Intrinsic Magnetism in Nanosheets of SnO2_{2}: A First-principles Study

We propose intrinsic magnetism in nanosheets of SnO$_{2}$, based on first-principles calculations. The electronic structure and spin density reveal that $p$ orbitals of the oxygen atoms, surrounding Sn vacancies, have a non itinerant nature which gives birth to localized magnetism. A giant decrease in defect formation energies of Sn vacancies in nanosheets is observed. We, therefore, believe that native defects can be stabilized without any chemical doping. Nanosheets of different thicknesses are also studied, and it is found that it is easier to create vacancies, which are magnetic, at the surface of the sheets. SnO$_{2}$ nanosheets can, therefore, open new opportunities in the field of spintronics.Comment: J. Magn. Magn. Mate. 2012 (Accepted

Effects of bonding type and interface geometry on coherent transport through the single-molecule magnet Mn12

We examine theoretically coherent electron transport through the single-molecule magnet Mn$_{12}$, bridged between Au(111) electrodes, using the non-equilibrium Green's function method and the density-functional theory. We analyze the effects of bonding type, molecular orientation, and geometry relaxation on the electronic properties and charge and spin transport across the single-molecule junction. We consider nine interface geometries leading to five bonding mechanisms and two molecular orientations: (i) Au-C bonding, (ii) Au-Au bonding, (iii) Au-S bonding, (iv) Au-H bonding, and (v) physisorption via van der Waals forces. The two molecular orientations of Mn$_{12}$ correspond to the magnetic easy axis of the molecule aligned perpendicular [hereafter denoted as orientation (1)] or parallel [orientation (2)] to the direction of electron transport. We find that the electron transport is carried by the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level in all the cases that we have simulated. Relaxation of the junction geometries mainly shifts the relevant occupied molecular levels toward the Fermi energy as well as slightly reduces the broadening of the LUMO level. As a result, the current slightly decreases at low bias voltage. Our calculations also show that placing the molecule in the orientation (1) broadens the LUMO level much more than in the orientation (2), due to the internal structure of the Mn$_{12}$. Consequently, junctions with the former orientation yield a higher current than those with the latter. Among all of the bonding types considered, the Au-C bonding gives rise to the highest current (about one order of magnitude higher than the Au-S bonding), for a given distance between the electrodes. The current through the junction with other bonding types decreases in the order of Au-Au, Au-S, and Au-H. Importantly, the spin-filtering effect in all the nine geometries stays robust and their ratios of the majority-spin to the minority-spin transmission coefficients are in the range of 10$^3$ to 10$^8$. The general trend in transport among the different bonding types and molecular orientations obtained from this study may be applied to other single-molecular magnets.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

Stabilizing intrinsic defects in SnO2_{2}

TThe magnetism and electronic structure of Li-doped SnO$_{2}$ are investigated using first-principles LDA/LDA$+U$ calculations. We find that Li induces magnetism in SnO$_{2}$ when doped at the Sn site but becomes non-magnetic when doped at the O and interstitial sites. The calculated formation energies show that Li prefers the Sn site as compared with the O site, in agreement with previous experimental works. The interaction of Li with native defects (Sn V$_\mathrm{Sn}$ and O V$_\mathrm{O}$ vacancies) is also studied, and we find that Li not only behaves as a spin polarizer, but also a vacancy stabilizer, i.e. Li significantly reduces the defect formation energies of the native defects and helps the stabilization of magnetic oxygen vacancies. The electronic densities of states reveals that these systems, where the Fermi level touches the conduction (valence) band, are non-magnetic (magnetic).cancies. The electronic densities of states reveal that those systems, where the Fermi levels touch the conduction (valence) band, are non-magnetic (magnetic).Comment: Phys. Rev. B (2013), Accepte

Design of a Segmentation and Classification System for Seed Detection Based on Pixel Intensity Thresholds and Convolutional Neural Networks

Due to the computational power and memory of modern computers, computer vision techniques and neural networks can be used to develop a visual inspection system of agricultural products to satisfy product quality requirements. This chapter employs artificial vision techniques to classify seeds in RGB images. As a first step, an algorithm based on pixel intensity threshold is developed to detect and classify a set of different seed types, such as rice, beans, and lentils. Then, the information inferred by this algorithm is exploited to develop a neural network model, which successfully achieves learning classification and detection tasks through a semantic-segmentation scheme. The applicability and satisfactory performance of the proposed algorithms are illustrated by testing with real images, achieving an average accuracy of 92% in the selected set of classes. The experimental results verify that both algorithms can directly detect and classify the proposed set of seeds in input RGB images. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Detection of solar-like oscillations from Kepler photometry of the open cluster NGC 6819

Asteroseismology of stars in clusters has been a long-sought goal because the assumption of a common age, distance and initial chemical composition allows strong tests of the theory of stellar evolution. We report results from the first 34 days of science data from the Kepler Mission for the open cluster NGC 6819 -- one of four clusters in the field of view. We obtain the first clear detections of solar-like oscillations in the cluster red giants and are able to measure the large frequency separation and the frequency of maximum oscillation power. We find that the asteroseismic parameters allow us to test cluster-membership of the stars, and even with the limited seismic data in hand, we can already identify four possible non-members despite their having a better than 80% membership probability from radial velocity measurements. We are also able to determine the oscillation amplitudes for stars that span about two orders of magnitude in luminosity and find good agreement with the prediction that oscillation amplitudes scale as the luminosity to the power of 0.7. These early results demonstrate the unique potential of asteroseismology of the stellar clusters observed by Kepler.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ (Lett.

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file