34,563 research outputs found
Demonstration of the difference Casimir force for samples with different charge carrier densities
A measurement of the Casimir force between a gold coated sphere and two Si
plates of different carrier densities is performed using a high vacuum based
atomic force microscope. The results are compared with the Lifshitz theory and
good agreement is found. Our experiment demonstrates that by changing the
carrier density of the semiconductor plate by several orders of magnitude it is
possible to modify the Casimir interaction. This result may find applications
in nanotechnology.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Combination of Acoustic Methods and the Indentation Technique for the Measurement of Film Properties
New techniques are continuously being developed to produce films and thin films, whose properties typically depend on the preparation process, and can be significantly different from those of the material in bulk form. The characterization of thin layers remains an open issue. A precise knowledge of the mechanical properties is crucial in several cases, and is of general interest.
A full mechanical characterization includes the determination of both the elastic properties, which characterize the reversible deformations, and the properties which characterize the reversible behaviour. In most cases the elastic behaviour can be completely characterized by the elastic moduli, or equivalently by the components of the elastic tensor. It is well known that also in the simplest case, the homogeneous isotropic continuum, the elastic stiffness cannot be characterized by a single parameter, but needs two independent parameters; in the case of anisotropic solids the number of independent parameters further increases. The inelastic behaviour is typically more complex.
Among the methods to perform the mechanical characterization, a specific class exploits vibrations of acoustic nature as a probe of the material behaviour. These methods are non destructive, and involve only elastic strains; therefore, they are intrinsically unable to give indications about any inelastic behaviour. On the other hand, due to the complete absence of inelastic strains, the relationship between the raw measurement results and the stiffness parameters can be more straightforward, and less subjected to uncertainties or to spurious effects, possibly allowing better accuracies.
The mechanical characterization of supported films typically requires specific methods. The most widespread technique is indentation, for which a specific standard exists, and which induces both elastic and inelastic strains: It supplies significant information about irreversible deformation, but the extraction of the information concerning the elastic behaviour is non trivial, and typically leads to a single parameter, usually referred to as 'indentation modulus'. If a reasonable assumption about the value of Poisson???s ratio is available, a value of Young modulus can be derived, which obviously depends on the reliability of the adopted assumption. In the case of films, since the nano and micro-structure can be different from that of bulk samples, a well grounded assumption about the value of Poisson???s ratio might be not available. It is also well known that, when supported films are measured, care must be exercised to avoid the influence of the substrate properties.
Methods which exploit acoustic vibrations have been developed also for supported films. Acoustic properties depend on stiffness and inertia; therefore, as it happens for bulky samples, acoustic methods require a value of mass density, independently measured. However in acoustic methods the intrinsic absence of inelastic strains makes the derivation of the stiffness parameters less subjected to spurious effects, and less dependent on specific modelling assumptions.
Among the techniques based on acoustic excitations, the so called laser ultrasonics techniques rely on impulsive, therefore broadband, excitation, while quantitative acoustic microscopy relies on monochromatic excitation. In the detection of vibrational excitations, substantial advantages are offered by light, a contact-less and inertia-less probe; such advantages are particularly relevant in the measurement of films and small structures. They are exploited by Brillouin spectroscopy, which relies on Brillouin scattering: the inelastic scattering of light by acoustic excitations. Brillouin spectrometry relies on spontaneous thermal excitation, which has a small amplitude, but has the broadest band, allowing access to the GHz and multi GHz band. For all these methods, the outcome is the measurement of the propagation velocity of one or more acoustic modes. If sufficient information is gathered, a full elastic characterization can be achieved by purely vibrational means, if an independent value of the mass density is available. However, a complete elastic characterization by only acoustic means is not always achievable. The results of acoustic methods and of indentation can therefore be combined, with the purpose to obtain a complete elastic characterization, not achievable by each of the techniques alone. This can be particularly useful in the case of new materials or of films of unconventiona structures, for which a reliable assumption about the value of Poisson???s ratio, needed by indentation, is not available. And the combination of techniques anyhow offers a useful cross-check among techniques based on completely different principles.
This chapter is devoted to this combination of indentation with acoustic techniques, namely quantitative acoustic microscopy and Brillouin spectroscopy
Swinging Atwood's Machine: Experimental and Theoretical Studies
A Swinging Atwood Machine (SAM) is built and some experimental results
concerning its dynamic behaviour are presented. Experiments clearly show that
pulleys play a role in the motion of the pendulum, since they can rotate and
have non-negligible radii and masses. Equations of motion must therefore take
into account the inertial momentum of the pulleys, as well as the winding of
the rope around them. Their influence is compared to previous studies. A
preliminary discussion of the role of dissipation is included. The theoretical
behaviour of the system with pulleys is illustrated numerically, and the
relevance of different parameters is highlighted. Finally, the integrability of
the dynamic system is studied, the main result being that the Machine with
pulleys is non-integrable. The status of the results on integrability of the
pulley-less Machine is also recalled.Comment: 37 page
Models, measurements, and effective field theory: proton capture on Beryllium-7 at next-to-leading order
We employ an effective field theory (EFT) that exploits the separation of
scales in the p-wave halo nucleus to describe the process
up to a center-of-mass energy of 500 keV.
The calculation, for which we develop the lagrangian and power counting, is
carried out up to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the EFT expansion. The power
counting we adopt implies that Coulomb interactions must be included to all
orders in . We do this via EFT Feynman diagrams computed in
time-ordered perturbation theory, and so recover existing quantum-mechanical
technology such as the two-potential formalism for the treatment of the
Coulomb-nuclear interference. Meanwhile the strong interactions and the E1
operator are dealt with via EFT expansions in powers of momenta, with a
breakdown scale set by the size of the Be core, MeV.
Up to NLO the relevant physics in the different channels that enter the
radiative capture reaction is encoded in ten different EFT couplings. The
result is a model-independent parametrization for the reaction amplitude in the
energy regime of interest. To show the connection to previous results we fix
the EFT couplings using results from a number of potential model and
microscopic calculations in the literature. Each of these models corresponds to
a particular point in the space of EFTs. The EFT structure therefore provides a
very general way to quantify the model uncertainty in calculations of
. We also demonstrate that the only
NLO corrections in come from an
inelasticity that is practically of NLO size in the energy range of
interest, and so the truncation error in our calculation is effectively
NLO. We also discuss the relation of our extrapolated to the
previous standard evaluation.Comment: 68 pages, 10 figures, and 4 table
Scaling forces to asteroid surfaces: The role of cohesion
The scaling of physical forces to the extremely low ambient gravitational
acceleration regimes found on the surfaces of small asteroids is performed.
Resulting from this, it is found that van der Waals cohesive forces between
regolith grains on asteroid surfaces should be a dominant force and compete
with particle weights and be greater, in general, than electrostatic and solar
radiation pressure forces. Based on this scaling, we interpret previous
experiments performed on cohesive powders in the terrestrial environment as
being relevant for the understanding of processes on asteroid surfaces. The
implications of these terrestrial experiments for interpreting observations of
asteroid surfaces and macro-porosity are considered, and yield interpretations
that differ from previously assumed processes for these environments. Based on
this understanding, we propose a new model for the end state of small, rapidly
rotating asteroids which allows them to be comprised of relatively fine
regolith grains held together by van der Waals cohesive forces.Comment: 54 pages, 7 figure
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