Existence, character, and origin of surface-related bands in the high temperature iron pnictide superconductor BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As2

Low energy electron diffraction (LEED) experiments, LEED simulations, and finite slab density functional calculations are combined to study the cleavage surface of Co doped BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 (x = 0.1,0.17). We demonstrate that the energy dependence of the LEED data can only be understood from a terminating 1/2 Ba layer accompanied by distortions of the underlying As-Fe2-As block. As a result, surface-related Fe 3d states are present in the electronic structure, which we identify in angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments. The close proximity of the surface-related states to the bulk bands inevitably leads to broadening of the ARPES signals, which excludes the use of the BaFe(2-x)Co(x)As2 system for accurate determination of self-energies using ARPES.     

On quasimöbius maps in real Banach spaces

Suppose that E and E′ denote real Banach spaces with dimension at least 2, that D $ \subseteq $ E and D′ $ \subseteq $ E′ are domains, that f: D → D′ is an (M,C)-CQH homeomorphism, and that D is uniform. The aim of this paper is to prove that D′ is a uniform domain if and only if f extends to a homeomorphism $\overline f :\overline D \to {\overline D ^\prime }$ and $\overline f $ is η-QM relative to ?D. This result shows that the answer to one of the open problems raised by Väisälä from 1991 is affirmative.     

Intrinsic Geometry and Boundary Structure of Plane Domains

Siberian Mathematical Journal - Given a nonempty compact set $ E $ in a proper subdomain $ \Omega $ of the complex plane, we denote the diameter of $ E $ and the distance from $ E $ to the...     

Structure of self-assembled multilayers prepared from water-soluble polythiophenes

We have studied the structure and morphology of self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayers prepared using poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and four different cationic poly(alkoxythiophene) derivatives bearing methylimidazolium-terminated ionic side chain at the 3-position of the thiophene ring: poly(1-methyl-3-[3-[3-thienyloxy]-propyl]-1H-imidazolium) (P3TOPIM), poly(1-methyl-3-[6-[3-thienyloxy]-hexyl]-1H-imidazolium) (P3TOHIM), poly(1-methyl-3-[2-[(4-methyl-3-thienyl)oxy]-ethyl]-1H-imidazolium ) (P4Me-3TOEIM), and poly(1-methyl-3-[6-[(4-methyl-3-thienyl)oxy]-hexyl]-1H-imidazolium ) (P4Me-3TOHIM). All the multilayers exhibited regular growth. The thickness of the multilayers was measured with ellipsometry, their layer-by-layer growth was followed by polarization modulation infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) and ellipsometry, and the morphology of the films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The length of the methylimidazolium-terminated side chain (C(n), n = 2, 3, 6) and the substituent (H or Me) at the 4-position of the thiophene ring were varied. All multilayers were inhomogeneous in the sub-micrometer scale and contained aggregates of two kinds. The large ones with a low and constant surface number density were attributed to PSS, whereas the small aggregates were polythiophene-based. The surface density of these organic semiconducting nanoparticles greatly depended on the structure of polythiophene, being favored by polymer regioregularity and the length of the side chain. The side chains remained disordered in all the multilayers, but with polythiophenes having hexyl chains both the imidazolium and thiophene rings tended to orient themselves more perpendicular to the surface than in films containing shorter chains (C2 or C3). The relative water content of the multilayers (at 7.1% relative humidity) did not depend on the film thickness and was the lowest for P4Me-3TOHIM. As the number of bilayers increased the methylimidazolium-sulfonate ion pairs gradually weakened and became more individually hydrated.     

Temperature dependent LEED study of Pb{1 1 1}

The thermal behavior of Pb{1 1 1} was studied using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) in the temperature range 11–323 K. The surface interlayer spacings increase with temperature at about the same rate as the bulk up to 0.5 T_m, and then increase faster. The relaxation of the surface, which is larger than for other fcc {1 1 1} surfaces, is maintained in the temperature range studied. Although Pb has a larger expansion coefficient than other metals, the surface thermal expansion behavior is in line with other surfaces, and is consistent with harmonic interplanar potentials.     

Distortion functions for plane quasiconformal mappings

The authors study two well-known distortion functions, λ(K) andϕ _K(r), of the theory of plane quasiconformal mappings and obtain several new inequalities for them. The proofs make use of some properties of elliptic integrals. The work of the first author was supported in part by a grant from the United States National Science Foundation. The work of the first and second authors was supported in part by a grant from the Academy of Finland.     

Elastic constants of an aluminum-alumina unidirectional composite

The five independent second-order elastic constants of a transversely isotropic aluminum/alumina fiber composite have been measured for the first time using a resonant ultrasound spectroscopy technique. These data were used to deduce the elastic constants and engineering moduli for off-axis loading conditions.     

Melt‐compounded nanocomposites of titanium dioxide atomic‐layer‐deposition‐coated polyamide and polystyrene powders

Polyamide and polystyrene particles were coated with titanium dioxide films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and then melt‐compounded to form polymer nanocomposites. The rheological properties of the ALD‐created nanocomposite materials were characterized with a melt flow indexer, a melt flow spiral mould, and a rotational rheometer. The results suggest that the melt flow properties of polyamide nanocomposites were markedly better than those of pure polyamide and polystyrene nanocomposites. Such behavior was shown to originate in an uncontrollable decrease in the polyamide molecular weight, likely affected by a high thin‐film impurity content, as shown in gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy‐dispersive spectrometer. Transmission electron microscope image showed that a thin film grew on both studied polymer particles, and that subsequent melt‐compounding was successful, producing well dispersed ribbon‐like titanium dioxide with the titanium dioxide filler content ranging from 0.06 to 1.12 wt%. Even though we used nanofillers with a high aspect ratio, they had only a minor effect on the tensile and flexural properties of the polystyrene nanocomposites. The mechanical behavior of polyamide nanocomposites was more complex because of the molecular weight degradation. Our approach here to form polymeric nanocomposites is one way to tailor ceramic nanofillers and form homogenous polymer nanocomposites with minimal work‐related risks in handling powder form nanofillers. However, further research is needed to gauge the commercial potential of ALD‐created nanocomposite materials. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.