Material tensor parameters of LiNbO3 relevant for electro- and elasto-optics

The complete set of self-consistent parameters of nominally undoped LiNbO₃ crystals of congruent composition that describe the electro-optic, piezoelectric, elasto-optic, elastic, and dielectric response has been determined by numerically evaluating available measurements. The parameters were determined at room temperature and consist of the low-frequency clamped dielectric constants ε^S _ij, elastic stiffness constants at constant electric field C^E _ijkl, piezoelectric stress coefficients e_ijk, elasto-optic constants at constant electric field p^E _ijkl, and clamped electro-optic coefficients r^S _ijk. It is shown that the complete set is required for calculating the effective electro-optic coefficients and dielectric constants in photorefractive applications of LiNbO₃. Received: 4 January 2002 / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Conditional Time Before Ruin of an Insurance Company

The statistical characteristics of conditional time before ruin of an insurance company, including the distribution function of conditional time and its moments are examined.     

A Symmetric-Impulse Approximation Applied to the Faddeev Theory on the Charge Transfer Amplitude

Off-the-shell anomalous factors of the two-body Coulomb transition matrices appear in the integral form of the Faddeev second-order nuclear-electronic amplitude, for proton-hydrogen charge transfer scattering in a typical nlm → n′l′m′ transition. A symmetric-impulse approximation (SIA) is applied to eliminate these factors and an induction method is proposed to analytically calculate the remaining integrals. The nuclear-electronic amplitude is derived for the general case, and for totally symmetric collisions, in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions of two variables, F ₄, and of one variable, ₃ F ₂, respectively. The angular distribution of the second-order nuclear-electronic charge transfer amplitude shows the Thomas mechanism as a peak or a hump for symmetric and asymmetric collisions. There also exists a peak in the forward angular distribution of the second-order nuclear-electronic amplitude, which partly cancels the kinematic peak in the angular distribution of the charge transfer differential cross sections.     

Reductions in overshoot following intense sound exposures

Overshoot refers to the poorer detectability of brief signals presented soon after the onset of a masking noise compared to those presented after longer delays. In the present experiment, brief tonal signals were presented 2 or 190 ms following the onset of a broadband masker that was 200 ms in duration. These two conditions of signal delay were tested before and after a series of exposures to a tone intense enough to induce temporary threshold shift (TTS). The magnitude of the overshoot was reduced after the exposure when a TTS of at least 10 dB was induced, but not when smaller amounts of TTS were induced. The reduction in overshoot was due to a decrease in the masked thresholds with the 2-ms delay; masked thresholds with the 190-ms delay were not different pre- and post-exposure. The implication is that the mechanisms responsible for the normal overshoot effect are temporarily inactivated by the same stimulus manipulations that produce a mild exposure-induced hearing loss. Thus the result is the paradox that exposure to intense sounds can produce a loss of signal detectability in certain stimulus conditions and a simultaneous improvement in detectability in other stimulus conditions.     

Thermal and dielectric behaviors of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) copolymers at the curie transition

The thermal and dielectric behaviors of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) copolymers near the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition are investigated for samples with 20, 25, 30, and 40 mol% trifluoroethylene (TrFE). The data suggest that the transition becomes continuous for a particular composition near 50 mol% TrFE. Experimental data are sensitive to thermal history (kinetics of crystallization, and kinetics and cycling over the structural transition). It is found that several anomalies are present at the structural change, and in particular the 30 mol% TrFE sample shows the most marked anomalies. These phenomena can be attributed to defects, but another possibility would be the existence of an intemediate supplementary phase. Both hypotheses are discussed.     

Elektrische Charakterisierung von Hochfrequenz-Niederdruck-Gasentladungen

In recent years there has emerged significant interest in low pressure radio frequency (rf) glow discharges which are used widely particulary in IC fabrication. Various parameters of the rf glow discharge have been found to be useful for its electrical characterization; however, there is no uniformity and agreement. Extensive experimental investigations on various discharge systems have shown, that the self-bias on the rf driven electrode, the complex conductivity and the breakdown characteristic are preferable parameters of rf discharges. Advantageously the self-bias and the complex conductivity should be presented in dependence on the pressure and the applied rf voltage. The discharge current cannot be measured quite accurately due to currents via leaky capacitors and the deviations from a sinusoidal form of the current due to nonlinearities.     

Chemical analysis and distribution investigation of trace elements in indium matrix by spark source mass spectrometry

Summary High-purity indium was analysed by spark source mass spectrometry, using electrical and photoplate detection. For the calibration of the differences in elemental sensitivity, a standard sample was prepared in which 10 impurities were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. In this way accuracies of less than 40% were obtained for relatively homogeneous elements at ppm and sub-ppm level. About 40 elements could be determined with detection limits of 10 to 30 ppb. Two pattern recognition methods, principal component analysis and clustering analysis, were applied to obtain information on trace element distribution, which indicated that a number of elements were strongly spatially correlated in the analysed sample.

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Chemische Analyse und Verteilungsbestimmung von Spurenelementen in Indium-Matrix durch Funkenquellen-Massenspektrometrie

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On leave from: Department of Chemistry, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China