Stabilising the Blue Phases

We present an investigation of the phase diagram of cholesteric liquid crystals within the framework of Landau - de Gennes theory. The free energy is modified to incorporate all three Frank elastic constants and to allow for a temperature dependent pitch in the cholesteric phase. It is found that the region of stability of the cubic blue phases depends significantly on the value of the elastic constants, being reduced when the bend elastic constant is larger than splay and when twist is smaller than the other two. Most dramatically we find a large increase in the region of stability of blue phase I, and a qualitative change in the phase diagram, in a system where the cholesteric phase displays helix inversion.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Damage buildup in Si under bombardment with MeV heavy atomic and molecular ions

Accumulation of structural disorder in Si bombarded at −196 °C with 0.5 MeV ²⁰⁹Bi₁ and 1 MeV ²⁰⁹Bi₂ ions (the so-called molecular effect) is studied by Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectrometry. Results show that the damage buildup is sigmodal even for such heavy-ion bombardment at liquid nitrogen temperature. This strongly suggests that, for the implant conditions of this study, the buildup of lattice damage cannot be considered as an accumulation of completely disordered regions. Instead, damage-dose curves are well described by a cascade-overlap model modified to take into account a catastrophic collapse of incompletely disordered regions into an amorphous phase after damage reaches some critical level. Results also show that Bi₂ ions produce more lattice damage than Bi₁ ions implanted to the same dose. The ratio of lattice disorder produced by Bi₂ and Bi₁ ions is 1.7 near the surface, decreases with depth, and finally becomes close to unity in the bulk defect peak region. Parameters of collision cascades obtained using ballistic calculations are in good agreement with experimental data. The molecular effect is attributed to a spatial overlap of (relatively dense) collision subcascades, which gives rise to (i) nonlinear energy spike processes and/or (ii) an increase in the defect clustering efficiency with an effective increase in the density of ion-beam-generated defects.Research at StPSTU was supported in part by the Ministry for General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation

Microstructure and crystallographic texture of silicon iron modified by torsion under quasihydrostatic pressure

The electron backscatter diffraction, X-ray diffraction analysis, electromotive force instantaneous measurement, microhardness and coercive force measurement techniques are used to explore the development of the microstructure, crystallographic texture and physico-mechanical properties of silicon iron (Fe-3% Si) alloy under quasi-hydrostatic pressure in a Bridgman anvil. It is found that the alloy deformation is accompanied by its significant hardenin

System for Synchronous Detection Trace of Explosives and Drags Substances on Human Fingers

AbstractThe sampling unit of the device, based on ion mobility spectroscopy technique, for detection of ultra small (trace) substances concentration on human fingers and documents is described. The vapor pressure of many dangerous substances is very small; so the heating of an investigated surface is needed for effective detection. However the direct heating of the human fingers by irradiation of the gas-discharge lamp is not effective because a small concentration of the melamine (pigment of the black or brown color) in the skin of the human palm. Therefore in this work the combination of the two methods is used: a grid is heated by the irradiation of the gas-discharge lamp and a grid heats the surface of the finger which is pressed to a grid

Investigation and Assessment of Soil Fertility in Agroforest Landscapes

The article presents the research materials of agrochemical properties of soil land use in the agricultural production co-operative ”Kolos”, Oktyabrsky district of the Volgograd region. The studied agroforestry landscape is located on the left bank of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, in the watershed of the Myshkov River. The territory of the farm is typical for the light chestnut sub -- zone of soils in the South of the Volgograd region. The results of the research are data on agrochemical properties of soils, their analysis and relative assessment, as well as proposals for improving fertility. The analysis of soil samples was carried out in accordance with the guidelines for the comprehensive monitoring of soil fertility of agricultural land. The soil sample was taken from an area of 40 hectares and is a mixed sample composed of 20 individual samples taken from the depth of the arable layer (0 -- 0.30 m). The total area of the surveyed arable land is 13.3 thousand hectares. Under laboratory conditions, chemical analyses were carried out and such parameters of soil fertility as humus content, content of macronutrients (NPK), content of water-bearing salts, soil granulometric composition, pH index were determined. Laboratory data are summarized in the table. The analysis of experimental data revealed the ranges of the studied parameters and identified four groups of relative soil fertility: fields with high, medium, low and very low fertility. The grouping of fields based on the account of soil fertility will allow using more differentiated and effective application of the system of measures aimed at increasing the yield and preserving soil fertility

Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction: How to measure its sign in weak ferromagnetics?

Three experimental techniques sensitive to the sign of the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction are discussed: neutron diffraction, Moessbauer gamma-ray diffraction, and resonant x-ray scattering. Classical examples of hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) and MnCO3 crystals are considered in detailComment: 5 pages, 1 figure; to be published in JETP Letter

Structure and texture evolution of the metastable austenitic steel during cold working

This work studies the structure and texture evolution in the 03Kh19N10 corrosion-resistant metastable metastable austenitic steel (0.05C-18.2Cr-8.8Ni-1.65Mn-0.43Si-0.05P-0.04S wt %, and Fe for balance) during cold rolling, which results in twinning and martensitic transformation. The strain-induced martensite nucleates heterogeneously in the microshear bands and at their intersection

Unwinding of a cholesteric liquid crystal and bidirectional surface anchoring

We examine the influence of bidirectional anchoring on the unwinding of a planar cholesteric liquid crystal induced by the application of a magnetic field. We consider a liquid crystal layer confined between two plates with the helical axis perpendicular to the substrates. We fixed the director twist on one boundary and allow for bidirectional anchoring on the other by introducing a high-order surface potential. By minimizing the total free energy for the system, we investigate the untwisting of the cholesteric helix as the liquid crystal attempts to align with the magnetic field. The transitions between metastable states occur as a series of pitchjumps as the helix expels quarter or half-turn twists, depending on the relative sizes of the strength of the surface potential and the bidirectional anchoring. We show that secondary easy axis directions can play a significant role in the unwinding of the cholesteric in its transition towards a nematic, especially when the surface anchoring strength is large