Hyperbolic polariton modes are highly appealing for a broad range of applications in nanophotonics, including surfaced enhanced sensing, sub-diffractional imaging, and reconfigurable metasurfaces. Here we show that attenuated total reflectance (ATR) micro-spectroscopy using standard spectroscopic tools can launch hyperbolic polaritons in a Kretschmann–Raether configuration. We measure multiple hyperbolic and dielectric modes within the naturally hyperbolic material hexagonal boron nitride as a function of different isotopic enrichments and flake thickness. This overcomes the technical challenges of measurement approaches based on nanostructuring, or scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy. Ultimately, our ATR approach allows us to compare the optical properties of small-scale materials prepared by different techniques systematically.

Coupling superconductors to quantum Hall edge states is the subject of intense investigation as part of the ongoing search for non-abelian excitations. Our group has previously observed supercurrents of hundreds of picoamperes in graphene Josephson junctions in the quantum Hall regime. One of the explanations of this phenomenon involves the coupling of an electron edge state on one side of the junction to a hole edge state on the opposite side. In our previous samples, these states are separated by several microns. Here, a narrow trench perpendicular to the contacts creates counterpropagating quantum Hall edge channels tens of nanometres from each other. Transport measurements demonstrate a change in the low-field Fraunhofer interference pattern for trench devices and show a supercurrent in both trench and reference junctions in the quantum Hall regime. The trench junctions show no enhancement of quantum Hall supercurrent and an unexpected supercurrent periodicity with applied field, suggesting the need for further optimization of device parameters.

In Hokkaido we have often experienced hazardous accidents, such as tower collapses and conductor breakage, caused by wet-snow accretion on transmission lines, and over many years have developed countermeasures for wet-snow accretion. Recently we have been developing a system to forecast areas where snow accretion may occur. We used the southern part of Hokkaido, divided into 5 km × 5 km meshes, as a forecast area; our predictions were hourly, 3–24 hours in advance. A method of predicting meteorological data which forms an important part of the system predicts three elements which influence wet-snow accretion: air temperature, precipitation, and wind direction and speed. We used an interpolation for predicting temperature and precipitation and a one-level, mesoscale model for diagnosing surface winds for wind direction and speed. By applying the method to many examples of wet-snow accretion, we checked the prediction of weather elements.

We introduce the notion of orbital $L$-functions for the space of binary cubic forms and investigate their analytic properties. We study their functional equations and residue formulas in some detail. Aside from their intrinsic interest, the results from this paper are used to prove the existence of secondary terms in counting functions for cubic fields. This is worked out in a companion paper.

To investigate the effect of plasma-incorporated fluorine on Si donors in pseudomorphic-high electron mobility transistors (P-HEMTs), we used x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to analyze three layers near the Si δ-doped layer and the Si δ-doped layer itself, in which we previously found fluorine accumulation after post-thermal annealing following fluorocarbon-based plasma exposure. For this evaluation, we developed controllable and low-speed AlGaAs wet-chemical etching using citric-acid-based wet etchant. We used it to expose one of the layers to be analyzed: one 7.5 nm above the Si δ-doped layer, one 1.5 nm above it, the δ-doped layer itself, and one 1.5 nm below it. We found that the accumulated fluorine localized in the δ-doped layer and reacted with Si donors. This is apparently the main reason for the carrier passivation in the fluorocarbon-based plasma-exposed P-HEMTs.

Superwind galaxies at high-redshift are now considered to be the important clue for understanding the interaction and evolution of both galaxies and intergalactic matter. In order to improve our knowledge of superwind galaxies at high redshift, a large sample of superwind candidates is needed. During the course of our new search for Lyman alpha emitters at z = 5.7, we have found a candidate superwind galaxy, LAE J1044-0130, at z = 5.69. The emission-line profile of this object is asymmetric, showing excess red-wing emission and the observed broad line width (= 340 km/s). In this poster, we report detailed observed properties of LAE J1044-0130 as an example of a superwind galaxy.

The sintering behavior of cBN powder with various particle sizes from 0.5 to 12 µm was investigated when sintered at temperatures from 1500 to 2500 °C and pressure of 7.7 GPa without additives. Above 2000 °C, translucent sintered bodies were obtained. Microstructure observation indicated that the optimum sintering temperature was near 2350 °C for fine powders of 0.5 to 1.2 µm and 2 to 4 µm, and slightly higher than 2350 °C for powders from 8 to 12 µm. The fracture toughness of the well-sintered bodies decreased with grain growth above the optimum sintering temperature.