EPMA of interfaces applied to the solid oxide fuel cell

Chemical interactions at the phase boundaries of materials applied for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) have been studied by EPMA. The chemical reactivity at the interface of La_y-xSr_xMnO₃/ZrO₂-Y₂O₃ is dependent on the stoichiometry (y) and the Sr content (x) of the perovskite. Typical reaction products (zirconates) and a diffusion zone in the ZrO₂–Y₂O₃ have been observed. The extension of cation release (Mn) is related to the increasing chemical activity of Mn oxide in the perovskite by the Sr substitution for La. The wettability of the metal/oxide interface in the anode cermet (Ni/ZrO₂–Y₂O₃) has been found to be influenced by chemical reactions resulting from the applied reducing atmosphere with high carbon activity. The disintegration of ZrO₂–Y₂O₃ in contact with molten Ni or Ni-Ti and Ni-Cr alloys leads to the redeposition of Y₂O₃-enriched oxides and also to Zr-rich intermetallic compounds and eutectics.     

Continuously distributed phase shifts in chirped DFB lasers usingbent waveguides

The authors have implemented chirped distributed feedback (DFB) grating lasers with phase shifts [λ/8, 2λ/8 and 3λ/8] distributed continuously over various axial distances, using their recently proposed method for producing bent optical waveguides. The singlemode stability of the lasers with distributed phase shifts was found to be considerably higher than for lasers with abrupt phase shifts     

Object-oriented H.263 compatible video coding platform forconferencing applications

This paper describes a prototype video coding platform meant for the conception and testing of multimedia products such as next-generation videophones. The platform is largely based on ITU-T Recommendation H.263, with a number of additional object-oriented quality enhancement features which make it especially well suited for very low bit-rate coding of “head-and-shoulders” video material typical of real-time multimedia applications, video teleconferencing, and video telephony. These features consist of: (1) segmentation into objects of interest, (2) segmentation-based prefiltering, (3) model-assisted rate control, (4) adaptive vector quantization, and finally (5) segmentation-based postfiltering. In the spirit of Recommendation H.263, these enhancements are modular and can be selectively turned on or off, thereby enabling a wide variety of coding modes     

Far-infrared pump-probe measurement of the lifetime of the 2p−1 shallow donor level in n-GaAs

The low temperature lifetime of electrons excited in the 2p^?1 donor level of n-GaAs has been studied in a far-infrared pump-probe experiment. The measurement has been carried out using a pulsed far-infrared molecular gas laser working at a wavelength of 292µm, with the sample in a magnetic field of 5.1 T, resonant with the 1s_o?2p^?1 transition. Two FIR pulses are sliced from one FIR-laser pulse by means of optical switching techniques using two Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers. The first pulse is used to saturate the transition, while the second pulse probes the return of the population in the excited state towards thermal equilibrium as a function of the time delay after the excitation pulse. The value of 350±50 ns found for the lifetime falls in line with CW saturation results on materials with other doping concentrations.     

Toughening of epoxies via craze-like damage

The fracture behavior of a core-shell rubber (CSR) modified epoxy is investigated using both fracture mechanics and microscopy tools. The CSR-modified epoxy is found to be toughened via numerous line-array cavitations of the CSR particles, followed by plastic flow of the epoxy matrix. The toughening effect via the above craze-like damage process is found to be as effective as that of the well-known widespread rubber cavitation/matrix shear yielding mechanisms. The conditions for triggering the craze-like damage appear to be both stress state and rubber concentration dependent. The type of rubber tougheners utilized also plays a critical role in triggering this rather unusual craze-like damage in epoxy systems. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Electro-optic sampling system for the testing of high-speedintegrated circuits using a free running solid-state laser

This paper deals with the indirect electro-optic sampling technique for the low-invasive detection of periodical voltage waveforms on lines in high-speed integrated circuits. The system introduced here is based on a passive mode-coupled Ti:Sapphire-Laser as light source for generating optical pulses in the subpicosecond regime. Therefore, we have to synchronize the resulting electric measurement signal and its external trigger onto the pulse repetition rate of this free running solid-state laser. The multi user function of the laser system forces us to transmit the pulses via a single-mode fiber into the measurement setup. For that purpose we developed a special optical arrangement to minimize the widening of the pulses in the time domain. The system's high-temporal resolution of nearly 10 ps in combination with its high-voltage sensitivity of about 800 μV/√(Hz) is demonstrated by measurements of an integrated microwave frequency divider     

A Primitive Non-symmetric 3-Class Association Scheme on 36 Elements with p11 = 0 Exists and is Unique

In this paper we construct a primitive, non-symmetric 3-class association scheme with parameters v = 36, v₁ = 7, p¹₁₁ = 0 and p²₁₁ = 4 and show that such a scheme is determined by its parameters.     

On finite element approximation and stabilization methods for compressible viscous flows

This work is devoted to the numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equations for compressible viscous fluids. Finite element approximations and stabilization techniques are addressed. We present methods to implement discontinuous approximations for the pressure and the density. An upwinding methodology is being investigated which combines the ideas behind the stream line Petrov–Galerkin method and the flux limiter methods aiming to introduce numerical diffusion only where it is necessary.