Crystal nuclei templated nanostructured membranes prepared by solvent crystallization and polymer migration

Currently, production of porous polymeric membranes for filtration is predominated by the phase-separation process. However, this method has reached its technological limit, and there have been no significant breakthrough over the last decade. Here we show, using polyvinylidene fluoride as a sample polymer, a new concept of membrane manufacturing by combining oriented green solvent crystallization and polymer migration is able to obtain high performance membranes with pure water permeation flux substantially higher than those with similar pore size prepared by conventional phase-separation processes. The new manufacturing procedure is governed by fewer operating parameters and is, thus, easier to control with reproducible results. Apart from the high water permeation flux, the prepared membranes also show excellent stable flux after fouling and superior mechanical properties of high pressure load and better abrasion resistance. These findings demonstrate the promise of a new concept for green manufacturing nanostructured polymeric membranes with high performances

Analytical Results For The Steady State Of Traffic Flow Models With Stochastic Delay

Exact mean field equations are derived analytically to give the fundamental diagrams, i.e., the average speed - car density relations, for the Fukui-Ishibashi one-dimensional traffic flow cellular automaton model of high speed vehicles $(v_{max}=M>1)$ with stochastic delay. Starting with the basic equation describing the time evolution of the number of empty sites in front of each car, the concepts of inter-car spacings longer and shorter than $M$ are introduced. The probabilities of having long and short spacings on the road are calculated. For high car densities $(\rho \geq 1/M)$, it is shown that inter-car spacings longer than $M$ will be shortened as the traffic flow evolves in time, and any initial configurations approach a steady state in which all the inter-car spacings are of the short type. Similarly for low car densities $(\rho \leq 1/M)$, it can be shown that traffic flow approaches an asymptotic steady state in which all the inter-car spacings are longer than $M-2$. The average traffic speed is then obtained analytically as a function of car density in the asymptotic steady state. The fundamental diagram so obtained is in excellent agreement with simulation data.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 2 figure

Bose-Einstein condensation in an optical lattice

In this paper we develop an analytic expression for the critical temperature for a gas of ideal bosons in a combined harmonic lattice potential, relevant to current experiments using optical lattices. We give corrections to the critical temperature arising from effective mass modifications of the low energy spectrum, finite size effects and excited band states. We compute the critical temperature using numerical methods and compare to our analytic result. We study condensation in an optical lattice over a wide parameter regime and demonstrate that the critical temperature can be increased or reduced relative to the purely harmonic case by adjusting the harmonic trap frequency. We show that a simple numerical procedure based on a piecewise analytic density of states provides an accurate prediction for the critical temperature.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Quantum random walks without walking

Quantum random walks have received much interest due to their non-intuitive dynamics, which may hold the key to a new generation of quantum algorithms. What remains a major challenge is a physical realization that is experimentally viable and not limited to special connectivity criteria. We present a scheme for walking on arbitrarily complex graphs, which can be realized using a variety of quantum systems such as a BEC trapped inside an optical lattice. This scheme is particularly elegant since the walker is not required to physically step between the nodes; only flipping coins is sufficient.Comment: 12 manuscript pages, 3 figure

Tunneling, dissipation, and superfluid transition in quantum Hall bilayers

We study bilayer quantum Hall systems at total Landau level filling factor $\nu=1$ in the presence of interlayer tunneling and coupling to a dissipative normal fluid. Describing the dynamics of the interlayer phase by an effective quantum dissipative XY model, we show that there exists a critical dissipation $\sigma_c$ set by the conductance of the normal fluid. For $\sigma > \sigma_c$, interlayer tunnel splitting drives the system to a $\nu=1$ quantum Hall state. For $\sigma <\sigma_c$, interlayer tunneling is irrelevant at low temperatures, the system exhibits a superfluid transition to a collective quantum Hall state supported by spontaneous interlayer phase coherence. The resulting phase structure and the behavior of the in-plane and tunneling currents are studied in connection to experiments.Comment: 4 RevTex pages, revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

A metal–organic framework/α-alumina composite with a novel geometry for enhanced adsorptive separation

The development of a metal–organic framework/α-alumina composite leads to a novel concept: efficient adsorption occurs within a plurality of radial micro-channels with no loss of the active adsorbents during the process. This composite can effectively remediate arsenic contaminated water producing potable water recovery, whereas the conventional fixed bed requires eight times the amount of active adsorbents to achieve a similar performance

Optical transitions and nature of Stokes shift in spherical CdS quantum dots

We study the structure of the energy spectra along with the character of the states participating in optical transitions in colloidal CdS quantum dots (QDs) using the {\sl ab initio} accuracy charge patching method combined with the %pseudopotential based folded spectrum calculations of electronic structure of thousand-atom nanostructures. In particular, attention is paid to the nature of the large resonant Stokes shift observed in CdS quantum dots. We find that the top of the valence band state is bright, in contrast with the results of numerous {\bf k$\cdot$p} calculations, and determine the limits of applicability of the {\bf k$\cdot$p} approach. The calculated electron-hole exchange splitting suggests the spin-forbidden valence state may explain the nature of the ``dark exciton'' in CdS quantum dots.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure