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Lyman-α radiation of a probing metastable hydrogen beam to measure electric fields in diluted fluids and plasmas
The interaction between a metastable H(2s) atomic hydrogen beam and an external electric field leads to the emission of the Lyman-α line. It originates in the Stark mixing of the near-degenerate 2s{sub 1/2} and 2p{sub 1/2} levels separated by the Lamb shift. The quenched radiation proportional to the square of the electric field amplitude is recovered in vacuum by using such an atomic probe beam. For larger electric field, saturation is observed and related to the beam finite transit time. We also observe the strong enhancement of the signal when the field is oscillating at the Lamb shift frequency. This technique is applied in a plasma, offering an alternative way to measure weak electric fields by direct and non-intrusive means.
Design and performance of an ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscope operating at dilution refrigerator temperatures.
Abstract not provided.
Effects of dilute aqueous NaCl solution on caffeine aggregation
The effect of salt concentration on association properties of caffeine molecule was investigated by employing molecular dynamics simulations in isothermal-isobaric ensemble of eight caffeine molecules in pure water and three different salt (NaCl) concentrations, at 300 K temperature and 1 atm pressure. The concentration of caffeine was taken almost at the solubility limit. With increasing salt concentration, we observe enhancement of first peak height and appearance of a second peak in the caffeine-caffeine distribution function. Furthermore, our calculated solvent accessible area values and cluster structure analyses suggest formation of higher order caffeine cluster on addition of salt. The calculated hydrogen bond properties reveal that there is a modest decrease in the average number of water-caffeine hydrogen bonds on addition of NaCl salt. Also observed are: (i) decrease in probability of salt contact ion pair as well as decrease in the solvent separated ion pair formation with increasing salt concentration, (ii) a modest second shell collapse in the water structure, and (iii) dehydration of hydrophobic atomic sites of caffeine on addition of NaCl.
First principles study of Fe in diamond: A diamond-based half metallic dilute magnetic semiconductor
Half-metallic ferromagnetic ordering in semiconductors, essential in the emerging field of spintronics for injection and transport of highly spin polarised currents, has up to now been considered mainly in III–V and II–VI materials. However, low Curie temperatures have limited implementation in room temperature device applications. We report ab initio Density Functional Theory calculations on the properties of Fe in diamond, considering the effects of lattice site, charge state, and Fermi level position. We show that the lattice sites and induced magnetic moments of Fe in diamond depend strongly on the Fermi level position and type of diamond co-doping, with Fe being energetically most favorable at the substitutional site in p-type and intrinsic diamond, while it is most stable at a divacancy site in n-type diamond. Fe induces spin polarized bands in the band gap, with strong hybridization between Fe-3d and C-2s,2p bands. We further consider Fe-Fe spin interactions in diamond and show that substitutional Fe{sup +1} in p-type diamond exhibits a half-metallic character, with a magnetic moment of 1.0 μ{sub B} per Fe atom and a large ferromagnetic stabilization energy of 33 meV, an order of magnitude larger than in other semiconductors, with correspondingly high Curie temperatures. These results, combined with diamond's unique properties, demonstrate that Fe doped p-type diamond is likely to be a highly suitable candidate material for spintronics applications.
Zinc oxide based diluted magnetic semiconductor nanoparticles: Synthesis by laser ablation in liquids, microstructural and optical properties
Nanoparticles of ZnO and ZnO doped with transition metals (Mn, Co) were synthesized by laser ablation in liquid medium. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed formation of nanostructures with different shapes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) gives information about surface morphology of the formed nanostructures. Absorption edge of ZnO, ZnO:Mn and ZnO:Co colloidal nanoparticles exhibits blue shift due to confinement effect. In photoluminescence spectra three peaks are attributed to the band-edge transitions and defect states. The Faraday rotation in ZnO:Mn nanoparticles gives evidence for paramagnetic behavior at room temperature.
Determination of the Fermi level position in dilute magnetic Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}N films
We report on a combined theoretical and experimental determination of the Fermi level position in wurtzite Ga{sub 1−x}Mn{sub x}N films with x=4% and x=10% as grown by molecular beam epitaxy. By means of ellipsometric measurements, the real part of the frequency-dependent conductivity is determined. An electronic model in the framework of the effective bond-orbital model is parameterized in order to theoretically reproduce the measured transport properties. Predictions for the long-wavelength behaviour as a function of the Fermi level are made. The corresponding density of states obtained in this model is in qualitative agreement with first-principle calculations. The absence of a significant experimental peak in the AC conductivity for small frequencies indicates that the Fermi level lies in a gap between two Mn-related impurity bands in the host band gap.
Simulation of dilute polymeric fluids in a three-dimensional contraction using a multiscale FENE model
The multiscale FENE model is applied to a 3D square-square contraction flow problem. For this purpose, the stochastic Brownian configuration field method (BCF) has been coupled with our fully parallelized three-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver NaSt3DGPF. The robustness of the BCF method enables the numerical simulation of high Deborah number flows for which most macroscopic methods suffer from stability issues. The results of our simulations are compared with that of experimental measurements from literature and show a very good agreement. In particular, flow phenomena such as a strong vortex enhancement, streamline divergence and a flow inversion for highly elastic flows are reproduced. Due to their computational complexity, our simulations require massively parallel computations. Using a domain decomposition approach with MPI, the implementation achieves excellent scale-up results for up to 128 processors.
Dilute antimonide nitride for long wavelength infrared photodetection
InSb{sub 1−x}N{sub x} materials were fabricated by direct nitrogen implantation into InSb wafer and they are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Hall measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In-N bonds are clearly demonstrated and other forms of nitrogen, such as antisites (N{sub In}), interstitial N{sub 2}, also exist in the grown films. The ratio to the total nitrogen bonds formed in the materials varies with preparation conditions. The optical bandgap data confirmed bandgap narrowing due to the incorporation of nitrogen. Photoconductive and photovoltaic photodetectors are fabricated and the cut-off frequencies of up to 11.5 μm are demonstrated.
Perpendicular diffusion of a dilute beam of charged dust particles in a strongly coupled dusty plasma
The diffusion of projectiles drifting through a target of strongly coupled dusty plasma is investigated in a simulation. A projectile's drift is driven by a constant force F. We characterize the random walk of the projectiles in the direction perpendicular to their drift. The perpendicular diffusion coefficient D{sub p⊥} is obtained from the simulation data. The force dependence of D{sub p⊥} is found to be a power law in a high force regime, but a constant at low forces. A mean kinetic energy W{sub p} for perpendicular motion is also obtained. The diffusion coefficient is found to increase with W{sub p} with a linear trend at higher energies, but an exponential trend at lower energies.
Growth and characterization of dilute nitride GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires and GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowires on Si (111) by gas source molecular beam epitaxy
We have demonstrated self-catalyzed GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} and GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowire growth by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. The growth window for GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires was observed to be comparable to that of GaP nanowires (∼585 °C to ∼615 °C). Transmission electron microscopy showed a mixture of cubic zincblende phase and hexagonal wurtzite phase along the [111] growth direction in GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires. A temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) study performed on GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowires exhibited an S-shape dependence of the PL peaks. This suggests that at low temperature, the emission stems from N-related localized states below the conduction band edge in the shell, while at high temperature, the emission stems from band-to-band transition in the shell as well as recombination in the GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} core.
Communication: Orientational self-ordering of spin-labeled cholesterol analogs in lipid bilayers in diluted conditions
Lipid-cholesterol interactions are responsible for different properties of biological membranes including those determining formation in the membrane of spatial inhomogeneities (lipid rafts). To get new information on these interactions, electron spin echo (ESE) spectroscopy, which is a pulsed version of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), was applied to study 3β-doxyl-5α-cholestane (DCh), a spin-labeled analog of cholesterol, in phospholipid bilayer consisted of equimolecular mixture of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. DCh concentration in the bilayer was between 0.1 mol.% and 4 mol.%. For comparison, a reference system containing a spin-labeled 5-doxyl-stearic acid (5-DSA) instead of DCh was studied as well. The effects of “instantaneous diffusion” in ESE decay and in echo-detected (ED) EPR spectra were explored for both systems. The reference system showed good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the model of spin labels of randomly distributed orientations, but the DCh system demonstrated remarkably smaller effects. The results were explained by assuming that neighboring DCh molecules are oriented in a correlative way. However, this correlation does not imply the formation of clusters of cholesterol molecules, because conventional continuous wave EPR spectra did not show the typical broadening due to aggregation of spin labels and the observed ESE decay was not faster than in the reference system. So the obtained data evidence that cholesterol molecules at low concentrations in biological membranes can interact via large distances of several nanometers which results in their orientational self-ordering.
Contactless electroreflectance and theoretical studies of band gap and spin-orbit splitting in InP{sub 1−x}Bi{sub x} dilute bismide with x ≤ 0.034
Contactless electroreflectance is applied to study the band gap (E{sub 0}) and spin-orbit splitting (Δ{sub SO}) in InP{sub 1−x}Bi{sub x} alloys with 0 < x ≤ 0.034. The E{sub 0} transition shifts to longer wavelengths very significantly (−83 meV/% Bi), while the E{sub 0} + Δ{sub SO} transition shifts very weakly (−13 meV/% Bi) with the rise of Bi concentration. These changes in energies of optical transitions are discussed in the context of the valence band anticrossing model and ab initio calculations. Shifts of E{sub 0} and E{sub 0} + Δ{sub SO} transitions, obtained within ab-initio calculations, are −106 and −20 meV per % Bi, respectively, which is in a good agreement with experimental results.
An investigation of Ar metastable state density in low pressure dual-frequency capacitively coupled argon and argon-diluted plasmas
An tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy has been used to determine the Ar*({sup 3}P{sub 2}) and Ar*({sup 3}P{sub 0}) metastable atoms densities in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas. The effects of different control parameters, such as high-frequency power, gas pressure and content of Ar, on the densities of two metastable atoms and electron density were discussed in single-frequency and dual-frequency Ar discharges, respectively. Particularly, the effects of the pressure on the axial profile of the electron and Ar metastable state densities were also discussed. Furthermore, a simple rate model was employed and its results were compared with experiments to analyze the main production and loss processes of Ar metastable states. It is found that Ar metastable state is mainly produced by electron impact excitation from the ground state, and decayed by diffusion and collision quenching with electrons and neutral molecules. Besides, the addition of CF{sub 4} was found to significantly increase the metastable destruction rate by the CF{sub 4} quenching, especially for large CF{sub 4} content and high pressure, it becomes the dominant depopulation process.
Obtaining strong ferromagnetism in diluted Gd-doped ZnO thin films through controlled Gd-defect complexes
We demonstrate the fabrication of reproducible long-range ferromagnetism (FM) in highly crystalline Gd{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}O thin films by controlling the defects. Films are grown on lattice-matched substrates by pulsed laser deposition at low oxygen pressures (≤25 mTorr) and low Gd concentrations (x ≤ 0.009). These films feature strong FM (10 μ{sub B} per Gd atom) at room temperature. While films deposited at higher oxygen pressure do not exhibit FM, FM is recovered by post-annealing these films under vacuum. These findings reveal the contribution of oxygen deficiency defects to the long-range FM. We demonstrate the possible FM mechanisms, which are confirmed by density functional theory study, and show that Gd dopants are essential for establishing FM that is induced by intrinsic defects in these films.
Electron - polar acoustical phonon interactions in nitride based diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum well via hot electron magnetotransport
In this paper the hot electron transport properties like carrier energy and momentum scattering rates and electron energy loss rates are calculated via interactions of electrons with polar acoustical phonons for Mn doped BN quantum well in BN nanosheets via piezoelectric scattering and deformation potential mechanisms at low temperatures with high electric field. Electron energy loss rate increases with the electric field. It is observed that at low temperatures and for low electric field the phonon absorption is taking place whereas, for sufficient large electric field, phonon emission takes place. Under the piezoelectric (polar acoustical phonon) scattering mechanism, the carrier scattering rate decreases with the reduction of electric field at low temperatures wherein, the scattering rate variation with electric field is limited by a specific temperature beyond which there is no any impact of electric field on such scattering.
Extended wavelength mid-infrared photoluminescence from type-I InAsN and InGaAsN dilute nitride quantum wells grown on InP
Extended wavelength photoluminescence emission within the technologically important 2–5 μm spectral range has been demonstrated from InAs{sub 1−x}N{sub x} and In{sub 1−y}Ga{sub y}As{sub 1−x}N{sub x} type I quantum wells grown onto InP. Samples containing N ∼ 1% and 2% exhibited 4 K photoluminescence emission at 2.0 and 2.7 μm, respectively. The emission wavelength was extended out to 2.9 μm (3.3 μm at 300 K) using a metamorphic buffer layer to accommodate the lattice mismatch. The quantum wells were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and found to be of a high structural perfection as evidenced in the high resolution x-ray diffraction measurements. The photoluminescence was more intense from the quantum wells grown on the metamorphic buffer layer and persisted up to room temperature. The mid-infrared emission spectra were analysed, and the observed transitions were found to be in good agreement with the calculated emission energies.
Communication: Polarizable polymer chain under external electric field in a dilute polymer solution
We study the conformational behavior of polarizable polymer chain under an external homogeneous electric field within the Flory type self-consistent field theory. We consider the influence of electric field on the polymer coil as well as on the polymer globule. We show that when the polymer chain conformation is a coil, application of external electric field leads to its additional swelling. However, when the polymer conformation is a globule, a sufficiently strong field can induce a globule-coil transition. We show that such “field-induced” globule-coil transition at the sufficiently small monomer polarizabilities goes quite smoothly. On the contrary, when the monomer polarizability exceeds a certain threshold value, the globule-coil transition occurs as a dramatic expansion in the regime of first-order phase transition. The developed theoretical model can be applied to predicting polymer globule density change under external electric field in order to provide more efficient processes of polymer functionalization, such as sorption, dyeing, and chemical modification.