21,110 research outputs found
Observation of coupled plasmon-polariton modes in Au nanoparticle chain waveguides of different lengths: Estimation of waveguide loss
Near-field interactions between closely spaced Au nanoparticles were characterized by studying the spectral position of the extinction bands corresponding to longitudinal (L) and transverse (T) plasmon-polariton modes of Au nanoparticle chains. Far-field spectroscopy and finite-difference time-domain simulations on arrays of 50 nm diameter Au spheres with an interparticle spacing of 75 nm both show a splitting DeltaE between the L and T modes that increases with chain length and saturates at a length of seven particles at DeltaE = 65 meV. We show that the measured splitting will result in a propagation loss of 3 dB/15 nm for energy transport. Calculations indicate that this loss can be reduced by at least one order of magnitude by modifying the shape of the constituent particles
Optical pulse propagation in metal nanoparticle chain waveguides
Finite-difference time-domain simulations show direct evidence of optical pulse propagation below the diffraction limit of light along linear arrays of spherical noble metal nanoparticles with group velocities up to 0.06c. The calculated dispersion relation and group velocities correlate remarkably well with predictions from a simple point-dipole model. A change in particle shape to spheroidal particles shows up to a threefold increase in group velocity. Pulses with transverse polarization are shown to propagate with negative phase velocities antiparallel to the energy flow
Globular Structures of a Helix-Coil Copolymer: Self-Consistent Treatment
A self-consistent field theory was developed in the grand-canonical ensemble
formulation to study transitions in a helix-coil multiblock globule. Helical
and coil parts are treated as stiff rods and self-avoiding walks of variable
lengths correspondingly. The resulting field-theory takes, in addition to the
conventional Zimm-Bragg (B.H. Zimm, I.K. Bragg, J. Chem. Phys. 31, 526 (1959))
parameters, also three-dimensional interaction terms into account. The
appropriate differential equations which determine the self-consistent fields
were solved numerically with finite element method. Three different phase
states are found: open chain, amorphous globule and nematic liquid-crystalline
(LC) globule. The LC-globule formation is driven by the interplay between the
hydrophobic helical segments attraction and the anisotropic globule surface
energy of an entropic nature. The full phase diagram of the helix-coil
copolymer was calculated and thoroughly discussed. The suggested theory shows a
clear interplay between secondary and tertiary structures in globular
homopolypeptides.Comment: 26 pages, 30 figures, corrected some typo
CMS dashboard task monitoring: A user-centric monitoring view
We are now in a phase change of the CMS experiment where people are turning more intensely to physics analysis and away from construction. This brings a lot of challenging issues with respect to monitoring of the user analysis. The physicists must be able to monitor the execution status, application and grid-level messages of their tasks that may run at any site within the CMS Virtual Organisation. The CMS Dashboard Task Monitoring project provides this information towards individual analysis users by collecting and exposing a user-centric set of information regarding submitted tasks including reason of failure, distribution by site and
over time, consumed time and efficiency. The development was user-driven with physicists invited to test the prototype in order to assemble further requirements and identify weaknesses with the application
Observation of Galactic Gamma-ray Sources with VERITAS
We report on VERITAS observations at energies above 200 GeV of known or
potential galactic gamma-ray sources. The observed objects comprise pulsars,
pulsar wind nebulae, high-mass X-ray binaries and gamma-ray sources with
unknown counterparts in other wavelengths. Among the highlights are the
observation of variable gamma-ray emission from the X-ray binary LS I +61 303
and the detection of MGRO J1906+06/HESS J1906+063, an extended gamma-ray source
which could not be associated with any obvious counterpart at lower energies.Comment: Fixed typos in source name
Guided plasmons in graphene p-n junctions
Spatial separation of electrons and holes in graphene gives rise to existence
of plasmon waves confined to the boundary region. Theory of such guided plasmon
modes within hydrodynamics of electron-hole liquid is developed. For plasmon
wavelengths smaller than the size of charged domains plasmon dispersion is
found to be \omega ~ q^(1/4). Frequency, velocity and direction of propagation
of guided plasmon modes can be easily controlled by external electric field. In
the presence of magnetic field spectrum of additional gapless magnetoplasmon
excitations is obtained. Our findings indicate that graphene is a promising
material for nanoplasmonics.Comment: 4+ pages, 1 figure; published version, numerical estimates adde
Biaxial order parameter in the homologous series of orthogonal bent-core smectic liquid crystals
The fundamental parameter of the uniaxial liquid crystalline state that governs nearly all of its physical properties is the primary orientational order parameter (S) for the long axes of molecules with respect to the director. The biaxial liquid crystals (LCs) possess biaxial order parameters depending on the phase symmetry of the system. In this paper we show that in the first approximation a biaxial orthogonal smectic phase can be described by two primary order parameters: S for the long axes and C for the ordering of the short axes of molecules. The temperature dependencies of S and C are obtained by the Haller's extrapolation technique through measurements of the optical birefringence and biaxiality on a nontilted polar antiferroelectric (Sm-APA) phase of a homologous series of LCs built from the bent-core achiral molecules. For such a biaxial smectic phase both S and C, particularly the temperature dependency of the latter, are being experimentally determined. Results show that S in the orthogonal smectic phase composed of bent cores is higher than in Sm-A calamatic LCs and C is also significantly large
Precise Charm- and Bottom-Quark Masses: Theoretical and Experimental Uncertainties
Recent theoretical and experimental improvements in the determination of
charm and bottom quark masses are discussed. A new and improved evaluation of
the contribution from the gluon condensate to the
charm mass determination and a detailed study of potential uncertainties in the
continuum cross section for production is presented, together with a
study of the parametric uncertainty from the -dependence of our
results. The final results, MeV and
MeV, represent, together with a closely related lattice
determination MeV, the presently most precise
determinations of these two fundamental Standard Model parameters. A critical
analysis of the theoretical and experimental uncertainties is presented.Comment: 12 pages, presented at Quarks~2010, 16th International Seminar of
High Energy Physics, Kolomna, Russia, June 6-12, 2010; v2: references adde
Efficient calculation of the antiferromagnetic phase diagram of the 3D Hubbard model
The Dynamical Cluster Approximation with Betts clusters is used to calculate
the antiferromagnetic phase diagram of the 3D Hubbard model at half filling.
Betts clusters are a set of periodic clusters which best reflect the properties
of the lattice in the thermodynamic limit and provide an optimal finite-size
scaling as a function of cluster size. Using a systematic finite-size scaling
as a function of cluster space-time dimensions, we calculate the
antiferromagnetic phase diagram. Our results are qualitatively consistent with
the results of Staudt et al. [Eur. Phys. J. B 17 411 (2000)], but require the
use of much smaller clusters: 48 compared to 1000
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