Realisation and metrological characterisation of thickness standards below 100 nm

High-accuracy film thickness measurements in the range below 100 nm can be made by various complex methods like spectral ellipsometry (SE), scanning force microscopy (SFM), grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GIXR), or X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). The measurement results achieved with these methods are based on different interactions between the film and the probe. A key question in nanotechnology is how to achieve consistent results on a level of uncertainty below one nanometre with different techniques.Two different types of thickness standards are realised. Metal film standards for X-ray techniques in the thickness range 10 to 50 nm are calibrated by GIXR with monochromatised synchrotron radiation of 8048 eV. The results obtained at four different facilities show excellent agreement. SiO₂ on Si standards for SE and SFM in the thickness range 6 to 1000 nm are calibrated by GIXR with monochromatised synchrotron radiation of 1841 eV and with a metrological SFM. Consistent results within the combined uncertainties are obtained with the two methods. Surfaces and interfaces of both types of standards are additionally investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). PACS 61.10.Kw; 68.55.Jk; 06.20.Fn; 06.60.Mr; 07.79.Lh     

Effective-field theory and the nuclear many-body problem

We review many-body calculations of the equation of state of dilute neutron matter in the context of effective-field theories of the nucleon-nucleon interaction.     

About the Linear Stability of the Spherically Symmetric Solution for the Equations of a Barotropic Viscous Fluid under the Influence of Self-Gravitation

This paper is concerned with the question of linear stability of motionless, spherically symmetric equilibrium states of viscous, barotropic, self-gravitating fluids. We prove the linear asymptotic stability of such equilibria with respect to perturbations which leave the angular momentum, momentum, mass and the position of the center of gravity unchanged. We also give some decay estimates for such perturbations, which we derive from resolvent estimates by means of analytic semigroup theory.     

Direct mass measurements of neutron-deficient 152Sm projectile fragments at the FRS-ESR facility

The FRS-ESR facility at GSI provides one of the most efficient methods for direct mass measurements. In the present experiment, exotic nuclei were produced via fragmentation of ¹⁵²Sm projectiles in a thick beryllium target at 500-600 MeV/u, separated in-flight with the fragment separator FRS, and injected into the storage-cooler ring ESR. Time-resolved Schottky Mass Spectrometry was applied for mass measurements of stored and electron-cooled bare and few-electron ions. 373 different nuclides were identified by means of the spectra of their revolution frequencies. Masses for 18 nuclides (⁸⁴Zr, ⁹²Ru, ⁹⁴Rh, ^107,108,110Sb, ^111,112,114I, ¹¹⁸Ba, ^122,123La, ¹²⁴Ce, ¹²⁷Pr, ¹²⁹Nd, ¹³²Pm, ¹³⁴Sm, ¹³⁷Eu) have been determined for the first time. Masses for ^111,112I and ¹¹³Xe have been obtained via known α-decay energies. The experiment and first results will be presented.     

Fourier Analysis of Semistable Distributions

We consider the generalized convolution powers G _α ^*u (x) of an arbitrary semistable distribution function G _α (x) of exponent α∈(0,2), and prove that for all j, k∈{0,1,2,…} and u>0 the derivatives G _α ^(k,j)(x;u)=∂ ^k+j G _α ^*u (x)/∂ x ^k ∂ u ^j , x∈ℝ, are of bounded variation on the whole real line ℝ. The proof, along with an integral recursion in j, is new even in the special case of stable laws, and the result provides a framework for possible asymptotic expansions in merge theorems from the domain of geometric partial attraction of semistable laws. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Time interval distributions of atoms in atomic beams

We report an experimental investigation of two-particle correlations between neutral atoms in a Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment. Both an atom laser beam and a pseudo-thermal atomic beam are extracted from a Bose–Einstein condensate and the atom flux is measured with a single atom counter. We determine the conditional and the unconditional detection probabilities for the atoms in the beam and find good agreement with the theoretical predictions. PACS 03.75.Pp; 05.30.Jp; 07.77.Gx; 42.50.Pq     

Polarizability effect in metallic clusters

Langevin approach implemented in the inelastic cross-sections measured for the low-energy electrons colliding with metallic clusters points out that statical form of the polarizability dominate at energies less than 1.25 eV. The dynamical form comes into play at energies around 1.3 eV. The form of the polarizabilities indicates that polarizability of the metallic clusters is energy-dependent.