Gold particles were fabricated by the high-intensity femtosecond laser irradiation of gold (III) chloride trihydrate (HAuCl4) aqueous solution. The structure and size distribution of the prepared particles were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. The configuration of the gold particles varied with the concentration of the HAuCl4 aqueous solution. The mean particle size and size distribution were changed by the addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which acted as a dispersant, and monodispersed gold nanoparticles with a diameter of about 3 nm were successfully fabricated. The formation process of the nanoparticles is discussed in terms of the optical decomposition of molecules in the highly intense optical field generated by femtosecond laser irradiation.

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of LaSb and CeSb, a candidate of topological insulator. Using soft-x-ray photons, we have accurately determined the three-dimensional bulk band structure and revealed that the band inversion at the Brillouin-zone corner -a prerequisite for realizing topological-insulator phase -is absent in both LaSb and CeSb. Moreover, unlike the ARPES data obtained with soft-x-ray photons, those with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons were found to suffer significant kz broadening. These results suggest that LaSb and CeSb are topologically trivial semimetals, and unusual Dirac-cone-like states observed with VUV photons are not of the topological origin.

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A spectroscopic study of the gold nanoparticle (NP) formation by high-intensity femtosecond laser irradiation of a gold ion solution was reported. The effect of varying energy density of the laser on the formation of gold NPs was also investigated. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak of the gold nanocolloid in real-time UV-visible absorption spectra during laser irradiation showed a distinctive progress; the SPR absorption peak intensity increased after a certain irradiation time, reached a maximum and then gradually decreased. During this absorption variation, at the same time, the peak wavelength changed from 530 to 507 nm. According to an empirical equation derived from a large volume of experimental data, the estimated mean size of the gold NPs varied from 43.4 to 3.2 nm during the laser irradiation. The mean size of gold NPs formed at specific irradiation times by transmission electron microscopy showed the similar trend as that obtained in the spectroscopic analysis. From these observations, the formation mechanism of gold NPs during laser irradiation was considered to have two steps. The first is a reduction of gold ions by reactive species produced through a non-linear reaction during high intensity laser irradiation of the solution; the second is the laser fragmentation of produced gold particles into smaller pieces. The gold nanocolloid produced after the fragmentation by excess irradiation showed high stability for at least a week without the addition of any dispersant because of the negative charge on the surface of the nanoparticles probably due to the surface oxidation of gold nanoparticles. A higher laser intensity resulted in a higher efficiency of gold NPs fabrication, which was attributed to a larger effective volume of the reaction

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The world's largest pulsed superconducting coil was successfully tested by charging up to 13 T and 46 kA with a stored energy of 640 MJ. The ITER central solenoid (CS) model coil and CS insert coil were developed and fabricated through an international collaboration, and their cooldown and charging tests were successfully carried out by international test and operation teams. In pulsed charging tests, where the original goal was 0.4 T/s up to 13 T, the CS model coil and the CS insert coil achieved ramp rates to 13 T of 0.6 T/s and 1.2 T/s, respectively. In addition, the CS insert coil was charged and discharged 10 003 times in the 13 T background field of the CS model coil and no degradation of the operational temperature margin directly coming from this cyclic operation was observed. These test results fulfilled all the goals of CS model coil development by confirming the validity of the engineering design and demonstrating that the ITER coils can now be constructed with confidence.

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Resonant high-energy X-ray diffraction coupled to atomic pair distribution function analysis and computer simulations is used to study the atomic-scale structure of group 11 nanosized metals and binary alloy catalysts. We find that nanosized Cu is quite disordered structurally whereas nanosized Ag and especially Au exhibit a very good degree of crystallinity. We resolve Cu−Cu and Ag−Ag atomic correlations from Auinvolving ones in Au−Cu and Au−Ag nanoalloys and show that depending on the synthetic route group 11 binary alloys may adopt structural states that obey or markedly violate Vegard's law. In the latter case, Cu and Ag atoms undergo substantial size expansion and contraction by as much as 0.3 and 0.03 Å, respectively, while heavier Au atoms remain practically intact. The size change of Cu and Ag atoms does not follow Pauling's rule of electronegativity predicting charge flow toward the more electronegative Au but occurs in a way such that Cu/Au and Ag/Au atomic size ratios in the nanoalloys become closer to one. Atomic size adjusting and the concurrent charge redistribution result in a synergistic effect of oxygen inactive Au and oxygen very active Cu and Ag leading to nanoalloys with very good activity for low-temperature oxidation of CO.