Normal and superconducting properties of single-crystalline BaPb1−xBixO3

Hall coefficient, resistivity and superconducting upper critical field H_n2 were measured on single-crystalline BaPb_1?xBi_xO₃ of compositions x = 0.20, 0.12 and 0, of which the normal-state properties differ significantly from those of polycrystals. The slope dH_n2/dT at T_c was estimated from the normal-state parameters and was found to agree well with the observed value, suggesting that this material is a bulk BCS superconductor.     

Counterion binding in Na poly(acrylate) gel. An 23Na‐NMR study

Counterion binding in Na poly(acrylate) gel immersed in water/organic solvent [ethanol (EtOH), acetonitrile (AcN), or tetrahydrofuran (THF)] mixtures was investigated by ²³Na‐NMR spectroscopy. With an increase in the content of an organic solvent (～40–50 vol %), the ²³Na chemical shift significantly moved downfield on a gel collapse. This downfield shift strongly suggests that the gel collapse was induced by contact ion‐pair formation between the counterion and the carboxyl anion on the polymer. With a further increase in the solvent content (～90 vol %), the chemical shift for an EtOH system showed a slight upfield shift, while THF and AcN systems maintained downfield shifts. The contrasting behaviors for EtOH and the latter two solvent systems were interpreted as being caused by desolvation and resolvation of bound Na⁺ counterions because of deswelling and reswelling of the respective gels in the pertinent solvent concentration regions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4412–4420, 2004     

155Gd Mössbauer Isomer Shifts and Quadrupole Coupling Constants of Gadolinium Complexes

Hyperfine Interactions - We have examined the 155Gd Mössbauer spectra at 12 K for 25 complexes having different coordination numbers and different ratios of coordinating oxygen to nitrogen...     

Correlators of matrix models on homogeneous spaces

We investigate the correlators of TrA_μA_ν in matrix models on homogeneous spaces: S² and S²×S². Their expectation value is a good order parameter to measure the geometry of the space on which non-commutative gauge theory is realized. They also serve as the Wilson lines which carry the minimum momentum. We develop an efficient procedure to calculate them through 1PI diagrams. We determine the large N scaling behavior of the correlators. The order parameter shows that fuzzy S²×S² acquires a 4-dimensional fractal structure in contrast to fuzzy S². We also find that the two point functions exhibit logarithmic scaling violations.     

Unipolar charging of nanoparticles by the Surface-discharge Microplasma Aerosol Charger (SMAC)

In this paper, we report the development of a novel unipolar charger for nanoparticles, a system that achieves low particle loss and high charging efficiency without the use of sheath air. The efficient unipolar charging of the system is realized mainly by the surface-discharge microplasma unit, a device previously applied with good success to the neutralization or charging of submicron particles [Kwon et al., 2005, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 39, 987–1001; 2006, J. Aerosol Sci., 37, 483–499]. The unipolar charger generates unipolar ions using the surface discharge of a single electrode with a DC pulse supply. This marks an advance from our previous method of generating bipolar ions with the use of dual electrodes in earlier studies. We evaluated the efficiency of the penetration (or loss) and charging of nanoparticles in the size range of 3–15 nm, then compared the charging efficiencies measured with those predicted by diffusion charging theory. More than 90% of inlet nanoparticles penetrated the charger (less than 10% of the particle were lost) without the use of sheath air. Other chargers have only realized this high penetration efficiency by relying on sheath air flow. Moreover, the measured charging efficiencies agreed well with those predicted by diffusion charging theory and were somewhat higher and more size-dependent than the charging efficiencies of other nanoparticle chargers.     

100 W, single-frequency operation of an injection-locked Nd:YAG laser

We have built a single-frequency Nd:YAG laser capable of producing an output power of 101 W by injection locking a slave laser that can emit an output power of 121 W in the free-running state to a 2-W master laser. We confirmed that the output mode was diffraction limited and linearly polarized.     

Effects of dissolved gas species on ultrasonic degradation of (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) acetic acid (MCPA) in aqueous solution

Sonochemical degradation of MCPA ((4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) acetic acid) in dilute aqueous solutions was studied using ultrasound with a frequency of 500 kHz. The effect of gas atmosphere on MCPA degradation was investigated in nitrogen (N(2)), air (O(2)/N(2)), oxygen (O(2)), argon (Ar) and Ar/O(2) (60/40% v/v) atmospheres. For sonochemical degradation of MCPA in N(2), air (O(2)/N(2)), O(2) and Ar atmospheres, the rate enhancement of MCPA decomposition by sonolysis was found to be more effective in an O(2)-enriched atmosphere compared to Ar atmosphere. It was considered that a higher amount of oxidants was formed in a higher O(2) partial pressure, which accelerated MCPA decomposition in a radical reaction system. On the other hand, both dechlorination and total organic carbon (TOC) removal rates were higher in Ar atmosphere, compared to those in O(2)/N(2) atmosphere. It was found that, MCPA was most effectively decomposed by sonication in Ar/O(2) (60/40% v/v) atmosphere, with higher rates of decomposition, dechlorination and TOC removal.     

Effect of omega-hydrogenation on the adsorption of fluorononanols at the hexane/water interface: Temperature effect on the adsorption of fluorononanols

The interfacial tensions (gamma) of the hexane solutions of 1H,1H-perfluorononanol (FDFC9OH) and its omega-hydrogenated analogue 1H,1H,9H-perfluorononanol (HDFC9OH) against water were measured as a function of temperature and concentration under atmospheric pressure in order to know the effect of omega-dipoles on the adsorption behavior of fluorononanols. The interfacial pressure (pi) versus mean area per adsorbed molecule (A) curves consist of two discontinuous changes among three different states: the gaseous, expanded, and condensed states. The A values at given pi in the gaseous and expanded states are larger for HDFC9OH than for FDFC9OH. The changes in partial molar entropy (s1(H) - s1(O)) and energy (u1(H) - u1(O)) of adsorption were evaluated. Their values are negative, and therefore, the alcohols have a smaller entropy and energy at the interface than in the bulk solution. Furthermore, the u1(H) - u1(O) value is more negative for HDFC9OH than for FDFC9OH in the expanded state and also in the condensed film just above the expanded-condensed phase transition point. This seems to be due to the following: (1) HDFC9OH may tilt from interface normal for omega-dipoles to interact effectively with water molecules in the interfacial region and to reduce their own repulsive interaction between neighbors arranging parallel in the adsorbed film. This leads to a lower value for HDFC9OH than for FDFC9OH. (2) The contact of omega-dipoles with hexane molecules in the bulk solution is energetically unfavorable, and thus, the u1(O) value of HDFC9OH is expected to be larger than that of FDFC9OH.     

Investigation of nuclear-spin couplings in the lithium fluorides as possible candidates for crystal nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computing devices

We have performed ⁷Li and ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in two lithium fluorides BaLiF₃ and YLiF₄ to explore the possibility of a crystal NMR quantum computing device. We find that (1) both the absolute values and the angular dependences of the line widths can primarily be accounted for by the nuclear dipolar fields, and (2) the spin–lattice relaxation times are long enough for quantum computations. These characteristics indicate that these crystals can be possible candidates for quantum computing devices. We also find that, in the perovskite structures like BaLiF₃, magic angles are quite effective to diminish the nuclear dipole fields, which enables us to treat some nuclei as ‘isolated’. We propose using this feature to create low-dimensional nuclear-spin networks in the crystals. Received: 29 January 2001 / Accepted: 6 February 2001 / Published online: 3 April 2001