Nd:YAG laser synthesis of nanostructural V2O5 from vanadium oxide sols: Morphological and structural characterizations

Vanadium oxide thin films were prepared by sol-gel method, then subjected to Nd:YAG laser (CW, 1064 nm) radiation. The characteristics of the films were changed by varying the intensity of the laser radiation. The nanocrystalline films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD revealed that above 102 W/cm² the original xerogel structure disappears and above 129 W/cm² the films become totally polycrystalline with an orthorhombic structure. From TEM observations, we can see that due to laser radiation, the originally fibrillar-like particles disappear and irregular shaped, layer structured V₂O₅ particles are created. From XPS spectra we can conclude that due to laser radiation the O/V ratio increased with higher intensities.     

Operation characteristics of the Au-II 690-nm laser transition in a segmented hollow-cathode discharge

Single-mode operation at the Au-II 690-nm transition was obtained in a segmented hollow-cathode discharge laser without the use of any additional frequency-selective device. The pressure of the helium buffer gas, which is responsible for the significant homogeneous broadening of the laser line, was varied between 10 and 20 mbar. The discharge was excited with rectangular current pulses (up to 3 A) six times exceeding the threshold value. The time dependence of the laser output during the 1-ms-long discharge pulses is explained on the basis of the temperature and pressure changes in the tube. The highest small-signal gain at optimal discharge conditions was 11%m⁻¹. Received: 1 July 1999 / Revised version: 4 November 1999 / Published online: 23 February 2000     

Micro-fusion and spectrophotometric determination of iron(II) and iron(III) in chrome spinels and other refractories

Spectrophotometric determination of FeO in milligram samples of chrome spinels and related refractory minerals after high-frequency micro-fusion with lithium tetraborate in an inert atmosphere is described. Anomalous responses (apparent reduction or oxidation of FeO depending on the ferroïn-type reagent)_rendered the procedure highly unreliable. All the fluxes containing structural oxygen, as well as phosphoric acid, acted as oxidants even when atmospheric oxidation was rigorously excluded. However, the method is suitable for micro-determination of total iron in spinels. Spectrophotometric measurements gave an average relative standard deviation of 0.73%.     

Conductance noise spectrum of mesoscopic systems

We investigate the shape as well as the size- and temperature-dependence of the conductance noise spectrum of a small system containing electrons and both fixed and mobile scatterers. If the number of mobile scatterers within a phase-coherent region is sufficiently large, the temporal variation of the conductance can be viewed as a random walk process limited by the universal conductance fluctuations, resulting in a practically Lorentzian power spectrum. We discuss the conditions under which the noise spectrum of a system consisting of many phase-coherent regions is either Lorentzian or 1/f-like. The temperature-dependence of the power spectrum is determined by the hopping mechanism and the variation of the phase breaking length. As a function of temperature the spectrum satisfies power law scaling relations with exponents depending on the dimension and the temperature range; the spectral intensity can both increase and decrease with decreasing temperature.