Thermoelastic behaviour of hexagonal graphite-like boron nitride

Abstract

A synchrotron X-ray diffraction study on hexagonal graphite-like boron nitride (h-BN) was performed under high pressures and temperatures. From the measured P-V-Trelation for h-BN (with a three-dimensional ordering parameter P₃ = 0.9) in the temperature range from 298 to 1273 K and up to 6.7 GPa, the thermoelastic parameters are derived by fitting a modified high temperature Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The results are: bulk modulus B₀[GPa] = 27.6-0.0081(T[K]-298) and its pressure derivative B¹ = 10.5 + 0.0016(T [K] - 298). These values are for samples with P₃ = 0.9 and are quite different for samples with different values of the order parameter. This parameter is shown to have a leading role in the determination of the thermoelastic properties of h-BN, which explains and reconciles the differences between previous results.     

Origin of constant loss in ionic conductors

We have analyzed the constant loss contribution to the ac conductivity in the frequency range 10 Hz-1 MHz and temperatures down to 8 K, for two Li ionic conductors, one crystalline (Li(0.18)La(0.61)TiO(3)) and the other glassy (61SiO(2);35Li(2)O.3Al(2)O3.P(2)O(5)). As temperature is increased a crossover is observed from a nearly constant loss to a fractional power law frequency dependence of the ac conductivity. At any fixed frequency omega, this crossover occurs at a temperature T such that omega approximately nu(0)exp(-E(m)/k(B)T), where nu(0) is the attempt frequency and E(m) is identified with the barrier for Li+ ions to leave their wells.     

Critical-point phase separation in laser ablation of conductors

Laser ablation due to an ultrashort laser pulse on a massive aluminum target was investigated by means of a one-dimensional fluid code. Clear separation between the ablated matter and the unablated target is seen to occur through spinodal decomposition involving thermodynamic instabilities near the critical point of aluminum. The code also shows that the end of the ablation process is preceded by the ejection of droplets, which form about 15% of the total ejected mass.     

Representation of the category of tangles by Kontsevich's iterated integral

Applying Kontsevich's iterated integral for tangles, we get an isotopy invariant of tangles. We give a method to compute the integral of a tangle combinatorially from modified integrals of some simple tangles. We localize the integral by moving the end points of the tangle to an extreme configuration, and modify the integral so that it is convergent. By using a similar technique, we generalize Kontsevich's invariant to a framed tangle.     

Operating a geometric quantum gate by external controllable parameters

A scheme to perfectly preserve an initial qubit state in geometric quantum computation is proposed for a single-qubit geometric quantum gate in a nuclear magnetic resonance system. At first, by adjusting some magnetic field parameters, one can let the dynamic phase be proportional to the geometric phase. Then, by controlling the azimuthal angle in the initial state, we may realize a geometric quantum gate whose fidelity is equal to one under cyclic evolution. This means that the quantum information is no distortion in the process of geometric quantum computation.     

Tight-binding method modelling of photonic crystal waveguides

We present here a tight-binding-like modelling of two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PCs). Adopted from solid-state physics, the concept of generalized Wannier functions is used to construct a localized state basis that allows a parameter-free ab initio study of defects in PCs. We demonstrate here for a 2D triangular lattice of dielectric rods in air, the existence of this localized basis and the possibility to study large scale complex dielectric structures deviating from periodicity. Specific numerical simulations on a split waveguide embedded in this triangular lattice are performed, and they demonstrate the superiority of this method over plane wave based techniques.