Control of light pulse propagation with only a few cold atoms in a high-finesse microcavity

Propagation of a light pulse through a high-Q optical microcavity containing a few cold atoms (N<10) in its cavity mode is investigated experimentally. With less than ten cold rubidium atoms launched into an optical microcavity, up to 170 ns propagation lead time ("superluminal"), and 440 ns propagation delay time (subluminal) are observed. Comparison of the experimental data with numerical simulations as well as future experiments are discussed.     

III–V based-semiconductor photonic crystals

Three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals based on III–V semiconductors are described. On the 3D photonic crystals, the development of complete photonic crystals at optical wavelengths and their applications to ultrasmall optical integrated circuits including 3D sharp bend waveguide are described. On the 2D photonic crystals, two-unique device and/or phenomena are demonstrated.     

A design of fluorescent probes for superoxide based on a nonredox mechanism

Fluorometric detection of O2-* is performed based on desulfonylation of 3 to the corresponding fluoresceins 4 through nucleophilic substitution, and this fluorescing process is quite specific toward O2-* over H2O2, t-BuOOH, NaOCl, 1O2, HO*, NO*, and ONOO-. Furthermore, effects of glutathione, cytochrome P450 reductase/NADPH, and diaphorase/NADH are relatively small on the fluorescing process of probe 3 with X = Y = F, which is useful to detect O2-* released from neutrophils stimulated by phorbol myristate acetate with satisfactory sensitivity.     

Ultra-short pulse propagation in 3D GaAs photonic crystals

We have investigated ultra-short pulse propagation through 3D GaAs photonic crystals with a complete photonic band gap in the optical wavelength region. The pulse propagation was calculated by using the finite-differential time-domain (FDTD) method. This is the first time pulse shape measurements have been made using femtosecond pulses. From the experimental results, the shapes of the ultra-short pulses were found to change when the frequency was above the photonic band-gap after the propagation through the photonic crystal, corresponding to the simulation results.     

Cleavage of oligonucleotides containing a P3'→N5' phosphoramidate linkage mediated by single-stranded oligonucleotide templates

Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) templates can hybridize to and accelerate cleavage of oligonucleotides containing a P3'→N5' phosphoramidate (P-N) linkage. This dsDNA-templated cleavage of P-N linkages could be due to conformational strain placed on the linkage upon triplex formation. To determine whether duplex formation also induced conformational strain, we examined the reactivity of the oligonucleotides with a P-N linkage in the presence of single-stranded templates, and compared these reactions to those with dsDNA templates. P-N oligonucleotides that are cleaved upon duplex formation could be used as probes to detect single-stranded nucleic acids.     

Conversion of anisotropically phase-segregated Pd/gamma-Fe2O3 nanoparticles into exchange-coupled fct-FePd/alpha-Fe nanocomposite magnets

Exchange-coupled fct-FePd/alpha-Fe nanocomposite magnets were fabricated by converting anisotropically phase-segregated Pd/gamma-Fe2O3 nanoparticles via the interfacial atom diffusion. The magnetically hard fct-FePd phases formed by the interdiffusion between alpha-Fe and fcc-Pd phases nearly preserve their sizes at the nanometer scale because they are surrounded by the alpha-Fe matrix. The VSM measurements reveal that the exchange coupling between the soft and hard phases has been realized.     

Acquisition of the ability to grow under autotrophic conditions by heterotrophic bacteria through the introduction of DNA fragments from hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Pseudomonas oxalaticus OX1 carrying recombinant plasmid pFUS and 29 gramnegative bacteria were used as donor and recipients, respectively, for conjugations....     

Computer simulation of structures and distributions of particles in MAGIC fluid

MAGIC (MAG-netic Intelligent Compound) is a solidified magnetic ferrofluid (MF) containing both magnetic particles (MPs) and abrasive particles (APs, nonmagnetic) of micron size. The distribution of APs in MAGIC can be controlled by applying a magnetic field during cooling process of MAGIC fluid. In this paper, the influences of magnetic field, size and concentration of particles on the final structures of MPs and the distributions of APs in MAGIC fluid are preliminarily investigated using Stokesian dynamic (SD) simulation method. Simulation results show that MPs prefer to form strip-like structures in MAGIC fluid, the reason for this phenomenon is mainly attributed to the strong dipolar interactions between them. It is also found that MPs prefer to form big agglomerations in weak magnetic field while chains and strip-like structures in strong magnetic field; no long chains or strip-like structures of MPs are observed in low-concentration MAGIC fluid; and for big-size MPs, pure wall-like structures are formed. Evaluation on the distribution of APs with uniformity coefficient shows that strong magnetic field, high concentration and small-size particles can induce more uniform distribution of APs in MAGIC fluid, the uniformity of APs in MAGIC is about 10% higher than that in normal grinding tools.     

Customization competition between branded firms: Continuous extension of product line from core product

We study a competition of product customization between two branded firms by a game-theoretic approach. Firms produce products with two attributes: one attribute indicates a characteristic with regard to “function” or “design” of a product and the other indicates “taste” or “flavor” of the product, which reflects consumers’ brand/taste preferences. Two branded firms have their own specific core products and our customization is defined as a continuous extension of their product line from the core product only along the “function” attribute. In particular, we allow asymmetric positions of core products, which may create the position advantage/disadvantage between firms. We suppose that consumers incur their selection costs with regard to finding their most favorable item among a rich variety of products and firms incur their customizing costs with regard to extending their product lines. We first show that in the equilibrium, branded firms should fundamentally adopt their customizations to cover the center space in the market as far as possible, regardless of the position of the competitor’s core product. Therefore, the position of the core product contributes to the creation of a competitive advantage: when one firm’s core product is located more closely to the center of the market than the competitor’s, its customization can always cover more range of the center space in the market, while keeping its degree of customization smaller than the competitor’s. Furthermore, we show some implications of unit-cost improvement: in a short run, a firm is better off concentrating on the improvement of the unit selection cost rather than the unit customizing cost. In contrast, in a long run, both firms can benefit from the improvement of the unit customizing cost.