Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on two research projects

GaAs/GaAlAs distributed Bragg reflector laser with a focused ion beam, low dose dopant implanted grating

We report, for the first time, the performance of a GaAs/GaAlAs distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser using a focused ion beam implanted grating (FIB‐DBR). Stripes of Si+ + with a period of 2300 Å and a dose ∼1014 cm−2 are directly implanted into the passive large optical cavity layer to provide the distributed feedback. Surface‐emitting light from the second‐order grating is observed. Threshold current of 110 mA and single DBR mode operation from 20 to 40 °C are obtained. The wavelength tuning rate with temperature is 0.8 Å/°C. The coupling coefficient is estimated to be 15 cm−1. The results show that FIB technology is practical for distributed feedback and DBR lasers and optoelectronic integrated circuits

Variant supercurrent multiplets

In N = 1 rigid supersymmetric theories, there exist three standard realizations of the supercurrent multiplet corresponding to the (i) old minimal, (ii) new minimal and (iii) non-minimal off-shell formulations for N = 1 supergravity. Recently, Komargodski and Seiberg in arXiv:1002.2228 put forward a new supercurrent and proved its consistency, although in the past it was believed not to exist. In this paper, three new variant supercurrent multiplets are proposed. Implications for supergravity-matter systems are discussed.Comment: 11 pages; V2: minor changes in sect. 3; V3: published version; V4: typos in eq. (2.3) corrected; V5: comments and references adde

Improved Quantum Hard-Sphere Ground-State Equations of State

The London ground-state energy formula as a function of number density for a system of identical boson hard spheres, corrected for the reduced mass of a pair of particles in a sphere-of-influence picture, and generalized to fermion hard-sphere systems with two and four intrinsic degrees of freedom, has a double-pole at the ultimate \textit{regular} (or periodic, e.g., face-centered-cubic) close-packing density usually associated with a crystalline branch. Improved fluid branches are contructed based upon exact, field-theoretic perturbation-theory low-density expansions for many-boson and many-fermion systems, appropriately extrapolated to intermediate densities, but whose ultimate density is irregular or \textit{random} closest close-packing as suggested in studies of a classical system of hard spheres. Results show substantially improved agreement with the best available Green-function Monte Carlo and diffusion Monte Carlo simulations for bosons, as well as with ladder, variational Fermi hypernetted chain, and so-called L-expansion data for two-component fermions.Comment: 15 pages and 7 figure

Movement of transgenic plant-expressed Bt Cry1Ac proteins through high trophic levels

The movement of Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) Cry1Ac endotoxin through high trophic levels was assessed to help elucidate the effects of Bt toxin on non-target insects. The diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L., Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), the parasitic wasp (Cotesia vestalis Haliday, Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and the predatory green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea (Stephen) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) were used as a model system in this laboratory study. Bt-resistant P. xylostella larvae fed Cry1Ac-expressing transgenic oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus L., Cruciferae), before and after parasitization by C. vestalis, consumed Cry1Ac with the ingested plant material but only a proportion of Cry1Ac consumed was recovered from the bodies and faeces of P. xylostella larvae. Cry1Ac was not detected in newly emerged parasitoid larvae. In contrast, Cry1Ac was detected in C. carnea larvae fed on resistant P. xylostella larvae reared on Bt OSR. However, no Cry1Ac could be detected in C. carnea larvae when the lacewings were transferred to P. xylostella larvae reared on conventional OSR and tested 24-48 h. The metabolizing ability of Cry1Ac is discussed for the larvae of P. xylostella and C. carnea

Long-lifetime, reliable liquid metal ion sources for boron, arsenic, and phosphorus

Operation of liquid–metalion sources based on palladium alloys that contain boron, arsenic, and phosphorus (singly or in combination) was studied. These sources, when run on refractory metal needles and heater ribbons, have exhibited high angular intensity (1.5–5 μA/sr), long lifetime (\u3e150 h), low energy spread (eV), and stable operation with extracted currents down to 2 μA

Resistivity peak values at transition between fractional quantum Hall states

Experimental data available in the literature for peak values of the diagonal resistivity in the transitions between fractional quantum Hall states are compared with the theoretical predictions. It is found that the majority of the peak values are close to the theoretical values for two-dimensional systems with moderate mobilities.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur