P/N InP homojunction solar cells by LPE and MOCVD techniques

P/N InP homojunction solar cells have been prepared by using both liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) and metallorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth techniques. A heavily doped p-In sub 0.53Ga sub 0.47As contacting layer was incorporated into the cell structure to improve the fill factor and to eliminate surface spiking at the front surface. The best conversion efficiencies (total area) obtained under AM 1 illumination are 14.2 percent for a LPE cell and 15.4 percent for a MOCVD cell

Partial scaling transform of multiqubit states as a criterion of separability

The partial scaling transform of the density matrix for multiqubit states is introduced to detect entanglement of quantum states. The transform contains partial transposition as a special case. The scaling transform corresponds to partial time scaling of subsystem (or partial Planck's constant scaling) which was used to formulate recently separability criterion for continous variables.A measure of entanglement which is a generalization of negativity measure is introduced being based on tomographic probability description of spin states.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Anomalous Transmission Phase of a Kondo-Correlated Quantum Dot

We study phase evolution of transmission through a quantum dot with Kondo correlations. By considering a model that includes nonresonant transmission as well as the Anderson impurity, we explain unusually large phase evolution of about $\pi$ in the Kondo valley observed in recent experiments. We argue that this anomalous phase evolution is a universal property that can be found in the high-temperature Kondo phase in the presence of the time-reversal symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Effect of alum (top-dressed and mixed) with rice hulls on pH and ammonia emissions from poultry houses

The use of aluminum sulfate [alum; Al2(SO3)4·14H2O] as top dressing to poultry litter has been proven in reducing ammonia (NH3) volatilization under both laboratory and field tests; however, there has been no information of alum application in mixing methods from poultry litter or rice hulls. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the effects of alum top dressed or mixed with rice hulls as litter management methods on pH and NH3 emissions. A total of 180 broiler chickens were randomly allocated to 12 pens to a density of 0.07 m2/bird for 5 weeks, creating 4 replicates of 3 experimental treatments with 15 birds per experimental unit as a completely randomized design. The treatments included an untreated control, 100 g of alum (top dressing) and 100 g of alum (mixed)/kg of rice hull. In addition, alum treatment was usually applied by top dressing onto the rice hulls or fully mixed with the rice hulls. During the experimental period, pH and NH3 emissions were significantly reduced by the two different methods of alum amendments (P < 0.05) in the litter over time compared with the controls except for NH3 emissions at 1 through 3 weeks. However, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in pH and NH3 emission were observed between the two different methods with alum for 5 weeks. The reduction in NH3 emission from 100 g of alum top-dressed and 100 g of alum fully mixed with kg of rice hull at 5 weeks was 50 and 51%, respectively. In summary, these results indicate that “mixing” methods of alum as well as top dressing would serve as a suitable method for decreasing NH3 emission, which resulted in lower pH.Key words: Alum, top dressing, mixing, pH, ammonia

Josephson current in strongly correlated double quantum dots

We study the transport properties of a serial double quantum dot (DQD) coupled to two superconducting leads, focusing on the Josephson current through the DQD and the associated 0-$\pi$ transitions which result from the subtle interplay between the superconductivity, the Kondo physics, and the inter-dot superexchange interaction. We examine the competition between the superconductivity and the Kondo physics by tuning the relative strength $\Delta/T_K$ of the superconducting gap $\Delta$ and the Kondo temperature $T_K$, for different strengths of the superexchange coupling determined by the interdot tunneling $t$ relative to the dot level broadening $\Gamma$. We find strong renormalization of $t$, a significant role of the superexchange coupling $J$, and a rich phase diagram of the 0 and $\pi$-junction regimes. In particular, when both the superconductivity and the exchange interaction are in close competion with the Kondo physics ($\Delta\sim J\sim T_K$), there appears an island of $\pi'$-phase at large values of the superconducting phase difference.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Skyrmions in a Doped Antiferromagnet

Magnetization and magnetoresistance have been measured in insulating antiferromagnetic La_{2}Cu_{0.97}Li_{0.03}O_{4} over a wide range of temperatures, magnetic fields, and field orientations. The magnetoresistance step associated with a weak ferromagnetic transition exhibits a striking nonmonotonic temperature dependence, consistent with the presence of skyrmions.Comment: 4+ pages, 3 figures (some low resolution), supplementary material (3 pages); discussion expanded, references added; as publishe

String theoretic axion coupling and the evolution of cosmic structures

We examine the effects of the axion coupling to $R\tilde{R}$ on the evolution of cosmic structures. It is shown that the evolutions of the scalar- and vector-type perturbations are not affected by this axion coupling. However the axion coupling causes an asymmetric evolution of the two polarization states of the tensor-type perturbation, which may lead to a sizable polarization asymmetry in the cosmological gravitational wave if inflation involves a period in which the axion coupling is important. The polarization asymmetry produced during inflation are conserved over the subsequent evolution as long as the scales remain in the large-scale limit, and thus this may lead to an observable trace in the cosmic microwave background radiation.Comment: 10 pages, REVte