Structural and optical properties of thermally evaporated antimony telluride thin films

Antimony telluride thin films were prepared on the well-cleaned glass substrates under a pressure of 10 – 5 torr by thermal evaporation method. The thicknesses of the films were measured using Multiple Beam Interferometer (MBI) technique. The structure of the sample was analyzed by X-ray diffraction technique. The film attains crystalline structure as the temperature of the substrate is increased to 373 K. The d spacing and the lattice parameters of the sample were calculated. Optical behavior of the film samples with the various thicknesses was analyzed by obtaining their transmittance spectra in the wavelength range of 400 – 800 nm. The transmittance is found to decrease with increase in film thickness and also it falls steeply with decreasing wavelength. The optical constants were estimated and the results are discussed. The optical band gap energy decreases with increase in the film thickness. The optical transition in these films is found to be indirect and allowed. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Ionic Devices, Anna University, Chennai, India, Nov. 28–30, 2003.     

Growth, structure, and characterization of tris(thiourea)silver(I) nitrate

Single crystals of tris(thiourea)silver(I) nitrate have been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique from an aqueous solution at 25 °C. The single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that the crystal belongs to tetragonal system and cell parameters are a = b = 14.2790(4) Å, c = 24.8900(7) Å, and V = 5074.8(2) Å³. The various functional groups present in the molecule are confirmed by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The structure and the crystallinity of the materials were further confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction analysis. Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis reveal the purity of the sample and no decomposition is observed up to the melting point. The crystal is further characterized by UV–Vis and Vickers microhardness analysis.     

Effect of rectified and modulated sine forces on chaos in Duffing oscillator

The effect of rectified and modulated sine forces on the onset of horseshoe chaos is studied both analytically and numerically in the Duffing oscillator. With single force analytical threshold condition for the onset of horseshoe chaos is obtained using the Melnikov method. The Melnikov threshold curve is drawn in a parameter space. For the rectified sine wave, onset of cross-well asymptotic chaos is observed just above the Melnikov threshold curve. For the modulus of sine wave long time transient motion followed by a periodic attractor is realized. The possibility of controlling of chaos by the addition of second modulated force is then analyzed. Parametric regimes where suppression of horseshoe chaos occurs are predicted analytically and verified numerically. Interestingly, suppression of chaos is found in the parametric regimes where the Melnikov function does not change sign.     

Vibrational resonance in biological nonlinear maps

We investigate vibrational resonance in two different nonlinear maps driven by a biharmonic force: the Bellows and the Rulkov map. These two maps possess dynamical features of particular interest for the study of these phenomena. In both maps, the resonance occurs at the low-frequency of the biharmonic signal as the amplitude of the high-frequency signal is varied. We also consider an array of unidirectionally coupled maps with the forcing signal applied to the first unit. In this case, a signal propagation with several interesting features above a critical value of the coupling strength is found, while the response amplitude of the ith unit is greater than the first one. This response evolves in a sigmoidal fashion with the system number i, meaning that at some point the amplitudes saturate. The unidirectional coupling acts as a low-pass filter for distant units. Moreover, the analysis of the mean residence time of the trajectory in a given region of the phase space unveils a multiresonance mechanism in the coupled map system. These results point at the relevance of the discrete-time models for the study of resonance phenomena, since analyses and simulations are much easier than for continuous-time models.     

Novel vibrational resonance in multistable systems

We investigate the role of multistable states on the occurrence of vibrational resonance in a periodic potential system driven by both a low-frequency and a high-frequency periodic force in both underdamped and overdamped limits. In both cases, when the amplitude of the high-frequency force is varied, the response amplitude at the low-frequency exhibits a series of resonance peaks and approaches a limiting value. Using a theoretical approach, we analyse the mechanism of multiresonance in terms of the resonant frequency and the stability of the equilibrium points of the equation of motion of the slow variable. In the overdamped system, the response amplitude is always higher than in the absence of the high-frequency force. However, in the underdamped system, this happens only if the low-frequency is less than 1. In the underdamped system, the response amplitude is maximum when the equilibrium point around which slow oscillations take place is maximally stable and minimum at the transcritical bifurcation. And in the overdamped system, it is maximum at the transcritical bifurcation and minimum when the associated equilibrium point is maximally stable. When the periodicity of the potential is truncated, the system displays only a few resonance peaks.     

Quantitative thermodynamic analysis of sublimation rates using an atomic force microscope

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been successfully used to study the activation energy for evaporation of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) nanoislands formed by spin coating. These islands are annealed isothermally in the temperature range of 30-70 degrees C for a given time and are scanned with AFM in contact mode at room temperature. The volume of these islands does not change significantly up to about 35-40 degrees C indicating that sublimation is not significant below 40 degrees C. Above 40 degrees C, the islands start shrinking, and the rate of weight loss is analyzed as a function of temperature. The activation energy of evaporation using AFM was found to be similar to that for bulk PETN crystals using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at higher temperatures (110-135 degrees C). These results demonstrate that AFM is a useful tool to measure thermodynamic properties with a nanoscale probe.     

Routes to chaos and mode-locking in interferometers with nematic film inserts

The influence of time-dependent periodic optical drive in the Fabry-Perot interferometer system has been investigated using a theoretical model equation. A variety of features such as different routes to chaos, multiperiodic oscillations, coexistence of multiple attractors and mode-locking with devil’s staircase are found to occur for a certain range of parametric values.     

Diffusion dynamics and first passage time in a two-coupled pendulum system

We present the numerical investigation of diffusion process and features of first passage time (FPT) and mean FPT (MFPT) in a two-coupled damped and periodically driven pendulum system. The effect of amplitude of the external periodic force and phase of the force on diffusion constant, distribution of FPT, P(tFPT), and MFPT is analyzed. Normal diffusion is found. Diffusion constant is found to show power-law variation near intermittency and sudden widening crises while linear variation is observed in the quasiperiodic region. In the intermittency crisis the divergence of diffusion constant is similar to the divergence of mean bursting length. P(tFPT) of critical distances of state variable exhibit periodic multiple peaks with decaying amplitude. MFPT of critical distances also follows power-law variation. Diffusion constant and MFPT are sensitive to the phase factor of the periodic force.     

Vibrational resonance in a time-delayed genetic toggle switch

Biological oscillators can respond in a surprising way when they are perturbed by two external periodic forcing signals of very different frequencies. The response of the system to a low-frequency signal can be enhanced or depressed when a high-frequency signal is acting. This is what is known as vibrational resonance (VR). Here we study this phenomenon in a simple time-delayed genetic toggle switch, which is a synthetic gene-regulatory network. We have found out how the low-frequency signal changes the range of the response, while the high-frequency signal influences the amplitude at which the resonance occurs. The delay of the toggle switch has also a strong effect on the resonance since it can also induce autonomous oscillations.