Metamorphic InAs(Sb)/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures grown on GaAs for efficient mid-IR emitters

High-efficiency semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes operating in the 3–5?μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range are currently of great demand for a wide variety of applications, in particular, gas sensing, noninvasive medical tests, IR spectroscopy etc. III-V compounds with a lattice constant of about 6.1?Å are traditionally used for this spectral range. The attractive idea to fabricate such emitters on GaAs substrates by using In(Ga,Al)As compounds is restricted by either the minimum operating wavelength of ～8?μm in case of pseudomorphic AlGaAs-based quantum cascade lasers or requires utilization of thick metamorphic In_xAl_1-xAs buffer layers (MBLs) playing a key role in reducing the density of threading dislocations (TDs) in an active region, which otherwise result in a strong decay of the quantum efficiency of such mid-IR emitters. In this review we present the results of careful investigations of employing the convex-graded In_xAl_1-xAs MBLs for fabrication by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates of In(Ga,Al)As heterostructures with a combined type-II/type-I InSb/InAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW) for efficient mid-IR emitters (3–3.6?μm). The issues of strain relaxation, elastic stress balance, efficiency of radiative and non-radiative recombination at T?=?10–300?K are discussed in relation to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions and designs of the structures. A wide complex of techniques including in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffractometry, reciprocal space mapping, selective area electron diffraction, as well as photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail structural and optical properties of the metamorphic QW structures. Optimization of the growth conditions (the substrate temperature, the As₄/III ratio) and elastic strain profiles governed by variation of an inverse step in the In content profile between the MBL and the InAlAs virtual substrate results in decrease in the TD density (down to 3?×?10⁷ cm^?2), increase of the thickness of the low-TD-density near-surface MBL region to 250–300?nm, the extremely low surface roughness with the RMS value of 1.6–2.4?nm, measured by AFM, as well as rather high 3.5?μm-PL intensity at temperatures up to 300?K in such structures. The obtained results indicate that the metamorphic InSb/In(Ga,Al)As QW heterostructures of proper design, grown under the optimum MBE conditions, are very promising for fabricating the efficient mid-IR emitters on a GaAs platform.     

Chiralization in mesogenic 1,3-diacylaminobenzenes

The effect of molecular chirality in thermotropic mesomorphic H-bonded polymeric systems has not really been investigated so far. Therefore, five new chiral mesogenic diamides have been prepared and described. Besides more ordered mesophases, the enantiomers exhibit a chiral nematic polymorphism detected by microcalorimetry and probably corresponding to different modes of chiral coiling to give these singular twisted nematic phases.     

Analysis of polished polycrystalline diamond using dual beam focused ion beam microscopy

This paper presents a study on polycrystalline diamond (PCD) polished by dynamic friction polishing (DFP) with the aid of advanced dual beam FIB (focused ion beam) microscopy. After disclosing a variety of wear tracks by DFP using electron imaging in combination with the ion channelling effect, a dual beam FIB was successfully employed at wear track sites to specifically create both the large cross-sectional specimen for microanalysis and thin foil for nanoanalysis. The study concluded that the polished PCD subsurface was free from microscale cracking. However, the attached debris layer on the top surface contained metal oxides and non-diamond carbon phase with inhomogeneous distributions of C, Fe, Cr, Ni, Si and O across the layer. An attached layer directly above a diamond grain was composed of essentially amorphous carbon, suggesting that a direct phase transformation from diamond crystalline to amorphous occurred during DFP.     

A critique of the unsaturable trap model of radiation damage in metals

The unsaturable trap model, which attributes the increase of the electrical resistivity of fcc metals during electron irradiation in the temperature regime of Stage-II recovery to the trapping of Stage-I_E interstitials at impurity atoms, is shown to be in serious disagreement with the experiments, contrary to opposite statements in the literature. As shown recently, the predictions of the unsaturable trap model are independent of the dimensionality of the diffusion of the Stage-I_E interstitials. Previous attempts to rule out a one-dimensional migration of the Stage-I_E interstitials (and hence the two-interstitial model) on the basis of the alleged agreement of the unsaturable trap model with Stage-II damage curves are thus meaningless. On the contrary, it is demonstrated that the two-interstitial model accounts for minute details of the measured Stage-II damage curves in a natural way.     

Radiation damage and annealing in Sb implanted diamond

The predicted, but as yet unobserved, intradonor absorption spectrum of the hydrogenic-like donors in CdF₂ crystals is presented. The role of phonon coupling in these spectra is discussed. From the data on the insulator-semiconductor transition in CdPbF₂ it is concluded that the dominant factor in convertibility of CdF₂ to a semiconducting state is its electron affinity, the largest among the fluorites (x≈4 eV).     

声学超表面的非对称声分束特性研究

非对称声分束超表面是由人工微单元结构按照特定序列构建的二维平面结构,可将垂直入射的声波分成两束传播方向和分束比自由调控的透射波,在声功能器件设计及声通信领域具有广泛的应用前景。本文系统研究了一种实现非对称声分束的设计理论和实现方法,基于局域声功率守恒条件研究了声分束器的设计理论、阻抗矩阵分布、法向声强分布、声压场分布等。利用遗传算法对四串联共振腔结构进行参数优化实现了声分束器所需的阻抗矩阵分布,声压场分布表明声波入射到声分束器后在入射侧激发出两列传播方向相反且幅值和衰减系数均相同的表面波,实现了入射侧与透射侧的局域声功率相互匹配。声波经过声分束器后被分为两束透射波,两束透射波的折射角和透射系数与理论值十分吻合,证明了设计理论及实现方法的正确性和可行性。本文的研究工作可以为新型非对称声分束结构设计提供理论参考、设计方法和技术支持,并促进其在工程领域的实际应用。     

Effects of multi-Schell beams on orbital angular momentum of entangled signal photons in low-order turbulence aberration channels

We model the detection and crosstalk probability of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of the entangled signal photon in the Kolmogorov channels of the low-order turbulence aberrations and by the Rytov approximation. The results show that lower OAM mode number of signal photons and larger sub-beam number of multi-Gaussian Schell-model pump beam, the less susceptible of the detection probability of the signal photon to spatial coherence of source and turbulence aberrations is achieved. The maximum crosstalk probability is decrease as the decreasing of the sub-beam number of multi-Gaussian Schell-model. Enlarging OAM difference value or decreasing sub-beam number of multi-Gaussian Schell-model pump beam results in a lower crosstalk probability of the OAM of entangled signal photons.     

Local zone wise elastic and plastic properties of electron beam welded Ti–6Al–4V alloy using digital image correlation technique: A comparative study between uniform stress and virtual fields method

Joining of materials using welding results in the formation of material zones with varying microstructure across the weld. Extraction of the mechanical properties of those individual heterogeneous zones are important in designing components and structures comprised of welds. In this study, the zone wise local extraction of the elastic and plastic properties of an electron beam welded Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy has been carried out using both the uniform stress method (USM) and the virtual fields method (VFM) involving digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The surface strain field obtained using DIC technique from a transverse weld specimen tensile testing is used for extracting the zone wise strain evolution. Initially, using uniform stress assumption, zone wise full range stress–strain curves are extracted. In USM methodology, the elastic and plastic material models are fitted to the zone wise stress–strain curves and required parameters are extracted from it. But inherent disadvantage is lot of images need to be processed for the parameter extraction. Recently, VFM is gaining lot of popularity in characterization domain as it is robust, accurate and faster. VFM is based on the principle of virtual work where, the weak form of local equilibrium equations and kinematically admissible virtual displacement fields are utilized for parameter extraction. Hollomon׳s power law is used here as the hardening rule. Young׳s modulus, Poisson׳s ratio, yield stress, strength coefficient and strain hardening exponent are the parameters extracted zone wise using both USM and VFM. A Vicker׳s microhardness measurement is also conducted across the weld zone towards mapping the strength behavior. Fusion zone has reported higher yield strength, strength coefficient and Poisson׳s ratio. Young׳s modulus value is found decreasing from base metal towards the fusion zone. The trend observed in parameter variation across the weld zone obtained by both USM and VFM compares very well. Due to various advantages associated with VFM technique it is generally recommended for parameter extraction.     

Anti-wear beam effects on gas–solid hydrodynamics in a circulating fluidized bed

Anti-wear beams installed on water walls of circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers are one of the most effective ways to protect against water-wall erosion. Beam effects from, for example, beam size and superficial gas velocity were investigated on gas–solid hydrodynamics in a CFB test rig using CFD simulations and experimental methods. The downward flow of the wall layer solids is observed to be disrupted by the beam but is then restored some distance further downstream. When falling solids from the wall layer hit the anti-wear beam, the velocity of the falling solids decreases rapidly. A fraction of the solids accumulates on the beam. Below the beams, the falling solids have reduced velocities but upward-moving solids were observed on the wall. The effect of the beam increases with width and superficial gas velocity. Wear occurs mainly above the beam and its variation with width is different above to below the beam. There is an optimum width that, when combined with beam height, results in less erosion.     

薄壁件加工系统动态响应分析

薄壁件在铣削加工中容易产生共振或变形，直接影响加工稳定性及加工精度。采用主轴-刀具-工件整体铣削系统连续梁模型，系统研究在动态铣削力作用下，刀具端部与工件端部的动态响应之间的相互影响关系以及对整体系统动态响应影响较大的薄壁件尺寸。结果表明，工件横截面高度对系统共振的影响较为明显，当高度尺寸较小时，工件的低频共振会通过动态铣削力直接反映到刀具端部的振动频响上。工件横截面底边宽度尺寸的增大虽然对共振频率的改变不太明显，但会导致激发出来的刀具共振幅度出现明显降低。研究成果可以为薄壁件铣削加工系统的稳定性控制提供理论基础。