Partially coherent vortex beams with a separable phase

We propose and experimentally implement a method for the generation of a wide class of partially spatially coherent vortex beams whose cross-spectral density has a separable functional form in polar coordinates. We study phase singularities of the spectral degree of coherence of the new beams.     

Polarization singularities in partially coherent combined beams

Vector singularities are predicted and discovered experimentally in partially polarized combined fields formed by incoherent superposition of orthogonally polarized beams. Such singularities are U contours with zero degree of polarization and isolated P points with unit degree of polarization centered at vortices of the orthogonally polarized component of the combined beam. Crossing a U contour switches the polarization state to the orthogonal one. The above-mentioned singularities are adequately described in terms of the complex degree of polarization in the Stokes-space representation. It is shown that the field elements corresponding to the extrema of the complex degree of polarization form the vector skeleton of a partially coherent nonuniformly polarized field.     

Cubic structure II double clathrate hydrates with tetra(n-propyl)ammonium fluoride

A double clathrate hydrate with the composition THF·0.5(n-Pr)₄NF·16H₂O and cubic structure II (CS-II,a=17.67 Å) has been obtained. Its experimental density is 1.053±0.001 g/cm³; its melting point is 8.1°C, i.e. 3.1°C higher than that of the THF·17H₂O hydrate. The double hydrates of acetone, 1,4-dioxan, trimethyleneoxide and 1,3-dioxolane with (n-Pr)₄NF have melting points of –14.8, –5.5, –2.6 and –9.6°C, respectively. With pressure increase up to 6 kbar the melting points of the double hydrates increase monotonously in contrast to common CS-II hydrates. The friability of the structure of the hydrates (the packing coefficient) and their sensitivity to pressure (dT/dP) are compared.The results of this work have been reported at the International Seminar on Inclusion Compounds, Jaszowiec (Poland), 24–26th September 1987.     

Nongeneric polarization singularities in combined vortex beams

Nongeneric polarization structures of singular beams formed as a coherent coaxial mixture of weighted orthogonally polarized single-charged Laguerre-Gauss modes with different radial indices are analyzed. A general solution for the superposition of elliptically orthogonally polarized partial vortex beams is obtained; the limiting special cases in which the mixed modes are linearly or circularly polarized are investigated. It is established that unusual spatially stable polarization structures such as closed C contours and L contours with a fixed azimuth of linear polarization arise in such combined beams. The results are experimentally confirmed by using a new diffraction method for testing phase singularities in optical beams.     

Clathrate hydrates of tetrabutylammonium carboxylates and dicarboxylates

Phase diagrams of the binary aqueous systems with tetra-n-butylammonium (TBA) carboxylates ((C₄H₉)₄NC_nH_{2 n+1}CO₂, where n=0÷5) and dicarboxylates ([(C₄H₉)₄N]₂(CH₂)_nC₂O₄, where n=1÷3) including some branched carboxylate anions, have been studied in the field of crystallization of clathrate hydrates. Monocrystals of many hydrates have been prepared and their composition, densities, melting points and X-ray data have been determined. In the set of TBA carboxylate hydrates the stability increases towards TBA propionate or butyrate hydrates (for different structures) and then it decreases as sizes of anions grow, This is explained by additional stabilization of the framework caused by small cavities being occupied until the hydrophobic part of the anion is able to go in the cavity. In the set of hydrates of TBA dicarboxylates the change of the stability is easily accounted for by the modelling of the inclusion of dicarboxylate ions in the cavities, within known structures, different ways of hydrophilic inclusion being taken into account.     

Structural characteristics of different types of nanoparticles synthesised in mesomorphic metal alkanoates

The class of thermotropic ionic liquid crystals (LCs) of the metal alkanoates possesses a number of unique properties, such as intrinsic ionic conductivity, high dissolving ability and ability to form time-stable mesomorphic glasses. These ionic LCs can be used as nanoreactors for the synthesis and stabilisation of different types of nanoparticles (NPs). Thus, some semiconductors, metals and core/shell NPs were chemically synthesised in the thermotropic ionic liquid crystalline phase (smectic A) of the cadmium octanoate (CdC₈) and of the cobalt octanoate (CoC₈). By applying the scanning electron microscopy, the cadmium and cobalt octanoate composites containing CdS, Au, Ag and core/shell Au/CdS NPs have been studied. NPs’ sizes and dispersion distribution of the NPs’ size in the nanocomposites have been obtained.