An investigation on planar dielectric light collectors for illumination and solar energy applications

In this paper the performances of inhomogeneous dielectric slabs as solar light collectors for both illumination and solar energy applications are analysed.     

Calculation of diatomic molecules with the lctoc method. Excited states of some homonuclear molecules and ions

Calculations are performed, using a basis of two-center functions described previously, for excited states of the following three-and four-electron compounds: H₂ ^–, He₂ ⁺, He₂, Li₂ ⁺². High efficiency is demonstrated for the frozen ionic core approximation and the nonorthogonal orbital method in such calculations. For four-electron systems the practical feasibility of the frozen hybrid core approximation is demonstrated.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 53–56, August, 1987.     

Search for a reliable methodology for PSD determination based on a combined molecular simulation-regularization-experimental approach: The case of PHTS materials

We present here a methodology for searching a robust pore size distribution (PSD) for adsorbent materials. The method is based on a combination of individual adsorption isotherms, obtained from Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations, a regularization procedure to invert the adsorption integral equation (Tikhonov regularization solved by singular value decomposition), and the needed experimental adsorption isotherm. The selection of several parameters from the available choices to start the procedure are discussed here: the size of the kernel (number of individual pores and number of experimental adsorption points to be included), the fulfillment of the Discrete Picard condition, and the L-curve criteria, all leading to find a reliable and robust PSD. The procedure is applied to plugged hexagonal templated silicas (PHTS), synthesized, and characterized in our laboratory.     

An AFM, XPS and electrochemical study of molecular electroactive monolayers formed by wet chemistry functionalization of H-terminated Si(1 0 0) with vinylferrocene

Molecular electroactive monolayers have been produced from vinylferrocene (VFC) via light-assisted surface anchoring to H-terminated n- and p-Si(1 0 0) wafers prepared via wet chemistry, in a controlled atmosphere. The resulting Si-C bound hybrids have been characterized by means of XPS and AFM. Their performance as semiconductor functionalized electrodes and their surface composition have been followed by combining electrochemical and XPS measurements on the same samples, before and after use in an electrochemical cell. White-light photoactivated anchoring at short (1 h) exposure times has resulted in a mild route, with a very limited impact on the initial quality of the silicon substrate. In fact, the functionalized Si surface results negligibly oxidized, and the C/Fe atomic ratio is close to the value expected for the pure molecular species. The VFC/Si hybrids can be described as (η⁵-C₅H₅)Fe²⁺(η⁵-C₅H₄)-CH₂-CH₂-Si species, on the basis of XPS results. Electrochemical methods have been applied in order to investigate the role played by a robust, covalent Si-C anchoring mode towards substrate-molecule electronic communication, a crucial issue for a perspective development of molecular electronics devices. The response found from cyclic voltammograms for p-Si(1 0 0) functionalized electrodes, run in the dark and under illumination, has shown that the electron transfer is not limited by the number of charge carriers, confirming the occurrence of electron transfer via the Si valence band. The hybrids have shown a noticeable electrochemical stability and reversibility under cyclic voltammetry (cv), and the trend in peak current intensity vs. the scan rate was linear. The molecule-Si bond is preserved even after thousands of voltammetric cycles, although the surface coverage, evaluated from cv and XPS, decreases in the same sequence. An increasingly larger surface concentration of Fe³⁺ at the expenses of Fe²⁺ redox centers has been found at increasing number of cv’s, experimentally associated with the growth of silicon oxide. Surface SiO⁻ groups from deprotonated silanol termination, induced by the electrochemical treatments, are proposed as the associated counterions for the Fe³⁺ species. They could be responsible for the observed decrease in the electron transfer rate constant with electrode ageing.     

Seminorms and Continuity Modules for Functions Defined on a Segment

We describe in detail fundamental properties of continuity modules of various orders in the spaces L ^p of functions defined on a finite segment. We establish some general estimates of seminorms in terms of continuity modules with the best known constants. An example of application of these results to the best approximations is considered. Bibliography: 32 titles.     

Selective photorefractive scattering in LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript>:Rh crystals

Photorefractive scattering occurs in rhodium-doped lithium niobate crystals irradiated by coherent light. The photorefractive scattering has both wide-angle and selective components. The results of experimental investigation of selective photorefractive scattering in LiNbO₃:Rh crystals and calculation of the spatial structure of scattering are reported. The selective scattering is regarded as a kind of a frequency-degenerate fourwave vector interaction.     

Convex Hamiltonian energy surfaces and their periodic trajectories

In this paper we introduce symplectic invariants for convex Hamiltonian energy surfaces and their periodic trajectories and show that these quentities satisfy several nontrivial relations. In particular we show that they can be used to prove multiplicity results for the number of periodic trajectories.This paper represents results obtained while holding a visiting position at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, New YorkResearch partially supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-8603149 and a Rutgers University Research Council Grant