Crack-free micromachining on glass substrates by visible LIBWE using liquid metallic absorbers

Laser induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) is a promising laser direct-write technique for etching transparent materials and for producing high precision and near-optical quality surfaces. In this study, visible LIBWE using gallium and eutectic indium/gallium as absorbers was used for crack-free microfabrication of sodalime and quartz. Eutectic indium/gallium (In/Ga) has a melting temperature lower than metallic gallium does and the etching rate by using In/Ga was found to be similar to that by gallium for visible LIBWE. When using the gallium absorber, the etching threshold of quartz by visible LIBWE was about one-third of that by UV LIBWE. The heat-affected zone of the quartz etching was negligible at the trench rim in the visible LIBWE process. The wettability of the metallic absorbers on the substrates affects aspect ratio and is a new important factor for LIBWE. In addition, etching rate decreased when repetition rate was increased.     

Heat Content Asymptotics for Oblique Boundary Conditions

We consider the short-time heat content asymptotics for oblique boundary conditions. The first few coefficients in the asymptotic expansion are calculated.     

The effect of resistant starches on fat oxidation in healthy adults as measured by a 13CO2-breath test

A resistant starch (RS) mixture (MIX) consisting of fibre of potatoes (FP) and wrinkled pea starch (WPS), and high amylose maize starch (HAMS) were supplemented in adults to evaluate their effects on fat oxidation by means of a ¹³CO₂-breath test. Sixteen subjects received a regular diet either without or with the supplementation of MIX and HAMS in randomised order. After administration of a [U-¹³C]algal lipid mixture, exhaled air was collected over 14?h in 0.5- and 1-h intervals. The ¹³C abundances were measured by nondispersive infrared spectroscopy. In comparison to the dry run (DR), supplementation with MIX and with HAMS increased the cumulative percentage dose recovery: (DR: 16.7?%, MIX: 16.9?%, HAMS: 18.0?%), but without statistical significance. The colonic degradation of MIX and HAMS to short-chain fatty acids tends to lower the formation of carbohydrate-derived acetyl-CoA and contributes to a postprandial lipid oxidation increase by using fat-derived acetyl-CoA as a compensatory fuel source.     

Depth profiling by means of sims: Recent progress and current problems

The present state of the art of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), applied to the in-depth analysis of impurity concentration profiles, is reviewed critically. It is shown that SIMS has reached a level of perfection which is unparalleled by other analytical techniques. There are, however, several effects which may cause deviations of the measured profile from the original dopant distribution. These detrimental effects are due to interaction of primary ions with the residual gas, adsorption and incorporation of residual gases, sputtering yield variations due to the accumulation of probe atoms in the sample, mass interference between molecular ions and the atomic species under study and, last but not least, beam-induced relocation of dopant atoms (“atomic mixing”). Methods for minimizing the respective disturbing effect are discussed.     

Theoretical study of new acceptor and donor molecules based on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Functionalized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an interesting class of molecules in which the electronic state of the graphene-like hydrocarbon part is tuned by the functional group. Searching for new types of donor and acceptor molecules, a set of new PAHs has recently been investigated experimentally using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). In this work, the electronic structure of the PAHs is studied theoretically with the help of B3LYP hybrid density functionals. Using the ΔSCF method, electron binding energies have been determined which affirm, specify and complement the UPS data. Symmetry properties of molecular orbitals are analyzed for a categorization and an estimate of the related signal strength. While σ-like orbitals are difficult to detect in UPS spectra of condensed film, calculation provides a detailed insight into the hidden parts of the electronic structure of donor and acceptor molecules. In addition, a diffuse basis set (6-311++G**) was used to calculate electron affinity and LUMO eigenvalues. The calculated electron affinity (EA) provides a classification of the donor/acceptor properties of the studied molecules. Coronene-hexaone shows a high EA, comparable to TCNQ, which is a well-known classical acceptor. Calculated HOMO-LUMO gaps using the related eigenvalues have a good agreement with the experimental lowest excitation energies. TD-DFT also accurately predicts the measured optical gap.     

Simultaneous Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy of single conjugated polymer chains

Simultaneous surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and fluorescence is demonstrated from single conjugated polymer chains. As resonance enhancement of SERS depends on the spectral overlap of the polymer's absorption and the incident laser, resonance Raman and fluorescence effectively probe the absorbing and emitting part of the polymer, respectively. The optical phonon energies change along the polymer chain, providing a window to spatially track excited state relaxation. Whereas a mean spatial redistribution of the excitation is witnessed by a change in vibronic fingerprint following interchromophoric energy transfer, intrachromophoric exciton self-trapping leaves the vibrations unchanged.     

Electronic excitation energy transfer between two single molecules embedded in a polymer host

Unidirectional electronic excitation energy transfer from a photoexcited donor chromophore to a ground state acceptor chromophore - both linked by a rigid bridge - has been investigated by low temperature high-resolution single molecule spectroscopy. Our approach allows for accurately accessing static disorder in the donor and acceptor electronic transitions and to calculate the spectral overlap for each couple. By plotting the experimentally determined transfer rates against the spectral overlap, we can distinguish and quantify F?rster- and non-F?rster-type contributions to the energy transfer.