Recruiting a long way from home: Domino damselfish Dascyllus trimaculatus can detect new temperate coral habitat and conspecifics.

Climate change is driving tropicalisation of temperate reefs, yet it is unclear how range-shifting tropical fishes locate suitable habitat. The authors tested whether juvenile tropical damsels Dascyllus trimaculatus could detect rare coral habitat (Pocillopora aliciae) and conspecifics on temperate rocky reefs using olfactory and visual preference experiments. For all cues, individuals selected and spent more time than expected in aquarium areas with the cue present, which included coral odour and conspecific odour and visual cues. This indicates that vagrant coral-reef fish can detect rare suitable habitat outside of their natal range.

Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solid-Density Liquid Carbon.

A liquid carbon (l-C) sample is generated through constant volume heating exposing an amorphous carbon foil to an intense ultrashort laser pulse. Time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the C K edge is used to monitor the dynamics of the melting process revealing a subpicosecond rearrangement of the electronic structure associated with a sudden change of the C bonding hybridization. The obtained l-C sample, resulting from a nonthermal melting mechanism, reaches a transient equilibrium condition with a temperature of about 14 200 K and pressure in the order of 0.5 Mbar in about 0.3 ps, prior to hydrodynamic expansion. A detailed analysis of the atomic and electronic structure in solid-density l-C based on time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy and theoretical simulations is presented. The method can be fruitfully used for extending the experimental investigation of the C phase diagram in a vast unexplored region covering the 10^{3}-10^{4} K temperature range with pressures up to 1 Mbar.

Characterization of Pd/Y multilayers with B4C barrier layers using GIXR and X-ray standing wave enhanced HAXPES.

Pd/Y multilayers are high-reflectance mirrors designed to work in the 7.5-11 nm wavelength range. Samples, prepared by magnetron sputtering, are deposited with or without B4C barrier layers located at the interfaces of the Pd and Y layers to reduce interdiffusion, which is expected from calculating the mixing enthalpy of Pd and Y. Grazing-incident X-ray reflectometry is used to characterize these multilayers. B4C barrier layers are found to be effective in reducing Pd-Y interdiffusion. Details of the composition of the multilayers are revealed by hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy with X-ray standing wave effects. This consists of measuring the photoemission intensity from the samples by performing an angular scan in the region corresponding to the multilayer period and an incident photon energy according to Bragg's law. The experimental results indicate that Pd does not chemically react with B nor C at the Pd-B4C interface while Y does react at the Y-B4C interface. The formation of Y-B or Y-C chemical compounds could be the reason why the interfaces are stabilized. By comparing the experimentally obtained angular variation of the characteristic photoemission with theoretical calculations, the depth distribution of each component element can be interpreted.

Quantitative resonant soft x-ray reflectivity of ultrathin anisotropic organic layers: Simulation and experiment of PTCDA on Au.

Resonant soft X-ray reflectivity at the carbon K edge, with linearly polarized light, was used to derive quantitative information of film morphology, molecular arrangement, and electronic orbital anisotropies of an ultrathin 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) film on Au(111). The experimental spectra were simulated by computing the propagation of the electromagnetic field in a trilayer system (vacuum/PTCDA/Au), where the organic film was treated as an anisotropic medium. Optical constants were derived from the calculated (through density functional theory) absorption cross sections of the single molecule along the three principal molecular axes. These were used to construct the dielectric tensor of the film, assuming the molecules to be lying flat with respect to the substrate and with a herringbone arrangement parallel to the substrate plane. Resonant soft X-ray reflectivity proved to be extremely sensitive to film thickness, down to the single molecular layer. The best agreement between simulation and experiment was found for a film of 1.6 nm, with flat laying configuration of the molecules. The high sensitivity to experimental geometries in terms of beam incidence and light polarization was also clarified through simulations. The optical anisotropies of the organic film were experimentally determined and through the comparison with calculations, it was possible to relate them to the orbital symmetry of the empty electronic states.

Analysis of buried interfaces in multilayer mirrors using grazing incidence extreme ultraviolet reflectometry near resonance edges.

Accurate measurements of optical properties of multilayer (ML) mirrors and chemical compositions of interdiffusion layers are particularly challenging to date. In this work, an innovative and nondestructive experimental characterization method for multilayers is discussed. The method is based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) reflectivity measurements performed on a wide grazing incidence angular range at an energy near the absorption resonance edge of low-Z elements in the ML components. This experimental method combined with the underlying physical phenomenon of abrupt changes of optical constants near EUV resonance edges enables us to characterize optical and structural properties of multilayers with high sensitivity. A major advantage of the method is to perform detailed quantitative analysis of buried interfaces of multilayer structures in a nondestructive and nonimaging setup. Coatings of Si/Mo multilayers on a Si substrate with period d=16.4 nm, number of bilayers N=25, and different capping structures are investigated. Stoichiometric compositions of Si-on-Mo and Mo-on-Si interface diffusion layers are derived. Effects of surface oxidation reactions and carbon contaminations on the optical constants of capping layers and the impact of neighboring atoms' interactions on optical responses of Si and Mo layers are discussed.

Free electron laser-driven ultrafast rearrangement of the electronic structure in Ti.

High-energy density extreme ultraviolet radiation delivered by the FERMI seeded free-electron laser has been used to create an exotic nonequilibrium state of matter in a titanium sample characterized by a highly excited electron subsystem at temperatures in excess of 10 eV and a cold solid-density ion lattice. The obtained transient state has been investigated through ultrafast absorption spectroscopy across the Ti M2,3-edge revealing a drastic rearrangement of the sample electronic structure around the Fermi level occurring on a time scale of about 100 fs.

Rapid definitive diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease.

We describe a sporadic case of Legionnaires' disease in which the diagnosis was made by direct immunofluorescence of material obtained by percutaneous aspiration of the involved lung via a needle. Employment of this technique among selected patients with suspected Legionnaires' disease would provide for more rapid diagnosis and more prompt initiation of definitive therapy for some patients.

Gratings in a conical diffraction mounting for an extreme-ultraviolet time-delay-compensated monochromator.

The conical diffraction mounting in which the direction of incident light belongs to a plane parallel to the direction of the grooves has the unique property of maintaining high diffraction efficiency, even in the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) region. This property is useful for designing high-throughput time-delay-compensated monochromators for the spectral selection of ultrashort EUV pulses as the high-order harmonics generated by the interaction between an ultrashort laser pulse and a gas jet. The time compensation allows one to exploit the femtosecond scale duration of the harmonics both to have high intensity and to reach an unprecedented temporal resolution for pump and probe experiments. Because two gratings have to be used for time compensation, the high diffraction efficiency becomes an essential requirement, which can be fulfilled by the conical diffraction mounting. Measurements recently accomplished at the Bending Magnet for Emission Absorption and Reflectivity (BEAR) beam line (ELETTRA Synchrotron, Trieste, Italy) for three gratings in the 10-90 nm region are reported here that show a peak efficiency of as much as 0.7 in the first order. A model computing the electromagnetic propagation and the grating efficiency, implemented and tested with the experimental data, permits the study and design of rather complex systems operating in the conical mounting. Basic physical principles and mathematical aspects of the model are discussed here.

Polarization and higher-order content measurement of a soft-x-ray monochromatized beam with Mo-Si multilayers.

A Mo-Si multilayer mirror has been used for determination of the ellipticity and higher-order content of a synchrotron beam. The method is based on the angular measure of multilayer reflectivity in the region of Bragg first- and second-order reflections. Beam parameters were derived by a fitting procedure.

Reflectance measurements and optical constants in the extreme ultraviolet-vacuum ultraviolet regions for SiC with a different C/Si ratio.

Reflectance versus incidence angle measurements have been performed from 5 to 152 nm on samples of SiC with a different C/Si ratio deposited with rf magnetron sputtering. The optical constants of the material at different wavelengths have been determined by using a curve-fitting technique of reflectance values versus incidence angle. Complementary measurements of the incident beam polarization, film thickness, surface roughness, and stoichiometry were performed to complete the analysis of the samples.

Influence of recruit condition on food competition and predation risk in a coral reef fish.

Settlement rate is considered to be a major determinant of the population structure of coral reef fishes. In this study, the effects of larval physiological condition on survival, predation risk and competitive ability are assessed for a small damselfish, Pomacentrus moluccensis. New settlers were collected and fed for 5 days to produce high and low condition (measured as lipid) treatment fish. In a field experiment, pairs (one high and one low condition fish) were transplanted to corals. Persistence over 2 weeks was much higher (100% vs. 25%) in high condition fish. In mixed groups in the laboratory, high condition fish were both aggressively dominant and consumed more of a limiting prey source than low condition fish. In addition, low condition fish were shown to be at much higher risk of predation. All of the low condition fish but only 33% of high condition fish in mixed groups were consumed by fish predators, and in a separate experiment, 73% of feeding strikes by predators were directed at low condition fish. Quality of new settlers can have an important influence on subsequent juvenile survival. The mechanisms for this effect are likely to include a combination of effects of condition on food competition and predation risk.