Magnetism in electron-doped copper oxides

We report muon spin relaxation/rotation measurements on sintered powder samples of Nd_2−x Ce _x CuO_4−y and a large single crystal of Nd₂CuO_4−y . We find an electronic phase diagram which is quite similar to that of hole-doped superconductors such as La_2−x Sr _x CuO_4−y , although the doping of electrons into the system is less efficient in destroying the static moments on the copper spins. Static magnetic order in Nd₂CuO_4−y appears below about 250 K, and two spin reorientations are seen atT=75 K andT=35 K. Measurements of the magnetic field penetration depth have been unsuccessful due to the rare-earth paramagnetism of these materials.     

A multichannel neural probe for selective chemical delivery at thecellular level

A bulk-micromachined multichannel silicon probe capable of selectively delivering chemicals at the cellular level as well as electrically recording from and stimulating neurons in vivo has been developed. The process buries multiple flow channels in the probe substrate, resulting in a hollow-core device, Microchannel formation requires only one mask in addition to those normally used for probe fabrication and is compatible with on-chip signal-processing circuitry. Flow in these microchannels has been studied theoretically and experimentally. For an effective channel diameter of 10 μm, a channel length of 4 mm, and water as the injected fluid, the flow velocity at 11 torr is about 1.3 mm/s, delivering 100 pl in 1 s. Intermixing of chemicals, with the tissue fluid due to natural diffusion through the outlet orifice becomes significant for dwell times in excess of about 30 min, and a shutter is proposed for chronic use. The probe has been used for acute monitoring of the neural responses to various chemical stimuli in guinea pig superior and inferior colliculus     

Nematic LC to nematic glass phase transition in pores

The properties of a nematic liquid crystal in a porous matrix are discussed. On scales exceeding a certain characteristic scale the liquid crystal behaves as a nematic glass. Application of a weak magnetic field restores long-range orientational order. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 9, 695–698 (10 May 1997)     

The dominant mechanisms of charge-carrier scattering in lead telluride

The present status of the dominant mechanisms of charge-carrier scattering in lead telluride is analyzed critically. It is shown that the role of the Coulomb potential of the vacancies and the role of the deformation potential of acoustic phonons in carrier scattering in PbTe has been strongly overestimated in most existing studies. Futhermore, the role of optical phonons at high temperatures has been unjustifiably reduced to a polar component only. It is shown that, in addition to this mechanism, the deformation potential due to optical phonons, whose greatest contribution is at high carrier densities, also plays an important role in carrier scattering processes at temperatures in the range of room temperature. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 31, 281–284 (February 1997)     

Complexes in polymers IV. FTIR microscopic characterization of thin organic polymer films containing embedded transition-metal carbonyl complexes

Thin films of polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene-polyacrylonitrile copolymer (PS-AN), containing various embedded transition-metal complexes, have been studied by FTIR microscopy. The spatial distributions of the transition-metal carbonyl complexes throughout the thin organic polymer films have been determined by a two-dimensional IR mapping procedure. The spectral variations observed in the distribution of the metal carbonyls throughout the different polymer films are discussed. The IR data show that the technique used to prepare the organometallic-embedded thin films (viz. freeze-drying of solutions followed by hot mechanical pressing of the residues) does in general lead to homogeneous films which may eventually find industrial application, e.g. as membrane sensors for small molecules.     

Ordering of substitutional ternary alloys with an fcc lattice

The possible types of ordering diagrams of ternary substutional alloys with an fcc lattice are analyzed, taking account of interactions in two coordination spheres.Ural Polytechnic Institute. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 38–41, December, 1992.     

Effect of surface boundary on neuronal magnetic stimulation

The effect of the surface boundary between free space and a conducting medium on the excitation properties of neurons by magnetic fields are analyzed. The electric field and the spatial derivative of the induced field generated by a coil mounted both parallel and perpendicular to the surface of a semi-infinite conducting medium were calculated using the method of images. An imaginary axon is located in the same relative position from the coil in both configurations and the excitation properties are compared. The calculations are expressed in terms of the activating function for the electrical stimulation of axons. The calculations indicate that the activating function for magnetic stimulation is biphasic as opposed to triphasic for electrical stimulation. The large spatial extent of the magnetically induced electric field compared to the electric field generated by point source electrode suggests a different mode of excitation for neuronal structures in the CNS. The field distribution have been verified experimentally and are important for the understanding of the mechanisms of magnetic stimulation of neural tissue.     

The liquid-crystalline behaviour of amphiphilic ethane-1,2-diol derivatives incorporating a six membered ring in their principal structure

Novel 3-phenyloxy substituted propane-1,2-diol derivatives, 4-(4-n-hexyloxyphenyl)-butane-1,2-diol and 4-(trans-4-n-pyropylcyclohexyl)-butane-1,2-diol have been synthesized and their thermal behaviour has been studied. These compounds exhibit thermotropic and, after addition of water, also lyotropic liquid-crystalline behaviour. The clearing temperatures of the smectic mesophases were found to be strongly dependent on the alkyl chain length and on the structural units that link the aromatic ring to the alkyl chain and to the diol unit. The behaviour of the aromatic compounds is compared with that of the cyclohexane derivative. Thereby it has been realized that the mesophase stability of the amphiphilic diols incorporating a rigid unit is largely determined by both, the molecular geometry (molecular shape and intramolecular flexibility) and the amphiphilic structural pattern.     

Unconstrained inversion of waveheight spectra from SAR images

A procedure for inverting the nonlinear relationship between the waveheight spectrum and the SAR image spectrum is presented, and this procedure is evaluated using simulated data as well as actual ERS SAR data collected near Duck, NC. Results of this nonlinear inversion are compared with those obtained from a quasi-linear estimation procedure using simulated data, in order to illustrate the effects of nonlinearities in the imaging process. These effects include the well-known azimuth falloff effect as well as the generation of harmonics which appear in the background region of the spectrum. The nonlinear inversion technique is able to reproduce the input image spectrum to high accuracy, although the wave spectrum obtained by this procedure is not necessarily the same as the input wave spectrum. In general, the estimated wave spectrum is quite similar to the portion of the input wave spectrum within the SAR passband region, but none of the energy outside the passband is recovered. The background signals due to nonlinear effects can cause large errors in the quasi-linear estimation procedure because these signals appear in regions of the spectrum where the SAR modulation transfer function (mtf) is small. Results using actual SAR data also indicate that energy within the passband is recovered fairly accurately, although energy outside the passband is clearly lost     

Ultra-wideband (from DC to 110 GHz) CPW to CPS transition

A new ultra-wideband, low-loss and small-size coplanar waveguide (CPW) to coplanar strip (CPS) transition which can be used from DC to 110 GHz is presented. The proposed transition connects CPW with CPS by the reformed air-bridge. Two ground planes of CPW are tied at their ends by a line and the centre of the line is connected to the ground strip of CPS by another line. Owing to the symmetry of the proposed structure, the currents of two ground planes of CPW are combined with the same phase and transferred to the ground strip of CPS. With height of 3 μm, the signal line of CPW passes over two connecting lines and is connected to the signal strip of CPS. For the back-to-back transition structure, insertion loss <1 dB and return loss >15 dB are obtained from 0.5 to 110 GHz