New perspectives for direct PDMS microfabrication using a CD-DVD laser

A simple and inexpensive alternative to high-power lasers for the direct fabrication of microchannels and rapid prototyping of poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is presented. By focusing the infrared laser beam of a commercial, low-power CD-DVD unit on absorbing carbon micro-cluster additives, highly localized PDMS combustion can be used to etch the polymer, which is otherwise transparent at such wavelengths. Thanks to a precise and automated control of laser conditions, laser-induced incandescence is originated at the material surface and produces high-resolution micropatterns that present properties normally induced with lasers of much greater energies in PDMS: formation of in situ nanodomains, local fluorescence and waveguide patterns. An extensive study of the phenomenon and its performance for PDMS microfabrication are presented.

Criticality and long-range correlations in time series in classical and quantum systems

We present arguments which indicate that a transitional state in between two different regimes implies the occurrence of 1/f time series and that this property is generic in both classical and quantum systems. Our study focuses on two particular examples: the one-dimensional module-1 logistic map and nuclear excitation spectra obtained with a schematic shell-model Hamiltonian. We suggest that a transitional point is characterized by the long-range correlations implied by 1/f time series. We apply a Fourier spectral analysis and the detrended fluctuation analysis method to study the fluctuations to each system.

Spectroscopy with random and displaced random ensembles

Because of the time reversal invariance of the angular momentum operator J2, the average energies and variances at fixed J for random two-body Hamiltonians exhibit odd-even- J staggering that may be especially strong for J = 0. It is shown that upon ensemble averaging over random runs, this behavior is reflected in the yrast states. Displaced (attractive) random ensembles lead to rotational spectra with strongly enhanced B(E2) transitions for a certain class of model spaces. It is explained how to generalize these results to other forms of collectivity.