Electrical Conductivity and Current--Voltage Characteristics of Individual Conducting Polymer PEDOT Nanowires

We report the current-voltage （Ⅰ-Ⅴ） characteristics and electrical conductivity of individual template-synthesized poly（3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene） （PEDOT） nanowires （190 ± 6 nm in diameter and δRT = 11.2 ± 2Ω^-1 cm^-1） over a wide temperature range from 300 to 10K. With lowering temperature, the Ⅰ - Ⅴ characteristics become nonlinear around 50K, and a clear Coulomb gap-like structure appears in the differential conductance （dI/dV） spectra. The temperature dependence of the resistance below 70 K follows In R α T^-1/2, which can be interpreted as Efros-Shklovskii hopping conduction in the presence of a Coulomb gap. In addition, the influences of measurement methods such as the applied bias voltage magnitude, the two-probe and four-probe techniques used in the resistance measurements are also reported and discussed.     

Current-Induced Resistive Effect in Cu/MgO/La0.9Sr0.1 MnO3 Trilayers on SrTiO3 （001） Substrates

Cu/MgO/La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 pillars are fabricated on SrTiO3 （001） substrates by the micro-fabrication patterning processes. Their electric transport properties have been measured in the temperature range from the temperature smaller than the Curie one to 300K. At 125K there emerges abrupt breaks of output voltage in voltage-current （Ⅴ-Ⅰ） curves, corresponding to switching in resistance to metastable states, and finally two closed loops are formed with double threshold biases. Around room temperature the Ⅴ-Ⅰ characteristics are non-ohmic and show some gradual hysteresis when sweeping the current in a round-trip scan. A large current-induced resistive change △R/R0, ～-63.2%, is obtained under a current density of 1.0 × 10^4 Acm^-2. Especially, △ R/ R0 depends linearly on the applied current and is independent of the applied magnetic field. The current-induced resistive effect should be of interest for various applications such as switching and field effect devices.     

Reconsideration of Anelastic Relaxation Peaks in Pure Aluminium

The temperature dependence of internal friction （ T- tan φ curves） in pure aluminium （Al） is measured at sixteen different frequencies. Based on T- tan φ curves, the frequency dependence of internal friction （f -tan φ curves） is also obtained by the interpolation method. An internal friction peak is observed in both the T - tan φ curves and the f - tan φ curves. The activation energy of the peak in the f - tan φ curves is found to be 2.08 ± 0.02 eV and compared to the value of 1.60 ± 0.04 eV in the T - tan φ curves. It is suggested that the change of relaxation strength with temperature should be considered when one calculates the activation energy of the peak in T- tan φ curves.     

Phase Transition and Melting Curves of Calcium Fluoride via Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The phase transition and melting curves of CaF2 are investigated by using the general utility lattice programme （CULP） via the shell model with molecular dynamics method. By calculating the entropy H （at OK） and Cibbs free energy G^＊ （at 30OK）, we find that the phase transition pressure from the face-centred cubic （fee） structure to the orthorhombic structure is 11.40 CPa and 9.33 CPa at OK and 300K, respectively. The modified melting point of the fee CaF2 is in the range of 1650-1733K at OCPa. All these results are well consistent with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. We also obtain that the melting temperature of high pressure phase is 990-1073 K at 10 CPa. Moreover, the temperature dependences of the elastic constants Cij, bulk module B and shear module G are also predicted.     

Structural and magnetic properties of BiFe_(1-x)Cr_xO_3 synthesized samples

Chromium doping effects on the structure and the magnetic properties of bismuth ferrite BiFe1-xCrxO3 （x = 0-0.3） （BFCxO） polycrystalline samples are examined. The Perovskite-type oxide samples are synthesized by the conventional solid state reaction at a high pressure of 7 GPa and a temperature of 1273 K. The X-ray powder diffraction patterns at room temperature show that all the samples with x = 0.0-0.3 are described by the rhombohedral structure. In the meantime, it is revealed that the doping of Cr can induce noticeable lattice distortions in the doping samples, and the largest distortion is observed in the case x = 0.1. The magnetic hysteresis loops measured at room temperature exhibit week ferromagnetic behaviors of the samples and the magnetization is found to increase with the increase in Cr concentration. The temperature- dependent magnetization curves indicate antiferromagnetic features in samples. Moreover, Cr-doping tends to reduce the ordering temperature.     

Hopping Conductivity in a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Network

We investigate the resistance and magnetoresistance （MR） of an entangled single-walled carbon nanotube （SWNT） network. The temperature dependence of conductance is fitted by formula G（T） = Go exp[-（To/T）^1/2] with To = 15.8 K at a wide temperature range from 4 K to 300K. The MR defined by [R（T, H） - R（T, 0）]/ R（T, 0） as a function of temperature and magnetic field perpendicular to the tube axis is negative at low temperatures. The MR amplitude increases as the temperature decreases at relative high temperature, but becomes decrease when temperature below 4 K. The results are explained in terms of the coherent hopping of carriers in the presence of a Coulomb gap at low temperature.     

Low-temperature heat capacities and standard molar enthalpy of formation of N-methylnorephedrine C11H17NO（s）

This paper reports that low-temperature heat capacities of N-methylnorephedrine C11H17NO（s） have been measured by a precision automated adiabatic calorimeter over the temperature range from T=78K to T=400K. A solid to liquid phase transition of the compound was found in the heat capacity curve in the temperature range of T=342-364 K. The peak temperature, molar enthalpy and entropy of fusion of the substance were determined. The experimental values of the molar heat capacities in the temperature regions of T=78-342 K and T=364-400 K were fitted to two poly- nomial equations of heat capacities with the reduced temperatures by least squares method. The smoothed molar heat capacities and thermodynamic functions of N-methylnorephedrine C11H17NO（s） relative to the standard refer- ence temperature 298.15 K were calculated based on the fitted polynomials and tabulated with an interval of 5 K. The constant-volume energy of combustion of the compound at T=298.15 K was measured by means of an isoperibol precision oxygen-bomb combustion calorimeter. The standard molar enthalpy of combustion of the sample was calculated. The standard molar enthalpy of formation of the compound was determined from the combustion enthalpy and other auxiliary thermodynamic data through a Hess thermochemical cycle.     

Current--voltage characteristics of an individual helical CdS nanowire rope

This paper studies the electronic transport in an individual helically twisted CdS nanowire rope, on which platinum microleads are attached by focused-ion beam deposition. The current-voltage （I - V） characteristics are nonlinear from 300 down to 60 K. Some step-like structures in the I - V curves and oscillation peaks in the differential conductance （dI/dV - V） curves have been observed even at room temperature. It proposes that the observed behaviour can be attributed to Coulomb-blockade transport in the one-dimensional CdS nanowires with diameters of 6-10 nm.     

Humidity Effects on Conductivity of DNA Molecules

We present a model related to the humidity to describe the conductivity of homogeneous DNA molecule,where the hydration of phosphate group and bases are taken into account. The calculated results show the oscillation feature of dⅠ/dⅤ-Ⅴ curves and the semiconductor behavior of DNA. With the relative humidity increasing, the voltage gap becomes narrow and the maximum of conductance increases nonlinearly. The conductivity of DNA approaches to stabilization when the relative humidity reaches a certain value. These results are in agreement with experimental measurements.     

Fabrication and temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra of Zn–Cu–In–S quaternary nanocrystals

A series of Zn-Cu-In-S nanocrystals （ZCIS NCs） are prepared and the optical properties of the ZCIS NCs are tuned by adjusting the reaction time. It is interesting to observe that the temperature-dependent photoluminescence （PL） spectra of the ZCIS NCs show a redshift with decreasing intensity at low temperature （50-280 K） and a blueshift at high temperature （318--403 K）. The blueshift can be explained by the thermally active phonon-assisted tunneling from the excited states of the low-energy emission band to the excited states of the high-energy emission band.     

First-Principles Study on the Electronic Structures for Y^3＋：PbWO4 Crystals

The possible defect models of Y^3＋：PbWO4 crystals are discussed by defect chemistry and the most possible substituting positions of the impurity Y^3＋ ions are studied by using the general utility lattice program （GULP）. The calculated results indicate that in the lightly doped Y^3＋ ：PWO crystal, the main compensating mechanism is [2Ypb^＋ ＋ VPb^2-], and in the heavily doped Y^3＋ ：PWO crystal, it will bring interstitial oxygen ions to compensate the positive electricity caused by YPb^＋, forming defect clusters of [2Ypb^＋ ＋Oi^2-] in the crystal. The electronic structures of Y3＋ ：PWO with different defect models are calculated using the DV-Xα method. It can be concluded from the electronic structures that, for lightly doped cases, the energy gap of the crystal would be broadened and the 420nm absorption band will be restricted; for heavily doped cases, because of the existence of interstitial oxygen ions, it can bring a new absorption band and reduce the radiation hardness of the crystal.     

Tunable Nongeometric Phase Gates for Two Hot Ions via Adiabatic Evolution of Dark States

We propose a scheme for implementing nongeometric phase gates fbr two trapped ions via adiabatic passage of dark states. During the operation, the vibrational mode is only virtually excited, thus the scheme is insensitive to heating. Furthermore, the spontaneous emission is suppressed since the ions are always in the electronic ground states. The scheme is robust against small fluctuations of parameters, and the conditional phase is tunable.     

Fisher Information of Wavefunctions： Classical and Quantum

A parametric quantum mechanical wavefunction naturally induces parametric probability distributions by taking absolute square, and we can consider its classical Fisher information. On the other hand, it also induces parametric rank-one projections which may be viewed as density operators, and we can talk about its quantum Fisher information. Among many versions of quantum Fisher information, there are two prominent ones. The first, defined via a quantum score function, was introduced by Helstrom in 1967 and is well known. The second, defined via the square root of the density operator, has its origin in the skew information introduced by Wigner and Yanase in 1963 and remains relatively unnoticed. This study is devoted to investigating the relationships between the classical Fisher information and these two versions of quantum Fisher information for wavefunctions. It is shown that the two versions of quantum Fisher information differ by a factor 2 and that they dominate the classical Fisher information. The non-coincidence of these two versions of quantum Fisher information may be interpreted as a manifestation of quantum discord. We further calculate the difference between the Helstrom quantum Fisher information and the classical Fisher information, and show that it is precisely the instantaneous phase fluctuation of the wavefunctions.     

Photo-thermal Shot Noise in End Mirrors of LIGO due to Correlation of Power Fluctuation

The effect of input power fluctuation on photo-thermal shot noise in the end mirrors of a laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory （LIGO） is analysed according to the statistical optics, which is a supplement of Braginsky＇s research. The laser light folding in LIGO increases a correlation of input power fluctuation in the photo-thermal shot noise. This part of noise has spectral density proportional to -2 in low frequency bands, and -4 in high frequency bands. It is not a white noise and may affect the processing about data of interferometers. To obtain an advanced LIGO, photo-thermal shot noise in end mirrors due to correlation of input power fluctuation is up to Braginsky＇s photo-thermal noise in the frequency range 1-100 Hz.     

Application of Electron-Shelving Detection via 423 nm Transition in Calcium-Beam Optical Frequency Standard

A new scheme of small compact optical frequency standard based on thermal calcium beam with application of 423 nm shelving detection and sharp-angle velocity selection detection is proposed. Combining these presented techniques, we conclude that a small compact optical frequency standard based on thermal calcium beam will outperform the commercial caesium-beam microwave dock, like the 5071 Cs clock （from Hp to Agilent, now Symmetricom company）, both in accuracy and stability.     

Effects of in situ thermal annealing on the structural, optical, and electrical properties in Hg0.7Cd0.3Te epilayers grown on CdTe buffer layers

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) transmission, and Hall effect measurements were performed to investigate the structural, optical, and electrical properties of as-grown and in situ-annealed Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te epilayers grown on CdTe buffer layers by using molecular beam epitaxy. After the Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te epilayers had been annealed in a Hg-cell flux atmosphere, the SEM images showed that the surface morphologies of the Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te thin films were mirror-like with no indication of pinholes or defects, and the FTIR spectra showed that the transmission intensities had increased in comparison to that of the as-grown Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te epilayer. Hall-effect measurements showed that n-Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te epilayers were converted to p-Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te epilayers. These results indicate that the surface, optical, and electrical properties of the Hg_1 − xCd_xTe epilayers are improved by annealing and that as-grown n-Hg_1 − xCd_xTe epilayers can be converted to p-Hg_1 − xCd_xTe epilayers by in situ annealing.     

Suppression of Chaos and Phase Locking in Two Coupled Nonidentical Neurons under Periodic Input

Dynamical behaviour of two coupled neurons with at least one of them being chaotic is presented. Bifurcation diagrams and Lyapunov exponents are calculated to diagnose the dynamical behaviour of the coupled neurons with the increasing coupling strength. It is found that when the coupling strength increases, a chaotic neuron can be controlled by the coupling between neurons. At the same time, phase locking is studied by the maxima of the differences of instantaneous phases and average frequencies between two coupled neurons, and the inherent connection of phase locking and the suppression of chaos is formulated. It is observed that the onset of phase locking is closely related to the suppression of chaos. Finally, a way for suppression of chaos in two coupled nonidentical neurons under periodic input is suggested.     

Fabrication of Long-Period Fibre Gratings Using 800 nm Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Long-period fibre gratings inside standard single-mode optical communication fibres are successfully fabricated with infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The refractive index perturbations are well confined within the fibre core by choosing the proper laser focusing parameters and translation speed of the fibre during the direct laser writing process. With the self-focusing effect considered and at a constant average irradiation dose of 1.62 × 10^3 J/（cm^2μm）, the threshold intensity for fabricating long-period gratings with infrared femtosecond laser pulses is determined to be 5.13 × 10^13 W/cm2.     

Chemical Potential Dependence of Two-Quark Condensates

By adopting the background field method, the response of the dressed quark propagator to the presence of finite chemical potential is analysed up to the second order. From this, we obtain a model-independent formula for the chemical potential dependence （up to the second order） of the in-medium two-quark condensate and show by both Lorentz covariance arguments and explicit calculations that the O（μ） contribution to the in-medium two-quark condensate vanishes identically.