Rheological microscopy: local mechanical properties from microrheology

We demonstrate how tracer microrheology methods can be extended to study submicron scale variations in the viscoelastic response of soft materials; in particular, a semidilute solution of lambda-DNA. The polymer concentration is depleted near the surfaces of the tracer particles, within a distance comparable to the polymer correlation length. The rheology of this microscopic layer alters the tracers' motion and can be precisely quantified using one- and two-point microrheology. Interestingly, we found this mechanically distinct layer to be twice as thick as the layer of depleted concentration, likely due to solvent drainage through the locally perturbed polymer structure.     

Design and Analysis of InGaN-GaN Modulation-Doped Field-Effect Transistors (MODFETs) for 90 GHz Operations

A Modulation-Doped Field-Effect Transistor (MODFET) structure having quantum wire channel realized in InGaN-GaN material system is presented. This paper presents design and analysis of a novel one-dimensional Modulation-Doped Field-Effect transistor (1D MODFET) in InGaN-GaN material system for microwave and millimeter wave applications. An analytical model predicting the transport characteristics of the proposed MODFET device is also presented. Analytical results of the current-voltage and transconductance characteristics are presented. The unity-current gain cutoff frequency (f _T) of the proposed device is computed as a function of the gate voltage V _G. The results are compared with two-dimensional GaN/AlGaN MODFET and HFET devices. The analytical model also predicts that 0.25 m channel length devices will extend the use of InGaN-GaN MODFETs to above 90GHz.     

Randomly chosen chaotic maps can give rise to nearly ordered behavior

Parrondo’s paradox [J.M.R. Parrondo, G.P. Harmer, D. Abbott, New paradoxical games based on Brownian ratchets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000), 5226–5229] (see also [O.E. Percus, J.K. Percus, Can two wrongs make a right? Coin-tossing games and Parrondo’s paradox, Math. Intelligencer 24 (3) (2002) 68–72]) states that two losing gambling games when combined one after the other (either deterministically or randomly) can result in a winning game: that is, a losing game followed by a losing game = a winning game. Inspired by this paradox, a recent study [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] asked an analogous question in discrete time dynamical system: can two chaotic systems give rise to order, namely can they be combined into another dynamical system which does not behave chaotically? Numerical evidence is provided in [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] that two chaotic quadratic maps, when composed with each other, create a new dynamical system which has a stable period orbit. The question of what happens in the case of random composition of maps is posed in [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] but left unanswered. In this note we present an example of a dynamical system where, at each iteration, a map is chosen in a probabilistic manner from a collection of chaotic maps. The resulting random map is proved to have an infinite absolutely continuous invariant measure (acim) with spikes at two points. From this we show that the dynamics behaves in a nearly ordered manner. When the foregoing maps are applied one after the other, deterministically as in [O.E. Percus, J.K. Percus, Can two wrongs make a right? Coin-tossing games and Parrondo’s paradox, Math. Intelligencer 24 (3) (2002) 68–72], the resulting composed map has a periodic orbit which is stable.     

Color center lasers passively mode locked by quantum wells

Using multiple-quantum-well (MQW) saturable absorbers, a NaCl color center was passively mode locked to produce 275-fs transform-limited, pedestal-free pulses with a peak power as high as 3.7 kW. The pulses are tunable from λ=1.59 to 1.7 μm by choosing MQWs with different bandgaps. The output pulses from the laser were shortened to 25 fs using the technique of soliton compression in a fiber. The steady-state operation of the laser requires the combination of a fast saturable absorber and gain saturation     

On the cooperative MIMO communication for energy-efficient cluster-to-cluster transmission at wireless sensor network

Energy-efficient data transmission is one of the key factors for energy-efficient wireless sensor networks (WSN). Cooperative multiple input multiple output (MIMO) explores the wireless communication schemes between multiple sensors emphasizing the MIMO structure. In this paper, an energy-efficient cooperative technique is proposed for a WSN where selected numbers of sensors at the transmitting end are used to form a MIMO structure wirelessly connected with a selected number of sensors at the receiving end. The selection of nodes in the transmitting end is based on a selection function, which is a combination of channel condition, residual energy, inter-sensor distance in a cluster, and geographical location, whereas the selection in the receiving side is performed on the basis of channel condition. Data are sent by the sensors in a cluster to a data-gathering node (DGN) using a multihop transmission. We are concentrating our design on the intermediate hop, where sensors in a cluster transmit their data to the sensors in another cluster with MIMO communication. Energy models are evaluated for both correlated and uncorrelated scenarios. The delay model of the proposed cooperative MIMO is also derived. Experimental results show that the selected MIMO structure outperforms the unselected MIMO in terms of total energy consumption. They also show energy-efficient performance by around 20% over unselected MIMO when they are compared with single-input-single-output structure. Also, the proposed approach takes around 50 more rounds than the geographically selected approach before dying at distance d?>?20 m.     

Double-Recessed High-Frequency AlInGaN/InGaN/GaN Metal–Oxide Double Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistors

We demonstrate a low-threshold AlInGaN/InGaN/GaN metal-oxide semiconductor double heterostructure field-effect transistor (MOS-DHFET) for high-frequency operation. A combination of an InGaN channel (for carrier confinement), a DRE process, and a new digital-oxide-deposition technique helped us to achieve MOS-DHFET devices with extremely low subthreshold leakage currents. This reduction in output conductance (short channel effect) resulted in a high cutoff gain frequency f_T of about 65 GHz and a current gain frequency f _max of 94 GHz. The devices exhibited high drain-currents of 1.3 A/mm and delivered RF powers of 3.1 W/mm at 26 GHz with a 35 V drain bias.     

A highly effective synthesis of 2-alkynyl-7-azaindoles: Pd/C-mediated alkynylation of heteroaryl halides in water

The reaction of 4-chloro-2-iodo-7-azaindole with terminal alkynes was investigated using 10% Pd/C-PPh₃-CuI as a catalyst system in water. This study afforded a new, mild and selective process for the preparation of 2-alkynyl-4-chloro-7-azaindole in good yields via C-C bond forming reaction. The resulting chloro derivative can be functionalized further via another Pd-mediated C-C bond forming reaction with arylboronic acid.     

Electronic Structure of InN/GaN Quantum Dots: Multimillion-Atom Tight-Binding Simulations

The theoretical calculation of the electronic structure of any constituent materials is the first step toward the interpretation and understanding of experimental data and reliable device design. This is essentially true for nanoscale devices where both the atomistic granularity of the underlying materials and the quantum-mechanical nature of charge carriers play critical roles in determining the overall device performance. In this paper, within a fully atomistic and quantum-mechanical framework, we investigate the electronic structure of wurtzite InN quantum dots (QDs) self-assembled on GaN substrates. The main objectives are threefold: 1) to explore the nature and the role of crystal atomicity, strain field, and piezoelectric and pyroelectric potentials in determining the energy spectrum and the wave functions; 2) to address the redshift in the ground state, the symmetry lowering and the nondegeneracy in the first excited state, and the strong band mixing in the overall conduction-band electronic states, which is a group of interrelated phenomena that has been revealed in recent spectroscopic analyses; and 3) to study the size dependence of the internal fields and its impact on the electronic structure as a whole. We also demonstrate the importance of 3-D atomistic material representation and the need for using realistically extended substrate and cap layers (multimillion-atom modeling) in studying the built-in structural and electric fields in these reduced dimensional QDs. The models used in this study are as follows: 1) valence-force-field Keating model for atomistic strain relaxation; 2) 20-band nearest neighbor sp ³ d ⁵ s* tight-binding model for the calculation of single-particle energy states; and 3) microscopically determined polarization constants in conjunction with an atomistic 3-D Poisson solver for the calculation of piezo- and pyroelectric contributions.