Theory for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

This paper reviews a new theory for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. This gives the non-equilibrium analogue of the Boltzmann probability distribution, and the generalization of entropy to dynamic states. It is shown that this so-called second entropy is maximized in the steady state, in contrast to the rate of production of the conventional entropy, which is not an extremum. The relationships of the new theory to Onsager's regression hypothesis, Prigogine's minimal entropy production theorem, the Langevin equation, the formula of Green and Kubo, the Kawasaki distribution, and the non-equilibrium fluctuation and work theorems, are discussed. The theory is worked through in full detail for the case of steady heat flow down an imposed temperature gradient. A Monte Carlo algorithm based upon the steady state probability density is summarized, and results for the thermal conductivity of a Lennard-Jones fluid are shown to be in agreement with known values. Also discussed is the generalization to non-equilibrium mechanical work, and to non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. As examples of the new theory two general applications are briefly explored: a non-equilibrium version of the second law of thermodynamics, and the origin and evolution of life.     

A high power hybrid mid-IR laser source

An efficient hybrid mid-IR laser system comprising a thulium fibre laser, Ho:YAG solid state laser and a zinc germanium phosphide optical parametric oscillator is presented. A 790 nm diode pumped 1908 nm thulium fibre laser operating at 30 W pumps an RTP q-switched Ho:YAG laser emitting 17 W at 40 kHz and 2090 nm. The zinc germanium phosphide optical parametric oscillator efficiently converts this into the 3-5 μm region producing 10.1 W with 59% optical conversion efficiency and an M² = 1.5.     

Use of complexing reagents as additives to the eluent for optimization of separation selectivity in high-performance chelation ion chromatography

This paper details a study of the selectivity characteristics of high-performance chelation ion chromatography when separating a range of metal ions with a number of complexing eluents. It shows that exploitation of competitive metal complexation between ligands in the eluent and surface bonded chelating groups allows a wide range of control over the retention order and selectivity coefficients of groups of metal ions for specific applications. An indication of the metal separation characteristics found for simple non-complexing eluents on iminodiacetic acid (IDA) silica bonded substrates is given first, followed by an illustration of the selectivity changes that can be achieved by using complexing eluents. Using a novel approach, plots of logbeta(1) of the metal complexes of a chosen eluent ligand against the surface bonded IDA metal complexes were found to be useful indicators of which metals may show unusual selectivity changes during separation. Example chromatograms of metal separations are given for three selected complexing eluent reagents, namely, oxalic acid, picolinic acid, and chloride, either singly or in admixture. For special mention it was found that very specific retention control could be achieved for Cu(II) with picolinic acid, Fe(III) and Fe(II) speciation with oxalic acid, Pb with dipicolinic acid and Cd with chloride.     

Time correlations and the second entropy

The authors study the transport of mass and heat in simulations of a Lennard-Jones fluid and demonstrate the calculation of transport coefficients, and of both the first and second entropies. These entropies are calculated from time correlation functions, as are the transport coefficients. They discuss the role of the second entropy in providing a physical explanation for the link between dynamic fluctuations and response. They illustrate the physical significance of the various contributions to the second entropy and how they simplify in the case of relaxation by steady-state flow. Certain approximations proposed for the calculation of the first entropy, common in the literature, are shown to break down under certain circumstances, and they give an improved method of calculation. They pay particular attention to the coupling between variables of opposite time parity in the transport matrix, and show that in general this cannot be neglected.     

微波等离子体原子发射光谱法(MP-AES)测定地质样品中的常量和微量元素

建立了微波等离子体原子发射光谱法(MP-AES)测定地质样品中的常量和微量元素的方法,四酸(盐酸+硝酸+高氯酸+氢佛酸)消解样品,得出了使用4200 MP-AES仪分析地化认证参考物质中常规金属元素(Ag,Cu,Ni,Pb和Zn)的结果,测定样品结果的相对标准偏差落在±10%范围内,另外,IEC和FLIC模型可成功校正光谱干扰。MP-AES仪无需使用乙炔等危险气体,极大提高了实验室安全性并显著降低了运行成本。MP-AES仪已成功应用于地化样品的分析中,结果准确可靠。