Vol 105, No 6 (2017)

We present results of the combined study of the magnetic properties of Li₂RuO₃ by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and theoretical dynamical mean-field theory (LDA + DMFT) calculations. The NMR data clearly show the onset of a thermal activation process in the high temperature region, T > 560K, which is tentatively ascribed to the formation of the valence bond liquid. The LDA + DMFT calculations demonstrate that the magnetic response at these temperatures is mostly due to the xz/yz orbitals, while the xy orbitals of Ru still form molecular orbitals. Thus, Ru ions are in the orbital-selective state in the high temperature phase of Li₂RuO₃.

The effect of nonstoichiometry and ordering on the lattice constant a_B1 of the basic lattice of vanadium carbide VC_y(0.65 < y < 0.875) is studied. A change in the lattice constant of disordered carbide VC_y at the reduction of the carbon content is considered using the direction of static displacements of atoms near a vacancy. A model for the calculation of the basic lattice constant a_B1 of vanadium carbide is proposed taking into account nonstoichiometry and ordering. It is shown that the ordering of vanadium carbide VC_y with the formation of V₆C₅ and V₈C₇ superstructures results in an increase in the basic lattice constant as compared to disordered carbide.

The magnetic field dynamics of intersubband collective excitations in two-dimensional electron systems based on Mg_xZn_1-xO/ZnO heterostructures is studied by the Raman scattering method. It is found that, upon the change in the spin polarization under conditions of the transition from the filling factor ν = 2 to ν = 1, the energy of the intersubband magnetoplasmon changes considerably. The performed theoretical analysis shows that this effect is attributed to the concomitant change in the exchange interaction in the excitation energy.

An experimental search for sterile neutrinos has been carried out at a neutrino facility based on the SM-3 nuclear reactor in Dimitrovgrad, Russia. The movable detector with passive shielding against the external radiation may be positioned at a distance varying between 6 and 12 m from the center of the reactor. The antineutrino flux has for the first time been measured using a movable detector placed close to the antineutrino source. The accuracy of the measurements is largely restricted by the cosmic background. The results of the measurements performed at small and large distances are analyzed in terms of the sterile-neutrino model parameters Δm₁₄² and sin²2θ₁₄.

“Photonic graphene” structures—submicron two-dimensional dielectric structures with a honeycomb lattice— are fabricated by laser lithography. The transition from the regime of light scattering by a metasurface to that of Laue diffraction at a two-dimensional photonic structure in the optical range is studied experimentally and theoretically. The optical diffraction patterns make it possible to determine the number of unit cells in a finite microstructured sample with the naked eye.

An approach to the solution of the relativistic problem of the motion of a classical charged particle in the field of a monochromatic plane wave with an arbitrary polarization (linear, circular, or elliptic) is proposed. It is based on the analysis of the 4-vector equation of motion of the charged particle together with the 4-vector and tensor equations for the components of the electromagnetic field tensor of a monochromatic plane wave. This approach provides analytical expressions for the time-averaged square of the 4-acceleration of the charge, as well as for the averaged values of any quantities periodic in the time of the reference frame. Expressions for the integral power of scattered radiation, which is proportional to the time-averaged square of the 4-acceleration of the charge, and for the integral scattering cross section, which is the ratio of the power of scattered radiation to the intensity of incident radiation, are obtained for an arbitrary inertial reference frame. An expression for the scattering cross section, which coincides with the known results at the circular and linear polarizations of the incident waves and describes the case of elliptic polarization of the incident wave, is obtained for the reference frame where the charged particle is on average at rest. An expression for the scattering cross section including relativistic effects and the nonzero drift velocity of a particle in this system is obtained for the laboratory reference frame, where the initial velocity of the charged particle is zero. In the case of the circular polarization of the incident wave, the scattering cross section in the laboratory frame is equal to the Thompson cross section.

Various methods for the clustering of photocounts constituting a sequence of random numbers are considered. It is shown that the clustering of photocounts resulting in the Fermi–Dirac distribution makes it possible to achieve the theoretical limit of the random number generation rate.

It is shown that fast ignition can ensure the combustion of asymmetrically compressed targets for inertial confinement fusion with an efficiency close to the combustion of one-dimensionally compressed targets. This statement is valid not only for targets specially designed for fast ignition. Fast heating by an external energy source can ensure the ignition of a target designed for spark ignition, but where this ignition does not occur because inhomogeneities are formed in the temperature and density distributions owing to the development of hydrodynamic instabilities. The condition for ignition is the fast heating of the plasma in the combustion initiation region whose size is comparable with the sizes of compression inhomogeneities. Thus, fast ignition not only significantly reduces the ignition energy, but also is possibly a necessary stage in the inertial confinement fusion scheme when the spherically symmetric compression of a target requires very high engineering and financial expenses. The studies are based on the numerical simulation of the compression and combustion of inertial confinement fusion targets with one- and two-dimensional hydrodynamic codes.

Methods recently proposed for generating unipolar pulses in nonlinear media in terahertz and optical electromagnetic ranges are reviewed. Such pulses have nonzero “electric area” (time integral of the field strength over the entire duration of a pulse) and, correspondingly, a significant component of the field with zero frequency, thus exhibiting quasistatic properties. Effective generation of unipolar pulses would allow, e.g., transferring mechanical momentum to charged particles and, thereby, controlling the motion of wave packets of matter, which can be useful for compact accelerators of charged particles and for other applications.