An experimental study of the regimes of motion of spheres falling or ascending freely in a Newtonian fluid

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation aimed at verifying some of the interesting conclusions of the numerical study by Jenny et al. concerning the instability and the transition of the motion of solid spheres falling or ascending freely in a Newtonian fluid. The phenomenon is governed by two dimensionsless parameters: the Galileo number G, and the ratio of the density of the spheres to that of the surrounding fluid ρ_s/ρ. Jenny et al. showed that the (G, ρ_s/ρ) parameter space may be divided into regions with distinct features of the trajectories followed eventually by the spheres after their release from rest. The characteristics of these ‘regimes of motion’ as described by Jenny et al., agree well with what was observed in our experiments. However, flow visualizations of the wakes of the spheres using a Schlieren optics technique raise doubts about another conclusion of Jenny et al., namely the absence of a bifid wake structure.     

Finite-size effects in the self-organized critical forest-fire model

We study finite-size effects in the self-organized critical forest-fire model by numerically evaluating the tree density and the fire size distribution. The results show that this model does not display the finite-size scaling seen in conventional critical systems. Rather, the system is composed of relatively homogeneous patches of different tree densities, leading to two qualitatively different types of fires: those that span an entire patch and those that do not. As the system size becomes smaller, the system contains less patches, and finally becomes homogeneous, with large density fluctuations in time. Received 24 April 1999 and Received in final form 26 October 1999     

Fabrication of a GaN lateral polarity junction by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

A fabrication process for growth of GaN lateral polarity junctions consisting of Ga-polar and N-polar domains grown simultaneously side-by-side on c-plane sapphire was developed using the polarity control scheme. An ammonia-annealing step following deposition and patterning of a thin low-temperature AlN nucleation layer played a crucial role in avoiding mixed-polarity growth of the remaining AlN nucleation layer, as well as in nitriding the bare sapphire surface to facilitate growth of N-polar GaN. The achievement of both polar domains, free from inversion domains within a contiguous domain, led to Ga-polar domain exhibiting featureless morphology with highly resistive characteristics, while N-polar domains exhibited hexagonally faceted morphology and were highly conductive.     

Study of optical waveguide of barium sodium niobate films on potassium titanyl phosphate

Barium sodium niobate (BSN) optical waveguide films were grown on potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray pole spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the as-grown BSN films are epitaxially smooth, fine-particled and show small constituent deviation. Both m lines of the waveguided TE and TM modes were recorded. Lattice match between the BSN(110) and both the KTP(001) and KTP(100) planes is examined with mismatch less than 3%. Effective refractive indices as a function of incident wavelength and order of the waveguided modes are studied. A phase matching relationship of k ⁽¹⁾−2k ⁽⁰⁾=0 is established between the first-order and fundamental modes in the BSN/KTP waveguided system. Effective thicknesses for TE and TM modes were obtained to be equal to 0.76 and 0.72 μm, respectively, larger than the thickness of the as-grown BSN film of 0.60 μm. A constituent ratio of Ba:Na:Nb in the BSN film measured was equal to 2:0.82:5.14, slightly deviating from the stoichiometric ratio of 2:1:5, which is attributed to higher relative asymptotic velocity for Nb species and higher evaporation pressure for Na species. Finally, the main factors affecting quality of the as-grown BSN films are also discussed. Received: 26 March 1999 / Accepted: 30 March 1999 / Published online: 19 August 1999     

Shear-induced ordering of lamellar and gyroid structures observed in a nonionic surfactant/water system

The shear-induced ordering of lamellar and gyroid structures of a nonionic surfactant C₁₆E₇/D₂O system in a Couette shear cell ( 0.001 < < 10 s^-1, : shear rate) has been investigated by using a small angle neutron scattering technique. In the lamellar phase, the steady shear flow having > 0.01 s^-1 suppresses undulation fluctuations of lamellae (Maxwell effect). This suppression of fluctuations brings two effects; 1) shear-induced lamellae ordering toward a parallel orientation and 2) obstruction of a lamellar↦gyroid transition. It is quite interesting to note that there is a characteristic shear rate range ( 0.01 < < 0.3 s^-1), where both effects take place. We have also investigated the shear effects on the gyroid phase. Below the characteristic shear rate range, the gyroid structure keeps three-dimensional network lattice, while above the characteristic shear rate range, the gyroid structure transforms to the parallel orientation lamellae (shear-induced gyroid-lamellar transition). Thus the shear flow having the characteristic shear rate plays very important roles in shear ordering phenomena. Received 26 June 2000 and Received in final form 12 January 2001     

Friction and energy dissipation mechanisms in adsorbed molecules and molecularly thin films

This review provides an overview of recent advances that have been achieved in understanding the basic physics of friction and energy dissipation in molecularly thin adsorbed films and the associated impact on friction at microscopic and macroscopic length scales. Topics covered include a historical overview of the fundamental understanding of macroscopic friction, theoretical treatments of phononic and electronic energy dissipation mechanisms in thin films, and current experimental methods capable of probing such phenomena. Measurements performed on adsorbates sliding in unconfined geometries with the quartz crystal microbalance technique receive particular attention. The final sections review the experimental literature of how measurements of sliding friction in thin films reveal energy dissipation mechanisms and how the results can be linked to film-spreading behavior, lubrication, film phase transitions, superconductivity-dependent friction, and microelectromechanical systems applications. Materials systems reported on include adsorbed films comprised of helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, ethane, ethanol, trifluoroethanol, methanol, cyclohexane, ethylene, pentanol, toluene, tricresylphosphate, t-butylphenyl phosphate, benzene, and iodobenzene. Substrates reported on include silver, gold, aluminum, copper, nickel, lead, silicon, graphite, graphene, fullerenes, C60, diamond, carbon, diamond-like carbon, and YBa₂Cu₃O₇, and self-assembled monolayers consisting of tethered polymeric molecules.     

Multiple scattering investigation of the 1T-TaS2 surface termination

Multiple scattering theory based on a cluster model is used to simulate full hemispherical X-ray photoelectron diffraction measurements on a 1T-TaS₂(0001) surface. Key points to determine the surface termination are discussed. As the commonly applied single scattering simulations do not give satisfying results, a multiple scattering approach has to be used to accurately simulate the full hemispherical photoelectron diffraction patterns. Differences and similarities between calculations of Ta and S terminated surfaces are presented along with experimental results at room temperature using both, the single and the multiple scattering approaches. We find that the surface is S terminated and that the quantitative difference between the calculations for both terminations permits to show the limits of the single scattering approach for solving surface termination problems. Moreover, by generalizing the results obtained using the multiple scattering approach, we discuss the application of this method to other similar systems.     

A new comprehensive study of the 3D random-field Ising model via sampling the density of states in dominant energy subspaces

The three-dimensional bimodal random-field Ising model is studied via a new finite temperature numerical approach. The methods of Wang-Landau sampling and broad histogram are implemented in a unified algorithm by using the N-fold version of the Wang-Landau algorithm. The simulations are performed in dominant energy subspaces, determined by the recently developed critical minimum energy subspace technique. The random-fields are obtained from a bimodal distribution, that is we consider the discrete (±Δ) case and the model is studied on cubic lattices with sizes 4≤L ≤20. In order to extract information for the relevant probability distributions of the specific heat and susceptibility peaks, large samples of random-field realizations are generated. The general aspects of the model's scaling behavior are discussed and the process of averaging finite-size anomalies in random systems is re-examined under the prism of the lack of self-averaging of the specific heat and susceptibility of the model.     

Bicontinuous geometries and molecular self-assembly: comparison of local curvature and global packing variations in genus-three cubic, tetragonal and rhombohedral surfaces

Balanced infinite periodic minimal surface families that contain the cubic Gyroid (G), Diamond (D) and Primitive (P) surfaces are studied in terms of their global packing and local curvature properties. These properties are central to understanding the formation of mesophases in amphiphile and copolymer molecular systems. The surfaces investigated are the tetragonal, rhombohedral and hexagonal tD, tP, tG, rG, rPD and H surfaces. These non-cubic minimal surfaces furnish topology-preserving transformation pathways between the three cubic surfaces. We introduce `packing (or global) homogeneity', defined as the standard deviation Δd of the distribution of the channel diameter throughout the labyrinth, where the channel diameter d is determined from the medial surface skeleton centered within the labyrinthine domains. Curvature homogeneity is defined similarly as the standard deviation ΔK of the distribution of Gaussian curvature. All data are presented for distinct length normalisations: constant surface-to-volume ratio, constant average Gaussian curvature and constant average channel diameter. We provide first and second moments of the distribution of channel diameter for all members of these surfaces complementing curvature data from [A. Fogden, S. Hyde, Eur. Phys. J. B 7, 91 (1999)]. The cubic G and D surfaces are deep local minima of Δd along the surface families (with G more homogeneous than D), whereas the cubic P surface is an inflection point of Δd with adjacent, more homogeneous surface members. Both curvature and packing homogeneity favour the tetragonal route between G and D (via tG and tD surfaces) in preference to the rhombohedral route (via rG and rPD).     

Surface morphology and reaction at Cu/Si interface—Effect of native silicon suboxide

Copper thin films are deposited by thermal evaporation on unetched and etched monocrystalline silicon. The study by alpha particles backscattering (RBS) raises a strong diffusion of copper in silicon substrates with and without native suboxide layer. On the other hand, the X-rays diffraction shows the formation and the growth of Cu₃Si and Cu₄Si silicides. Whereas the scanning microscopy underlines large crystallites growth surrounded by black zones of silicon coming from the uncovered substrate, independently to the surface state of the substrate, after annealing at high temperature. The presence of native silicon suboxide at Cu/Si interface, influences in a drastic way the minimal temperature to which the interfacial reaction occurs. The oxygen impurities detected by microanalysis, after heat treatment under vacuum, are closely related to the growth of silicides crystallites.