Effects of composition grading at heterointefaces and layer thickness variations on Bragg mirror quality

GaAs/AlAs Bragg mirrors on GaAs with varied number of layer pairs were grown, by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), to be applied for semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) and intensity modulators. Due to the random variation of the growth rate, substrate surface roughness, and interdiffusion at the interfaces, precise control of the growth conditions of deposited layers poses a serious problem. Usually, thickness variations and composition grading at the heterointefaces result in variations of the mirror reflectivity. In this paper, the high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), optical reflectance, Rutherford backscattering/channelling (RBS), supported by numerical evaluation methods were employed to determine both the exact thickness of each layer and the composition grading at the interface between succeeding layers of GaAs/AlAs-based mirrors. To reduce ambiguity and to speed up the analysis, the rocking curves and RBS spectra were simulated concurrently, using results of one simulation to verify the others. This process was carried out until the best fit between experimental and calculated curves was achieved. The complementary use of both methods results in improved sensitivity and makes the whole process of evaluation of the thickness variation of each layer and the size of the composition grading at the interfaces less time consuming.     

Vacuum ultraviolet laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of polymers

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in the vacuum ultraviolet range (VUV, λ < 200 nm) is employed for the detection of trace elements in polyethylene (PE) that are difficult to detect in the UV/VIS range. For effective laser ablation of PE, we use a F₂ laser (wavelength λ = 157 nm) with a laser pulse length of 20 ns, a pulse energy up to 50 mJ, and pulse repetition rate of 10 Hz. The optical radiation of the laser-induced plasma is measured by a VUV spectrometer with detection range down to λ = 115 nm. A gated photon-counting system is used to acquire time-resolved spectra. From LIBS measurements of certified polymer reference materials, we obtained a limit of detection (LOD) of 50 µg/g for sulphur and 215 µg/g for zinc, respectively.The VUV LIBS spectra of PE are dominated by strong emission lines of neutral and ionized carbon atoms. From time-resolved measurements of the carbon line intensities, we determine the temporal evolution of the electronic plasma temperature, T_e. For this, we use Saha–Boltzmann plots with the electron density in the plasma, N_e, derived from the broadening of the hydrogen H-α line. With the parameters T_e and N_e, we calculate the intensity ratio of the atomic sulphur and carbon lines at 180.7 nm and at 175.2 nm, respectively. The calculated intensity ratios are in good agreement with the experimentally measured results.     

Synthesis and Preliminary Anticancer Activity Assessment of N-Glycosides of 2-Amino-1,3,4-thiadiazoles

The addition of 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives with parallel iodination of differently protected glycals has been achieved using a double molar excess of molecular iodine under mild conditions. The corresponding thiadiazole derivatives of N-glycosides were obtained in good yields and anomeric selectivity. The usage of iodine as a catalyst makes this method easy, inexpensive, and successfully useable in reactions with sugars. Thiadiazole derivatives were tested in a panel of three tumor cell lines, MCF-7, HCT116, and HeLa. These compounds initiated biological response in investigated tumor models in a different rate. The MCF-7 is resistant to the tested compounds, and the cytometry assay indicated low increase in cell numbers in the sub- G1 phase. The most sensitive are HCT-116 and HeLa cells. The thiadiazole derivatives have a pro-apoptotic effect on HCT-116 cells. In the case of the HeLa cells, an increase in the number of cells in the sub-G1- phase and the induction of apoptosis was observed.     

High pressure stabilization and emergent forms of PbH4

A wide decomposition pressure range of 132 GPa is predicted for PbH4 above which it emerges in very different forms compared with its group-14 congeners. This triply Born-Oppenheimer system is a nonmolecular, three-dimensional, metallic alloy, despite a prominent layered structure. A significant number of enthalpically near-degenerate structures, with exceedingly small energy barriers for distortions, and characteristic instabilities in the phonon spectra suggest that even at very high pressures PbH4 may exhibit both metallic and liquidlike properties and sublattice or even full melting.     

Relativity and the lead-acid battery

The energies of the solid reactants in the lead-acid battery are calculated ab?initio using two different basis sets at nonrelativistic, scalar-relativistic, and fully relativistic levels, and using several exchange-correlation potentials. The average calculated standard voltage is 2.13?V, compared with the experimental value of 2.11?V. All calculations agree in that 1.7-1.8?V of this standard voltage arise from relativistic effects, mainly from PbO2 but also from PbSO4.     

From nanostrips to nanorings: the elastic properties of gold-glued polyauronaphthyridines and polyacenes

The previously proposed flat 2,6-diauro-1,5-naphthyridine polymers were bent to closed rings with up to 12 monomers. Their bending energies and lowest in-plane deformation frequencies were calculated at the DFT level using quasirelativistic pseudopotentials for gold. The ring-formation energies were compared with those for polyacene rings and found to be of the same order of magnitude, suggesting sufficient stability for the predicted polyauronaphthyridines. As function of the ring radius, r, the frequencies and deformation energies were shown to behave as r(-2) and r(-1), respectively. The molecules thus behave as classical elastic bodies.     

Basis-set limit of the aurophilic attraction using the MP2 method: the examples of [ClAuPH3]2 dimer and [P(AuPH3)4]+ ion

The basis-set limit of the aurophilic attraction is studied at the MP2 level for the free model dimer [ClAuPH(3)](2) and for a [P(AuPH(3))(4)](+) ion. The latter system is found to prefer a C(4v) symmetry, instead of T(d), in agreement with Li and Pyykko [Inorg. Chem. 32, 2630 (1993)] but in contradiction to recent results of Fang and Wang [J. Phys. Chem. A. 111, 1562 (2006)]. The Karlsruhe split valence and the Dunning correlation-consistent basis sets converge to the same limit.     

Structure and bonding of the MCN molecules, M=Cu,Ag,Au,Rg

High-precision calculations are reported for the title series with M=Cu, Ag, Au, using CCSD(T) with the latest pseudopotentials and basis sets up to cc-pVQZ. The bond lengths for M=Cu, Ag, Au agree with experiment within better than 1 pm. The role of deep-core excitations is studied. The second-order spin-orbit effects are evaluated at the density functional theory level, including M=Rg. A qualitative bonding analysis suggests multiple M-C bonding. The calculated vibrational frequencies are expected to be more accurate than the available experimental estimates. The M-C bond lengths obey Cu相似文献   

Plasma plume photography and spectroscopy of Fe—Oxide materials

Time-resolved photography was employed to study plasma dynamics and particle ejection of laser-irradiated iron oxide materials. Nano-particle powder, pressed powder pellets and sintered ceramics were ablated in air and Ar gas background by means of short laser pulses (Nd:YAG laser wavelength λ = 1064 nm and pulse duration τ_L ≈ 6 ns; KrF laser λ = 248 nm and τ_L ≈ 20 ns). Plasma plume dynamics significantly depended on sample morphology. The ejection of non-luminous particles up to several hundreds of microseconds after the laser pulse was observed for powder and pressed powder target materials. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was employed for element analysis of iron oxide powders, pressed pellets and sintered ceramics. LIBS spectra of the different targets were comparable to each other and qualitatively independent of target morphology.