Optical and Thermal Simulator for Laser-assisted Magnetic Recording

“Laser-assisted magnetic recording”, in which a recording media is heated by a laser beam while writing data, is attracting attention as a technology that enables a recording density of 1 Tb/in.². There exists another technology for media in which the recording layer is constructed with many small projections that enable high magnetic coercivity. This is called “patterned media”. For developing hard disk drives using these methods, we developed a simulator that analyzes the optical intensity distribution from the optical head for laser-assisted recording and the temperature profile on the patterned media. The simulator calculates the optical model using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The thermal analysis of the three-dimensional model allows fast calculations using the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method. The heat source distribution data for thermal analysis is calculated in order to use the results of optical analysis. The optical and thermal analyses of the laser-assisted recording model were investigated with the simulator.     

Constant and Equivariant Cyclic Cohomology

In this note, we prove that the constant and equivariant cyclic cohomology of algebras coincide. This shows that constant cyclic cohomology is rich and computable.     

What Makes a Theory Testable, or Is Intelligent Design Less Scientific Than String Theory?

I compare the theory of intelligent design to string theory to see on what basis, if any, only the former can be justifiably excluded as being scientific.We shall see that the classic criterion of testability or falsifiability is sometimes not so straightforward, and that there are other criteria to help us make such a distinction.     

Klein,Einstein, and Five-Dimensional Unification

I examine the changing attitudes of Oskar Klein (1894–1977) and Albert Einstein (1879–1955) toward the notion of extending general relativity by an extra dimension with the aim of encompassing electromagnetism and gravitation in a unified field theory. I show how Klein developed his model of five-dimensional unification with the goal of explaining the discreteness of atomic energy levels, and how Einstein later embraced that goal. By examining the correspondence between Klein and Einstein, some of which was relayed through Paul Ehrenfest (1880–1933), I speculate that Klein’s work helped motivate Einstein to explore deterministic five-dimensional theories as a potential alternative to probabilistic quantum mechanics. Finally, I consider the contributions of Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) to the subject and elucidate his role in convincing Klein and Einstein that their models were not viable. Paul Halpern is Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He currently is a member of the Executive Committee of the Forum on the History of Physics of the American Physical Society.     

Magnetic anisotropy in icosahedral cobalt clusters

Magnetic anisotropy has been measured in multiply twinned, icosahedral cobalt clusters. It is found that the low-temperature magnetization of deposited cluster layers is well defined with the Stoner–Wohlfarth model by averaging over clusters with a range of anisotropy energy. Anisotropy energy calculation based on Néel's pair model shows that the icosahedral structure and the layer-by-layer growth of the clusters induce oscillations of the magnetic anisotropy as a function of the filling of the outer surface of the particle. The magnetization measurement at room temperature indicates a weakly correlated cluster glass, as deduced from the approach to saturation that is well described with 2D random anisotropy model.     

A Classical Analog of Random Quantum States

We examine the statistical properties of a pure quantum state randomly chosen with respect to the uniform measure in a Hilbert space. Namely, we consider the distribution of outcomes of a fixed measurement performed on the random quantum state. We show that such distribution is completely analogous to the distribution of measurement outcomes of an a priori unknown classical random system. In particular, Shannon entropies of both distributions coincide. We study this correspondence between quantum and classical random systems and clarify its origin.     

Spatial firm competition in two dimensions with linear transportation costs: simulations and analytical results

Models of spatial firm competition assume that customers are distributed in space andtransportation costs are associated with their purchases of products from a small numberof firms that are also placed at definite locations. It has been long known that thecompetition equilibrium is not guaranteed to exist if the most straightforward lineartransportation costs are assumed. We show by simulations and also analytically that ifperiodic boundary conditions in a plane are assumed, the equilibrium exists for a pair offirms at any distance. When a larger number of firms is considered, we find that theirtotal equilibrium profit is inversely proportional to the square root of the number offirms. We end with a numerical investigation of the system’s behavior for a generaltransportation cost exponent.     

First-principles calculation of ZnS monolayer on Cu(111) surface

First-principles calculation is carried out on the interface of the ZnS(001) monolayerand Cu(111) surface. It is found that the ZnS monolayer significantly reconstructs aftergeometry optimization. The out-of-plane S atom has a positive displacement in thez directionwhile other atoms (Zn and S) have small displacements on the ZnS monolayer. The interfacestacking sequence has an influence on the flatness of the ZnS monolayer and the bindingenergy of the interface. There are two approaches for the ZnS monolayer to reach thelowest energy state which take place on the two kinds of S atoms in the ZnS monolayer andresult in the bulging feature. The van der Waals (vdW) interaction exists between ZnSmonolayer and Cu surface.     

Spinning Earth and its Coriolis effect on the circuital light beams: Verification of the special relativity theory

Bilger et al (1995), Anderson et al (1994) and Michelson–Gale assisted by Pearson (1925) measure / mention Sagnac effect on the circuital light /laser beams on the spinning Earth. But from the consideration of classical electrodynamics, the effect measured /mentioned by those experimenters is the Coriolis effect, not the Sagnac effect. A simple experiment is suggested here that can easily settle the problem.     

Pulse generation and compression using an asymmetrical porous silicon-based Mach–Zehnder interferometer configuration

We propose an asymmetrical Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) for efficient pulse generation and compression using porous silicon (PS) waveguide, fibre delay line and couplers. We show a pulse compression of about 0.4 ns at the output port with third-order super-Gaussian input pulse in ～2 ns time duration and ～40.3 W peak power level. Also, we show the possibility of obtaining compressed single- or double-pulse with judicious choice of various parameters like input peak power, delay time and input pulse width.