Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate in the D+iD superconducting state: implications for CoO superconductor

We calculated the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ for the D+iD superconducting state with impurities. We found that small amount of unitary impurities quickly produces the residual density of states inside the gap. As a result, the T-linear behavior in 1/T$_1$ is observed at low temperatures. Our results show that the D+iD pairing symmetry of the superconducting state of Na$_{0.35}$CoO$_{2} \cdot y$H$_2$ O is compatible with recent $^{59}$Co 1/T$_1$ experiments of several groups.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor change

Collapse arrest and soliton stabilization in nonlocal nonlinear media

We investigate the properties of localized waves in systems governed by nonlocal nonlinear Schrodinger type equations. We prove rigorously by bounding the Hamiltonian that nonlocality of the nonlinearity prevents collapse in, e.g., Bose-Einstein condensates and optical Kerr media in all physical dimensions. The nonlocal nonlinear response must be symmetric, but can be of completely arbitrary shape. We use variational techniques to find the soliton solutions and illustrate the stabilizing effect of nonlocality.Comment: 4 pages with 3 figure

Anomalous interaction of nonlocal solitons in media with competing nonlinearities

We theoretically investigate properties of individual bright spatial solitons and their interaction in nonlocal media with competing focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. We consider the general case with both nonlinear responses characterized by different strengths and degrees of nonlocality. We employ a variational approach to analytically describe soliton properties. In particular, we prove analytically that the interplay of focusing and defocusing nonlocal nonlinearities leads to attraction or repulsion of solitons depending on their separation distance. We then study the propagation and interaction of solitons using numerical simulations of the full model of beam propagation. The numerical simulations fully confirm our analytical results

Experimental study of fusion neutron and proton yields produced by petawatt-laser-irradiated D2-3He or CD4-3He clustering gases

We report on experiments in which the Texas Petawatt laser irradiated a mixture of deuterium or deuterated methane clusters and helium-3 gas, generating three types of nuclear fusion reactions: D(d, 3He)n, D(d, t)p and 3He(d, p)4He. We measured the yields of fusion neutrons and protons from these reactions and found them to agree with yields based on a simple cylindrical plasma model using known cross sections and measured plasma parameters. Within our measurement errors, the fusion products were isotropically distributed. Plasma temperatures, important for the cross sections, were determined by two independent methods: (1) deuterium ion time-of-flight, and (2) utilizing the ratio of neutron yield to proton yield from D(d, 3He)n and 3He(d, p)4He reactions, respectively. This experiment produced the highest ion temperature ever achieved with laser-irradiated deuterium clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Temperature measurements of fusion plasmas produced by petawatt laser-irradiated D2-3He or CD4-3He clustering gases

Two different methods have been employed to determine the plasma temperature in a laser-cluster fusion experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. In the first, the temperature was derived from time-of-flight data of deuterium ions ejected from exploding D2 or CD4 clusters. In the second, the temperature was measured from the ratio of the rates of two different nuclear fusion reactions occurring in the plasma at the same time: D(d, 3He)n and 3He(d, p)4He. The temperatures determined by these two methods agree well, which indicates that: i) The ion energy distribution is not significantly distorted when ions travel in the disassembling plasma; ii) The kinetic energy of deuterium ions, especially the hottest part responsible for nuclear fusion, is well described by a near-Maxwellian distribution.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

A simpler and more efficient algorithm for the next-to-shortest path problem

Given an undirected graph $G=(V,E)$ with positive edge lengths and two vertices $s$ and $t$, the next-to-shortest path problem is to find an $st$-path which length is minimum amongst all $st$-paths strictly longer than the shortest path length. In this paper we show that the problem can be solved in linear time if the distances from $s$ and $t$ to all other vertices are given. Particularly our new algorithm runs in $O(|V|\log |V|+|E|)$ time for general graphs, which improves the previous result of $O(|V|^2)$ time for sparse graphs, and takes only linear time for unweighted graphs, planar graphs, and graphs with positive integer edge lengths.Comment: Partial result appeared in COCOA201

3D-printed PMMA preform for hollow-core POF drawing

In this paper we report the first, to our knowledge, 3D-printed hollow-core poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) preform for polymer optical fibre drawing. It was printed of commercial PMMA by means of fused deposition modelling technique. The preform was drawn to cane, proving good enough quality of drawing process and the PMMA molecular weight to be appropriate for drawing. This ascertains that the manufacturing process provides preforms suitable for hollow-core fibre drawing. The paper focuses on maximisation of transparency of PMMA 3D printouts by optimising printing process parameters: nozzle temperature, printing speed and infill

Energy funneling in a bent chain of Morse oscillators with long-range coupling

A bent chain of coupled Morse oscillators with long-range dispersive interaction is considered. Moving localized excitations may be trapped in the bending region. Thus chain geometry acts like an impurity. An energy funneling effect is observed in the case of random initial conditions.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Physical Review E, Oct. 13, 200

Measurement of the plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He reaction in exploding molecular clusters

The plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He fusion reaction was measured for the first time at temperatures of few keV, using the interaction of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular deuterium clusters mixed with 3He atoms. Different proportions of D2 and 3He or CD4 and 3He were mixed in the gas jet target in order to allow the measurement of the cross-section for the 3He(D, p)4He reaction. The yield of 14.7 MeV protons from the 3He(D, p)4He reaction was measured in order to extract the astrophysical S factor at low energies. Our result is in agreement with other S factor parameterizations found in the literature