Temperature dependence of positron annihilation in iron and vanadium

The Doppler broadened lineshape is measured as a function of temperature for iron and vanadium; vacancies produce a strong trapping effect in γ-Fe, but a weak effect in V. Threshold temperaturesT _t for trapping are 1280±25 and 1370±30 K. Empirical linear relationships betweenT _t , self-diffusion energyQ ^SD and monovacancy formation energyH _1v ^F are discussed and used to determineH _1v ^F values for γ-Fe and V.     

Towards understanding the carbon trapping mechanism in copper by investigating the carbon-vacancy interaction

We propose a vacancy trapping mechanism for carbon-vacancy (C-V) complex formation in copper (Cu) according to the first-principles calculations of the energetics and kinetics of C-V interaction. Vacancy reduces charge density in its vicinity to induce C nucleation. A monovacancy is capable of trapping as many as four C atoms to form CnV (n=1,2,3,4) complexes. A single C atom prefers to interact with neighboring Cu at a vacancy with a trapping energy of 0.21 eV. With multiple C atoms added, they are preferred to bind with each other to form covalent-like bonds despite of the metallic Cu environment. For the CnV complexes, C2V is the major one due to its lowest average trapping energy (1.31 eV). Kinetically, the formation of the CnV complexes can be ascribed to the vacancy mechanism due to the lower activation energy barrier and the larger diffusion coefficient of vacancy than those of the interstitial C.     

Vacancy trapping at111In in tungsten

TDPAC measurements were carried out in tungsten foils and single crystals using implanted¹¹¹In as a probe nucleus. After damaging the bcc tungsten lattice by heavy ion implantation, electron- and proton-irradiation the trapping of three different defects in the temperature range 293–1,000 K was observed. They were characterized by quadrupole interaction frequencies of v _Q ¹ = 142(2) MHz, v _Q ² = 181(5) MHz and v _Q ³ = 263(5) MHz. The largest fraction of In nuclei experiencing electric field gradients corresponding to v _Q ¹ and v _Q ² was reached at app. 630 K whereas for v _Q ³ this maximum appeared at app. 850 K. The defect configurations producing the different electric field gradients could be identified as a monovacancy trapped in a nearest neighbour 111 position (v _Q ¹ ), a double vacancy consisting of two adjacent vacancies in the nearest neighbour shell of the probe atom (v _Q ² ) and possibly a larger cluster (v _Q ³ ).     

Vacancy trapping mechanism for multiple hydrogen and helium in beryllium: a first-principles study

The microscopic mechanism for H and He trapping by vacancy defects and bubble formation in a Be host lattice is investigated using first-principles calculations. A single He atom prefers to occupy a vacancy centre while H does not. He can segregate towards the vacancy from the interstitial site much more easily than H. Both H and He exhibit lower diffusion barriers from a remote interstitial to a vacancy with regard to their diffusion barriers inside a perfect Be solid. Up to five H or 12 He atoms can be accommodated into the monovacancy space, and the Be-He interaction is much weaker than Be-H. The physical origin for aggregation of multiple H or He atoms in a vacancy is further discussed. The strong tendency of H and He trapping at vacancies provides an explanation for why H and He bubbles were experimentally observed at vacancy defects in materials. We therefore argue that vacancies provide a primary nucleation site for bubbles of H and He gases inside Be materials.     

Monovacancy formation energy in copper,silver, and gold by positron annihilation

Monovacancy formation energies in copper, silver, and gold have been deduced from the temperature variation of the peak counting rate in the angular correlation curve of positron annihilation radiation from these metals. The counting rate was temperature dependent over the entire temperature range, including temperatures so low that no trapping of positrons at vacancies is effective. At these temperatures the increase in counting rate results from thermal expansion of the lattice. By separating this thermal expansion effect from the vacancy trapping effect at higher temperatures, we obtained values for the monovacancy formation energyE _1v for copper, silver, and gold to 1.29±0.02 eV, 1.16±0.02 eV, and 0.97±0.01 eV, respectively.     

A study of mono and divacancies in Cu and Au by positron annihilation

The peak counting rate of the angular correlation curve was measured for Cu and Au in the temperature range between ?196°C and 1200°C. The experimental data were analysed by means of the trapping model under consideration of positron trapping by mono-and divacancies and detrapping of positrons from monovacancies. Such an analysis leads to acceptable results for both monovacancy and divacancy parameters.     

Anomalous long time tails due to trapping

A new mechanism is described for producing slow decays in the velocity correlation function of diffusive systems with directed trapping. If the directions for entering and leaving a trap are correlated and if the distribution of trapping times has a long tail then the velocity correlation function will have a corresponding long time tail. This new long time tail decays liket ^–(2 +), where is an exponent characterizing the tail of the distribution of trapping times. A simple random walk model which illustrates this mechanism is analyzed.     

μ+SR study of vacancies in thermal equilibrium in ferromagnets

Muon spin precession frequencies and transverse relaxation rates have been measured on demagnetized iron, cobalt, and FeCo alloys (3 at%–50 at% Co) between room temperature and the Curie temperatureT _c. The increase of the relaxation rate in iron between 930 K and 1010 K could be quantitatively attributed to the trapping of positive muons by vacancies in thermal equilibrium, resulting in an enthalpy of monovacancy formation ofH _1V ^F =(1.7±0.1) eV. the smallest vacancy concentrations detected are = 10⁻⁸.     

Quantitative analysis of charge-carrier trapping in organic thin-film transistors from transfer characteristics

A dynamic method for quantifying the amount and mechanism of trapping in organic field effect transistors (OFETs) is proposed. It exploits transfer characteristics acquired upon application of a triangular waveform gate sweep V _G. The analysis of the transfer characteristics at the turning point V _G=−V _max between forward and backward gate sweeps, viz. around the maximum gate voltage V _max applied, provides a differential slope Δm which depends exclusively on trapping. Upon a systematic change of V _max it is possible to extract the initial threshold voltage, equivalent to one of the observables of conventional stress measurements, and assess the mechanism of trapping via the functional dependence on the current. The analysis of the differential logarithmic derivative at the turning point yields the parameters of trapping, as the exponent β and the time scale of trapping τ. In the case of an ultra-thin pentacene OFET we extract β=1 and τ=10²–10³ s, in agreement with an exponential distribution of traps. The analysis of the hysteresis parameter Δm is completely general and explores time scales much shorter than those involved in bias stress measurements, thus avoiding irreversible damage to the device.     

Correlation of charge trapping and electroluminescence in highly efficient Si-based light emitters

In this paper we report on recent results on charge trapping and electroluminescence (EL) from Ge rich SiO₂ layers. Thermally grown 80 nm thick SiO₂ layers were implanted with Ge ions at energies of 30–50 keV to peak concentrations of 1–6 at%. Subsequently rapid thermal annealing was performed at 1000°C for 6, 30 and 150 s under a nitrogen atmosphere in order to form luminescence centers. A combination of capacitance–voltage (CV) and current–voltage (IV) methods was used for the investigation of the trapping properties. It was found that at electric fields <8 MV/cm electron trapping dominates while at higher electric fields which are typically required for the EL operation of the devices positive charge trapping occurs. It is assumed, that the trapping sites which are responsible for the trapping of the positive charge are in strong relation to the defects causing the luminescence.     

Improvement of the axial trapping effect using azimuthally polarised trapping beam

A dual optical tweezers system,which consists of a doughnut mode optical tweezer (DMOT) with the azimuthally polarised trapping beam and a solid mode optical tweezer (SMOT) with the Gauss trapping beam was constructed to compare the axial trapping effect of DMOT and SMOT.The long-distance axial trapping of ST68 microbubbles (MBs) achieved by DMOT was more stable than that of SMOT.Moreover the axial trapping force measured using the viscous drag method,was depended on the diameter of the particle,the laser power,and the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens.The measurement of the axial trapping force and the acquisition of CCD images of trapping effect confirmed that the DMOT showed excellent axial trapping ability than SMOT.A simple and effective method is developed to improve axial trapping effect using the azimuthally polarized beam as trapping beam.This is helpful for the long-distance manipulating of particles especially polarised biological objects in axial direction.     

利用原子芯片上Z形磁阱囚禁中性87Rb原子

利用解析和数值方法计算了Z形磁阱的囚禁势，发现当囚禁中心和芯片表面距离较远时(该距离和Z形线中部导线的一半长度相差不超过一个量级)，势阱的深度不能近似表示成偏置磁场B_y对应的能量，而要减去囚禁中心的势能高度；而增加B_y进行磁阱压缩到一定值时，势阱深度反而会下降.此外介绍了原子芯片的制作方法，以及利用原子芯片上Z形磁阱囚禁中性⁸⁷Rb原子的实验装置和实验过程.最终有2×10⁶个⁸⁷Rb原子被转移到Z形磁阱中.     

Diffusion,trapping and detrapping of positive muon in Al-0.047% Mg

Positive muon spin relaxation was measured in Al-0.047% Mg quenched from 873 K under zero external magnetic field from 6.3 K to 270 K. The observed spectra were analysed with the calculated muon spin relaxation function which included the static relaxation rates, the trapping rates, the detrapping rates and thet=0 initial trapping fractions. Due to the precise measurements and the realistic expression of spin relaxation function, above four parameters could be determined distinctly. The trapping rates and the distortions around a muon were determined from the values of static relaxation rates at a trapping site. The diffusion features were clearly described by the trapping and detrapping rates. The diffusion process was determined by the temperature dependence of these parameters.     

Silicon nanoparticle charge trapping memory cell

A charge trapping memory with 2 nm silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) is demonstrated. A zinc oxide (ZnO) active layer is deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), preceded by Al₂O₃ which acts as the gate, blocking and tunneling oxide. Spin coating technique is used to deposit Si NPs across the sample between Al₂O₃ steps. The Si nanoparticle memory exhibits a threshold voltage (V_t) shift of 2.9 V at a negative programming voltage of –10 V indicating that holes are emitted from channel to charge trapping layer. The negligible measured V_t shift without the nanoparticles and the good re‐ tention of charges (>10 years) with Si NPs confirm that the Si NPs act as deep energy states within the bandgap of the Al₂O₃ layer. In order to determine the mechanism for hole emission, we study the effect of the electric field across the tunnel oxide on the magnitude and trend of the V_t shift. The V_t shift is only achieved at electric fields above 1 MV/cm. This high field indicates that tunneling is the main mechanism. More specifically, phonon‐assisted tunneling (PAT) dominates at electric fields between 1.2 MV/cm < E < 2.1 MV/cm, while Fowler–Nordheim tunneling leads at higher fields (E > 2.1 MV/cm). (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fractal behavior in trapping and reaction: A random walk study

We investigate the trapping of a random walker in fractal structures (Sierpinski gaskets) with randomly distributed traps. The survival probability is determined from the number of distinct sites visited in the trap-free fractals. We show that the short-time behavior and the long-time tails of the survival probability are governed by the spectral dimensiond. We interpolate between these two limits by introducing a scaling law. An extension of the theory, which includes a continuous-time random walk on fractals, is discussed as well as the case of direct trapping. The latter case is shown to be governed by the fractal dimensiond.     

A simple calculation for the average number of steps to trapping in lattice random walks

We show that the asymptotic results for the average number of steps to trapping at an irreversible trapping site on aD-dimensional finite lattice can be obtained from the generating function for random walks on aninfinite perfect lattice. This introduces a significant simplification into such calculations. An interesting corollary of these calculations is the conclusion that a random walker traverses, on the average, all the distinct nontrapping lattice sites before arriving on the trapping site.This work was supported in part by NSF Grants MPS72-04363-A03 and CHE75-20624.     

Investigation on the radius of a hemispherical microlens of an optical fiber end for three-dimensional trapping

We studied the optical forces acting on a sphere in order to corroborate the three-dimensional optical trapping by the laser beams from optical fiber ends inserted at an angle. From these investigations, we verified that there was only one stable point of equilibrium located below the beam-crossing point. Furthermore, we could reveal that employing microlenses in a dual-beam trap enhanced the trapping stability and increased the trapping volume.     

Novel electrodynamic trapping mechanism for neutral,polar particles

A conceptually new trapping mechanism for neutral, polar particles is introduced and discussed. Unlike existing mechanisms that are based on oscillating saddle-point potentials or rotating electric dipole fields, the new mechanism is based on a superposition of ac and dc electric monopolefields that dynamically generate a minimum of the effective ponderomotive potential in which the particles are trapped. Extensive numerical simulations of the dynamics and the stability properties of trapped HC₁₇N molecules and ferroelectric rods (made of barium titanate or croconic acid crystals) prove the validity of the new mechanism. The examples show that the same mechanism is applicable to the trapping of macroscopic as well as microscopic particles. The numerical results are backed by a physical pseudo-potential picture and an analytical stability analysis that provide physical insight into why and how the new mechanism works. A semi-quantum, Born-Oppenheimer-type calculation that treats the intrinsic rotational degree of freedom of HC₁₇N quantum mechanically is also presented. A detailed discussion of engineering aspects shows that laboratory implementation of the new mechanism is within current technological reach.     

Optical vortex beams for trapping and transport of particles in air

In this paper we show that laser beams containing phase singularity can be used for trapping and guiding light-absorbing particles in air. The experiments were performed with agglomerates of carbon nanoparticles with the size in the range 0.1–10 μm; the typical cw laser power was of a few mW. The stability of open-air three-dimensional trapping was within ±2 μm in both the transverse and the longitudinal directions. The particle position on the beams axis within the trap can be controlled by changing the relative intensity of two beams. The distinguishing feature of the trapping strategy is that particles are trapped at the intensity minimum of the beam, thus with minimum heating and intervention into the particle properties, which is important for direct studies of particle properties and for air-trapping of living cells.     

Two dimension selective coherent population trapping controlled by a phase shift

Two-dimensional laser cooling based on velocity-selective coherent population trapping is investigated theoretically for the J _g=1J _e=0 atomic transition. Wavevectors and polarizations of three laser beams are chosen to realize a coherent superposition of three degenerate ground states. For the first time in laser cooling, use is made of the electric field phases to realize coherent population trapping selective in two dimensions. Numerical solutions and analytic estimates are presented for laser cooling of helium atoms.