Complementary interference method for determining optical parameters of liquid crystals

ABSTRACT

Wedge cells of small apex angle, filled with liquid crystals, were used to determining optical characteristics as functions of temperature for three liquid crystalline mixtures recently produced and a reference nematic. The interference fringes appearing in polarised monochromatic light (of sodium yellow line) normally incident on the cell were exploited to measure the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices in the reflection mode and birefringence in the transmission mode. The measurements were repeated using Abbe's refractometer for 6CHBT as the reference to verifying the precision. Additionally the order parameter was computed from birefringence as a function of temperature. The results confirm the usefulness of the method and provide the properties of two nematic liquid crystals of small and large birefringence and one smectic liquid crystal of medium birefringence, recently produced. The experimental systems served also to investigating phase transition between the liquid crystals and the isotropic liquid at near-clearing temperature.     

Prospect for Cosmological Parameter Estimation Using Future Hubble Parameter Measurements

We constrain cosmological parameters using only Hubble parameter data and quantify the impact of future Hubble parameter measurements on parameter estimation for the most typical dark energy models. We first constrain cosmological parameters using 52 current Hubble parameter data including the Hubble constant measurement from the Hubble Space Telescope. Then we simulate the baryon acoustic oscillation signals from WFIRST (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope) covering the redshift range of z ∈[0.5,2] and the redshift drift data from E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) in the redshift range of z ∈[2,5]. It is shown that solely using the current Hubble parameter data could give fairly good constraints on cosmological parameters. Compared to the current Hubble parameter data, with the WFIRST observation the H(z) constraints on dark energy would be improved slightly, while with the E-ELT observation the H(z) constraints on dark energy is enormously improved.     

光谱法研究普利沙星与小牛胸腺DNA的结合作用

利用紫外光谱,荧光光谱及流体动力学方法,研究了普利沙星与小牛胸腺DNA的作用机理。讨论了不同浓度普利沙星与DNA作用的紫外光谱,荧光光谱,磷酸盐效应以及离子强度对两者相互作用的影响,测量了DNA的热变性温度和粘度。从紫外光谱图上看出DNA发生了明显的减色效应, 说明普利沙星可能与DNA发生作用。普利沙星的荧光光谱发生了有规律的猝灭,最大发射峰发生红移, 猝灭常数为3.1×104 L·mol-1, 为静态猝灭,表明普利沙星与DNA结合生成了二元复合物。磷酸盐效应表明普利沙星与DNA的磷酸基团不发生静电作用。普利沙星引起了DNA的热变性温度略微升高(≤7℃)和DNA粘度略微下降, 表明普利沙星与DNA之间不存在插入作用, 只是在DNA的外部发生沟槽作用。     

温度/应变/扭曲三参量同时测量低成本传感系统

提出了一种利用布喇格光纤光栅反射光作信号源、高频CO2激光脉冲写入的长周期光纤光栅和超周期光纤光栅作传感器实现温度、应变和扭曲同时测量的全光栅型低成本强度解调传感方案.文中利用长周期光纤光栅边缘滤波效应实现了温度、应变和扭曲传感信号的实时解调.实验结果表明,其温度和应变的测量灵敏度分别为－0.211 dB/℃和－0.012 dB/10με;而扭曲率的测量灵敏度为0.4394 dB/(rad·m－1),是该法写入普通LPFG的4倍以上.     

Non-classicality of photon added coherent and thermal radiations

Production and analysis of non-Gaussian radiation fields has evinced a lot of attention recently. Simplest way of generating such non-Gaussians is through adding (subtracting) photons to Gaussian fields. Interestingly, when photons are added to classical Gaussian fields, the resulting states exhibit non-classicality. Two important classical Gaussian radiation fields are coherent and thermal states. Here, we study the non-classical features of such states when photons are added to them. Non-classicality of these states shows up in the negativity of the Wigner function. We also work out the entanglement potential, a recently proposed measure of non-classicality for these states. Our analysis reveals that photon added coherent states are non-classical for all seed beam intensities; their non-classicality increases with the addition of more number of photons. Thermal state exhibits non-classicality at all temperatures, when a photon is added; lower the temperature, higher is their non-classicality.     

A high-current electron beam ion trap as an on-line charge breeder for the high precision mass measurement TITAN experiment

The precision of atomic mass measurements in a Penning trap is directly proportional to the charge state q of the ion and, hence, can be increased by using highly charged ions (HCI). For this reason, charge breeding with an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) is employed at TRIUMF’s Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN) on-line facility in Vancouver, Canada. By bombarding the injected and trapped singly charged ions with an intense beam of electrons, the charge state of the ions is rapidly increased inside the EBIT. To be compatible with the on-line requirements of short-lived isotopes, very high electron beam current densities are needed. The TITAN EBIT includes a 6 Tesla superconducting magnet and is designed to have electron beam currents and energies of up to 5 A and 60 keV, respectively. Once operational at full capacity, most species can be bred into a He-like configuration within tens of ms. Subsequently, the HCI are extracted, pass a Wien filter to reduce isobaric contamination, are cooled, and injected into a precision Penning trap for mass measurement. We will present the first results and current status of the TITAN EBIT, which has recently been moved to TRIUMF after assembly and commissioning at the Max-Planck-Institute (MPI) for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.     

Piezoelectric, dielectric and magnetic properties of (1-x)Pb[Zr, Ti, (Mg1/2W1/2), (Ni1/3Nb2/3)]O3+x(Ni, Co, Cu)FeO4 composites

The phase structure, microstructure, piezoelectric properties, dielectric characteristic and the ME effect of magnetoelectric Pb[Zr_0.23Ti_0.36+0.02(Mg_1/2W_1/2)+0.39(Ni_1/3Nb_2/3)]O₃ (PZT)+xNi_0.8Co_0.1Cu_0.1Fe₂O₄ (NCCF) composite ceramics were prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method. The structural analysis of both the constituent phases and their composites was carried out by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed cubic spinel structure for ferrite phase and tetragonal perovskite structure for ferroelectric phase. The piezoelectric constant, dielectric constant, Curie temperature, remanent polarization and coercive electric field decreased with increase of ferrite content. The coercive field strength, saturation magnetization and remanent magnetization increased with increasing ferrite content.     

Gaussian distribution of relaxation through human blood

The complicated structure of human blood has been characterized based on relaxation time, τ, and the Cole-Cole parameter, α, obtained from dielectric measurements. As previously reported by different authors, the experimental data show net deviation from the classical Debye model with certain distribution of relaxation times (D_τ). Plots of α versus width of the relaxation rate distribution of micro-particles inside the blood show that D_τ drastically affects the dielectric properties of the fluid. The mathematical function of D_τ is found to be Gaussian and we find that the α values of normal blood have net lower magnitude than that of diabetic blood. These results suggest that glucose in blood increases the broadness of the parameter α, which have significant importance in diabetic-biosensor manufacture.     

Spin-glass behaviour of novel ternary uranium aluminide U3Co4+ x Al12− x (x = 0.55)

Experimental results on dc and ac susceptibility, magnetization and magnetic relaxation, specific heat, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistivity up to 8?T are reported for the novel ternary uranium aluminide U₃Co_4.55Al_11.45. The temperature dependence of the dc susceptibility shows a cusp at a characteristic temperature T _f?=?8–10?K that depends weakly on the applied magnetic field. The observed pronounced difference between the ZFC and FC magnetizations, as well as the decay in the remanent, both give evidence that a highly irreversible, frozen state is formed below T _f which is reminiscent of spin-glass behaviour. The real and imaginary parts of the ac susceptibility show that the corresponding T _f peaks are only slightly dependent on frequency. Electrical resistivity measured at zero and in fields up to 8?T indicates that the Kondo-like state becomes dominant at temperatures above T _f.     

An airborne diode laser spectrometer for the simultaneous measurement of H2O and HNO3 content of stratospheric cirrus clouds

We describe a tunable diode laser spectrometer for the in situ simultaneous detection of the nitric acid and the water vapour by means of high resolution absorption spectroscopy on rovibronic lines, using a single laser emitting in the mid-infrared (5.8 μm) and a multipass cell. The instrument was designed to be installed on a high altitude aircraft, as a part of a composite payload for atmospheric aerosol studies. The instrument design criteria are discussed and the expected performances are compared with results of laboratory and field operation. Due to the high chemical activity of HNO₃, that makes difficult to use a reference cell, a fast sweep detection of direct absorption was used for the measurement. An absorption sensitivity of about 2×10⁻⁴ was achieved with an integration time of 2.5 s, corresponding to a concentration of about 4 ppb of HNO₃ in the cell and 0.1 ppb in the external aerosol. The data acquisition and processing techniques, based on the full molecular lineshape fitting are also shown and discussed, including some examples of the data acquired during the scientific flights.