Effects of contemporary orthodontic composites on tooth color following short-term fixed orthodontic treatment: A controlled clinical study

Background/aim: To determine the color alterations of natural teeth associated with different orthodontic composites used in comprehensive short-term treatment. Materials and methods: Twenty-two patients were treated with fixed appliances and 22 untreated subjects were also evaluated. Lower incisors were bonded with different orthodontic composites: 42 with Grengloo, 41 with Light Bond, 31 with Kurasper F, and 32 with Transbond XT. The color parameters of the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) were measured for each tooth with a spectrophotometer. Color assessment in relation to time, adhesive material, and their interaction was made with 2-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) and 1-way ANOVA for the color differences (ΔE*). Further analyses were done using Tukey’s honestly significant difference tests and paired-samples t-tests. Results: The color of teeth was affected by treatment. The mean L* and a* values increased, whereas the mean b* values decreased. Total color differences of teeth demonstrated visible color changes clinically after treatment, ranging from 1.12 to 3.34 ΔE units. However, there were no significant differences for color of enamel. Conclusion: Teeth may be discolored with fixed appliances during treatment. Moreover, contemporary orthodontic composites have similar effects of enamel discoloration. © TÜBİTAK

Structural and optical properties of an InxGa1-xN/GaN nanostructure

The structural and optical properties of an InxGa1-xN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and photoluminescence (PL). The MQW structure was grown on c-plane (0 0 0 1)-faced sapphire substrates in a low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. The room temperature photoluminescence spectrum exhibited a blue emission at 2.84 eV and a much weaker and broader yellow emission band with a maximum at about 2.30 eV. In addition, the optical gaps and the In concentration of the structure were estimated by direct interpretation of the pseudo-dielectric function spectrum. It was found that the crystal quality of the InGaN epilayer is strongly related with the Si doped GaN layer grown at a high temperature of 1090 °C. The experimental results show that the growth MQW on the high-temperature (HT) GaN buffer layer on the GaN nucleation layer (NL) can be designated as a method that provides a high performance InGaN blue light-emitting diode (LED) structure. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Au/InGaAs/n-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes

In this study, the forward and reverse bias current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Au/InGaAs/n-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) have been investigated at room temperature. InGaAs epilayer was grown on (100) oriented n-GaAs substrate using V80-H solid source Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) system. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used in order to study the surface properties of InGaAs epilayer. The AFM measurement was performed by using an Omicron variable temperature STM/AFM instrument. The electrical parameters such as barrier height (Phi(b)), ideality factor (n), series resistance (R-s) and interface states (N-ss) of Au/InGaAs/n-GaAs SBDs have been calculated by using forward and reverse bias I-V measurements. The energy distribution of interface states of the structure was obtained from the forward bias I-V measurements by taking the bias dependence of the effective barrier height (Phi(e)) into account. In addition, the values of R-s and Phi(b), were determined by using Cheung's methods and results have been compared with each other.State of Planning Organization of TurkeyTurkiye Cumhuriyeti Kalkinma Bakanligi [2011K120290]This work is supported by the State of Planning Organization of Turkey under Grant no. 2011K120290WOS:0003025803000742-s2.0-8486014571