Portable and Automatic Mössbauer Analysis

A portable Mössbauer spectrometer, developed for extraterrestrial applications, opens up new industrial applications of MBS. But for industrial applications, an available tool for fast data analysis is also required, and it should be easy to handle. The analysis of Mössbauer spectra and their parameters is a barrier for the popularity of this wide-applicable spectroscopic technique in industry. Based on experience, the analysis of a Mössbauer spectrum is time-consuming and requires the dedication of a specialist. However, the analysis of Mössbauer spectra, from the fitting to the identification of the sample phases, can be faster using by genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks. Industrial applications are very specific ones and the data analysis can be performed using these algorithms. In combination with an automatic analysis, the Mössbauer spectrometer can be used as a probe instrument which covers the main industrial needs for an on-line monitoring of its products, processes and case studies. Some of these real industrial applications will be discussed.     

Carbon precipitation and diffusion in SiGeC alloys under silicon self-interstitial injection

In this work we investigate the diffusion and precipitation of supersaturated substitutional carbon in 200-nm-thick SiGeC layers buried under a silicon cap layer of 40 nm. The samples were annealed in either inert (N₂) or oxidizing (O₂) ambient at 850 °C for times ranging from 2 to 10 h. The silicon self-interstitial (I) flux coming from the surface under oxidation enhances the C diffusion with respect to the N₂-annealed samples. In the early stages of the oxidation process, the loss of C from the SiGeC layer by diffusion across the layer/cap interface dominates. This phenomenon saturates after an initial period (2–4 h), which depends on the C concentration. This saturation is due to the formation and growth of C-containing precipitates that are promoted by the I injection and act as a sink for mobile C atoms. The influence of carbon concentration on the competition between precipitation and diffusion is discussed. Received: 19 October 2001 / Accepted: 19 December 2001 / Published online: 20 March 2002 / Published online: 20 March 2002     

Formation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films from polymer pyrolysis

Free-standing and supported hydrogenated amorphous carbon films (a:C–H) were prepared upon pyrolysis of the polymer formed by ethanolamine (EA) and citric acid (CA), under an ambient atmosphere at 300 °C. EA facilitates the formation of the macroscopic films, while CA is essential for obtaining the a:C–H microstructure, which comprises a mixture of sp² and sp³ carbon. Received: 29 May 2001 / Accepted: 17 August 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Structures and stability of Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>C and Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>N clusters

We report results of the atomic and electronic structures of Al₇C cluster using ab initio molecular dynamics with ultrasoft pseudopotentials and generalized gradient approximation. The lowest energy structure is found to be the one in which carbon atom occupies an interstitial position in Al₇ cluster. The electronic structure shows that the recent observation [Chem. Phys. Lett. 316, 31 (2000)] of magic behavior of Al₇C^- cluster is due to a large highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) gap which makes Al₇C^- chemically inert. These results have further led us to the finding of a new neutral magic cluster Al₇N which has the same number of valence electrons as in Al₇C^- and a large HOMO-LUMO gap of 1.99 eV. Further, calculations have been carried out on (Al₇N)₂ to study interaction between magic clusters. Received 28 July 2001     

Resummation of the jet broadening in DIS

We calculate the leading and next-to-leading logarithmic resummed distribution for the jet broadening in deep inelastic scattering, as well as the power correction for both the distribution and mean value. A truncation of the answer at NLL accuracy, as is standard, leads to unphysical divergences. We discuss their origin and show how the problem can be resolved. We then examine DIS specific procedures for matching to fixed order calculations and compare our results to the data. One of the tools developed for the comparison is an NLO parton distribution evolution code. When compared to PDF sets from MRST and CTEQ it reveals limited discrepancies in both. Received: 16 October 2001 / Published online: 12 April 2002     

The influence of interatomic distances on magnetic ordering in RMnSi compounds (R=La, Y, Sm, and Gd)

Magnetic ordering in the RMnSi (R=La, Y, Sm, and Gd) compounds is investigated. It is found that the type of magnetic ordering depends on the d _Mn-Mn distance between manganese atoms inside the magnetic layers located in the planes perpendicular to the c axis. This inference is based on the results of studies performed with SmMnSi and GdMnSi compounds in which the distances between manganese atoms are close to the critical value d _Mn-Mn that corresponds to the crossover between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering in RMnSi compounds. The introduction of lanthanum and yttrium atoms into the rare-earth sublattice leads to an increase and a decrease in the unit cell size, respectively, and brings about magnetic phase transitions in the compounds under investigation.     

Circular dichroism of some bisbenzyltetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids

The circular dichroism (CD) method has been used to study the stereochemistry of the bisbenzyltetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids. A relationship has been established between the absolute configurations of the asymmetric centers and the parameters of the Cotton effects in the CD spectra. The changes in the CD spectra on protonation have been correlated with conformational rearrangements of the molecules due to the different attachment of the oxygen bridges.Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 818–823, November–December, 1979.     

Invertible point transformations,Painlevé test,and the second Painlevé transcendent

The techniques of invertible point transformations and the Painlevé analysis can be used to construct integrable ordinary differential equations. We compare both techniques for the second Painlevé transcendent.     

State space and wave equation for Boson string with nontrivial topology of world sheet

We show that the wave functions of a string with nontrivial topology of the world sheet should be considered as sections of line bundles over the space of conformal classes of Riemann surfaces. We construct a BRST operator for the case of arbitrary topology and give it a geometric interpretation.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 169, pp. 107–121, 1988.     

Diffusion from sessile droplets through membranes

We analyze diffusion from a periodic array of hemispherical droplets through a membrane. We find that the multiple sources do not interact strongly, even when the droplets are closely spaced, so that the flux through the membrane appears nearly additive.