Thermal conductivity of crystalline chrysotile asbestos

The thermal conductivity of crystalline chrysotile asbestos made up of hollow tubular Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ filaments is measured in the range 5–300 K. The paper discusses the possibility of using this material in studies of the thermal conductivity of thin filaments of metals and semiconductors incorporated into the channels of crystalline chrysotile asbestos tubes.     

Necessary stationary condition for polarized radiation in scattering media

The stationary condition is derived taking into account the polarization of radiation in the general case of a scattering inhomogeneous medium in an arbitrary-shape emitter. The necessary stationary condition for an emitter in which radiation is emitted and extinguished simultaneously is complete extinction of the entire emitted radiation. Radiation extinction as a result of absorption by the medium and the emergence of radiation from the emitter is analyzed. The stationary condition is an analytical form of writing that extinction of radiation is a sure event whose probability is equal to unity. The passage of radiation through the medium is described on the basis of the linear transport theory with the help of the matrices of the Green functions. The stationary condition includes the characteristics of polarized radiation extinction of which is analyzed, the absorption coefficients of the medium, and the elements of the matrices of the Green functions, which are determined by optical and geometrical parameters of the emitter. The stationary condition obtained is used for deriving the relations between the components of scalar intensity observed in an arbitrary region of the emitter. These relations include, in addition to the absorption coefficients and the matrix elements of the Green functions, the powers of the primary radiation. Possible applications of the stationary condition and the relations between intensity components in computations and experimental studies are considered.     

Grain-boundary diffusion in nanocrystals with a time-dependent diffusion coefficient

A solution to the equation of grain-boundary diffusion is obtained under conditions where migration of the diffusant from the boundaries into the grains is absent and the diffusion coefficient decreases with time from an increased value to a value characteristic of equilibrium grain boundaries. The specific features of the grain-boundary diffusion in nanocrystals are qualitatively analyzed in terms of this solution.     

Beryllium (boron) clustering quest in relativistic multifragmentation (BECQUEREL Project)

A physical program of irradiation of emulsions in beams of relativistic nuclei named the BECQUEREL Project is reviewed. It is destined to study in detail the processes of relativistic fragmentation of light radioactive and stable nuclei. The expected results would make it possible to answer some topical questions concerning the cluster structure of light nuclei. Owing to the best spatial resolution, the nuclear emulsions would enable one to obtain unique and evident results. The most important irradiations will be performed in the secondary beams of He, Be, B, C, and N radioactive nuclei formed on the basis of JINR Nuclotron beams of stable nuclei. We present results on the charged state topology of relativistic fragmentation of the ¹⁰B nucleus at low energy-momentum transfers as the first step of the research.     

Group Representation of Relativistic Quantum Crystal Optics

A group representation of radiation propagation in an anisotropic medium is developed. The system of wave equations for electromagnetic potentials, obtained from the Maxwell equations with account for the constitutive equations, has been factorized. It is shown that the linear differential operator of the factorized system is orthogonal in transparent crystals and unitary in gyrotropic ones and is represented through the momentum operator. On the basis of the commutation relations for the components of this operator, the eigenvalue problem has been solved and the expression for the change in the radiant energy in the crystal in the form of spherical waves has been obtained. The dependences of the ray and phase velocities and the polarization vectors of waves on the birefringence anisotropy and gyrotropy as well as on the angular momentum, displacement current, and bound charge determining them have been analyzed. It has been established that in the general case of gyrotropic crystals where the nonreciprocity phenomenon takes place and in magnetoelectrics Maxwell equations are represented in a form similar to the Dirac equations and the electromagnetic radiation is correctly described by means of bispinors and is quantized as fermions.     

Exciton Molecules in Quantum Wells: Influence of the Well Width Fluctuations

The influence of the well width fluctuations on the dependence of the binding energy of excitonic complexes in quantum wells is studied by using the path-integral Monte-Carlo technique. The results are compared with available experimental data and a good agreement is found.Postdoctoral researcher of FWO-Vlaanderen     

Electric Instability in <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-CdTe:In Layers with <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-Shaped Voltage-Current Characteristics

A switching of the S-type in the 20–200 μm thick polycrystalline n-CdTe:In layers with resistance of 10³–10⁶ Ω·cm is studied. The electric instability in the layers is found to be due to the electron-thermal breakdown mechanism. The dependence of the switching threshold parameters on the intensity of exposure can be used for fabrication of infrared-radiation controlled electric switches on the basis of n-CdTe:In layers. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 28–30, June, 2005.     

Electro-optic size effects and effects of nonlinear saturation in PLZT ceramics

Results of studying electro-optic size effects and nonlinear electro-optic effects in ferroelectric PLZT ceramics are presented. It is established that the presence of electro-optic size effects makes microvolume samples of PLZT ceramics promising for designing efficient modulating devices.