Notes: Recent studies on two aspects of silica glass as a photonic material will be described. Part A of this review will be focused on structural disorder and structural relaxations in silica glass. With regard to the structural disorder, investigations have been made to improve transparency and to shift the optical absorption edge in the ultraviolet towards shorter wavelengths. Remarkable advances have been achieved in the understanding of both light scattering, which is a dominant factor in the optical losses in silica fibers, and the absorption edge. Freezing of the structural disorder was observed, and structural relaxations are found to be important for improving the transparency, whereas for the absorption edge thermal vibration effects seem to be more predominant than the structural disorder. From the results, the present authors have tried to control the structural relaxation for developing silica glass with an ultimate optical transparency, finding that a very tiny amount of the proper impurity species gives rise to structural subrelaxations, which are effective in reducing the Rayleigh scattering. The scattering was reduced by 13% by addition of only 10 wt ppm Na2O, for example. In part B of this review the second-order optical nonlinearity induced in Ge-doped silica glass will be described based on recent experiments carried out by the group of present authors. A large second-order optical nonlinearity has been successfully induced in the glass by simultaneous applications of a high dc electric field and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, so-called UV poling. The nonlinearity induced by UV poling in bulk and film samples has achieved a magnitude of χ(2), comparable to or even larger than those of LiNbO3 and other crystals. Surprisingly enough, the nonlinearity induced by this method then decays after the UV poling as an exact single-exponential function of time, very much unlike the usual decay processes observed in glasses. Evidence is presented associating the nonlinearity with GeE′ defect centers created from oxygen deficient vacancies through photochemical reactions. The decay or degradation can be made much slower with the addition of proper impurities which work as electron scavengers. In addition, we have found that crystallites are generated in the glass by the UV poling, which leads to an increase in the third-order nonlinearity, χ(3), approximately 15 times larger than before the treatment. As a whole, the evidence strongly suggests that a major origin of the second-order nonlinearity induced in the glass is a combined effect of a large third-order nonlinearity associated with the crystallites and an internal space-charge field, where the charges to build up the field are produced during the formation of GeE′ centers. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating experiments on the Large Helical Device (LHD) [O. Motojima et al. Fus. Eng. Des. 20, 3 (1993)] achieved significant advances during the third experimental campaign carried out in 1999. They showed significant results in two heating modes; these are modes of the ICH-sustained plasma with large plasma stored energy and the neutral beam injection (NBI) plasma under additional heating. A long-pulse operation of more than 1 minute was achieved at a level of 1 MW. The characteristics of the ICRF heated plasma are the same as those of the NBI heated plasma. The energy confinement time is longer than that of International Stellarator Scaling 95. Three keys to successful ICRF heating are as follows: (1) an increase in the magnetic field strength, (2) the employment of an inward shift of the magnetic axis, (3) the installation of actively cooled graphite plates along the divertor legs. Highly energetic protons accelerated by the ICRF electric field were experimentally observed in the energy range from 30 to 250 keV and the tail temperature depended on the energy balance between the wave heating and the electron drag. The transfer efficiency from the high energy ions to the bulk plasma was deduced from the increase in the energy confinement time due to the high energy ions in the lower density discharge, which agrees fairly well with the result obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation. The transfer efficiency is expected to be 95% at an electron density of more than ne=5.0×1019 m−3 even in the high power heating of 10 MW. The accumulation of impurities, e.g., FeXVI and OV was not observed in high rf power and long pulse operation. The well-defined divertor intrinsic to LHD is believed to be useful in reducing the impurity influx. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The effects of fluorine (F) doping on silica glass structure, structural relaxations, and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) absorption edge were investigated by the infrared and vacuum ultraviolet absorption measurements. Linewidth of 2260 cm−1 absorption band, which is one of the good indicators of structural disorder, decreases proportionally to the fictive temperature (Tf). On the other hand, it is irrespective of F concentration. Structural relaxations are strongly stimulated by F doping. The transparency near the absorption edge depends on both F concentration and Tf. When Tf is constant, absorption edge shifts to a shorter wavelength proportionally to the F concentration. These results strongly suggest that there are two main factors that control the VUV absorption edge of F-doped silica glass; band gap widening by increasing Si–F bond and reduction of structural disorder. The latter factor is not directly caused by structural change by F doping. F enhances the structural relaxation, and it is easy to obtain samples with lower Tf, resulting in reducing structural disorder. Furthermore, a way to determine Tf of F-doped silica glass is offered. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Platinum–hydrogen (Pt–H) complexes in Si doped with Pt and H by heating at 1000–1300 °C followed by quenching in water were investigated from the measurements of optical absorption at 5 K and electron spin resonance (ESR) at 8 K. Optical absorption peaks at 1909.1 and 1910.3 cm−1 were observed in addition to the peaks due to the PtH and PtH2 complexes. The H doping temperature dependence of these peaks showed that the number of H atoms in the complex responsible for the 1909.1 cm−1 peak is larger than that for the 1910.3 cm−1 peak. We also observed ESR signals due to the PtH3 complex. The annealing behaviors of the 1910.3 cm−1 peak and the ESR signals were almost the same. Based on these results, the 1909.1 and 1910.3 cm−1 peaks are, respectively, assigned to the PtH4 complex and the PtH3 complex. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Although it is known that the compositions of low-molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GSs) are important factors for bread-making quality of wheat, it is still not clear which LMW-GSs confer improved bread-making quality and how those LMW-GSs interact with high-molecular weight (HMW) GSs. Using a hard red winter wheat line with good bread-making quality and a Japanese wheat cultivar with poor quality as well as their progeny we identified LMW-GSs associated with the bread-making quality. One such LMW-GS, KS2, which had a molecular weight of 42 kDa and was allelic to HS1, was associated with bread-making quality. Furthermore, by using four recombinant inbred lines with different HMW-GS and LMW-GS combinations, KS2 and HMW-GS 5+10 showed interaction effects on the bread-making quality. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Page) analysis showed that KS2 consists of two protein components and that HS1 is composed of three components. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the five components were identical to the most frequently analysed sequence of LMW glutenin components.

Notes: Ion cyclotron heating has been established as one of the heating schemes in nuclear fusion research and its use in steady state plasma heating in various devices is being considered. The optimal technology for steady state ion cyclotron range of frequency heating has not been firmly established. This article reports on the liquid stub tuner which was newly developed in research and development activities on the large helical device. It demonstrated high performance in real use in experiments. Two different impedance-matching systems based on the liquid stub tuner are studied: one is a triple liquid stub tuner system and the other is a single stub tuner system with a liquid phase shifter. The characteristics of the two systems are compared from the points of view of how wide a frequency range is covered, and how great the reduction of the voltage in the transmission line is. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Background: The relationship between 1/f fluctuation of the heart rate variability and Helicobacter pylori infection was evaluated, in order to clarify whether autonomic nervous dysfunction is a necessary condition for chronic peptic ulcer formation. Methods: The subjects were 11 patients with recurrent chronic peptic ulcer and 20 age-matched normal subjects. Holter ECGs were recorded over 24 h, and the 1/f –x fluctuation of the heart rate was computed. The 1/f –x fluctuation of the heart rate is a novel index of autonomic function that has been shown to reflect a patient's pleasant mood. For 1/f –x fluctuation, the slope of the regression line (–x) was determined and cosine fitting of the absolute slope of the regression line over a 24-h period was performed. Results: For the normal group, the absolute slope of the regression line during daytime and night-time were 0.53 ± 0.16 and 1.05 ± 0.18, respectively. For the peptic ulcer group, the corresponding values during daytime and night-time were 0.94 ± 0.15 and 1.84 ± 0.18, respectively. The mean value of the cosine curve was 0.76 ± 0.23 in the normal group and 1.12 ± 0.25 in the peptic ulcer group. Thus, these values were significantly higher for the latter group than for the former group (P 〈 0.05). No statistically significant difference in H. pylori infection between the two groups was observed. Conclusions: Autonomic nervous dysfunction as well as H. pylori infection appears to be a necessary condition for chronic peptic ulcer formation.

Notes: Background : Nitrates decrease the tone of the lower oesophageal sphincter, and may thus induce gastro-oesophageal reflux.Aim : In the present study, we evaluated electrogastrographic changes and heart-rate variability before and after the administration of nitrates.Methods : In 15 patients with chest pain treated with nitrates, electrocardiography and percutaneous electrogastrography were performed before and after administration of nitrates. Autonomic nervous system function was evaluated by spectral analysis of heart-rate variability and serial changes in low frequency and high frequency power, and the low frequency/high frequency ratio were compared. Electrogastrograms were analysed by obtaining peak power amplitudes and their dominant frequencies.Results : After the administration of nitrates (isosorbide dinitrate), high frequency power, an index of parasympathetic nervous activity, was significantly decreased, whereas the low frequency/high frequency ratio, an index of sympathetic nervous activity, was significantly increased. The mean peak amplitude of the electrogastrogram significantly increased postprandially both before and after treatment. After isosorbide dinitrate treatment, however, mean peak amplitudes after a meal were significantly lower than those obtained before treatment. The mean dominant frequency of the electrogastrogram did not vary before and after treatment.Conclusions : The present study suggests that nitrates inhibit gastrointestinal motility by decreasing autonomic nervous activity.

Notes: Abstract: We study effects of the physical realization of quantum computers on their logical operation. Through simulation of physical models of quantum computer hardware, we analyze the difficulties that are encountered in programming physical realizations of quantum computers. Examples of logically identical implementations of the controlled-NOT operation and Grover's database search algorithm are used to demonstrate that the results of a quantum computation are unstable with respect to the physical realization of the quantum computer. We discuss the origin of these instabilities and discuss possibilities to overcome this, for practical purposes, fundamental limitation of quantum computers.