Measurement of angular distribution of soft X‐ray radiation from thin targets in the tabletop storage ring MIRRORCLE‐20SX

The only available tabletop electron storage rings are the machines from the MIRRORCLE series. The electrons are accelerated in a microtron and injected into the storage ring. During its circulation, each electron passes through a tiny target many times, emitting a photon beam. Both the spectrum and the angular distribution of the radiation depend on the material, the thickness and the shape of the target. In this paper measured angular distributions of the radiation from several different targets in the magnetic field of the 20 MeV storage ring MIRRORCLE‐20SX are presented. The detector comprises a 3 mm × 3 mm × 8.5 µm plastic scintillator (PS) coupled to a photomultiplier by a bundle of optical fibers. The output of the photomultiplier is digitized by an IF converter. This detector is sensitive mostly to soft X‐ray radiation, and its PS is moved by a mechanical system in a plane perpendicular to the radiation axis. The measured angular distributions for Mo and Sn targets contain an annulus which is attributed to transition radiation. The angular distributions for Al, carbon nanotube and diamond‐like carbon (DLC) targets show some suppression of the radiation along the magnetic field. This is the first evidence of observation of the angular distribution of synchrotron Cherenkov radiation, which represents Cherenkov radiation in a magnetic field. The power radiated from the DLC target is estimated.     

Single-shot polarization-imaging digital holography based on simultaneous phase-shifting interferometry

We propose single-shot digital holography which is capable of simultaneously capturing both the information of multiple phase-shifted holograms and the distribution of the polarization. In this technique, a single image sensor records both the information required for phase-shifting interferometry and that of the polarization states of objects using an array of polarizers. The essence of the technique is the capability of imaging the distribution of the polarization of three-dimensional objects with a single-shot exposure by using the space-division multiplexing of holograms. The validity of the proposed technique was confirmed by the preliminary experiments.     

Quantum coherence in a superfluid Josephson junction

We report a new kind of experiment in which we take an array of nanoscale apertures that form a superfluid (4)He Josephson junction and apply quantum phase gradients directly along the array. We observe collective coherent behaviors from aperture elements, leading to quantum interference. Connections to superconducting and Bose-Einstein condensate Josephson junctions as well as phase coherence among the superfluid aperture array are discussed.     

Phase structure and critical behavior of multi-Higgs U(1) lattice gauge theory in three dimensions

We study the three-dimensional (3D) compact U(1) lattice gauge theory coupled with N-flavor Higgs fields by means of the Monte Carlo simulations. This model is relevant to multi-component superconductors, antiferromagnetic spin systems in easy plane, inflational cosmology, etc. It is known that there is no phase transition in the N = 1 model. For N = 2, we found that the system has a second-order phase transition line in the c₂ (gauge coupling)-c₁ (Higgs coupling) plane, which separates the confinement phase and the Higgs phase. Numerical results suggest that the phase transition belongs to the universality class of the 3D XY model as the previous works by Babaev et al. and Smiseth et al. suggested. For N = 3, we found that there exists a critical line similar to that in the N = 2 model, but the critical line is separated into two parts; one for c₂<c_2tc=2.4±0.1 with first-order transitions, and the other for c_2tc<c₂ with second-order transitions, indicating the existence of a tricritical point. We verified that similar phase diagram appears for the N = 4 and N = 5 systems. We also studied the case of anistropic Higgs coupling in the N = 3 model and found that there appear two second-order phase transitions or a single second-order transition and a crossover depending on the values of the anisotropic Higgs couplings. This result indicates that an “enhancement” of phase transition occurs when multiple phase transitions coincide at a certain point in the parameter space.     

Phase structure of a U(1) lattice gauge theory with dual gauge fields

We introduce a U(1) lattice gauge theory with dual gauge fields and study its phase structure. This system is partly motivated by unconventional superconductors like extended s-wave and d  -wave superconductors in the strongly-correlated electron systems and also studies of the t–J$t\text{–}J$ model in the slave-particle representation. In this theory, the “Cooper-pair” (or RVB spinon-pair) field is put on links of a cubic lattice due to strong on-site repulsion between original electrons in contrast to the ordinary s  -wave pair field on sites. This pair field behaves as a gauge field dual to the U(1) gauge field coupled with the hopping of electrons or quasi-particles of the t–J$t\text{–}J$ model, holons and spinons. By Monte Carlo simulations we study this lattice gauge model and find a first-order phase transition from the normal state to the Higgs (superconducting) phase. Each gauge field works as a Higgs field for the other gauge field. This mechanism requires no scalar fields in contrast to the ordinary Higgs mechanism. An explicit microscopic model is introduced, the low-energy effective theory of which is viewed as a special case of the present model.     

Synthesis of oligomeric poly[(1, 2-propanediamine)-alt-(oxalic acid)] and anomalous proton conductivities of the thin films

New proton-conductive polyamide oligomers, oligomeric poly[(1, 2-propanediamine)-alt-(oxalic acid)], were synthesized to investigate the proton transport properties of bulk and thin films. The obtained oligomers were characterized by the X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectra, ¹H NMR, Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrum, and electrical conductivity measurements. The bulk proton conductivity is 3.0 × 10^? 4 S cm^? 1 at the relative humidity (RH) of 80%. The proton conductivity of thin film is relatively higher than that of bulk sample. Thickness dependence of the proton conductivity was observed in these thin films. The maximum proton conductivity of the thin film is 4.0 × 10^? 3 S cm^? 1 at the relative humidity (RH) of 80%, which is higher one order magnitude than that of the bulk sample. The activation energies of bulk and 200 nm thick film are 1.0 and 0.69 eV at the RH of 60%, respectively.     

Kinetic investigation on carbamate formation from the reaction of carbon dioxide with amino acids in homogeneous aqueous solution

The kinetics of carbamate formation from the reaction of carbon dioxide with α‐amino acids in D₂O was first investigated by means of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Potassium carbonate was used as the CO₂ source. For each amino acid, the maximum carbamate yield, the apparent rate constant for the carbamate formation k_app, and the rate constants for the formation k₁ and the breakdown k_?1 of the carbamate were estimated. Plots of log k₁ or log k_?1 versus pK_a of amino acids indicated that the formation rate k₁ increased with the basicity (pK_a) of amino acid, while the decomposition rate k_?1 decreased. A Br?nsted β value of 0.39 was obtained from the former plot, being in good agreement with the previously reported ones (0.26–0.43). The observed negative pK_a dependence of log k_?1 (Br?nsted α = 0.34) is reasonable, because the carbamate decomposition is acid‐catalyzed and the steady‐state concentration of H⁺ should be higher for weaker basic amines. The charge (σ) and the lone‐pair energy (E_N) at the nitrogen atom of the amino group were calculated. Although log k₁ correlated with σ and E_N, log k_?1 was unrelated with both of these parameters. Considering that the carbamate formation (k₁) is not only base‐catalyzed but should also be promoted by the nucleophilicity of the amino nitrogen, its correlation with σ and E_N in addition to pK_a is rational. The irrelevance of log k_?1 to σ and E_N is not surprising, because σ and E_N are not a direct measure of [H⁺] of the solution. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FePt L10 ordering and grain growth using millisecond pulse laser processing

The structural and magnetic properties of ∼12 nm thick FePt thin films grown on Si substrates annealed using a 1064 nm wavelength laser with a 10 ms pulse have been examined. The A1 to L1₀ ordering phase transformation was confirmed by electron and X-ray diffraction. An order parameter near 50% and a maximum coercivity of 12 kOe were obtained with laser energy densities of 25-32 J/cm². Grain growth, quantified by dark field transmission electron microscopy, occurred during chemical ordering at the laser pulse widths studied.     

Crystal structures of calcium IV and V under high pressure

High-pressure phases IV and V of calcium discovered in 2005 have the highest superconducting transition temperature of 25 K among all the elements; however, their crystal structures have not been determined. From the x-ray powder diffraction data, both Ca IV and V have been found to form unique and complex structures with a coordination number of 7. They were confirmed to be identical to the theoretical models that were recently predicted [Ishikawa, Phys. Rev. B 77 020101(R) (2008)].     

Design of highly nonlinear dispersion flattened hexagonal photonic crystal fibers for dental optical coherence tomography applications

In this paper, we propose a highly nonlinear dispersion flattened hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (HNDF-HPCF) with nonlinear coefficients as large as 57.5W⁻¹ km⁻¹ at 1.31 μm wavelength for dental optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications. This HNDF-HPCF offers not only large nonlinear coefficient but also very flat dispersion slope and very low confinement losses. Using these characteristics of our proposed PCF, it is shown through simulations by using finite difference method with an anisotropic perfectly matched boundary layer that this PCF offers the efficient supercontinuum (SC) generation for dental OCT applications at 1.31 μm wavelength using a picosecond pulse easily produced by commercially available less expensive laser sources. Coherent length of light source using SC is found 10 μm and the spatial resolutions in the depth direction for dental applications of OCT are found about 6.1 μm for enamel and 6.5 μm for dentin.