Epitaxy: the motion picture

The engineering of many modern electronic devices demands control over a crystal down to the thickness of a single layer of atoms—and future demands will be even more challenging. Such control is achieved by the method of crystal growth known as epitaxy, and that makes this method the subject of intense study. More than that, recent advances are revolutionizing our knowledge of how surfaces grow. In fact, growing surfaces show a beautifully rich variety of phenomena, many of which are only now beginning to be uncovered. In the past few years many surface imaging techniques have been used to give us a close look at how crystals grow—while they are growing. The purpose of this article will be to illustrate some of the ways real surfaces grow and change as revealed by some of the latest in situ microscopic imaging technologies.

It is often said that crystal growth is more of an art than a science. Here we will show that it is emphatically both.     

Structural transition of the human lymphocyte plasma membrane: an ESR approach

Summary The electron spin resonance spectroscopy and the spin label technique have been used to study the thermotropic structural transition of the plasma membrane ofin toto human peripheral blood lymphocytes in the temperature range (25÷41)°C. A discontinuity in the plot probe order parametervs. temperature, at a temperature of about 31°C, is observed. This discontinuity is upward shifted to a temperature of 35°C in the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxinB and is no longer observed when using isolated plasma membrane. These results are interpreted as being due to a change in the structural properties of the lipid phase of plasma membrane during the activation of the lymphocyte cells.     

Towards a fully optimised organic LED device: Analysis of surface synthesis using coupling reactions by ToF-SIMS

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and polarisation-modulation reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (PM-RAIRS) have been used to monitor the surface synthesis of self-assembled aromatic π-conjugated molecular wires on gold substrates as a step towards a novel structure for organic electroluminescent devices (OLEDs). The wires have been synthesised using a series of Schiff's base coupling reactions in solution on a self-assembled monolayer of an aromatic thiolate anchor. ToF-SIMS and PM-RAIRS measurements have demonstrated that: (i) the anchor molecules self-assemble at the gold surface, (ii) the anchor molecules selectively react through imino coupling reactions with additional wire units with high efficiency and (iii) the wire-like structure is predominantly orientated normal to the surface.     

Syntheses and Structures of Sil abridged Hafnocene Dichlorides

The present paper covers three silabridged hafnocene dichlorides(1, 2 and 3) prepared by sequential reactions of α, ω-dichloropermethyl polysilane with cyclopentadienyl sodium, n-butyl lithium and hafnium tetrachloride. Their structures were characterized by elemental analyses, UV, 1H(13C) NMR and MS. Furthermore the crystal and molecular structures of 1 and 2 were determined by X-ray diffraction method. The crystal of 1 is monoclinic, space group C2/c with a=1. 3401(4), b=0. 9977(3), c = 1. 0922(4) nm; β=94. 07(1)° V=3. 6342 nm3, Z = 2, Dc = 2.155 g·cm-3. The final deviation factor R = 0. 064. The crystal of 2 is monoclinic, space group P21/c with a=0.0847(1), b=1.5181(1), c=2.9824(2) nm; β= 94. 07(1)°? V=3.634 nm3; Dc= l. 805 g·cm-3. The final deviation factor R = 0. 033. The relationship between the silabridged structure and spectral properties is also discussed.     

Assembly and Photophysics of Ternary Luminescent Lanthanide Molecular Complex Systems

In this paper, according to the molecular fragment principle, a series of eight ternary luminescent lanthanide complex systems were assembled, and whose compositions were determined with elemental analysis and infrared spectrum: Ln(MA)₃(L)·H₂O, where Ln = Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy; HMA = α‐methylacrylic acid; L = 1,10‐phenanthroline (phen), 2,2′‐bipyridine (bipy). The photophysical properties of these functional molecular systems were studied with ultraviolet‐visible absorption spectrum, and fluorescence excitation and emission spectrum. It was found that the heterocylic compounds (phen and bipy) act as the main energy donor and luminescence sensitizer for their suitable energy match and effective energy transfer to the emission energy level of Ln³⁺ ions. MMA ligand was only used as the terminal structural ligand to influence the luminescence. Especially terbium complex systems show the strongest luminescence for the optimum energy match and transfer between phen (bipy) and Tb³⁺ ion.     

C D : a computer program to generate 1D, 2D and 3D grids of functions dependent on the molecular ab initio electron density

A program to compute many functions dependent on the electron density ρ(r) from the results of ab initio molecular calculations is presented. The program allows the generation of different one-, two-, and three-dimensional grids for further graphical representation or numerical analysis. Other options like extracting separate atom contributions to the function computed or locating maximum and minimum values are also implemented. A number of illustrative applications regarding different ρ(r)-dependent functions are presented and the performance and portability of the program is discussed.     

MgO films grown on yttria-stabilized zirconia by molecular beam epitaxy

MgO films were grown on (0 0 1) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The crystalline structures of these films were investigated using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Growth temperature was varied from 350 to 550 °C, with crystalline quality being improved at higher temperatures. The MgO films had a domain structure: (1 1 1)[1 1 2¯]_MgO(0 0 1)[1 0 0]_YSZ with four twin variants related by a 90° in-plane rotation about the [1 1 1]_MgO axis. The observed epitaxial orientation was compared to previous reports of films grown by pulsed laser deposition and sputtering and explained as resulting in the lowest interface energy.     

Atomistic phenomena in dense fluid shock waves

The shock structure problem is one of the classical problems of fluid mechanics and at least for non-reacting dilute gases it has been considered essentially solved. Here we present a few recent findings, to show that this is not the case. There are still new physical effects to be discovered provided that the numerical technique is general enough to not rule them out a priori. While the results have been obtained for dense fluids, some of the effects might also be observable for shocks in dilute gases.     

卤代对苝醌类光敏剂光敏活性影响的量子化学研究

以一种新型的醌类光敏剂—菌生素 (HMB)为模型化合物 ,利用量子化学从头算HF/ 6 31G和含时密度泛函TD B3LYP/ 6 31G方法计算研究了卤代作用对醌类光敏剂分子性质和光敏活性的影响 .结果发现 ,卤代作用降低了HMB母体的HOMO和LUMO能级 (EHOMO和ELUMO)及其差值△E ,随卤族元素从上到下 ,EHOMO和ELUMO呈增大趋势 ,而△E呈减小趋势 ,使得分子激发光谱有不同程度的红移 ,在增加PQP三重态量子产率的同时降低了分子最低三重激发态的能量 ,两种作用相互抵消 ,使得卤代物的 1O2 量子产率与母体相似 ;增加了分子的绝热电子亲合势 ,使分子产生O2 -的能力下降 ;卤原子的引入 ,降低了HMB母体分子内氢键的强度 ,同时使顺式构型的分子内质子传递势垒增大 ,而使反式构型势垒减小 .     

Kinetics and equilibrium of small metallic clusters: Ab initio confinement molecular dynamics study of 4

The ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) [1] is combined with the heuristic, successive confinement method of surveying a potential energy surface (PES) [2], thereby offering a framework for the simulation study of kinetics and equilibrium properties of metallic clusters. This approach is applied to the study of Au₄, a cluster possessing a simple but specific PES, which consists of very shallow and deep basins and due to this presents a challenge to the conventional AIMD methods. Among other things, the probabilities of the transitions between isomers have been found, and on this basis, both the time-dependent and equilibrium populations of the isomers have been calculated for the conditions typical of the NeNePo experiments [3] in the femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy.