2,991 research outputs found
Criticality and phase separation in a two-dimensional binary colloidal fluid induced by the solvent critical behavior
We present an experimental and theoretical study of the phase behavior of a
binary mixture of colloids with opposite adsorption preferences in a critical
solvent. As a result of the attractive and repulsive critical Casimir forces,
the critical fluctuations of the solvent lead to a further critical point in
the colloidal system, i.e. to a critical colloidal-liquid--colloidal-liquid
demixing phase transition which is controlled by the solvent temperature. Our
experimental findings are in good agreement with calculations based on a simple
approximation for the free energy of the system.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter
Silicon Photonics for Coherent Terahertz Generation and Detection
Silicon-plasmonic internal photoemission devices can act as photomixers for generating terahertz frequency carriers (T-waves) for transmitters (Tx), or they function as receivers (Rx) for coherently downconverting Twave signals to the baseband. In a first demonstration, we monolithically integrate a Tx and a Rx on a silicon chip and operate them in a carrier frequency range up to 1THz . With a co-integrated transmission line both components can be connected
A pathogenic isolate of monopartite PepYLCV DNA A-Like genome differs significantly in C1 gene and CR sequence, but not in their other genes
Critical Casimir effect in films for generic non-symmetry-breaking boundary conditions
Systems described by an O(n) symmetrical Hamiltonian are considered
in a -dimensional film geometry at their bulk critical points. A detailed
renormalization-group (RG) study of the critical Casimir forces induced between
the film's boundary planes by thermal fluctuations is presented for the case
where the O(n) symmetry remains unbroken by the surfaces. The boundary planes
are assumed to cause short-ranged disturbances of the interactions that can be
modelled by standard surface contributions corresponding
to subcritical or critical enhancement of the surface interactions. This
translates into mesoscopic boundary conditions of the generic
symmetry-preserving Robin type .
RG-improved perturbation theory and Abel-Plana techniques are used to compute
the -dependent part of the reduced excess free energy per
film area to two-loop order. When , it takes the scaling
form as
, where are scaling fields associated with the
surface-enhancement variables , while is a standard
surface crossover exponent. The scaling function
and its analogue for the Casimir force
are determined via expansion in and extrapolated to
dimensions. In the special case , the expansion
becomes fractional. Consistency with the known fractional expansions of D(0,0)
and to order is achieved by appropriate
reorganisation of RG-improved perturbation theory. For appropriate choices of
and , the Casimir forces can have either sign. Furthermore,
crossovers from attraction to repulsion and vice versa may occur as
increases.Comment: Latex source file, 40 pages, 9 figure
Normal and lateral critical Casimir forces between colloids and patterned substrates
We study the normal and lateral effective critical Casimir forces acting on a
spherical colloid immersed in a critical binary solvent and close to a
chemically structured substrate with alternating adsorption preference. We
calculate the universal scaling function for the corresponding potential and
compare our results with recent experimental data [Soyka F., Zvyagolskaya O.,
Hertlein C., Helden L., and Bechinger C., Phys. Rev. Lett., 101, 208301
(2008)]. The experimental potentials are properly captured by our predictions
only by accounting for geometrical details of the substrate pattern for which,
according to our theory, critical Casimir forces turn out to be a sensitive
probe.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Critical Casimir effect in classical binary liquid mixtures
If a fluctuating medium is confined, the ensuing perturbation of its
fluctuation spectrum generates Casimir-like effective forces acting on its
confining surfaces. Near a continuous phase transition of such a medium the
corresponding order parameter fluctuations occur on all length scales and
therefore close to the critical point this effect acquires a universal
character, i.e., to a large extent it is independent of the microscopic details
of the actual system. Accordingly it can be calculated theoretically by
studying suitable representative model systems.
We report on the direct measurement of critical Casimir forces by total
internal reflection microscopy (TIRM), with femto-Newton resolution. The
corresponding potentials are determined for individual colloidal particles
floating above a substrate under the action of the critical thermal noise in
the solvent medium, constituted by a binary liquid mixture of water and
2,6-lutidine near its lower consolute point. Depending on the relative
adsorption preferences of the colloid and substrate surfaces with respect to
the two components of the binary liquid mixture, we observe that, upon
approaching the critical point of the solvent, attractive or repulsive forces
emerge and supersede those prevailing away from it. Based on the knowledge of
the critical Casimir forces acting in film geometries within the Ising
universality class and with equal or opposing boundary conditions, we provide
the corresponding theoretical predictions for the sphere-planar wall geometry
of the experiment. The experimental data for the effective potential can be
interpreted consistently in terms of these predictions and a remarkable
quantitative agreement is observed.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figure
Neutrino production through hadronic cascades in AGN accretion disks
We consider the production of neutrinos in active galactic nuclei (AGN)
through hadronic cascades. The initial, high energy nucleons are accelerated in
a source above the accretion disk around the central black hole. From the
source, the particles diffuse back to the disk and initiate hadronic cascades.
The observable output from the cascade are electromagnetic radiation and
neutrinos. We use the observed diffuse background X-ray luminosity, which
presumably results {}from this process, to predict the diffuse neutrino flux
close to existing limits from the Frejus experiment. The resulting neutrino
spectrum is down to the \GeV region. We discuss modifications of
this scenario which reduce the predicted neutrino flux.Comment: 12 Pages, LaTeX, TK 92 0
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