Numerical simulation of two droplets impacting upon a dynamic liquid film

The impact of droplets on the liquid film is widely involved in industrial and agricultural fields. In recent years, plenty of works are limited to dry walls or stationary liquid films, and the research of multi-droplet impact dynamic films is not sufficient. Based on this, this paper employs a coupled level set and volume of fluid (CLSVOF) method to numerically simulate two-droplet impingement on a dynamic liquid film. In our work, the dynamic film thickness, horizontal central distance between the droplets, droplets' initial impact speed, and simultaneously the flow velocity of the moving film are analyzed. The evolution phenomenon and mechanism caused by the collision are analyzed in detail. We find that within a certain period of time, the droplet spacing does not affect the peripheral crown height; when the droplet spacing decreases or the initial impact velocity increases, the height of the peripheral crown increases at the beginning, and then, because the crown splashed under Rayleigh-Plateau instability, this results in the reduction of the crown height. At the same time, it is found that when the initial impact velocity increases, the angle between the upstream peripheral jet and the dynamic film becomes larger. The more obvious the horizontal movement characteristics, the more restrained the crown height; the spread length increases with the increase of the dynamic film speed, droplet spacing and the initial impact velocity. When the liquid film is thicker, more fluid enters the crown, due to the crown being unstable, the surface tension is not enough to overcome the weight of the rim at the end of the crown, resulting in droplets falling off.     

Particle captured by a field-modulating vortex through dielectrophoresis force

In microfluidic technology, dielectrophoresis (DEP) is commonly used to manipulate particles. In this work, the fluid-particle interactions in a microfluidic system are investigated numerically by a finite difference method (FDM) for electric field distribution and a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for the fluid flow. In this system, efficient particle manipulation may be realized by combining DEP and field-modulating vortex. The influence of the density ($\rho_{\rm p}$), radius ($r$), and initial position of the particle in the $y$ direction ($y_{\rm p0}$), and the slip velocity ($u_{0}$) on the particle manipulation are studied systematically. It is found that compared with the particle without action of DEP force, the particle subjected to a DEP force may be captured by the vortex over a wider range of parameters. In the $y$ direction, as $\rho_{\rm p}$ or $r $ increases, the particle can be captured more easily by the vortex since it is subjected to a stronger DEP force. When $u_{0}$ is low, particle is more likely to be captured due to the vortex-particle interaction. Furthermore, the flow field around the particle is analyzed to explore the underlying mechanism. The results obtained in the present study may provide theoretical support for engineering applications of field-controlled vortices to manipulate particles.     

Electronic properties and interfacial coupling in Pb islands on single-crystalline graphene

Introducing metal thin films on two-dimensional (2D) material may present a system to possess exotic properties due to reduced dimensionality and interfacial effects. We deposit Pb islands on single-crystalline graphene on a Ge(110) substrate and studied the nano- and atomic-scale structures and low-energy electronic excitations with scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS). Robust quantum well states (QWSs) are observed in Pb(111) islands and their oscillation with film thickness reveals the isolation of free electrons in Pb from the graphene substrate. The spectroscopic characteristics of QWSs are consistent with the band structure of a free-standing Pb(111) film. The weak interface coupling is further evidenced by the absence of superconductivity in graphene in close proximity to the superconducting Pb islands. Accordingly, the Pb(111) islands on graphene/Ge(110) are free-standing in nature, showing very weak electronic coupling to the substrate.     

Propagation of terahertz waves in nonuniform plasma slab under "electromagnetic window"

The application of magnetic fields, electric fields, and the increase of the electromagnetic wave frequency are up-and-coming solutions for the blackout problem. Therefore, this study considers the influence of the external magnetic field on the electron flow and the effect of the external electric field on the electron density distribution, and uses the scattering matrix method (SMM) to perform theoretical calculations and analyze the transmission behavior of terahertz waves under different electron densities, magnetic field distributions, and collision frequencies. The results show that the external magnetic field can improve the transmission of terahertz waves at the low-frequency end. Magnetizing the plasma from the direction perpendicular to the incident path can optimize the right-hand polarized wave transmission. The external electric field can increase the transmittance to some extent, and the increase of the collision frequency can suppress the right-hand polarized wave cyclotron resonance caused by the external magnetic field. By adjusting these parameters, it is expected to alleviate the blackout phenomenon to a certain extent.     

High-efficiency unidirectional wavefront manipulation for broadband airborne sound with a planar device

In the past decade, one-way manipulation of sound has attracted rapidly growing attention with application potentials in a plethora of scenarios ranging from ultrasound imaging to noise control. Here we propose a design of a planar device capable of unidirectionally harnessing the transmitted wavefront for broadband airborne sound. Our mechanism is to use the broken spatial symmetry to give rise to different critical angles for plane waves incident along opposite directions. Along the positive direction, the incoming sound is allowed to pass with high efficiency and be arbitrarily molded into the desired shape while any reversed wave undergoes a total reflection. We analytically derive the working bandwidth and incident angle range, and present a practical implementation of our strategy. The performance of our proposed device is demonstrated both theoretically and numerically via distinct examples of production of broadband anomalous refraction, acoustic focusing and non-diffractive beams for forward transmitted wave while virtually blocking the reversed waves. Bearing advantages of simple design, planar profile, broad bandwidth and high efficiency, our design opens the possibility for novel one-way acoustic device and may have important impact on diverse applications in need of special control of airborne sound.     

Quantum walk search algorithm for multi-objective searching with iteration auto-controlling on hypercube

Shenvi et al. have proposed a quantum algorithm based on quantum walking called Shenvi-Kempe-Whaley (SKW) algorithm, but this search algorithm can only search one target state and use a specific search target state vector. Therefore, when there are more than two target nodes in the search space, the algorithm has certain limitations. Even though a multi-objective SKW search algorithm was proposed later, when the number of target nodes is more than two, the SKW search algorithm cannot be mapped to the same quotient graph. In addition, the calculation of the optimal target state depends on the number of target states m. In previous studies, quantum computing and testing algorithms were used to solve this problem. But these solutions require more Oracle calls and cannot get a high accuracy rate. Therefore, to solve the above problems, we improve the multi-target quantum walk search algorithm, and construct a controllable quantum walk search algorithm under the condition of unknown number of target states. By dividing the Hilbert space into multiple subspaces, the accuracy of the search algorithm is improved from p_c=(1/2)-O(1/n) to p_c=1-O(1/n). And by adding detection gate phase, the algorithm can stop when the amplitude of the target state becomes the maximum for the first time, and the algorithm can always maintain the optimal number of iterations, so as to reduce the number of unnecessary iterations in the algorithm process and make the number of iterations reach $ t_{\rm f}=(\pi /2)\sqrt{2^{n-2}} $.     

Enhancement of isolated attosecond pulse generation by using long gas medium

Isolated attosecond pulse generation in argon is theoretically investigated for different gas pressures and medium lengths. The output of attosecond pulse is effectively enhanced by using a longer gas medium with optimized pressure. The peak intensity of the attosecond pulse by using 6 mm gas medium is doubled compared with that of 1-3 mm gas cell, which is usually used in the experiment. Our simulation shows that the distortion of the driving laser waveform and the absorption are the main factors that limit the output of the attosecond pulse for the long gas medium. Optimized generation condition could be found by balancing the medium length and pressure.     

Evolution of defects and deformation mechanisms in different tensile directions of solidified lamellar Ti-Al alloy

Two-phase γ-TiAl/α₂-Ti₃Al lamellar intermetallics have attracted considerable attention because of their excellent strength and plasticity. However, the exact deformation mechanisms remain to be investigated. In this paper, a solidified lamellar Ti-Al alloy with lamellar orientation at 0°, 17°, and 73° with respect to the loading direction was stretched by utilizing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that the mechanical properties of the sample are considerably influenced by solidified defects and tensile directions. The structure deformation and fracture were primarily attributed to an intrinsic stacking fault (ISF) accompanied by the nucleated Shockley dislocation, and the adjacent extrinsic stacking fault (ESF) and ISF formed by solidification tend to form large HCP structures during the tensile process loading at 73°. Moreover, cleavage cracking easily occurs on the γ/α₂ interface under tensile deformation. The fracture loading mechanism at 17° is grain boundary slide whereas, at 73° and 0°, the dislocation piles up to form a dislocation junction.     

Surface-enhanced fluorescence and application study based on Ag-wheat leaves

Wheat leaves with natural microstructures as substrates were covered by the silver nanoislands by magnetron to prepare a low-cost, environment-friendly and mass production surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) substrate (Ag-WL substrate). The best SEF substrate was selected by repeatly certifying the fluorescence intensity of 10^-5 M Rhodamine B (RB) and 10^-5 M Rhodamine 6G (R6G) aqueous solutions. The abundant semi-spherical protrusions and flake-like structures on the surface of the Ag-WL substrate produce high-density hot spots, which provides a new and simple idea for the preparation of biomimetic materials. The results of 3D finite-different time-domain (FDTD) simulation show that the nanoisland gap of semi-spherical protrusions and flake-like structures has produced rich hotspots. By adjusting the time of magnetron sputtering, the enhancement factor (EF) was as high as 839 times, relative standard deviation (RSD) reached as low as 10.7%, and the substrate was very stable and repeatable, which shows that Ag-WL substrate is trustworthy. Moreover, semi-spherical protrusions provide stronger surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects compared to flake-like structure. What is more surprising is that the detection limit of the substrate for toxic substance crystal violet (CV) is as low as 10^-10 M.     

Edge assisted epitaxy of CsPbBr3 nanoplates on Bi2O2Se nanosheets for enhanced photoresponse

Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se has been proved to be a promising candidate for electronic and optoelectronic devices due to their unique physical properties. However, it is still a great challenge to construct the heterostructures with direct epitaxy of hetero semiconductor materials on Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se nanosheets. Here, a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) route was used to directly grow the CsPbBr$_{3}$ nanoplate-Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se nanosheet heterostructures. The CsPbBr$_{3}$ nanoplates were selectively grown on the Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se nanosheet along the edges, where the dangling bonds provide the nucleation sites. The epitaxial relationships between CsPbBr$_{3}$ and Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se were determined as ${[200]}_{\rm Bi_{2}O_{2}Se}||{[110]}_{\rm CsPbBr_{3}}$ and ${[110]}_{\rm Bi_{2}O_{2}Se}||{[200]}_{\rm CsPbBr_{3}}$ by transmission electron microscopy characterization. The photoluminescence (PL) results reveal that the formation of heterostructures results in the remarkable PL quenching due to the type-I band arrangement at CsPbBr$_{3}$/Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se interface, which was confirmed by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and Kelvin probe measurements, and makes the photogenerated carriers transfer from CsPbBr$_{3}$ to Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se. Importantly, the photodetectors based on the heterostructures exhibit a 4-time increase in the responsivity compared to those based on the pristine Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se sheets, and the fast rise and decay time in microsecond. These results indicate that the direct epitaxy of the CsPbBr$_{3}$ plates on the Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se sheet may improve the optoelectronic performance of Bi$_{2}$O$_{2}$Se based devices.