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Nonlinear optical absorption in the AgO x -type super-resolution near-field structure [glass/ZnS–SiO2 (170 nm)/AgO x  (15 nm)/ZnS–SiO2 (40 nm)] was investigated using a confocal Z-scan technique with a continuous He–Ne laser. The transmittance Z-scan shows that the sample undergoes a phase transition with increasing incident laser power. The phase transition of the sample with higher incident laser power is due to permanent local structure damage caused by the laser heating process.

We have successfully demonstrated a novel sensing technique for monitoring the variation of solution concentrations and measuring the effective dielectric constant in a medium by means of an ultra-small and label-free nanosensor, the mechanism of which is based on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold nanorods. The nanorods are fabricated in a narrow size distribution, which is characterized by transmission electron microscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy. In addition, we employ a simple analytical calculation to examine the LSPR band of the absorption spectrum, which provides excellent consistency with aspect ratio. The plasmonic sensing is performed by detecting the diffusion process and saturation concentration of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide in water, and tracing the effective dielectric constants of the medium simultaneously. This promising sensing and analytical technique can be easily used for investigating the nano-scale variations of mixing or reaction process in a micro/nanofluidic channel or the biological interaction in the cytoplasm of the cell.

A general class of mass transport models with Q species of conserved mass is considered. The models are defined on a lattice with parallel discrete time update rules. For one-dimensional, totally asymmetric dynamics we derive necessary and sufficient conditions on the mass transfer dynamics under which the steady state factorizes. We generalize the model to mass transfer on arbitrary lattices and present sufficient conditions for factorization. In both cases, explicit results for random sequential update and continuous time limits are given.

The present standard model fit of precision data has a low confidence level, and is characterized by a few inconsistencies. We look for supersymmetric effects that could improve the agreement among the electroweak precision measurements and with the direct lower bound on the Higgs mass. We find that this is the case particularly if the 3.6 σ discrepancy between sin 2 θ eff from leptonic and hadronic asymmetries is finally settled more on the side of the leptonic ones. After the inclusion of all experimental constraints, our analysis selects light sneutrinos, with masses in the range 55 − 80 GeV, and charged sleptons with masses just above their experimental limit, possibly with additional effects from light gauginos. The phenomenological implications of this scenario are discussed.