Composition of oxygen precipitates in Czochralski silicon wafers investigated by STEM with EDX/EELS and FTIR spectroscopy

In this work, we investigated the stoichiometry of oxygen precipitates in Czochralski silicon wafers. The thickness dependence of the Cliff–Lorimer sensitivity factor for the silicon/oxygen system was determined and applied for the investigation of the stoichiometry of oxygen precipitates by EDX. The results show that both plate‐like oxygen precipitates and a transitional form between plate‐like and octahedral precipi‐ tates consist of SiO₂. This was confirmed by EELS low loss spectra where the typical spectrum for amorphous SiO₂ was observed. Moreover, the absorption band of plate‐like precipitates at 1227 cm^–1 was found in the low temperature FTIR spectrum. It was demonstrated that this band can only be simulated by the dielectric constants of amorphous SiO₂. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

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.     

Localized subharmonic waves in a circularly vibrated granular bed

Localized period-doubling waves arise in circularly shaken granular beds contained in an annular channel. These solitary wave packets are accompanied by a locally increased particle density. The width and velocity of the granular wave pulse are measured as a function of the bed height. A continuum model for the material distribution, based on the measured granular transport velocity as a function of the bed thickness, captures the essence of the experimental findings.     

Polarized light propagating in a magnetic field as a probe for millicharged fermions

Possible extensions of the standard model of particle physics suggest the existence of particles with small, unquantized electric charge. Photon-initiated pair production of millicharged fermions in a magnetic field would manifest itself as a vacuum magnetic (VM) dichroism. We show that laser polarization experiments searching for this effect yield, in the mass range below 0.1 eV, much stronger constraints on millicharged fermions than previous laboratory searches. VM birefringence due to virtual pair production gives a slightly better constraint for masses between 0.1 and a few eV. We comment on the possibility that the VM dichroism observed by PVLAS arises from pair production of such millicharged fermions rather than from single production of axionlike particles. Such a scenario can be confirmed or firmly excluded by a search for invisible decays of orthopositronium with a branching-fraction sensitivity of about 10(-9).     

Laser induced forward transfer of SnO2 for sensing applications using different precursors systems

This paper presents the transfer of SnO₂ by laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) for gas sensor applications. Different donor substrates of SnO₂ with and without triazene polymer (TP) as a dynamic release layer were prepared. Transferring these films under different conditions were evaluated by optical microscopy and functionality. Transfers of sputtered SnO₂ films do not lead to satisfactory results and transfers of SnO₂ nanoparticles are difficult. Transfers of SnO₂ nanoparticles can only be achieved when applying a second laser pulse to the already transferred material, which improves the adhesion resulting in a complete pixel. A new approach of decomposing the transfer material during LIFT transfer was developed. Donor films based on UV absorbing metal complex precursors namely, SnCl₂(acac)₂ were prepared and transferred using the LIFT technique. Transfer conditions were optimized for the different systems, which were deposited onto sensor-like microstructures. The conductivity of the transferred material at temperatures of about 400 ^°C are in a range usable for SnO₂ gas sensors. First sensing tests were carried out and the transferred material proved to change conductivity when exposed to ethanol, acetone, and methane.     

Severi varieties on blow-ups of the symmetric square of an elliptic curve

We prove that certain Severi varieties of nodal curves of positive genus on general blow-ups of the twofold symmetric product of a general elliptic curve are nonempty and smooth of the expected dimension. This result, besides its intrinsic value, is an important preliminary step for the proof of nonemptiness of Severi varieties on general Enriques surfaces.     

Aspects of Generic Entanglement

We study entanglement and other correlation properties of random states in high-dimensional bipartite systems. These correlations are quantified by parameters that are subject to the ``concentration of measure' phenomenon, meaning that on a large-probability set these parameters are close to their expectation. For the entropy of entanglement, this has the counterintuitive consequence that there exist large subspaces in which all pure states are close to maximally entangled. This, in turn, implies the existence of mixed states with entanglement of formation near that of a maximally entangled state, but with negligible quantum mutual information and, therefore, negligible distillable entanglement, secret key, and common randomness. It also implies a very strong locking effect for the entanglement of formation: its value can jump from maximal to near zero by tracing over a number of qubits negligible compared to the size of the total system. Furthermore, such properties are generic. Similar phenomena are observed for random multiparty states, leading us to speculate on the possibility that the theory of entanglement is much simplified when restricted to asymptotically generic states. Further consequences of our results include a complete derandomization of the protocol for universal superdense coding of quantum states.     

Crystal dissolution kinetics and Gibbs free energy

The dependence of dissolution rates on the difference of Gibbs free energy is of critical importance for our understanding of crystal dissolution, reactive flow models and their applications to a variety of environmentally related problems. Here, we review experimental data generated with mineral powders and single crystals to develop a better understanding of apparent inconsistencies between otherwise internally consistent data sets. Additional information from direct surface observations and measurements with vertical scanning interferometry (VSI) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) of albite dissolution at 25, 150 and 185 °C may shed new light on this old but unsolved question. Our discussion is based on the importance of etch pit development, its ΔG dependence, and the pits’ role as a source for steps and step movement in the dissolution process. Results indicate that reaction history may be of critical importance in determining the overall reaction mechanism and its rate. Different rates are observed for systems having otherwise identical ΔG_r acquired from increasing versus decreasing disequilibrium positions.

In this context, we finally discuss the validity of the common application of transition state theory (TST) to elementary and overall reactions governing the dissolution process. In this discussion of crystal dissolution, we contrast TST applications with a stochastic, many-body treatment that has led to the development of a stepwave model. This discussion also focuses on the controversy caused by the rivalry between surface adsorption models and a probabilistic model that seeks to incorporate the full three-dimensional crystal structure.     

Constraints on the time scale of nuclear breakup from thermal hard-photon emission

Measured hard-photon multiplicities from second-chance nucleon-nucleon collisions are used in combination with a kinetic thermal model to estimate the breakup times of excited nuclear systems produced in nucleus-nucleus reactions at intermediate energies. The obtained nuclear breakup time for the ¹²⁹Xe + ^natSn reaction at 50 A MeV is Δτ ≈ 100-300 fm/c for all reaction centralities. The lifetime of the radiating sources produced in seven other different heavy-ion reactions studied by the TAPS experiment is consistent with Δτ ≈ 100 fm/c, such relatively long thermal photon emission times do not seemingly support the interpretation of nuclear breakup as due to a fast spinodal process for the heavy nuclear systems studied.     

Photoemission Spectroscopy and Electronic Structures of LiMn2O4

We study the electronic structures of LiMn2O4 by x-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS, UPS） and resonant photoelectron spectroscopy （RPES）. XPS data suggest that the average oxidation state of Mn ions is 3.55, probably due to the small amount of lithium oxides on the surface. UPS and RPES data imply that Mn ions are in a high spin state, and RPES results show strong Mn3d-O2p hybridization in the LiMn2O4 valence band.