Preparation and tribological properties of DLC/Ti filmby pulsed laser arc deposition

This paper reports that DLC (diamond like carbon)/Ti and DLC films were prepared by using pulsed laser arc deposition. R-ray diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, nanoindenter, spectroscopic ellipsometer, surface profiler and micro-tribometer were employed to study the structure and tribological properties of DLC/Ti and DLC films. The results show that DLC/Ti film, with $I(D)/I(G)$ 0.28 and corresponding to 76{\%} sp$^{3}$ content calculated by Raman spectroscopy, uniform chemical composition along depth direction, 98 at{\%} content of carbon, hardness 8.2 GPa and Young's modulus 110.5 GPa, compressive stress 6.579 GPa, thickness 46~nm, coefficient of friction 0.08, and critical load 95mN, exhibits excellent mechanical and tribological properties.     

Optical travelator: transport and dynamic sorting of colloidal microspheres with an asymmetrical line optical tweezers

We report the transport, funnelling and dynamic sorting of colloidal microspheres in an aqueous suspension using line optical tweezers with asymmetrical intensity profiles. The line tweezers readily trapped and propelled the microspheres along the length of the line tweezers. Using this simple technique, transporting and funnelling of microspheres within a microscopic region were demonstrated. To illustrate the dynamic particle-sorting capability of the line tweezers, a binary colloidal system comprising of microspheres with diameters of 1.1 μm and 3.2 μm were driven past the line tweezers by electrophoresis. As the optical trapping force is dependent on the size of the microspheres, the line tweezers was able to change the path of the larger spheres while exerting little influence on the smaller spheres thus sorting the two types of microspheres. At optimized laser power and flow rate of microspheres, sorting efficiency greater than 90% has been achieved. PACS 42.15.Eq; 87.80.Cc; 87.80.Fe; 82.70.Dd     

论浮力的计算

通过讨论物体下表面不与液体接触时浮力的计算,总结浮力计算的一般方法.     

Defect-induced failure of optical coating filters

Optical filters composed of Ag, Al₂O₃, and ZnSe films were prepared on BK7 substrates by evaporation. By employing spectrophotometer, microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) analysis, the moisture-dependent stability of the samples was tested. The experimental results revealed that filter failure often occurs initially at defect sites. Small sputtering particles and pinhole are found to be two types of defects that induced the optical coating filter failure. The mechanisms of the defect-induced failure of the filters also are discussed in the article.     

Geometries, stabilities, and electronic properties of Be-doped gold clusters: a density functional theory study

We have systematically investigated the geometrical structures, relative stabilities and electronic properties of small bimetallic AunBe (n = 1, 2, . . . , 8) clusters using a density functional method at BP86 level. The optimized geometries reveal that the impurity beryllium atom dramatically affects the structures of the Aun clusters. The averaged binding energies, fragmentation energies, second-order difference of energies, the highest occupied-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy gaps and chemical hardness are investigated. All of them exhibit a pronounced odd-even alternation, manifesting that the clusters with even number of gold atoms possess relatively higher stabilities. Especially, the linear Au2Be cluster is magic cluster with the most stable chemical stability. According to the natural population analysis, it is found that charge-transferring direction between Au atom and Be atom changes at the size of n = 4.     

Orientation dependence of structural transition in fcc Al driven under uniaxial compression by atomistic simulations

By molecular dynamics simulations employing an embedded atom method potential,we have investigated structural transformations in single crystal Al caused by uniaxial strain loading along the [001],[011] and [111] directions. We find that the structural transition is strongly dependent on the crystal orientations. The entire structure phase transition only occurs when loading along the [001] direction,and the increased amplitude of temperature for [001] loading is evidently lower than that for other orientations. The morphology evolutions of the structural transition for [011] and [111] loadings are analysed in detail. The results indicate that only 20% of atoms transit to the hcp phase for [011] and [111] loadings,and the appearance of the hcp phase is due to the partial dislocation moving forward on {111} fcc family. For [011] loading,the hcp phase grows to form laminar morphology in four planes,which belong to the {111} fcc family; while for [111] loading,the hcp phase grows into a laminar structure in three planes,which belong to the {111} fcc family except for the (111) plane. In addition,the phase transition is evaluated by using the radial distribution functions.     

Influence of annealing process on conductive properties of Nb-doped TiO2 polycrystalline films prepared by sol-gel method

Nb-doped TiO₂ (TNO) thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method with Nb content in a wide range of 0-20 at.%. The prepared films were preheated at 400 °C and then undertaken by two different post-annealing processes: (a) three times vacuum annealing and (b) multi-round annealing. The designed multi-round annealing was shown to be an effective way to improve the conductive properties of the films, compared to the traditional vacuum annealing process. The minimum resistivity reached approximately 0.5 Ω cm with Nb doping concentration around 12 at.%, and the carrier density increased with Nb-doping concentration until the critical point of 12 at.%, which might be the optimal doping content for our TNO films prepared by sol-gel method.     

Exact solutions for a type of electron pairing model with spin-orbit interactions and Zeeman coupling

A type of electron pairing model with spin-orbit interactions or Zeeman coupling is solved exactly in the framework of the Richardson ansatz. Based on the exact solutions for the case with spin-orbit interactions, it is shown rigorously that the pairing symmetry is of the p + ip wave and the ground state possesses time-reversal symmetry, regardless of the strength of the pairing interaction. Intriguingly, how Majorana fermions can emerge in the system is also elaborated. Exact results are illustrated for two systems, respectively, with spin-orbit interactions and Zeeman coupling.     

Abatement of thermal noise due to internal damping in 2D oscillators with rapidly rotating test masses

Mechanical oscillators can be sensitive to very small forces. Low frequency effects are up-converted to higher frequency by rotating the oscillator. We show that for 2-dimensional oscillators rotating at frequency much higher than the signal the thermal noise force due to internal losses and competing with it is abated as the square root of the rotation frequency. We also show that rotation at frequency much higher than the natural one is possible if the oscillator has 2 degrees of freedom, and describe how this property applies also to torsion balances. In addition, in the 2D oscillator the signal is up-converted above resonance without being attenuated as in the 1D case, thus relaxing requirements on the read out. This work indicates that proof masses weakly coupled in 2D and rapidly rotating can play a major role in very small force physics experiments.     

A Silicon Nanowire‐Based Electrochemical Sensor with High Sensitivity and Electrocatalytic Activity

A new kind of silicon nanowire (SiNWs)‐based nanoelectrode assembly, a gold‐nanoparticle‐decorated silicon nanowire array (AuNPs@SiNWsAr), is employed for the construction of high‐performance electrochemical sensors. Significantly, the electrochemical nanosensors are capable of sensitive detection of various electroactive molecules (e.g., dopamine (DA), ascorbic acid (AA), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and glucose). Further, DA molecules loaded on the surface of AuNPs@SiNWsAr preserve stable high electroactivity overnight without special protection, while free DA molecules may lose their biological activity due to severe oxidization in ambient environment. These findings may offer new opportunities for the design of high‐performance electrochemical nanosensors with high sensitivity and robust stability.