Observation of the nonlinear effect in relativistic Thomson scattering of electron and laser beams

Thomson scattering of high-power laser and electron beams is a good test of electrodynamics in the high-field region. We demonstrated production of high-intensity X-rays in the head-on collision of a CO₂ laser and 60-MeV electron beams at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Accelerator Test Facility. The energy of an X-ray photon was limited at 6.5 keV in the linear (lowest order) Thomson scattering, but the nonlinear (higher order) process produces higher energy X-rays. We measured the angular distribution of the high-energy X-rays and confirmed that it agrees with theoretical predictions.     

New approaches to liquid interfaces through changes in the refractive index and nonlinear susceptibility utilizing ultrashort laser pulses.

Molecules in inhomogeneous liquid environments, such as air/liquid, liquid/liquid, solid/liquid interfaces interact with each other specifically, and sometimes form characteristic structures and emerge unique properties. Here, we introduce two newly developed spectroscopic techniques, the total-internal-reflection ultrafast transient lens method (TIR-UTL) and second harmonic generation-coherent vibrational spectroscopy (SHG-CVS), to investigate the characteristic behaviors of molecules in such inhomogeneous environments. TIR-UTL probes the refractive-index change with sub-picosecond resolution and provides information on ultrafast changes in the population, density, and thermal properties, such as temperature increase and energy transfer from the solute molecules to the surrounding solvent molecules. On the other hand, SHG-CVS probes nonlinear susceptibility changes at the interfacial areas, and is expected to provide spectroscopic information on the low-frequency vibrational modes that reflect the corrective motion of the molecules in such an inhomogeneous environment. These new approaches are based on pump-probe techniques utilizing (ultra) short laser pulses. They are expected to provide further information on inhomogeneous environments from the viewpoints of solute-solvent interactions, changes in the molecular orientation, and the corrective motion of molecules at liquid interfaces.     

Simultaneous imaging of the structure and fluorescence of a supramolecular nanostructure formed by the coupling of π‐conjugated polymer chains in the intermolecular interaction

We fabricated a micrometer‐long supramolecular chain in which π‐conjugated polyrotaxane was coupled. A new experimental setup was designed and constructed, and the simultaneous direct imaging of the structure and fluorescent function was achieved. Furthermore, we identified the formation of a polymer intertwined network and observed novel fluorescence due to a long‐range interaction via this intertwined network over a distance of 5 μm or more without quenching over 15 min in the near field. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 801–809, 2006     

New Chiral Kemp's Acid Diamides for Chiral Amine Recognition by 1 H NMR

Two Kemp's acid diamides were synthesized and applied to chiral amine recognition using ¹H NMR analysis. One derivative based on 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine had good chiral recognition of six amines and was useful to determine the optical purity for three amines, i.e., methylbenzylamine, 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine and 1- henylpropylamine,however, the cyclohexylethylamine derivative showed little discrimination for the amines studied. Together with the results for alkylamines, it was shown that aromatic structure was important for aromatic shielding anisotropy and –– interactions between host and guest. The structure of the 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine derivative in solution was also considered based on ¹H NMR data and computer simulation.     

Hydration Structure Around the Carboxyl Group Studied by Neutron Diffraction with 12C/13C and H/D Isotopic Substitution Methods

Time-of-Flight (TOF) neutron diffraction measurements have been carried out on aqueous 8 mol% sodium acetate solutions in D₂O. Scattering cross sections that were observed for sample solutions involving ¹²C/¹³C and H/D isotopically substituted acetate ions were used to derive the first-order difference functions, Δ_H(Q) and Δ_C(Q), and corresponding distribution functions, G _H(r;r) and G _C(r;r), which describe the environmental structure around the methyl and the carboxyl groups within the acetate ion, respectively. Structural parameters concerning the first hydration shell of the carboxyl group within the acetate ion were obtained through the least squares fit to the observed intermolecular difference function, Δ_C ^inter(Q). The nearest neighbor C _O...D _W1 (C_O: carboxyl carbon atom, D_W1: water deuterium atom) distance, r(C _O...D _W1 ), and the angle, ∠ C _O ...D _W1 -O _W (O _W : water oxygen atom), were determined to be 2.63(1) Å and 120(1)°, respectively. The coordination number, n(C _O ...D _W1 ), was obtained to be 4.0(1). These results are consistent with the hydration structure in which water molecules in the first hydration shell of the carboxyl group are hydrogen-bonded with oxygen atoms of the carboxyl group.     

Effect of adsorbed water on the electrorheology of silica suspensions

Monodisperse silica particles were formed by hydrolyzing tetraethylorthosilicate in an ethanol solution and the silica suspensions dispersed in a silicone oil were prepared by a different procedure. The effects of adsorbed water on the electrorheological (ER) behavior were studied under oscillatory shear. The amounts of adsorbed water and surface silanol groups were determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The magnitude of the complex viscosity, |η^*|, increases with the application of electric fields. The physically adsorbed water is primarily responsible for the ER effect. However, the fluids containing large amounts of adsorbed water do not always show excellent ER performance. The surface silanol groups have an important role in promoting the ER effect. Not only the amount but also the situation of silanol groups determines the ER activity of adsorbed water.     

Determination of the aminoglycoside antibiotics sisomicin and netilmicin in dried blood spots on filter discs, by high-performance liquid chromatography with pre-column derivatization and fluorimetric detection

A simple method for the determination of the aminoglycoside antibiotic sisomicin or its 1-N-ethyl derivative, netilmicin in whole blood, using dried blood spots (DBSs) on filter-paper punched discs has been developed. Sisomicin or netilmicin in the DBSs were recovered most effectively in 0.5 M Na2HPO4 using ultrasonication. The eluates from the DBSs were treated by ultrafiltration for deproteinization and subjected to pre-column fluorescent derivatization using o-phthalaldehyde and beta-mercaptopropionic acid in 0.05 M KH2PO4-borate buffer (pH 9.0), followed by determination by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The detection limits of sisomicin and netilmicin in the DBSs on punched discs (10.1 microliters of whole blood) were 0.053 and 0.50 micrograms per ml of whole blood, respectively (signal-to-noise ratio greater than or equal to 2). The method permits a simple collection of blood at the microlitre level and should prove particularly useful for monitoring sisomicin and netilmicin in blood at therapeutic levels in geriatric and paediatric patients.