Strain sensitivity enhancement in suspended core fiber tapers

Suspended core fiber tapers with different cross sections (with diameters from 70 μm to 120 μm) are produced by filament heating. Before obtaining the taper, the spectral behavior of the suspended core fiber is a multimode interference structure. When the taper is made, an intermodal interference between a few modes is observed. This effect is clearly visible for low taper core dimensions. Since the core and cladding do not collapse, two taper regions exist, one in the core and the other in the cladding. The cladding taper does not affect the light transmission, only the core is reduced to a microtaper. The spectral response of the microtaper based-suspended core fiber is similar to a beat of two interferometers. The strain is applied to the microtaper, and with the reduction in the transverse area, an increase in sensitivity is observed. When the taper is immersed in a liquid with a different index of refraction or subjected to temperature variations, no spectral change occurs

Effects of Possible ΔB=−ΔQ\Delta B =- \Delta Q Transitions in Neutral BB Meson Decays}

We explore the possibility that the existing data on like-sign dileptons at the $\Upsilon (4S)$ resonance consist of events arising from $B_{d}^0 -\bar B_{d}^0$ mixing and also from $\Delta B = - \Delta Q$ transitions. The consequences of these nonstandard transitions for certain time-asymmetries which are likely to be measured at the $B$ factories are studied.Comment: {\LARGE \bf 10 pages, no figures, process using latex, TIFR/TH/93-5

A contiuum model for low temperature relaxation of crystal steps

High and low temperature relaxation of crystal steps are described in a unified picture, using a continuum model based on a modified expression of the step free energy. Results are in agreement with experiments and Monte Carlo simulations of step fluctuations and monolayer cluster diffusion and relaxation. In an extended model where mass exchange with neighboring terraces is allowed, step transparency and a low temperature regime for unstable step meandering are found.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Self-diffusion of adatoms, dimers, and vacancies on Cu(100)

We use ab initio static relaxation methods and semi-empirical molecular-dynamics simulations to investigate the energetics and dynamics of the diffusion of adatoms, dimers, and vacancies on Cu(100). It is found that the dynamical energy barriers for diffusion are well approximated by the static, 0 K barriers and that prefactors do not depend sensitively on the species undergoing diffusion. The ab initio barriers are observed to be significantly lower when calculated within the generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) rather than in the local-density approximation (LDA). Our calculations predict that surface diffusion should proceed primarily via the diffusion of vacancies. Adatoms are found to migrate most easily via a jump mechanism. This is the case, also, of dimers, even though the corresponding barrier is slightly larger than it is for adatoms. We observe, further, that dimers diffuse more readily than they can dissociate. Our results are discussed in the context of recent submonolayer growth experiments of Cu(100).Comment: Submitted to the Physical Review B; 15 pages including postscript figures; see also http://www.centrcn.umontreal.ca/~lewi

Epitaxial growth of Cu on Cu(001): experiments and simulations

A quantitative comparison between experimental and Monte Carlo simulation results for the epitaxial growth of Cu/Cu(001) in the submonolayer regime is presented. The simulations take into account a complete set of hopping processes whose activation energies are derived from semi-empirical calculations using the embedded-atom method. The island separation is measured as a function of the incoming flux and the temperature. A good quantitative agreement between the experiment and simulation is found for the island separation, the activation energies for the dominant processes, and the exponents that characterize the growth. The simulation results are then analyzed at lower coverages, which are not accessible experimentally, providing good agreement with theoretical predictions as well.Comment: Latex document. 7 pages. 3 embedded figures in separate PS files. One bbl fil

Using the Wigner-Ibach Surmise to Analyze Terrace-Width Distributions: History, User's Guide, and Advances

A history is given of the applications of the simple expression generalized from the surmise by Wigner and also by Ibach to extract the strength of the interaction between steps on a vicinal surface, via the terrace width distribution (TWD). A concise guide for use with experiments and a summary of some recent extensions are provided.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, reformatted (with revtex) version of refereed paper for special issue of Applied Physics A entitled "From Surface Science to Device Physics", in honor of the retirements of Prof. H. Ibach and Prof. H. L\"ut

How metal films de-wet substrates - identifying the kinetic pathways and energetic driving forces

We study how single-crystal chromium films of uniform thickness on W(110) substrates are converted to arrays of three-dimensional (3D) Cr islands during annealing. We use low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) to directly observe a kinetic pathway that produces trenches that expose the wetting layer. Adjacent film steps move simultaneously uphill and downhill relative to the staircase of atomic steps on the substrate. This step motion thickens the film regions where steps advance. Where film steps retract, the film thins, eventually exposing the stable wetting layer. Since our analysis shows that thick Cr films have a lattice constant close to bulk Cr, we propose that surface and interface stress provide a possible driving force for the observed morphological instability. Atomistic simulations and analytic elastic models show that surface and interface stress can cause a dependence of film energy on thickness that leads to an instability to simultaneous thinning and thickening. We observe that de-wetting is also initiated at bunches of substrate steps in two other systems, Ag/W(110) and Ag/Ru(0001). We additionally describe how Cr films are converted into patterns of unidirectional stripes as the trenches that expose the wetting layer lengthen along the W[001] direction. Finally, we observe how 3D Cr islands form directly during film growth at elevated temperature. The Cr mesas (wedges) form as Cr film steps advance down the staircase of substrate steps, another example of the critical role that substrate steps play in 3D island formation

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index using focused ion beam milled Fabry-Perot cavities in optical fiber micro-tips

Published 15 Jun 2016Optical fiber micro-tips are promising devices for sensing applications in small volume and difficult to access locations, such as biological and biomedical settings. The tapered fiber tips are prepared by dynamic chemical etching, reducing the size from 125 μm to just a few μm. Focused ion beam milling is then used to create cavity structures on the tapered fiber tips. Two different Fabry-Perot micro-cavities have been prepared and characterized: a solid silica cavity created by milling two thin slots and a gap cavity. A third multi-cavity structure is fabricated by combining the concepts of solid silica cavity and gap cavity. This micro-tip structure is analyzed using a fast Fourier transform method to demultiplex the signals of each cavity. Simultaneous measurement of temperature and external refractive index is then demonstrated, presenting sensitivities of - 15.8 pm/K and -1316 nm/RIU, respectively.Ricardo M. André, Stephen C. Warren-Smith, Martin Becker, Jan Dellith, Manfred Rothhardt, M. I. Zibaii, H. Latifi, Manuel B. Marques, Hartmut Bartelt, and Orlando Frazã

The critical amplitude ratio of the susceptibility in the random-site two-dimensional Ising model

We present a new way of probing the universality class of the site-diluted two-dimensional Ising model. We analyse Monte Carlo data for the magnetic susceptibility, introducing a new fitting procedure in the critical region applicable even for a single sample with quenched disorder. This gives us the possibility to fit simultaneously the critical exponent, the critical amplitude and the sample dependent pseudo-critical temperature. The critical amplitude ratio of the magnetic susceptibility is seen to be independent of the concentration $q$ of the empty sites for all investigated values of $q\le 0.25$. At the same time the average effective exponent $\gamma_{eff}$ is found to vary with the concentration $q$, which may be argued to be due to logarithmic corrections to the power law of the pure system. This corrections are canceled in the susceptibility amplitude ratio as predicted by theory. The central charge of the corresponding field theory was computed and compared well with the theoretical predictions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

CP Violation and Lifetime Differences of Neutral B Mesons from Correlated B^0-B^0bar Pairs

We present a technique to determine the CP violating phases, as well as, the lifetime differences of the mass eigenstates for both $B_d$ and $B_s$, by considering correlated $B\bar{B}$ pairs produced at the $\Upsilon$ resonances. We do not require a detailed time dependent study, but only partial time integrated rates, with the tag time, either preceding or following the decay of the other $B$ meson to a final state f. f may be a CP eigenstate or a non-CP eigenstate.Comment: 11 Pages Revte