Concentration ratios for chemical analogues of key nuclides for different vegetation types at the Olkiluoto site

Olkiluoto Island on the western coast of Finland has been selected as a repository site for spent nuclear fuel in Finland. This study aimed at identifying differences in concentration ratios (CR), and their distributions, for the elements analysed on soil and vegetation samples taken on the island (Al, B, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, S, Zn). Many of the elements can be considered to be chemically analogous to radionuclides that, potentially, can be released from the repository. Differences between the soil and vegetation in different tree age, tree species and site fertility classes typical of the forest ecosystems in Olkiluoto were investigated. Lognormal distributions were fitted to the different groupings of the CR data calculated on the basis of the results from 94 sampling plots. In most cases no significant differences were found between the different groupings for a specific element when the 95% confidence intervals were applied. According to the results based on real site data for CRs in forest ecosystems on Olkiluoto, it appears that the current CR-based approach to radionuclide modelling in forest ecosystems is problematic due to the large variation in parameter values and in their practical definition

Quantum Interference of Tunably Indistinguishable Photons from Remote Organic Molecules

We demonstrate two-photon interference using two remote single molecules as bright solid-state sources of indistinguishable photons. By varying the transition frequency and spectral width of one molecule, we tune and explore the effect of photon distinguishability. We discuss future improvements on the brightness of single-photon beams, their integration by large numbers on chips, and the extension of our experimental scheme to coupling and entanglement of distant molecules

Influence of molecular weight on the phase behavior and structure formation of branched side-chain hairy-rod polyfluorene in bulk phase.

We report on an experimental study of the self-organization and phase behavior of hairy-rod π -conjugated branched side-chain polyfluorene, poly[9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-fluorene-2,7-diyl]—i.e., poly[2,7–(9,9–bis(2–ethylhexyl)fluorene] (PF2∕6) —as a function of molecular weight (Mn) . The results have been compared to those of phenomenological theory. Samples for which Mn=3–147 kg∕mol were used. First, the stiffness of PF2∕6 , the assumption of the theory, has been probed by small-angle neutron scattering in solution. Thermogravimetry has been used to show that PF2∕6 is thermally stable over the conditions studied. Second, the existence of nematic and hexagonal phases has been phenomenologically identified for lower and higher Mn (LMW, Mn<Mn* and HMW, Mn>Mn* ) regimes, respectively, based on free-energy argument of nematic and hexagonal hairy rods and found to correspond to the experimental x-ray diffraction (XRD) results for PF2∕6 . By using the lattice parameters of PF2∕6 as an experimental input, the nematic-hexagonal transition has been predicted in the vicinity of glassification temperature (Tg) of PF2∕6 . Then, by taking the orientation parts of the free energies into account the nematic-hexagonal transition has been calculated as a function of temperature and Mn and a phase diagram has been formed. Below Tg of 80 °C only (frozen) nematic phase is observed for Mn<Mn*=104 g∕mol and crystalline hexagonal phase for Mn>Mn* . The nematic-hexagonal transition upon heating is observed for the HMW regime depending weakly on Mn , being at 140–165 °C for Mn>Mn* . Third, the phase behavior and structure formation as a function of Mn have been probed using powder and fiber XRD and differential scanning calorimetry and reasonable semiquantitative agreement with theory has been found for Mn≥3 kg∕mol . Fourth, structural characteristics are widely discussed. The nematic phase of LMW materials has been observed to be denser than high-temperature nematic phase of HMW compounds. The hexagonal phase has been found to be paracrystalline in the (ab0) plane but a genuine crystal meridionally. We also find that all these materials including the shortest 10-mer possess the formerly observed rigid five-helix hairy-rod molecular structure

On the Definition of Effective Permittivity and Permeability For Thin Composite Layers

The problem of definition of effective material parameters (permittivity and permeability) for composite layers containing only one-two parallel arrays of complex-shaped inclusions is discussed. Such structures are of high importance for the design of novel metamaterials, where the realizable layers quite often have only one or two layers of particles across the sample thickness. Effective parameters which describe the averaged induced polarizations are introduced. As an explicit example, we develop an analytical model suitable for calculation of the effective material parameters $\epsilon_{\rm{eff}}$ and $\mu_{\rm{eff}}$ for double arrays of electrically small electrically polarizable scatterers. Electric and magnetic dipole moments induced in the structure and the corresponding reflection and transmission coefficients are calculated using the local field approach for the normal plane-wave incidence, and effective parameters are introduced through the averaged fields and polarizations. In the absence of losses both material parameters are purely real and satisfy the Kramers-Kronig relations and the second law of thermodynamics. We compare the analytical results to the simulated and experimental results available in the literature. The physical meaning of the introduced parameters is discussed in detail.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Diffusion in periodic potentials with path integral hyperdynamics

We consider the diffusion of Brownian particles in one-dimensional periodic potentials as a test bench for the recently proposed stochastic path integral hyperdynamics (PIHD) scheme [Chen and Horing, J. Chem. Phys. 126, 224103 (2007)]. First, we consider the case where PIHD is used to enhance the transition rate of activated rare events. To this end, we study the diffusion of a single Brownian particle moving in a spatially periodic potential in the high-friction limit at low temperature. We demonstrate that the boost factor as compared to straight molecular dynamics (MD) has nontrivial behavior as a function of the bias force. Instead of growing monotonically with the bias, the boost attains an optimal maximum value due to increased error in the finite path sampling induced by the bias. We also observe that the PIHD method can be sensitive to the choice of numerical integration algorithm. As the second case, we consider parallel resampling of multiple bias force values in the case of a Brownian particle in a periodic potential subject to an external ac driving force. We confirm that there is no stochastic resonance in this system. However, while the PIHD method allows one to obtain data for multiple values of the ac bias, the boost with respect to MD remains modest due to the simplicity of the equation of motion in this case.Peer reviewe

Noise of a single electron transistor on a Si3N4 membrane

We have investigated the influence of electron-beam writing on the creation of charge trapping centers which cause 1/f noise in single electron transistors (SET). Two Al/AlOx/Al devices were compared: one where the SET is on a {100} silicon wafer covered by a 120-nm-thick layer of Si3N4, and another one in which the Si was etched away from below the nitride membrane before patterning the SET. The background charge noise was found to be 1×10 exp −3 e/√Hz at 10 Hz in both devices, independent of the substrate thickness.Peer reviewe

Endorectal magnetic resonance imaging of prostatic cancer: comparison between fat-suppressed T2-weighted fast spin echo and three-dimensional dual-echo, steady-state sequences

Peer reviewe