Low sintering temperature MnZn-ferrites for power applications in the frequency region of 400 kHz

In this paper, the effect of cubic zinc metaborate Zn₄O(BO₂)₆ on the sintering of MnZn-ferrites for medium frequency power applications is investigated. Zinc metaborate is synthesized in the laboratory using zinc oxide and boric acid as metal precursors. As observed, when zinc metaborate is added to the MnZn-ferrites at an optimum amount of 0.02 wt%, it significantly enhances densification and therefore allows, for a given density, reduction of the firing temperature by almost 200 °C. MnZn-ferrites exhibiting power losses of 70 mW/cm³ (measured at a frequency of 400 kHz, magnetic field 50 mT and temperature of 90 °C) are synthesized from conventionally milled powders with average particle diameter 0.6 μm, compacted and fired at 1100 °C. Identical experiments conducted under the same conditions on specimens without zinc metaborate additions revealed power losses greater than 300 mW/cm³, because of insufficient densification.     

Extraction of strontium using an irradiated extraction agent of crown structure

The partition coefficient of strontium upon its extraction from the aqueous solutions of picric acid into chloroform containing DC-18-crown-6, B-15-crown-5 after their exposition to gamma radiation has been studied. A significant decrease of the partition coefficient in the studied range of doses 10–70 kGy was observed. This effect can be attributed to the radiolytic products of chloroform. The radiation destruction as well as dehydrogenation of crown ethers were not observed.     

The infrared spectra of the halogen isocyanate and thiocyanate vapor molecules

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has been used to investigate the IR spectra of the XNCO (X = Cl, Br, I, CN), the XSCN (X = Cl, Br, I) and the NCNCS vapor molecules from 4800 to 400 cm⁻¹. Vibrational frequencies have been determined for each normal mode of vibration in each molecule in this region.     

Analysis of atomic arrangement in magnetic Fe–Pt nanoparticles

The order parameter S of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is estimated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The total intensity of a diffraction peak is obtained by Rietveld analysis as well as simply integrating the intensity. The Rietveld analysis is found to provide a plausible value of S even for a sample showing an XRD pattern with broad and overlapped peaks. Another order parameter Q, which is obtained from Mössbauer spectra, is introduced, and it is confirmed that Q is equivalent to the probability of Fe atoms being in the L1₀-type atomic arrangement. The coercivity of Fe–Pt nanoparticles is directly proportional to Q, while it vanishes at S=0.4, indicating that the magnetic property of Fe–Pt nanoparticles has a closer relationship to Q than S.     

Time interval distributions of atoms in atomic beams

We report an experimental investigation of two-particle correlations between neutral atoms in a Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment. Both an atom laser beam and a pseudo-thermal atomic beam are extracted from a Bose–Einstein condensate and the atom flux is measured with a single atom counter. We determine the conditional and the unconditional detection probabilities for the atoms in the beam and find good agreement with the theoretical predictions. PACS 03.75.Pp; 05.30.Jp; 07.77.Gx; 42.50.Pq     

A side-coupled photonic crystal filter with sidelobe suppression

This paper presents the theoretical model and the optimization method to suppress the sidelobes of side-coupled photonic crystal filters. Numerical verification shows a good agreement between the theoretical method and the finite-difference time-domain simulation, but the theoretic method does not involve the time-consuming computation. The theoretical method also presents a better physical image for choosing the critical parameters, such as the quality factor, phase shift and the number of resonators. Based on the theoretical model, two optimization methods (chirp and cascading) are proposed to deeply suppress the sidelobes. They also show more flexibility in controlling the bandwidth and steepness of the roll-off in the filter. PACS 42.70.Qs     

Voltage ‐ Current Study of an Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharge

The discharge behaviour of an atmospheric dielectric barrier parallel plate discharge, used for surface treatment, is studied. Since an uniform plasma is preferable for surface treatment, filaments must be avoided in the discharge. The occurrence of filaments can be detected by measuring the current flowing through the discharge. Current and voltage measurements give an indication of the power consumption by the plasma. The power consumption of the plasma as function of the applied frequency is examined. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Structure and mechanical properties of Al/AlN multilayer with different AlN layer thickness

Nanometer scale Al/AlN multilayers have been prepared by dc magnetron sputtering technique with a columnar target. A set of Al/AlN multilayers with the Al layer thickness of 2.9 nm and the AlN layer thickness variation from 1.13 to 6.81 nm were determined. Low angle X-ray diffraction (LAXRD) was used to analyze the layered structure of multilayers. The phase structure of the coatings was investigated with grazing angle XRD (GAXRD). Mechanical properties of these multilayers were thoroughly studied using a nanoindentation and ball-on-disk micro-tribometer. It was found that the multilayer hardness and reduced modulus showed no strong dependence on the AlN layer thickness. Al2.9 nm/AlN1.13 nm multilayer had more excellent tribological properties than single layers and other proportion multilayers with a lowest friction coefficient of 0.15. And the tribological properties of all the multilayers are superior to the AlN single layer.     

The photon two-point function in unitary approximation

The photon two-point function is calculated using the exponential representation for the time-evolution operator taking into account terms up to second order ine in the exponent. The limiting case of vanishing electron mass is examined and it is shown that mass singularities cancel by means of unitarity. Near mass shell the causal Green function exhibits in the limit of vanishing electron mass the expected cut behaviour, off mass shell we recover the result of the usual perturbation theory.