[en] Small angle scattering (SAS) is the collective name given to the techniques of small angle neutron (SANS) and X-ray (SAXS) scattering. They offer the possibility to analyze particles without disturbing their natural environment. In each of these techniques radiation is elastically scattered by a sample and the resulting scattering pattern is analyzed to provide information about the size, shape and orientation of some component of the sample. Accordingly, a large number of methods and experimental patterns have been developed to ease the investigation of condensed matter by use of these techniques. Some of them are the discussed in this paper

[en] Theoretical investigation of structural and electronic properties is presented for the rod-like oligomers R₃-[MRNH]_3n-H₃ and [RMNH]_n+1 (M=Ga,Al,In R=H,CH₃) of different lengths. Electronic structures of the oligomers with and without substitutions of Ga atoms with Al or In were studied at DFT level of theory. Clusters up to 8 nm of length were considered. A type of terminal groups of the oligomers is found to have a dominant influence on their electronic properties

[en] Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements on 0.3M sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micellar solutions have been performed in the presence of n-alcohols, from ethanol to decanol at different alcohol concentrations, 2–10 wt%. The ellipsoid micellar structure which occurred in the 0.3M SDS in aqueous solution with the size range of 30–50 Å has different behavior at various hydrocarbon chain length and concentration of alcohols. At low concentration and short chain-length of alcohols, such as ethanol, propanol, and butanol, the size of micelles reduced and had a spherical-like structure. The opposite effect occurred as medium to long chain alcohols, such as hexanol, octanol and decanol was added into the 0.3M SDS micellar solutions. The micelles structure changed to be more elongated in major axis and then crossed the critical phase transition from micellar solution into liquid crystal phase as lamellar structure emerged by further addition of alcohols. The inter-lamellar distances were also depending on the hydrocarbon chain length and concentration of alcohols. In the meantime, the persistent micellar structures occurred in addition of medium chain of n-alcohol, pentanol at all concentrations

[en] Atmospheric pressure non-thermal dielectric barrier discharges can be generated in different configurations for different applications. For sterilization, a parallel-plate electrode configuration with glass dielectric that discharges in air was used. Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Salmonella enteritidis) and Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus) were successfully inactivated using sinusoidal high voltage of ∼15 kVp-p at 8.5 kHz. In the surface treatment, a hemisphere and disc electrode arrangement that allowed a plasma jet to be extruded under controlled nitrogen gas flow (at 9.2 kHz, 20 kVp-p) was applied to enhance the wettability of PET (Mylar) film

[en] Polymer films of Poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) complexed with Polyethylene glycol (PEG) with different dopant concentrations of Cr³⁺ ions are prepared by solution cast technique. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Optical absorption and FT-IR studies have been carried out on the polymer films. The EPR spectra of the entire samples exhibit resonance signal at g ≈1.97 which is attributed to the isolated Cr³⁺ pairs. The temperature variation EPR studies show that the population of spin-levels participating in the resonance decreases with an increase in temperature, which is in accordance with the Boltzmann Law. The paramagnetic susceptibilities (X) have been calculated from the EPR data at different temperatures. The linewidth of the g ≈1.97 resonance signal has been found to be decreasing with an increase in temperature, which confirms the pairing mechanism between Cr³⁺ ions. The Optical absorption spectrum of chromium ions in (PVA+PEG) polymer films exhibits three bands, corresponding to the d-d transitions ⁴A_2g(F)→⁴T_1g(F), ⁴A_2g(F)→⁴T_2g(F) and ⁴A_2g(F)→²T_1g(G), in the order of decreasing energy. The crystal field parameter Dq and the Racah interelectronic repulsion parameters B and C have been evaluated. From the ultraviolet absorption edges, Optical band gap (E_opt) and Urbach (ΔE) energies are evaluated. FT-IR spectrum exhibits few bands which are attributed to O-H, CH, C=C and C=O groups of stretching and bending vibrations

[en] The recombination dynamics of In_xGa_1−xN single quantum wells are investigated. By comparing the photoluminescence (PL) decay spectra with simulated emission spectra obtained by a Schrödinger-Poisson approach, we give evidence that recombination from higher subbands contributes the emission of the quantum well at high excitation densities. This recombination path appears as a shoulder on the high energy side of the spectrum at high charge carrier densities and exhibits decay in the range of ps. Due to the lower confinement of the excited subband states, a distinct proportion of the probability density function lies outside the quantum well, thus contributing to charge carrier loss. By estimating the current density in our time resolved PL experiments, we show that the onset of this loss mechanism occurs in the droop relevant regime above 20 A/cm²

[en] In this report, the modulation of current gain of InGaP/GaAs light-emitting transistors under different ambient temperatures are measured and analyzed using thermionic emission model of quantum well embedded in the transistor base region. Minority carriers captured by quantum wells gain more energy at high temperatures and escape from quantum wells resulting in an increase of current gain and lower optical output, resulting in different I-V characteristics from conventional heterojunction bipolar transistors. The effect of the smaller thermionic lifetime thus reduces the effective base transit time of transistors at high temperatures. The unique current gain enhancement of 27.61% is achieved when operation temperature increase from 28 to 85 °C

[en] Antiferromagnets produce no stray field, and therefore, a tip electrode made of antiferromagnetic material has been considered to be the most suitable choice to measure such as magnetoresistance (MR) through single isolated magnetic nanoparticles, molecules, and ultrathin films. Spin polarizations (P) of antiferromagnetic 3-nm, 6-nm, and annealed 3-nm Mn films grown on W tips with a bcc(110) apex as well as bulk-NiMn tips were obtained at 300 K by measuring MR in ultrahigh vacuum by means of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy using a layerwise antiferromagnetically stacking bct-Mn(001) film electrode. The Mn-coated tips with coverages of 3 and 6 nm exhibited P values of 1 ± 1% and 3 ± 2%, respectively, which tips likely contain α- or strained Mn. With a thermal assist, the crystalline quality and the magnetic stability of the film could increase. The annealed tip exhibited P = 9 ± 2%. The bulk-NiMn tips exhibit spin polarizations of 0 or 6 ± 2% probably depending on the chemical species (Mn or Ni) present at the apex of the tip. Fe-coated W tips were used to estimate the bct-Mn(001) film spin polarization

[en] We report a comparative study of the critical current density (J_c) and vortex pinning among pure and Mn doped K_xFe_2−ySe₂ single crystals. It is found that the J_c values can be greatly improved by Mn doping and post-quenching treatment when comparing to pristine pure sample. In contrast to pure samples, an anomalous second magnetization peak (SMP) effect is observed in both 1% and 2% Mn doped samples at T = 3 K for H∥ab but not for H∥c. Referring to Dew-Hughes and Kramer's model, we performed scaling analyses of the vortex pinning force density vs magnetic field in 1% Mn doped and quenched pristine crystals. The results show that the normal point defects are the dominant pinning sources, which probably originate from the variations of intercalated K atoms. We propose that the large nonsuperconducting K-Mn-Se inclusions may contribute to the partial normal surface pinning and give rise to the anomalous SMP effect for H∥ab in Mn doped crystals. These results may facilitate further understanding of the superconductivity and vortex pinning in intercalated iron-selenides superconductors

[en] We investigated the migration energy and vacancy formation energy of La and Sr ions at a LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerface using first-principles calculations. Our study reveal that the migration energies at the p-type interface are lower than those at the n-type interface, and the formation energies of Sr and La vacancies are relatively high when we assume a reduction atmosphere and insulator conditions. To explain the experimental evidence that intermixing is preferentially taking place at the n-type interface, considering the Fermi energy is critical. We find that the presence of electron carriers plays an important role in the intermixing behaviors at the LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerface