Silver: a novel growth catalyst for Ge nanoislands on Si(113)

The impact of silver pre‐adsorption on germanium growth on Si(113) was investigated using in‐situ low‐energy electron microscopy (LEEM) as well as low‐energy electron diffraction (LEED). The adsorption of silver leads to the formation of a regular pattern of nanofacets along the [1 0] direction. The periodicity of this pattern in [33 ] direction was determined to (44 ± 4) nm. From LEED series at different energies the facets were identified to be of (111) and (115) orientation. While the (111) facets show a (√3 × √3)‐R30° reconstruction, the (115) facets exhibit a (2 × n) superstructure. The subsequent growth of Ge results in the formation of nanoislands that are aligned along the facets. These Ge islands have an anisotropic shape with typical sizes of about 100 nm in [33 ] direction and 400 nm in [1 0] direction. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Generation of minimally persistent circle formation for a multi-agent system

In this paper, two methods of generating minimally persistent circle formation are presented. The proposed methods adopt a leader-follower strategy and all followers are firstly motivated to move into the leader＇s interaction range. Based on the information about relative angle and relative distance, two numbering schemes are proposed to generate minimally persistent circle formation. Distributed control laws are also designed to maintain the desired relative distance between agents. The distinctive features of the proposed methods are as follows. First, only 2n - 3 unilateral communication links for n agents are needed during the circle formation process and thus the communication complexity can be reduced. In addition, the formation topology is kept fixed for the whole motion and achieves a self-stability property. Finally, each follower keeps a regualr interval with its neighbors and the formation converges to a uniform circle formation. Simulation results are also provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Azimuthal modulational instability of vortices in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

We study the azimuthal modulational instability of vortices with different topological charges, in the focusing two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation. The method of studying the stability relies on freezing the radial direction in the Lagrangian functional of the NLS in order to form a quasi-one-dimensional azimuthal equation of motion, and then applying a stability analysis in Fourier space of the azimuthal modes. We formulate predictions of growth rates of individual modes and find that vortices are unstable below a critical azimuthal wave number. Steady-state vortex solutions are found by first using a variational approach to obtain an asymptotic analytical ansatz, and then using it as an initial condition to a numerical optimization routine. The stability analysis predictions are corroborated by direct numerical simulations of the NLS. We briefly show how to extend the method to encompass nonlocal nonlinearities that tend to stabilize such solutions.     

Beatings in the Spin Echo Signal in Media Having a Doublet Structure of the Spectrum

We have obtained an analytical expression for the twopulse echo signal arising in nonresonant excitation of a condensed medium with a nonuniformly broadened spectrum of doublet structure by two pulses of an electromagnetic field of different durations and of the same amplitude. It is shown that in the case where the differences between the carrying frequency of exciting pulses and the central frequencies of the spectral lines differ considerably, beatings are formed in the signal of the twopulse echo. The rate of decay of the amplitude of these beatings is found to depend only on the time of reversible and irreversible relaxation, and their circular frequency is determined by the shift of the spectral lines relative to each other. A technique for separate determination of the inhomogeneous width of the lines and time of the irreversible transverse relaxation is suggested which is based on the analysis of the twopulse echo signal beatings.     

Diploe-allowed optical absorption of an exciton in a spherical parabolic quantum dot

A investigation of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of an exciton in a spherical parabolic quantum dot has been performed by using the matrix diagonalization method. The optical absorption coefficients between the ground state (L=0,π=+1) and the first excited state (L=1,π=-1) have been examined based on the computed energies and wave functions. The results are presented as a function of the incident photon energy for the different values of the incident optical intensity and the confinement strength. We found the optical absorption coefficient is strongly affected by the incident optical intensity and the confinement strength.     

Hydrogenation of carbon fragments after femtosecond laser ablation of solid C60

We have observed several kinds of hydrocarbon cations after the nanosecond and the femtosecond laser ablation (nsLA and fsLA) of solid C₆₀. The observation indicates that the carbon fragments produced just after laser ablation of the C₆₀ molecule react with the hydrogen atoms and ions coexisting in the ablation plume. In the case of fsLA, clear dependence of the product hydrocarbon species on the ablation laser power has been observed although the dependence is not clearly observed in nsLA. The production of C_nH₅⁺ (n = 8, 10, and 12) is only observed in fsLA suggesting the unique nature of the transient carbon fragments produced by fsLA.     

Vehicular motion on a selected path in a 2d traffic network controlled by signals

We study the dynamic behavior of vehicular traffic through a series of traffic lights on selected paths in a two-dimensional (2d) traffic network. The city traffic network is made of one-way perpendicular streets arranged in a square lattice with traffic signals where vertical streets are oriented upwards and horizontal streets are oriented rightwards. A vehicle moves through the series of signals on a path selected by the driver. The selected path is one of the straight, zigzag, and random paths in a 2d traffic network. The vehicular motion on a selected path is presented by the nonlinear-map model. Vehicular traffic exhibits very complex behavior with varying selected paths, cycle times, and vehicular density. The dependence of the arrival time on cycle time, selected path, and density is clarified for 2d city traffic.     

Effects of Interfacial Polarization on Voltage Tunability of Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)1-xTixO3 Single Crystals

The voltage tunability of Pb(Fe_1/2Nb_1/2)_1-xTi_xO₃ single crystals is investigated at a low electric field (<130 V/cm) in a low frequency range (<1 MHz). The results show that the capacitance is strongly suppressed by the applied dc biases for both the rhombohedral sample and the tetragonal sample. A negative voltage tunability is only detected in the tetragonal sample. The origin of the giant tunability and the negative tunability is discussed based on the multipolarization-mechanism model and the equivalent circuit model, respectively. It is ascribed to the interfacial polarization at the interface of electrode/sample.     

Accelerated Multi-Level Atoms in an Electromagnetic Vacuum and Fulling--Davies--Unruh Effect

We consider, from the point of view of a coaccelerated frame, a uniformly accelerated multi-level atom in interaction with vacuum quantum electromagnetic fields in the multi-polar coupling scheme, and calculate the rate of change of the atom＇s energy assuming a thermal bath at a finite temperature T in the Rindler wedge. Comparison with the spontaneous excitation rate of the atom calculated in the instantaneous inertial frame of the atom shows that both the inertial and coaccelerated observer would agree with each other only when the temperature of the thermal bath equals the FDU value TFDU = α/2π.