Slide release mechanism

A releasable support device is described which is comprised of a hollow body with a sleeve extending transversely there-through for receiving the end of a support shank. A slider-latch, optionally lubricated, extends through side recesses in the sleeve to straddle the shank, respectively, in latched and released positions. The slider-latch is slid from its latched to its unlatched position by a pressure squib whereupon a spring or other pressure means pushes the shank out of the sleeve. At the same time, a follower element is lodged in and closed the hole in the body wall from which the shank was discharged. The mechanism was designed for the shuttle orbiter/external tank connection device

Fracture toughness and fatigue-crack propagation in a Zr–Ti–Ni–Cu–Be bulk metallic glass

The recent development of metallic alloy systems which can be processed with an amorphous structure over large dimensions, specifically to form metallic glasses at low cooling rates (similar to 10 K/s), has permitted novel measurements of important mechanical properties. These include, for example, fatigue-crack growth and fracture toughness behavior, representing the conditions governing the subcritical and critical propagation of cracks in these structures. In the present study, bulk plates of a Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 alloy, machined into 7 mm wide, 38 mm thick compact-tension specimens and fatigue precracked following standard procedures, revealed fracture toughnesses in the fully amorphous structure of K(lc)similar to 55 MPa root m, i.e., comparable with that of a high-strength steel or aluminum ahoy. However, partial and full crystallization, e.g., following thermal exposure at 633 K or more, was found to result in a drastic reduction in fracture toughness to similar to 1 MPa root m, i.e., comparable with silica glass. The fully amorphous alloy was also found to be susceptible to fatigue-crack growth under cyclic loading, with growth-rate properties comparable to that of ductile crystalline metallic alloys, such as high-strength steels or aluminum alloys; no such fatigue was seen in the partially or fully crystallized alloys which behaved like very brittle ceramics. Possible micromechanical mechanisms for such behavior are discussed

Lessons Learned, Lessons Learning: Insights from the Calgary and Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games

The intense competition among destinations to host the Olympic Games (both winter and summer), demonstrates the value that is attached to this type of mega-event. Despite this apparent importance, there is surprisingly little comprehensive research that rigorously assesses the value of the Olympics-particularly in terms of their contribution to long term community and tourism development. In addition, as researchers, we have failed to document the lessons learned from one Olympics Games to the next. The result is that many of the same errors are regularly repeated. This paper seeks to identify the lessons learned as a result of hosting the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Canada. It also seeks to provide some preliminary insights into the lessons we are learning as preparation for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City proceeds

Two-Electron Photon Emission From Metallic Quantum Wells

Unusual emission of visible light is observed in scanning tunneling microscopy of the quantum well system Na on Cu(111). Photons are emitted at energies exceeding the energy of the tunneling electrons. Model calculations of two-electron processes which lead to quantum well transitions reproduce the experimental fluorescence spectra, the quantum yield, and the power-law variation of the intensity with the excitation current.Comment: revised version, as published; 4 pages, 3 figure

Bell-inequality violation with a triggered photon-pair source

Here we demonstrate, for the first time, violation of Bell's inequality using a triggered quantum dot photon-pair source without post-selection. Furthermore, the fidelity to the expected Bell state can be increased above 90% using temporal gating to reject photons emitted at times when collection of uncorrelated light is more probable. A direct measurement of a CHSH Bell inequality is made showing a clear violation, highlighting that a quantum dot entangled photon source is suitable for communication exploiting non-local quantum correlations.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

On the exceptional damage-tolerance of gradient metallic materials

An experimental study is described on the fracture toughness and micro-mechanisms associated with the initiation and propagation of cracks in metallic nickel containing marked gradients in grain size, ranging from ∼30 nm to ∼4 μm. Specifically, cracks are grown in a gradient structured (GS) nickel with grain-size gradient ranging from the coarse macro-scale to nano-scale (CG → NG) and vice versa (NG → CG), with the measured crack-resistance R-curves compared to the corresponding behavior in uniform nano-grained (NG) and coarse-grained (CG) materials. It is found that the gradient structures display a much-improved combination of high strength and toughness compared to uniform grain-sized materials. However, based on J-integral measurements in the gradient materials, the crack-initiation toughness is far higher for cracks grown in the direction of the coarse-to-nano grained gradient than vice versa, a result which we ascribe primarily to excessive crack-tip blunting in the coarse-grained microstructure. Both gradient structures, however, display marked rising R-curve behavior with exceptional crack-growth toughnesses exceeding 200 MPa.m½

Free induction decay of a superposition stored in a quantum dot

We study the free evolution of a superposition initialized with high fidelity in the neutral-exciton state of a quantum dot. Readout of the state at later times is achieved by polarized photon detection, averaged over a large number of cycles. By controlling the fine-structure splitting (FSS) of the dot with a dc electric field, we show a reduction in the degree of polarization of the signal when the splitting is minimized. In analogy with the "free induction decay" observed in nuclear magnetic resonance, we attribute this to hyperfine interactions with nuclei in the semiconductor. We numerically model this effect and find good agreement with experimental studies. Our findings have implications for storage of superpositions in solid-state systems and for entangled photon pair emission protocols that require a small value of the FSS

Evolution of entanglement within classical light states

We investigate the evolution of quantum correlations over the lifetime of a multi-photon state. Measurements reveal time-dependent oscillations of the entanglement fidelity for photon pairs created by a single semiconductor quantum dot. The oscillations are attributed to the phase acquired in the intermediate, non-degenerate, exciton-photon state and are consistent with simulations. We conclude that emission of photon pairs by a typical quantum dot with finite polarisation splitting is in fact entangled in a time-evolving state, and not classically correlated as previously regarded