Temperature dependence of the photoluminescence of MnS/ZnS core–shell quantum dots

The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence（PL） from Mn S/Zn S core–shell quantum dots is investigated in a temperature range of 8 K–300 K. The orange emission from the ^4T1→^6A1transition of Mn^2＋ions and the blue emission related to the trapped surface state are observed in the Mn S/Zn S core–shell quantum dots. As the temperature increases, the orange emission is shifted toward a shorter wavelength while the blue emission is shifted towards the longer wavelength. Both the orange and blue emissions reduce their intensities with the increase of temperature but the blue emission is quenched faster. The temperature-dependent luminescence intensities of the two emissions are well explained by the thermal quenching theory.     

Synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes using CoMnMgO catalysts through catalytic chemical vapor deposition

The Co Mg O and Co Mn Mg O catalysts are prepared by a co-precipitation method and used as the catalysts for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes（CNTs） through the catalytic chemical vapor deposition（CCVD）. The effects of Mn addition on the carbon yield and structure are investigated. The catalysts are characterized by temperature programmed reduction（TPR） and X-ray diffraction（XRD） techniques, and the synthesized carbon materials are characterized by transmission electron microscopy（TEM） and thermo gravimetric analysis（TG）. TEM measurement indicates that the catalyst Co Mg O enclosed completely in the produced graphite layer results in the deactivation of the catalyst. TG results suggest that the Co Mn Mg O catalyst has a higher selectivity for CNTs than Co Mg O. Meanwhile, different diameters of CNTs are synthesized by Co Mn Mg O catalysts with various amounts of Co content, and the results show that the addition of Mn avoids forming the enclosed catalyst, prevents the formation of amorphous carbon, subsequently promotes the growth of CNTs, and the catalyst with decreased Co content is favorable for the synthesis of CNTs with a narrow diameter distribution.The Co Mn Mg O catalyst with 40% Co content has superior catalytic activity for the growth of carbon nanotubes.     

Morphology-controlled synthesis of SrTiO3 micro-scale particles

A novel and simple strategy of morphology-controlled Sr Ti O3（ST） micro-scale particle synthesis by the flux method is reported. Systematic experiments are designed to realize the tunable morphologies of the particles when the flux salt,sintering process, and the precursors are changed. The ST plates can be synthesized by plate-like Bi4Ti3O12（BIT） precursors in Na Cl flux. However, the as-synthesized Bi4Ti3O12 grains transform into reticular particles and finally into rods at higher temperature in Na Cl and KCl compounds. Besides, cubic ST particles are also prepared using different precursors as a comparative experiment. This study provides a strategy for further investigations in designing the morphology-controlled particles and efficient anisotropic materials of perovskite structure such as ferroelectric and photocatalyst.     

Electronic structures and optical properties of IIIA-doped wurtzite Mg0.25Zn0.75O

The energy band structures, density of states, and optical properties of IliA-doped wurtzite Mg0.25Zn0.75O （IIIA= A1, Ga, In） are investigated by a first-principles method based on the density functional theory. The calculated results show that the optical bandgaps of Mg0.25Zn0.75O：IIIA are larger than those of Mg0.25Zn0.75O because of the Burstein-Moss effect and the bandgap renormalization effect. The electron effective mass values of Mg0.25Zn0.75O：IIIA are heavier than those of Mgo.25Zno.750, which is in agreement with the previous experimental result. The formation energies of MgZnO：Al and MgZnO：Ga are smaller than that of MgZnO：In, while their optical bandgaps are larger, so MgZnO：Al and MgZnO：Ga are suitable to be fabricated and used as transparent conductive oxide films in the ultra-violet （UV） and deep UV optoelectronic devices.     

Calculation and analysis of the number of return photons from sodium laser beacon excited by the long pulse laser with circular polarization

The number of return photons from sodium laser beacon（SLB） greatly suffers down-pumping, recoil, and geomagnetic field when the long pulse laser with circular polarization interacts with sodium atoms in the mesosphere. Considering recoil and down-pumping effects on the number of return photons from SLB, the spontaneous radiation rates are obtained by numerical computations and fittings. Furthermore, combining with the geomagnetic field effects, a new expression is achieved for calculating the number of return photons. By using this expression and considering the stochastic distribution of laser intensity in the mesosphere under different turbulence models for atmosphere, the number of return photons excited by the narrow-band single mode laser and that by the narrow-band three-mode laser are respectively calculated. The results show that the narrow-band three-mode laser with a specific spectrum structure has a higher spontaneous radiation rate and more return photons than a narrow-band single mode laser. Of note, the effect of the atmospheric turbulence on the number of return photons is remarkable. Calculation results indicate that the number of return photons under the HV5/7 model for atmospheric turbulence is much higher than that under the Greenwood and Mod HV models.     

Relativistic effect of pseudospin symmetry and tensor coupling on the Mie-type potential via Laplace transformation method

A relativistic Mie-type potential for spin-1/2 particles is studied. The Dirac Hamiltonian contains a scalar S（r） and a vector V（r） Mie-type potential in the radial coordinates, as well as a tensor potential U（r） in the form of Coulomb potential. In the pseudospin（p-spin） symmetry setting Σ = Cps and Δ = V（r）, an analytical solution for exact bound states of the corresponding Dirac equation is found. The eigenenergies and normalized wave functions are presented and particular cases are discussed with any arbitrary spin–orbit coupling number κ. Special attention is devoted to the caseΣ = 0 for which p-spin symmetry is exact. The Laplace transform approach（LTA） is used in our calculations. Some numerical results are obtained and compared with those of other methods.     

A New Type of Conserved Quantity Deduced from Mei Symmetry for Relativistic Mechanical System in Phase Space

In this paper, a new type of conserved quantity indirectly deduced from the Mei symmetry for relativistic mechanical system in phase space is studied. The definition and the criterion of the Mei symmetry for the system are given. The condition for existence and the form of the new conserved quantity are obtained. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the application of the results.     

A spherical higher-order finite-difference time-domain algorithm with perfectly matched layer

A higher-order finite-difference time-domain（HO-FDTD） in the spherical coordinate is presented in this paper. The stability and dispersion properties of the proposed scheme are investigated and an air-filled spherical resonator is modeled in order to demonstrate the advantage of this scheme over the finite-difference time-domain（FDTD） and the multiresolution time-domain（MRTD） schemes with respect to memory requirements and CPU time. Moreover, the Berenger＇s perfectly matched layer（PML） is derived for the spherical HO-FDTD grids, and the numerical results validate the efficiency of the PML.     

Exact Solutions and Invariant Sets to General Reaction-Diffusion Equation

In this paper, we introduce new invariant sets, and the invariant sets and exact solutions to general reactiondiffusion equation are discussed. It is shown that there exist a class of exact solutions to the equations that belong to the invariant sets.     

Effect of electromagnetic disturbance on the practical QKD system in the smart grid

To improve the security of the smart grid, quantum key distribution（QKD） is an excellent choice. The rapid fluctuations on the power aerial optical cable and electromagnetic disturbance in substations are two main challenges for implementation of QKD. Due to insensitivity to birefringence of the channel, the stable phase-coding Faraday–Michelson QKD system is very practical in the smart grid. However, the electromagnetic disturbance in substations on this practical QKD system should be considered. The disturbance might change the rotation angle of the Faraday mirror, and would introduce an additional quantum bit error rate（QBER）. We derive the new fringe visibility of the system and the additional QBER from the electromagnetic disturbance. In the worst case, the average additional QBER only increases about 0.17% due to the disturbance, which is relatively small to normal QBER values. We also find the way to degrade the electromagnetic disturbance on the QKD system.     

Species separation of binary colloidal mixtures in the multi-Gauss potential: Effect of depletion

For the asymmetrical colloidal mixture subject to a confining potential and an external multi-Gauss potential, the separation of species is studied based on the classical density functional theory of simple fluids. The multi-Gauss potential consists of several Gauss barriers, which are distributed along the axial direction with uniform distance. The barrier width,barrier distance, and barrier height are individually adjusted to investigate their effects on the species separation. From the numerical results, it is concluded that in each condition, the competition between the external potential and the depletion potential determines the phase equilibrium and the separation. Species separation appears only in the region where the depletion is dominant. On the contrary, both species are absent in the regions where the external potential takes the absolute advantage.     

Raman spectrum study of graphite irradiated by swift heavy ions

Highly oriented pyrolytic graphites are irradiated with 40.5-Me V and 67.7-Me V ^112Sn-ions in a wide range of fluences： 1×10^11 ions/cm^2–1×10^14ions/cm^2. Raman spectra in the region between 1200 cm^-1 and 3500cm^-1 show that the disorder induced by Sn-ions increases with ion fluence increasing. However, for the same fluence, the amount of disorder is greater for 40.5-Me V Sn-ions than that observed for 67.7-Me V Sn-ions, even though the latter has a slightly higher value for electronic energy loss. This is explained by the ion velocity effect. Importantly, ～ 3-cm^-1frequency shift toward lower wavenumber for the D band and ～ 6-cm^-1 shift toward lower wavenumber for the 2D band are observed at a fluence of 1×10^14 ions/cm^2, which is consistent with the scenario of radiation-induced strain. The strain formation is interpreted in the context of inelastic thermal spike model, and the change of the 2D band shape at high ion fluence is explained by the accumulation of stacking faults of the graphene layers activated by radiation-induced strain around ion tracks. Moreover,the hexagonal structure around the ion tracks is observed by scanning tunneling microscopy, which confirms that the strains near the ion tracks locally cause electronic decoupling of neighboring graphene layers.     

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of a simulated pore structure to probe particle size and porosity of porous rock

The particle sizes and porosities of simulated pore structures are probed by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy.A double-peak time-domain spectrum phenomenon is observed when the terahertz（THz） pulses illuminated a pore and a particle. The amplitudes of the two peaks depend strongly and monotonically on the particle size and porosity. A model is used to study the phenomenon, and the computational results agreed with the experimental measurements. These measurements indicate the terahertz spectroscopic behaviors of pores and particles, suggesting that terahertz spectroscopy can be used as a noncontact probe of porosity.     

Afterpulsing characteristics of InGaAs/InP single photon avalanche diodes

In Ga As/In P single photon avalanche diodes（SPADs） are more and more available in many research fields. They are affected by afterpulsing which leads to a poor single photon detection probability. We present an In Ga As/In P avalanche photodiode with an active quenching circuit on an application specific integrated circuit（ASIC）. It can quench the avalanche rapidly and then reduce the afterpulse rate. Also this quenching circuit can operate in both free-running and gated modes.Furthermore, a new technique is introduced to characterize the influence of the higher order of afterpulses, which uses a program running on a field programmable gate array（FPGA） integrated circuit.     

Superwide-angle acoustic propagations above the critical angles of the Snell law in liquid solid superlattice

In this paper, superwide-angle acoustic propagations above the critical angles of the Snell law in liquid–solid superlattice are investigated. Incident waves above the critical angles of the Snell law usually inevitably induce total reflection.However, incident waves with big oblique angles through the liquid–solid superlattice will produce a superwide angle transmission in a certain frequency range so that total reflection does not occur. Together with the simulation by finite element analysis, theoretical analysis by using transfer matrix method suggests the Bragg scattering of the Lamb waves as the physical mechanism of acoustic wave super-propagation far beyond the critical angle. Incident angle, filling fraction,and material thickness have significant influences on propagation. Superwide-angle propagation phenomenon may have potential applications in nondestructive evaluation of layered structures and controlling of energy flux.     

Research and application of regular phenomenon between periodic signals

The phase change between periodic signals is regular. Research on the regular phenomenon between periodic signals is helpful to improve the precision of some measurements and develop some new measurement methods. So it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of the greatest common factor frequency and the least common multiple period universally existing in periodic signals. The regulation of the quantitative phase shift resolution between periodic signals is presented.The cause of difference in phase characteristics between periodic signals is explained well. In this paper we propose different application prospects based on the regular phenomenon between periodic signals, with focusing on the methods for high precision frequency measurement and transient stability measurement. The experimental results are satisfactory.     

Charging and absorption characteristics of small particulates under alternative and electrostatic voltages in an electrostatic precipitator

The charge quantity of small particulates such as PM2.5 plays a key role in the collection efficiency of an electrostatic precipitator（ESP）. Under a single electrostatic voltage, it is difficult to charge and absorb small particulates. A new method of superimposing an alternative voltage on the electrostatic voltage is provided in this paper. Characteristics of small particulates are analyzed under alternative and electrostatic voltages. It is demonstrated that an alternative voltage can significantly improve the collection efficiency in three aspects： preventing anti-corona, increasing the charge quantity of small particulates, and increasing the median particulate size by electric agglomeration. In addition, practical usage with the superposition of alternative voltage is provided, and the results are in agreement with the theoretical analysis.     

Enhanced light emission from InGaN/GaN quantum wells by using surface plasmonic resonances of silver nanoparticle array

The effect of silver nanostructures prepared by nanosphere lithography on the photoluminescence（PL） properties of blue-emitting In Ga N/Ga N quantum wells（QWs） is studied. Arrays of silver nanoparticles are fabricated to yield a collective surface plasmonic resonance（SPR） near to the QWs emission wavelength. A large enhancement in peak PL intensity is observed, when the induced SPR wavelength of the nanoparticles on the QWs sample matches the QWs emission wavelength. The study proves that the SPRs could enhance the light emission efficiency of semiconductor material.     

Preparation of optimal entropy squeezing state of atomic qubit inside the cavity via two-photon process and manipulation of atomic qubit outside the cavity

Considering two atomic qubits initially in Bell states, we send one qubit into a vacuum cavity with two-photon resonance and leave the other one outside. Using quantum information entropy squeezing theory, the time evolutions of the entropy squeezing factor of the atomic qubit inside the cavity are discussed for two cases, i.e., before and after rotation and measurement of the atomic qubit outside the cavity. It is shown that the atomic qubit inside the cavity has no entropy squeezing phenomenon and is always in a decoherent state before the operating atomic qubit outside the cavity. However,the periodical entropy squeezing phenomenon emerges and the optimal entropy squeezing state can be prepared for the atomic qubit inside the cavity by adjusting the rotation angle, choosing the interaction time between the atomic qubit and the cavity, controlling the probability amplitudes of subsystem states. Its physical essence is cutting the entanglement between the atomic qubit and its environment, causing the atomic qubit inside the cavity to change from the initial decoherent state into maximum coherent superposition state, which is a possible way of recovering the coherence of a single atomic qubit in the noise environment.     

Orientation-dependent morphological stability of grain boundary groove

Crystal orientation influences the morphological stability of solid–liquid interface during directional solidification of alloy, resulting in the variation of solidified microstructure. In this paper, the morphological evolution near grain boundary grooves（GBGs） with different crystal orientations in a dilute succinonitrile alloy under low temperature gradient and interface velocity is observed in situ. Under experimental conditions, the macroscopic solid–liquid interface is planar and keeps stable, while in GBGs there emerge protrusion and undulation. It is found that the morphological stability of GBG is dependent on crystal orientation. Specifically, for succinonitrile with a body-centered cubic crystal structure, GBGs around the 100 crystal orientation keep stable, while those apart from the 100 crystal orientation become unstable under the same conditions. So it is concluded that 100 crystal orientation favors the morphological stability of GBG.