Sub-100 nm confinement of magnetic nanoparticles using localized magnetic field gradients

Ferromagnetic rods containing thin sections of diamagnetic metal create intense magnetic field gradients that attract and confine magnetic nanoparticles to regions of space as small as 20 nm. The rods (80 nm diameter) comprised alternating sections of CoNi ( approximately 350 nm) and Au (20-160 nm) formed by electrodeposition into porous polycarbonate membranes. Upon magnetizing the rods, large magnetic gradients (106-107 T/m) form at the boundaries between ferromagnetic and diamagnetic sections. These gradients attract and confine magnetic nanoparticles to attoliter volumes of space surrounding the rod. This method provides a new tool for generating intense, highly localized magnetic field gradients, by design, and confining magnetic nanoparticles in these gradients.     

A favourable diastereoselective synthesis of N-(1-S-ethoxycarbonyl-3-phenylpropyl)-S-alanine

N-(1-S-Ethoxycarbonyl-3-phenylpropyl)-S-alanine is prepared by Michael addition of S-alaninebenzylester to ethyl-4-oxo-4-phenyl-2-butenoate in a regio- and diastereoselective fashion and subsequent catalytic hydrogenolysis.     

Dynamic headspace gas chromatography of volatile compounds in milk

A method is described for investigating volatile compounds in milk. The volatiles are removed from milk by a stream of helium swept at 100 ml/min over the surface of the milk at 70 degrees C. They are trapped on 40 mg of NIOSH charcoal and then desorbed by heat and re-trapped on the front of a chromatographic column of Tenax-GC coated with 1% OV-275, the column being maintained at room temperature during trapping. An amount of 40 mg NIOSH charcoal under these conditions traps over 90% of the total quantity of the lowest boiling compounds swept from the milk, such as acetaldehyde and ethanol, and retains 100% of the total quantity of acetone, propanol and higher boiling compounds from the gas stream. The volume of milk and its temperature affect the ratios of volatiles collected and these factors are useful in increasing the proportion of a volatile of particular interest. The addition of potassium carbonate increases the yield of volatiles from 100 ml aqueous phase but not from 10 ml.     

Giant optical transmission of a subwavelength slit optimized using the magnetic field phase

In this Letter, we show that the energy equivalent to that incident on a 4.7 microm wide strip can be squeezed through a 50 nm wide slit in a metal film surrounded by grooves. This corresponds to a transmission efficiency of 9400%, which can be even further enhanced by increasing the number of grooves. We use the phase of the magnetic field to explain that the ideal slit-to-groove distance is just over half the plasmon wavelength. In addition, we also optimize the groove depth and width. Such optimized transmission enhancement is very important for near-field devices.