104,913 research outputs found
Optical properties of carbon grains: Influence on dynamical models of AGB stars
For amorphous carbon several laboratory extinction data are available, which
show quite a wide range of differences due to the structural complexity of this
material. We have calculated self-consistent dynamic models of circumstellar
dust-shells around carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch stars, based on a number
of these data sets. The structure and the wind properties of the dynamical
models are directly influenced by the different types of amorphous carbon. In
our test models the mass loss is not severely dependent on the difference in
the optical properties of the dust, but the influence on the degree of
condensation and the final outflow velocity is considerable. Furthermore, the
spectral energy distributions and colours resulting from the different data
show a much wider spread than the variations within the models due to the
variability of the star. Silicon carbide was also considered in the radiative
transfer calculations to test its influence on the spectral energy
distribution.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. To appear in A&
Systematic Study of Electron Localization in an Amorphous Semiconductor
We investigate the electronic structure of gap and band tail states in
amorphous silicon. Starting with two 216-atom models of amorphous silicon with
defect concentration close to the experiments, we systematically study the
dependence of electron localization on basis set, density functional and spin
polarization using the first principles density functional code Siesta. We
briefly compare three different schemes for characterizing localization:
information entropy, inverse participation ratio and spatial variance. Our
results show that to accurately describe defect structures within self
consistent density functional theory, a rich basis set is necessary. Our study
revealed that the localization of the wave function associated with the defect
states decreases with larger basis sets and there is some enhancement of
localization from GGA relative to LDA. Spin localization results obtained via
LSDA calculations, are in reasonable agreement with experiment and with
previous LSDA calculations on a-Si:H models.Comment: 16 pages, 11 Postscript figures, To appear in Phys. Rev.
Medium range structural order in amorphous tantala spatially resolved with changes to atomic structure by thermal annealing
Amorphous tantala (a-Ta2O5) is an important technological material that has
wide ranging applications in electronics, optics and the biomedical industry.
It is used as the high refractive index layers in the multi-layer dielectric
mirror coatings in the latest generation of gravitational wave interferometers,
as well as other precision interferometers. One of the current limitations in
sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors is Brownian thermal noise that
arises from the tantala mirror coatings. Measurements have shown differences in
mechanical loss of the mirror coatings, which is directly related to Brownian
thermal noise, in response to thermal annealing. We utilise scanning electron
diffraction to perform Fluctuation Electron Microscopy (FEM) on Ion Beam
Sputtered (IBS) amorphous tantala coatings, definitively showing an increase in
the medium range order (MRO), as determined from the variance between the
diffraction patterns in the scan, due to thermal annealing at increasing
temperatures. Moreover, we employ Virtual Dark-Field Imaging (VDFi) to
spatially resolve the FEM signal, enabling investigation of the persistence of
the fragments responsible for the medium range order, as well as the extent of
the ordering over nm length scales, and show ordered patches larger than 5 nm
in the highest temperature annealed sample. These structural changes directly
correlate with the observed changes in mechanical loss.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Link between the diversity, heterogeneity and kinetic properties of amorphous ice structures
Based on neutron wide-angle diffraction and small-angle neutron scattering
experiments, we show that there is a correlation between the preparational
conditions of amorphous ice structures, their microscopic structural
properties, the extent of heterogeneities on a mesoscopic spatial scale and the
transformation kinetics. There are only two modifications that can be
identified as homogeneous disordered structures, namely the very high-density
vHDA and the low-density amorphous LDA ice. Structures showing an intermediate
static structure factor with respect to vHDA and LDA are heterogeneous phases.
This holds independently from their preparation procedure, i.e. either obtained
by pressure amorphisation of ice I_h or by heating of vHDA. The degree of
heterogeneity can be progressively suppressed when higher pressures and
temperatures are applied for the sample preparation. In accordance with the
suppressed heterogeneity the maximum of the static structure factor displays a
pronounced narrowing of the first strong peak, shifting towards higher
Q-numbers. Moreover, the less heterogeneous the obtained structures are the
slower is the transformation kinetics from the high--density modifications into
LDA. The well known high-density amorphous structure HDA does not constitute
any particular state of the amorphous water network. It is formed due to the
preparational procedure working in liquid nitrogen as thermal bath, i.e. at
about 77 K
On the heterogeneous character of water's amorphous polymorphism
In this letter we report {\it in situ} small--angle neutron scattering
results on the high--density (HDA) and low-density amorphous (LDA) ice
structures and on intermediate structures as found during the temperature
induced transformation of HDA into LDA. We show that the small--angle signal is
characterised by two regimes featuring different properties ( is the
modulus of the scattering vector defined as with being half the scattering
angle and the incident neutron wavelength). The very low--
regime ( \AA ) is dominated by a Porod--limit
scattering. Its intensity reduces in the course of the HDA to LDA
transformation following a kinetics reminiscent of that observed in wide--angle
diffraction experiments. The small--angle neutron scattering formfactor in the
intermediate regime of \AA HDA and LDA
features a rather flat plateau. However, the HDA signal shows an ascending
intensity towards smaller marking this amorphous structure as
heterogeneous. When following the HDA to LDA transition the formfactor shows a
pronounced transient excess in intensity marking all intermediate structures as
strongly heterogeneous on a length scale of some nano--meters
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