A terahertz metamaterial with unnaturally high refractive index

Controlling the electromagnetic properties of materials, going beyond the limit that is attainable with naturally existing substances, has become a reality with the advent of metamaterials. The range of various structured artificial 'atoms' has promised a vast variety of otherwise unexpected physical phenomena, among which the experimental realization of a negative refractive index has been one of the main foci thus far. Expanding the refractive index into a high positive regime will complete the spectrum of achievable refractive index and provide more design flexibility for transformation optics. Naturally existing transparent materials possess small positive indices of refraction, except for a few semiconductors and insulators, such as lead sulphide or strontium titanate, that exhibit a rather high peak refractive index at mid- and far-infrared frequencies. Previous approaches using metamaterials were not successful in realizing broadband high refractive indices. A broadband high-refractive-index metamaterial structure was theoretically investigated only recently, but the proposed structure does not lend itself to easy implementation. Here we demonstrate that a broadband, extremely high index of refraction can be realized from large-area, free-standing, flexible terahertz metamaterials composed of strongly coupled unit cells. By drastically increasing the effective permittivity through strong capacitive coupling and decreasing the diamagnetic response with a thin metallic structure in the unit cell, a peak refractive index of 38.6 along with a low-frequency quasi-static value of over 20 were experimentally realized for a single-layer terahertz metamaterial, while maintaining low losses. As a natural extension of these single-layer metamaterials, we fabricated quasi-three-dimensional high-refractive-index metamaterials, and obtained a maximum bulk refractive index of 33.2 along with a value of around 8 at the quasi-static limit.     

Discovery of two rotational modulation periods from a young hierarchical triple system

GW Ori is a young hierarchical triple system located in λ Orionis, consisting of a binary(GW Ori A and B), a tertiary star(GW Ori C) and a rare circumtriple disk. Due to the limited data with poor accuracy, several short-period signals were detected in this system, but the values from diferent studies are not fully consistent. As one of the most successful transiting surveys, the transiting exoplanet survey satellite(TESS) provides an unprecedented opportunity to make a comprehensive periodic an...     

Some Theorems on Leibniz n-Algebras from the Category Un(Lb)

We study the Leibniz n-algebra Un(∑),whose multiplication is defined viathe bracket of a Leibniz algebra ∑ as[x1,...,xn]=[x1,[...,[xn-2,[xn-1,xn]]...]].Weshow that Un(∑) is simple if and only if ∑ is a simple Lie algebra.An analog of Levi'stheorem for Leibniz algebras in Un(Lb) is established and it is proven that the Leibnizn-kernel of Un(Σ) for any semisimple Leibniz algebra Σ is the n-algebra Un(Σ).     

A Potential Alternative to Polystyrene: Ring-opening Terpolymerization of Different Epoxides with Phthalic Anhydride Using Metal-free Dual Catalysts

A series of semi-aromatic polyesters named as Poly(PO-CHO-PA) were facilely synthesized via ring-opening terpolymerization of biobased cyclohexane oxide(CHO)/propylene oxide(PO)/phthalic anhydride(PA) using economical U1/PPNCl as dual catalyst. The proportion of CHO-PA and PO-PA segments in polymer can be readily altered by changing the feed ratio of CHO/PO because the reactivity ratios of CHO and PO with PA calculated by Fineman-Ross method are comparable. All synthesized amorphous polyesters with various compositions show one Tg ranging from 62 ℃ to 133 ℃. Significantly, the mechanical, thermal and barrier properties of these amorphous semi-aromatic polyesters are also adjustable and investigated for the first time. The results indicate the semi-polyesters exhibit superior thermostability(T5% ranging from 306 ℃ to323 ℃) and high tensile strength(40.21-55.7 MPa) that is comparable with polystyrene(PS). Furthermore, Poly(PO-CHO-PA) films possess a promising prospect as packaging materials because of its colorless and highly transparent nature, along with low oxygen and water vapor transmission rate. All above performances may guarantee its potential alternative to commercial PS.     

High-entropy L12-Pt(FeCoNiCuZn)3 intermetallics for ultrastable oxygen reduction reaction

Enhancing the stability of Pt-based electrocatalysts for the sluggish cathodic oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is critical for proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs). Herein, high-entropy intermetallic(HEI) L1₂-Pt(FeCoNiCuZn)₃is designed for durable ORR catalysis. Benefiting from the unique HEI structure and the enhanced intermetallic phase stability, Pt(FeCoNiCuZn)₃/C nanoparticles demonstrate significantly improved stability over Pt/C and PtCu₃/C...     

Surface modification of Cu2O with stabilized Cu+ for highly efficient and stable CO2 electroreduction to C2+ chemicals

Copper(Cu)-based materials are known as the most attractive catalysts for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO₂RR),especially the Cu⁺ species(e.g.,Cu₂O),which show excellent capability for catalyzing CO₂ to C₂₊ chemicals because of their unique electronic structure.However,the active Cu⁺ species are prone to be reduced to metallic Cu under an electroreduction environment,thus resulting in fast deactivation and poor...     

Experimental studies on oxidizing removal of Cyclops of zooplankton

0 IntroductionCyclops couldn’t be effectively inactivated by theconventional disinfection such as chlorination due to itsstronger resistance to oxidation.In addition,the motilityof Cyclops makes it easily penetrate sand filter into theclean water tank in waterworks , even municipal servicepipe .Adult Cyclops , with body length of one to severalmillimeters, may be caught by naked eye to bring con-sumers unsanitary sense and may become disease trans-mission mediumas the host of pathogenic para…     

GMCL： a robust global localization method for mobile robot

A large sample size is required for Monte Carlo localization （MCL） in multi-robot dynamic environ- ment, because of the ＂kidnapped robot＂ phenomenon, which will locate most of the samples in the regions with small value of desired posterior density. For this problem the crossover and mutation operators in evolutionary computation are introduced into MCL to make samples move towards the regions where the desired posterior density is large, so that the sample set can represent the density better. The proposed method is termed genetic Monte Carlo localization （GMCL）. Application in robot soccer system shows that GMCL can considerably reduce the required number of samples, and is more precise and robust in dynamic environment.     

Multilayer Porous Vanadium Nitride Microsheets Anodes for Highly Stable Na-ion Batteries

Sodiumion batteries(SIBs)have attracted intensive attention as promising alternative to lithium-ionbatteries(LIBs)for large scale energy storage systems because of low cost of sodium,similar energy storage mechanism and the reasonable performance.However,it is still a great challenge to search and design a robust structure of anode materials with excellent cycling stability and high rate capability for SIBs.Herein,multilayer porous vanadium nitride(VN)microsheets are synthesized through a facile and scalable hydrothermal synthesis-nitrogenization strategy as an effective anode material for SIBs.The multilayer porous VN microsheets not only offer more active sites for fast Na+insertion/extraction process and short diffusion pathway,but also effectively buffer the volume change of anode due to more space in the multilayer porous structure.The large proportions of capacitive behavior imply that the Na+charge storage depends on the intercalation pseudocapacitive mechanism.The multilayer porous VN microsheets electrodes manifest excellent cycling stability and rate capability,delivering a discharge capacity of 156.1 mA·h/g at 200 mA/g after 100 cycles,and a discharge capacity of 111.9 mA·h/g at 1.0 A/g even after 2300 cycles with the Coulombic efficiency of nearly 100%.