Surface grating formation and erasing on a-Se films

Surface relief formation at holographic recording on amorphous selenium films was demonstrated and investigated. The presence of this optical phase modulation component is essential for ensuring significant, stable and erasable optical recording in a-Se films at 290–320 K temperatures, where conventional photodarkening was known as insignificant and unstable. Photocrystallization can only be observed in super-exposed a-Se films at the given experimental conditions of hologram recording. Erasing behavior of surface relief gratings under heat treatment was also investigated in order to reveal further details of the mechanism. Photoinduced structural transformations within the amorphous phase, connected to local ordering under the condition of light-induced fluidity, are proposed as an explanation for the relief formation and erasing. The observed reversible optical recording process may be useful for the various optoelectronic applications of photoconductive a-Se layers. Received: 12 June 2000 / Accepted: 6 June 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

Noise-assisted mound coarsening in epitaxial growth

Two types of mechanisms are proposed for mound coarsening during unstable epitaxial growth: stochastic, due to deposition noise, and deterministic, due to mass currents driven by surface energy differences. Both yield the relation H=(RWL)² between the typical mound height W, mound size L, and the film thickness H. An analysis of simulations and experimental data shows that the parameter R saturates to a value which discriminates sharply between stochastic () and deterministic () coarsening. We derive a scaling relation between the coarsening exponent 1/z and the mound-height exponent which, for a saturated mound slope, yields . Received: 11 November 1997 / Revised in final form: 28 November 1997 / Accepted: 28 November 1997     

Influence of Yb-Doped Nanoporous TiO2 Films on Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Yb-doped TiO2 pastes with different Yb/TiO2 weight ratios are prepared in the sol-gel process to obtain dyesensitized solar cells （DSCs）. The nanocrystalline size of Yb-TiO2 becomes smaller and the lattice parameters change. Lattice distortion is observed and dark current is detected. It is found that a part of Yb existing as insulating oxide Yb2O3 state acts as barrier layers at the electrode-electrolyte interface to suppress charge recombination. A Yb-doped TiO2 electrode applied in DSCs leads to a higher open-circuit voltage and a higher fill factor. How the Yb-doped TiO2 films affect the photovoltaic response of DSCs is discussed.     

Scale-free behavior of the Internet global performance

Measurements and data analysis have proved very effective in the study of the Internet's physical fabric and have shown heterogeneities and statistical fluctuations extending over several orders of magnitude. Here we focus on the relationship between the Round-Trip-Time (RTT) and the geographical distance. We define dimensionless variables that contain information on the quality of Internet connections finding that their probability distributions are characterized by a slow power-law decay signalling the presence of scale-free features. These results point out the extreme heterogeneity of Internet delay since the transmission speed between different points of the network exhibits very large fluctuations. The associated scaling exponents appear to have fairly stable values in different data sets and thus define an invariant characteristic of the Internet that might be used in the future as a benchmark of the overall state of “health” of the Internet. Received 25 January 2003 Published online 7 May 2003     

A New theory for evaluating the number density of inclusions in films

A new formulation derived from thermal characters of inclusions and host films for estimating laser induced damage threshold has been deduced. This formulation is applicable for dielectric films when they are irradiated by laser beam with pulse width longer than tens picoseconds. This formulation can interpret the relationship between pulse-width and damage threshold energy density of laser pulse obtained experimentally. Using this formulation, we can analyze which kind of inclusion is the most harmful inclusion. Combining it with fractal distribution of inclusions, we have obtained an equation which describes relationship between number density of inclusions and damage probability. Using this equation, according to damage probability and corresponding laser energy density, we can evaluate the number density and distribution in size dimension of the most harmful inclusions.     

The effect of lanthanide on the degradation of RB in nanocrystalline Ln/TiO2 aqueous solution

A series of Nd³⁺, Pr³⁺, Er³⁺, and Dy³⁺ (0.25–5 at.%) homogeneously doped nanocrystalline titanium dioxides (Ln/TiO₂) were prepared by an easy sol–gel technique, and the roles of lanthanide doping on the photocatalytic activity in the degradation of rhodamine B (RB) in aqueous solution were studied. Both the concentration of the lanthanide dopant and calcination temperature showed significant effect to the photodegradation of RB. The photocatalytic activity of pure titania was drastically decreased when calcination temperature was at 700 °C, while the high photocatalytic activity was still maintained for lanthanide-doped samples. HPLC-MS method was used to study the degradation process, and it is demonstrated that the degradation of RB catalyzed by Ln/TiO₂ was principally go through with a stepwise de-ethylation photochemical process.     

乙二醛双缩(2-羟基苯胺)(GBHA)在稀土离子分析中的应用

利用乙二醛双缩（2－羟基苯胺）（GBHA）对Ln^3 系离子进行分组分析，同时以GBHA为显色剂，用分光光度法分别测定了Ho^3 ,Yb^3 ,Er^3 ,Dy^3 和Tb^3五种离子，其检出限为10^-6mol/L，工作曲线线性范围为10^-5－－10^-3mol/L。     

Ion beam mixing of Pt marker layers in Al

We have studied the ion beam mixing of Pt marker layers which were 1 nm thick and buried 55 nm deep in Al. The samples were irradiated with Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, and Pb ions with ion energies ranging from 75 to 600 keV and damage energy densities from 0.17 to 2.0 keV/nm. The depth distributions of both the implanted ions and the marker atoms were measured with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The experimental mixing efficiency of = 0.856(24) nm⁵/keV is about ten times as high as was to be expected from the ballistic model and the local spike models. We suggest a connection between this unexpectedly high mixing efficiency and the vanishing primary solid solubility of the marker element in the host matrix.     

Studies on 1,2-Bis(O-Aminophenoxy)Ethane-N,N,N′,N′;-Tetraacetic Acid Chelates of the Tripositive Lanthanide Ions

The acid dissociation constants of 1,2-bis(cis-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′;-tetraacetic acid (H₄BAPAT or H₄Z), and the stability constants of its chelates with tripositive rare-earth metal ions have been determined by the potentiometric titration and mercury indicator electrode methods at 15°, 25′ and 35°C and an ionic strength of 0.1 (KNO₃). The existence of a monohydrogen chelate species, LnHZ, and the normal chelate, LnZ^?, is illustrated. Enthalpy and entropy changes characterizing the formation of the normal chelates and the dissociation of the last two protons of chelating acid have been calculated at 25°C. These functions have been compared with corresponding values for related chelating agents.     

Superheating in linear polymers studied by ultrafast nanocalorimetry

To study phase transition kinetics on submillisecond time scale a sensitive ultrafast nanocalorimeter was constructed. Controlled ultrafast cooling, as well as heating, up to 10⁶K/s was attained. The method was applied for the measurements of the superheating phenomenon in a set of linear polymers: iPS, PBT, PET, and iPP. A power law relation between the superheating and the heating rate holds in the heating rate range 10^-2-10⁴K/s. A limiting superheating of about 10% of the melting temperature was observed at rates above 10⁴-10⁵K/s. This limit depends on annealing conditions before sample melting. The observed superheating limit, as well as the power law, can be accounted for the internal stresses near the crystalline amorphous interface in semicrystalline polymers induced by heating, which are related to the thermal expansion gradients inherent in a semicrystalline material.