Cosmological Particle Creation and Dynamical Casimir Effect

We compute particle creation for a real massive scalar field conformally coupled to a spatially closed Robertson–Walker space-time background, with time-dependent scale factor. This is a dynamical Casimir effect with moving boundaries.     

Nonequilibrium Statistical Thermodynamics of Two Dissipative Processes in Solids: Energy Losses of Channeled Particles at Low Velocities and Ultrasound Absorption by Conduction Electrons

We use methods of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics to investigate two dissipative processes in solids. We find the electron energy losses of a particle moving in a planar channeling regime and the sound absorption coefficient in metals under electron impurity scattering. The oscillator model is used to analyze the contribution from the effect of electron entrainment by a moving scattering center to the total dissipated energy. We investigate the frequency and temperature dependence of energy losses and also the dependence of the absorption coefficient on the sound wave vector.     

Structure and optical properties of lead iodide based two-dimensional perovskite compounds containing fluorophenethylamines

Phenethylammonium-based perovskites, which can be regarded as a semiconductor/insulator multiple quantum well consisting of lead halide semiconductor layers sandwiched between phenethylammonium insulator layers were prepared. To investigate the effects of the electronic state and the orientation of organic insulator layers on the optical properties of layered perovskites, fluorine substituted analogues were also prepared. The structure and optical properties were investigated by the XRD, UV–Vis absorption, and fluorescence measurements. The exciton absorption peak was shifted by the substitution of fluorine atoms in organic ammonium compounds. It became clear that the optical properties of two-dimensional perovskite compounds were controlled by the substitution of fluorine atoms.     

Apparatus for High-Resolution Solid Hydrogen Matrix Isolation Spectroscopy and Its Application

Apparatus integrating a Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and a mid-infrared difference frequency generation (DFG) laser spectrometer was built for the study of the matrix isolation spectrum in solid molecular hydrogen. A 3-cm-long molecular hydrogen crystal was grown in a liquid-helium Dewar, and its infrared absorption spectrum in the 1-5 μm region was recorded to test the system. The W₀(0) (ν=0←0, J=6←0) line around 2410 cm⁻¹ of solid hydrogen was investigated with the DFG laser spectroscopy. High-resolution matrix isolation spectrum of CO² co-deposited with hydrogen on a BaF₂ cold plate at liquid-helium temperature was studied.     

Modification of multiwalled carbon nanotubes by carboxy groups and determination of the degree of functionalization

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were modified by carboxy groups. Four independent methods for the determination of the degree of functionalization of the surface were proposed: ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, titrimetry, and fluorimetry. The first two methods show the total content of carboxy groups in the sample, and the latter two methods give information about the content of the surface groups only. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 291–295, February, 2008.     

Physics in Melbourne

I survey highlights of the practice of physics and allied sciences in Melbourne,Australia, from the 1850s, soon after Europeans first settled in the area, to the present. I note recognizable sites of past and current physical-science activity that may be visited, as well as exhibits of historic items of physics apparatus. I trace the role of physics, in the course of a century and a half, in the evolution of a pioneering settlement into a large city embedded in a modern industrial economy.     

A Mossbauer study of the magnetic coupling in iron phosphorous trisulfides

The polycrystalline sample of layered compound FePS_3 has been investigated by using M?ssbauer spectroscopy (12K to 300K), magnetic susceptibility measurements, x-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy. The antiferromagnetic order exists below T_N=120.5±1K. The M?ssbauer spectra below T_N indicate that the magnetization axis is perpendicular to the layer of FePS_3, and the divalent iron cations are in their high spin configurations. By fitting the hyperfine field parameters near the Néel temperature, we obtain information on the nature of magnetic interactions in the material. The results show that the magnetic coupling can be treated by the two-dimensional Ising model, and it can be interpreted on the basis of a crystal-field effect.     

Sn/Ge(1 1 1) α-phase: characterization of image resonances by specular electron reflection and selective electron scattering

Image potential resonances on the Sn/Ge(1 1 1) α-phase are investigated by two closely related methods: specular electron reflection and so-called selective electron scattering. Electrons from image resonances are detected on this surface at 120 and 300 K, i.e. below and above the phase transition at about 200 K. The dispersion of the image resonances reveals at these two temperatures equivalent effective electron masses, which are characteristic for this type of electronic surface states. The results of the two methods are consistent according to the similarity of the scattering processes. Changes in the loss peak intensity with the annealing temperature are assigned to the surface quality and are reflected by characteristic photoemission intensities.     

Binding of erbium(III) and holmium(III) to native and chemically modified alfalfa biomass: a spectroscopic investigation

Traditional treatment methods used to clean-up heavy metal contamination of soils and waters are cost intensive whereas more cost effective methods need to be developed. The use of plant materials to remediate heavy contamination has been studied for the past two decades. This technique has shown much promise for many of the common heavy metal contaminants, but few studies have focused on the lanthanide series elements. By investigating the binding and interactions of the lanthanide elements to alfalfa biomass, a more complete understanding of the binding mechanisms and the interactions of heavy metals with biomaterials can be obtained. Different chemical functional groups on the alfalfa biomass, carboxyl, amino, sulfur, and ester groups, were modified to investigate the binding mechanisms of erbium(III) and holmium(III). Batch experiments were performed with native and chemically modified alfalfa biomass suggesting that the carboxyl groups play a major role in the binding of erbium(III) and holmium(III) to the alfalfa biomass. In addition, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies corroborated the data obtained from the batch experiments.