Anisotropy profiles of optical fibers and preforms

An experimental method to measure the optical anisotropy profiles of optical fibers and preforms is presented. The local values of n_z?n_r and n_z?n_?, (r,?,z) being a cylindrical coordinate system associated with the fiber or preform, are obtained.     

How to reduce the experimental time in isotopic 2H NMR using the ERETIC method

Deuterium site-specific natural isotope abundance (Ai) is routinely measured by NMR spectroscopy and quantified using an internal reference peak. This study demonstrates that the substitution of the chemical compound used as internal reference by an electronically generated signal (the ERETIC method) allows a dramatic reduction of the experimental time. Measurements of Ai on eight samples of methylsalicylate have been performed using either an internal reference (TMU) or ERETIC. No significant difference in accuracy or precision had been found between the two methods. However, because the method is applicable in partially saturated conditions, the experiment time was divided by a factor of 4 and the drawbacks associated with an internal chemical reference were avoided when ERETIC was used.     

Reconstruction method for weak-phase optical interferometry

Current optical interferometers are affected by unknown turbulent phases on each telescope. We account for this lack of phase information by introducing system aberration parameters, and we solve the image reconstruction problem by minimizing an original joint criterion in the aberrations and in the object. We validate this method by means of simulations. Tests on experimental data are under way.     

Ultrafast laser excitation of CO/Pt(111) probed by sum frequency generation: coverage dependent desorption efficiency

CO photodesorption from Pt(111) induced by femtosecond laser pulses is probed by IR+visible sum frequency generation (SFG). Steady state analysis of SFG spectra at varying CO pressure and laser fluence allows one to measure a approximately 5 orders of magnitude decrease of the photodesorption rate constant when CO coverage decreases from 0.37 to 0.07 monolayer. We ascribe this effect in the framework of the Menzel-Gomer-Redhead mechanism to electron delocalization in the CO layer. The lifetime of electronic excitation decreases when coverage decreases.     

Complex formation between a nanoparticle and a weak polyelectrolyte chain: Monte Carlo simulations

Understanding the complexation processes between nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes is an essential aspect in many branches of nanotechnology, nanoscience, chemistry, and biology to describe processes such as nanoparticle stabilization/destabilization and dispersion, water treatment, microencapsulation, complexation with biomolecules for example, and evolution of the interface of many natural and synthetic systems. In view of the complexity of such processes, applications are often based on empirical or semiempirical observations rather than on predictions based on theoretical or analytical models. In this study, the complex formation between an isolated weak polyelectrolyte and an oppositely charged nanoparticle is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations with screened Coulomb potentials in the grand canonical ensemble. The roles of the nanoparticle surface charge density , solution pH and ionic concentration C_i are systematically investigated. The phase diagrams of complex conformations are also presented. It is shown that the polyelectrolyte conformation at the surface of the nanoparticle is controlled by the attractive interactions with the nanoparticle but also by the repulsive interactions between the monomers. To bridge the gap with experiments titration curves are calculated. We clearly demonstrate that an oppositely charged nanoparticle can significantly modify the acid/base properties of a weak polyelectrolyte.     

On the <Emphasis Type="Italic">KO</Emphasis> Characteristic Cycle of a Spin<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Superscript> Manifold

We compute the KO-characteristic numbers of a characteristic submanifold of a Spin^c manifold in terms of its K-characteristic numbers. The proof is based on the geometry of the Thom class in K-theory and is simpler than the existing proofs of several previously known special cases.     

On almost hyperHermitian structures on Riemannian manifolds and tangent bundles

Some results concerning almost hyperHermitian structures are considered, using the notions of the canonical connection and the second fundamental tensor field h of a structure on a Riemannian manifold which were introduced by the second author. With the help of any metric connection on an almost Hermitian manifold M an almost hyperHermitian structure can be constructed in the defined way on the tangent bundle TM. A similar construction was considered in [6], [7]. This structure includes two basic anticommutative almost Hermitian structures for which the second fundamental tensor fields h ¹ and h ² are computed. It allows us to consider various classes of almost hyperHermitian structures on TM. In particular, there exists an infinite-dimensional set of almost hyperHermitian structures on TTM where M is any Riemannian manifold.