Infrared spectral changes with crystallization in poly(vinylchloride): Correlations with X-ray and density data

The influence of crystallinity and stereoregularity on the infrared (IR) spectrum of atactic PVC in the solid state has been studied by many researchers [1-12]. Although the molecules in commercial PVC consist of both syndiotactic and isotactic sequences, the bulk polymer is not highly stereoregular, having approximately 50% syndiotacticity. Its infrared spectrum is different from that of highly syndiotactic PVC [3,5,7,9,10-12], particularly in the carbon-to-chlorine stretching region where there are three bands located at 610(615), 635, and 690 cm^?1. These three bands are known to be of complex origin, since each band consists of more than one absorption frequency and its relative intensity depends on the physical state or history of the specimen [3,5,7,9,10-12]. The spectrum in this region is most rigorously interpreted in terms of chain conformational structure, the spatial arrangement of the atoms around the C-C1 bond. Thus, while changes in absorbance intensities for the bands with history do not necessarily reflect changes in crystallinity, their history dependence renders these bands potentially useful as crystallinity indicators.     

Hybrid Bridgman anvil design: an optical window for in situ spectroscopy in large volume presses

The absence of in situ optical probes for large volume presses (LVPs) often limits their application to high-pressure materials research. In this article, we present a unique anvil/optical window design for use in LVPs, which consists of an inverted diamond anvil seated in a Bridgman-type anvil. A small cylindrical aperture through the Bridgman anvil ending at the back of diamond anvil allows optical access to the sample chamber and permits direct optical spectroscopy measurements, such as ruby fluorescence (in situ pressure) or Raman spectroscopy. The performance of this anvil design has been demonstrated by loading KBr to a pressure of 14.5 GPa.     

Significant decrease in interfacial energy of grain boundary through serrated grain boundary transition

The mechanism of serrated grain boundary formation and its effect on liquation behaviour have been studied in a wrought nickel-based superalloy – Alloy 263. It was newly discovered that grain boundaries are considerably serrated in the absence of γ?′-phase or M₂₃C₆ at the grain boundaries. An electron energy-loss spectroscopy study suggests that serration is triggered by the discontinuous segregation of C and Cr atoms at grain boundaries for the purpose of relieving the excessive elastic strain energy. The grain boundaries serrate to have specific segments approaching one {111} low-index plane at a boundary so that the interfacial free energy of the grain boundary can be decreased, which may be responsible for the driving force of the serration. The serrated grain boundaries effectively suppress grain coarsening and are highly resistant to liquation due to their lower wettability resulting from a lower interfacial energy of the grain boundary.     

Parity violation at neutron p-wave resonances of238U and232Th and related questions

Parity violation effects have been studied at 40 neutron p-wave resonances of the even-even nuclei²³⁸U and²³²Th. Of these 11 show parity violation effects larger than 2 standard deviations, making parity violation a rather common phenomenon. Parity mixing up to 10% has been found. The root-mean squared matrix elements for parity violation derived from these resonances are M=0.58 (+0.50/-0.25) meV for²³⁸U, respectively 1.39 (+0.35/-0.38) meV for²³²Th.     

Bidirectional WDM Self-Healing Ring Network for Hub/Remote Nodes

We demonstrate a bidirectional WDM self-healing ring network for hub/remote nodes with one fiber. In this network, self-healing can be achieved within 8 ms. The transmission capacity can be doubled in the operating state.     

Strong visible PL from the nc-Si thin film by Ni silicide mediated crystallization

We studied the growth of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin film exhibiting a strong room temperature photoluminescence (PL) at 1.81–2.003 eV. The amorphous silicon was crystallized by Ni silicide mediated crystallization (Ni SMC) and then Secco-etched to exhibit the PL. The PL peak energy and intensity increase with increasing the metal density on the a-Si because of the reduction in the grain size down to 2 nm. The photoluminescence energy and peak intensity depend strongly on the Secco etch time because the grain size is reduced by etching the grain boundaries.     

Electrochemical behavior of Li intercalation processes into a Li[NixLi(1/3−2x/3)Mn(2/3−x/3)]O2 cathode

Li[Ni_xLi_(1/3−2x/3)Mn_(2/3−x/3)]O₂ (X=0.17, 0.25, 0.33, 0.5) compounds are prepared by a simple combustion method. The Rietvelt analysis shows that these compounds could be classified as having the α-NaFeO₂ structure. The initial charge-discharge and irreversible capacity increases with the decrease of x in Li[Ni_xLi_(1/3−2x/3)Mn_(2/3−x/3)]O₂. Indeed, Li[Ni_0.50Mn_0.50]O₂ compound shows relatively low initial discharge capacity of 200 mAh/g and large capacity loss during cycling, with Li[Ni_0.17Li_0.22Mn_0.61]O₂ and Li[Ni_0.25Li_0.17Mn₀.₅₈]O₂ compounds exhibit high initial discharge capacity over 245 mAh/g and stable cycle performance in the voltage range of 4.8 -2.0 V. On the other hand, XANES analysis shows that the oxidation state of Ni ion reversibly changes between Ni²⁺ and about Ni³⁺, while the oxidation state of Mn ion sustains Mn⁴⁺ during charge-discharge process. This result does not agree with the previously reported ‘electrochemistry model’ of Li[Ni_xLi_(1/3−2x/3)Mn_(2/3−x/3)]O₂, in which Ni ion changes between Ni²⁺ and NI⁴⁺. Based on these results, we modified oxidation-state change of Mn and Ni ion during charge-discharge process.     

The study of exchange coupling in NiFe/Cu/IrMn trilayer structures by MOKE and FMR measurements

The exchange coupling strength of NiFe/Cu/IrMn trilayer films was examined with both a new magneto optical Kerr effect (MOKE) method developed for the exchange coupling field determination and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. We found that the value for exchange coupling field obtained by the MOKE technique coincided with FMR result with high accuracy. Other peculiarities of FMR measurements due to interlayer exchange coupling such as angular dependence of resonance field on Cu spacer thickness are also shown in the article.     

Energy level alignment between C60 and Al using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy

The energy level alignment between C₆₀ and Al has been investigated by using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. To obtain the interfacial electronic structure between C₆₀ and Al, C₆₀ was deposited on a clean Al substrate in a stepwise manner. The valence-band spectra were measured immediately after each step of C₆₀ deposition without breaking the vacuum. The measured onset of the highest occupied molecular orbital energy level was located at 1.59 eV from the Fermi level of Al. The vacuum level was shifted 0.68 eV toward lower binding energy with additional C₆₀ layers. The observed vacuum level shift means that the interface dipole exists at the interface between C₆₀ and Al. The barrier height of electron injection from Al to C₆₀ is 0.11 eV, which is smaller value than that of hole injection.     

Current–voltage characteristic of BaTiO3−δ in its mixed n/p regime under oxygen potential gradients

Current (I)–voltage (V) characteristic under oxygen potential gradients was experimentally examined on single crystal BaTiO_3−δ in its mixed ion/electron/hole regime at 1000 °C. The variation of I vs. V appears similar to that of an n/p junction, but with the limiting slope (dI/dV) approaching the maximum and minimum possible equilibrium conductances in the given oxygen potential gradient as increasing forward and reverse bias, respectively. This characteristic has been precisely traced theoretically by using the partial ionic and electronic conductivities of BaTiO_3−δ as measured against uniform oxygen chemical potential in equilibrium state. The nonlinear characteristic is attributed to the redistribution of oxygen chemical potential that is caused by a non-vanishing gradient of the ionic transference number of the oxide under the given oxygen potential gradient. It is demonstrated that the bulk transport properties of a mixed conductor may be tailored by terminal voltage in a chemical potential gradient.