Fracture of high-density polyethylene used for bleach bottles

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) can be blow-molded and used for the production of bottles for aggressive products. These products can interact both chemically and physically with the polymer constituting these containers, leading to a decrease in the performance of the material and undermining the structural integrity of the component. A fracture mechanics approach was adopted to evaluate the Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance (ESCR) of two HDPE commercial grades used for bleach containers; two different solutions, with and without sodium hypochlorite (the main ingredient of commercial bleach solutions), were considered as aggressive environments. Size effects were studied using different test configurations and loading histories in air. The correlation between the stress intensity factor and the initiation time was found. A clear effect of the aggressive solutions on the fracture resistance of the two HDPEs was observed, irrespective of the presence of sodium hypochlorite; the effect therefore has to be ascribed to other bleach components

Ultrafast pump-probe dynamics in ZnSe-based semiconductor quantum-wells

Pump-probe experiments are used as a controllable way to investigate the properties of photoexcited semiconductors, in particular, the absorption saturation. We present an experiment-theory comparison for ZnSe quantum wells, investigating the energy renormalization and bleaching of the excitonic resonances. Experiments were performed with spin-selective excitation and above-bandgap pumping. The model, based on the semiconductor Bloch equations in the screened Hartree-Fock approximation, takes various scattering processes into account phenomenologically. Comparing numerical results with available experimental data, we explain the experimental results and find that the electron spin-flip occurs on a time scale of 30 ps.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Key words: nonlinear and ultrafast optics, modeling of femtosecond pump-probe experiments, electron spin-flip tim

Improved fertilization and implantation rates after non-touch zona pellucida microdrilling of mouse oocytes with a 1.48 μm diode laser beam

The safety of microdrilling the zona pellucida of moose oocytes with a 1.48 μm diode laser has been investigated by determining the ability of mouse oocytes to fertilize in vitro and develop in vivo. Mice born after transfer of control and zona pelludda-microdrilled embryos into foster mothers were submitted to anatomical and immunohisto-chemical investigations, and their aptitude to breed was assessed in two subsequent generations. Decolonization of the oocytes with hyaluronidase induced a reduction of the fertilization and implantation rates, which was attributed to a zona hardening phenomenon. After laser zona pellucida microdrilling, these rates were restored to those obtained with embryos derived from untreated oocyte-cumulus complexes. Pups derived from zona pellucida microdrilled embryos were comparable with those obtained from control embryos, confirming the lack of deleterious effects of the laser treatment In conclusion, the 1.48 μm diode laser allows safe microdrilling of the zona pellucida of mouse oocytes after decoronization with hyaluronidase. Based on the health of the F2 generation and the lack of neuroanatom-ical and neurochemical differences, we concluded that this technology may be investigated in the human, particularly when the zona pellucida represents the main impediment for fertilization or embryo hatchin

Neutron-induced background in the CONUS experiment

CONUS is a novel experiment aiming at detecting elastic neutrino nucleus scattering in the fully coherent regime using high-purity Germanium (Ge) detectors and a reactor as antineutrino ($\bar\nu$) source. The detector setup is installed at the commercial nuclear power plant in Brokdorf, Germany, at a very small distance to the reactor core in order to guarantee a high flux of more than 10$^{13}\bar\nu$/(s$\cdot$cm$^2$). For the experiment, a good understanding of neutron-induced background events is required, as the neutron recoil signals can mimic the predicted neutrino interactions. Especially neutron-induced events correlated with the thermal power generation are troublesome for CONUS. On-site measurements revealed the presence of a thermal power correlated, highly thermalized neutron field with a fluence rate of (745$\pm$30)cm$^{-2}$d$^{-1}$. These neutrons that are produced by nuclear fission inside the reactor core, are reduced by a factor of $\sim$10$^{20}$ on their way to the CONUS shield. With a high-purity Ge detector without shield the $\gamma$-ray background was examined including highly thermal power correlated $^{16}$N decay products as well as $\gamma$-lines from neutron capture. Using the measured neutron spectrum as input, it was shown, with the help of Monte Carlo simulations, that the thermal power correlated field is successfully mitigated by the installed CONUS shield. The reactor-induced background contribution in the region of interest is exceeded by the expected signal by at least one order of magnitude assuming a realistic ionization quenching factor of 0.2.Comment: 28 pages, 28 figure

Transverse sound in a magnetic field in UPt_3

We have propagated transverse sound in a magnetic field in the basal plane of UPt_3, with the polarization vector oriented both in the basal plane and perpendicular to it. We observe a strong anisotropy in the magnetic field dependence of the attenuation for the two polarizations. Using a simple phenomenological model, we can understand the low-temperature field dependence as a natural consequence of the anisotropy with temperature in zero field reported earlier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1078 (1986)]. However, for increasing temperatures there are significant deviations from this model. In no case do we find evidence for new superconducting phases in a magnetic field

Density of States and NMR Relaxation Rate in Anisotropic Superconductivity with Intersecting Line Nodes

We show that the density of states in an anisotropic superconductor with intersecting line nodes in the gap function is proportional to $E log (\alpha \Delta_0 /E)$ for $|E| << \Delta_0$, where $\Delta_0$ is the maximum value of the gap function and $\alpha$ is constant, while it is proportional to $E$ if the line nodes do not intersect. As a result, a logarithmic correction appears in the temperature dependence of the NMR relaxation rate and the specific heat, which can be observed experimentally. By comparing with those for the heavy fermion superconductors, we can obtain information about the symmetry of the gap function.Comment: 7 pages, 4 PostScript Figures, LaTeX, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Pump Built-in Hamiltonian Method for Pump-Probe Spectroscopy

We propose a new method of calculating nonlinear optical responses of interacting electronic systems. In this method, the total Hamiltonian (system + system-pump interaction) is transformed into a different form that (apparently) does not have a system-pump interaction. The transformed Hamiltonian, which we call the pump built-in Hamiltonian, has parameters that depend on the strength of the pump beam. Using the pump built-in Hamiltonian, we can calculate nonlinear responses (responses to probe beams as a function of the pump beam) by applying the {\em linear} response theory. We demonstrate the basic idea of this new method by applying it to a one-dimensional, two-band model, in the case the pump excitation is virtual (coherent excitation). We find that the exponent of the Fermi edge singularity varies with the pump intensity.Comment: 6 page

Normal Fermi Liquid Behavior of Quasiholes in the Spin-Polaron Model for Copper Oxides

Based on the t-J model and the self-consistent Born approximation, the damping of quasiparticle hole states near the Fermi surface is calculated in a low doping regime. Renormalization of spin-wave excitations due to hole doping is taken into account. The damping is shown to be described by a familiar form $\text{Im}\Sigma({\bf k}^{\prime},\epsilon)\propto (\epsilon^{2}/ \epsilon_{F})\ln(\epsilon/ \epsilon_{F})$ characteristic of the 2-dimensional Fermi liquid, in contrast with the earlier statement reported by Li and Gong [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 51}, 6343 (1995)] on the marginal Fermi liquid behavior of quasiholes