Long-Time Relaxation of Stress-Induced Birefringence of Microcrystalline Alkali Halide Crystals.

Alkali halide single crystals are most commonly used as the diluent matrix in the tablet method or disk technique for spectroscopic measurements. However, stress-induced birefringence (SIB) of alkali halides as well as intrinsic birefringence manifest during the disk formation process. Thus, the true chiroptical measurement is disturbed by optical anisotropies (OA) containing SIB and intrinsic birefringence, except in the case of optical homogeneity.

Structure and photoactivity of titania derived from nanotubes and nanofibers.

Photoactivity under UV irradiation for the decomposition of methylene blue in water and for the oxidation of NO gas was studied on titania powders derived from titanate nanotube (TNT) and nanofiber (TNF) by annealing at high temperatures, comparing with granular titania (ST-01). Rate constant for methylene blue decomposition k(MB) increased with increasing annealing temperature above 300 degrees C after the conversion from titanate to tinania. It tended to decrease above 700 degrees C, mainly due to the phase transformation from anatase to rutile.