The Effect of Specular Reflectances on the Interaction of an Electromagnetic <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis> Wave with a Thin Metal Film Placed between Two Dielectric Media

The interaction of an electromagnetic E wave with a thin metal film placed between two dielectric media is calculated in the case of different specular reflectances q₁ and q₂ for the reflection of electrons from the surface of the thin metal layer, in the case of variations in the values of dielectric permittivities ε₁ and ε₂ of the media, and in the case of different values of angle of incidence θ of the electromagnetic wave. The behavior of reflection coefficient R, transmission coefficient T, and absorption coefficient A in relation to the frequency of the external field is analyzed.     

On the theory of surface impedance of metals placed in a magnetic field

The smooth non-monotonous dependence of the metal surface impedance upon the magnetic field H is investigated theoretically for the cases of diffuse and specular reflection of electrons from the specimen boundary. The type of the electron-surface interaction has been found to have very little effect on the magnitude of the impedance Z_α(H) in the range of weak magnetic fields [equation (1)]. In a strong field [equation (2)] the surface impedance behaves differently for diffuse and specular reflection. The form of the Z_α(H) function depends essentially on the ratio of the electromagnetic wave frequency ω and the collision frequency of electrons ν. This provides a possibility of establishing experimentally the frequency of electron collisions with volume scatterers.     

Electric field-induced formation of a new commensurate phase of the [N(CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>4</Subscript>]<Subscript>2</Subscript>CuCl<Subscript>4</Subscript> crystal

The formation of a new commensurate phase with a dimensionless wave number q = 1/3 in an [N(CH₃)₄]₂CuCl₄ crystal under the action of an external electric field is analyzed theoretically. The phase diagram is constructed on a plane specified by two coefficients of the thermodynamic potential in the presence and in the absence of an external electric field.     

Second-order terms in the phonon-phason dynamic matrix of an icosahedral quasicrystal

They fourth-order terms (in the wave vector components) of the phonon-phason dynamic matrix are obtained for an icosahedral quasicrystal. In this order, the dynamic matrix has nine independent coefficients: three phonon-phonon, three phason-phonon, and three phason-phason coefficients. The number of independent coefficients in the phonon block of the constructed dynamic matrix is greater by unity than that for an isotropic medium. The corresponding features of acoustic phonon dispersion in the i-AlPdMn alloy are considered. It is shown that when the fourth-order terms are taken into account, the intensity of diffuse scattering in the vicinity of Bragg reflections decreases in accordance with the law α/(q ²+βq ⁴), where q is the distance to a reflection in the reciprocal space and coefficients α and β depend on the direction of vector q.     

Radiative plasmon polaritons in multilayer structures with a two-dimensional electron gas

Two-dimensional plasmon polaritons are analyzed for a typical experimental configuration in which a layer of two-dimensional electrons with a finite mobility lies on the top of a dielectric waveguide formed by the substrate (a wafer of finite thickness). Two-dimensional plasmons couple strongly to the radiative modes of this dielectric waveguide. It is shown that, as a result of the competition between collisional and radiative processes, a family of eight quasi-stationary normal modes arises. Six of them decay carrying energy to infinity. The two remaining plasmon-polariton modes are nonradiative. One of these modes, the TM-type plasmon polariton, in the limiting case where retardation is disregarded corresponds to the conventional longitudinal two-dimensional plasmon. The other mode, the TE-type plasmon polariton, exists only for a finite thickness of the substrate. All of them are characterized by different dispersion relations of the complex frequency ω(q) = Reω + iImω and differ in both polarization (longitudinal and transverse) and symmetry with respect to the direction of decay (symmetric and asymmetric). The latter modes decay slowly, propagating into free space to plus or minus infinity. The conditions under which the Q factors of certain modes are arbitrarily high are found. In this case, Imω(q ₀) = 0, and dissipative losses in the two-dimensional electron gas are compensated by external sources. As a result, the reflection coefficient for a plane wave whose angle of incidence is determined by the vector q ₀ vanishes.     

On the optical absorption due to particle-hole excitations in thin metal films

We present here a qualitative discussion on the optical absorption due to particle-hole excitations in thin metal films. We show that in sufficiently thin films, such excitations yield resonant absorption, when P-polarized light is obliquely incident on the metal surface. For instance, for frequency ω #62; ε_F where ε_F is the Fermi-energy, such resonances occur whenever ω satisfies the condition ω/ε_F = (1 + nπ/dq_F)² - 1, where n = 1,3,5,…,q_F is the Fermi wave-vector and d is the thickness of the film. The experimental observability of this effect is also discussed.     

Investigation of electron interaction in adsorption by static skin effect method

The reflection of the conduction electrons from surfaces of a thin (d = 100 μm) monocrystalline plate of tungsten [(110) face] is investigated by the method of static skin effect. It is found that by heating the crystal in vacuum up to 2500 °K, the oxide layer is removed and the specular reflection of the conductive electrons increases. The adsorption of the monomolecular layers of barium and copper atoms markedly increases diffuse reflection. A resonance mechanism of carrier interaction in the metal with adsorbed atoms is discussed.     

Oscillating Dependence of the Acoustic Attenuation Coefficient in Thin Metal Layers

Dimensional and frequency dependences of the energy absorption coefficient of a longitudinal sound wave in a plane parallel metal layer are theoretically investigated for arbitrary relationship between the layer thickness d and the electron free path l. Exact and asymptotic (for thick (d >> l) and thin (d << l) metal layers) formulas are derived for the coefficient for an arbitrary angular dependence of the probability of specular reflection of charge carriers from the sample surface q(). A square-root dependence of the acoustic absorption coefficient on the thin film thickness is predicted. If the direction of sound wave propagation is perpendicular to the thin metal layer boundary, the acoustic absorption coefficient becomes an oscillating function of the layer thickness; its amplitude decreases with increasing kd, where k is the acoustic wave number.     

Control of electron correlations in a spherical quantum dot

Spherical quantum dots containing several electrons are considered for different values of the total spin. Numerical calculations are carried out using the quantum path-integral Monte Carlo method. The dependence of the electron correlations on the dimensionless control quantum parameter q associated with the steepness of the confinement potential is studied. The quantum transition from a Wigner crystal-like state (i.e., from the regime of strongly correlated electrons) to a Fermi-liquid state (“cold” melting) driven by the parameter q is studied in detail. The behavior of the radial and pair correlation functions, which characterize quantum delocalization of the electrons, is considered.     

Frequency splitting phenomenon of dual transverse modes in a Nd:YAG laser

We observed frequency splitting phenomenon of dual transverse modes (TEM_00q and TEM_01q) in a Nd:YAG microchip standing wave laser utilizing intracavity stress birefringence effects. Four resonance frequencies (ν_00qe, ν_00qo, ν_01qe, and ν_01qo, respectively) were produced and tuned by changing the diametral compression force applied on the laser crystal. The transverse mode frequency spacing for the same longitudinal mode number (Δν_trans) was 1.16 GHz, and the magnitude of frequency splitting (Δν) ranged from 0 MHz to 1.16 GHz. Based on this phenomenon, a four-mode differential standing wave laser, whose signal characteristics were a little like those of a four-mode differential travelling wave laser gyro however with a much larger frequency splitting range, was produced. The theoretical analysis is in good agreement with the experimental results. This phenomenon not only can be used to make lasers with two or more frequency differences, but also can be used to make high-resolution self-sensing laser sensors (e.g. laser force sensors and laser accelerometers).     

Amplitude-phase reflectance spectra of amorphous silicon-based Bragg structures

Amplitude-phase spectra of light reflection from distributed Bragg reflectors and Fabry-Pérot microcavities based on a-Si: H/a-SiO_x: H thin films have been studied. The frequency dependence of the phase difference between the amplitude p-and s-light reflection coefficients within the photonic band gap is measured. The phase spectrum exhibits predominantly a monotonic, close-to-linear frequency behavior, except for spectral regions near the stop band edges and near the singularities related to the microcavity eigenmodes. The experimental spectra are compared with theoretical calculations based on the transfer matrix method and approximate analytical relations. A method based on analyzing amplitude-phase reflectance spectra is proposed for structural characterization of multilayer microcavity systems.     

Plasmons and their damping in a doped semiconductor superlattice

The complex zeroes of dielectric response function of a doped GaAs superlattice are computed to study the frequencies and damping rates of oscillations in coupled electron-hole plasma. The real part of a complex zero describes the plasma frequency, whereas imaginary part of it yields the damping rate. Strong scattering of charge carriers from random impurity potentials in a doped GaAs superlattice gives rise to a large value of damping rate which causes over-damping of plasma oscillations of coupled electron-hole gas below q_c, a critical value of wave vector component (q) along the plane of a layer of electrons (holes). The plasma oscillations which correspond to electrons gas enter into over-damped regime for the case of weak coupling between layers. Whereas, plasma oscillations which belong to hole gas go to over-damped regime of oscillations for both strong as well as weak coupling between layers. The damping rate shows strongq-dependence forq < q_c, whereas it weakly depends onq forq ≥q _c . The damping rate exhibits a sudden change atq =q _c , indicating a transition from non-diffusive regime (where collective excitation can be excited) to diffusive regime (over-damped oscillations).     

Experimental and simulation investigations of the peculiarities of relativistic electron beam scattering at a small angle of incidence on a thin flat target

The refraction angles θ _d of electron beams passing through aluminum and thin flat copper foils and reflection angles θ _r are measured. A microtron with 7.4 MeV particles is used as a source of electrons. The angle between the particle trajectory and the target surface α is varied in the range 5°–30°. The dependences of the refraction and reflection angles on the α angle and foil thickness δ are measured. A dosimetric film is used to make pictures of cross sections of the electron beam scattered by a thin 50 μm copper foil. Image processing allows the spatial distributions of refracted and reflected particles to be obtained. The processes of relativistic electron scattering at a small angle of incidence on a flat target are simulated by the Monte Carlo method. The results of simulation are compared with experimental data. Particle scattering at a bimetallic target consisting of 200-μm aluminum and 70-μm lead layers are simulated. A dependence of the spatial-energy distributions on the order of metal layers placed along electron trajectories is found.     

Multiphonon contribution to the structure factor of metals

The structure factor of Na is calculated including two-phonon terms and the Debye-Waller factor. The result is compared with the one-phonon approximation usually employed to evaluate the electronic transport coefficients. This multiphonon contribution can amount to 13 per cent at the melting point and 10 per cent at room temperature in the transport sensitive region of wave vector 1.5 k_F < q < 2 k_F, where k_F is the Fermi wave vector. We conclude that calculations of electronic transport coefficients of metals intended to attain a precision better than 10 per cent above the Debye temperature must take into account the contributions of the Debye-Waller factor and the two phonon terms.     

Electron fluid and quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect

To explain fractional quantum Hall effect, it is necessary to take into account both the interaction between electrons and their interaction with impurities. We propose a simple model, where the Coulomb repulsion is replaced by a short range potential. For this model we are able to find many-body wave functions of the electron system interacting with impurities and calculate the Hall conductivityσ _xy. A simple physical picture, arising in the framework of this model, provides the understanding of a general reason for both fractional and integral quantum Hall effect. In the model, electrons forming a two-dimensional system, is supposed to occupy the first Landau level. The interaction of electrons is regarded as being small compared with the distance between the Landau levels. The radius of interaction is much less than the magnetic length. The following statements have been proved (Pokrovsky and Talapov 1985a,b; Trugman and Kivelson 1985). For the fillingν=1/m of the first Landau level the ground state is nondegenerate and has the wave functionΩ _w, proposed by Laughlin (1983). Forν, which is slightly less than 1/m the ground state is highly degenerate in the absence of impurities. It can be described as a system of noninteracting quasiholes as proposed by Laughlin (1983). These quasiholes float in the uniform incompressible fluid. Each quasihole has the charge |e|/m. The total number of quasiholes isq=S?mN, whereS is a number of states on the Landau level,N is the number of electrons. The impurities capture quasiholes. If the number of quasiholesq is less than the number of impuritiesN _i, then the ground state becomes nondegenerate. This fact permits us to calculateσ _xy (Pokrovsky and Talapov 1985b). Let there be a small electric fieldE in the system. In the absence of impurities the electron fluid is at rest in the frame of reference, moving with velocityν=cE/H. In this frame of reference the impurities move with the velocity ?v, carrying captured quasiholes. Therefore, the quasihole currents isj _q=(?ν)(| e|/m)q. Hence, in the initial frame of reference the total current isj=Nev+j _q=Sev/m. This means thatσ _xy=(1/m)e ²/2π?).     

A new commensurate phase on the theoretical phase diagram of the [N(CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>4</Subscript>]<Subscript>2</Subscript>CuCl<Subscript>4</Subscript> crystal

A theoretical phase diagram of the [N(CH₃)₄]₂CuCl₄ crystal with a new commensurate phase characterized by a dimensionless wavenumber q = 2/5 is constructed on a plane specified by two coefficients of the thermodynamic potential. This diagram is used as the basis for the construction of a theoretical pressure-temperature (P-T) phase diagram. The theoretical P-T phase diagram thus obtained is compared with the experimental P-T phase diagram.     

Dielectric response of doped Bi<Subscript>12</Subscript>TiO<Subscript>20</Subscript>: Ru crystals in an alternating electric field

The results of examination of AC dependences of capacitance and dielectric loss tangent of sillenite Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ crystals doped with ruthenium on frequency are presented. Non-Debye dispersion of dielectric coefficients is found in the frequency interval of 5 × 10²–10⁵ Hz, and a resonance phenomenon is observed. Polarization processes in the studied samples are attributed to relaxators associated with metal–oxygen vacancies and structural elements incorporating 6s² lone-pair electrons.     

E0/E2 and E2/M1 multipole mixing amplitudes of γ-transitions in 192Pt

Angular correlation measurements of conversion electrons and γ-rays in ¹⁹²Pt following the decay of ¹⁹²Ir (74 d) have been made. In particular, the 296 keV e^?-316 keV γ correlation was measured in order that the electric monopole admixture in the 296 keV transition could be determined. The results of the angular correlation coefficients measured here and the ratio of K-shell to L_III shell conversion electrons measured by others are: ?0.09 < q < +0.26 as +62 < λ < +92 or ?0.29 < q < ?0.06 as ?5 < λ < +45. A possible explanation of the disagreement between two earlier measurements is suggested. The angular correlation coefficients for the measured e^?-γ and γ-γ cascades and the derived multipole mixing ratios are tabulated and compared with other recent measurements and with the predictions of the Kumar-Baranger nuclear model.     

Proposal for experimental observation of the “Kohn Anomaly”

Due to the enhancement of the singularity of q = 2k_F in the RPA dielectric function of an electron gas by a magnetic field the change in the penetration depth of an electric field in a thin metal film may lead to a detectable change in capacitance. A possible means for studying the Kohn anomaly is proposed on this basis.     

On the relationship between the ionization potential and the work function: Metals

A relationship is analyzed between the ionization energy of atoms I and the work function φ of a metal composed of these atoms. The transition energy ∑=I?φ is assumed to be the sum of kinetic K and coulombic C contributions. Contribution K is calculated in the framework of a model of uniform gas of quasi-free electrons, and C is determined from experimental values of Σ. Calculations performed for a wide range of metals have shown that the dimensionless coefficients determining the Coulombic contribution C differ insignificantly between various groups of metals. The relationships obtained have been used for determining the work function of binary alloys.