Dispersion and transitions of dipolar plasmon modes in graded plasmonic waveguides

Coupled plasmon modes are studied in graded plasmonic waveguides, which are periodic chains of metallic nanoparticles embedded in a host with gradually varying refractive indices. We identify three types of localized modes called "light", "heavy", and "light-heavy" plasmonic gradons outside the passband, according to various degrees of localization. We also demonstrate new transitions among extended and localized modes when the interparticle separation $d$ is smaller than a critical $d_c$, whereas the three types of localized modes occur for $d>d_c$, with no extended modes. The transitions can be explained with phase diagrams constructed for the lossless metallic systems.Comment: Preliminary results have been presented at ETOPIM 7. Submitted to Appl. Phys. Let

Mechanical Properties and Biological Responses of Bioactive Glass Ceramics Processed using Indirect SLS

This paper will report on research which aims to generate bone replacement components by processing bioactive glass-ceramic powders using indirect selective laser sintering. The indirect SLS route has been chosen as it offers the ability to tailor the shape of the implant to the implantation site, and two bioactive glass ceramic materials have been processed through this route: apatite-mullite and apatite-wollostanite. The results of bend tests, to investigate mechanical properties, and in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate biological responses of the materials will be reported, and the suitability of completed components for implant will be assessed.Mechanical Engineerin

Magnetoconductance of the quantum spin Hall state

We study numerically the edge magnetoconductance of a quantum spin Hall insulator in the presence of quenched nonmagnetic disorder. For a finite magnetic field B and disorder strength W on the order of the bulk gap E_g, the conductance deviates from its quantized value in a manner which appears to be linear in |B| at small B. The observed behavior is in qualitative agreement with the cusp-like features observed in recent magnetotransport measurements on HgTe quantum wells. We propose a dimensional crossover scenario as a function of W, in which for weak disorder W < E_g the edge liquid is analogous to a disordered spinless 1D quantum wire, while for strong disorder W > E_g, the disorder causes frequent virtual transitions to the 2D bulk, where the originally 1D edge electrons can undergo 2D diffusive motion and 2D antilocalization.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Fermion Resonances on a Thick Brane with a Piecewise Warp Factor

In this paper, we mainly investigate the problems of resonances of massive KK fermions on a single scalar constructed thick brane with a piecewise warp factor matching smoothly. The distance between two boundaries and the other parameters are determined by one free parameter through three junction conditions. For the generalized Yukawa coupling $\eta\bar{\Psi}\phi^{k}\Psi$ with odd $k=1,3,5,...$, the mass eigenvalue $m$, width $\Gamma$, lifetime $\tau$, and maximal probability $P_{max}$ of fermion resonances are obtained. Our numerical calculations show that the brane without internal structure also favors the appearance of resonant states for both left- and right-handed fermions. The scalar-fermion coupling and the thickness of the brane influence the resonant behaviors of the massive KK fermions.Comment: V3: 15 pages, 7 figures, published versio

An Exact Algorithm for TSP in Degree-3 Graphs via Circuit Procedure and Amortization on Connectivity Structure

The paper presents an O^*(1.2312^n)-time and polynomial-space algorithm for the traveling salesman problem in an n-vertex graph with maximum degree 3. This improves the previous time bounds of O^*(1.251^n) by Iwama and Nakashima and O^*(1.260^n) by Eppstein. Our algorithm is a simple branch-and-search algorithm. The only branch rule is designed on a cut-circuit structure of a graph induced by unprocessed edges. To improve a time bound by a simple analysis on measure and conquer, we introduce an amortization scheme over the cut-circuit structure by defining the measure of an instance to be the sum of not only weights of vertices but also weights of connected components of the induced graph.Comment: 24 pages and 4 figure

Constraint on the CKM angle alpha from the experimental measurements of CP violation in B_d^0 --> pi^+ pi^- decay

In this paper, we study and try to find the constraint on the CKM angle alpha from the experimental measurements of CP violation in B_d^0 --> pi^+ pi^- decay, as reported very recently by BaBar and Belle Collaborations. After considering uncertainties of the data and the ratio r of penguin over tree amplitude, we found that strong constraint on both the CKM angle alpha and the strong phase delta can be obtained from the measured CP asymmetries S_{pi pi} and A_{pi pi}: (a) the ranges of 87 degrees <= alpha <= 131 degrees and 36 degrees <= delta <= 144 degrees are allowed by 1 sigma of the averaged data for r = 0.31; (b) for Belle's result alone, the limits on alpha and delta are 104 degrees <= alpha <= 139 degrees and 42 degrees <= delta <= 138 degrees for 0.32 <= r <= 0.41; and (c) the angle alpha larger than 90 degrees is preferred.Comment: Revtex, 17 pages with 6 ps/eps figure files, new Babar data Reported at ICHEP 2002 considere

Error tolerance in an NMR Implementation of Grover's Fixed-Point Quantum Search Algorithm

We describe an implementation of Grover's fixed-point quantum search algorithm on a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum computer, searching for either one or two matching items in an unsorted database of four items. In this new algorithm the target state (an equally weighted superposition of the matching states) is a fixed point of the recursive search operator, and so the algorithm always moves towards the desired state. The effects of systematic errors in the implementation are briefly explored.Comment: 5 Pages RevTex4 including three figures. Changes made at request of referees; now in press at Phys Rev

Binding of Holes to Magnetic Impurities in a Strongly Correlated System

The effect of a magnetic (S=1/2) impurity coupled to a 2D system of correlated electrons (described by the t--J model) is studied by exact diagonalisations. It is found that, if the exchange coupling of the impurity with the neighboring spins is ferromagnetic or weakly antiferromagnetic, an extra hole can form bound states of different spatial symmetries with the impurity extending to a few lattice spacings. The binding energy is maximum when the impurity is completely decoupled (vacancy) and vanishes for an antiferromagnetic coupling exceeding $\sim 0.3 J$. Several peaks appear in the single hole spectral function below the lower edge of the quasiparticle band as signatures of the d-, s- and p-wave boundstates.Comment: Latex 11 pages, postscript files in uuencoded form, report# LPQTH-94/