Low energy (e,2e) studies from CH4: results from symmetric coplanar experiments and molecular three-body distorted wave theory

Low energy experimental and theoretical triply differential cross sections are presented for electron impact ionization of methane (CH(4)) for both the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and next highest occupied molecular orbital (NHOMO). The HOMO is a predominantly p-type orbital which is labeled 1t(2) and the NHOMO is predominantly s-type labeled 2a(1). Coplanar symmetric (symmetric both in final state electron energies and observation angles) are presented for final state electron energies ranging from 2.5 to 20 eV. The theoretical M3DW (molecular three-body distorted wave) results are in surprisingly good agreement with experiment for the HOMO state and less satisfactory agreement for the NHOMO state. The molecular NHOMO results are also compared with the ionization of the 2s shell of neon which is the isoelectronic atom.     

Compensation of gradient-induced magnetic field perturbations

Pulsed magnetic field gradients are essential for MR imaging and localized spectroscopy applications. However, besides the desired linear field gradients, pulsed currents in a strong external magnetic field also generate unwanted effects like eddy currents, gradient coil vibrations and acoustic noise. While the temporal magnetic field perturbations associated with eddy currents lead to spectral line shape distortions and signal loss, the vibration-related modulations lead to anti-symmetrical sidebands of any large signal (i.e. water), thereby obliterating the signals from low-concentration metabolites. Here the measurement, characterization and compensation of vibration-related magnetic field perturbations is presented. Following a quantitative evaluation of the various temporal components of the main magnetic field, a digital B0 magnetic field waveform is generated which reduces all temporal variations of the main magnetic field to within the spectral noise level.     

X-ray radiation of poly-L-arginine hydrochloride and multilayered DNA-coatings

The aim of this work was to determine the chemical changes induced in thin films of the dry polypeptide poly-L-arginine hydrochloride and its mixture with calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) during 5 h of soft X-ray exposure. The physical and chemical effects of the soft X-ray irradiation were studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Analysis of O1s, N1s and C1s features in XPS spectra reveals the existence of several routes of radiation-induced decomposition and shows quantitative and qualitative changes.     

Bifurcation of Soliton Families from Linear Modes in Non‐‐Symmetric Complex Potentials

Continuous families of solitons in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with non‐‐symmetric complex potentials and general forms of nonlinearity are studied analytically. Under a weak assumption, it is shown that stationary equations for solitons admit a constant of motion if and only if the complex potential is of a special form , where is an arbitrary real function. Using this constant of motion, the second‐order complex soliton equation is reduced to a new second‐order real equation for the amplitude of the soliton. From this real soliton equation, a novel perturbation technique is employed to show that continuous families of solitons bifurcate out from linear discrete modes in these non‐‐symmetric complex potentials. All analytical results are corroborated by numerical examples.     

Enhanced coherence of weakly coupled lasers

We present the phase-locking and coherence properties between two weakly coupled lasers. We show how the degree of coherence between the two lasers can be enhanced by nearly 1 order of magnitude after taking into account the effects of coupling on both their phases as well as their amplitudes. Specifically, correlations between synchronized spikes in the amplitude dynamics and the phase dynamics of the lasers allow for an interference pattern with a fringe visibility of 90%, even when the coupling strength is far below the critical value and they are not phase locked.