kπ=¹⁶⁺${\mathrm{K}}^{\pi }={16}^{+}$ state at an excitation energy of Ex=2.928(3) MeV${\mathrm{E}}_x=2.928(3)\text{MeV}$. The decay of this state passes through a rotational band based on a previously unobserved state at Ex=2.012(2) MeV${\mathrm{E}}_x=2.012(2)\text{MeV}$, which we suggest is based on a two-quasineutron configuration with Kπ=¹⁰⁺${\mathrm{K}}^{\pi }={10}^{+}$. This state in turn decays to a rotational band based on the known Kπ=⁸⁻${\mathrm{K}}^{\pi }=8^{-}$ isomer, which we infer must also have a two quasineutron configuration. We are able to assign many new gamma-rays associated with the decay of the Kπ=⁸⁻${\mathrm{K}}^{\pi }=8^{-}$ isomer, including the identification of a highly K-forbidden ΔK=8$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{K}=8$ E1 transition to the ground-state band. These results provide valuable new information on the orbitals close to the Fermi surface, pairing correlations, deformation and rotational response, and K-conservation in nuclei of the deformed trans-fermium region.     

In situ characterization of transport properties of superconducting (Cu, C)-system thin films

Transport properties of (Cu, C)Ba₂CuO_x [(Cu, C)-1201] thin films have been characterized by in situ temperature dependence of resistivity, without breaking vacuum from the deposition to the measurement. In in situ transport properties measurements, the obtained results reveal that (Cu, C)Ba₂CuO_x films exhibit T_c > 20 K on the cased of conductivity at 290 K (σ_[290 K]) > 4 × 10² S/cm and temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) > 1.5 × 10^?3 K^?1, and doping level of them should be in between under-doped and optimally-doped states. Their results suggest that there would be possible to further increases of T_c, and XPS data suggest that (Cu, C)-system should have the excellent dopability in their charge reservoir and the possibility of low anisotropy.     

Structural change of a cofactor binding site of flavoprotein detected by single-protein fluorescence spectroscopy at 1.5 k

The visible fluorescence spectrum of single flavoprotein at a temperature of 1.5 K has been measured by one-photon excitation. The flavoprotein studied was a photoswitchable enzyme, photoactivated adenylyl cyclase. The time course of the spectrum revealed a structural change occurring at a rate of 10(-3) s(-1) around hydrogen bonds at the flavin cofactor binding site.     

Unusually small electrical resistance of three-dimensional nanoporous gold in external magnetic fields

We report the electric conductivity of three-dimensional (3D) nanoporous gold at low temperatures and in strong magnetic fields. It was found that topologically disordered 3D nanoporosity leads to extremely low magnetoresistance and anomalous temperature dependence as the characteristic length of nanoporous gold is tuned to be approximately 14 nm. This study underscores the importance of 3D topology of a nanostructure on electronic transport properties and has implications in manipulating electron transport by tailoring 3D nanostructures.