Preparation and characterization of a poled nanocrystal and polymer composite PbTiO3/PEKc film for electro-optic applications

Composite thin films of PbTiO₃ nanocrystals and high-transparency PEKc polymer for applications in electro-optical devices were prepared using the spin coating technique. The size of the PbTiO₃ nanocrystals was estimated to be 30–40 nm using a transmission electron microscope. The transmission technique, a simple method for measuring the electro-optic coefficients of poled composite polymer films was developed. The electro-optic coefficient γ₃₃ of poled PbTiO₃/PEKc composite polymer films was measured to be 18.34 pm  V^-1 at 633 nm under room temperature. The index at 633 nm and the dielectric constant at 100 kHz under room temperature were determined to be 1.65248 and 7.32, respectively. The figure of merit F₂=n⁷γ²/ε was estimated to be 1546, showing very good electro-optical properties. Received: 5 February 2002 / Accepted: 12 March 2002 / Published online: 19 July 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +852/2788-7791, E-mail: eeytc@cityu.edu.hk     

Quantitative analysis of bending efficiency in photonic-crystal waveguide bends at lambda = 1.55 mum wavelengths

Based on a photonic-crystal slab structure, a 60 degrees photonic-crystal waveguide bend is successfully fabricated. Its bending efficiency within the photonic bandgap is measured, and near 100% efficiency is observed at certain frequencies near the valence band edge. The bending radius is ~1mum at a wavelength of lambda~1.55mum . The measured eta spectrum also agrees well with a finite-difference time-domain simulation.     

Novel behavior of bond-centered muonium in heavily doped n-type silicon: Curie-like spin susceptibility and charge screening

Bond-centered muonium ( Mu(0)(BC)) has been observed in very heavily doped n-type Si:P. It exhibits a Curie-like electronic spin susceptibility which leads to a giant negative shift in the muon spin precession frequency. At high dopant levels, the Mu(0)(BC) hyperfine parameters, deduced from a model involving spin exchange with free carriers, are significantly reduced from those in intrinsic Si. This indicates that the spin density distribution for Mu(0)(BC) in metallic Si:P is altered significantly by charge screening effects, likely a general phenomenon for deep impurities in materials with high carrier concentrations.     

Origin of antimony segregation in GaInSb/InAs strained-layer superlattices

We show how cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy may be used to reconstruct the Sb segregation profiles in GaInSb /InAs strained-layer superlattices. These profiles are accurately described by a one-dimensional model parametrizing the spatial evolution of an Sb seed at the InAs-on-GaInSb interface in terms of two-anion-layer exchange. We argue that the segregation seed, which decreases from 2 / 3 to 1 / 2 monolayer when growth conditions are made less anion rich, has its origin in the Sb-bilayer reconstruction maintained during GaInSb epitaxy.     

Charge ordering in the TMTTF family of molecular conductors

Using one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy applied to 13C spin-labeled (TMTTF)2AsF6 and (TMTTF)2PF6, we demonstrate the existence of an intermediate charge-ordered phase in the TMTTF family of charge-transfer salts. At ambient temperature, the spectra are characteristic of nuclei in equivalent molecules. Below a continuous charge-ordering transition temperature T(co), there is evidence for two inequivalent molecules with unequal electron densities. The absence of an associated magnetic anomaly indicates only the charge degrees of freedom are involved and the lack of evidence for a structural anomaly suggests that charge-lattice coupling is too weak to drive the transition.     

The contribution of high frequencies to human brain activity underlying horizontal localization of natural spatial sounds

Background  

In the field of auditory neuroscience, much research has focused on the neural processes underlying human sound localization. A recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) study investigated localization-related brain activity by measuring the N1m event-related response originating in the auditory cortex. It was found that the dynamic range of the right-hemispheric N1m response, defined as the mean difference in response magnitude between contralateral and ipsilateral stimulation, reflects cortical activity related to the discrimination of horizontal sound direction. Interestingly, the results also suggested that the presence of realistic spectral information within horizontally located spatial sounds resulted in a larger right-hemispheric N1m dynamic range. Spectral cues being predominant at high frequencies, the present study further investigated the issue by removing frequencies from the spatial stimuli with low-pass filtering. This resulted in a stepwise elimination of direction-specific spectral information. Interaural time and level differences were kept constant. The original, unfiltered stimuli were broadband noise signals presented from five frontal horizontal directions and binaurally recorded for eight human subjects with miniature microphones placed in each subject's ear canals. Stimuli were presented to the subjects during MEG registration and in a behavioral listening experiment.     

Fundamental relationship between the nonequilibrium glassy state and yield stress of amorphous polymers

This paper reports the theoretical prediction and experimental verification of the connection between the yield stress of amorphous polymers and the physical aging phenomenon. The analysis reveals the existence of a fundamental relationship between the nonequilibrium glassy state and the thermally activated process controlling viscoelastic and plastic deformation. The results show that the volume relaxation and deformation kinetics share the same relaxation times, and that the activation energy for deformation below T_g is much smaller than previously mentioned in the literature. This indicates that the phenomenon of physical aging plays a very important role in the deformation and processing of polymers at low temperatures. The effect of quenching and annealing on the yield stress is described in terms of the mean energy of hole formation, the departure of volume from its equilibrium state, the distribution of hole energies, and lattice volume. The same set of molecular parameters obtained from the molecular kinetic theory of the glass transition and volume relaxation predicts the yield stress as a function of cooling rate, annealing time, temperature, and strain rate.     

Diastereoselective Aldol Addition Using Boron Trichloride or Alkoxydichloroborane

Under carefully controlled conditions, boron trichloride or alkoxydichloroborane/ethyldiisopropylamine in CH₂Cl₂ can be used to effect diastereoselective aldol additions of ethyl ketones to saturated, α, β-unsaturated, or aromatic aldehydes. The C? C bond formation takes place with relative topicity ul (‘syn,’ configuration of the aldols), in selectivities ranging from 90 to 99% ds (Tables 1–3). Mechanistic aspects of the reaction are discussed.     

Über Systeme von liearren partiellen Differentialgleichungen erster Ordnung

Ohne Zusammenfassung