Dynamics of fluorescence of solid solutions of quantum dots and the organic dye DODCI: Experiment and numerical simulation

The fluorescence of solid solutions of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots and the organic dye DODCI is investigated. It is shown that nonradiative transfer of electronic excitation energy to dye molecules, which with some probability lose their acceptor properties as a result of photoisomerization or photodegradation, is responsible for a significant increase in the fluorescence intensity of a donor. The degree of polarization of the donor fluorescence attains values exceeding 0.5, which is due to the difference in the fluorescence quantum yields of donors with different orientations of the oscillator with respect to the electric vector of an excitation light wave. A numerical simulation of the experimentally observed dependences is performed.     

Measurements of total and positronium-formation cross sections for the scattering of positrons by alkali atoms

We present a review of our recent measurements of total cross sections (Q _T's) for the scattering of positrons by Na, K, and Rb, and positronium-formation cross sections (Q _Ps's) for Na and K. For our total cross section measurements, a beam transmission technique has been used. For ourQ _Ps measurements, our approach involves setting upper and lower limits onQ _Ps using a combination of (1) measuring the transmission of the positron beam with the angular discrimination of the apparatus made as poor as possible, and (2) measuring the 511 keV annihilation gamma rays in coincidence produced by the decay of para-Ps formed in the scattering cell. Comparison with theoretical calculations shows that our measuredQ _T's andQ _Ps's for Na and K agree reasonably well with a close coupling approximation (CCA) calculation which takes into account the formation of Ps in then=1 andn=2 states. In the 3–10 eV energy range, this calculation predicts a peak in theQ _T's andQ _Ps's for K which also appears in our measurements. The absence of such a peak in our measuredQ _T's andQ _Ps's (preliminary) for Na in this energy range is also consistent with the same theory. Comparisons with five-state CCA calculations ofQ _T which do not take Ps-formation into account also show good agreement with our positron-Na, K, and RbQ _T measurements for energies above 20 eV, but show dramatic departures from our measurements below 10 eV for K and Rb.     

Muon spin resonance and repolarization in amorphous silicon monoxide (a-SiO)

Studies of the muonium fractions in the amorphous oxide a-SiO have been carried out by RF resonance at TRIUMF, Canada and LF repolarization techniques at RAL, U.K. The resonance measurements confirm the presence of the interstitial Mu centre in this intermediate oxide of silicon. Analysis of the data gathered at RAL, using a recently-developed fitting technique, reveals that the Mu^* state is present here as well, but with lower relative fractions than in a-Si. However, as in the latter material, but in contrast to c-Si, this bond-centre species appears to be stable up to room temperature.     

Fe2+/Fe3+ ratios in bottom sediments of some lakes in British Columbia,Canada

Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ ratio versus sediment depth values have been determined for ten lakes in British Columbia. The values often reflect the local topography of the lakes, the weathering history of the deposited minerals, and the diagenesis of the minerals after deposition in the lake.     

Mössbauer investigation of amorphous-to-crystalline transformation of Fe62Ni16B14Si8 by isothermal annealing

Room temperature transmission Mössbauer spectra of Fe₆₂Ni₁₆B₁₄Si₈ ribbons, annealed in vacuum for time periods ranging from 5 to 60 minutes at the crystallization temperatureT _x=720 K, have been used to investigate the crystallization mechanism by isothermal annealing. Reorientation of the magnetic anisotropy almost normal to the ribbon plane was observed and correlated to the annealing time dependence of the mean hyperfine field (HF) of the amorphous component. Crystallization started at the surface before the bulk and was found to occur in two steps: a metastable equilibrium of the amorphous phase with (FeNi), (FeNi)Si and t-(FeNi)₃B, followed by the decomposition of t-(FeNi)₃B into t-(FeNi)₂B and (FeNi). The increase of the mean magnetic moment at the Fe sites as compared to related iron-based alloys was attributed to compositional small Ni additions.     

On the ion exchange defects in aluminosilicate lattices

Summary Samples of synthetic leucite and boron-substituted leucite are investigated by infrared spectroscopy and spectrally resolved thermoluminescence. Evidence is obtained in favour of the assumption that point defects in aluminosilicate lattices are originated by exchanges of Si⁺⁴ and Al⁺³ ions lying in different cells.     

Synthesis of 1,3,4,6,7,11b-hexahydro[1,4]thiazino[3,4,-a]-isoquinolin-4-one,an analog of prasiquantel

Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 7, pp. 994–996, July, 1992.     

Alfven's programme in solar system physics

Hannes Alfven's research program in solar system physics provides a valuable case study for the historians and philosophers of science. The response of the scientific community to his remarkable contributions is a severe test of widely held views about how science is or should be done. Seven of those contributions are examined, in the light of two doctrines of scientific methodology, those of Karl Popper (1959) and Imre Lakatos (1978). The seven are: application of the magnetic braking concept to the origin of the solar system; magnetohydrodynamic waves; field-aligned (`Birkeland') currents; critical ionization velocity and the existence of planetary rings; jet streams; electrostatic double layers; and partial corotation     

Theory of a frequency-step-tunable gyrotron for optimum plasma ECRH

A theory is presented which describes the dependence of the multimode operation of a gyrotron on the modulation and beam voltages. Nonlinear nonstationary processes are considered. An approximate start-up scenario of a gyrotron is determined which makes it possible to achieve single-mode excitation and high-efficiency operation in a desired mode, as well as to switch the tube to a similar operation in other modes