A TRLFS study on the complexation of Cm(III) and Eu(III) with 4-t-butyl-6,6´-bis-(5,6-diethyl-1,2,4-tiazin-3-yl)-2,2´-bipyridine in a water / 2-propanol mixture

The complexation of Cm(III) and Eu(III) with 4-t-butyl-6,6´-bis-(5,6-diethyl-1,2,4-tiazin-3-yl)-2,2´-bipyridine(t-Bu-C2-BTBP) in water / 2-propanol solution is studies.JRC.E-Institute for Transuranium Elements (Karlsruhe

Sub-system mechanical design for an eLISA optical bench

We present the design and development status of the opto-mechanical sub-systems that will be used in an experimental demonstration of imaging systems for eLISA. An optical bench test bed design incorporates a Zerodur® baseplate with lenses, photodetectors, and other opto-mechanics that must be both adjustable - with an accuracy of a few micrometers - and stable over a 0 to 40°C temperature range. The alignment of a multi-lens imaging system and the characterisation of the system in multiple degrees of freedom is particularly challenging. We describe the mechanical design of the precision mechanisms, including thermally stable flexure-based optical mounts and complex multi-lens, multi-axis adjuster mechanisms, and update on the integration of the mechanisms on the optical bench

LiCaFeF6 A zero strain cathode material for use in Li ion batteries

A new zero strain LiCaFeF6 cathode material for reversible insertion and extraction of lithium ions is presented. LiCaFeF6 is synthesized by a solid state reaction and processed to a conductive electrode composite via high energy ball milling. In the first cycle, a discharge capacity of 112 mAh g amp; 8315; is achieved in the voltage range from 2.0 V to 4.5 V. The electrochemically active redox couple is Fe3 amp; 8314; Fe2 amp; 8314; as confirmed by Mössbauer spectroscopy and X ray absorption spectroscopy. The compound has a trigonal colquiriite type crystal structure space group . By means of in situ and ex situ XRD as well as X ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy a reversible response to Li uptake release is found. For an uptake of 0.8 mol Li per formula unit only minimal changes occur in the lattice parameters causing a total change in unit cell volume of less than 0.5 . The spatial distribution of cations in the crystal structure as well as the linkage between their corresponding fluorine octahedra is responsible for this very small structural response. With its zero strain behaviour this material is expected to exhibit only negligible mechanical degradation. It may be used as a cathode material in future lithium ion batteries with strongly improved safety and cycle lif

X-ray Raman scattering study of aligned polyfluorene

We present a non-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study at the carbon K-edge on aligned poly[9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-fluorene-2,7-diyl] and show that the x-ray Raman scattering technique can be used as a practical alternative to x-ray absorption measurements. We demonstrate that this novel method can be applied to studies on aligned $\pi$-conjugated polymers complementing diffraction and optical studies. Combining the experimental data and a very recently proposed theoretical scheme we demonstrate a unique property of x-ray Raman scattering by performing the symmetry decomposition on the density of unoccupied electronic states into $s$- and $p$-type symmetry contributions.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Design and construction of an optical test bed for LISA imaging systems and tilt-to-length coupling

The laser interferometer space antenna (LISA) is a future space-based interferometric gravitational-wave detector consisting of three spacecraft in a triangular configuration. The interferometric measurements of path length changes between satellites will be performed on optical benches in the satellites. Angular misalignments of the interfering beams couple into the length measurement and represent a significant noise source. Imaging systems will be used to reduce this tilt-to-length coupling. We designed and constructed an optical test bed to experimentally investigate tilt-to-length coupling. It consists of two separate structures, a minimal optical bench and a telescope simulator. The minimal optical bench comprises the science interferometer where the local laser is interfered with light from a remote spacecraft. In our experiment, a simulated version of this received beam is generated on the telescope simulator. The telescope simulator provides a tilting beam, a reference interferometer and an additional static beam as a phase reference. The tilting beam can either be a flat-top beam or a Gaussian beam. We avoid tilt-to-length coupling in the reference interferometer by using a small photo diode placed at an image of the beam rotation point. We show that the test bed is operational with an initial measurement of tilt-to-length coupling without imaging systems. Furthermore, we show the design of two different imaging systems whose performance will be investigated in future experiments

Structure, Photophysics and the Order-Disorder Transition to the Beta Phase in Poly(9,9-(di -n,n-octyl)fluorene)

X-ray diffraction, UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy have been used to study the well-known order-disorder transition (ODT) to the beta phase in poly(9,9-(di n,n-octyl)fluorene)) (PF8) thin film samples through combination of time-dependent and temperature-dependent measurements. The ODT is well described by a simple Avrami picture of one-dimensional nucleation and growth but crystallization, on cooling, proceeds only after molecular-level conformational relaxation to the so called beta phase. Rapid thermal quenching is employed for PF8 studies of pure alpha phase samples while extended low-temperature annealing is used for improved beta phase formation. Low temperature PL studies reveal sharp Franck-Condon type emission bands and, in the beta phase, two distinguishable vibronic sub-bands with energies of approximately 199 and 158 meV at 25 K. This improved molecular level structural order leads to a more complete analysis of the higher-order vibronic bands. A net Huang-Rhys coupling parameter of just under 0.7 is typically observed but the relative contributions by the two distinguishable vibronic sub-bands exhibit an anomalous temperature dependence. The PL studies also identify strongly correlated behavior between the relative beta phase 0-0 PL peak position and peak width. This relationship is modeled under the assumption that emission represents excitons in thermodynamic equilibrium from states at the bottom of a quasi-one-dimensional exciton band. The crystalline phase, as observed in annealed thin-film samples, has scattering peaks which are incompatible with a simple hexagonal packing of the PF8 chains.Comment: Submitted to PRB, 12 files; 1 tex, 1 bbl, 10 eps figure