Two-photon pumping of a random laser

Random lasing originates from pumping disordered materials by high-intensity and high-frequency light. The performance of random lasers is restricted due to the absorption of pumping light within the interfacial layer. The lifetime of optical modes there is short due to the emission of photons to the outside, and it is hard to pump them sufficiently for lasing. The opportunity to excite the modes far from the material surface using two-photon absorption is investigated within the diffusion model. The authors show that lasing requires lower pump power for the two-photon pumping mechanism under conditions of negligible absorption of the emitted light. Experimental implications and restrictions are discussed.     

Fluctuator Model of Memory Dip in Hopping Insulators

We show that the non-equilibrium dynamic in two-dimensional hopping insulators close to metal-dielectric transition is sensitive to electric fields confinement inside the sample, which leads to a nearly thermally activated conductance behavior and a strong non-equilibrium conductance response to the gate voltage, including a memory dip in a field dependence of conductance.     

A soft configuration model for wearless sliding friction

A phenomenological model of soft potential configurations is proposed to describe sliding friction in the wearless regime. This model accounts for the static and dynamic behavior. The physical origin of the logarithmic speed or time dependence for the friction coefficient is described. Means to control the friction coefficient by controlling the soft defect density are discussed. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Anthocyanins: optimisation of extraction from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes,microcapsulation and stability in soft drink

The aim of this study was to establish the optimum conditions for the extraction of anthocyanins from Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.) grapes using the response surface methodology and to evaluate the stability of these anthocyanins encapsulated with different carrier agents in an isotonic soft drink system under different light and temperature conditions. The extraction process was optimised with the response surface methodology to obtain the highest anthocyanin concentration (40 mL of ethanol:1.5 N HCL (85:15) as solvent, extraction time 29.4 h at pH 2.4). The degradation of the anthocyanins followed first‐order kinetics in the situations evaluated. Maltodextrin, maltodextrin/γ‐cyclodextrin and maltodextrin/arabic gum were tested as carrier agents and the combination of maltodextrin/arabic gum presented the longest half‐life time and lowest degradation constant for all the conditions evaluated. The formation of microcapsules was observed through scanning electron microscopy.     

Thermal Conductivity of Glasses Induced by Nuclear Quadrupole Interaction at Ultra Low Temperatures

It is investigated how nuclear degrees of freedom of tunneling system (TS) inherent in amorphous solids influence its acoustic properties. It was shown in our previous papers that below 10 mK nuclear quadrupole interaction breaks down the coherent tunneling. This phenomenon results in appearance of the quasi-gap in the distribution function for the tunneling amplitude splitting. The quasi-gap is responsible for the plateau in the temperature dependence of the real part of a dielectric permittivity or speed of sound. In this paper we are interested in ultrasonic absorption and thermal conductivity which are intimately connected. We demonstrate that there exists a temperature interval in a millikelvin region where the sound absorption behavior changes drastically from the behavior predicted by the standard tunneling model (STM). In particular, the sound absorption increases approximately by an order of magnitude. Since in the millikelvin region the heat transport is due to acoustic phonons, the thermal conductivity also should demonstrate a strong increase as compared to standard tunneling model. The application of a strong magnetic field is known to restore the coherent tunneling and the standard distribution for the tunneling splitting amplitude. Thus, one can expect that in a strong magnetic field the thermal conductivity should drop in the temperature interval where the coherent tunneling was initially destroyed.     

Random lasers with coherent feedback

We review our recent work on lasing in active random media. Light scattering, which had been regarded as detrimental to lasing action for a long time, actually provided coherent feedback for lasing. The fundamental difference and transition between a random laser with coherent feedback and a random laser with incoherent feedback were illustrated. We also trapped laser light in micrometer-sized random media. The trapping was caused by disorder-induced scattering and interference. This nontraditional way of light confinement has important applications to microlasers.     

Expository multimedia comprehension in E-learning: Presentation format,verbal ability and working memory capacity

Most of the studies establishing factors affecting digital text and multimedia comprehension have been conducted in controlled conditions. The present study sought to test and extend the modality and seductive details effects, and the role of verbal ability and working memory capacity, to a remote, self-paced, E-learning scenario. Two hundred and thirteen first-year undergraduates read or watched videos about scientific expository content in three formats: digital text (written expository texts, navigated in seven screens), presentation video (audio explanation, with written keywords), and presentation video with dynamic decorative images (audio explanation, written keywords, and dynamic decorative and irrelevant images). In a face-to-face session, they completed working memory and verbal ability tests. Comprehension performance was similar for the three conditions. For the multimedia videos with dynamic decorative irrelevant images, comprehension depended on working memory capacity. Verbal ability was relevant for both expository text and videos.