1,250 research outputs found
Probing the interface magnetism in the FeMn/NiFe exchange bias system using magnetic second harmonic generation
Second harmonic generation magneto-optic Kerr effect (SHMOKE) experiments,
sensitive to buried interfaces, were performed on a polycrystalline NiFe/FeMn
bilayer in which areas with different exchange bias fields were prepared using
5 KeV He ion irradiation. Both reversible and irreversible uncompensated spins
are found in the antiferromagnetic layer close to the interface with the
ferromagnetic layer. The SHMOKE hysteresis loop shows the same exchange bias
field as obtained from standard magnetometry. We demonstrate that the exchange
bias effect is controlled by pinned uncompensated spins in the
antiferromagnetic layer.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Ferromanganese micronodules from the surficial sediments of Georges Bank
Ferromanganese micronodules have been found on Georges Bank, off the U.S. northeast coast, distributed throughout the surficial sediments within an area about 125 km long and at least 12 km wide. These coarse, sand-sized concretions have precipitated from metal-rich interstitial waters and contain many of the textural and structural features common to other neritic nodules. Most of the nodules have accreted around detrital grains, and X-ray powder diffraction analyses indicate the presence of geothite and vernadite (δ-MnO2) in the ferromanganese layers. Chemical analyses of the micronodules, when compared with similar data on deep-sea manganese nodules, reveal lower Mn/Fe ratios, significantly higher concentrations of V and As, comparable values of Mo, and an order of magnitude less of Co, Ni, Ce and most other metals
Discrete structure of ultrathin dielectric films and their surface optical properties
The boundary problem of linear classical optics about the interaction of
electromagnetic radiation with a thin dielectric film has been solved under
explicit consideration of its discrete structure. The main attention has been
paid to the investigation of the near-zone optical response of dielectrics. The
laws of reflection and refraction for discrete structures in the case of a
regular atomic distribution are studied and the structure of evanescent
harmonics induced by an external plane wave near the surface is investigated in
details. It is shown by means of analytical and numerical calculations that due
to the existence of the evanescent harmonics the laws of reflection and
refraction at the distances from the surface less than two interatomic
distances are principally different from the Fresnel laws. From the practical
point of view the results of this work might be useful for the near-field
optical microscopy of ultrahigh resolution.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, LaTeX2.09, to be published in Phys.Rev.
Molecular epidemiology of Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 on Ontario swine farms
This study was conducted to investigate the diversity in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), plasmid profiling, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of 81 S. Typhimurium and S. Typhimurium var Copenhagen DT 104 strains recovered from pig and environmental fecal samples on swine farms in Ontario. No resistance was observed to amoxiclllin and clavulanic acid, apramycin, carbadox, cephalothin, ceftnaxone, ceftiofur, cefoxitin, cipronoxacin, nalidixic acid, trimethoprim, and tobramycin. However, the isolates exhibited resistance against 4 to 10 antimicrobials with most frequent resistance to sulfonamides (Su), ampicillin (A), streptomycin (S), spectinomycm (Sp), chloramphenicol (C), tetracycline (T), and norfemcol (F)
The Texture of Surficial Sediments in Central Long Island Sound off Milford, Connecticut.
The purpose of this study was to determine the grain-size distributions and associated statistical parameters of the surficial sediment samples from central Long Island Sound off Milford, Connecticut. These grain-size data, which help to ground-truth a pre-existent sidescan sonar survey (Poppe and others, 1995a; Twichell and others, in press), will eventually be used to describe the sedimentary processes active in this portion of central Long Island Sound. Other potential uses for these textural data include benthic biologic studies that evaluate faunal distributions and relate them to habitats (Zajac and others, 1995), and geochemical studies involving the distribution, transport and deposition of pollutants (Moffett and others, 1994)
Organic Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen Concentrations in Surficial Sediments from Western Long Island Sound, Connecticut and New York
Total organic carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen (CHN) analyses were performed on 147 surficial sediment samples from study areas off the Norwalk Islands and Milford, Connecticut, in western Long Island Sound. The CHN data and gross lithologic descriptions of the sediments are reported herein. The concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), hydrogen, and nitrogen in these samples average 1.54, 1.40, and 0.17 weight percent, respectively. The individual CHN concentrations vary inversely with grain size, with CHN values increasing with the percent fines. Increasing nutrient inputs and decreasing circulation cause TOC and nitrogen values to generally increase westward within the Sound. C/N molar elemental ratios suggest that, except for the shoreward northwestern corner of the Norwalk Islands survey site, marine phytoplankton are probably the primary source of sedimentary organic matter in the study areas. Concentrations of the sedimentary organic matter are significantly higher in the spring than in the late summer, suggesting that these concentrations vary seasonally
Using quantum key distribution for cryptographic purposes: a survey
The appealing feature of quantum key distribution (QKD), from a cryptographic
viewpoint, is the ability to prove the information-theoretic security (ITS) of
the established keys. As a key establishment primitive, QKD however does not
provide a standalone security service in its own: the secret keys established
by QKD are in general then used by a subsequent cryptographic applications for
which the requirements, the context of use and the security properties can
vary. It is therefore important, in the perspective of integrating QKD in
security infrastructures, to analyze how QKD can be combined with other
cryptographic primitives. The purpose of this survey article, which is mostly
centered on European research results, is to contribute to such an analysis. We
first review and compare the properties of the existing key establishment
techniques, QKD being one of them. We then study more specifically two generic
scenarios related to the practical use of QKD in cryptographic infrastructures:
1) using QKD as a key renewal technique for a symmetric cipher over a
point-to-point link; 2) using QKD in a network containing many users with the
objective of offering any-to-any key establishment service. We discuss the
constraints as well as the potential interest of using QKD in these contexts.
We finally give an overview of challenges relative to the development of QKD
technology that also constitute potential avenues for cryptographic research.Comment: Revised version of the SECOQC White Paper. Published in the special
issue on QKD of TCS, Theoretical Computer Science (2014), pp. 62-8
Polarization-entanglement conserving frequency conversion of photons
Entangled photons play a pivotal role in the distribution of quantum
information in quantum networks. However, the frequency bands for optimal
transmission and storage of photons are not necessarily the same. Here we
experimentally demonstrate the coherent frequency conversion of photons
entangled in their polarization, a widely used degree of freedom in photonic
quantum information processing. We verify the successful entanglement
conversion by violating a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality and
fully confirm that our characterised fidelity of entanglement transfer is close
to unity using both state and process tomography. Our implementation is robust
and flexible, making it a practical building block for future quantum networks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Direct evidence of dust growth in L183 from MIR light scattering
Theoretical arguments suggest that dust grains should grow in the dense cold
parts of molecular clouds. Evidence of larger grains has so far been gathered
in near/mid infrared extinction and millimeter observations. Interpreting the
data is, however, aggravated by the complex interplay of density and dust
properties (as well as temperature for thermal emission). We present new
Spitzer data of L183 in bands that are sensitive and insensitive to PAHs. The
visual extinction AV map derived in a former paper was fitted by a series of 3D
Gaussian distributions. For different dust models, we calculate the scattered
MIR radiation images of structures that agree agree with the AV map and compare
them to the Spitzer data. The Spitzer data of L183 show emission in the 3.6 and
4.5 micron bands, while the 5.8 micron band shows slight absorption. The
emission layer of stochastically heated particles should coincide with the
layer of strongest scattering of optical interstellar radiation, which is seen
as an outer surface on I band images different from the emission region seen in
the Spitzer images. Moreover, PAH emission is expected to strongly increase
from 4.5 to 5.8 micron, which is not seen. Hence, we interpret this emission to
be MIR cloudshine. Scattered light modeling when assuming interstellar medium
dust grains without growth does not reproduce flux measurable by Spitzer. In
contrast, models with grains growing with density yield images with a flux and
pattern comparable to the Spitzer images in the bands 3.6, 4.5, and 8.0 micron.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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