Emergence of the sub‐THz central peak at phase transitions in artificial BaTiO3/(Ba,Sr)TiO3 superlattices

A prominent central peak in the sub‐THz frequency range was observed in the Raman spectra of BaTiO₃/(Ba,Sr)TiO₃ (BT/BST) superlattice grown on (001)MgO substrate. Both soft and central mode show an anomaly around 200 K and 280 K, which can be correlated with orthorhombic to monoclinic phase transition of BST and BT, respectively. The observed temperature dependence of the central mode enabled us to explain rather broad temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity previously observed in BT/BST superlattices. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Particle size distribution, magnetic permeability and dc conductivity of nano-structured and bulk LiNiZn-ferrite samples

Nanoparticles of Li_0.1(Ni_1−xZn_x)_0.8Fe_2.1O₄ (x=0-1.0) were prepared by a chemical co-precipitation method. A part of the precipitated powders was sintered at 1473 K for 2 h to obtain bulk samples via increasing the particle sizes. The particle size distribution, dc conductivity and magnetic permeability were investigated for the nano-structured samples and their bulk counterparts. The permeability as a function of temperature revealed the size effect of nano-structure in agreement with the literature. In some of the samples the permeability was almost constant over a considerable range of temperature, which may be useful in practical applications that require stability. Moreover, the nano-size structure caused a significant decrease in dc conductivity values.     

Onset of quark-hadron duality in pion electroproduction

A large data set of charged-pion (pi+/-) electroproduction from both hydrogen and deuterium targets has been obtained spanning the low-energy residual-mass region. These data conclusively show the onset of the quark-hadron duality phenomenon, as predicted for high-energy hadron electroproduction. We construct several ratios from these data to exhibit the relation of this phenomenon to the high-energy factorization ansatz of electron-quark scattering and subsequent quark-->pion production mechanisms.     

Analysis of silicon light emission under breakdown condition using an indirect intraband model

The light emission from silicon (npn) emitter–base junctions under breakdown condition has been modelled. The model suggests an indirect intraband processes combined with self-absorption. Good agreement between simulated and measured electroluminescence (EL) spectra is shown which demonstrates that the model is simple and more consistent with fundamental physical device characteristics particularly in the spectral range studied (1.4–2 eV).     

A Study of the Thermal Hysteresis in AgNO3

The reversible phase transformation of AgNO₃ is studied. Dielectric constant, d.c. resistivity, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and dilatometric measurements show the occurrence of a reversible phase transition II→I at 160°C with heat of transformation H = 0.78 kcal/mol. The thermal hysteresis in this reversible transformation is examined, the magnitude of the temperature hysteresis does not exceed 12°C. An acceptable agreement is observed between the measured values of the transition temperature obtained by three different experimental techniques. The dilatometric analysis shows that this transition is accompanied by thermal shrinkage with relative shrinkage coefficient 8 × 10^?4. Thermal analysis are also used to get thermodynamic and kinetic data of this phase transition. The temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and d.c. resistivity for single crystals as well as polycrystalline samples of AgNO₃ have clearly located and confirm the phase transitions II→I→II with a strong support to its thermal hysteresis character. The conduction mechanism is found to be activated by energy 0.12 eV for phase I and 0.36 eV for phase II. The observed thermal behaviour of the various measured parameters is attributed to orientational disorder of the nitrate group leading to an order-disorder phase transition which is reported here for first time in AgNO₃.     

Magneto-bound polaron in CdSe spherical quantum dots: strong coupling approach

The effect of a magnetic field on the ground-state energy of a donor impurity confined in a polar CdSe spherical quantum dot embedded in a nonpolar matrix is studied theoretically. The interaction between the all charge carriers (electron and ion) and the confined longitudinal optical phonons (LO-phonons) is taken into account by considering the strong coupling method (Landau–Pekar approach). A variational calculation is performed in the framework of the effective mass approximation using a trial wave function deduced from the second-order perturbation and assuming that the quantum dot has a finite depth potential.     

Imaging spin-reorientation transitions in consecutive atomic Co layers on Ru(0001)

By means of spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy, we show that the magnetic easy axis of one to three atomic-layer thick cobalt films on Ru(0001) changes its orientation twice during deposition: One-monolayer and three-monolayer thick films are magnetized in plane, while two-monolayer films are magnetized out of plane. The Curie temperatures of films thicker than one monolayer are well above room temperature. Fully relativistic calculations based on the screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method demonstrate that only for two-monolayer cobalt films does the interplay between strain, surface, and interface effects lead to perpendicular magnetization.     

Environmental radioactivity of soils and sediments: Egyptian sector of the Nile valley

The activity concentrations of natural ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U in 89 soil and 84 sediment samples collected over the entire Egyptian Nile River basin including the Nile delta are reported based on the results of epithermal neutron activation analysis. The average activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U equal to 15.3?±?6.6, 15.6?±?11.1 and 220?±?31 Bq/kg, respectively, are significantly lower than those reported for the Upper Continental Crust, World Average Sediments as well as World Average Soils, suggesting the presence of a considerable portion of mafic material, most probably originating from the Ethiopian High Plateau. Their average activity concentrations are statistically the same in soil and sediments, indicating that the Nile sediments and soil material are of the same origin. The main goal of this study was not only to estimate the radiological hazards but also to show the influence of sedimentary material transportable by the Blue Nile from the Ethiopian High Plateau. The different hazard indices like the radium equivalent, gamma index, external hazard as well as the internal hazard show a low radiological exposure either on direct contact or if local mud bricks are used in the construction of dwellings.     

Identification of source terms in wave equation with dynamic boundary conditions

This paper studies an inverse hyperbolic problem for the wave equation with dynamic boundary conditions. It consists of determining some forcing terms from the final overdetermination of the displacement. First, the Fréchet differentiability of the Tikhonov functional is studied, and a gradient formula is obtained via the solution of an associated adjoint problem. Then, the Lipschitz continuity of the gradient is proved. Furthermore, the existence and the uniqueness for the minimization problem are discussed. Finally, some numerical experiments for the reconstruction of an internal wave force are implemented via a conjugate gradient algorithm.     

Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons extracted from air particulate matter using a temperature programmable injector coupled to GC–C–IRMS†

Compound specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) can provide information about the origin of analysed compounds – in this case, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In the study, PAHs were extracted from three dust samples: winter and summer filter dust and tunnel dust. The measurement was performed using the method validated in our laboratory using pure, solid compounds and EPA 610 reference assortment.

CSIA required an appropriate clean-up method to avoid an unresolved complex in the gas chromatographic analysis usually found in the chromatography of PAHs. Extensive sample clean-up for this particular matrix was found to be necessary to obtain good gas chromatography–combustion–isotope ratio mass spectrometry analysis results. The sample purification method included two steps in which the sample is cleaned up and the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons are separated.

The concentration of PAHs in the measured samples was low; so a large volume injection technique (100 μl) was applied. The δ_VPDB ¹³C was measured with a final uncertainty smaller than 1 ‰. Comparison of the δ_VPDB ¹³C signatures of PAHs extracted from different dust samples was feasible with this method and, doing so, significant differences were observed.