Relative intensity noise and frequency noise of a compact Brillouin laser made of As38Se62 suspended-core chalcogenide fiber

Relative intensity noise and frequency noise have been measured for the first time for a single-frequency Brillouin chalcogenide As38Se62 fiber laser. This is also the first demonstration of a compact suspended-core fiber Brillouin laser, which exhibits a low threshold power of 22 mW and a slope efficiency of 26% for nonresonant pumping.     

Importance of the Position of the Chromophore Group on the Dissociation Process of Light Sensitive Alkoxyamines

New photosensitive alkoxyamines have been designed using molecular orbital calculations to improve the selective C O versus N O cleavage. The targeted light‐sensitive alkoxyamine is synthesized in one step and its reactivity under UV has been investigated using both ESR and LFP. The ability of this alkoxyamine to control the photopolymerization of n‐butyl acrylate is evidenced through a process called nitroxide‐mediated photopolymerization NMP². The selected alkoxyamine is finally used to prepare covalently bonded multilayered micropatterns. This original application highlights the high potential of this technique for some specific applications that require spatial control.

     

Overtone vibrational spectroscopy in H(2)-H(2)O complexes: A combined high level theoretical ab initio, dynamical and experimental study

First results are reported on overtone (v(OH) = 2 ← 0) spectroscopy of weakly bound H(2)-H(2)O complexes in a slit supersonic jet, based on a novel combination of (i) vibrationally mediated predissociation of H(2)-H(2)O, followed by (ii) UV photodissociation of the resulting H(2)O, and (iii) UV laser induced fluorescence on the nascent OH radical. In addition, intermolecular dynamical calculations are performed in full 5D on the recent ab initio intermolecular potential of Valiron et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 129, 134306 (2008)] in order to further elucidate the identity of the infrared transitions detected. Excellent agreement is achieved between experimental and theoretical spectral predictions for the most strongly bound van der Waals complex consisting of ortho (I = 1) H(2) and ortho (I = 1) H(2)O (oH(2)-oH(2)O). Specifically, two distinct bands are seen in the oH(2)-oH(2)O spectrum, corresponding to internal rotor states in the upper vibrational manifold of Σ and Π rotational character. However, none of the three other possible nuclear spin modifications (pH(2)-oH(2)O, pH(2)-pH(2)O, or oH(2)-pH(2)O) are observed above current signal to noise level, which for the pH(2) complexes is argued to arise from displacement by oH(2) in the expansion mixture to preferentially form the more strongly bound species. Direct measurement of oH(2)-oH(2)O vibrational predissociation in the time domain reveals lifetimes of 15(2) ns and <5(2) ns for the Σ and Π states, respectively. Theoretical calculations permit the results to be interpreted in terms of near resonant energy levels and intermolecular alignment of the H(2) and H(2)O wavefunctions, providing insight into predissociation dynamical pathways from these metastable levels.     

RAFT-Mediated Emulsion Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly for the Synthesis of Core-Degradable Waterborne Particles

Poly(N-acryloylmorpholine) (PNAM)-decorated waterborne nanoparticles comprising a core of either degradable polystyrene (PS) or poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PBA) were synthesized by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) in water. A PNAM bearing a trithiocarbonate chain end (PNAM-TTC) was extended via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated emulsion copolymerization of either styrene (S) or n-butyl acrylate (BA) with dibenzo[c,e]oxepane-5-thione (DOT). Well-defined amphiphilic block copolymers were obtained. The in situ self-assembly of these polymers resulted in the formation of stable nanoparticles. The insertion of thioester units in the vinylic blocks enabled their degradation under basic conditions. The same strategy was then applied to the emulsion copolymerization of BA with DOT using a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) equipped with a trithiocarbonate end group, resulting in PEG-decorated nanoparticles with degradable PBA-based cores.     

Hydrogen‐transfer reaction in nitroxide mediated polymerization of methyl methacrylate: 2,2‐Diphenyl‐3‐phenylimino‐2,3‐dihydroindol‐1‐yloxyl nitroxide (DPAIO) vs. TEMPO

In a recent article, we have showed that the nitroxide mediated polymerization of methyl methacrylate was possible up to 80% conversion for reasonable masses M_n = 60,000 g mol^?1 when 2,2‐diphenyl‐3‐phenylimino‐2,3‐dihydroindol‐1‐yloxyl nitroxide (DPAIO) was used as control agent. We have claimed that the success of this experiment relied on the absence of H‐transfer reaction both in the alkoxyamine and between alkyl and nitroxyl radical. In this article, the decomposition of 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐(2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐yloxy)‐2‐methylpropionate ( 1a ) and 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐(2,2‐diphenyl‐3‐phenylimino‐2,3‐dihydroindol‐1‐yloxy)‐2‐methylpropanoate ( 2a ) has been studied by ¹H NMR in the presence and in the absence (persistent radical effect condition) of scavenger (thiophenol PhSH). At temperature lower than the one used for polymerization, fast and quantitative H‐transfer reaction was observed for 1a whereas no H‐transfer reaction was observed for 2a . The scavenging technique proved for the first time that the H‐transfer was an intermolecular process for 1a . However, the slow side‐reaction of N? OC bond homolysis, which did not impede the control of the polymerization but may exert a detrimental effect on the livingness, was observed and quantified for 2a . © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6828–6842, 2008     

Photosensitized alkoxyamines as bicomponent radical photoinitiators

The photopolymerization ability of photosensitized alkoxyamines has been investigated. These compounds behave as interesting two‐component photoinitiators. Laser flash photolysis, electron spin resonance, and density functional theory allow to support the interactions encountered between the photosensitizer (benzophenone and isopropylthioxanthone) and the alkoxyamines (C? O bond breaking and hydrogen transfer) and the side reactions of the nitroxide radical with photosensitizer (electron transfer). © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 2910–2915, 2010     

Separation of poly(acrylic acid) salts according to topology using capillary electrophoresis in the critical conditions

Branching was detected in polyacrylates synthesised through radical polymerization via solution-state NMR, while inconsistencies have been reported for the determination of the molar mass of hydrophilic polyacrylates using aqueous-phase and organic-phase size-exclusion chromatography. In this work, poly(sodium acrylate)s, PNaAs, of various topologies were separated for the first time using free-solution capillary electrophoresis (CE). Free-solution CE does not separate the PNaAs by their molar mass, similarly to separations by liquid chromatography in the critical conditions, rather by different topologies (linear, star branched, and hyperbranched). The electrophoretic mobility of PNaAs increases as the degree of branching decreases. Separation is shown to be not only by the topology but also by the end groups as expected for a separation in the critical conditions: replacing a relatively bulky nitroxide end group with hydrogen atom yielded a higher electrophoretic mobility. This novel method, capillary electrophoresis in the critical conditions enabled, for the first time, the separation of hydrophilic polyacrylates according to their topology (branching) and their chain ends. This will allow meaningful and accurate characterization of their branched topologies as well as molar masses and progress in for advanced applications such as drug delivery or flocculation.

Structural effects on the photodissociation of alkoxyamines

The search for photosensitive alkoxyamines represents a huge challenge. The key parameters governing the cleavage process remain unknown. The dissociation process of light sensitive alkoxyamines is studied as a function of their chemical structures. The photochemical properties of 6 selected compounds are investigated by ESR and laser flash photolysis. It is found that (i) the selectivity of the cleavable N-O vs. C-O bond and (ii) the efficiency of the nitroxide formation are strongly related to the alkoxyamine structure. The distance between the chromophore and the aminoxy group is a key parameter for an efficient pathway of the radical generation as displayed by the photopolymerization ability of these alkoxyamines.     

Contribution of water dimer absorption to the millimeter and far infrared atmospheric water continuum

We present a rigorous calculation of the contribution of water dimers to the absorption coefficient alpha(nu,T) in the millimeter and far infrared domains, over a wide range (276-310 K) of temperatures. This calculation relies on the explicit consideration of all possible transitions within the entire rovibrational bound state manifold of the dimer. The water dimer is described by the flexible 12-dimensional potential energy surface previously fitted to far IR transitions [C. Leforestier et al., J. Chem. Phys. 117, 8710 (2002)], and which was recently further validated by the good agreement obtained for the calculated equilibrium constant Kp(T) with experimental data [Y. Scribano et al., J. Phys. Chem. A. 110, 5411 (2006)]. Transition dipole matrix elements were computed between all rovibrational states up to an excitation energy of 750 cm(-1), and J=K=5 rotational quantum numbers. It was shown by explicit calculations that these matrix elements could be extrapolated to much higher J values (J=30). Transitions to vibrational states located higher in energy were obtained from interpolation of computed matrix elements between a set of initial states spanning the 0-750 cm(-1) range and all vibrational states up to the dissociation limit (approximately 1200 cm(-1)). We compare our calculations with available experimental measurements of the water continuum absorption in the considered range. It appears that water dimers account for an important fraction of the observed continuum absorption in the millimeter region (0-10 cm(-1)). As frequency increases, their relative contribution decreases, becoming small (approximately 3%) at the highest frequency considered nu=944 cm(-1).