The microwave spectrum of piperidine: Equatorial and axial ground states

The microwave spectra of piperidine and N-deuterated piperidine were investigated between 8 and 40 GHz. The ground states of both equatorial and axial conformers have been identified by both type-A and type-C transitions, and the substitution coordinates of the imino hydrogen have been determined for both conformers. Dipole-moment components for the equatorial conformer are μ_a = 0.178 D, μ_c = 0.80 D, μ = 0.82 D, and for the axial conformer are μ_a = 1.07 D, μ_c = 0.521 D, μ = 1.19 D. The quadrupole coupling constants for the axial conformer are: χ_aa = ?3.80 MHz, χ_bb = 2.91 MHz, χ_cc = 0.83 MHz and for the equatorial conformer χ_cc = ?4.83 MHz. The rotational constants indicate a significant flattening of the ring in axial piperidine compared with equatorial piperidine. The equatorial conformer is the more abundant; intensity measurements on several sets of lines indicate the excess energy of the axial conformer to be 3.1 ± 0.3 kJ mole^?1. This represents a significant change from our earlier reported value and is now more in line with measurements obtained by other methods.     

Practical all-fiber source of high-power, 120-fs pulses at 1 micrometre

Amplification of femtosecond pulses at 1.03 micrometre in a standard Yb-doped single-mode fiber is reported. A pulse energy of 8 nJ and an average power of 400 mW are obtained, limited by available pump power. To our knowledge these are the highest pulse energy and average power obtained from an integrated, single-mode fiber amplifier. After dechirping, 120-fs, 6-nJ pulses are obtained. A practical fiber-based source with performance comparable with that of a bulk solid-state laser is thus demonstrated, and scaling to substantially higher powers will be possible.     

Holographic projector using one lens

It is shown that the lens count in a Fourier holographic projector can be reduced by encoding the equivalent lens power in sets of Fresnel holograms. By using appropriately calculated Fresnel holograms in a reflective configuration to effectively share a lens between the beam-expansion and demagnification stages of a holographic projector, a reduction in lens count from four to one is demonstrated.     

On the theory of slowing down gracefully

We discuss the transport of a tracer particle through the Bose?CEinstein condensate of a Bose gas. The particle interacts with the atoms in the Bose gas through two-body interactions. In the limiting regime where the particle is very heavy and the Bose gas is very dense, but very weakly interacting (??mean-field limit??), the dynamics of this system corresponds to classical Hamiltonian dynamics. We show that, in this limit, the particle is decelerated by emission of gapless modes into the condensate (Cerenkov radiation). For an ideal gas, the particle eventually comes to rest. In an interacting Bose gas, the particle is decelerated until its speed equals the propagation speed of the Goldstone modes of the condensate. This is a model of ??Hamiltonian friction??. It is also of interest in connection with the phenomenon of ??decoherence?? in quantum mechanics. This note is based on work we have carried out in collaboration with D Egli, I M Sigal and A Soffer.     

Single-phase Bi2+x(Ca,Sr) n+1 Cu n O2n+4+δ, n = 0, 1, 2, 3 AND ∞, and some substitutional DERIVATIVES

The preparation, structure and properties of five members of the homologous series Bi_2+x(Ca,Sr) _n+1 Cu _n O_2n+4+δ are discussed, namely for n = 0, 1, 2, 3 and ∞. The two end members are insulating phases with a fixed oxygen stoichiometry but the members n = 1, 2 and 3 are superconducting phases with T_c depending on the calcium to strontium ratio and on oxygen stoichiometry as determined by annealing temperature and oxygen partial pressure. Maximum zero resistance T_c 's obtained are n = 1: 76 K, n = 2: 91 K and n = 3: 106 K. The effects of Pb-substitution in n = 2 and n = 3 are discussed with particular reference to the stabilisation of the latter phase. Rare-earth substitution is shown to raise T_c for n = 2 to at least 101 K without the introduction of the n = 3 phase.     

ac Conductivity of mixed spinel NiAl0.7Cr0.7Fe0.6O4

ac Conductivity measurements are carried out across the metal to insulator transition in NiAl_0.7Cr_0.7Fe_0.6O₄. The low frequency data is analyzed using Summerfield scaling theory for hopping conductivity. The exponent of the scaling behavior has significantly different values in the conducting and insulating regimes. The hopping frequency and the zero frequency conductivity are found to increase with temperature, slowly in the metallic regime and rapidly in the insulating regime.     

Temperature hysteretic effect and its influence on colossal magnetoresistance of La0.33Nd0.33Ca0.33MnO3

Electrical resistance (R) measurements of a bulk La_0.33Nd_0.33Ca_0.33MnO₃ perovskite in magnetic fields up to 40 kOe have revealed anomalous temperature hysteretic effects both in 0 Oe and 20 kOe magnetic fields. The sharp peak observed in the R vs. T plot indicates the occurrence of metal-to-insulator (M-I) transition at a temperature of T _MI=110 K and 140 K, for cooling and warming paths, respectively. An applied magnetic field of 20 kOe reduces the resistance and shifts T _MI to 160 K and 185 K for cooling and warming, respectively. We have observed a much higher resistance in the cooling path than in the warming path leading to the hysteretic resistance ratio (R _cool/R _warm) of 200 at 110 K and 1.8 at 160 K for 0 Oe and 20 kOe, respectively. Record values of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) have been achieved. The CMR value reaches nearly 99% in the temperature ranges of 90 K to 140 K and 90 K to 170 K for 20 kOe and 40 kOe magnetic fields in the cooling mode, respectively. The observed unusual behavior is attributed to the co-existence of La-rich and Nd-rich domains assumed to be distributed randomly in the compound.