Hydroxyl ion conduction in ytterbium-doped strontium cerate at T<580 K in H2O/air atmosphere

Open circuit voltage (OCV) measurements in H₂O/air concentration cells at T<580 K using Yb-doped SrCeO₃ electrolyte indicate that under these conditions, protons are transported through the electrolyte as -ve ions, possibly as hydroxyl (OH⁻) ions. The H⁺ ionic transport, which is generally reported, becomes the dominant mode for H₂O/air concentration cells at temperatures greater than 750 K or when H₂O/air electrodes are replaced by H₂/Ar, and the anomalous OCV sign disappears. The combination of low temperature and the presence of hydrogen and oxygen as provided by the H₂O/air system appears to be necessary for the postulated hydroxyl ion electrode reactions to take place. In addition to OCV measurements, results from impedance spectroscopy are used to provide evidence in support of the suggested hydroxyl ion mode of protonic transport under the specified conditions. These findings are directly relevant in the development of novel humidity sensors in the temperature range 450–580K and is reported in a separate paper in this conference. Paper presented at the 3rd Euroconference on Solid State Ionics, Teulada, Sardinia, Italy, Sept. 15–22, 1996     

Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power,pulse duration and spectral width of a cw mode-locked picosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report on a cw mode-locked non-critically phase matched KTP optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a picosecond Ti:Sapphire laser. High average signal output power of up to 950 mW over a large tuning range has been achieved. For this OPO the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power, pulse duration and spectral bandwidth has been investigated. The measured data are in good agreement with the results of a numerical simulation using a split-step Fourier method which considers the group-velocity mismatch, the group-velocity dispersion and the self-phase modulation. The numerical simulation also describes the measured strong pump depletion and its influence on the OPO output and efficiency.     

The Hausdorff dimension of graphs of Weierstrass functions

The Weierstrass nowhere differentiable function, and functions constructed from similar infinite series, have been studied often as examples of functions whose graph is a fractal. Though there is a simple formula for the Hausdorff dimension of the graph which is widely accepted, it has not been rigorously proved to hold. We prove that if arbitrary phases are included in each term of the summation for the Weierstrass function, the Hausdorff dimension of the graph of the function has the conjectured value for almost every sequence of phases. The argument extends to a much wider class of Weierstrass-like functions.

     

129Xe NMR study of the homogeneity and the size distribution of small sodium metal particles in NaY zeolite

NaY zeolite samples loaded with sodium metal by vapor phase deposition have been investigated using¹²⁹Xe NMR spectroscopy. At low sodium concentration, the¹²⁹Xe NMR spectrum showed three resonance lines which clearly indicate the existence of distinct domains in the zeolite sample. Such an observation suggests that the diffusion of the xenon atoms into each domain only occurs with respect to the NMR time scale (2.9 ms). As the sodium concentration increases, observation of a single broad line indicate a macroscopic homogenization of the system. The shift of this line is explained in part due to a paramagnetic interaction between the xenon atoms and the unpaired electrons of particles containing an odd number of sodium atoms. The linewidth is due to the distribution of the local magnetic fields partially averaged by the rapid motion of the xenon atoms and to the statistical distribution of the sodium particles in the supercage cavities. The paramagnetic interaction vanishes with the oxidation of the sample leading to a narrowing and a shift of the line to higher magnetic fields.     

Efficient Collocation Schemes for Singular Boundary Value Problems

We discuss an error estimation procedure for the global error of collocation schemes applied to solve singular boundary value problems with a singularity of the first kind. This a posteriori estimate of the global error was proposed by Stetter in 1978 and is based on the idea of Defect Correction, originally due to Zadunaisky. Here, we present a new, carefully designed modification of this error estimate which not only results in less computational work but also appears to perform satisfactorily for singular problems. We give a full analytical justification for the asymptotical correctness of the error estimate when it is applied to a general nonlinear regular problem. For the singular case, we are presently only able to provide computational evidence for the full convergence order, the related analysis is still work in progress. This global estimate is the basis for a grid selection routine in which the grid is modified with the aim to equidistribute the global error. This procedure yields meshes suitable for an efficient numerical solution. Most importantly, we observe that the grid is refined in a way reflecting only the behavior of the solution and remains unaffected by the unsmooth direction field close to the singular point.     

Thoms Effect as Influenced by the Concentration and Molecular Parameters of the Cationic Copolymer of Acrylamide

The Thoms effect observed with water-soluble cationic copolymer of acrylamide was studied in relation to the concentration, molecular weight, and molecular weight polydispersity of the polymeric additive, with its composition and composition polydispersity being constant.