Search

Harvesting multi-frequency sound energy from environmental noise is a meaningful topic to supply energy for potential devices. In this work, we constructed an array of Helmholtz resonators (HRs) with cross-linked polypropylene (IXPP) ferroelectret films on the inner walls of HR cavities, whose resonant frequencies range from 300 to 800 Hz and quasi-static piezoelectric coefficient d33 is 230 pC/N. The energy harvesting performance of IXPP films is investigated, both theoretically and experimentally, in a single HR with various sizes, showing the high energy conversion capability close to the resonant frequencies of HRs, e.g., 337, 375, 445, 522, 588, 661, 739, 782, and 795 Hz, in the experiment. By putting one, two, three, and four samples of nine different sized HRs in series connection in order, we measured the average output power of 3.16, 5.31, 7.36, and 8.66 nW at the resonant frequencies. It shows that the output power of IXPP films has been significantly improved at multiple frequencies by series connection of IXPP films. In parallel, the optimal electrical resistance increases in a quasilinear way compared to the number of HRs. These results are helpful for designing efficient sound energy harvesters in the broadband frequency range.

Edge localized mode (ELM) mitigation accompanied by density pump-out has been achieved during the application of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) with a toroidal mode number of n = 4 on EAST recently. The mean ELM frequency increases by a factor of 2.7 from 86 to 235 Hz with a decreased reduction in ELM loss. The evolution of pedestal electron density measured by a profile reflectometer before and after turning on the RMP current is presented. Both the pedestal density and density gradient show a decrease with application of RMP. The density fluctuation in the pedestal region has been measured by an O-mode fluctuation reflectometer. The broadband density fluctuation with a frequency range of 20–115 kHz is enhanced at the later period of the inter-ELM phase during ELM mitigation. This phenomenon is also observed for magnetic fluctuation measured by magnetic probes mounted in the vacuum vessel. A further study shows that the enhanced broadband fluctuations lead to a decrease in the growth rate of the pedestal density and an increase in divert or particle flux. This result implies that these enhanced broadband fluctuations could lead to an enhancement of outward particle transport. The possible roles of the enhanced fluctuations observed in ELM mitigation are also discussed.

Using molecular dynamics, we found that the localized phonon-mode spectrum in SiGe alloys, which was recently discovered by an inelastic x-ray scattering experiment, changes according to the size distribution of compositional clusters in alloys. By varying the spatial distributions of Si and Ge, alloy models with differing compositions of Si and Ge clusters were able to be produced. For a range of alloys comprising 20%–80% Ge, a mixture of small and intermediate sized clusters will give the highest intensities of the local mode. The Si–Ge optical mode intensity increases with the local mode intensity, but the Si–Ge bond alone is not sufficient to produce the local mode. Si rich alloys with small Ge clusters produce the highest local mode intensities, suggesting that this mode is caused by small Ge clusters surrounded by Si pairs.

In the study of breakdown in high power microwave (HPM) devices, researchers pay attention to the plasma effects caused by material ablation under electron bombardment. In this paper, the destruction of material under the bombardment of electrons with a range of energies around 100 keV is investigated. The simulation results reveal that low-energy electrons are more likely to cause ablation damage to the material, with the location of maximal energy deposition density close to the material’s surface. The experiment has a good agreement with the simulation results. Compared with high-energy electrons, the damage traces bombarded by low-energy electrons are more serious, possessing the characteristics of large size and shallow depth. This abnormal physics phenomenon provides a reference for the breakdown of HPM devices and the surface treatment of materials by pulsed electron beams.

This paper proposes a novel design for a hermetically sealable device, consisting of charged linear and nonlinear membranes driven in the gigahertz range in vacuum setting, as a source of antibunched single phonons. Constraints for effecting phonon antibunching are found using the stationary Liouville–von Neumann master equation. Using analytical calculations and material and geometry optimization, we show that sizes of the proposed system can be upscaled to the near-micrometer range in a trade-off with the system operating temperature. The results are significant to realize quantum phononics, which has much promise as a modality for sensing and computing applications.

The shear viscosity of matter and efficient simulating methods in a wide range of temperatures and densities are desirable. In this study, we present the deep-learning many-body potential (the deep potential) method to reduce the computational cost of simulations for the viscosity of liquid aluminum at high temperature and high pressure with accurate results. Viscosities for densities of 2.35 g/cm3, 2.7 g/cm3, 3.5 g/cm3, and 4.27 g/cm3 and temperatures from melting points to about 50 000 K are calculated. The results agree well with the experiment data at a pressure near 1 bar and are consistent with the simulation of first-principles at high pressure and high temperature. We reveal the behavior of the shear viscosity of liquid Al at a range where the current experimental results do not exist. Based on the available experimental data and newly generated simulation data, we propose a modified Enskog–Dymond theory, which can analytically calculate the viscosity of Al at this range. This research is helpful for numerous potential applications.

International audience; We investigate in theory and experiment the frequency dependence of magnetic losses in Grain-Oriented 0.29 mm thick high-permeability steel sheets up to 10 kHz. Such unusually broad frequency range, while responding to increasing trends towards high-frequency regimes in applications, is conducive to a complex evolution of the magnetization process, as imposed by increasing frequencies to a non-linear high-permeability saturable material. We show that the concept of loss decomposition, supported by observations of the domain wall dynamics through Kerr experiments, is effective in the assessment of the broadband frequency dependence of the energy loss. By calculating, in particular, the instantaneous and time averaged macroscopic induction profiles across the sheet thickness through the Maxwell's diffusion equation, the classical loss component Wclass, versus frequency f and peak polarization Jp is obtained. Instrumental to a simplified theoretical approach is the assumption of the normal magnetization curve as the magnetic constitutive equation of the material. While the hysteresis loss Whyst invariably increases with frequency, the excess loss Wexc, the quantity directly associated with the eddy currents circulating around the moving domain walls, tends to vanish upon increasing both frequency and induction values. The Kerr experiments actually show that, while the oscillating 180° domain walls can adjust to the depth of the induction profile by bowing at low Jp values, the magnetization reversal at high inductions and frequencies occurs by inwardly motion of symmetric fronts originating at the sheet surface, according to a classical framework.

We use molecular dynamics simulations of the primitive model of electrolytes to study the ionic structure in aqueous monovalent electrolyte solutions confined by charged planar interfaces over a wide range of electrolyte concentrations, interfacial separations, surface charge densities, and ion sizes. The investigations are inspired by recent experiments that have directly measured the increase in the decay length for highly concentrated electrolytes with an increase in concentration. The behavior of ions in the nanoconfinement created by the interfaces is probed by evaluating the ionic density profiles, net charge densities, integrated charges, and decay lengths associated with the screening of the charged interface. The results show the presence of two distinct regimes of screening behavior as the concentration is changed from 0.1M to 2.5M for a wide range of electrolyte systems generated by tuning the interfacial separation, surface charge density, and ionic size. For low concentrations, the integrated charge exhibits a monotonic decay to 0 with a decay length that decreases sharply with increasing concentration. For high concentrations (≳1M), the integrated charge has a non-monotonic behavior signaling charge inversion and formation of structured layers of ions near the interfaces. The decay length under these conditions rises with increasing concentration. To complement the simulation results, a variational approach is developed that produces charge densities with characteristics consistent with those observed in simulations. The results demonstrate the relation between the rise in the strength of steric correlations and the changes in the screening behavior.

By considering the thermal and collisional effects in the analysis of power deposition properties of the helicon and Trivelpiece–Gould (TG) waves in radially uniform and high density (1 × 1013 cm−3) helicon plasmas, theoretical calculations indicate that both the electron temperature and the applied magnetic field have great effects on the wave power deposition. Detailed investigations show that for a typical helicon plasma electron temperature range, 3 eV–5 eV, power deposition due to the TG wave has a dominant role compared to that of the helicon wave for moderate to large (B0 ≥ 100 G) applied magnetic fields. Specifically, collisional damping induced TG wave power deposition dominates for the most of the electron temperature range.

The response of an atomic spin gyroscope to the AC magnetic field shows a dispersion-like signal as the field frequency. When a system rotates, the curve shifts with a unit scale factor. We used natural Xe and enriched 87Rb gas to construct an atomic spin gyroscope, and we experimentally measured its scale factor by calculating the amount of curve-shift when the system rotates. The scale factor in the range of ±360°/Hz was measured to be 0.99 ± 0.008 for Xe-129 and −0.993 ± 0.003 for Xe-131. We also operated the system with close-loop control of AC frequencies to compensate the frequency shift by a rotation sensor. Herein, we introduce our system and its signal processing for an atomic spin gyroscope.

The effect of 3 MeV proton irradiation on interface traps under a Schottky contact in an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure has been investigated in this work. Utilizing the frequency-dependent conductance technique, the detailed information about interface traps under different proton doses has been evaluated. When the proton irradiation dose is increased to 5 × 1014 H+/cm2, it is observed that the deepest energy level of interface traps changes from 0.375 eV to 0.346 eV and the shallowest energy level changes from 0.284 eV to 0.238 eV. The corresponding energy range expands from 0.091 eV to 0.108 eV. Especially, the trap density at the deepest energy level and that at the shallowest energy level are reduced by 65% and 93%, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy are also used to assess the Schottky contact interface, and no element inter-diffusion is observed after proton irradiation. The reverse gate leakage current decreases with an increase in the proton irradiation dose, which agrees with the reduction in interface trap density.

Below the critical temperature, several Ce substituted YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductors exhibit nonlinear current–voltage (IV) characteristics. We have extracted an exponent following the idea of the Kosterlitz–Thouless transition using IV over a wide range of temperatures around the critical temperature. The superfluid phase stiffness has been extracted within the framework of the Ambegaokar–Halperin–Nelson–Siggia theory. In a combined plot of the superfluid density and resistivity as a function of temperature, we observe that the superfluid density varies widely corresponding to the zero resistive states. The shift of the temperature corresponding to the crossing point with the electron doping level has been found to be very strong.

Responses of the uniform near-critical plasma (UNCP) and nano-porous near-critical plasma (NPNCP) upon interaction with a short-intense laser have been scrutinized using two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell simulations. Maximum proton energy variation by the deposition of uniform and nano-porous layers in front of a solid target for a wide range of laser intensities (normalized amplitude a0 = 5–25) and average densities of the front layer ne = 0.3 − 3nc (where nc is the critical density) has been parametrically studied. It is found that the proton maximum energy for the front layers with sub-10 µm thicknesses is independent of the target porosity and density. However, in the relatively thick targets, the nano-porous structure decreases the laser energy absorption and, subsequently, the maximum proton energy compared to the uniform one. The results indicate that by employing UNCPs instead of NPNCPs, at the moderate laser intensity, the maximum proton energy reveals a 23% enhancement. This increment could be explained by rapid self-focusing of the laser pulse and dominant direct laser electron acceleration regime on the well-formed plasma channel in the UNCP layer. However, in the case of NPNCPs, the laser scattering from the plasma structure makes it less intense and more disordered, which influences the efficient laser energy coupling to the electrons.

Using a three-dimensional numerical simulation, the dependencies of the electron cloud (virtual cathode) on the distance between the coils in the Polywell fusion reactor were examined. In the Polywell, the role of a stable and energetic virtual cathode is crucial for fusion. It is shown that by increasing the spacing coils, the electron confinement time increases initially and then remains constant. Using the simulation results, an optimum range for the spacing of coils was suggested, which leads to a longer and more effective confinement. The results obtained can be used to design future devices in order to have a more effective virtual cathode.

Characteristic x rays generated by a collision between a tungsten target and relativistic electron beams generated from a compact electrostatic accelerator based on a Marx generator and a Blumlein pulse-forming line can induce transient ionizing radiation in electronics. While the decelerated electron beam is close to a collector out of range of an external magnetic field, Bremsstrahlung x rays occur at the same time. Compton scattering also occurs through secondary reaction interactions with quasi-stationary particles such as ejected inner shell electrons or photons. During a simulation, a semiconductor process is used to analyze the effects and processes of photocurrents derived from the flow of the drain current when transient pulses generated from the compact electrostatic accelerator are incident in the pMOSFET-AD420-based detector. The photocurrent induced from the detector is also measured by experimental results in comparison with a computer simulation, and a photocurrent detection experiment was then conducted with a high-pulse-current compact electrostatic accelerator. In addition, data pertaining to the irradiation dose rate and photon emission rate were obtained. In order to confirm the radiation pattern in the situation of Compton scattering, the ionizing radiation effect in the photosensitive phosphor was identified using a fluorescent lamp. During the experiment, a relativistic electron beam operating at high energy and current levels at a maximum of 1MeV-10 kA was utilized.

Magnetic properties of Co film in Pt/Co/α-Cr2O3/Pt/α-Al2O3 structure were investigated. Co layer thickness tCo dependence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy density K reveals that the bulk magnetic anisotropy plays an important role in the system in addition to the interfacial anisotropy. Damping constant α monotonically increases with the decrease of tCo but not proportionally to 1/tCo. Both K and α increase with the increase of Pt layer thickness tPt from 3 nm to 5 nm and keeps almost constant in the tPt range between 5 nm to 20 nm. These results are of importance to understand the magnetization switching behavior driven by the magneto-electric (ME) effect as well as to design the spintronics device using the ME effect.

A new hybrid-mechanism metastructure combined resonances of locally resonant scatterers and air cavities is proposed for broadband waterborne sound absorption. In the design, the locally resonant scatterers are embedded into the backing plate of a rubber layer with air cavities. The results demonstrate significant absorption improvement in the low-frequency range using the locally resonant scatterers. Cavities of mixed sizes and locally resonant scatterers of mixed types can be used to achieve efficient absorption over an ultrawide band. This broadband absorption is found to be attributed to the hybrid-mechanism of the resonances of the cavities and the locally resonant scatterers. Furthermore, the absorption mechanism is illustrated by the displacement patterns, the absorption contribution decomposition analysis, and the effective medium theory.

The CoFeB thickness, t dependence of the effective first- and second-order magnetic anisotropy, K1eff and K2, for MgO/(Co1-xFex)80B20/Ta films (x=0.3-1.0) is investigated. As Co40Fe40B20 thickness decreases, K1eff increases and shows a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for t=1.2 nm. On the other hand, in-plane magnetic anisotropy is observed for t≥1.4 nm. Also, a 1.3-nm-thick CoFeB sample demonstrates an easy-cone behavior, which suggests that the magnitude of K1eff and K2 becomes comparable. By plotting the product of K2 and t-td as a function of t-td, where td is a magnetic dead layer thickness, linear dependences with negative y-axis intercepts are displayed for all ranges of x. The extracted interfacial K2, Ki(2) are varied depending on the compositions in the range of-0.024 to −0.042 erg/cm2 for x=100% and 30, 50%, respectively. A magnetic phase diagram summarizing the results of K1-2πMs2 and K2 suggests that the ratio of K2 against K1-2πMs2 is varied depending on the compositions. These results give us a guideline to achieve the desired magnetic properties of CoFeB for spintronic applications.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11504139, 11504140, and 11811530052), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2017M611693 and 2018T110440), the Intergovernmental Science and Technology Regular Meeting Exchange Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. CB02-20), and the National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. CMMI-1405078, CMMI-1554189, and CMMI-1634832). Two ultrabroadband and omnidirectional perfect absorbers based on transversely symmetrical multilayer structures are presented, which are achieved by four absorptive metal chromium (Cr) layers, antireflection coatings, and the substrates, glass and PMMA, in the middle. At the initial step, the proposed planar structure shows an average absorption of ∼93% over the visible (VIS) and near-infrared range from 400 to 2500 nm and 98% in the VIS range. The optimum flat is optically characterized by the transfer matrix method and local metal-insulator-metal resonance under illumination with transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic polarization waves. The multilayer materials, which are deposited on an intermediate substrate by e-beam evaporation, outperform the previously reported absorbers in the fabrication process and exhibit a great angular tolerance of up to 60°. Afterward, we present a novel symmetrical flexible absorber with the PMMA substrate, which shows not only perfect absorption but also the effect of stress equilibrium. The presented devices are expected to pave the way for practical use of solar-thermal energy harvesting Publisher PDF

Physics related to fast electrons in lower hybrid (LH) current drive (LHCD) plasma is a very important issue, since these particles will play an important role in runaway electron (RE) generation and lower hybrid wave (LHW)-related physics. Utilizing a new hard X-ray (HXR) pinhole camera, recent HL-2A tokamak experiments have devoted to enhancing the understanding of the physics on fast electrons and LHW. The fast electron bremsstrahlung (FEB) emission in the HXR energy range between 20 and 200 keV was measured by the HXR camera. To study the conversion of LHW-produced fast electrons into REs, a very short pulse of LHW, so-called “blip”, with duration of 5 ms was injected into the plasma during the current flattop phase. A strong enhancement of REs was induced by the blip injection. Measurements from the HXR camera show that the fast electrons generated by LHWs is mainly concentrated in 40-60 keV, which is well consistent with the calculated value based on Landau damping theory. The energy of these seed electrons is higher than the critical runaway energy. This phenomenon may be come from the synergetic effects of Dreicer and avalanche RE generation. Moreover, the measurements indicate that the spatial distribution of the fast electrons during LHCD has a peaked profile, implying that the fast electrons are mainly produced in the plasma core. It also suggests that the energy of the LHW mainly deposited in the plasma core region.

Measurements of the water absorption coefficient at a laser wavelength of 1064 nm are reported as a function of water temperature. A low power laser beam was used as the probe. The measurement net procedure took into consideration the absorption of the cuvette, while it included detection of bubble formation on the walls of the measurement cuvette and in the water volume. The measurements indicate that the absorption coefficient of water slightly increases in the range of temperatures below 40 °C, reaches maximum and then significantly decreases in the range of temperatures 40 °C – 70 °C. The significant decrease of the temperature dependence of the absorption coefficient supports the supposition that a high transparency of water can be achieved.

The InAs1–xSbx ternary alloy band gap nonlinearly depends on the composition, which gives the opportunity to use this material in devices operating in a wide range of infrared radiation. We present experimental results for InAs1–xSbx samples for Sb composition from 0.1 to 0.8. Raman spectrum of InAs and InSb in the range of 20 - 250 cm-1 exhibits two main peaks: LO peak and 2TA peak. On the other hand in the same range for InAsSb in Raman spectra two additional peaks (round 44 cm-1 and round 130 cm-1) appear, while they are not existing neither in pure InAs nor in InSb. Energies of 44 cm-1 and 130 cm-1 are close to phonon energy for momentum equals K and L for InAs. This type of peaks are usually called DALA and DATA and it is commonly accepted that they come from disorder in crystal field. We propose other explanation-existence of zone folding in phonon dispersion curves as a result of CuPt unit cell of InAsSb being twice larger than typical ZB unit cell.

This paper explores the predominant mechanisms for the deviation of micro-gap dc gas breakdown and the transition between different mechanisms as the electrode separation d changing under a pin-to-plate electrode configuration using 2d3v particle-in-cell simulation with Monte Carlo collisions. The deviated breakdown characteristic curves as a function of d or gas pressure p are investigated and both present a plateau region. Through researching the position of discharge path, it is found that a self-modulation effect manages to maintain the breakdown voltage at the minimum value defined by Paschen’s curve in a certain d or p range and forms the plateau. The ranges of d and p for the plateau are also established. Theoretical calculation on the secondary electron emission coefficient induced by ion-enhanced field and determined by a surface roughness factor confirms that the ion-enhanced field emission effect affects the breakdown voltage significantly when d is below a critical value. The smaller the surface roughness factor is, the smaller the critical d will be. Under this effect, the breakdown voltage is decreased with d decreasing (also referred to as an increasing left branch with d increasing). Conclusively, the deviation characters of micro-gap gas breakdown are controlled by different mechanisms at different d ranges. The predominant mechanism for the deviation is the self-modulation effect, serving as the main reason for the plateau region, at moderate d of several micrometers and will transit to the ion-enhanced field emission effect, which is responsible for the increasing left branch at smaller d.

Experimental studies of high-velocity (1-4 km/s) impacts of laser-launched flyer plates with polycrystalline, glassy or polymer windows were performed, with the intent of understanding and assessing the use of optical windows as high-speed solid-state shock wave detector materials. The problem is that the detector material undergoes radical physical transformations during the measurement. Here we present a simplified model where the detector material transformations are described as velocity and time dependent changes in shock impedance. The window materials were used to study the detonation shock produced by nitromethane, which is about 20 GPa and 10 ns. Reference experiments producing shocks in this pressure and duration range characterized how the shock impedances changed with impact velocity and shock duration. Sapphire, CaF2 and LiF windows had the fastest response to the detonation shocks, while the polymer windows had a sluggish response. Pyrex and BK7 were the best of the glassy windows.

Laser-induced bulk damage in fused silica is studied on a large-aperture laser system with 6 J/cm2, 5-ns shot sequences at 351 nm. The lateral dimension of bulk damage is found to propagate exponentially with shot number in a wide range of growth rates, similar to the stochastic trend as displayed by rear-surface damage. Resemblance in the morphology between bulk and surface damage is revealed offline by microscopic observations. Arising from the accumulated effect of fluence variation, the repetitive laser exposures tend to create an increased number of bulk damage, the tendency of which is applied to evaluate the number of damage initiations via simulations.

It has been shown that Fe2MnSi exhibits a ferromagnetic transition at Tc and an antiferromagnetic transition at a lower temperature, TA, to a phase referred to as the AF phase. In a recent study on Fe1.3Mn1.7Si, another antiferromagnetic transition at a temperature lower than TA, defined as TA2, was found, with the phase below TA2 referred to as the AF2 phase. In this study, magnetic properties of Fe3-xMnxSi are investigated for an x range of 1.65 ≤ x ≤ 1.85 in order to study theses transitions with varying x. For x ≥ 1.75, a transition characterized by a rather rapid decrease in the temperature dependence of magnetization is observed at a temperature lower than TA at fields higher than ∼2 T. This implies the AF2-AF transition exists for x ≥ 1.75 as for x = 1.7. The magnetic field where the AF2-AF transition occurs increases with x, whereas at lower fields TA2 does not depend strongly on x. Meanwhile, at near zero field, the ferromagnetic transition and spontaneous magnetization disappears for x ≥ 1.75, in contrast to the case for x = 1.7. This implies that the transition from paramagnetism directly to the AF2 phase occurs at low fields. These results are summarized in the B-T magnetic phase diagram.

The dispersion characteristics of obliquely propagating electrostatic Bernstein wave in a relativistic degenerate electron plasma is markedly different from perpendicular one. Employing linearized Vlasov-Maxwell model, the dispersion relation of obliquely propagating Bernstein wave in a relativistic degenerate electron plasma is derived. In particular, the results are obtained in the propagation range kz > kx with kx≠0. In the high frequency (ω > > k.v) and weak propagation (Ω>>k.v or k → 0) limiting cases, the generalized results reduce to the Upper hybrid wave for θ′ = 00 and Langmuir wave for θ′ = 900 (where Ω is the gyro-frequency and θ′ is the propagation angle of k with respect to x-axis). Graphical analysis is also performed to highlight the new trends in wave spectra.

This paper investigates the origin of the fixed positive oxide charge often experimentally observed in Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) structures of SiO2 formed on cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC). The electrical properties of MOS structures including either thermally grown SiO2 or deposited SiO2 by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) on epitaxial 3C-SiC layers grown directly on Si are investigated. MOS structures with a range of oxide thickness values subjected to different thermal treatments were studied. It was found that both thermally grown and deposited SiO2 on 3C-SiC exhibit similar positive charge levels indicating that the charge originates from interface states at the 3C-SiC surface and not from the oxide. The nature of this surface charge in the SiO2/3C-SiC system is also discussed based on the current data and previously published results.

This paper presents a novel dual serial vortex-induced vibration energy harvesting system for enhanced energy harvesting. It consists of two identical cantilever-based piezoelectric vortex-induced vibration energy harvesters, which are successively installed in one plane (which is paralleled with the wind flow direction) of the wind tunnel. The Lattice Boltzmann method is employed to predict the strength of vortex-induced vibrations and the pressure distribution around the circular cylinders of the harvesters. The numerical results qualitatively explain the influence of the space distance on the energy harvesting performance of the presented system. Experimental results verify the numerical analysis and demonstrate a higher energy harvesting efficiency of the presented system over its traditional single harvester. In detail, experimental results indicate that the effective wind speed range and the output power area of a coupled harvester in the presented system can be as many as 2.67 times and 6.79 times of that of the traditional single harvester, respectively.

The single crystalline samples with compositions FeTe1-xSex (0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.50) have been prepared via self-flux method and the superconducting, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of the grown crystals were investigated. The superconducting onset temperatures have been determined from the measurements of zero field cooled magnetization and resistance with temperatures. In the present case, highest superconducting transition temperature TC (onset) ∼ 15 K has been obtained for x=0.5. The HC2 (T=0 K) values have been estimated by fitting the experimental HC2 - T plots with WHH model. The highest HC2(0) has been obtained for x=0.5. The activation energy of the thermally activated flux flow has been found from the broadening of superconducting transition in an applied magnetic field using the Arrhenius law. Our results show that the activation energy (U0) decreases with the increasing magnetic field. Furthermore, the magnetization measurements for x=0.4 and 0.5 samples have been performed at T=5 K in the magnetic field range ±7 T to estimate critical current density at different applied magnetic fields using Bean formula. We see that the sample x=0.5 has higher values of JC as compared to that of x=0.4 at all magnetic fields. This is in conformity with the behavior of U0–H plots.The single crystalline samples with compositions FeTe1-xSex (0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.50) have been prepared via self-flux method and the superconducting, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of the grown crystals were investigated. The superconducting onset temperatures have been determined from the measurements of zero field cooled magnetization and resistance with temperatures. In the present case, highest superconducting transition temperature TC (onset) ∼ 15 K has been obtained for x=0.5. The HC2 (T=0 K) values have been estimated by fitting the experimental HC2 - T plots with WHH model. The highest HC2(0) has been obtained for x=0.5. The activation energy of the thermally activated flux flow has been found from the broadening of superconducting transition in an applied magnetic field using the Arrhenius law. Our results show that the activation energy (U0) decreases with the increasing magnetic field. Furthermore, the magnetization measurements for x=0.4 and 0.5 samples have been performed at T=5 K in the m...

The double H-coil method was proposed to detect magnetic field strength on the surface of a specimen more accurately than the single H-coil method. In this paper, the distribution of magnetic field strength inside exciting coil of a single sheet tester (SST) is measured simultaneously by the single H-coil method using four separated H-coils. They are placed at different distances from the surface of the specimen and thereby enable us to evaluate the influence of the position of the H-coil on the measurement accuracy of magnetic properties. As a result, it was revealed that the magnetic field strength and specific total loss increase linearly as the distance of the H-coil from the surface of the specimen increases. However the increasing rate of the specific total loss is smaller than that of the magnetic field strength and within the range of required measurement reproducibility.

The interaction of O2 with Ptn and the optical absorption properties of PtnO2 were explored under the framework of density functional theory. The Ptn (n= 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 14, 18, 22, and 27) clusters were selected, which were reported as magnetic number Ptn clusters in reference (V. Kumar and Y. Kawazoe, Phys. Rev. B 77(20), 205418 (2008)). The single Pt atom was also considered. The longest O2 bonds were found for Pt27O2, Pt6O2 and Pt14O2, while PtO2 and Pt2O2 have the shortest O2 bonds. This result showed that the single Pt atom was not preferred for O2 activation. The O2 bond length was closely related to the electron transfer from Ptn to O2. The optical absorptions of PtnO2 were investigated with time-dependent density functional theory method. A new term of charge transfer strength was defined to estimate the further electron transfer from Ptn to O2 caused by the optical absorption in the visible light range. Our calculations showed that with the increasing n, the further electron transfer from Ptn to O2 caused by optical absorption will become very weak.

We report on controllable tuning of intersubband transitions in ZnO/Zn0.60Mg0.40O multiple quantum well structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire. The transitions from the first to the second electronic energy state within the conduction band are directly observed by infrared spectroscopy. By variation of the quantum well width, the intersubband transition energies are tuned from 290 to 370 meV. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations assuming the presence of internal electric fields of 2 MV·cm−1.

Properties of H2O and CO2 fluid and their mixtures under extreme pressures and temperatures are poorly known yet critically important in a number of applications. Several hundreds of first-principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) runs have been performed to obtain the pressure-volume-temperature (P-V-T) data on supercritical H2O, CO2, and H2O-CO2 mixtures. The pressure-temperature (P-T) range are from 0.5 GPa to 104 GPa (48.5 GPa for CO2) and from 600 K to 4000 K. Based on these data, we evaluate several existing equations of state (EOS) for the fluid H2O, CO2, and H2O-CO2 mixture. The results show that the EOS for H2O from Belonoshko et al. [Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 381–387; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 3191–3208; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 3611–3626; Comput. Geosci. 18, 1267–1269] not only can be used in the studied P-T range but also is accurate enough to be used for prediction of P-V-T data. In addition, IAPWS-95 EOS for H2O shows excellent extrapolation behavior beyond 1.0 GPa and 1273 K. However, for the case of CO2, none of the existing EOS produces data in agreement with the FPMD results. We created new EOS for CO2. The precision of the new EOS is tested by comparison to the calculated P-V-T data, fugacity coefficient of the CO2 fluid derived from high P-T experimental data as well as to the (very scarce) experimental volumetric data in the high P-T range. On the basis of our FPMD data we created a new EOS for H2O-CO2 mixture. The new EOS for the mixture is in reasonable agreement with experimental data.

In this paper, a spin-valve sensor with integrated current lines for concentration and detection of magnetic particles is presented. This device has the advantage of not requiring an external magnetic field source such as permanent magnet to magnetize the particles or to bias the spin-valve sensor. Due to the device design, the magnetic field created by the current lines allows the control of the sensor operating point, to magnetize the particles and also to concentrate the particles in the sensor active area in order to be detected by the spin valve sensor. Detection experiments using FeCrNbB magnetic particles show that the device is capable to detect and quantify the particles in a linear scale over a concentration range of 0.1 to 1 mg/ml.

Increase in Nd contents of a PLD-made isotropic Nd-Fe-B thick-film magnet enabled us to enhance the thickness of the film magnet deposited on a Si substrate because the linear expansion coefficient of Nd is an intermediate value between Nd2Fe14B and Si. The large amount of Nd, however, degraded the residual magnetic polarization and (BH)max. In the study, we reduced the Nd contents of each Nd-Fe-B film by inserting a Nd or a Nd-rich Nd-Fe-B buffer layer between a Nd-Fe-B film and a Si substrate in order to suppress the mechanical destruction together with the improvement in magnetic properties. It was found that the mechanical property of a Nd-Fe-B film comprising the Nd-Fe-B buffer layer in the thickness range from 10 to 60 μm was superior than that of a sample with the Nd buffer layer. Resultantly, an average (BH)max value of Nd-Fe-B films with each Nd-Fe-B buffer layer deposited on Si substrates could be enhanced by approximately 15 kJ/m3 compared to that of non-buffer-layered films., AIP Advances, 7(5), 056239; 2017

In order to search for a suitable frequency and material with higher photothermal efficacy for hyperthermia application in cancer treatment, a comparative study on laser heating of Au/Ag nanoparticles and Ag nanowires has been conducted. It is found that gold nanoparticles are more photothermal efficient in comparison with silver nanoparticles and silver nanowires at 450nm and 532 nm. Gold nanoparticles are more heated by 532 nm laser than 450 nm laser. In contrast, silver nanoparticles show slightly less temperature rise at 532 nm than 450 nm laser. For silver nanowires, no significant photothermal effect has been observed. Size-dependent effect study indicates that the absorption efficiency of single gold nanoparticles of larger diameter is higher than that of smaller diameter, in the diameter range of 0-50nm. A mathematical model for describing the heating profile in the heating sample has been built. The mathematical model can be utilized to predict the optimal treatment size of tumor.

In this study, we present a two-range magnetoelectric ME sensor design comprising of permendur (alloy of Fe-Co-V), nickel, and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) laminate composite. A systematic study was conducted to clarify the contribution of magnetostrictive layers variables to the ME response over the applied range of magnetic bias field. The two-range behavior was characterized by opposite sign of the ME response when magnetic dc bias is in different sub-ranges. The ME coefficient as a function of magnetic bias field was found to be dependent on the laminate composite structure.

Novel three-dimensional (3D) continuously graded phononic crystals (CGPCs) have been designed, and fabricated by 3D printing. Each of the CGPCs is an entity instead of a combination of several other samples, and the porosity distribution of the CGPC along the incident direction is nearly linear. The sound absorption characteristics of CGPCs were experimentally investigated and compared with those of uniform phononic crystals (UPCs) and discretely stepped phononic crystals (DSPCs). Experimental results show that CGPCs demonstrate excellent sound absorption performance because of their continuously graded structures. CGPCs have higher sound absorption coefficients in the large frequency range and more sound absorption coefficient peaks in a specific frequency range than UPCs and DSPCs. In particular, the sound absorption coefficients of the CGPC with a porosity of 0.6 and thickness of 30 mm are higher than 0.56 when the frequency is 1350–6300 Hz and are all higher than 0.2 in the studied frequency range (1000–6300 Hz). CGPCs are expected to have potential application in noise control, especially in the broad frequency and low-frequency ranges.

Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) is used to measure the volumetric and total sputtering yield of Boron Nitride (BN) and Boron Nitride Silicon Dioxide (BNSiO2) bombarded by Xenon ions in the energy range of 100 eV to 550 eV. Sputtering yield shape profiles are reported at various angles of incidence 0-85° with surface normal and compared with modified Zhang model. The yield shape profile is found to be symmetric at normal incidence and asymmetric at oblique incidence. Both the materials show a sudden jump in the sputtering yield above 500 eV and at an angle of incidence in the range of 45-65°. Erosion of BN at as low as 74 eV ion energy is predicted using generalized Bohdansky model. BNSiO2 show a marginally higher sputtering yield compare to BN.

The Heusler compound Mn2RuxGa (MRG) may well be the first compensated half metal. Here, the structural, magnetic and transport properties of thin films of MRG are discussed. There is evidence of half-metallicity up to x = 0.7, and compensation of the two Mn sublattice moments is observed at specific compositions and temperatures, leading to a zero-moment half metal. There are potential benefits for using such films with perpendicular anisotropy for spin-torque magnetic tunnel junctions and oscillators, such as low critical current, high tunnel magnetoresistance ratio, insensitivity to external fields and resonance frequency in the THz range.

360∘ domain walls (DWs) have generated substantial interest with the recognition that their minimal stray field creates only short range interactions, leading to a potentially higher packing density for data storage devices compared to 180∘ DWs. The topology of neighboring 360∘ DWs with identical circulation allows a higher packing density than that of 360∘ DWs of opposite circulation. Our simulations demonstrate the process by which we can pack 360∘ DWs of identical circulation on a long wire with 100 nm width (in y) and 4 nm thickness (in z), studying different size and shape notches to pin the DWs. The process to generate these walls follows a series of circular fields with non-uniform magnetic field strength that decreases as 1/r as if created by an infinitely long wire passing current into or out of the page and centered just above the notches. We are able to pin two 360∘ DWs of the same circulation on adjacent 16 nm (x) by 32 nm (y) rectangular notches 100 nm apart and on adjacent triangular notches of the same area that are 100 nm apart. The location and strength required of the series of fields is different for the different notches. Such stable high density packing of 360∘ DWs in simulations is unprecedented and suggests the potential for high density information storage.

We present a single barrier system to generate pure valley-polarized current in monolayer graphene. A uniaxial strain is applied within the barrier region, which is delineated by localized magnetic field created by ferromagnetic stripes at the region’s boundaries. We show that under the condition of matching magnetic field strength, strain potential, and Fermi energy, the transmitted current is composed of only one valley contribution. The desired valley current can transmit with zero reflection while the electrons from the other valley are totally reflected. Thus, the system generates pure valley-polarized current with maximum conductance. The chosen parameters of uniaxial strain and magnetic field are in the range of experimental feasibility, which suggests that the proposed scheme can be realized with current technology.

We report structural, optical, and electro-optical properties of polycrystalline YFe2O4 thin films, deposited on (0001) sapphire substrates using the electron-beam deposition technique. The optical spectra of a 120 nm YFe2O4 show Fe d to d on-site and O 2p to Fe 3d, Y 4d, and Y 5s charge-transfer electronic excitations. Anomalies in the temperature dependence data of the charge-transfer excitations and the splitting of the 4.46 eV charge-transfer peak strongly suggest a structural distortion at 180 ± 10 K. Evidence of such a structural distortion is also manifested in the surface resistance versus temperature data. In addition, the YFe2O4 thin film at low temperatures shows strong electro-optical properties, as high as 9% in the energy range of 1 - 2.5 eV, for applied electric fields up to 500 V.cm−1.

The lateral gas phase diffusion length of boron atoms, LB, along silicon and boron surfaces during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using diborane (B2H6) is reported. The value of LB is critical for reliable and uniform boron layer coverage. The presented information was obtained experimentally and confirmed analytically in the boron deposition temperature range from 700 °C down to 400 °C. For this temperature range the local loading effect of the boron deposition is investigated on the micro scale. A LB = 2.2 mm was determined for boron deposition at 700 °C, while a LB of less than 1 mm was observed at temperatures lower than 500 °C.

A general empirical relation for calculating first seven optical transition energies of semiconducting single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is proposed here for the first time. The proposed formula effectively relates first seven optical transition energies of semiconducting SWCNTs with their chiral indices (n, m) through exponential form containing two specific terms (n+2m) and (2n-m). Both mod 1 and mod 2 types of semiconducting tubes are considered here over a wide diameter range from 0.4 nm to 4.75 nm. It was observed that the proposed empirical relations can predict the recent experimental data of those optical transitions with high accuracy.

We introduce a design with dual resonant structure which can harvest energy from random vibration sources at low frequency range. The dual resonant structure consists of two spring-mass subsystems with different frequency responses, which exhibit strong coupling and broad bandwidth when the two masses collide with each other. Experiments with piezoelectric elements show that the energy harvesting device with dual resonant structure can generate higher power output than the sum of the two separate devices from random vibration sources.

The Li4SiO4 is a promising breeder material for future fusion reactors. Radiation induced vacancies and hydrogen isotope related impurities are the major types of point defects in this breeder material. In present study, various kinds of vacancies and hydrogen isotopes related point defects in Li4SiO4 are investigated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The band gap of Li4SiO4 is determined by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy experiments. Formation energies of all possible charge states of Li, Si and O vacancies are calculated using DFT methods. Formation energies of possible charge states of hydrogen isotopes substitution for Li and O are also calculated. We found that Li-vacancies will dominate among all vacancies in neutral charge state under radiation conditions and the O, Li, and Si vacancies (VO,VLi,VSi) are stable in charge states +2, -1, -4 for most of the range of Fermi level, respectively. The interstitial hydrogen isotopes (Hi) and substitutional HLi are stable in the charge states +1, 0 for most of the range of Fermi level, respectively. Moreover, substitutional HO are stable in +1 charge states. We also investigated the process of tritium recovery by discussing the interaction between interstitial H and Li-vacancy, O-vacancy, and found that H O + and H Li 0 are the most common H related defects during radiation process.

The temperature dependence of the field emission properties of CuO nanowires was studied from 163 to 453 K. Large current increases were observed with increasing temperature, which cannot be explained by band to band excitation or emission from the valence band. Two distinct sections were observed from the Arrhenius plot. Activation energies of 100 meV for the high-temperature range (273 to 453 K) and 26.4 meV for the low-temperature range (163 to 273 K) were obtained. Phonon-assisted and defect-assisted thermal field emission mechanisms from p-type CuO NWs were proposed to explain the observed phenomena in the two temperature ranges, which relate to the defect-induced localized states. Numerical simulation using the proposed mechanism was carried out and a good fit with the experimental results was achieved. The results suggest that defect-induced localized states play an important role in field emission from nanowires.

The Raman spectra of bis (4-acetylanilinium) tetrachloridozincate single crystals were studied in the range of 100-3500 cm−1 as a function of temperature of 298 K to 398 K. The bands mainly associated with the internal modes of the ZnCl4 anions only undergo weak changes. However, the strong evolutions of wavenumbers, widths and intensities of many lines associated with the organic cations are observed with discontinuities in the vicinity of the phase transition at 351 K. A phase transition at Tc = 351K was observed and characterized by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The most important changes are observed for two lines at 3197.13 cm−1 and 3167.10 cm−1 (at room temperature) issued from asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of (C-H) band and (NH3) group, respectively. The spectral characteristics of these lines are analyzed and consistently described in the framework of an order–disorder model for the phase transition.