Novel behavior of bond-centered muonium in heavily doped n-type silicon: Curie-like spin susceptibility and charge screening

Bond-centered muonium ( Mu(0)(BC)) has been observed in very heavily doped n-type Si:P. It exhibits a Curie-like electronic spin susceptibility which leads to a giant negative shift in the muon spin precession frequency. At high dopant levels, the Mu(0)(BC) hyperfine parameters, deduced from a model involving spin exchange with free carriers, are significantly reduced from those in intrinsic Si. This indicates that the spin density distribution for Mu(0)(BC) in metallic Si:P is altered significantly by charge screening effects, likely a general phenomenon for deep impurities in materials with high carrier concentrations.     

Finite element error estimates for non-linear elliptic equations of monotone type

Summary In this paper we shall consider the application of the finite element method to a class of second order elliptic boundary value problems of divergence form and with gradient nonlinearity in the principal coefficient, and the derivation of error estimates for the finite element approximations. Such problems arise in many practical situations — for example, in shock-free airfoil design, seepage through coarse grained porous media, and in some glaciological problems. By making use of certain properties of the nonlinear coefficients, we shall demonstrate that the variational formulations associated with these boundary value problems are well-posed. We shall also prove that the abstract operators accompanying such problems satisfy certain continuity and monotonicity inequalities. With the aid of these inequalities and some standard results from approximation theory, we show how one may derive error estimates for the finite element approximations in the energy norm.     

Spin dynamics in conducting polymers studied by μSR

We report studies of spin dynamics in the conducting polymers polyaniline and polypyrrole using both μ⁺SR and μ^-SR techniques. These measurements reveal characteristic field dependences and cutoff frequencies for the muon spin relaxation which can be related to the spin diffusion process. Clear evidence is seen for increased spin localisation at low temperatures where a crossover occurs from two or three dimensional spin diffusion to a one dimensional diffusion regime. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ultracompact biochemical sensor built with two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity

We report an experimental demonstration of an ultracompact biochemical sensor based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity. The microcavity, fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate, is designed to have a resonant wavelength (lambda) near 1.5 microm. The transmission spectrum of the sensor is measured with different ambient refractive indices ranging from n = 1.0 to n = 1.5. From observation of the shift in resonant wavelength, a change in ambient refractive index of delta(n) = 0.002 is readily apparent. The correspondence between absolute refractive index and resonant wavelength agrees with numerical calculation to within 4% accuracy. The evaporation of water in a 5% glycerol mixture is also used to demonstrate the capability for in situ time-resolved sensing.     

Fracture toughness determination for compact tension specimens

An analysis of determining the plane stress fracture toughness based on a beam-on-elastic foundation model for compact tension specimens (CTS) covering a wide range of a/2H and d/W ratios is presented. The solution is achieved by using the Timoshenko beam theory and Pasternak foundation with alternative formulations of the foundation modulus and the shear parameter to reflect more accurately the stress-strain distributions at the crack tip.The solution applicable to a wider range of a/2H and d/W ratios becomes desirable for practical reasons. For instance, the determination of plane-strain fracture toughness from the CTS specimens at higher a/W ratios enables the reduction of loading capacity from a testing machine which may become prohibitively high for medium strength engineering materials. Maximum fatigue crack growth data to be measured from a CTS specimen also becomes possible when the validity of fracture toughness can be ensured at the extended a/W ratios.The computed fracture toughness from the present analysis are compared with those measured experimentally and found to be satisfactory not only for high a/W ratios but also for a wide range of a/2H ratios commonly used in double-cantilever beam specimens.     

Modelling hydrogen in silicate materials

The expectation that the hydroxyl analogue state of positive muons implanted in quartz should be stabilized by a suitable charge compensation centre is supported by preliminary data. The diamagnetic fraction correlates with aluminium content over the narrow range investigated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Studies on the SFD Properties of NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 Solid-solution Crystal

NdxGd1-xCa4O(BO3)3 (NdGdCOB) is a new self-frequency-doubling (SFD) solid-solution crystal. The second-harmonic generation (SHG) phase-matching (PM) curves were calculated by using refractive indices. The deff of NdGdCOB crystal along different PM directions were calculated according to the sellmeier equation and dijk data in which the (θ=66.8°, φ=132.6°) PM direction has the highest deff. SFD experiments were carried out with Ti:sapphire CW laser and pulsed dye-laser. A green laser output power up to 225 mW at 530 nm was achieved from a 7×3×3 mm3 crystal sample pumped by 1560 mW CW Ti:sapphire laser. The lasing threshold of SFD was lower than 1.8 mW along the PM direction (66.8°,132.6°). The optical-optical conversion efficiency was 14.4%. The conversion efficiency was 7.7% when 10×3×3 mm3 sample was side-pumped by the pulsed dye-laser tuned to 595.4 nm with 17.5 mJ energy and the lasing threshold is 1.2 mJ.     

All-Optical Wavelength Conversion with Amplitude Equalization and Pulse Shaping

A dual-wavelength-injection-locked (DWIL) Fabry-Perot (FP) laser is used as an all-optical wavelength converter and regenerator.Regenerated pulses have narrower pulse-width of 37ps.Power penalty and extinction-ratio improvement of 1.5dB and 4dB respectively were achieved.