Relationship between chemical bond parameters and superconducting temperature in HgBa2Can−1CunO2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4)

Bond covalency and valence of elements in HgBa₂Ca_n−1Cu_nO_2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4) were calculated and their relationship with T_c was discussed. For both oxygen and argon annealed samples, the results indicated that with the increase of n, the trend of bond covalency of Hg-O and Cu-O was the same or opposite compared with that of superconducting temperature. This may suggest that the magnitudes of Cu-O and Hg-O bond covalency are important in governing the superconducting temperature. For the highest T_c sample, Hg had the lowest valence, implying that lower valence of Hg was preferred in order to produce higher T_c. For fixed n, the valence of Cu in oxygen annealed samples was larger than that in argon annealed samples, indicating that oxygen annealed samples produced more carriers than argon annealed samples.     

DISCRETE HUYGENS' MODELLING APPROACH TO WAVE PROPAGATIONS IN A HOMOGENEOUS ELASTIC FIELD

The application of the discrete Huygens' modelling has been discussed for acoustic wave propagation problems, in which the scalar wave field problems have been focused. The present paper extends the application of the modelling to the elastic wave propagation in a homogeneous elastic medium in which two types of waves, the longitudinal wave and the shear wave, are independent except at the boundary. Each wave can be treated like a scalar wave until the two waves reach the boundary where they couple so as to satisfy the displacement or stress boundary condition. We propose the approach confining ourselves to the two-dimensional field. Some examples are demonstrated, whose solutions are compared with the vectorial wave modelling and finite difference modelling solutions whenever they are available.     

Laser induced copper electroless plating on polyimide with Q-switch Nd:YAG laser

The results of laser induced deposition of copper on polyimide substrate from copper electrolyte solution are reported. Unlike most work reported in the literatures where CW Ar⁺ lasers were used, a second harmonic (532 nm wavelength) Q-switch Nd:YAG laser was used for our experiments. The deposition process was conducted by laser-catalyzing of the polyimide surface and subsequent photothermal-accelerated reduction of copper-complex ions in an alkaline reducing environment. The characteristics of the deposited copper line were investigated in terms of laser beam scanning speed, and the number of scans. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the deposited copper were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDX). The optimum processing conditions have been identified. The copper deposit was found to adhere well to the substrate.     

A Modified Quasi-Newton Method for Structured Optimization with Partial Information on the Hessian

This paper develops a modified quasi-Newton method for structured unconstrained optimization with partial information on the Hessian, based on a better approximation to the Hessian in current search direction. The new approximation is decided by both function values and gradients at the last two iterations unlike the original one which only uses the gradients at the last two iterations. The modified method owns local and superlinear convergence. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method is encouraging comparing with the methods proposed in [4] for structured unconstrained optimization Presented at the 6th International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications, Ballarat, Australia, December 9–11, 2004     

Stable all-optical formation of Bose–Einstein condensate using pointing-stabilized optical trapping beams

By stabilizing the beam pointing of optical trapping beams, we have succeeded in stable formation of Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of ⁸⁷Rb with all-optical method. The thermal effect of acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is usually one of the most serious problems to induce beam-pointing instability, especially for high power CO₂ laser. By passing the beam through AOM twice, we have improved the beam pointing from about 4.8 mrad to less than 0.4 mrad, which has been experimentally confirmed to be small enough to stably form BEC at the crossed region of CO₂ lasers as well as to perform experiments using an optical lattice which might have been affected by beam-pointing instability. PACS 32.80.Pj; 42.79.Jq; 03.75.Mn     

The orientation-selective growth of LaNiO3 films on Si(100) by pulsed laser deposition using a MgO buffer

Highly (100)-oriented, (110)-oriented and polycrystalline LaNiO₃ (LNO) films were successfully prepared on Si(100) using an oriented MgO film as a buffer. It was somewhat surprising to find that that the orientation relation between the LNO film and the corresponding MgO buffer was: LNO(100)\MgO(110), LNO(110)\MgO(111) and LNO(polycrystalline)\MgO(100). The crystalline quality of the LNO films was shown to be sensitive to the preparation conditions of the MgO buffer. The film surface was very smooth, without micrometer-sized droplets being observed. All LNO films were of metallic conductivity, with a room-temperature resistivities of approximately 250, 280 and 420 μΩ cm for the (110)-oriented, (100)-oriented and polycrystalline LNO, respectively. Received: 2 April 2001 / Accepted: 23 October 2001 / Published online: 3 June 2002     

Fuzzy convex sets in median algebras

The fuzzification of convex sets in median algebras is considered, and some of their properties are investigated. A characterization of finite valued fuzzy convex set is given.     

Active long pulse shaping technique of pulsed CO2 laser using multi-pulse discharge control

We describe the pulse forming of pulsed CO₂ laser using multi-pulse superposition technique. Various pulse shapes, high duty cycle pulse forming network (PFN) are constructed by time sequence. This study shows a technology that makes it possible to make various long pulse shapes by activating SCRs of three PFN modules consecutively at a desirable delay time with the aid of a PIC one-chip microprocessor. The power supply for this experiment consists of three PFN modules. Each PFN module uses a capacitor, a pulse forming inductor, a SCR, a high voltage pulse transformer, and a bridge rectifier on each transformer secondary. The PFN modules operate at low voltage by driving the primary of HV pulse transformer. The secondary of the transformer has a full-wave rectifier, which passes the pulse energy to the load in a continuous sequence.We investigated various long pulse shapes as different trigger time intervals of SCRs among three PFN modules. As a result, we could obtain laser beam with various pulse shapes and durations from about 250 to 1000 μs.     

Experimental observation of quantum corrections to electrical resistivity in nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys

X-ray diffraction patterns of nanocrystalline Fe-Cu-Nb-Si-B (FINEMET) alloys reveal that bcc α-Fe/α-FeSi crystallites with the average grain size of 20(5) nm are dispersed in amorphous matrix. Enhanced electron—electron interaction (EEI) and quantum interference (QI) effects as well as electron-magnon (and/or electron-spin fluctuation) scattering turn out to be the main mechanisms that govern the temperature dependence of resistivity. Of all the inelastic scattering processes, inelastic electron-phonon scattering is the most effective mechanism to destroy phase coherence of electron wave functions. The diffusion constant, density of states at the Fermi level and the inelastic scattering time have been estimated, for the first time, for the alloys in question Article presented at the International Symposium on Advances in Superconductivity and Magnetism: Materials, Mechanisms and Devices, ASMM2D-2001, 25–28 September 2001, Mangalore, India.     

On additives, morphological evolution and dielectric breakdown in low density polyethylene

A series of low density polyethylene systems has been studied with respect to structural evolution and short-term dielectric breakdown behaviour. All materials were based upon a single polymer, that is commonly used in high voltage applications, but with different additives. In all three of these systems, multiple melting transitions were observed, as a result of molecular fractionation effects during crystallization. In the virgin polymer, a space-filling banded spherulitic morphology was found to develop at low temperatures (102 °C and below) whereas, at higher temperatures, only a few isolated axialites were observed. Inclusion of the antioxidant resulted in greatly increased nucleation densities, such that, at low temperatures, no evidence of spherulitic organisation remained. At higher temperatures, sheaf-like lamellar aggregates developed, which were much smaller and much more numerous than in the case of the virgin polymer. Further addition of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) resulted in the rapid formation of a crosslinked network at 200 °C. Some crosslinking also occurred at 150 °C, but over a much longer timescale. Where extensive crosslinking occurred prior to crystallization, the resulting gel inhibited structural development, such that only a few small, isolated sheaves were able to form at 102 °C. In view of the principal application area of this material, the breakdown strength of each of the above systems was then measured and the whole data set was analysed statistically. When structural factors were considered alongside the statistics, no clear trends emerged to indicate that either the compositional or morphological variations were reflected in the short-term electrical failure processes.