Experimental evidence proves that polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal is not perfectly optically isotropic. The optical rotatory power (ORP) of double twist cylinders causes the polarization axis of the transmitted light to rotate a small angle, and leaks through the crossed polarizers. Rotating the analyzer by ~2 to correct this ORP can improve the contrast ratio by 3X. Author

We present results of an experimental study on the stability of Taylor–Couette flow in case of counter-rotating cylinders and an imposed axial through flow. We are able to confirm results form recent numerical investigations done by Pinter et al. [24] by measuring the absolute and convective stability boundaries of both propagating Taylor vortices (PTV) and spiral vortices (SPI). Thus our work ...

A method suggested by Gimblett[(C. G. Gimblett, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 31, 2183 (1989)] for stabilizing resistive wall modes by using a rotating double wall configuration is applied to a line tied screw pinch equilibrium. The line tied boundary conditions provide an additional stabilizing mechanism relative to instabilities present in periodic cylinders. For a given equilibrium, there e...

Numerical calculations of vortex flows in Taylor-Couette systems with counter rotating cylinders are presented. The full, time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a combination of a finite difference and a Galerkin method. Annular gaps of radius ratio eta=0.5 and of several heights are simulated. They are closed by nonrotating lids that produce localized Ekman vortices in their vi...

Although the magnetorotational instability (MRI) has been widely accepted as a powerful accretion mechanism in magnetized accretion disks, it has not been realized in the laboratory. The possibility of studying MRI in a rotating liquid-metal annulus (Couette flow) is explored by local and global stability analysis and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Stability diagrams are drawn in dimens...

Geometric inversion is applied to two-dimensional Stokes flow in the objective to find new Stokes flow solutions. The principle of this method and the relations between the reference and inverse fluid velocity fields are presented. They are followed by applications to the flow between two parallel plates induced by a rotating or a translating cylinder. Thus hydrodynamic characteristics of flow ...

We report hydrogen storage at an ordinary pressure due to a bottle-neck effect of an ultramicroporous crystal. Stored hydrogen was kept at an ordinary pressure below -110 °C. The amounts of stored hydrogen gas linearly correlated with the initial pressures. These phenomena suggested the ultramicroporous tunnels worked as a molecular gas cylinder.