An Azimuth-Stabililzed Balloon Platform

In the study of Zodiacal Light, an interesting task is the determination of the intensity and the position of this glow on the celestial sphere. The problem of photographing this phenomenon from the earth’s surface has been hampered generally by the inevitable presence of the atmosphere between the camera and the object. However, it is expected that at the height of some thirty kilometers above the earth, the atmospheric haze will be reduced enough so that pictures of the zodiacal region may be obtained without significant absorption. To accomplish this, it is necessary to keep the balloon-borne camera pointed in the desired direction while the photograph is taken. It is the purpose of this thesis to design a mechanism which maintains proper orientation of the camera

Type-II super-Backlund transformation and integrable defects for the N=1 super sinh-Gordon model

A new super-Backlund transformation for the N=1 supersymmetric sinh-Gordon equation is constructed. Based on this construction we propose a type-II integrable defect for the supersymmetric sinh-Gordon model consistent with this new transformation through the Lagrangian formalism. Explicit expressions for the modified conserved energy, momentum and supercharges are also computed. In addition, we show for the model that the type-II defect can also been regarded as a pair of fused defects of a previously introduced type. The explicit derivation of the associated defect matrices is also presented as a necessary condition for the integrability of the model.Comment: Latex 31 pages. Version accepted for publicatio

N=1 super sinh-Gordon model with defects revisited

The Lax pair formalism is considered to discuss the integrability of the N=1 supersymmetric sinh-Gordon model with a defect. We derive associated defect matrix for the model and construct the generating functions of the modified conserved quantities. The corresponding defect contributions for the modified energy and momentum of the model are explicitly computed.Comment: Latex 26 page

Drastic effects of damping mechanisms on the third-order optical nonlinearity

We have investigated the optical response of superradiant atoms, which undergoes three different damping mechanisms: radiative dissipation ($\gamma_r$), dephasing ($\gamma_d$), and nonradiative dissipation ($\gamma_n$). Whereas the roles of $\gamma_d$ and $\gamma_n$ are equivalent in the linear susceptibility, the third-order nonlinear susceptibility drastically depends on the ratio of $\gamma_d$ and $\gamma_n$: When $\gamma_d \ll \gamma_n$, the third-order susceptibility is essentially that of a single atom. Contrarily, in the opposite case of $\gamma_d \gg \gamma_n$, the third-order susceptibility suffers the size-enhancement effect and becomes proportional to the system size.Comment: 5pages, 2figure

Defects in the supersymmetric mKdV hierarchy via Backlund transformations

The integrability of the ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric modified Korteweg de-Vries (smKdV) hierarchy in the presence of defects is investigated through the construction of its super B\"acklund transformation. The construction of such transformation is performed by using essentially two methods: the B\"acklund-defect matrix approach and the superfield approach. Firstly, we employ the defect matrix associated to the hierarchy which turns out to be the same for the supersymmetric sinh-Gordon (sshG) model. The method is general for all flows and as an example we derive explicitly the B\"acklund equations in components for the first few flows of the hierarchy, namely $t_3$ and $t_5$. Secondly, the supersymmetric extension of the B\"acklund transformation in the superspace formalism is constructed for those flows. Finally, this super B\"acklund transformation is employed to introduce type I defects for the supersymmetric mKdV hierarchy. Further integrability aspects by considering modified conserved quantities are derived from the defect matrix.Comment: 40 pages. Some comments and references added. Version accepted for publication in JHE

The role of intermolecular coupling in the photophysics of disordered organic semiconductors: Aggregate emission in regioregular polythiophene

We address the role of excitonic coulping on the nature of photoexcitations in the conjugated polymer regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene). By means of temperature-dependent absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy, we show that optical emission is overwhelmingly dominated by weakly coupled H-aggregates. The relative absorbance of the 0-0 and 0-1 vibronic peaks provides a powerfully simple means to extract the magnitude of the intermolecular coupling energy, approximately 5 and 30 meV for films spun from isodurene and chloroform solutions respectively.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, published in Phys. Rev. Let

Anatomical Studies of Two Jatropha Species with Importance for Biodiesel Production

Jatropha curcas L. and Jatropha macrocarpa Griseb. (Euphorbiaceae) are perennial species adapted to marginal conditions not suitable for agriculture, and have been recently exploited for oil and biodiesel production. The anatomy of different organs in members of this family exhibits a wide range of variations. However, knowledge of anatomical features is still incomplete. The aim of the present work was to analyze the anatomical structure of stem, leaf and root of J. curcas and J. macrocarpa seedling cultivated in a greenhouse. Fixed samples were properly treated using triple stain hematoxylin, safranin and fast green. Primary roots were diarch and triarch in J. curcas, whereas in J. macrocarpa were diarch and the cortex showed parenchyma cells, larger in J. macrocarpa than J. curcas. Stem cortex was thicker in J. macrocarpa than in J. curcas. Both species had parenchyma cells with cystolith, chloroplasts, laticifers and starch granules, these being more abundant in J. macrocarpa. Leaves were characterized by dorsoventral anatomy, with the epiderm showing amphistomatic condition with high stomata density at the lower surface. Both Jatropha species had paracytic stomata. Druses and non-articulated branched laticifers were recorded in the mesophyll. Some of the different anatomical features of J. curcas and J. macrocarpa could explain the different tolerance to abiotic stress

Statistics of low-energy levels of a one-dimensional weakly localized Frenkel exciton: A numerical study

Numerical study of the one-dimensional Frenkel Hamiltonian with on-site randomness is carried out. We focus on the statistics of the energy levels near the lower exciton band edge, i. e. those determining optical response. We found that the distribution of the energy spacing between the states that are well localized at the same segment is characterized by non-zero mean, i.e. these states undergo repulsion. This repulsion results in a local discrete energy structure of a localized Frenkel exciton. On the contrary, the energy spacing distribution for weakly overlapping local ground states (the states with no nodes within their localization segments) that are localized at different segments has zero mean and shows almost no repulsion. The typical width of the latter distribution is of the same order as the typical spacing in the local discrete energy structure, so that this local structure is hidden; it does not reveal itself neither in the density of states nor in the linear absorption spectra. However, this structure affects the two-exciton transitions involving the states of the same segment and can be observed by the pump-probe spectroscopy. We analyze also the disorder degree scaling of the first and second momenta of the distributions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure