Interplay of charge, spin, orbital and lattice correlations in colossal magnetoresistance manganites

We derive a realistic microscopic model for doped colossal magnetoresistance manganites, which includes the dynamics of charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom on a quantum mechanical level. The model respects the SU(2) spin symmetry and the full multiplet structure of the manganese ions within the cubic lattice. Concentrating on the hole doped domain ( 0≤x≤0.5) we study the influence of the electron-lattice interaction on spin and orbital correlations by means of exact diagonalisation techniques. We find that the lattice can cause a considerable suppression of the coupling between spin and orbital degrees of freedom and show how changes in the magnetic correlations are reflected in dynamic phonon correlations. In addition, our calculation gives detailed insights into orbital correlations and demonstrates the possibility of complex orbital states. Received 4 September 2002 / Received in final form 8 November 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays for high-resolution thermal imaging

The first fully operational mid-IR (3–5 μm) 256×256 IR-FPA camera system based on a type-II InAs/GaSb short-period superlattice showing an excellent noise equivalent temperature difference below 10 mK and a very uniform performance has been realized. We report on the development and fabrication of the detecor chip, i.e., epitaxy, processing technology and electro-optical characterization of fully integrated InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays. While the superlattice design employed for the first demonstrator camera yielded a quantum efficiency around 30%, a superlattice structure grown with a thicker active layer and an optimized V/III BEP ratio during growth of the InAs layers exhibits a significant increase in quantum efficiency. Quantitative responsivity measurements reveal a quantum efficiency of about 60% for InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays after implementing this design improvement. The paper presented there appears in Infrared Photoelectronics, edited by Antoni Rogalski, Eustace L. Dereniak, Fiodor F. Sizov, Proc. SPIE Vol. 5957, 595707 (2005).     

Measurement ofD(\vec p,p)D elastic scattering at 10.0, 12.0, 14.1 and 16.5 MeV especially for small forward and extreme backward scattering angles

The elastic scattering was investigated especially in the Coulomb sensitive scattering regions. Angular distributions of the differential cross section and of the analyzing powerA _y, with emphasis on small scattering angles, were measured at 10.0 and 14.1 MeV. For extreme backward angles up toJ _c.m.=179° the differential cross section was measured at 12.0, 14.1 and 16.5 MeV. The data have been compared with recent Faddeev calculations based on the realistic meson-exchange Paris potential and including an approximate Coulomb correction. There are discrepancies between the data and the calculations especially for the analyzing power. This indicates that the approximate treatment of Coulomb effects and possibly also the purely nuclear part of the calculations need to be improved.     

Determination of the partial electron capture- and spontaneous-fission half-lives of254No

The isotope²⁵⁴No was produced in the fusion reaction⁴⁸Ca +²⁰⁸Pb. Using the velocity filter SHIP and radiochemical techniques it was found that the nuclide²⁵⁴No with a half-life of 55 s decays byα, EC, and spontaneous-fission. Deduced partial half-lives are (61±2) s forα-decay, (550 _?160 ⁺³⁷⁰ ) s for EC and [2.2 _?1.0 ^+2.0 ]×10⁴ s for spontaneous fission.     

Semi-insulating electrical properties of undoped inp after heat treatment in a phosphorus atmosphere

Nominally undoped InP wafers have been annealed in a phosphorus atmosphere under a pressure of about 5 bar at temperatures of 900 °C for about 80 h. It was found that the electrical properties of the samples changed considerably after this treatment. A room temperature resistivity of up to 2×10⁷cm (semi-insulating behaviour) was obtained in the bulk of the samples. The resistivity finally obtained depends on the starting carrier concentration of the untreated samples. The Hall coefficient and Hall mobility have been measured up to 600 °C. The results can be interpreted in terms of a deep electronic level (E _A=0.63 ... 0.65 eV below the conduction band). The Hall coefficient was always found to be negative resulting in a Hall mobility of 1.4 to 4.9×10³ cm²/Vs. The highest resistivity in nominally undoped bulk InP so far reported in the literature [1] was =3.6 × 10⁵cm. Therefore, this paper demonstrates for the first time that a really semi-insulating behaviour of >10⁷ cm can be achieved for bulk InP with the purity of nominally undoped material (10¹⁵ to 10¹⁶cm^–3).     

Enhancing calibration models for non-invasive near-infrared spectroscopical blood glucose determination

Partial least-squares regression (PLS) and radial basis function (RBF) networks are used to compute calibration models for non-invasive blood glucose determination by NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. A model computation shows that even extremely small deviations of the spectra induce increased prediction errors. Since the spectral contribution of blood glucose is much smaller than deviations resulting from the non-invasive measuring process a method based on Pearson’s correlation coefficient can be used for evaluating the quality of the recorded spectra during the prediction step. Another method is based on the leverage values from the hat matrix of the RBF network. Both methods lead to a significant decrease in prediction error.     

The lignol approach to biorefining of woody biomass to produce ethanol and chemicals

Processes that produce only ethanol from lignocellulosics display poor economics. This is generally overcome by constructing large facilities having satisfactory economies of scale, thus making financing onerous and hindering the development of suitable technologies. Lignol Innovations has developed a biorefining technology that employs an ethanol-based organosolv step to separate lignin, hemicellulose components, and extractives from the cellulosic fraction of woody biomass. The resultant cellulosic fraction is highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis, generating very high yields of glucose (>90% in 12–24h) with typical enzyme loadings of 10–20 FPU (filter paper units)/g. This glucose is readily converted to ethanol, or possibly other sugar platform chemicals, either by sequential or simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The liquor from the organosolv step is processed by well-established unit operations to recover lignin, furfural, xylose, acetic acid, and a lipophylic extractives fraction. The process ethanol is recovered and recycled back to the process. The resulting recycled process water is of a very high quality, low BOD₅, and suitable for overall system process closure. Significant benefits can be attained in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as per the Kyoto Protocol. Revenues from the multiple products, particularly the lignin, ethanol and xylose fractions, ensure excellent economics for the process even in plants as small as 100 mtpd (metric tonnes per day) dry woody biomass input—a scale suitable for processing wood residues produced by a single large sawmill.