Magneto-transport and ferromagnetic resonance studies of polycrystalline La0.6Pb0.4MnO3 thin films

To understand the nature of grain boundaries in polycrystalline materials, magneto-transport and ferromagnetic resonance measurement have been performed in polycrystalline La_0.6Pb_0.4MnO₃ (LPMO) thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Films are found to undergo a semiconductor to metal transition at 230 K and re-enter into the semiconducting state below 130 K. Microwave absorption measurements carried out as function of applied field show two components of resonant absorption signal. First component is in accordance with ferromagnetic transition of grains at Curie temperature and the second component shows antiferromagnetic transition of grain boundaries at 160 K. An additional non-resonant absorption signal centered at zero field has also been observed that supports transition from conducting to insulating grain boundaries at ∼160 K. Further, temperature dependence of resistance in semiconducting state at low temperatures is in accordance with coulomb blockade model indicating insulating nature of AFM grain boundaries.     

A comparative kinetic study for the oxidation of 2‐mercaptoethanol by di‐μ‐oxo‐bis(1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane)‐dimanganese(III,IV) and di‐μ‐oxo‐bis(1,4,8,11‐tetraazacyclotetradecane)‐dimanganese(III,IV) complexes: Influence of copper(II)

A comparative kinetic study of the reactions of two mixed valence manganese(III,IV) complexes with macrocyclic ligands, [L¹Mn^IV(O)₂Mn^IIIL¹], 1 (L¹ = 1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane) and [L²Mn^IV(O)₂Mn^IIIL²], 2 (L² = 1,4,8,11‐tetraazacyclotetradecane) with 2‐mercaptoethanol (RSH) has been carried out by spectrophotometry in aqueous buffer at (30 ± 0.1)°C. Rate of the reactions between the oxidants and the reductant was found to be negligibly slow with no systematic dependence on either redox partners. Externally added copper(II) (usually 5 × 10^?7 mol dm^?3), however, increases the rate of the reduction of 1 and 2 significantly. In the presence of catalytic amount of copper(II), the rate of the reaction is nearly proportional to [RSH] at lower concentration of the reductant but follows a saturation kinetics at higher concentration of the latter for the reaction between 1 and the thiol. Reaction rate was found to be strongly influenced by the variation of acidity of the medium and the observed kinetics suggests that the two reductant species ([Cu(RSH)]²⁺ and [Cu(RS)]⁺) are significant for the reaction between 1 and the thiol. The dependence of the rate on [RSH] for the reduction of 2 by the thiol was complex and rationalized considering two equilibria involving the catalyst (Cu²⁺) and the reductant. The pH rate profile suggests that both the μ‐O protonated [Mn^III(O)(OH)Mn^IV] and the deprotonated [Mn^III(O)₂Mn^IV] forms of the oxidant 2 become important. The kinetic results presented in this study indicate the domination of outer‐sphere path. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 36: 129–137, 2004     

A direct experimental test of the coexistence model for the structure of the giant dipole resonance in 16O

A direct experimental test of the recently proposed coexistence model for the structure of giant dipole resonance in ¹⁶O is discussed.     

An Economic Order Quantity Model for Items with Two Levels of Storage for a Linear Trend in Demand

A deterministic inventory model with two levels of storage (own warehouse and rented warehouse) is studied by considering a linear (positive) trend in demand. Firstly, the model is formulated and solved without allowing backlogging. Secondly, the model is reformulated and solved under the assumptions that shortages in inventory are allowed and backlogged. The results are illustrated with the help of numerical examples.     

A Study of Small Amplitude Ion Acoustic Double Layers in a Multi-Species Unmagnetized Plasma

We report here analytic solutions for weak ion acoustic double layers in an unmagnetized multi-species plasma having two electron components, each described by a Boltzmann distribution, and two ions of different masses, each described by usual fluid equations. The velocity and the width of the double layers for different amplitude has been studied.     

Experimental realization of a novel dispersion- compensating optical fiber amplifier for simultaneous compensation of positive dispersion and losses

Erbium-doped dispersion-compensating optical fiber (EDCF) has been theoretically simulated and experimentally fabricated using Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) for optimum operation at 5.0km. It is optimized for both gain as well as negative dispersion. The erbium has been doped into the cladding region while the core of the optical fiber is chosen to be narrow so as to have a high negative dispersion. Measured gain of 3.1 dB at 200 m using 100 mW pumping power (980 nm wavelength) at 1550 nm has been obtained and the gain of 32 dB at 5.0 km using same pumping scheme has been predicted. The chromatic dispersion of this EDCF has been also measured to be –43.5 ps/km-nm at 1550 nm and thus, providing the dispersion of –217.5 ps/nm at 5 km. The bend-induced losses are found to be negligible. We are the first to report the experimental realization of EDCF.     

Correlation between fractional independent yields and neutron-to-proton ratio of fission products in low energy fission

Fractional independent yields of fission products in the thermal neutron-induced fission of²³³U,²³⁵U,²³⁹Pu,²⁴¹Pu and in the spontaneous fission of²⁵²Cf have been correlated with the neutron-to-proton ratio of the fission products. The yields of the products from a fissioning system, when plotted as a function of neutron-to-proton (N/Z) ratio of fission preducts, fall on two Gaussian distribution corresponding to light and heavy fission products. The centroids of the distribution or the most probable value of neutron-to-proton ratio is found to be very close to theN/Z of the fissioning nucleus. From the most probable value ofN/Z the various parameters of charge distribution e.g. most probable massA _p, most probable chargeZ _p, the mass dispersionσ _Aand the charge dispersionσ _Zhave been obtained and are in good agreement with the experimental values ofA _pandZ _p.     

Non-linear conduction in a quasi one-dimensional conductor at low temperatures

The current-voltage characteristics of a quasi one-dimensional organic system having asymmetric donor molecule like Qn-(TCNQ)₂ pellet with stoichiometry 1:2 grown from acetonitrile as a solvent have been studied atT=69 K. The characteristic curves show a pronounced deviation from ohmicity beyond a certain value of current. For higher values of currents a negative differential resistance region is observed.     

A re-appraisal of modelling in a liquid surfactant membrane waste water clean up process

Two categories of model have been developed to describe the mass transfer process in emulsion liquid membrane extraction of phenols/amines from waste water. In the first the reaction between the transferred solutes and the trapping agent in the internal phase is assumed to be irreversible while in the second a reversible reaction is involved. Generally the various authors have tested the proposed models against their own experimental data. The present study is an attempt to investigate the efficacy of the reversible reaction model of Bunge and Noble, which is simpler to use and requires input of less parameters to predict the experimental data reported by different authors. It is shown that by introducing a shape factor into the model for the effective diffusivity of solute within the macrodrop, it is possible to use this model to simulate experimental data of other groups reasonably well.     

Wavelength selective detection using excitonic resonances in GaAs/AlGaAs P-I-(MQW)-N structures

The quantum confined Stark effect causes a strong wavelength and voltage dependence of photocurrent near excitonic resonances which is used to study the wavelength selectivity of p-i(MQW)-n photodiode. For a parallel input of optical bits each coming at a different wavelength, the selectivity is considered good if the state of a λ_i wavelength bit can be detected regardless of the λ_j (j ≠ i) state of the bits. Photocurrent is found to have very good selectivity if λ_j bits are all zero, i.e. the optical information is serial. However, we find that differential photocurrent (Δ I_ph/ΔV) provides a good selectivity for random states of λ_j bits (i.e. parallel input). Four channel selectivity is demonstrated at 200K. Specially designed quantum well structures can greatly improve this selectivity.