Preliminary studies of the Raman spectra of \hbox {Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}\hbox { and }\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}

The theoretical calculations indicated that the monoclinic low-temperature phase of silver telluride $(\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te})$ is a new binary topological insulator with highly anisotropic single Dirac cone surface. We obtained $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ crystal ingots containing few grains by the Bridgman method. We also deposited thin films of tellurium, $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}\hbox { and }(\hbox {Te+Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3})$ by thermal evaporation method. The Raman spectra of $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ , tellurium and $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}$ were measured at three excitation wave lengths: 633, 515 and 488 nm. The Raman active modes of $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ , tellurium and $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}$ are situated at frequencies below 300  $\hbox {cm}^{-1}$ while vibrations of other phases appear at higher frequencies.     

Structural, morphological and optical properties of \hbox {In}_{2}\hbox {S}_{3} thin films obtained by SILAR method

$\hbox {In}_{2}\hbox {S}_{3}$ thin films have been elaborated onto glass substrate by SILAR method at room temperature using different immersion time in the solution of cation and anion and fixing the rinsing time. The film composition, morphology and structure were investigated using energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction techniques. Optical properties, such transmission and band gap have been also analyzed. The effects of annealing on the morphological structure thin films are also described. The x-rays diffraction spectra indicated that the formed compounds are $\upbeta $ - $\hbox {In}_{2}\hbox {S}_{3}$ polycrystalline thin films with $\hbox {In}_{6}\hbox {S}_{7 }$ as second phase in sample S1 and sample S2 and no another phase in sample 3. SEM revealed homogeneous and relatively uniform films and EDAX shows sample 3 with S/In=1.44. For sample 1 and sample 2, we noted an increase of band gap when rinsing time increases.     

Magnetotransport properties in \text{ Ni }_{81}\text{ Fe }_{19}\text{/Zr } multi-layers

In this work, we present a study of the magneto transport properties in magnetic multilayered structure $\text{ Ni }_{81}\text{ Fe }_{19}\text{/Zr }$ Ni 81 Fe 19 /Zr . The magnetic $(\text{ Ni }_{81}\text{ Fe }_{19})$ ( Ni 81 Fe 19 ) and non magnetic (Zr) layer thickness $(\mathbf{t}_\mathbf{NiFe}, \mathbf{t}_\mathbf{zr})$ ( t NiFe , t zr ) effects on the magneto resistance (MR) are discussed theoretically in the framework of the Johnson–Camley semi classical approach based on the Boltzmann transport equation. A comparison between calculated and measured MR is obtained. The observed MR ratio oscillates for Zr layer thickness with an average period of 7Å. A generally weak $\text{ MR }(\text{ t }_{\mathrm{NiFe}})$ MR ( t NiFe ) ratio for fixed $\mathbf{t}_\mathbf{zr}$ t zr is obtained and it shows a maxima peak of the MR with a value of 1.8 % located at $\mathbf{t}_\mathbf{NiFe}= 80$ t NiFe = 80 Å.     

Analysis and design of an electro-optic 2\times 2 switch using Ti: \hbox {KNbO}_3 as a waveguide based on MZI at 1.3\,\upmu \hbox {m}

This work describes an approach to design a $2\times 2$ optoelectronic switch based on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer with a channel profile of Titanium (Ti) diffused in Potassium niobate ( $\hbox {KNbO}_{3}$ ) at a wavelength of $1.3\,\upmu \hbox {m}$ . The evaluation parameters used are the insertion loss and the extinction ratio. The originality of this work is introducing the $\hbox {KNbO}_{3 }$ crystal as a host while optimizing the Ti strip thickness to provide a remarkable switching performance. Optimization leads to a lower switching voltage of 4 V, an insertion loss of 0.0261 dB and extinction ratio of 29.4 dB. The designed switch has a high switching capability and degree of reliability.     

Analysis of the \frac{1} {2}^ - and \frac{3} {2}^ - heavy and doubly heavy baryon states with QCD sum rules

In this article, we study the $\frac{1} {2}^ -$ and $\frac{3} {2}^ -$ heavy and doubly heavy baryon states $\Sigma _Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi '_Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _{QQ} \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _{QQ} \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Sigma _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _{QQ}^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ and $\Omega _{QQ}^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ by subtracting the contributions from the corresponding $\frac{1} {2}^ +$ and $\frac{3} {2}^ +$ heavy and doubly heavy baryon states with the QCD sum rules in a systematic way, and make reasonable predictions for their masses.     

\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*} chemiluminescence study at low and elevated pressures

Chemiluminescence experiments have been performed to assess the state of current $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ kinetics modeling. The difficulty with modeling $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ lies in its broad emission spectrum, making it a challenge to isolate it from background emission of species such as CH^? and CH₂O^?. Experiments were performed in a mixture of 0.0005H₂+0.01N₂O+0.03CO+0.9595Ar in an attempt to isolate $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ emission. Temperatures ranged from 1654 K to 2221 K at two average pressures, 1.4 and 10.4 atm. The unique time histories of the various chemiluminescence species in the unconventional mixture employed at these conditions allow for easy identification of the $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ concentration. Two different wavelengths to capture $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ were used; one optical filter was centered at 415 nm and the other at 458 nm. The use of these two different wavelengths was done to verify that broadband $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ was in fact being captured, and not emission from other species such as CH^? and CH₂O^?. As a baseline for time history and peak magnitude comparison, OH^? emission was captured at 307 nm simultaneously with the two $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ filters. The results from the two $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ filters were consistent with each other, implying that indeed the same species (i.e., $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ ) was being measured at both wavelengths. A first-generation kinetics model for $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ and CH₂O^? was developed, since no comprehensively validated one exists to date. CH₂O^? and CH^? were ruled out as being present in the experiments at any measurable level, based on calculations and comparisons with the data. Agreement with the $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ model was only fair, which necessitates future improvements for a better understanding of $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ chemiluminescence as well as the kinetics of the ground state species.     

Proton-antiproton annihilation into a \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{{\Lambda}}_{c}^{-} pair

The process p $ \bar{{p}}$ $ \rightarrow$ $ \Lambda_{c}^{+}$ $ \bar{{\Lambda}}_{c}^{-}$ is investigated within the handbag approach. It is shown to lowest order of perturbative QCD that, under the assumption of restricted parton virtualities and transverse momenta, the dominant dynamical mechanism, characterized by the partonic subprocess u $ \bar{{u}}$ $ \rightarrow$ c $ \bar{{c}}$ , factorizes in the sense that only the subprocess contains highly virtual partons, namely a gluon, while the hadronic matrix elements embody only soft scales and can be parameterized in terms of helicity flip and non-flip generalized parton distributions. Modelling the latter functions by overlaps of light-cone wave functions for the involved baryons we are able to predict cross-sections and spin correlation parameters for the process of interest.     

Large N approach to Kaon decays and mixing 28 years later: \Delta I=1/2 rule, \hat{B}_K,and \Delta M_K

We review and update our results for $K\rightarrow \pi \pi $ decays and $K^0$ – $\bar{K}^0$ mixing obtained by us in the 1980s within an analytic approximate approach based on the dual representation of QCD as a theory of weakly interacting mesons for large $N$ , where $N$ is the number of colors. In our analytic approach the Standard Model dynamics behind the enhancement of $\hbox {Re}A_0$ and suppression of $\hbox {Re}A_2$ , the so-called $\Delta I=1/2$ rule for $K\rightarrow \pi \pi $ decays, has a simple structure: the usual octet enhancement through the long but slow quark–gluon renormalization group evolution down to the scales $\mathcal{O}(1\, {\hbox { GeV}})$ is continued as a short but fast meson evolution down to zero momentum scales at which the factorization of hadronic matrix elements is at work. The inclusion of lowest-lying vector meson contributions in addition to the pseudoscalar ones and of Wilson coefficients in a momentum scheme improves significantly the matching between quark–gluon and meson evolutions. In particular, the anomalous dimension matrix governing the meson evolution exhibits the structure of the known anomalous dimension matrix in the quark–gluon evolution. While this physical picture did not yet emerge from lattice simulations, the recent results on $\hbox {Re}A_2$ and $\hbox {Re}A_0$ from the RBC-UKQCD collaboration give support for its correctness. In particular, the signs of the two main contractions found numerically by these authors follow uniquely from our analytic approach. Though the current–current operators dominate the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule, working with matching scales $\mathcal{O}(1 \, {\hbox { GeV}})$ we find that the presence of QCD-penguin operator $Q_6$ is required to obtain satisfactory result for $\hbox {Re}A_0$ . At NLO in $1/N$ we obtain $R=\hbox {Re}A_0/\hbox {Re}A_2= 16.0\pm 1.5$ which amounts to an order of magnitude enhancement over the strict large $N$ limit value $\sqrt{2}$ . We also update our results for the parameter $\hat{B}_K$ , finding $\hat{B}_K=0.73\pm 0.02$ . The smallness of $1/N$ corrections to the large $N$ value $\hat{B}_K=3/4$ results within our approach from an approximate cancelation between pseudoscalar and vector meson one-loop contributions. We also summarize the status of $\Delta M_K$ in this approach.     

Theoretical study of collision and collision-free radiative lifetimes of {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{{\text{B}}^3}\Sigma_{\text{u}}^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right)

We calculate multireference configuration-interaction wavefunctions and the potential-energy curves for the $ {B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} $ and $ {X^3}\Sigma_g^{-} $ states of the collision-free S₂ molecule and the T-shape collision complex S₂?CHe using cc-pVQZ basis sets. We obtain the transition dipole moments of the $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \to {X^3}\Sigma_g^{-} } \right) $ and the Franck?CCondon factors between the vibrational levels of this two states. We evaluate the radiative lifetimes of $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right) $ levels of the collision complex and the collision-free molecule and compare them with the experiments. The collision provides little change in the radiative lifetimes of $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right) $ according to the previous calculations. We obtain excellent agreement between the theoretical results and the experiments. The data calculated are very useful in the study of the microwave-driven high-pressure sulfur lamp and an S₂ laser pumped by a transverse fast discharge.     

Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) electrolytes containing \mathbf{I}^{\mathbf{-}}/\mathbf{I}_{\mathbf{3}}^{\mathbf{-}} redox couple

Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated with electrolytes containing $\text{ I }^{-}/\text{ I }_{3}^{-}$ redox couple using 80 % hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with potassium iodide (KI) and a mixture of potassium iodide and tetrapropyl ammonium iodide ( $\text{ Pr }_{4}\text{ NI }$ ) salts. The quasi solid state gel polymer electrolytes were prepared using 1:1 ethylene carbonate (EC):propylene carbonate (PC) mixture. The solar cells have the structure of ITO/ $\text{ TiO }_{2}$ /N3-Dye/electrolyte/Pt/ITO. The conductivity of the electrolytes has been calculated from the bulk resistance value determined using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The performance of the DSSCs has been studied by varying the concentration of the doping salts in the electrolyte and incident light intensity. The DSSC fabricated with the KI salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA, 39.6 wt% EC, 39.6 wt% PC, 10.9 wt% KI $(+\text{ I }_{2})$ exhibited the best power conversion efficiency of 1.97 %. However, the DSSC with a double-salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA: 39.6 wt% EC: 39.6 wt% PC: (6.5 wt% KI: 4.4 wt% $\text{ Pr }_{4}\text{ NI }$ ) ( $+\text{ I }_{2}$ ) exhibited a higher efficiency of 3.27% under $100 \text{ mW/cm }^{2}$ light intensity. The efficiency of this cell increased to 4.59 % under dimmer light of intensity of $54 \text{ mW/cm }^{2}$ .     

Femtosecond relaxation kinetics of highly excited \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**} states in CaF2 at 3.2 eV and 4.7 eV

Femtosecond (fs) laser pulses at variable delay times allowed us to track the fast non-radiative transitions between the manifold of highly excited $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states to the lower lying fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in CaF₂. Two distinct $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states of the manifold at 3.16?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2}^{**}$ ) and 4.73?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}3}^{**}$ ) were populated using the second (SH) and third harmonics (TH) of fs laser light at 785?nm. The population kinetics of the fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in the 2?eV excitation energy range was revealed by depleting its fluorescence centered at 740?nm using fundamental near infrared (NIR) fs laser pulses. The related time constants for $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2,3}^{**}{\sim}{>} \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ relaxation amounted to 1.0±0.14?ps and 3.0±0.3?ps upon SH and TH excitation, respectively.     

On the Quasi-linear Elliptic PDE {-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_k a_k \delta_{s_k}} in Physics and Geometry

It is shown that for each finite number N of Dirac measures ${\delta_{s_n}}$ supported at points ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3}$ with given amplitudes ${a_n \in {\mathbb R} \backslash\{0\}}$ there exists a unique real-valued function ${u \in C^{0, 1}({\mathbb R}^3)}$ , vanishing at infinity, which distributionally solves the quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equation of divergence form ${-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_{n=1}^N a_n \delta_{s_n}}$ . Moreover, ${u \in C^{\omega}({\mathbb R}^3\backslash \{s_n\}_{n=1}^N)}$ . The result can be interpreted in at least two ways: (a) for any number N of point charges of arbitrary magnitude and sign at prescribed locations s _n in three-dimensional Euclidean space there exists a unique electrostatic field which satisfies the Maxwell-Born-Infeld field equations smoothly away from the point charges and vanishes as |s| ?? ??; (b) for any number N of integral mean curvatures assigned to locations ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3 \subset{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ there exists a unique asymptotically flat, almost everywhere space-like maximal slice with point defects of Minkowski spacetime ${{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ , having lightcone singularities over the s _n but being smooth otherwise, and whose height function vanishes as |s| ?? ??. No struts between the point singularities ever occur.     

Low-threshold, high SMSR tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser around 4.7\,\upmu \hbox {m}

Room-temperature pulsed and continuous-wave (cw) operation of a tunable external cavity (EC) quantum cascade laser (QCL) at an emitting wavelength of $4.7\,\upmu \hbox {m}$ 4.7 μ m was presented. The effect of different external cavity lengths and grating angles of the EC–QCL system were analyzed numerically. A wide tuning range greater than $131\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}$ 131 cm - 1 was obtained in pulsed mode at room temperature. Without the anti-reflection coating procedure, single-mode cw operation with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) above 20 dB and a wide tuning range greater than $116\, \hbox {cm}^{-1}$ 116 cm - 1 were achieved. Near the center region, SMSR about 30 dB was also realized through designing the external cavity length. Strain-compensation combined with two-phonon resonance in an active region design and the high-reflection coating promised low threshold current density. A record low threshold current density of $0.901\,\hbox {kA/cm}^{2}$ 0.901 kA/cm 2 for an EC–QCL operated in cw mode was realized.     

Near-infrared downconversion through energy transfer from \mathrm{VO}_{4}^{3-} group to Yb3+ in Yb3+ doped YP0.9V0.1O4

Through the study of photoluminescence spectra, fluorescence decay curves, concentration-dependent luminescence and low temperature luminescence, the energy transfer from isolated $\mathrm{VO}_{4}^{3-}$ group to Yb³⁺ is investigated in Yb³⁺ doped YP_0.9V_0.1O₄. The experimental results show that the energy transfer from $\mathrm{VO}_{4}^{3-}$ group to Yb³⁺ is very efficient. Cooperative energy transfer, through which one high-energy photon absorbed by $\mathrm{VO}_{4}^{3-}$ group is converted to two near-infrared photons emitted by Yb³⁺ ions, is proposed to be the energy transfer process. This efficient ultra-violet to near-infrared downconversion could have potential application in improving the efficiency of silicon-based solar cell.     

Photodissociation of trapped \mathrm{H}_{2}^{+} ions for REMPD spectroscopy

We study the photodissociation of trapped $\mathrm{H}_{2}^{+}$ ions by 248?nm light from an excimer laser. Our results are in good agreement with calculated populations and photodissociation cross sections of the involved vibrational levels and yield a determination of the ion cloud radius. These data are used to obtain a reliable estimate of the efficiency of the resonance-enhanced multiphoton dissociation (REMPD) scheme in our $\mathrm{H}_{2}^{+}$ vibrational spectroscopy experiment. We go on to estimate the expected signal-to-noise ratio and discuss future improvements of the experimental setup.     

Polarization degrees of freedom in near-threshold photoproduction of \omega -mesons in the \pi^{0}_{} \gamma decay channel

We study polarization variables in the photoproduction of $ \omega$ -mesons with subsequent $ \omega$ → $ \gamma$ $ \pi^{0}_{}$ decay. Single and double polarization observables are calculated as a function of different final-state angles. Reaction models include pomeron (natural parity) and $ \pi^{0}_{}$ (unnatural parity) exchange in the t -channel. In addition, the contribution of s -channel resonances is considered. The sensitivity of the polarization observables to the reaction dynamics is discussed.     

Charmonium rescattering effects in \psi(2S) \rightarrow \gamma \eta_{c}^{} decay

Charmonium rescattering effects in the M1 transition of $ \psi$ (2S) $ \rightarrow$ $ \gamma$ $ \eta_{c}^{}$ are investigated by modeling a $ \chi_{{cJ}}^{}$ or J/ $ \psi$ rescattering into a $ \eta_{c}^{}$ final state. The absorptive and dispersive part of the transition amplitudes for the rescattering loops of $ \eta$ $ \psi$ ( $ \gamma^{{\ast}}_{}$ ) and $ \gamma$ $ \chi$ ( $ \psi$ ) are separately evaluated. The numerical results show that the contribution from the $ \gamma$ $ \chi$ ( $ \psi$ ) rescattering process is negligible. Compared with the virtual D $ \bar{{D}}$ (D ^*) rescattering processes, the $ \eta$ $ \psi$ ( $ \gamma^{{\ast}}_{}$ ) process may be regarded as the next-leading order of the hadronic loop mechanism, which only offers the partial decay width of ～ 0.045 keV to the $ \psi$ (2S) $ \rightarrow$ $ \gamma$ $ \eta_{c}^{}$ .     

Fast proton conduction path in {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{2.9 - \delta }} membrane

The effect of metal-to-oxide grain boundary layer in $ {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{3 - \delta }} $ (BCY) cermet membrane on hydrogen permeation was studied by applying the different size of oxide grain on Ni-BCY membranes. Two types of cermet membranes having different grain size of oxide were prepared by using different starting particle size of oxide powder. The hydrogen flux of coarse-oxide-grain membrane showed higher flux than that of small-oxide-grain membrane. It was understood that the negative potential at metal-to-oxide grain boundary, reference to the bulk oxide ( $ \phi _{0} < \phi _{\infty } = 0 $ ), was developed, and the accumulation of the effectively positively charged protons may occur at the grain boundary layer (space charge layer), which may result in providing highly conductive proton path by shifting the charge neutrality condition from $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = {\left[ {Y^{/}_{{Ce}} } \right]} $ to $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = n $ .     

\mathfrak{Q}-, \mathfrak{P}-, and Weyl-ordering of Squeezing Operators: New Operator Identities and Applications

The basic operator ordering regarding to coordinate-momentum operator is discussed by virtue of the technique of integration within $\mathfrak{Q}$ -ordering (all Q are on the left of all P) and $\mathfrak{P}$ -ordering (all P are on the left of all Q). We derive new operator-ordering identities about $\mathfrak{Q}$ -ordering , $\mathfrak{P}$ -ordering and Weyl-ordering of both single-mode and two-mode squeezing operators. Its application in combinatorics is pointed out.     

Quantum Sphere {\mathbb{S}^4} as a Non-Levi Conjugacy Class

We construct a ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ -equivariant quantization of the four-dimensional complex sphere ${\mathbb{S}^4}$ regarded as a conjugacy class, Sp(4)/Sp(2) ×?Sp(2), of a simple complex group with non-Levi isotropy subgroup, through an operator realization of the quantum polynomial algebra ${\mathbb{C}_\hbar[\mathbb{S}^4]}$ on a highest weight module of ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ .