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At least 829 records · Page 46
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DOE OSTI2021

Abell 1430: A merging cluster with exceptional diffuse radio emission

Diffuse radio emission has been found in many galaxy clusters, predominantly in massive systems which are in the state of merging. The radio emission can usually be classified as relic or halo emission, which are believed to be related to merger shocks or volume-filling turbulence, respectively. Recent observations have revealed radio bridges for some pairs of very close galaxy clusters. The mechanisms that may allow one to explain the high specific density of relativistic electrons, which are necessary to explain the radio luminosity of these bridge regions, have been poorly explored until now. When inspecting the first data release of the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), we discovered diffuse radio emission in the galaxy cluster Abell 1430. Here, for this work, we aim to determine the dynamical state of the cluster and characterise the diffuse radio emission. We analysed the LoTSS data in detail and complemented them with recent Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array observations in the L-band. To study the dynamical state of the cluster, we analysed XMM-Newton data, Chandra data, and Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. Moreover, we compared our results to clusters extracted from THE THREE HUNDRED PROJECT cosmological simulation. We find that Abell 1430 consists of two components, namely A1430-A and A1430-B, with a mass ratio of about 2:1. The massive component shows diffuse radio emission which can be classified as radio halo which shows a low radio power at 1.4 GHz with respect to the mass of the cluster. Most interestingly, there is extended diffuse radio emission in the following dubbed as the ‘Pillow’ according to its morphology, which is apparently related to A1430-B and which is neither typical halo nor typical relic emission. The origin of this emission is puzzling. We speculate that the two components of Abell 1430 undergo an off-axis merger. In this scenario, A1430-B is moving towards the main cluster component and may have compressed and stirred the medium in the filament between the two cluster components. We have discovered evidence for diffuse radio emission related to the low-density intracluster or intergalactic medium in Abell 1430. To date, only a few examples of emission originating from such regions are known. These discoveries are crucial to constrain possible acceleration mechanisms which may allow us to explain the presence of relativistic electrons in these regions. In particular, our results indicate a spectral index of α 144 MHz 1.5 GHz = -1.4±0.5 for the Pillow. If upcoming observations confirm a slope as flat as -1.4 or even flatter, this would pose a challenge for the electron acceleration scenarios.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Relativistic high harmonic generation in gas jet targets

We experimentally demonstrate a new regime of high-order harmonic generation by relativistic-irradiance lasers in gas jet targets. Bright harmonics with both odd and even orders, generated by linearly as well as circularly polarized pulses, are emitted in the forward direction, while the base harmonic frequency is downshifted. A 9 TW laser generates harmonics up to 360 eV, within the 'water window' spectral region. With a 120 TW laser producing 40 uJ/sr per harmonic at 120 eV, we demonstrate the photon number scalability. The observed harmonics cannot be explained by previously suggested scenarios. A novel high-order harmonics generation mechanism [T. Zh. Esirkepov et al., AIP Proceedings, this volume], which explains our experimental findings, is based on the phenomena inherent in the relativistic laser - underdense plasma interactions (self-focusing, cavity evacuation, and bow wave generation), mathematical catastrophe theory which explains formation of electron density singularities (cusps), and collective radiation due to nonlinear oscillations of a compact charge.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Analysis of cathode geometry to minimize cathode erosion in direct current microplasma jet

Microplasma jets are now widely used for deposition, etching, and materials processing. The present study focuses on the investigation of the influence of cathode geometry on deposition quality, for microplasma jet deposition systems in low vacuum. The interest here is understanding the influence of hydrogen on sputtering and/or evaporation of the electrodes. Samples obtained with two cathode geometries with tapered and rectangular cross-sections have been investigated experimentally by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy. Samples obtained with a tapered-geometry cathode present heavy contamination, demonstrating cathode erosion, while samples obtained with a rectangular-cross-section cathode are free from contamination. These experimental characteristics were explained by modelling results showing a larger radial component of the electric field at the cathode inner wall of the tapered cathode. As a result, ion acceleration is larger, explaining the observed cathode erosion in this case. Results from the present investigation also show that the ratio of radial to axial field components is larger for the rectangular geometry case, thus, qualitatively explaining the presence of micro-hollow cathode discharge over a wide range of currents observed in this case. In the light of the above findings, the rectangular cathode geometry is considered to be more effective to achieve cleaner deposition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Experimental observation of 3-D, impulsive reconnection events in a laboratory plasma

Fast, impulsive reconnection is commonly observed in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas. In this work, impulsive, local, 3-D reconnection is identified for the first time in a laboratory current sheet. The two-fluid, impulsive reconnection events observed on the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [Yamada et al., Phys Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)] cannot be explained by 2-D models and are therefore fundamentally three-dimensional. Several signatures of flux ropes are identified with these events; 3-D high current density regions with O-point structure form during a slow buildup period that precedes a fast disruption of the reconnecting current layer. The observed drop in the reconnection current and spike in the reconnection rate during the disruption are due to ejection of these flux ropes from the layer. Underscoring the 3-D nature of the events, strong out-of-plane gradients in both the density and reconnecting magnetic field are found to play a key role in this process. Electromagnetic fluctuations in the lower hybrid frequency range are observed to peak at the disruption time; however, they are not the key physics responsible for the impulsive phenomena observed. Important features of the disruption dynamics cannot be explained by an anomalous resistivity model. An important discrepancy in the layer width and force balance between the collisionless regime of MRX and kinetic simulations is also revisited. The wider layers observed in MRX may be due to the formation of flux ropes with a wide range of sizes; consistent with this hypothesis, flux rope signatures are observed down to the smallest scales resolved by the diagnostics. Finally, a 3-D two-fluid model is proposed to explain how the observed out-of-plane variation may lead to a localized region of enhanced reconnection that spreads in the direction of the out-of-plane electron flow, ejecting flux ropes from the layer in a 3-D manner.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect on plasma rotation of lower hybrid (LH) waves in Alcator C-Mod

The injection of LH waves for current drive into a tokamak changes the ion toroidal rotation. In Alcator C-Mod, the direction of the steady state rotation change due to LH waves depends on the plasma current and the density. The change in rotation can be estimated by balancing the external torque of lower hybrid waves with the turbulent radial transport of the momentum. For high plasma current, the turbulent pinch and diffusion of the injected counter-current momentum are sufficient to explain the rotation change. However, for low plasma current, the change in the the intrinsic momentum transport (residual stress) for a non-rotating state is required to explain the co-current rotation change. Accordingly, we investigate the intrinsic momentum transport for the non-rotating state when diamagnetic flow and ExB flow cancel each other. The change in the intrinsic momentum transport due to lower hybrid waves is significant when the plasma current is low, which may explain the rotation reversal for low plasma current. The effect of changed q (safety factor) profile by lower hybrid on the intrinsic momentum transport is estimated by gyrokinetics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of Ti-Al cathode composition on plasma generation and plasma transport in direct current vacuum arc

DC arc plasma from Ti, Al, and Ti{sub 1-x}Al{sub x} (x = 0.16, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.70) compound cathodes was characterized with respect to plasma chemistry and charge-state-resolved ion energy. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of the deposited films and the cathode surfaces were used for exploring the correlation between cathode-, plasma-, and film composition. Experimental work was performed at a base pressure of 10{sup −6} Torr, to exclude plasma-gas interaction. The plasma ion composition showed a reduction of Al of approximately 5 at. % compared to the cathode composition, while deposited films were in accordance with the cathode stoichiometry. This may be explained by presence of neutrals in the plasma/vapour phase. The average ion charge states (Ti = 2.2, Al = 1.65) were consistent with reference data for elemental cathodes, and approximately independent on the cathode composition. On the contrary, the width of the ion energy distributions (IEDs) were drastically reduced when comparing the elemental Ti and Al cathodes with Ti{sub 0.5}Al{sub 0.5}, going from ∼150 and ∼175 eV to ∼100 and ∼75 eV for Ti and Al ions, respectively. This may be explained by a reduction in electron temperature, commonly associated with the high energy tail of the IED. The average Ti and Al ion energies ranged between ∼50 and ∼61 eV, and ∼30 and ∼50 eV, respectively, for different cathode compositions. The attained energy trends were explained by the velocity rule for compound cathodes, which states that the most likely velocities of ions of different mass are equal. Hence, compared to elemental cathodes, the faster Al ions will be decelerated, and the slower Ti ions will be accelerated when originating from compound cathodes. The intensity of the macroparticle generation and thickness of the deposited films were also found to be dependent on the cathode composition. The presented results may be of importance for choice of cathodes for thin film depositions involving compound cathodes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electron paramagnetic resonance study of paramagnetic centers in carbon-fumed silica adsorbent

Fumed silica A-300 was carbonized by means of pyrolysis of CH{sub 2}Cl{sub 2}. The obtained initial SiO{sub 2}:C nanopowders of black color, with an average diameter of 14–16 nm and carbon (C) concentration 7 wt. %, subjected to the oxidation and passivation treatment were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the temperature range 4–400 K. Two EPR signals of Lorentzian lineshape with nearly equal g-factors and different linewidth were observed in the initial, oxidized, and passivated SiO{sub 2}:C nanopowders. The two-component EPR spectrum was explained by the presence of C in two electronic states. The intensive narrow EPR signal, which has a temperature-dependent intensity, linewidth, and resonance field position, was attributed to the carbon-related defect with non-localized electron hopping between neighboring C-dangling bonds. The striking effect is that the temperature dependence of the EPR linewidth demonstrates the motional narrowing of the EPR signal at very low temperatures from 4 K to 20 K, which is not typically for nonmetallic materials and was explained by the quantum character of C layer conductivity in the SiO{sub 2}:C. The observed peaks in the temperature dependence of the conduction electron EPR signal integral intensity in the high-temperature range 200–440 K was explained by the presence of the C nanodots at the surface of SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles and the ejection of electrons from the confinement energy levels of C quantum dot when the temperature becomes comparable to the confinement energy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interplay between strain, quantum confinement, and ferromagnetism in strained ferromagnetic semiconductor (In,Fe)As thin films

We systematically investigated the influence of strain on the electronic structure and ferromagnetism of (In,Fe)As thin films. It is found that while the shift of the critical point energies of compressive-strained (In,Fe)As layers grown on (In{sub 1−y},Ga{sub y})As (y = 0.05, 0.1) buffer layers can be explained by the hydrostatic deformation effect (HDE) alone, those of tensile-strained (In,Fe)As layers grown on (Ga{sub 1−z},Al{sub z})Sb (z = 0, 0.5, 1) buffer layers can be explained by the combination of HDE and the quantum confinement effect (QCE). The Curie temperature T{sub C} of the (In,Fe)As layers strongly depends on the strain, and shows a maximum for the (In,Fe)As layer grown on a GaSb buffer layer. The strain dependence of T{sub C} can be explained by the s-d exchange mechanism taking into account HDE and QCE.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

On the non-stiffness of edge transport in L-mode tokamak plasmas

Transport analyses using first-principle turbulence codes and 11/2 -D transport codes usually study radial transport properties between the tokamak plasma magnetic axis and a normalized minor radius around 0.8. In this region, heat transport shows significantly stiff properties resulting in temperature scalelength values (R∕L{sub T}) that are relatively independent of the level of the radial heat flux. We have studied experimentally in the tokamak à configuration variable [F. Hofmann et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 36, B277 (1994)] the radial electron transport properties of the edge region, close to the last closed flux surface, namely, between ρ{sub V}=√(V/V{sub edge})=0.8 to 1. It is shown that electron transport is not stiff in this region and high R∕L{sub Te} values (∼20–40) can be attained even for L-mode confinement. We can define a “pedestal” location, already in L-mode regimes, where the transport characteristics change from constant logarithmic gradient, inside ρ{sub V} = 0.8, to constant gradient between 0.8 and 1.0. In particular, we demonstrate, with well resolved T{sub e} and n{sub e} profiles, that the confinement improvement with plasma current I{sub p}, with or without auxiliary heating, is due to this non-stiff edge region. This new result is used to explain the significant confinement improvement observed with negative triangularity, which could not be explained by theory to date. Preliminary local gyrokinetic simulations are now consistent with an edge, less stiff, region that is more sensitive to triangularity than further inside. We also show that increasing the electron cyclotron heating power increases the edge temperature inverse scalelength, in contrast to the value in the main plasma region. The dependence of confinement on density in ohmic plasmas is also studied and brings new insight in the understanding of the transition between linear and saturated confinement regimes, as well as of the density limit and appearance of a 2/1 tearing mode. The results presented in this paper provide an important new perspective with regards to radial transport in tokamak plasmas which goes beyond L-mode plasmas and explains some previous puzzling results. It is proposed that understanding the transport properties in this edge non-stiff region will also help in understanding the improved and high confinement edge properties.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coexistence of epitaxial lattice rotation and twinning tilt induced by surface symmetry mismatch

Combined x-ray diffraction and first-principles studies of various epitaxial rutile-type metal dioxide films on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) substrates reveal an unexpected rectangle-on-parallelogram heteroepitaxy. Unique matching of particular lattice spacings and crystal angles between the oxygen sublattices of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) and the film(100) result in coexisted crystal rotation and lattice twinning inside the film. We demonstrate that, besides symmetry and lattice mismatch, angular mismatch along a specific crystal direction is also an important factor determining epitaxy. A generalized theorem has been proposed to explain epitaxial behaviors for tetragonal metal dioxides on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Intrinsic dissipation in a nano-mechanical resonator

We investigate the effect of size on intrinsic dissipation in nano-structures. We use molecular dynamics simulation and study dissipation under two different modes of deformation: stretching and bending mode. In the case of stretching deformation (with uniform strain field), dissipation takes place due to Akhiezer mechanism. For bending deformation, in addition to the Akhiezer mechanism, the spatial temperature gradient also plays a role in the process of entropy generation. Interestingly, we find that the bending modes have a higher Q factor in comparison with the stretching deformation (under the same frequency of operation). Furthermore, with the decrease in size, the difference in Q factor between the bending and stretching deformation becomes more pronounced. The lower dissipation for the case of bending deformation is explained to be due to the surface scattering of phonons. A simple model, for phonon dynamics under an oscillating strain field, is considered to explain the observed variation in dissipation rate. We also studied the scaling of Q factor with initial tension, in a beam under flexure. We develop a continuum theory to explain the observed results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Schottky contact formation on polar and non-polar AlN

The interfaces of m- and c-plane AlN with metals of different work functions and electro-negativities were characterized and the Schottky barrier heights were measured. The Schottky barrier height was determined by measuring the valence band maximum (VBM) with respect to the Fermi level at the surface (interface) before (after) metallization. VBM determination included accurate modeling and curve fitting of density of states at the valence band edge with the XPS data. The experimental behavior of the barrier heights could not be explained by the Schottky-Mott model and was modeled using InterFace-Induced Gap States (IFIGS). A slope parameter (S{sub X}) was used to incorporate the density of surface states and is a measure of Fermi level pinning. The experimental barriers followed theoretical predictions with a barrier height at the surface Fermi level (Charge neutrality level (CNL)) of ∼2.1 eV (∼2.7 eV) on m-plane (c-plane) and S{sub X} ∼ 0.36 eV/Miedema unit. Slope parameter much lower than 0.86 implied a surface/interface states dominated behavior with significant Fermi level pinning and the measured barrier heights were close to the CNL. Titanium and zirconium provided the lowest barriers (1.6 eV) with gold providing the highest (2.3 eV) among the metals analyzed on m-plane. It was consistently found that barrier heights decreased from metal polar to non-polar surfaces, in general, due to an increasing CNL. The data indicated that charged IFIGS compensate spontaneous polarization charge. These barrier height and slope parameter measurements provided essential information for designing Schottky diodes and other contact-based devices on AlN.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Colossal thermoelectric power in charge ordered lanthanum calcium manganites (La{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3})

Lanthanum calcium manganites (La{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3}) with a composition close to charge ordering, synthesized by high energy ball milling, was found to exhibit colossal thermoelectric power. Thermoelectric power (TEP) data was systematically analyzed by dividing the entire temperature range (5 K–300 K) into three different regimes to explore different scattering mechanisms involved. Mandal's model has been applied to explain TEP data in the region below the Curie temperature (T{sub C}). It has been found that the variation of thermoelectric power with temperature is pronounced when the system enters the charge ordered region at T < 200 K. For temperatures lower than 120 K, due to the co-existence of charge ordered state with a spin-glass state, the variation of thermoelectric power is maximum and exhibited a peak value of −80 mV/K at 58 K. This has been explained by incorporating Kondo properties of the spin-glass along with magnon scattering. FC-ZFC magnetization measurements indicate the existence of a glassy state in the region corresponding to a maximum value of thermoelectric power. Phonon drag contribution instead of spin-glass contribution is taken into account to explain TEP in the region 120 K < T < T{sub C}. Mott's polaronic contribution of charge carriers are considered to interpret TEP in the high temperature region (T > T{sub C}). The optimal Mn{sup 4+}-Mn{sup 3+} concentration in charge ordered La{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3} was examined by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy analysis which confirms the charge ordered nature of this compound.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A comparative study of the Au + H{sub 2}, Au{sup +} + H{sub 2}, and Au{sup −} + H{sub 2} systems: Potential energy surfaces and dynamics of reactive collisions

In order to study the Au{sup −} + H{sub 2} collision, a new global potential energy surface (PES) describing the ground electronic state of AuH{sub 2}{sup −} system is developed and compared with the PESs of the neutral [Zanchet et al., J. Chem. Phys. 132, 034301 (2010)] and cationic systems [Anaís et al., J. Chem. Phys. 135, 091102 (2011)]. We found that Au{sup −} − H{sub 2} presents a H-Au-H insertion minimum attributed to the stabilization of the LUMO 3b{sub 2} orbital, which can be considered as the preamble of the chemisorption well appearing in larger gold clusters. While the LUMO orbital is stabilized, the HOMO 6a{sub 1} is destabilized, creating a barrier at the geometry where the energy orbitals’ curves are crossing. In the anion, this HOMO is doubly occupied, while in the neutral system is half-filled and completely empty in the cation, explaining the gradual disappearance of the well and the barrier as the number of electrons decreases. The cation presents a well in the entrance channel partially explained by electrostatic interactions. The three systems’ reactions are highly endothermic, by 1.66, 2.79, and 3.23 eV for AuH, AuH{sup +}, and AuH{sup −} products, respectively. The reaction dynamics is studied using quasi-classical trajectory method for the three systems. The one corresponding to the anionic system is new in this work. Collision energies between 1.00 and 8.00 eV, measured for the cation, are in good agreement with the simulated cross section for the AuH{sup +}. It was also found that the total fragmentation, in three atoms, competes becoming dominant at sufficiently high energy. Here, we study the competition between the two different reaction pathways for the anionic, cationic, and neutral species, explaining the differences using a simple model based on the topology of the potential energy surfaces.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

The quantum Hall effect helicity

The quantum Hall effect in semiconductor heterostructures is explained by two signs in the angular momentum j=l±s and g=(2j+1)/(2l+1) along with the Landau factor (n+1/2). These modifications in the existing theories explain all of the fractional charges. The helicity which is the sign of the product of the linear momentum with the spin p.s plays an important role for the understanding of the data at high magnetic fields. In particular it is found that particles with positive sign in the spin move in one direction and those with negative sign move in another direction which explains the up and down stream motion of the particles.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magnetic and nonlinear optical properties of BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles

In our earlier studies the BaTiO{sub 3} samples were processed at higher temperatures like 1000{sup o}C and explained the observed magnetism in it. It is found that the charge transfer effects are playing crucial role in explaining the observed ferromagnetism in it. In the present work the samples were processed at lower temperatures like 650{sup o}C-800{sup o}C. The carrier densities in these particles were estimated to be ∼ 10{sup 19}-10{sup 20}/cm{sup 3} range. The band gap is in the range of 2.53eV to 3.2eV. It is observed that magnetization increased with band gap narrowing. The higher band gap narrowed particles exhibited increased magnetization with a higher carrier density of 1.23×10{sup 20}/cm{sup 3} near to the Mott critical density. This hint the exchange interactions between the carriers play a dominant role in deciding the magnetic properties of these particles. The increase in charge carrier density in this undoped BaTiO{sub 3} is because of oxygen defects only. The oxygen vacancy will introduce electrons in the system and hence more charge carriers means more oxygen defects in the system and increases the exchange interactions between Ti3+, Ti4+, hence high magnetic moment. The coercivity is increased from 23 nm to 31 nm and then decreased again for higher particle size of 54 nm. These particles do not show photoluminescence property and hence it hints the absence of uniformly distributed distorted [TiO5]-[TiO6] clusters formation and charge transfer between them. Whereas these charge transfer effects are vital in explaining the observed magnetism in high temperature processed samples. Thus the variation of magnetic properties like magnetization, coercivity with band gap narrowing, particle size and charge carrier density reveals the super paramagnetic nature of BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles. The nonlinear optical coefficients extracted from Z-scan studies suggest that these are potential candidates for optical imaging and signal processing applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Origin of Lα{sup x} satellite in the light rare earths on the basis of plasmon theory

The origin of most of the X-ray satellites can be explained on the basis of multiple ionization theory. However, there are several satellites which can be explained on the basis of plasmon theory. When a plasmon is excited during the X-ray emission process, one can get a low energy satellite because energy is used up in exciting the plasmon oscillations in the electron gas. A plasmon on decay can also transfer its energy to the transiting electron which subsequently fills the core vacancy giving rise to a high energy satellite. In our laboratory, a new high energy satellite Lα{sup x} has been observed in the Lα - emission spectra of the oxides of some light rare earths on the high energy side of the diagram line Lα{sub 1}. In the present paper, the origin of this high energy satellite has been explained using the theory of plasma oscillations in solids. The energy separation of the satellite from the emission line Lα{sub 1} has been calculated and then compared with the theoretical separation based on the plasmon theory. The agreement between the theoretical and experimental values is found to be good. Hence, the observed satellite can be designated as plasmon satellite.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact of dynamic specimen shape evolution on the atom probe tomography results of doped epitaxial oxide multilayers: Comparison of experiment and simulation

The experimental atom probe tomography (APT) results from two different specimen orientations (top-down and sideways) of a high oxygen ion conducting Samaria-doped-ceria/Scandia-stabilized-zirconia multilayer thin film solid oxide fuel cell electrolyte was compared with level-set method based field evaporation simulations for the same specimen orientations. This experiment-simulation comparison explains the dynamic specimen shape evolution and ion trajectory aberrations that can induce density artifacts in final reconstruction, leading to inaccurate estimation of interfacial intermixing. This study highlights the importance of comparing experimental results with field evaporation simulations when using APT to study oxide heterostructure interfaces.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗