Amorphous chalcogenide AgSbS2 films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The pulsed laser deposition technique has been applied to prepare amorphous ternary AgSbS films. The films were prepared from AgSbS₂ bulk glass using a KrF excimer laser. The composition of prepared films according to the results of the energy dispersive X-ray analysis and the Rutherford backscattering was close to bulk one. Optical transmission and spectral dependence of the refractive index proved the good optical quality of the films. The Ar⁺ ion laser dot exposures of the films show a potential applicability of the films as a new type of optical recording material. PACS 78.66.Jg; 81.15.Fg; 81.40.Wx     

Polarization locking and nonparaxial spatial solitons in media with electronic Kerr nonlinearity

The polarization structure of nonparaxial spatial solitons in a transparent medium with the electronic mechanism of Kerr nonlinearity is studied theoretically. It is demonstrated analytically in the weak nonparaxiality approximation that the regime of polarization locking, in which all the field components have the same propagation constant, is the only stable regime. Estimates of the rate of transition of the initial metastable regime of rotation of the polarization ellipse to the regime of polarization locking are presented. Based on a numerical solution of the nonlinear Maxwell equations, the presence of the nonparaxial regime of polarization locking is confirmed and the main characteristics of the corresponding spatial solitons are obtained.     

Content and Methodological Provision of the Basic Course of Analytical Chemistry

Russian standards in training conventional graduates and bachelors are considered. These standards determine the status and volume of analytical chemistry courses at different higher educational institutions. An analysis of the educational standards, standard curricula, and the aims of teaching analytical chemistry suggests the advisability of changing the content of the course, particularly at industrial (branch) higher educational institutions. The provision of the analytical chemistry course with special literature (manuals, textbooks), equipment, and computer software is considered.     

Comparative analysis of heterogeneous solid and soft materials by adsorption, NMR and thermally stimulated depolarisation current methods

Structural characterisation of such bio-objects as fibrinogen solution, yeast cells, wheat seeds and bone tissues has been done using two versions of cryoporometry based on the integral Gibbs-Thomson (IGT) equation for freezing point depression of pore liquids and the measurements by ¹H NMR spectroscopy (180-200 < T < 273 K) and the thermally stimulated depolarisation current (TSDC) method (90 < T < 273 K) of structured water. The IGT equation was solved using a self-consisting regularization procedure including the maximum entropy principle applied to the distribution function of pore size (PSD). Both methods give clear pictures of changes in the structural characteristics caused, e.g., by hydration and swelling of wheat seeds and yeast cells, coagulation and interaction of fibrinogen with solid nanoparticles in the aqueous media, and the human bone tissue disease.     

Finite element modal solutions of planar photonic crystal fibers with rectangular air-holes

Modal solutions of planar photonic crystal waveguides with rectangular air-holes are presented by using a rigorous full-vectorial finite element-based approach. The effective indices, mode field profiles, spot-sizes, power confinements, modal hybridness, beat lengths and group velocity dispersions are shown for the fundamental and higher order modes of the quasi-TE and TM polarizations.     

Determination of Calcium,Magnesium, Iron,Copper, Zinc,and Phosphorus in Blood Serum by Arc Atomic Emission Spectrometry

The results of the elemental analysis of blood serum are often used for the diagnosis of different diseases associated with derangements of mineral metabolism. In this work, we studied the main sources of a systematic error in the atomic-emission spectrometric (AES) analysis of blood serum and developed a procedure for the AES determination of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, P, and Zn in the human blood serum. The repeatability relative standard deviations of determinations varied from 10 to 24%.     

Quasi-ballistic electron transport in quantum wires

Electron transport in a three-dimensional quantum wire is analyzed by taking into account electron scattering by a single point impurity. It is shown that the magnetoconductance plotted versus chemical potential μ has narrow peaks and closely located peaks separated by a dip when the scattering length is positive and negative, respectively. The peaks lie near the conductance steps. The thermopower plotted versus μ has narrow peaks and closely located peaks separated by a dip when the scattering length is positive and negative, respectively.     

Performance evaluation of fiber Bragg grating sensors by digital holographic technique, strain gauge measurement

In view of the growing interest for non-destructive tests of materials, geodynamical monitoring and in general remote sensing, there is a great effort to bring practical optical sensors from research labs to industrial and environmental applications. In this paper, we employ digital holographic technique as an efficient tool for evaluating the strain measurement capability of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG). A cantilever beam has been employed as a test structure under loading test. The strain measurements results obtained by fiber-based sensors have been compared to those obtained by using full-field digital holographic technique and point-wise strain gauge sensors glued on the same cantilever beam. A simple theoretical model is also presented to interpret and compare the experimental results coming from different techniques.     

Determination of electron temperature based on a semicoronal model in Hall accelerator plasma flows

We present the results of a spectroscopic study of a nonequilibrium plasma in a Hall accelerator, in particular for such an important parameter as the electron temperature. For the studied conditions, we used the semicoronal equilibrium model, which relates the intensity ratios for two successive ionization steps for the same element. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 74, No. 1, pp. 93–96, January–February, 2007.