High brightness keV harmonics from relativistically oscillating plasma surfaces

X-ray harmonic radiation extending to 3.3 Å, 3.8 keV from Petawatt class laser-solid interactions is presented. The harmonic spectra display a relativistic limit scaling up to ~3000th order, above which an intensity dependent scaling roll-over is observed. Highly directional beamed emission for harmonic photon energy hν > 1 keV is found to be into a cone angle < 4°, significantly less than that of the incident laser cone (20°).     

Laser-driven proton acceleration and applications: Recent results

The acceleration of high-energy ion beams following the interaction of short (t < 1 ps) and intense (Iλ² > 10¹⁸ W cm^-2 μm²) laser pulses with solid targets is a field of research currently attracting high interest in the scientific community, due to some of the unique properties of these ion sources, promising routes toward the optimization of their energy content, and a number of possible, innovative applications in the scientific, technological and medical areas. Work on the characterization and development of these sources has progressed enormously over the past few years, thanks to the contribution of many groups worldwide. This paper will report some recent results, obtained in experiments carried out at the RAL and LULI laboratories, in which we investigated the ion acceleration mechanism, developed a technique to control the ion beam divergence and energy spectrum, and applied a proton radiography technique to investigate electric and magnetic field production following laser-matter interaction.     

Size effect during two-particle agglomeration: Results of molecular dynamics simulation

The microscopic mechanisms controlling the atomic rearrangements during agglomeration of Ni particles 3 to 7 nm in size at temperatures T = 0.6–0.95 T _m have been studied by the molecular dynamics method. Pentagonally twinned crystals were obtained as a result of coalescence for the disorientations corresponding to special Σ11 and Σ27 large-angle boundaries.     

Laser surface modification of Al–4Cu–1Mg alloy for enhanced thermal conductivity

The feasibility of enhancing thermal conductivity of Al–4Cu–1Mg alloy by depositing 80Cu–20Mo coating using high-power lasers has been examined. Coatings of 667±2.5 μm thickness were formed with metallurgically sound interface. Results showed an 86% increase in the thermal conductivity of Al–4Cu–1Mg alloy due to laser-deposited 80Cu–20Mo alloy coating. This coating approach can potentially be used on low coefficient of thermal expansion metal matrix composites to enhance their thermal conductivity in electronic devices.     

Statistical Optimization of Alpha-Amylase Production with Immobilized Cells of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces erumpens</Emphasis> MTCC 7317 in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Luffa cylindrica</Emphasis> L. Sponge Discs

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of Streptomyces erumpens cells immobilized in various matrices, i.e., agar–agar, polyacrylamide, and luffa (Luffa cylindrica L.) sponge for production of α-amylase. Luffa sponge was found to be 21% and 51% more effective in enzyme yield than agar–agar and polyacrylamide, respectively. Response surface methodology was used to evaluate the effect of three main variables, i.e., incubation period, pH, and temperature on enzyme production with immobilized luffa cells. The experimental results showed that the optimum incubation period, pH, and temperature were 36h, 6.0, and 50 °C, respectively. The repeated batch fermentation of immobilized cells in shake flasks showed that S. erumpens cells were more or less equally physiologically active on the support even after three cycles of fermentation (3,830–3,575 units). The application of S. erumpens crude enzyme in liquefying cassava starch was studied. The maximum hydrolysis of cassava starch (85%) was obtained with the application of 4ml (15,200 units) of crude enzyme after 5 h of incubation.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">U</Emphasis>-orthodox semigroups

As a generalization of an orthodox semigroup in the class of regular semigroups, a type W semigroup was first investigated by El-Qallali and Fountain. As an analogy of the type W semigroups in the class of abundant semigroups, we introduce the U-orthodox semigroups. It is shown that the maximum congruence μ contained in on U-orthodox semigroups can be determined. As a consequence, we show that a U-orthodox semigroup S can be expressed by the spined product of a Hall semigroup W _U and a V-ample semigroup (T,V). This theorem not only generalizes a known result of Hall-Yamada for orthodox semigroups but also generalizes another known result of El-Qallali and Fountain for type W semigroups. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10671151) and Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. SJ08A06), and partially by UGC (HK) (Grant No. 2160123)     

Biological control of a predator–prey system through provision of a super predator

In this paper, we make a systematic analysis of the dynamics of a predator–prey system with type-II functional response, in which the predator growth rate is affected by the presence of a super predator. The main aim of this research is to study the consequences of the presence of a super predator on the system dynamics. The existence and stability of the different possible equilibrium points are studied, and we conclude that the maximum consumption rate of a super predator plays a key role in determining the eventual state of the ecosystem. A detailed bifurcation analysis is carried out through numerical simulations, and we observe that theoretically it is possible to control the dynamics of the system by manipulating the consumption rate of the super predator.     

Study of supersolidity in the two-dimensional Hubbard–Holstein model

We derive an effective Hamiltonian for the two-dimensional Hubbard–Holstein model in the regimes of strong electron–electron and strong electron–phonon interactions by using a nonperturbative approach. In the parameter region where the system manifests the existence of a correlated singlet phase, the effective Hamiltonian transforms to a t₁ ? V ₁ ? V ₂ ? V ₃ Hamiltonian for hard-core-bosons on a checkerboard lattice. We employ quantum Monte Carlo simulations, involving stochastic-series-expansion technique, to obtain the ground state phase diagram. At filling 1∕8, as the strength of off-site repulsion increases, the system undergoes a first-order transition from a superfluid to a diagonal striped solid with ordering wavevector \(\vec{Q}\) = (π∕4, 3π∕4) or (π∕4, 5π∕4). Unlike the one-dimensional situation, our results in the two-dimensional case reveal a supersolid phase (corresponding to the diagonal striped solid) around filling 1∕8 and at large off-site repulsions. Furthermore, for small off-site repulsions, we witness a valence bond solid at one-fourth filling and tiny phase-separated regions at slightly higher fillings.     

Potential-screening on atomic wavelengths

In this article, we review or report recent works on atomic wavelengths in screening environments. We mainly review recent works on the transition, tune-out and magic wavelengths with Coulomb and screened Coulomb potentials. We also present our investigation on tune-out and magic wavelengths for two-electron Yukawa atoms. The various transition wavelengths for two-electron systems with and without screening environments are also presented.