Andreev-Fano Effect in a Hybrid Normal-Metal/Superconductor Interferometer

We report on a new type of Fano effect, named as Andreev-Fano effect, in a hybrid normal-metal/supeeconductor (N/S) interferometer embedded with a quantum dot. Compared with the conventional Fano effect, AndreevFano effect has some new features related to the characteristics of Andreev reflection. In the Iinear response regime, the line shape is the square of the conventional Fano shape, while in the nonlinear transport, a sharp resonant structure is superposed on an expanded interference pattern, which is qualitatively different from the conventional Fano effect. The phase dependence of the hybrid N/S interferometer is also distinguished from those of all-N or all-S interferometers.     

Automatic ultrastructure segmentation of reconstructed cryoEM maps of icosahedral viruses.

We present an automatic algorithm to segment all the local and global asymmetric units of a three-dimensional density map of icosahedral viruses. This approach is readily applicable to the structural analysis of a broad range of virus structures that are reconstructed using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) technique. Our algorithm includes three major steps operating on the three dimensional density map: the detection of critical points of the volumetric density function, the detection of global and local symmetry axes, and, finally, the boundary segmentation of all the asymmetric units. We demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithm and report our results on several experimental volumetric datasets, consisting of both reconstructed cryo-EM molecular density maps taken from the European Bioinformatics Institute archive, as well our own synthetically generated (blurred) maps calculated from X-ray resolution molecular structural data taken from the Protein Data Bank.     

PMD Measurement of Hollow-Core Photonic Bandgap Fiber by Investigating Power Penalty of Optically Generated Microwave Signals

A simple method based on carrier suppression modulation for measuring first-order polarization-mode dispersion of hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) is proposed and investigated. By adjusting the incident optical wavelength and measuring the power penalty of optically generated microwave signals, the wavelength-dependent differential group delay (DGD) in HC-PBGF can be obtained. Moreover, this proposed method is chromatic-dispersion-insensitive. The experimental results indicate that a segment of 20-m HC-PBGF exhibits highly birefringent DGD of 25, 59, and 84 ps with measurement error less than 2 ps for the incident optical wavelength of 1560, 1575, and 1580 nm, respectively     

The Hamiltonian Canonical Form for Euler-Lagrange Equations

Based on the theory of calculus of variation, some suffcient conditions are given for some Euler-Lagrangcequations to be equivalently represented by finite or even infinite many Hamiltonian canonical equations. Meanwhile,some further applications for equations such as the KdV equation, MKdV equation, the general linear Euler Lagrangeequation and the cylindric shell equations are given.     

Analysis of ATSC field test results in Taiwan

Field tests of the transmission performance of the ATSC DTV system have been conducted in Taiwan. The test results as well as comparisons against the NTSC system performance are reported and analyzed. From the measured results the reception characteristics of the DTV can be deduced and can provide guidelines for television stations to design the transmission system, schedule equipment deployment, plan service coverage areas, and improve the reception quality of the digital signal     

Coagulation in lipid- and protein-containing systems

The behavior of real disperse systems with organic impurities was examined under conditions of destabilization by inorganic coagulants. A number of physicochemical methods of analysis and a simulation method were used to identify the character and type of the complexes formed and to calculate their stability constants.     

Characteristics of tunneling and impact ionization in ZnS:Mn-based thin-film electroluminescent structures

A method for measuring the characteristics of tunneling and impact ionization in thin-film electroluminescent emitters is suggested. This method makes it possible to find time dependences of the space-charge layer thickness near the anode and the length of the impact ionization region, to determine more exactly the time dependence of the field in the potential barrier at the cathode interface, the maximum depth of the surface states from which electron tunneling occurs, the minimum thickness of the barrier, and the electron tunneling probability, as well as the impact ionization rate for the deep centers related to structural defects of the phosphor layer.     

Detection of failure sites by focused ion beam and nano-probing in the interconnect of three-dimensional stacked circuit structures

Focused ion beam (FIB) and nano-probing were applied for failure analysis of three-dimensional stacked circuits with copper through-silicon-vias between the stacked chips. The failure analysis was done after high temperature storage and thermal cycling tests. Passive voltage contrast in FIB allowed to pinpoint the open sites. FIB cross-sections showed the presence of opens at the bottom of the copper vias. The failure cause was suspected to be an interlayer particle, which was confirmed by optical profilometry. Nano-probing was used on another sample to pinpoint the failure location through the measurement of the local resistance within the daisy chains. The failure was traced out to be related with surface contamination.     

Inclusions of carbon in ingots of silicon carbide grown by the modified Lely method

The problem of the appearance of carbon inclusions in single-crystal silicon carbide ingots grown by the modified Lely method (the so-called graphitization of the ingot) is analyzed. It is shown that the process of graphitization of the ingot is not related to a deficit of silicon in the growth cell; in contrast, it is excess of silicon at the growth surface that inhibits the ingot growth rate and gives rise to intense corrosion of the graphite fittings.