Tailoring of high-Q-factor surface plasmon modes on silver microtubes

We investigate the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons on silver tubes with finite-difference time-domain simulations. These surface plasmon polaritons exhibit azimuthal whispering gallery modes with quality factors in the hundreds. We show that the high quality factors arise from the coupling of the surface plasmon modes to photonic modes inside the tube. We examine the influence of a gain material on the quality factors and find that for material data of rhodamine 6G, the quality factors are enhanced significantly up to values of 3000.     

n-Type GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure detector with a 3.2 THz threshold frequency

Terahertz detection using the free-carrier absorption requires a small internal work function of the order of a few millielectron volts. A threshold frequency of 3.2 THz (93 microm or approximately 13 meV work function) is demonstrated by using a 1 x 10(18) cm(-3) Si-doped GaAs emitter and an undoped Al(0.04)Ga(0.96)As barrier structure. The peak responsivity of 6.5 A/W, detectivity of 5.5 x 10(8) Jones, and quantum efficiency of 19% were obtained at 7.1 THz under a bias field of 0.7 kV/cm at 6 K, while the detector spectral response range spans from 3.2 to 30 THz.     

High average power large-pitch fiber amplifier with robust single-mode operation

Ytterbium-doped large-pitch fibers with very large mode areas are investigated in a high-power fiber amplifier configuration. An average output power of 294?W is demonstrated, while maintaining robust single-mode operation with a mode field diameter of 62?μm. Compared to previous active large-mode area designs, the threshold of mode instabilities is increased by a factor of about 3.     

An isoperimetric problem for sloshing in a shallow convex container

Zusammenfassung Es wird die Aufgabe der freien Flüssigkeitsschwingungen in Behältern geringer Tiefe untersucht, und zwar für ebene und axial-symmetrische Schwingungen. Insbesondere wird die Frage beantwortet, welchen Wert die zweite harmonische Schwingungsfrequenz höchstens annehmen kann, wenn zwar der Inhalt des Behälters vorgegeben ist, dagegen nicht seine Gestalt. Im Gegensatz zu einer früheren Untersuchung werden jedoch für dieses isoperimetrische Problem nur konvexe Behälter zugelassen. Mathematisch lässt sich das Ergebnis etwas weiter fassen: Es wird eine obere Schranke für den niedrigsten (nicht trivialen) Eigenwert einer Klasse von Sturm-Liouville Aufgaben ermittelt, wobei sich herausstellt, dass zur Abgrenzung dieser Klasse zwei feste Punkte im Integrationsintervall eine ausschlaggebende Rolle spielen.

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Dedicated to Professor H. Ziegler on his 60th birthday

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The work presented here was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant GP-7522.     

The unregularized gradient flow of the symplectic action

The symplectic action can be defined on the space of smooth paths in a symplectic manifold P which join two Lagrangian submanifolds of P. To pursue a new approach to the variational theory of this function, we define on a subset of the path space the flow whose trajectories are given by the solutions of the Cauchy-Riemann equation with respect to a suitable almost complex structure on P. In particular, we prove compactness and transversality results for the set of bounded trajectories.     

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.     

Interface formation in CdTe solar cells: Nucleation of CdTe on CdS(0001) and (10$ \bar 1 $0)

The growth of CdTe on (0001) and (10 0) surfaces of CdS was studied using low energy electron diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicate oriented growth of the CdTe films with a faster nucleation of CdTe on CdS(0001), explaining the preferred (111) orientation of CdTe films on polycrystalline substrates. The faster nucleation on the (0001) surface is attributed to the formation of a stable CdS(0001):Te surface termination, which is identified from surface sensitive Te 4d spectra and a 2√3 × 2√3 surface reconstruction. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)