Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy of magnetic field and magnetisation changes

Owing to its parallel image acquisition, photoemission electron microscopy is well suited for real-time observation of fast processes on surfaces. Pulsed excitation sources like synchrotron radiation or lasers, fast electric pulsers for the study of magnetic switching, and/or time-resolved detection can be utilised. A standard approach also being used in light optical imaging is stroboscopic illumination of a periodic (or quasi-periodic) process. Using this technique, the time dependence of the magnetic field in a pulsed microstrip line has been imaged in real time exploiting Lorentz-type contrast. Similarly, the corresponding field-induced changes in the magnetisation of cobalt microstructures deposited on the microstrip line have been observed exploiting magnetic X-ray circular dichroism as a contrast mechanism. The experiment has been performed at the UE 56/1-PGM at BESSY II (Berlin) in the single-bunch mode. Received: 2 September 2002 / Accepted: 2 September 2002 / Published online: 5 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-6131/392-3807, E-mail: krasyuk@mail.uni-mainz.de     

Time-resolved electron transport studies on InGaAs/GaAs-QWIPs

Due to the short internal response time, quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) are interesting for high-speed applications such as heterodyne spectroscopy or laser pulse monitoring. We studied the photocurrent transients of InGaAs/GaAs-QWIPs after irradiation with infrared laser pulses of 250 fs duration. The excitation wavelength of about 9 μm matches the peak wavelength of the QWIP structure. The photocurrent transient consists of two different dynamical components, representing the fast photoionization in the quantum-wells and the slow injection current that compensates the remaining space charge. The investigations of the different components as a function of temperature and bias voltage were performed on a nanosecond time-scale. The experimental separation of the two photocurrent contributions allows us to determine the photoconductive gain. The Fourier transform of the photocurrent transient was compared with other experimental methods including heterodyne detection and microwave rectification. The quantitative agreement between these different measurement techniques is excellent.     

Efficient terahertz coupling lens based on planar photonic crystals on silicon on insulator

We present a promising coupling device, namely, a terahertz (THz) planar photonic crystal (PhC) lens based on the effective refractive-index contrast between the PhC and the surrounding unpatterned area. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain calculations show a 90% power transfer from a 100-microm silicon waveguide to a 10-microm waveguide, and 45% coupling efficiency is confirmed experimentally. These results demonstrate the utility of the PhC lens as an effective approach to coupling into PhC THz circuits.     

The polaron effect on the binding energy of a shallow donor impurity in quantum-well wires in an electric field

Using a variational technique, the effect of electron-longitudinal optical (LO) phonon interaction on the ground and the first few excited states of a hydrogenic impurity in a semiconductor quantum wire of rectangular cross section under an external electric field is studied theoretically for the impurity atom doped at various positions. The results for the binding energy as well as polaronic correction are obtained as a function of the size of the wire, the applied uniform electric field and the position of the impurity. It is found that the presence of optical phonons changes significantly the values of the impurity binding energies of the system. Taking into account the electron–LO phonon interaction the 1s→2p_y and 1s→2p_z transition energies are calculated as a function of applied electric field for different impurity positions.     

Electron–phonon effect on the ground-state binding energy of hydrogenic impurity in quantum-well wire in presence of an electric field

The hydrogenic impurity binding energy in rectangular quantum well wire including both barriers of finite height and an applied electric field are studied. The polaron effects on the ground-state binding energy in electric field are investigated by means of Landau-Pekar variation technique. The results for the binding energy as well as polaronic correction are obtained as a function of the size of the wire, the applied electric field and the position of the impurity. Our calculations are compared with previous results in quantum wires of comparable dimensions.     

Simultaneous estimation of Poisson means

In the simultaneous estimation of means from independent Poisson distributions, an estimator is developed which incorporates a prior mean and variance for each Poisson mean estimated. This estimator possesses substantially smaller risk than the usual estimator in a region of the parameter space and seems superior to other estimators proposed to estimate p Poisson means. It is indicated through two asymptotic results that, unlike the conjugate Bayes estimator, the risk of the estimator does not greatly exceed the risk of the usual estimator outside of the region of risk improvement.     

Effect of age on detection of gaps in speech and nonspeech markers varying in duration and spectral symmetry

Gap detection thresholds for speech and analogous nonspeech stimuli were determined in younger and older adults with clinically normal hearing in the speech range. Gap detection thresholds were larger for older than for younger listeners in all conditions, with the size of the age difference increasing with stimulus complexity. For both ages, gap detection thresholds were far smaller when the markers before and after the gap were the same (spectrally symmetrical) compared to when they were different (spectrally asymmetrical) for both speech and nonspeech stimuli. Moreover, gap detection thresholds were smaller for nonspeech than for speech stimuli when the markers were spectrally symmetrical but the opposite was observed when the markers were spectrally asymmetrical. This pattern of results may reflect the benefit of activating well-learned gap-dependent phonemic contrasts. The stimulus-dependent age effects were interpreted as reflecting the differential effects of age-dependent losses in temporal processing ability on within- and between-channel gap detection.