Two new type surface polaritons excited into nanoholes in metal films

First, we argue that the smooth metal-air interface should be regarded as a distinct dielectric medium, the skin of the metal. The existence of this metal skin leads to theoretical explanation of experimental data on the excitation of electromagnetic surface shape resonances in lamellar metallic gratings by light in the visible to near-infrared range. Surface polaritons have been observed in reflection modes on metallized gratings where the electric field is highly localized inside the grooves (around 300-1000 times larger than intensity of incoming optical light). Here we present quantized Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic field in an isotropic homogeneous medium, allowing us to solve the absorption anomaly property of these metal films. The results imply the existence of light boson particles with spin one and effective mass $m= 2.5\cdot 10^{-5} m_e$. We also show the presence of two new type surface polaritons into nanoholes in metal films.Comment: 10 pages. Accepted on November 30, 2009 in Progress in Physic

Velocity dependence of friction of confined polymers

We present molecular dynamics friction calculations for confined hydrocarbon solids with molecular lengths from 20 to 1400 carbon atoms. Two cases are considered: (a) polymer sliding against a hard substrate, and (b) polymer sliding on polymer. We discuss the velocity dependence of the frictional shear stress for both cases. In our simulations, the polymer films are very thin (approx. 3 nm), and the solid walls are connected to a thermostat at a short distance from the polymer slab. Under these circumstances we find that frictional heating effects are not important, and the effective temperature in the polymer film is always close to the thermostat temperature. In the first setup (a), for hydrocarbons with molecular lengths from 60 to 1400 carbon atoms, the shear stresses are nearly independent of molecular length, but for the shortest hydrocarbon C20H42 the frictional shear stress is lower. In all cases the frictional shear stress increases monotonically with the sliding velocity. For polymer sliding on polymer [case (b)] the friction is much larger, and the velocity dependence is more complex. For hydrocarbons with molecular lengths from 60 to 140 C-atoms, the number of monolayers of lubricant increases (abruptly) with increasing sliding velocity (from 6 to 7 layers), leading to a decrease of the friction. Before and after the layering transition, the frictional shear stresses are nearly proportional to the logarithm of sliding velocity. For the longest hydrocarbon (1400 C-atoms) the friction shows no dependence on the sliding velocity, and for the shortest hydrocarbon (20 C-atoms) the frictional shear stress increases nearly linearly with the sliding velocity.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure

Electron localization effects on the low-temperature high-field magnetoresistivity of three-dimensional amorphous superconductors

he electrical resistivity ρ of three-dimensional amorphous superconducting films a-Mo3Si and a-Nb3Ge is measured in magnetic fields μ0H up to 30 T. At low temperatures and at magnetic fields above the upper critical field Hc2, ρ is temperature independent and decreases as a function of magnetic field. This field dependence is consistent with localization theory in the high-field limit [μ0H≫ħ/(4eLφ2), where Lφ is the phase-coherence length]. Above the superconducting transition temperature Tc, the temperature dependence of the conductivity is consistent with inelastic scattering processes which are destructive to the phase coherence for electron localization, thereby allowing estimates for Lφ(T). The Hall effect data on a-Mo3Si, in conjunction with the resistivity data, allow the determination of the carrier concentration and mean free path. The upper critical field is comparable to (in a-Mo3Si) and significantly larger than (in a-Nb3Ge) the Clogston-Chandrasekhar paramagnetic limit. This phenomenon is discussed in the context of electron localization

DEVELOPING THE METHODS OF FOOD PRESERVATIVES EXTRACTION FROM COMPLEX MATRICES FOR BIOASSAY PURPOSE

The presence of food additives in food products may be associated with the risk of their toxic effects on human body. Therefore, the study of approaches to testing their safety seems to be a particularly urgent task. The aim of this study was to determine the conditions for extracting food preservatives from the samples of preserved pureed vegetables for further bioassay of the extract obtained in the Allium test. Onion roots were used as a test object in this method. Two extraction methods of benzoic and sorbic acids added to pureed vegetables have been developed. Distilled water and acetone were used as extracting solutions. The extraction efficiency was evaluated on Shimadzu Prominence LC-20 liquid chromatograph (Japan) in the ultraviolet range, wavelength 235 nm (benzoic acid), 285 nm (sorbic acid). According to the results of studies using both water and acetone as extractants, the degree of preservatives extraction was approximately the same and quite high. In the quantitative calculation of the preservatives content in pureed vegetables, the value of the correction factor was 0.8. However, due to certain production characteristics of this product, i. e. the stage of cauliflower homogenization, obtaining an extract with acetone seems to be more acceptable for the Allium test conditions.The presence of food additives in food products may be associated with the risk of their toxic effects on human body. Therefore, the study of approaches to testing their safety seems to be a particularly urgent task. The aim of this study was to determine the conditions for extracting food preservatives from the samples of preserved pureed vegetables for further bioassay of the extract obtained in the Allium test. Onion roots were used as a test object in this method. Two extraction methods of benzoic and sorbic acids added to pureed vegetables have been developed. Distilled water and acetone were used as extracting solutions. The extraction efficiency was evaluated on Shimadzu Prominence LC-20 liquid chromatograph (Japan) in the ultraviolet range, wavelength 235 nm (benzoic acid), 285 nm (sorbic acid). According to the results of studies using both water and acetone as extractants, the degree of preservatives extraction was approximately the same and quite high. In the quantitative calculation of the preservatives content in pureed vegetables, the value of the correction factor was 0.8. However, due to certain production characteristics of this product, i. e. the stage of cauliflower homogenization, obtaining an extract with acetone seems to be more acceptable for the Allium test conditions

The effect of surface roughness on the adhesion of solid surfaces for systems with and without liquid lubricant

We present molecular dynamics results for the interaction between two solid elastic walls during pull-off for systems with and without octane (C(8)H(18)) lubricant. We used two types of substrate--flat and corrugated--and varied the lubricant coverage from approximately 1/8 to approximately 4 ML (monolayers) of octane. For the flat substrate without lubricant the maximum adhesion was found to be approximately three times larger than for the system with the corrugated substrate. As a function of the octane coverage (for the corrugated substrate) the pull-off force first increases as the coverage increases from 0 to approximately 1 ML, and then decreases as the coverage is increased beyond monolayer coverage. It is shown that at low octane coverage, the octane molecules located in the substrate corrugation wells during squeezing are pulled out of the wells during pull-off, forming a network of nanocapillary bridges around the substrate nanoasperities, thus increasing the adhesion between two surfaces. For greater lubricant coverages a single capillary bridge is formed. The adhesion force saturates for lubricant coverages greater than 3 ML. For the flat substrate, during pull-off we observe discontinuous, thermally activated changes in the number n of lubricant layers (n-1-->n layering transitions), whereas for the corrugated substrate these transitions are "averaged" by the substrate surface roughness

Infrared studies of a La_(0.67)Ca_(0.33)MnO_3 single crystal: Optical magnetoconductivity in a half-metallic ferromagnet

The infrared reflectivity of a La_(0.67)Ca_(0.33)MnO_3 single crystal is studied over a broad range of temperatures (78–340 K), magnetic fields (0–16 T), and wave numbers (20–9000cm^(-1)). The optical conductivity gradually changes from a Drude-like behavior to a broad peak feature near 5000cm-1 in the ferromagnetic state below the Curie temperature T_C=307K. Various features of the optical conductivity bear striking resemblance to recent theoretical predictions based on the interplay between the double exchange interaction and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling. A large optical magnetoconductivity is observed near T_C

Squeezing molecular thin alkane lubrication films between curved solid surfaces with long-range elasticity: Layering transitions and wear

The properties of alkane lubricants confined between two approaching solids are investigated by a model that accounts for the curvature and the elastic properties of the solid surfaces. We consider linear alkane molecules of different chain lengths, C3H8, C4H10, C8H18, C9H20, C10H22, C12H26, and C14H30 confined between smooth gold surfaces. In most cases we observe well defined molecular layers develop in the lubricant film when the width of the film is of the order of a few atomic diameters. An external squeezing-pressure induces discontinuous, thermally activated changes in the number n of lubricant layers. We find that with increasing alkane chain length, the transition from n to n-1 layers occurs at higher pressure, as expected based on the increasing wettability (or spreading pressure) with increasing chain length. Thus, the longer alkanes are better boundary lubricants than the shorter ones, and this should result in less wear. We obtain good correlation between our theoretical results and wear experiments. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics

Infrared Studies of a La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3 Single Crystal: Optical Magnetoconductivity in a Half-Metallic Ferromagnet

The infrared reflectivity of a $\rm La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3$ single crystal is studied over a broad range of temperatures (78-340 K), magnetic fields (0-16 T), and wavenumbers (20-9000 cm$^{-1}$). The optical conductivity gradually changes from a Drude-like behavior to a broad peak feature near 5000 cm$^{-1}$ in the ferromagnetic state below the Curie temperature $T_C=307 K$. Various features of the optical conductivity bear striking resemblance to recent theoretical predictions based on the interplay between the double exchange interaction and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling. A large optical magnetoconductivity is observed near $T_C$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Latex, PostScript; The 7th Joint MMM-Intermag Conference,San Francisco, January 6-9, 1998; The Int. Conf. on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, Paris, July 15-18,199