High resolution MW spectroscopy of Rydberg clusters for the studies of small metal cluster ions: a preliminary experiment

The influence of the occupation of the single particle levels on the impact parameter dependent K-K charge transfer occuring in collisions of 90 keV Ne⁹⁺ on Ne was studied using coupled channel calculations. The energy eigenvalues and matrixelements for the single particle levels were taken from ab initioself consistent MO-LCAO-Dirac-Fock-Slater calculations with occupation numbers corresponding to the single particle amplitudes given by the coupled channel calculations.     

Evidence for a weakening ‘dead zone’ in Tokyo Bay over the past 30?years

Weakened hypoxia in the past 30?years at a dredged area in Tokyo Bay was proven by the existence of amorphous hematite (α-Fe2O3) in sediments. The chemical states of iron in sediments can become a proxy for the scale of anoxia at the time of sedimentation. In 2009, we collected core sediments from a dredged area off Makuhari in Tokyo Bay that is very strongly anoxic in the summer. Every layer of the sediments was analysed by ⁵⁷Fe M?ssbauer spectroscopy and excess 210Pb dating, and amorphous hematite was identified in the sediments from the 1976–1979, 1986–1989 and 2006–2009 layers. Using an estimate based on the Eh-pH diagram optimized for the sedimental environment, the existence of hematite in the dredged area proves that the scale of hypoxia/anoxia is decreasing, and these results agree well with the observed dissolved oxygen level of the seawater mass.     

Multi-frame visualization for detonation wave diffraction

When a detonation wave emerges from a tube into unconfined space filled with a gas mixture, detonation wave diffraction occurs due to abrupt changes in the cross-sectional area. In the present study, we focused on the local explosion in reinitiation and propagation of a transverse detonation wave by performing comprehensive and direct observation with high time resolution visualization in a two-dimensional rectangular channel. Using the visualization methods of shadowgraph and multi-frame, short-time, open-shutter photography, we determined where the wall reflection point is generated, and also determined where the bright point is originated by the local explosion, and investigated the effects of the deviation angle and initial pressure of the gas mixture. We found that the reinitiation of detonation had two modes that were determined by the deviation angle of the channel. If the deviation angle was less than or equal to 30\(^{\circ }\), the local explosion of reinitiation might occur in the vicinity of the channel wall, and if the deviation angle was greater than or equal to 60\(^{\circ }\), the local explosion might originate on the upper side of the tube exit. With a deviation angle greater than 60\(^{\circ }\), the position of the wall reflection point depended on the cell width, so the radial distance of the wall reflection point from the apex of the tube exit was about 12 times the cell width. Similarly, the bright point (local explosion point) was located a distance of about 11 times the cell width from the apex of the tube exit, with a circumferential angle of 48\(^{\circ }\).     

Synthesis and characterization of polypropylene-based block copolymers possessing polar segments via controlled radical polymerization

A new method to prepare the polypropylene (PP) macroinitiator for controlled radical polymerization was described. Bromination of terminally-unsaturated PP was carried out by using N-bromosuccinimide and 2,2′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) to give a brominated PP (PP-Br), that has allylic bromide moieties at or near the chain ends. Thus, the obtained PP-Br was successfully used as a macroinitiator for radical polymerization of styrene, methyl methacrylate, and n-butyl acrylate using a copper catalyst system. From ¹H NMR analysis, it was confirmed that the chain extension polymerization was certainly initiated from allylic bromide moieties with high efficiency, leading to the PP-based block copolymers linking the polar segment. From differential scanning calorimetry, it was observed that peak melting temperature of block copolymers was higher than that of PP-Br and the obtained PP-PS block copolymers with different compositions of each segment demonstrated the unique morphological features due to the microphase separation between both segments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 812–823, 2009     

Electrical and dielectric properties in carbon fiber‐filled LMWPE/UHMWPE composites with different blend ratios

Carbon fiber (CF) filled low‐molecular‐weight polyethylene (LMWPE) and ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composites were prepared by the gelation from solution and the kneading in the melting state. The content of carbon fibers was fixed to be 23.5 vol %. The resistivity, positive temperature coefficient (PTC), and dielectric behaviors of the composites became more pronounced with increasing content of LMWPE with much higher thermal expansion than that of UHMWPE. The PTC effect became most significant, when the blend ratio of LMWPE to UHMWPE was 9/1. Beyond 9/1, the PTC effect was less pronounced. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that the UHMWPE and LMWPE chains within the composite crystallized independently by gelation from solution and were virtually unaffected by the presence of carbon fibers. Consequently, it was confirmed that carbon fibers selectively were localized in the mixed region of LMWPE and UHMWPE for the composite (3/1 and 6/1) and mainly in the region of LMWPE for the 9/1, 12/1, and 15/1 composites. This indicated that the content of carbon fibers within LMWPE region was the highest for the 9/1 composite and the 9/1 composite provides the most significant PTC effect. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 359–369, 2008     

Circuit simulation for the dielectric responses of the composites of copper phthalocyanine oligomers and sulfonated polyurethanes by separating the structural elements

The copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) oligomer with high dielectric constant was synthesized by the solution method. The FT‐IR and X‐ray diffraction results revealed its chemical structure. The high dielectric constant of CuPc was proved to result from the free movement of charge carriers along the conjugated orbitals. The composites of CuPc and sulfonated polyurethane (PUI) were prepared and the contents of CuPc in the composites were varied from 10 to 50 wt %. The dielectric performance was greatly enhanced for the composite compared with that of average polymers. Different from the behaviors appeared in a common composite with conductive fillers, there is no percolation phenomenon observed in the CuPc/PUI composite, and the dielectric constants of CuPc/PUI composites decreased with the increase in the CuPc content, which is assumed to due to the strong electrostatic interactions between CuPc and PUI. Considering the many‐body interactions within the bulk sample and the contact effect between the bulk sample and the metallic electrode, an equivalent circuit was established to simulate the dielectric behaviors of the composites and computational curve fitting was done. The results were in good agreement, indicating that the dielectric responses of the composites come from both the extrinsic and the intrinsic contributions. The extrinsic was associated with the Maxwell‐Wagner relaxation at the interface between the electrode and the bulk sample, and the intrinsic was associated with the huge dipoles provided by the mobile charges within the CuPc grains and the interaction among them in the bulk composites. A circuit model concerning the universal dielectric response was proposed in describing the intrinsic contribution, which quantitatively verified the strong interaction among the dipoles with the relaxation time, representing the aggregated structure of CuPc when its content was high in the composites. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1146–1155, 2009     

Influence of a skull cranial window on the measurement of haemoglobin concentration in cortical tissue by multi-spectral imaging analysis

The simplified cranial window, which is transparent thinned skull, has been used for the optical imaging of cortical tissue of small animals to measure the concentration change in haemoglobin as an intrinsic signal of brain activation. The multi-spectral images of the cortical tissue of guinea pigs through the skull cranial window were compared with those of the exposed cortex to evaluate the influence of the scattering and absorption properties of the skull on the measurement of the concentration change in haemoglobin. Although skull thickness affects the sensitivity of the optical signal due to a decrease in mean optical path length in the cortical tissue, the influence of the skull cranial window on the wavelength dependence of optical path length can be ignored when the skull thickness is less than approximately 100 mm. Accurate concentration changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobins can be calculated from the optical signal measured through a skull cranial window and the wavelength dependence of optical path length for the exposed cortex.     

Theory of soliton-based control of coupled superconducting phase qubits

A simple scheme for controlling the gate operation for qubit–qubit interactions in superconducting phase qubits using a moving fluxon is proposed. The basic unit of our scheme is composed of three capacitively coupled flux-biased phase qubits. One of the qubits acts as a switch connecting the other two (two logical qubits) with an identical energy separation. The fluxon controls the energy separation of the switch qubit via its inductive coupling, leading to the resonance among qubits appropriately adjusting the fluxon velocity. As a result, the resonance is capable of performing a gate operation between two logical qubits. In addition, we show that this provides a simple scheme for generating entangled states of many qubits in solid-state quantum nanocircuits.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic study of silacyclyne-substituted phenyleneethynylenes

A series of 1,1-dimethyl-4,5:8,9-dibenzo-1-silacycloundeca-4,8-diene-2,6,10-triyne (DST)-substituted phenyleneethynylenes were successfully synthesized by reaction of Me₂SiCl₂ with dimagnesium dianions which had been prepared from 2,2′-diethynyl(diphenylethyne) derivatives by treatment with 2 equiv of MeMgBr. All the products were white-to-pale yellow powder stable enough to handle in the air, and their photoluminescence spectra were recorded both in solution and in solid state.