Strong valence-band offset bowing of ZnO1-xSx enhances p-type nitrogen doping of ZnO-like alloys

Photoelectron spectroscopy, optical characterization, and density functional calculations of ZnO1-xSx reveal that the valence-band (VB) offset E(v)(x) increases strongly for small S content, whereas the conduction-band edge E(c)(x) increases only weakly. This is explained as the formation of local ZnS-like bonds in the ZnO host, which mainly affects the VB edge and thereby narrows the energy gap: E(g)(x=0.28) approximately E(g)(ZnO)-0.6 eV. The low-energy absorption tail is a direct Gamma(v)-->Gamma(c) transition from ZnS-like VB. The VB bowing can be utilized to enhance p-type N(O) doping with lower formation energy DeltaH(f) and shallower acceptor state in the ZnO-like alloys.     

The not-so-peculiar case of calcium oxide: a weakness in atomic natural orbital basis sets for calcium

Atomic natural orbital (ANO) basis sets for calcium may produce surprisingly poor atomic and molecular properties and energetics. The weaknesses in these basis sets may be traced primarily to deficiencies within the sets of d functions which are incapable of effectively correlating the 3s and 3p electrons. Examples are given which show that addition of tight d functions to the ANO basis is required to achieve qualitatively correct energetics and structures for conventionally bonded calcium compounds.     

Determination of natural radioactive aerosols

A critical evaluation is made of methods used for determining natural radioactive aerosols and airborne Rn-222 and Rn-220. From the point of view of health the decisive factor is the amount of active Rn-222 and Rn-220 deposit in inhaled air. A simple filtration method, based on a comparison of the amount of radioactive aerosols in the analyzed air with their content in the free air, i.e. in country air, has been elaborated for determining the active deposit. The apparatus is portable and consists of easily accessible parts.The author thanks J. Koí from the Radiological Dosimetry Department of the Nuclear Research Institute, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, for very effective technical collaboration.     

Propagation offset characteristics of annular laser beams from confocal unstable resonators through the natural atmosphere

Based on the laser field from a positive confocal unstable resonator (ab initio), the propagation characteristics of the beam through atmosphere are investigated by means of fast Fourier transform (FFT), and it is assumed that the refractive index and absorption of atmosphere are only decided by the air molecules. Considering the thermal effects of the laser beam and wind velocity of air, we evaluate the beam offsets, beam spreading, and beam qualities of the laser field transmitting from the resonator through the natural atmosphere. Meanwhile, the far-field intensity distributions of the laser beam with various intensities in the atmosphere are obtained. It is shown that the far-field diffraction patterns are deformed due to absorption of air and wind velocity. β parameter and Strehl ratio, which are usually used for high-power lasers, are introduced to estimate the beam quality characteristics. With increasing the intensity of the beam, the far-field diagram patterns are outspreaded, the peak intensities reduced, the peak centers shifted, and the beam quality characteristics greatly degraded.     

切线位移法测量微小角度偏转

叙述了将光电传感器的光轴相对固联于地理坐标系的转轴作切线运动并利用其切线位移模拟小角度偏转的方法。根据两轴初始零位对准值及切线位移量,由光电传感器的输出和所对应的角度偏移关系,获取光电传感器光轴的微小角度偏转量。该方法是一种简单有效的小角度偏移光电检测方法,可实现对微小角度偏移量的精密测量和实时读取,角度测量范围:±15°;测角精度:1″。     

Frequency offset locking of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser

We have developed a scheme of frequency offset locking for transferring the frequency stability of a commercial dye laser to a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser. By observing the beat frequency between the two dye lasers, mode stability of less than 2 MHz has been observed for the mode-locked dye laser mode. The use of the mode-locked system as a spectroscopic tool has been demonstrated by observing Doppler-free multiple pulse two photon spectra of the sodium 3S-4D transition.     

Laser frequency offset locking using a side of filter technique

We report on the demonstration of a novel scheme for laser frequency offset locking. Following standard techniques, a beat signal is generated between the laser to be frequency stabilized and a second laser with known frequency. A frequency dependent error signal is derived from this beat note by using the amplitude response of an electronic high pass filter. The steep slope of the error signal near the zero-crossing allows for precise frequency locking by a servo loop, while simultaneously a broad capture range of several hundreds of MHz is obtained. PACS 42.55.Px; 42.60.Fc     

Determination of natural aromatic acids using supercritical fluid chromatography

Derivatives of benzoic and cinnamic acids are secondary metabolites of plants, widely distributed in nature and possessing biological activity. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is shown to provide a high performance separation of nine most important representatives of this class of compounds with selectivity, dramatically different from the reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The retention and chromatographic separation parameters of analytes for four stationary phases of different nature are compared and the effect of supercritical fluid parameters and the composition of the mobile phase onto the chromatographic separation are analyzed. The optimal separation is found to be achieved when using a silica-based sorbent with 2-ethylpyridinium linked groups. The proposed approach for determination of the above-mentioned compounds is based on the combination of chromatographic separation with multiwavelength spectrophotometric detection and provides the detection limits in the range of 13.0–51.3 μg/L and the analysis duration about 2.5 min. The approach is successfully tested on real objects, such as different kinds of wine.     

Pattern pulses: design of arbitrary excitation profiles as a function of pulse amplitude and offset

A novel class of pulses is presented which can be regarded as a generalization of both frequency-selective pulses and B1-selective pulses. The excitation profile of these pulses forms a pre-defined pattern in two dimensions, which are spanned by pulse offset and radio-frequency (RF) amplitude. The presented pulses were designed numerically based on principles of optimal control theory. For simple test patterns, we demonstrate the flexibility of this approach by simulations and experiments. This previously unknown flexibility may trigger novel applications in NMR spectroscopy and imaging. As a first practical application, we demonstrate a direct approach for calibrating RF pulses.     

Site-specific valence-band X-ray photoelectron spectra of a SrTiO3 single-crystal by X-ray standing wave technique

Site-specific valence-band X-ray photoelectron spectra of SrTiO₃ (111) were successfully obtained by using X-ray standing wave technique. Contributions of the Ti and SrO₃ derived states to the valence-band spectra were clearly separated. The spectra provided not only site-specific but also bulk-sensitive information on the SrTiO₃ crystal because of the use of a high-energy synchrotron X-ray source (hν=4750 eV) for photoelectron excitation with the large escape depth. The electronic structures calculated by the DV-Xα method using a (Sr₈Ti₂₇O₁₀₈)⁹²⁻ cluster model well reproduced the observed structures in the valence-band spectra. The partial density of states of both Ti and Sr ions in SrTiO₃ were mainly distributed over the bottom of the valence-band to produce the covalent bonding with O ions.