Observation of size-dependent thermalization in CdSe nanocrystals using time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy

We report heat dissipation times in semiconductor nanocrystals of CdSe. Specifically, a previously unresolved, subnanosecond decay component in the low-temperature photoluminescence decay dynamics exhibits longer decay lifetimes (tens to hundreds of picoseconds) for larger nanocrystals as well as a size-independent, ~25-meV spectral shift. We attribute the fast relaxation to transient phonon-mediated relaxation arising from nonequilibrium acoustic phonons. Following acoustic phonon dissipation, the dark exciton state recombines more slowly via LO-phonon assistance resulting in the observed spectral shift. The measured relaxation time scales agree with classical calculations of thermal diffusion, indicating that interfacial thermal conductivity does not limit thermal transport in these semiconductor nanocrystal dispersions.     

Angle of incidence effects in a molecular solid

We investigate the influence of the angle of incidence on the sputter yield when bombarding molecular solid, benzene, with C₆₀. Our simulations show that at normal incidence, essentially all of the projectile energy is deposited into the substrate within ∼2.5 nm of the surface. However, at 75° incident angle, only 35% of the projectile energy is deposited within a depth of less than 1.5 nm of the surface while 65% of the projectile energy is reflected. Therefore, important aspects of the collision process which are dependent upon energy deposition, such as sputter yield, ejection depth, and molecule dissociation, may change as the incident angle changes.     

Millimeter and submillimeter detection using Ga1?xAlxAs/GaAs heterostructures

We have shown that a Ga_1–xAl_xAs/GaAs heterostructure can be used as a sensitive tunable detector of mm-wave/sub-mm-wave radiation. The mechanism for detection requires the application of a magnetic field varying from approximately 0.2T at 94GHz (3.2mm wavelength) to 6.2T at 2500GHz (119m wavelength). The responsivity and N.E.P. at 3.2mm have been roughly estimated at 200V/W and 5×10^–11W/Hz respectively. The speed of such a detector could be several orders of magnitude greater than comparable InSb detectors.     

Some remarks on the energy-momentum tensor in general relativity

In general relativity, the energy-momentum tensor of a classical tensor field can be constructed by varying the action of the field with respect to the background metric. This paper suggests an alternative interpretation of the construction which also makes sense for spinor fields, and which gives some insight into the locality of energy-momentum operators in generally covariant quantum field theory.     

Structure sensitive factors in molecular cluster formation by ion bombardment of single crystal surfaces

The dynamics of molecular cluster formation from a solid bombarded by a 600 eV Ar⁺ ion have been studied classically by computer simulation. The dimers and trimers are found to establish their identity as clusters within interaction range of the solid, but not by a direct ejection of a bound molecule. The Cu₂/Cu and Cu₃/Cu ratios are found to be strongly dependent on crystal orientation. The (111) face is 2–3 times more likely to produce multimers than the (100) face. We find 9 trimers from (111) but none from (110). The relationship between cluster composition and the original arrangement of those atoms on the surface is presented in detail. We find that each multimer forms from atoms that originate within a roughly circular region of area ～70 Ų or less. This region is not necessarily centered on the ion impact point. A consequence of this observation is that dimers can consist of atoms that were several Ångströms apart on the surface but that most trimers contain at least one nearest neighbor pair of atoms. The calculated energy distribution for the dimers matches well with similar experimental studies.     

Attenuation of ultrasound in skeletal muscle

Ultrasonic attenuation in fresh and 5% formalin fixed beef skeletal muscle has been measured, as a continuous function of frequency, in the range 1–8 MHz, for muscle fibre orientations both parallel and normal to the direction of propagation. Good agreement was found in all cases between two independent sets of measurements employing transmission and reflection techniques respectively. The data are consistent with a power law dependence of attenuation coefficient on frequency, with an exponent that is not significantly different from unity. For propagation normal to the fibres attenuation values are found as 1.1 ± 0.15 and 1.6 ± 0.15 dB cm^?1 MHz^?1 for fresh and fixed tissue respectively, the corresponding values for parallel propagation being 2.9 ± 0.23 and 4.1 ± 0.25 dB cm^?1 MHz^?1.     

Noise-induced asymptotic periodicity in a piecewise linear map

We examine asymptotically periodic density evolution in one-dimensional maps perturbed by noise, associating the macroscopic state of these dynamical systems with a phase space density. For asymptotically periodic systems density evolution becomes periodic in time, as do some macroscopic properties calculated from them. The general formalism of asymptotic periodicity is examined and used to calculate time correlations along trajectories of these maps as well as their limiting conditional entropy. The time correlation is shown to naturally decouple into periodic and stochastic components. Finally, asymptotic periodicity is studied in a noise-perturbed piecewise linear map, focusing on how the variation of noise amplitude can cause a transition from asymptotic periodicity to asymptotic stability in the density evolution of this system.     

Estimating the matrixp-norm

Summary The Hölderp-norm of anm×n matrix has no explicit representation unlessp=1,2 or . It is shown here that thep-norm can be estimated reliably inO(mn) operations. A generalization of the power method is used, with a starting vector determined by a technique with a condition estimation flavour. The algorithm nearly always computes ap-norm estimate correct to the specified accuracy, and the estimate is always within a factorn ^1–1/p of A _p . As a by-product, a new way is obtained to estimate the 2-norm of a rectangular matrix; this method is more general and produces better estimates in practice than a similar technique of Cline, Conn and Van Loan.     

Compact Kähler Surfaces with Trivial Canonical Bundle

The classical conjectures of Weil on K3 surfaces – that the set of suchsurfaces is connected; that a version of the Torelli theorem holds; thateach such surface is Kähler; and that the period map issurjective – are reconsidered in the light of a generalisation of theNakai–Moishezon criterion, and short proofs of all the conjectures aregiven. Most of the proofs apply equally or with minor variation tocomplex 2-tori, the only other compact Kähler surfaces with trivialcanonical bundle.