Superconducting decay length in a ferromagnetic metal

The complex decay length ξ characterizing the penetration of superconducting correlations into a ferromagnet due to the proximity effect is studied theoretically in the framework of the linearized Eilenberger equations. The real part ξ₁ and imaginary part ξ₂ of the decay length are calculated as functions of exchange energy and the rates of ordinary, spin-flip, and spin-orbit electronic scattering in a ferromagnet. The lengths ξ_1,2 determine the spatial scales of, respectively, the decay and oscillation of a critical current in SFS Josephson junctions in the limit of a large distance between superconducting electrodes. The developed theory provides the criteria of applicability of the expressions for ξ₁ and ξ₂ in the dirty and clean limits, which are commonly used in the analysis of SF hybrid structures. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Cu-In-O composite thin films deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering

Cu-In-O composite thin films were deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV/vis spectrophotometer, four-probe measurement and Seebeck effect measurement, etc. The samples contain Cu, In and O. The ratios of Cu to In and O to In increase with increase in O₂ flow rates. The ratio of Cu to In is over 1 and this suggests that Cu is in excess. The obtained Cu-In-O thin films are very possibly made of rhombohedral In₂O₃ and monoclinic CuO. Transmittance of the films decreases with increase in O₂ flow rate. The decrease in transmittance results from increase in Cu content in the films. The optical band gap of all the samples is estimated to be 4.1-4.4 eV, which is larger than those of In₂O₃ and CuO. The sheet resistance of the films decreases with increase in O₂ flow rate. Conductivity of the films is a little low, due to the addition of Cu and the poor crystalline quality of the film. The conduction behavior of the films is similar to that of In₂O₃ and the conduction mechanism of Cu-In-O thin films is through O vacancy.     

Selective multiphoton IR dissociation of SF6 molecules under nonequilibrium conditions of a pulsed gasodynamically cooled molecular flow interacting with a solid surface

The process of the isotope-selective multiphoton IR dissociation of SF₆ molecules under the non-equilibrium conditions of a pulsed gasodynamically cooled molecular flow interacting with a solid surface was experimentally studied. The SF₆ molecules dissociate as a result of excitation in a shock wave generated in the flow, in the flow incident onto the sold surface, and in an unperturbed flow (in the absence of the solid). The experiment was based on detecting the luminescence from HF^* molecules (λ ≈ 2.5) μm) accompanying the SF₆ dissociation in the presence of H₂ or CH₄, the emission intensity being a measure of the SF₆ dissociation yield. The molecular beam parameters were studied. The time-of-flight spectra of SF₆ in the flow interacting with the surface were measured under various experimental conditions. The spectral and energy characteristics of the SF₆ dissociation process were determined in the flow interacting with the solid surface and in the unperturbed flow. The dissociation product (SF₄) yield was measured and the coefficient of its enrichment with the ³⁴S isotope was determined. It is demonstrated that, using the shock wave formation, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the isotope-selective dissociation of SF₆ molecules. An explanation of the observed results is proposed. The gas density and temperature in the incident flow and in the shock wave were estimated. The results are analyzed and compared to the other published data on the SF₆ dissociation in a molecular beam.     

Synthesis and characterization of Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles

Nickel zinc ferrite nanoparticles Ni_xZn_1−xFe₂O₄ (x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5) have been synthesized by a chemical co-precipitation method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, dc magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements. The X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the synthesis of single crystalline Ni_xZn_1−xFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. The lattice parameter decreases with increase in Ni content resulting in a reduction in lattice strain. Similarly crystallite size increases with the concentration of Ni. The magnetic measurements show the superparamagnetic nature of the samples for x=0.1 and 0.3 whereas for x=0.5 the material is ferromagnetic. The saturation magnetization is 23.95 emu/g and increases with increase in Ni content. The superparamagnetic nature of the samples is supported by the EPR and ac susceptibility measurement studies. The blocking temperature increases with Ni concentration. The increase in blocking temperature is explained by the redistribution of the cations on tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites.     

Pressure Shifts and Pressure Broadening of the B and γ Bands of Oxygen

Measurements of pressure shift and pressure broadening in molecular oxygen have been made for rotational transitions in the B (1←0) and γ (2←0) vibrational bands of the b¹Σ⁺_g←X³Σ⁻_g visible electronic transition. The absorption features were measured simultaneously in two cells by photoacoustic spectroscopy using a scanning dye laser. The measurements were made with background gases of both pure oxygen and air at room temperature. The pressure shifts were all negative. The measurements show the magnitude of the pressure shift increasing with vibrational quantum number when compared with existing data for the A (0←0) band. The shifts also increase with rotational number within each vibrational band. The shifts in air are larger than in oxygen although the difference gets smaller with vibrational number. The average shifts in air for the A, B, and γ bands were 36, 11, and 0.2% higher, respectively, than in pure oxygen. The pressure broadening of the rotational lines does not change significantly with vibrational number and in general decreases with rotational number within a band. The pressure shift measurements were used by the high-resolution Doppler imager (on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite) to correct the Doppler wind measurements.     

Anomalous ratios of radioisotopes in PM10 as tracer of global fallout impact in the centre of Mexico

The monitoring and evaluation of radioactive content in samples of PM₁₀ aerosols have been investigated. The specific radioactivity concentrations (SRC) of ²³⁴U, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U and ²³²Th were determined using inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry in 13 samples collected in Mexico City and 8 samples collected in Cuernavaca in the centre of Mexico. The SRC of the radioisotopes analysed in PM₁₀ were larger than those reported in PM_2.5. The enrichment factor was greater than 5, indicating anthropogenic influences in both sites. The activity ratios of these isotopes in the samples were determined. The ²³⁵U/²³⁸U ratio showed variations with respect to the natural value, while the ²³⁴U/²³⁸U and ²³²Th/²³⁸U ratios did not show any secular equilibrium in all sites, corroborating that the increase of uranium is not influenced by natural sources. The annual dose results obtained have no impact on health.     

Al-doped ZnS layers synthesized by solution growth method

ZnS is one of the potential candidates as a window/buffer layer for solar photovoltaic applications. Al-doped ZnS nanocrystalline films were grown by a simple and economic process, chemical solution growth method. The layers were prepared for different Al-dopant concentrations that vary in the range, 0-10 at. %. The effect of Al-doping on the composition, structure, optical, electrical and photoluminescence properties of the synthesized layers was determined using appropriate techniques. The elemental composition of a typical sample with 6 at. % ‘Al’ in ZnS was Zn = 44.9 at. %, S = 49.8 at. % and Al = 5.3 at. %. The films were nanocrystalline in nature and showed (111) plane of ZnS as the preferred orientation for all the doping concentrations. The layers with 6 at. % of Al showed a crystallite size of ∼9 nm. The FTIR studies confirmed the presence of ZnS in the layers. The layers showed an average transmittance of ∼75% in the visible region. The change of photoluminescence behaviour with dopant concentration was also studied. The electrical resistivity was considerably decreased from 10⁷ Ωcm to 10³ Ωcm with Al-doping. The detailed analysis of results will be presented and discussed.     

Effect of ultrasound,heating and enzymatic pre-treatment on bioactive compounds in juice from Berberis amurensis Rupr.

The aim of the study was to assess the influence of ultrasound (frequency 20 kHz, amplitude 70%, power 140 W for 10 min), heating (80 °C, 5 min) and enzymatic pre-treatment of mash (50 °C, Rohapect 10L at a dose of 0.23 g/1000 g, maceration time 60 min) on the yield, the content of phenolic compounds (including anthocyanins), ascorbic acid, and the antioxidative capacity of Berberis amurensis juice. Additionally, the polyphenols profile of this raw material and juices was identified. 25 phenolic compounds were identified in the fruit and 24 in juices. The content of phenolics in the fruit was 636 mg/100 g. Chlorogenic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoate and quercetin-3-O-glicoside were predominant. The content of anthocyanins in the fruit was 217 mg/100 g f.w., where peonidin-3-O-glucoside (98%) was predominant. The content of ascorbic acid amounted to 16.60 mg/100 g. The yield of the barberry juice pressing process ranged from 56% to 60% – there were no differences between the mash treatment methods. The enzymatic and thermal treatment of the mash resulted in the highest content of phenolic compounds in the juice. The sonication resulted in the highest content of anthocyanins, including peonidin-3-O-glucoside, as the main anthocyanin. The thermal treatment of the mash resulted in a lower loss of ascorbic acid than the other methods. The juice from the mash subjected to pectinolysis or heat treatment exhibited the highest antioxidative capacity.     

On Entropy,Information, and Conservation of Information

The term entropy is used in different meanings in different contexts, sometimes in contradictory ways, resulting in misunderstandings and confusion. The root cause of the problem is the close resemblance of the defining mathematical expressions of entropy in statistical thermodynamics and information in the communications field, also called entropy, differing only by a constant factor with the unit ‘J/K’ in thermodynamics and ‘bits’ in the information theory. The thermodynamic property entropy is closely associated with the physical quantities of thermal energy and temperature, while the entropy used in the communications field is a mathematical abstraction based on probabilities of messages. The terms information and entropy are often used interchangeably in several branches of sciences. This practice gives rise to the phrase conservation of entropy in the sense of conservation of information, which is in contradiction to the fundamental increase of entropy principle in thermodynamics as an expression of the second law. The aim of this paper is to clarify matters and eliminate confusion by putting things into their rightful places within their domains. The notion of conservation of information is also put into a proper perspective.     

Numerical evaluation of the 1S12-state radiative level shift

The one-photon self-energy radiative level shift for an electron in a Coulomb potential is evaluated numerically for the $\text{1S}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ state. The evaluation is done for values of the nuclear charge Z = 10, 20,…, 110. The errors in the values obtained are estimated to be less than 0.1 %. The results are compared with the results of previous calculations. The evaluation is based on the expressions given in the preceding paper.     

Cathodic characteristics of amorphous manganese oxides as lithium secondary battery

The amorphous manganese dioxides were prepared by reduction method using various reagents. The particle size and morphology depended on reducing agents, some of which were aggregated round particles of sub micron order, and the others were small fine fibers like of a few nm in width and several tens nm in length. The former showed low Li-insertion capacity of around 200 mAhg⁻¹, while the latter material showed high capacity of 500 mAhg⁻¹ in the OCV measurements until 1 V vs. Li. The as-prepared MnO₂ contains some amount of water in the structure. The H₂O-free MnO₂ obtained by heat-treatment under high oxygen pressure was inferior in electrode property to MnO₂ containing water in the structure. The H₂O content related to the electrode performance. Paper presented at the 8th EuroConference on Ionics, Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal, Sept. 16–22, 2001.     

冲击荷载下颗粒物质缓冲性能的试验研究

颗粒物质是一种复杂的能量耗散体系. 颗粒间的摩擦和黏滞作用可使冲击荷载引起的能量有效衰减, 颗粒间的力链结构又可将瞬时局部冲击荷载进行空间扩展和时间延长, 达到良好的缓冲效果. 为研究颗粒物质对冲击荷载的缓冲性能, 本文采用重力作用下球体冲击筒内颗粒物质的试验系统, 研究了筒体底部作用力在颗粒材料、颗粒厚度等因素影响下的变化规律. 试验结果表明: 非规则颗粒具有更加良好的缓冲性能, 粗颗粒的缓冲性能略高于细颗粒. 颗粒厚度H是影响缓冲性能的重要因素, 并存在一个临界厚度H_c. 当H<H_c时, 缓冲性能随H的增加而增强; 当H>H_c时, H对缓冲效果的影响不再显著. 以上研究是在同一冲击能量下进行的, 而对于不同冲击能量下的H_c还需要深入开展. 通过颗粒物质对冲击荷载缓冲性能的试验研究, 可揭示颗粒材料的基本物理力学行为, 为其在缓冲减振领域中的应用提供依据.     

Theoretical and experimental IR spectra of binary rare earth tellurite glasses—1

The binary rare earth tellurite glasses (A_nO_m)_x-(TeO₂)_1−x, where x = 0.1 and A = Sm, Ce, La, were prepared by melting the oxides at 800°C for 1 h and quenched rapidly. The IR spectra has been measured in the frequency region 4000-200 cm⁻¹. The main absorption bands in these glasses related to the characteristics of TeO₂. The detected shift in these bands are found to be sensitive to the glass structure. The A-O bond vibration in the glasses has been calculated. The results were interpreted on the basis of stretching force constant of each bond.     

Fabrication and characterization of Zn1−xAlxO nanoparticles by DC arc plasma

In this paper we have introduced a simple method for the fabrication of aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles. The Zn_1−xAl_xO nanoparticles with different concentrations of Al (x=0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09, 0.12) were fabricated successfully by this method. The samples were analyzed by the use of several techniques such as SEM, EDX, XRD, PL and UV-vis spectroscopy. The SEM images showed that the fabricated nanoparticles had spherical shapes. The XRD patterns of the samples indicated that the Al atoms substituted in the Zn positions in the crystal lattice of ZnO and there were some changes in the lattice parameters. A blue shift in the λ_max of the absorption and a red shift in the λ_max of the emission were observed. The results also indicated that the amount of shifts had a direct relationship with the changes in the lattice parameters.     

Effect of cobalt impurity ions on the magnetic and electrical properties of iron monosilicide crystals

The results of experimental investigations of Fe_{1 − x} Co _x Si crystals in the impurity limit with x = 0.001, 0.005, and 0.01 are reported. The temperature and field dependences of the magnetic susceptibility have been studied. According to the experimental data, the introduction of cobalt impurity leads to a change in the energy structure, which is most pronounced in a change in the electrical properties. The temperature, field, and concentration dependences of the resistivity have been measured. The results have been interpreted in the framework of the Kondo model.     

Brittle nanomaterials: Hardness and superplasticity

The data on the hardness and superplasticity of nanomaterials based on brittle high-melting point compounds such as carbides, nitrides, borides, intermetallics, and oxides are analyzed. The nonmonotonic change in the hardness with a change in the nanolayer thickness in multilayer films and the grain size in bulk nanomaterials is discussed. The fracture of these materials has intercrystalline character. However, residual plastic deformation is observed in some cases, for example, in for nanocolumnar TiN coatings and SiC single-crystal nanowire. The nanostructured approach was very successful in the development of nanocomposites with high-strain-rate superplasticity (∼10⁻² s⁻¹, T = 1400°C). The poorly investigated problems are pointed.     

Mechanical response of proton beam irradiated nitinol

The present investigation deals with the study of mechanical behavior of proton beam irradiated nitinol at room temperature. The specimens in austenitic phase were irradiated over periods of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min at room temperature using 2 MeV proton beam obtained from Pelletron accelerator. The stress-strain curves of both unirradiated and irradiated specimens were obtained using a universal testing machine at room temperature. The results of the experiment show that an intermediate rhombohedral (R) phase has been introduced between austenite and martensite phase, which resulted in the suppression of direct transformation from austenite to martensite (A-M). Stresses required to start R-phase (σ_RS) and martensitic phase (σ_MS) were observed to decrease with increase in exposure time. The hardness tests of samples before and after irradiation were also carried out using Vickers hardness tester. The comparison reveals that the hardness is higher in irradiated specimens than that of the unirradiated one. The increase in hardness is quite sharp in specimens irradiated for 15 min, which then increases linearly as the exposure time is increased up to 60 min. The generation of R-phase, variations in the transformation stresses σ_RS and σ_MS and increase in hardness of irradiated nitinol may be attributed to lattice disorder and associated changes in crystal structure induced by proton beam irradiation.     

φ production in In–In collisions at 158 A GeV

The NA60 experiment has measured muon pair production in In–In collisions at 158 AGeV at the CERN SPS. This paper presents a high statistics measurement of φ→μ μ meson production. Differential spectra, yields, mass and width are measured as a function of centrality and compared to previous measurements in other colliding systems at the same energy. The width of the rapidity distribution is found to be constant as a function of centrality, compatible with previous results. The decay muon polar angle distribution is measured in several reference frames. No evidence of polarization is found as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. The analysis of the p _T spectra shows that the φ has a small radial flow, implying a weak coupling to the medium. The T _eff parameter measured in In–In collisions suggests that the high value observed in Pb–Pb in the kaon channel is difficult to reconcile with radial flow alone. The absolute yield is compared to results in Pb–Pb collisions: though significantly smaller than measured by NA50 in the muon channel, it is found to exceed the NA49 and CERES data in the kaon channel at any centrality. The mass and width are found to be compatible with the PDG values at any centrality and at any p _T : no evidence for in-medium modifications is observed.     

Charge density of Ga<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Al<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Sb

Charge density calculations and electronic band structures for Ga _x Al_{1 − x} Sb with x = 1.0, 0.5 and 0.0 are presented in this work. The calculations are performed using the empirical pseudopotential method. The charge density is computed for a number of planes, i.e. z = 0.0, 0.125 and 0.25 A ₀ by generating the potential through a number of potential parameters available in the literature. The virtual crystal approximation was applied for the semiconducting alloy. The characteristics of the band structure and charge density are observed to be affected by the potential parameters. Calculated band gaps and the nature of gaps are in good agreement with the experimental data reported. The ionicity is also reasonably in good agreement with other scales proposed in the literature; however the formulation needs to be improved. The present work also demands indirect experimental band gap for the alloy.