Annealing effect on soft magnetic properties and magnetoimpedance of Finemet Fe73.5Si13.5B9Nb3Au1 alloy

Effect of annealing on the soft magnetic properties of Fe_73.5Si_13.5B₉Nb₃Au₁ amorphous ribbon has been investigated by means of structure examination, magnetoimpedance ratio (MIR) and incremental permeability ratio (PR) spectra measured in the frequency range of 1–10 MHz at a fixed current of 10 mA X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the as-cast sample was amorphous and it became nanocrystalline under a proper heat treatment. When annealing amorphous alloy at 530 °C for 30, 60, 90 min, soft magnetic properties have been improved drastically. Among the samples investigated, the sample annealed at 530 °C for 90 min showed the softest magnetic behavior. The MIR and PR curves revealed the desirable changes in anisotropy field depending upon annealing.     

Electronic structure of Ti metal and TiO2 powder studied by hard and soft (Cu Kα1 and Al Kα1) X-ray photoelectron and Auger spectroscopy

High-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is of particular importance for minimizing the effects of surface contamination by increasing photoelectron escape depths. In this study high-resolution high-energy Cu Kα₁ and soft Al Kα₁ XPS and Auger electron spectroscopy were used to compare the electronic structure of Ti in TiO₂ powder and Ti metal. The Ti 1s in TiO₂ XPS line is narrower and more symmetric than in Ti metal. A comparison of the relative intensities of the L₂₃M₂₃M₄₅ and L₂₃M₂₃M₂₃ Auger transitions in Ti metal and TiO₂ is consistent with the expected transfer of Ti 3d electrons away from the Ti site in the oxide. The satellites accompanying the Ti 1s XPS line excited by Cu Kα₁ X-rays occur at the same energies as the satellites accompanying the Ti 2s and 2p XPS lines excited by Al Kα₁ X-rays indicating that they do not depend on the core-level, the experimental resolution or inelastic scattering processes.     

The statement and numerical solution of an optimization problem in X-ray tomography

A nonclassical problem is considered for the transport equation with coefficients depending on the energy of radiation. The task is to find the discontinuity surfaces for the coefficients of the equation from measurements of the radiation flux leaving the medium. For this tomography problem, an optimization problem is stated and numerically analyzed. The latter consists in determining the radiation energy that ensures the best reconstruction of the unknown medium. A simplified optimization problem is solved analytically.     

Characterization of NOx species in dehydrated and hydrated Na- and Ba-Y, FAU zeolites formed in NO2 adsorption

Adsorbed ionic NO_x species formed upon the interaction of NO₂ with dehydrated or hydrated Na- and Ba-Y, FAU zeolites were characterized using FT-IR/TPD, solid state NMR, and XANES techniques. NO₂ disproportionates on both dehydrated catalyst materials forming NO⁺ and NO₃⁻ species. These ionic species are stabilized by their interactions with the negatively charged zeolite framework and the charge compensating cations (Na⁺ and Ba²⁺), respectively. Although the nature of the adsorbed NO_x species formed on the two catalysts is similar, their thermal stabilities are strongly dependent on the charge compensating cations. In the presence of water in the channels of these zeolite materials new paths open for reactions between NO⁺ and H₂O, and NO₂ and H₂O, resulting in significant changes in the adsorbed ionic species observed. These combined spectroscopic investigations afforded the understanding of the interactions between water and NO₂ on these zeolite catalysts.     

Mossbauer investigations of corrosion environment influence on Fe valence states in oxide films of zirconium alloys

Mössbauer investigations about iron atom redistribution in oxide films of zirconium alloys subjected to corrosion at 500°C in pure oxygen and water pair have been analysed. The alloys were also subjected to autoclave conditions at a pressure of 10.0 MPa and autoclave conditions at 350°C and at a pressure of 16.8 MPa, using distilled water and water with additives of lithium and fluorine. It is shown that, depending on the corrosion environment, various compounds of iron, such as α-Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄, and FeO, as solid solutions of iron in ZrO₂ are formed in oxide films.     

The LPCTrap experiment: measurement of the β–ν angular correlation in 6He using a transparent Paul trap

We report on the status of the LPCTrap experiment, devoted to measure the β–ν angular correlation in the pure Gamow–Teller decay of ⁶He. This measurement is motivated by the search for the presence of tensor type contributions to the weak interaction. The ⁶He ions are confined in a novel transparent Paul trap. The β particles and the recoil ions are detected in coincidence to deduce the angular correlation parameter. The commissioning run performed in 2005 has given the proof of principle of this experiment. Up to 10⁵ coincidences were recorded during a second run in 2006.     

On some properties of linear and nonlinear waves in pair-ion plasmas

It is pointed out that the observation of the electrostatic ion acoustic wave frequency can be a suitable check to determine whether the produced plasma is a pure pair-ion plasma or whether it comprises some concentration of electrons. A theoretical model for the pair-ion plasma dynamics is presented along with a new electrostatic mode which can exist only in such systems. It can become unstable in the presence of shear flow and it can give rise to vortex structures in the nonlinear regime. The possibility of shocks and solitons, due to nonlinear drift waves in a pair-ion plasma comprising electrons, is also discussed. The relevance of this investigation to both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is pointed out.     

Normal Bundles to Laufer Rational Curves in Local Calabi–Yau Threefolds

We prove a conjecture by F. Ferrari. Let X be the total space of a nonlinear deformation of a rank two holomorphic vector bundle on a smooth rational curve, such that X has trivial canonical bundle and has sections. Then the normal bundle to such sections is computed in terms of the rank of the Hessian of a suitably defined superpotential at its critical points.     

The electron ionization rate in multilayered semiconductor structures

We present theoretical results of the electron impact ionization rate in GaAs/AlGaAs multiquantum well structures as a function of applied electric field for various geometries, i.e., well and barrier widths. In addition, we present preliminary measurements of the current-voltage characteristics of MBE grown devices which demonstrate very low leakage current as well as sharp breakdwon behavior. It is found that the net ionization rate, determined by averaging over the constitutent GaAs and AlGaAs layers, approaches the weighted average of the constituent bulk rates at high electric field strengths; the potential discontinuity is relatively unimportant. The electron ionization rate within the well regions alone is still higher than that in bulk GaAs, but is insufficiently enhanced to compensate for the much lower rate in the AlGaAs layers. As the field is lowered to 250.0 kV/cm, the average ionization rate in the multiquantum well structure becomes larger than in the bulk.     

Some conformally flat spin manifolds, Dirac operators and automorphic forms

In this paper we study Clifford and harmonic analysis on some examples of conformal flat manifolds that have a spinor structure, or more generally, at least a pin structure. The examples treated here are manifolds that can be parametrized by U/Γ where U is a subdomain of either Sn or Rn and Γ is a Kleinian group acting discontinuously on U. The examples studied here include RPn and the Hopf manifolds S¹×Sn−1. Also some hyperbolic manifolds will be treated. Special kinds of Clifford-analytic automorphic forms associated to the different choices of Γ are used to construct explicit Cauchy kernels, Cauchy integral formulas, Green's kernels and formulas together with Hardy spaces and Plemelj projection operators for Lp spaces of hypersurfaces lying in these manifolds.