Atomic scale properties of interior interfaces of semiconductor heterostructures as determined by quasi-digital highly selective etching and atomic force microscopy

We report on first experiments combining quasi-digital highly selective etching and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to examine the interior interfaces of semiconductor heterostructures. Lattice matched (GaIn)As/InP heterostructures grown by metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) are taken as a model system to check the capabilities of this new method. Standard selective etchants for different material systems have been optimized in selectivity and etch rate to achieve a quasi-digital etching behaviour. In this way, the real structure of interior interfaces can be determined by AFM. We find a significant difference between the surface of the heterostructure and the interior interfaces.     

Statistical mechanics of warm and cold unfolding in proteins

We present a statistical mechanics treatment of the stability of globular proteins which takes explicitly into account the coupling between the protein and water degrees of freedom. This allows us to describe both the cold and the warm unfolding, thus qualitatively reproducing the known thermodynamics of proteins. Received: 19 March 1998 / Revised and Accepted: 25 May 1998     

A spectropolarimetric study of theH α radiation from ellerman bombs

Polarization data are given for three whiskers recorded with the large solar vacuum telescope at the Baikal Observatory, Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences. The observed degree of polarization varies from 2 to 13%. The direction of the polarization plane for the mediumintensity whisker was tangential, while that for the weakest one was radial. The brightest whisker had the polarization plane direction close to radial at the center of the line but tangential at the flanks. It is assumed that the polarization is due to impact excitation of a hydrogen-atom ensemble in the solar chromosphere by an electron beam, and estimates are made of the beam energy. St. Petersburg Fine Mechanics and Optics Institute, St. Petersburg. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 85–89, December 1998.     

A high spin isomer in 153Eu

A search for new isomers of nanosecond lifetimes were carried out in ¹⁵³Eu via the ¹⁵⁰Nd(⁷Li,xnγ) reaction. The single particle angular momentum alignment and dynamical moment of inertia estimated from the experimental data indicate a configuration change at rotational energy ħω∼ 0.30 MeV. A decrease of B(E2) values is also observed at the same frequency. An isomeric level is identified at an excitation energy of 3100 keV (J^π=35/2⁻) which corresponds to this frequency. The lifetime of the level is found to be 8.6 ± 1.3 nanosecond. Received: 22 April 1997 / Revised version: 26 September 1997     

Pseudo-spin as a relativistic symmetry

The existence of broken pseudo-spin symmetry in the Pb nucleus has been studied in the relativistic mean field approach using realistic Lagrangian parameters. Its relationship to spin orbit splitting and the vanishingly small surface delta character of the mean spin orbit potential are investigated. In the ²⁰⁸Pb nucleus the broken pseudo-spin doublets are found to exist above the neutron (proton) Fermi surfaces. Received: 16 April 1998 / Revised version: 26 June 1998     

The role of strange sea quarks on neutrino-nucleus reactions in Superkamiokande and in the supernova r-process

We study the influence of a strange axial vector form factor G_s of the nucleon on the neutrino-induced proton and neutron knockout of ¹⁶O. In particular, we calculate how much G_s≠0 might affect the recently proposed signal for supernova ν_μ and ν_τ neutrinos in the Superkamiokande detector. We discuss whether Superkamiokande might be able to determine the value of G_s in a hypothetical neutrino-beam experiment. Finally we comment on the possible effect G_s≠0 might have on neutrino-nucleus cross sections in the neutrino-driven wind model for the nuclear r-process. Received: 30 April 1998 / Revised version: 10 August 1998     

Slowing down in the three-dimensional three-state Potts glass with nearest neighbor exchange ± J: A Monte Carlo study

,Static and dynamic properties of the Potts model on the simple cubic lattice with nearest neighbor -interaction are obtained from Monte Carlo simulations in a temperature range where full thermal equilibrium still can be achieved (). For a lattice size L = 16, in this range finite size effects are still negligible, but the data for the spin glass susceptibility agree with previous extrapolations based on finite size scaling of very small lattices. While the static properties are compatible with a zero temperature transition, they certainly do not prove it. Unlike the Ising spin glass, the decay of the time-dependent order parameter is compatible with a simple Kohlrausch function, , while a power law prefactor cannot be distinguished. The Kohlrausch exponent y ( T ) decreases from at [0pt] to at [0pt] however. The relaxation time is compatible with the exponential divergence postulated by McMillan for spin glasses at their lower critical dimension, but the exponent that can be extracted still differs significantly from the theoretical value, . Thus the present results support the conclusion that the Potts spin glass in d = 3 dimensions differs qualitatively from the Ising spin glass. Received: 8 October 1997 / Accepted: 27 November 1997     

Hund’s Case (a)-case (b) transition in the singlet-triplet absorption spectrum of pyrazine in a supersonic jet

An analytic expression is derived for calculating the intensities of individual spin-rovibronic lines in the fully resolved gas phase electronic spectrum of a polyatomic molecule, in which one of the zero-order electronic states is a triplet state. The expression is employed to calculate the effect of fine structure splitting on the singlet-triplet absorption spectrum of pyrazine using the parameters available from experiment. A transition from Hund’s coupling Case (a) to Case (b) on going from low J to high J rotational levels is predicted to occur at a moderate resolution of a few hundred MHz. The effect is more pronounced in pyrazine-d ₄ and the pyrazine-argon van der Waals complex owing to their larger mass. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 63–90 (July 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.     

Fields of representatives of commutative local rings and maximal scalar fields of finite-dimensional algebras

The structure of scalar fields for a directly indecomposable finite-dimensional algebra treated as a ring is studied. Scalar fields are assumed similar if their action on a ring is identical modulo an annihilator. The criterion for a class of maximal scalar fields to be unique under a similitude relation is established. Supported by RFFR grant No. 96-01-01675, and by RF State Committee of Higher Education. Translated fromAlgebra i Logika, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 667–686, November–December, 1998.