A SAXS study of the nanostructural characteristics of TEOS-derived sonogels upon heat treatment up to 1100 °C

Xerogels obtained from the acid-catalyzed and ultrasound stimulated hydrolysis of TEOS were submitted to heat treatment at temperatures ranging from 60 to 1100 °C and studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS intensity as a function of the modulus of the scattering vector q was obtained in the range from q₀=0.19 to q_m=4.4 nm⁻¹. At 60 °C the xerogels exhibit an apparent surface fractal structure with a fractal dimension D_S∼2.5 in a length scale ranging from 1/q₁∼1 to 1/q_m∼0.22 nm. This structure becomes extremely rough at 120 °C (D_S∼3) and at 150 °C, it apparently converts to a mass fractal with a fractal dimension D∼2.4. This may mean an emptying of the pores with preservation of a share of the original mass fractal structure of the wet aged gel, for it had presented a mass fractal dimension D∼2.2. A well characterized porous structure formed by 2.0 nm mean size pores with smooth surface of about 380 m²/g is formed at 300 °C and remains stable until approximately 800 °C. At 900 °C the SAXS intensity vanishes indicating the disappearance of the pores in the probed length scale. The elimination of the nanopores occurs by a mechanism in which the number of pores diminishes keeping constant their mean size. The xerogels exhibit a foaming phenomenon above 900 °C and scatter following Porod's law as does a surface formed by a coarse structure.     

Effect of the Arsenic Concentration on the Characteristics of the Growth Step Echelon in GaAs Epitaxy

The effect of the arsenic concentration in the vapor phase on the growth step distribution over the surface of GaAs epitaxial layers grown in a chlorine-hydride vapor-transport system on substrates with 4° (111)A and (113)A orientations is studied. It is demonstrated that the average distance between steps in the echelon depends on the arsenic concentration and increases with it up to a certain constant value. It is assumed that this is connected with the change in the kink density at the steps.     

Violation of isotopic invariance in strong interactions and mass spectrum of the 1/2+ baryon octet

The ideas developed by Gell-Mann and Okubo in studying violation of unitary symmetry are used to describe violation of isototic invariance in strong interactions. The present consideration is performed for the example of the mass spectrum of the octet formed by baryons of spin-parity 1/2⁺: only for this family are the widths of its particles much less than the scale of the effects being investigated, their masses being known from experiments to a fairly high precision. The Gell-Mann-Okubo formula is generalized in such a way that relations both for the splitting between the isomultiplets of the octet and for the mass splitting within these isomultiplets follow from the new formula. Moreover, a relation between masses that describes their electromagnetic splitting and which coincides in form with the Coleman-Glashow relation also follows from this formula. The relations obtained for the masses of the baryons belonging to the octet in question are satisfied to a precision not poorer than 3%.     

Multi-layer structure in the strongly coupled 5D abelian Higgs model

We explore the phase diagram of the five-dimensional anisotropic Abelian Higgs model by Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we study the transition between the confining phase and the four-dimensional layered Higgs phase. We find that, in a certain region of the lattice parameter space, this transition can be first order, and that each layer moves into the Higgs phase independently of the others (decoupling of layers). As the Higgs couplings vary, we find, using mean field techniques, that this transition may probably become second order. Received: 21 December 2001 / Published online: 12 April 2002     

Entangled state generation and modulation of vacuum squeezing by classical optical fields in birefringent fiber

Evolution of the vacuum fluctuations in the two-wave mixing of the optical fields propagating in a birefringent fiber is studied. The two-wave mixing in the birefringent fiber was suggested as a possible scheme for the entangled-state generation. Our treatment in studying the entangled-state generation uses depleted pump approximation and enables one to trace the influence of the input conditions of classical optical fields on the evolution of vacuum squeezing. We report the periodical modulation of the vacuum squeezing when the input relative phase of coherent waves varies. The measure of nonclassical correlations imposed on the generated light is calculated.     

Foliations by complex curves and the geometry of real surfaces of finite type

We show that if the Levi form of a smooth CR manifold is de-generate in every conormal direction, then on a dense open set, the manifold is foliated by complex curves. As a consequence we show that every real analytic manifold of finite D'Angelo type can be stratified so that each stratum locally is contained in a Levi nondegenerate hypersurface. Received in final form: 11 June 2001 / Published online: 28 February 2002     

Simulation of time-resolved vibronic spectra and the possibility of analyzing molecules with similar spectral properties

The possibility of using time-resolved vibronic spectroscopy for spectral analysis of mixtures of chemical compounds with similar optical properties, when traditional methods (based on stedy-state spectra) are inefficient, is demonstrated by using the method of computer simulation. The analysis is carried out by the example of molecules of a series of polyenes (butadiene, hexadiene, octatetraene, decapentaene, and decatetraene), their various cis-and trans-rotational isomers, and phenyl-substituted polyenes. Ranges of relative concentrations of molecules similar in their spectral properties, where reliable interpretation of time-resolved spectra of mixtures and both qualitative and quantitative analyses are possible, are determined. The use of computer simulation methods for optimizing full-scale experiments in femtosecond spectroscopy is shown to hold much promise.     

Quasi-hexagonal self-organization of nanoparticles upon the laser-controlled deposition of Ga atoms

A cooperative defect-deformation (DD) mechanism is developed for the nucleation of the quasi-monodisperse ensemble of nanoparticles in the low-temperature deposition of Ga atoms in the presence of laser radiation. A comparison with experiment is carried out, and a good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results has been obtained. In particular, in accordance with the DD model, it has been found that the arrangement of nanoparticles is characterized by a latent hexagonal order, and their shape is quasi-hexagonal. It has been shown that the characteristics of the deposited ensemble of nanoparticles can be controlled with the use of an anisotropic deformation.