Spectroscopic studies of fractal aggregates of silver nanospheres undergoing local restructuring

We present an experimental spectroscopic study of large random colloidal aggregates of silver nanoparticles undergoing local restructuring. We argue that such well-known phenomena as strong fluctuation of local electromagnetic fields, appearance of "hot spots" and enhancement of nonlinear optical responses depend on the local structure on the scales of several nanosphere diameters, rather that the large-scale fractal geometry of the sample.Comment: 3.5 pages, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Local anisotropy and giant enhancement of local electromagnetic fields in fractal aggregates of metal nanoparticles

We have shown within the quasistatic approximation that the giant fluctuations of local electromagnetic field in random fractal aggregates of silver nanospheres are strongly correlated with a local anisotropy factor S which is defined in this paper. The latter is a purely geometrical parameter which characterizes the deviation of local environment of a given nanosphere in an aggregate from spherical symmetry. Therefore, it is possible to predict the sites with anomalously large local fields in an aggregate without explicitly solving the electromagnetic problem. We have also demonstrated that the average (over nanospheres) value of S does not depend noticeably on the fractal dimension D, except when D approaches the trivial limit D=3. In this case, as one can expect, the average local environment becomes spherically symmetrical and S approaches zero. This corresponds to the well-known fact that in trivial aggregates fluctuations of local electromagnetic fields are much weaker than in fractal aggregates. Thus, we find that, within the quasistatics, the large-scale geometry does not have a significant impact on local electromagnetic responses in nanoaggregates in a wide range of fractal dimensions. However, this prediction is expected to be not correct in aggregates which are sufficiently large for the intermediate- and radiation-zone interaction of individual nanospheres to become important.Comment: 9 pages 9 figures. No revisions from previous version; only figure layout is change

Observation of the onset of strong scattering on high frequency acoustic phonons in densified silica glass

The linewidth of longitudinal acoustic waves in densified silica glass is obtained by inelastic x-ray scattering. It increases with a high power alpha of the frequency up to a crossover where the waves experience strong scattering. We find that \alpha is at least 4, and probably larger. Resonance and hybridization of acoustic waves with the boson-peak modes seems to be a more likely explanation for these findings than Rayleigh scattering from disorder.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter

Discovery of the Sub-second Linearly Polarized Spikes of Synchrotron Origin in the UV Ceti Giant Optical Flare

Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2017During our optical monitoring of UV Ceti, iconic late-type flaring star, with high temporal resolution using the Russian 6-m telescope in 2008, we detected a giant flare with the amplitude of about 3 magnitudes in U band. Near flare maximum, more than a dozen of spike bursts have been discovered with triangular shapes and durations from 0.6 to 1.2 s and maximal luminosities in the range (1.5–8) × 1027 erg s−1. For the half of these events, the linear polarization exceeds 35% with significance better than 5σ. We argue that these events are synchrotron emission of electron streams with the energies of several hundred MeV moving in the magnetic field of about 1.4 kG. Emission from such ultra-relativistic (with energies far exceeding 10 MeV) particles is being routinely observed in solar flares, but has never been detected from UV Ceti-type stars. This is the first ever detection of linearly polarized optical light from the UV Ceti-type stars which indicates that at least some fraction of the flaring events on these stars is powered by a non-thermal synchrotron emission mechanism

High time resolution multi-band photo-polarimetric observations of the binary millisecond redback pulsar J1023+0038 with the BTA

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. We briefly report first results of high time resolution optical multi-band panoramic photo-polarimetric observations of the eclipsing binary millisecond redback pulsar J1023+0038 obtained in February 2017 with the 6 m BTA telescope. The time resolution was varied from 10 to 120 ms depending on observational mode. Our data show that the pulsar still remained in the low-mass X-ray binary stage, characterised by rapid flaring at time scales of 10-100 s with amplitudes of 0.2-0.5 mag. We resolved a fine structure of the flares at time scales of 0.1-10 s. The polarimetry at the time scale of 0.1 s shows no polarization with an upper limit of 2%-4% for the linear polarisation degree in flaring and quiet stages, while at a 10 minute scale averaging it is about 1.5% at 3σ significance. We shortly outline implications of the results

Thermally stable composite system Al2O3-Ce 0.75Zr0.25O2 for automotive three-way catalysts

Present-day three-way catalysts operate in contact with exhaust gases whose temperature is as high as >1000 C, so the problem of developing thermally stable catalytic compositions is still topical. A series of Al2O 3-Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 composites containing 0, 10, 25, and 50 wt % Al2O3 has been synthesized by direct precipitation. The as-prepared composites and those calcined in air at 1000 and 1100 C have been characterized by BET, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and temperature-programmed reduction methods. The composites aged at 1050 C in a 2% O2 + 10% H2O + 88% N2 atmosphere have been used to prepare monolith catalysts, and the oxygen storage capacity (OSC) of the latter has been measured using a gas analysis setup. As the proportion of Al2O 3 in the composite is raised, the mixing uniformity and degree of dispersion of Ce x Zr1-x O2-δ particles increase, their chemical composition becomes homogeneous, and the amount of cerium involved in oxidation and reduction increases. The composite containing 50 wt % Al2O3 is a mixture of Ce x Zr 1-x O2-δ and Al2O3 crystallites, whose size is practically unaffected by calcination. The (Pt/Al2O3 + Al2O3-Ce 0.75Zr0.25O2) based on this composite has the highest OSC and is the most active. For this reason, full-scale testing of this catalyst is recommended. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Anharmonic vs. relaxational sound damping in glasses: II. Vitreous silica

The temperature dependence of the frequency dispersion in the sound velocity and damping of vitreous silica is reanalyzed. Thermally activated relaxation accounts for the sound attenuation observed above 10 K at sonic and ultrasonic frequencies. Its extrapolation to the hypersonic regime reveals that the anharmonic coupling to the thermal bath becomes important in Brillouin-scattering measurements. At 35 GHz and room temperature, the damping due to this anharmonicity is found to be nearly twice that produced by thermally activated relaxation. The analysis also reveals a sizeable velocity increase with temperature which is not related with sound dispersion. This suggests that silica experiences a gradual structural change that already starts well below room temperature.Comment: 13 pages with 8 figure

Interfacial Doping of Organic Semiconductors Accessibled by Anionic p-Dopant CN6-CP•–K+

T. Beryozkina gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Рroject № 18-03-00715)