Simultaneous measurement of δH, δO,and δO in H2O using a commercial cavity ringdown spectrometer

We demonstrate that a commercial instrument that provides measurements of ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and D/H ratios in water samples can be modified to also provide measurements of ¹⁷O/¹⁶O. This additional capability and associated precision allows for the discernment between conventional mass-dependent processes, such as isotope exchange and evaporation and mass-independent processes that arise from non-equilibrium chemical and photochemical processes. We demonstrate this resolution by performing a series of experiments including evaporation and reservoir-mixing with ¹⁷O enriched water samples followed by evaporation. The ability to simultaneously measure ¹⁶O, ¹⁷O, and ¹⁸O abundances in water samples using the procedures described here should help to facilitate multi-isotopic studies of water (and other compounds) in astrochemical, geochemical, and biological studies.     

Si-based erbium-doped light-emitting devices

We report on the fabrication and performance of Si-based light sources. The devices consist of MOS structures with erbium (Er)-doped silicon rich oxide (SRO) film as gate dielectric. The devices exhibit electroluminescence (EL) at 1.54 μm at room temperature with a 0.2% external quantum efficiency. These devices show a high stability due to the silicon excess in the film. The Er-doped SRO films have been introduced in a Si/SiO₂ Fabry-Perot Microcavity in order to increase the spontaneous emission rate, the extraction efficiency and the spectral purity at the resonant wavelength. The active medium in the cavity has been electrically pumped and the conduction mechanisms have been analyzed. The EL spectra have also been acquired and compared with photoluminescence (PL) ones for the same resonant cavity light-emitting device (RCLED). The EL and PL peak intensities of the on-axis emission at the resonant wavelength are over 20 times above that of the similar Er-doped SRO film without a cavity. The Si-based RCLEDs exhibit different quality factors, ranging from 60 to 170. The spectra shape and intensity have been correlated with the quality factor. A high directionality of the emitted light, due to the presence of the resonant cavity, has also been observed: the overall luminescence is confined within 10° cone from the sample normal.     

Si-based materials and devices for light emission in silicon

We report on the fabrication and performances of extremely efficient Si-based light sources. The devices consist of MOS structures with erbium (Er) implanted in the thin gate oxide. The devices exhibit strong 1.54 μm electroluminescence (EL) at 300 K with a 10% external quantum efficiency, comparable to that of standard light-emitting diodes using III–V semiconductors. Er excitation is caused by hot electrons impact and oxide wearout limits the reliability of the devices. Much more stable light-emitting MOS devices have been fabricated using Er-doped silicon rich oxide (SRO) films as gate dielectric. These devices show a high stability, with an external quantum efficiency reduced to 1%. In these devices, Er pumping occurs by energy transfer from the Si nanostructures to the rare-earth ions. Finally, we have also fabricated MOS structures with Tb- and Yb-doped SiO₂ which show room temperature EL at 540 nm (Tb) and 980 nm (Yb) with an external quantum efficiency of a 10% and 0.1%, respectively.     

Characterization of SILO in thin-oxides by using MOSFET substrate current

A thorough SILC characterization by using MOSFET induced substrate current is for the first time developed. Based on obtained results, it is argued that a model consisting in a electrode-limited conduction, as the Fowler-Nordheim emission, cannot explains thin-oxide SILC results, while a bulk-limited trap-assisted transport well fits experimental data.     

Inelastic effect on the resonance lineshapes in he-graphite scattering

A multiple Debye—Waller effect for bound state resonances in atom scattering was recently proposed to explain the observed width and strength of measured resonances. The model was applied with success to measurement of the specular intensity for He-graphite at low incident energies, and to measurement of the diffracted intensities for D-LiF(001) at grazing incidence. We present new calculations for He-graphite at intermediate incident energy, by which the multiple Debye-Waller attenuation appears completely inadequate to describe experimental the inelastic effect on the resonance lineshapes.     

Preparation and properties of 1TTaSe2

The preparation and physical properties of 1TTaSe₂ are described, including: magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, heat capacity, pressure dependence and volume change of a first order intrapolytypic transformation at 473°K. Electron diffraction and X-ray measurements show that a superlattice exists in this compound containing 26 formula units per unit cell. The physical properties are consistent with the observation of a superlattice.     

3D quantitative image analysis of open-cell nickel foams under tension and compression loading using X-ray microtomography

The deformation behaviour and fracture of an open-cell nickel foam were analysed using X-ray microtomography at the ESRF, Grenoble, France. In situ tensile and compression tests were performed at a resolution of 2 and 10 μm. The initial morphology of the foam was studied using 3D image analysis. Parameters such as the cell volume and strut length distributions, number of faces per cell, number of nodes per face and the shape of the most representative cells were determined. The cells are shown to be non-spherical due to the initial geometrical anisotropy of the polyurethane foam template and to the load applied to the nickel foam during processing. This geometrical anisotropy is shown to be related to the observed anisotropy of the elastic properties of the material using a simple beam model. In tension, bending, stretching and alignment of struts are observed. A tensile test in the longitudinal direction is shown to reinforce the privileged orientations of the cells. In contrast, a tensile test in the transverse direction leads to a more isotropic distribution of the cells. These features are illustrated by pole figures of the three axes of equivalent ellipsoids for all cells at different strain levels. Compression tests are associated with strain localization phenomena due to the buckling of struts in a weaker region of the foam. Finally, study of open-cell nickel foam fracture shows that cracks initiate at nodes during tensile tests and that the damaged zone is about five cells wide. Free edge effects on crack initiation are also evidenced.     

Charge-density waves and superlattices in the metallic layered transition metal dichalcogenides

The d1 layer metals TaS 2 , TaSe 2 , NbSe 2 , in all their various polytypic modifications, acquire, below some appropriate temperature, phase conditions that their electromagnetic properties have previously revealed as 'anomalous'. Our present electron-microscopic studies indicate that this anomalous behaviour usually included the adoption, at some stage, of a superlattice. The size of superlattice adopted often is forecast in the pattern of satellite spotting and strong diffuse scattering found above the transition. Our conclusions are that charge-density waves and their concomitant periodic structural distortions occur in all these 4d 1 /5d 1 dichalcogenides. We have related the observed periodicities of these CDW states to the theoretical form of the parent Fermi surfaces. Particularly for the 1T octahedrally coordinated polytypes the Fermi surface is very simple and markedly two-dimensional in character, with large near-parallel walls. Such a situation is known theoretically to favour the formation of charge and spin-density waves. When they first appear, the CDWs in the 1T (and 4Hb) polytypes are incommensurate with the lattice. This condition produes a fair amount of gapping in the density of states at the Fermi level. For the simplest case of 1T-TaSe 2 , the room temperature superlattice is realized when this existing CDW rotates into an orientation for which it then become commensurate. At this first-order transition the Fermi surface energy gapping increases beyond that generated by the incommensurate CDW, as is clearly evident in the electromagnetic properties. For the trigonal prismatically coordinated polytypes, CDW formation is withheld to low temperatures, probably because of the more complex band structures. This CDW state (in the cases measured) would seem at once commensurate, even though the transition is, from a wide variety of experiments, apparently second order. A wide range of doped and intercalated materials have been used to substantiate the presence of CDWs in these compounds, and to clarify the effect that their occurrence has on the physical properties. The observations further demonstrate the distinctiveness of the transition metal dichalcogenide layer compounds, and of the group VA metals in particular.     

Design and fabrication of integrated Si-based optoelectronic devices

We have designed and fabricated novel Si-based optoelectronic devices. To this aim, different Si-based optical sources have been made and their performances at room temperature compared. Er-doped Si p–n junctions, operating at 1.54 μm and exhibiting an efficiency of 0.05% at room temperature, have been integrated with planar Si rib waveguides using either epitaxial Si or silicon on insulators (SOI) wafers. Optical characterization of these waveguides reveals very low transmission losses (below 1 dB/cm). However, Er-doping of the waveguide core, needed for the realization of the light source, results in a large increase of the losses as a consequence of absorption by the free electrons introduced by the rare earths. These losses can be suppressed when the junction is reverse biased and the whole Er profile is embodied in the depletion layer. Since this also allows efficient pumping of Er ions by hot carriers, the performances of the diodes and of the waveguides can be suitably combined. This optimized structure has also been used to design electrically pumped optical amplifiers and lasers, whose performances have been simulated.