11,362 research outputs found
Energy Conversion Using New Thermoelectric Generator
During recent years, microelectronics helped to develop complex and varied
technologies. It appears that many of these technologies can be applied
successfully to realize Seebeck micro generators: photolithography and
deposition methods allow to elaborate thin thermoelectric structures at the
micro-scale level. Our goal is to scavenge energy by developing a miniature
power source for operating electronic components. First Bi and Sb micro-devices
on silicon glass substrate have been manufactured with an area of 1cm2
including more than one hundred junctions. Each step of process fabrication has
been optimized: photolithography, deposition process, anneals conditions and
metallic connections. Different device structures have been realized with
different micro-line dimensions. Each devices performance will be reviewed and
discussed in function of their design structure.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions
(http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions
Determination of the interactions in confined macroscopic Wigner islands: theory and experiments
Macroscopic Wigner islands present an interesting complementary approach to
explore the properties of two-dimensional confined particles systems. In this
work, we characterize theoretically and experimentally the interaction between
their basic components, viz., conducting spheres lying on the bottom electrode
of a plane condenser. We show that the interaction energy can be approximately
described by a decaying exponential as well as by a modified Bessel function of
the second kind. In particular, this implies that the interactions in this
system, whose characteristics are easily controllable, are the same as those
between vortices in type-II superconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Bi-defects of Nematic Surfactant Bilayers
We consider the effects of the coupling between the orientational order of
the two monolayers in flat nematic bilayers. We show that the presence of a
topological defect on one bilayer generates a nontrivial orientational texture
on both monolayers. Therefore, one cannot consider isolated defects on one
monolayer, but rather associated pairs of defects on either monolayer, which we
call bi-defects. Bi-defects generally produce walls, such that the textures of
the two monolayers are identical outside the walls, and different in their
interior. We suggest some experimental conditions in which these structures
could be observed.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 figure
Brans-Dicke gravity and the capture of stars by black holes: some asymptotic results
In the context of star capture by a black hole, a new noticeable difference
between Brans-Dicke theory and general relativity gravitational radiation is
pointed out. This feature stems from the non-stationarity of the black hole
state, barring Hawking's theorem.Comment: 4 pages. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
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