A tunable narrowband optical filter via phase conjugation by nondegenerate four-wave mixing in a doppler-broadened resonant medium

The formulation of phase conjugation via nondegenerate four-wave mixing in a Doppler-broadened resonant medium is generalized to include nondegenerate pump frequencies. This process is shown capable of yielding a tunable optical band-pass filter whose central frequency can be tuned over the entire Doppler profile with only a small degradation of the filter efficiency while still maintaining a bandwidth limited by the homogeneous linewidth.     

X-ray study of the thermal intercalation of alkali halides into kaolinite

Intercalation complexes of kaolinite with a series of alkali halides (NaCl (trace amounts), KCl, RbCl, CsCl, NaBr, KBr, CsBr, Kl, Rbl and Csl) were obtained by a thermal solid state reaction between the kaolinite-dimethylsulfoxide intercalation complex and the appropriate alkali halide. The ground mixtures (11 weight ratio) were pressed into disks that were gradually heated up to 250 °C for different times. X-ray diffractograms of the disks were recorded after each thermal treatment. At the end of the thermal treatment the disks were ground and basal spacings of the powders obtained. As a result of thermal treatment, alkali halide ions diffuse into the interlayers, replacing the intercalated dimethylsulfoxide molecules. Such a replacement may take place only if the thermal diffusion of the penetrating species is faster than the evolution of the intercalated organic molecule. With increasing temperature the intercalated salt diffused outside the interlayer space or underwent a thermal hydrolysis which resulted in the evolution of hydrogen halides from the interlayer space. Consequently, the amounts of intercalation complexes decreased at elevated temperatures.     

Frustration of Bragg reflection by cooperative dual-mode interference: a new mode of optical propagation

A new optical mode of propagation is described, which is the natural eigenmode (supermode) of a fiber (or any optical waveguide) with two cospatial periodic gratings. The mode frustrates the backward Bragg scattering from the grating by destructive interference of its two constituent submodes (which are eigenmodes of a uniform waveguide). It can be used in a new type of spatial mode conversion in optical guides.     

Thermo-XRD investigation of monoionic montmorillonites mechanochemically treated with urea

Montmorillonite (M) saturated with H⁺,Li⁺,Na⁺,K⁺,Rb⁺,Cs⁺,NH₄ ⁺,Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺,Sr²⁺,Ba²⁺,Mn²⁺,Co²⁺,Cu²⁺,Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺ were dry-ground with urea (U) in mass ratios U/M between 0.1 and 2.0 in an agate mortar and diffracted by X-ray. Extensive swellings occurred with H-, Li-, Na-, di-and trivalent cation-clays, suggesting the formation of urea-montmorillonite intercalation complexes. Mechanochemically treated samples were heated at different temperatures up to 375°C. The rise in temperature was accompanied by a decrease in the basal spacing. There was a correlation between the results of the thermo-XRD-analysis and the fine structures of the urea-montmorillonite complexes described in the literature. Five stages in the basal spacing vs. temperature curves were identified. In the first stage (at 150°C) the decrease was due to dehydration. In the second stage (175°C) this dehydration was accompanied by some thermal intercalation of excess urea. The other stages (at 225, 325 and 375°C) were associated with the degradation of urea and the condensation of the degraded species to polymeric products. At 375°C Li-, Na-, K-NH₄-, Mh-, Co- and Cu-montmorillonite collapsed, indicating that urea was evolved. The other urea-clay complexes did not collapse due to intercalated polymers formed by the degradation products of urea.     

Scenery reconstruction on finite abelian groups

We consider the question of when a random walk on a finite abelian group with a given step distribution can be used to reconstruct a binary labeling of the elements of the group, up to a shift. Matzinger and Lember (2006) give a sufficient condition for reconstructability on cycles. While, as we show, this condition is not in general necessary, our main result is that it is necessary when the length of the cycle is prime and larger than 5, and the step distribution has only rational probabilities. We extend this result to other abelian groups.     

Mild pre-heating of organic cation-exchanged clays enhances their interactions with nitrobenzene in aqueous environment

Aqueous sorption kinetics and equilibrium isotherms of nitrobenzene were studied on two series of sorbents that were prepared by (i) replacing inorganic exchangeable cations in Wyoming bentonite with tetraethylammonium (TEA) and benzyltrimethylammonium (BTMA) and (ii) heating synthesized complexes in air at different temperatures (between 150 and 420°C). The aim of this work was to examine recently observed enhancement of aqueous sorption of a probe organic sorbate on organoclays after mild thermal pre-treatment of sorbents. Thermal pre-treatment of TEA- and BTMA-clays at 150°C results in the maximal enhancement of nitrobenzene–sorbent interactions as compared with treatment of original bentonite and its exchange complexes formed with long-chain quaternary ammonium (n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium, HDTMA). Based on C, N content data and FTIR spectra of TEA- and BTMA-clay complexes, no indications of decomposition of organic matter were found in organoclays heated at 250°C (and below this temperature). Suppressed hydration of pre-heated sorbents resulting in a lessening of water–organic sorbate competition for sorption sites is considered to be responsible for thermally induced enhancement of nitrobenzene–sorbent interactions. In the HDTMA-based organoclays, the long-chain aliphatic groups of the quaternary ammonium can additionally interact with clay surface thus competing with organic sorbate–sorbent surface interactions and, in this way, mitigating the enhancement of nitrobenzene sorption on thermally treated sorbents.     

Thermo-IR-spectroscopy study of the adsorption of terbuthylazine by soil from the Jezreel Valley

Adsorption of the herbicide terbuthylazine by a soil from the Jezreel Valley was investigated by thermo-IR-spectroscopy. The adsorption took place mainly by the clay mineral montmorillonite. The adsorbed molecule was hydrogen bonded via the aniline groups to water molecules which were coordinated to the exchangeable metallic cations. When the sample was thermally treated at 115°C interlayer water was evolved, part of the herbicide decomposed and the other part became directly coordinated to the exchangeable metallic cations. The decomposition product contained a CO group.Dedicated to Prof. Menachem Steinberg on the occasion of his 65th birthdayThis research was supported in part under Project number C12-219, Grant number HRN5544 G002069, Program in Science and Technology Corporation, Human Capacity Development, Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research, USAID.     

A recursive construction of t‐wise uniform permutations

We present a recursive construction of a (2t + 1)‐wise uniform set of permutations on 2n objects using a combinatorial design, a t‐wise uniform set of permutations on n objects and a (2t + 1)‐wise uniform set of permutations on n objects. Using the complete design in this procedure gives a t‐wise uniform set of permutations on n objects whose size is at most t²ⁿ, the first non‐trivial construction of an infinite family of t‐wise uniform sets for . If a non‐trivial design with suitable parameters is found, it will imply a corresponding improvement in the construction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 46, 531–540, 2015