Phase transitions driven by quasiparticle interactions

After a survey of the solid–liquid transition, driven by phonon–phonon interactions, attention is next focussed on two phase transitions caused by electron–phonon interactions. These are (i) the Barden–Cooper–Schrieffer pure metal superconducting transition and (ii) the original Peierls instability. These have closely similar forms for the respective transition temperatures, both being related to energy gaps. Spin–phonon interactions are then discussed in relation to spin-Peierls materials. Finally, magnon–magnon interactions are treated in the context of the ferromagnetic–paramagnetic transition in the itinerant electron systems Fe, Co and Ni. Heuristic and phenomenological arguments, plus of course experiment, provide the basis for the conclusions drawn here.     

Generating and shifting a spherical focal spot in a 4Pi focusing system illuminated by azimuthally polarized beams

We aim to theoretically investigate the focusing property of a 4Pi configuration under the illumination of azimuthally polarized high-order Bessel–Gaussian beams. The radial component is produced in the focal region through the introduction of a spiral phase plate. The focal region differs from the zero radial intensity component of the azimuthally polarized beams without the spiral phase plate. The spherical focal spot is generated by selecting an appropriate annular obstruction. The position of the focal spot can be shifted.     

Molecular alignment of biphenyl derivatives -a computational analysis

Molecular alignment of some biphenyl derivatives likes 4'-Nitro-2-biphenylamine (NBPA), 4-Acetyl-3'-chlorobiphenyl (ACBP) and 4-Acetyl-3'-florobiphenyl (AFBP) has been examined. The CNDO/2 method has been employed to compute the net atomic charge and atomic dipole-moment components at each atomic centre. Configurational energy has been computed using a modified Rayleigh- Schrodinger perturbation method at an interval of 0.1 A° in translation and 1° in rotation, and corresponding probabilities have been calculated using MB-statistics. A comparative study of molecular parameters like the total energy, the binding energy and the total dipole moment etc., has been made. On the basis of the stacking and the in-plane interaction energy calculations, all the possible geometrical arrangements between molecular pairing have been obtained. The investigation suggests that a strong intermolecular interaction energy between a pair of NBPA molecules, and the specific minimum energy configuration, determines the alignment of molecules with respect to one another. An attempt has been made to correlate the liquid crystalline properties exhibited by this class of molecules, and thereby develop a molecular model for the liquid crystallinity.     

Ultrasonic evidence for short-range charge-ordering state in the low-doping regime of La1– x Sr x FeO3 (1/3 ≤ x ≤ 0.45)

The longitudinal ultrasonic velocity (V) and attenuation at a frequency of 10?MHz, as well as magnetization and resistivity, have been measured in the single-phase polycrystalline La_{1– x} Sr _x FeO₃ (x?=?1/3, 0.4, 0.45). Upon cooling down from high temperature, a slight softening in V and dramatic stiffening are observed in all samples, and this stiffening is coincided with a big attenuation peak. The relative increase of V is proportional to the Sr concentration, which implies that this anomaly is strongly correlated with Fe⁴⁺. However, no obvious changes in magnetic and electric properties are found at this temperature range. The analysis suggests that this feature may be caused by the Jahn–Teller effect of Fe⁴⁺ and correspond to the formation of short-range charge-ordering state.     

On Dedekind Modules

In this article the authors give the relation between a finitely-generated torsionfree Dedekind module M over a domain R and prime submodules of the 𝒪(M)-module M and the ring 𝒪(M). They also prove that M is a finitely-generated torsionfree Dedekind module over a domain R if and only if every semi-maximal submodule of R-module M is invertible.     

Deuterium-deuterium nuclear cross-sections in insulator and metallic environments

The three-dimensional Thomas-Fermi (TF) model is used to simulate the variation of the d + d → t + p cross-section at low impact energies, when the target deuterium nucleus is embedded in metallic or insulator environments. The comparison of the computational results to recent experiments demonstrates that even though the TF model can explain some increase in the low-energy cross-section for metallic host, a full explanation of the experimental results is still lacking. Possible reasons for the disagreement are discussed.     

Langmuir probe and spectroscopic studies of RF generated helium-nitrogen mixture plasma

This paper reports the effect of helium percentage variation in a capacitive RF helium-nitrogen mixture plasma on various plasma parameters and concentration of nitrogen active species (N₂(C³Π _u) and N₂ ⁺(B²Σ _u ⁺)). Langmuir probe is used for determination of electron energy distribution functions, effective electron temperature, plasma potential and electron density. Optical emission spectroscopy is used for determination of electron temperature from Boltzmann's plot of He–I lines and the relative changes in the concentration of active species by measuring the emission intensities of nitrogen (0-0) bands of the second positive and the first negative systems. The results demonstrate that electron temperature, electron density and concentration of active species increase significantly with increase in helium percentage in the mixture and RF power.