Photon emission spectroscopy of individual oxide-supported silver clusters in a scanning tunneling microscope

Photon emission spectra of individual alumina-supported silver clusters have been measured for the first time. The light emission stimulated by electron injection from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope can be assigned to the (1,0) mode of the Mie-plasmon resonance in small silver particles. As cluster sizes decrease, the resonance position shifts to higher energies and the linewidth increases. In the size range examined (1.5-12 nm), intrinsic size effects are discussed as possible origins for the observed size dependence of the Mie resonance.     

Two-color operation in high-gain free-electron lasers

Two-color operation in free-electron laser (FEL) amplifiers is studied using a 3D nonlinear polychromatic simulation. We assume the FEL is seeded at two closely spaced wavelengths within the gain band, and study the growth of the seeds and a discrete spectrum of beat waves that are outside the gain band. The beat waves grow parasitically due to electron bunching in the seeded waves with growth rates higher than the seeded waves. Injection of narrow-band seeds ensures a discrete spectrum. An example is discussed corresponding to an x-ray FEL; however, the physics is applicable to all spectral ranges.     

Novel SiGe island coarsening kinetics: ostwald ripening and elastic interactions

Real-time light scattering measurements of coherent island coarsening during SiGe/Si heteroepitaxy reveal unusual kinetics. In particular, the mean island volume increases superlinearly with time, while the areal density of islands decreases at a faster-than-linear rate. Neither observation is consistent with standard considerations of Ostwald ripening. Modification of the standard theory to incorporate the effect of elastic interactions in the growing island array reproduces the observed behavior.     

原子尺度上的异质催化

现实中的催化剂是个相当复杂的系统体系，且为粉末状，限制了多种表面科学表征手段的应用,科学家通过建立简化的催化剂模型，充分利用目前多种有力的科技分析手段，如扫描隧道显微镜（STM）、透射电镜（TEM）、光电子能谱（XPS）、傅里叶变换红外吸收谱（FTIR）、电子能量损失谱（EELS）等，直观地在原子尺度上研究催化反应的机理，从而使得人们能够设计出选择性能更高、催化性能更好的催化剂．     

Characterization of a Pd-Fe bimetallic model catalyst

Small bimetallic Pd-Fe particles supported on a well ordered alumina film grown on NiAl (1 1 0) were studied focusing on the geometric, electronic, adsorption, as well as magnetic properties. The morphology, growth mode and surface composition were investigated by combining scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and infrared spectroscopy (IRAS) using CO as a probe molecule. Information on the electronic properties of the bimetallic systems was obtained by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These measurements were amended by in situ ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy to address the magnetic properties of the bimetallic particles. The subsequent deposition of the metals at 300 K varying the order of metal deposition resulted in two distinct bimetallic systems. Pd deposited on existing Fe particles forms a shell, however, FMR and XPS suggest that intermixing of Pd and Fe occurs to some extent. For the reverse order, a larger amount of Fe is required to coat Pd particles, due to the strong tendency of Pd to segregate to the surface of the particles.