Two-dimensional mapping of triaxial strain fields in a multiferroic BiFeO3 thin film using scanning x-ray microdiffraction

The dramatically enhanced polarizations and saturation magnetizations observed in the epitaxially constrained BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films with their pronounced grain-orientation dependence have attracted much attention and are attributed largely to the constrained in-plane strain. Thus, it is highly desirable to directly obtain information on the two-dimensional (2D) distribution of the in-plane strain and its correlation with the grain orientation of each corresponding microregion. Here the authors report a 2D quantitative mapping of the grain orientation and the local triaxial strain field in a 250 nm thick multiferroic BFO film using a synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction technique. This direct scanning measurement demonstrates that the deviatoric component of the in-plane strain tensor is between 5x10(-3) and 6x10(-3) and that the local triaxial strain is fairly well correlated with the grain orientation in that particular region. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.X1145Nsciescopu

Surface Modification of TiO2 Nanoparticles with Phenyltrimethoxysilane in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Phenyltrimethoxysilane (PTMS) was anchored onto the sensitized TiO2 nanoparticles. This insulating molecular layer effectively inhibited the charge recombination at the interface of TiO2/electrolyte in the dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) without sacrificing the dye-loading capacity of the nanocrystalline TiO2. DSCs using PTMS-modified TiO2 exhibited a short-circuit current (J(SC)) of 15.9 mA/cm(2), an open-circuit voltage (V-OC) of 789 mV, and a fill factor (FE) of 68.2%, yielding an overall conversion efficiency (eta) of 8.55% under 100 mW/cm(2) illumination. The resulting cell efficiency was improved by similar to 10% as compared with the reference cell.X1133Ysciescopu

Ferroelectric polarization switching with a remarkably high activation energy in orthorhombic GaFeO3 thin films

Orthorhombic GaFeO3 (o-GFO) with the polar Pna2(1) space group is a prominent ferrite owing to its piezoelectricity and ferrimagnetism, coupled with magnetoelectric effects. Herein, we demonstrate large ferroelectric remanent polarization in undoped o-GFO thin films by adopting either a hexagonal strontium titanate (STO) or a cubic yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate. The polarization-electric-field hysteresis curves of the polar c-axis-grown o-GFO film on a SrRuO3/STO substrate show the net switching polarization of similar to 35 mu C cm(-2) with an unusually high coercive field (E-c) of +/- 1400 kV cm(-1) at room temperature. The positive-up and negative-down measurement also demonstrates the switching polarization of similar to 26 mu C cm(-2). The activation energy for the polarization switching, as obtained by density-functional theory calculations, is remarkably high, 1.05 eV per formula unit. We have theoretically shown that this high value accounts for the extraordinary high E-c and the stability of the polar Pna2(1) phase over a wide range of temperatures up to 1368 K.111714Ysciescopu

Three-Dimensional Graphene Nano-Networks with High Quality and Mass Production Capability via Precursor-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition

We report a novel approach to synthesize chemical vapor deposition-grown three-dimensional graphene nano-networks (3D-GNs) that can be mass produced with large-area coverage. Annealing of a PVA/iron precursor under a hydrogen environment, infiltrated into 3D-assembled-colloidal silicas reduces iron ions and generates few-layer graphene by precipitation of carbon on the iron surface. The 3D-GN can be grown on any electronic device-compatible substrate, such as Al2O3, Si, GaN, or Quartz. The conductivity and surface area of a 3D-GN are 52 S/cm and 1,025 m(2)/g, respectively, which are much better than the previously reported values. Furthermore, electrochemical double-layer capacitors based on the 3D-GN have superior supercapacitor performance with a specific capacitance of 245 F/g and 96.5% retention after 6,000 cycles due to the outstanding conductivity and large surface area. The excellent performance of the 3D-GN as an electrode for supercapacitors suggests the great potential of interconnected graphene networks in nano-electronic devices and energy-related materials.open15

Machine-Part cell formation through visual decipherable clustering of Self Organizing Map

Machine-part cell formation is used in cellular manufacturing in order to process a large variety, quality, lower work in process levels, reducing manufacturing lead-time and customer response time while retaining flexibility for new products. This paper presents a new and novel approach for obtaining machine cells and part families. In the cellular manufacturing the fundamental problem is the formation of part families and machine cells. The present paper deals with the Self Organising Map (SOM) method an unsupervised learning algorithm in Artificial Intelligence, and has been used as a visually decipherable clustering tool of machine-part cell formation. The objective of the paper is to cluster the binary machine-part matrix through visually decipherable cluster of SOM color-coding and labelling via the SOM map nodes in such a way that the part families are processed in that machine cells. The Umatrix, component plane, principal component projection, scatter plot and histogram of SOM have been reported in the present work for the successful visualization of the machine-part cell formation. Computational result with the proposed algorithm on a set of group technology problems available in the literature is also presented. The proposed SOM approach produced solutions with a grouping efficacy that is at least as good as any results earlier reported in the literature and improved the grouping efficacy for 70% of the problems and found immensely useful to both industry practitioners and researchers.Comment: 18 pages,3 table, 4 figure

Enhanced thermodynamic stability of tetragonal-phase field in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 thin films under a two-dimensional compressive stress

A two-dimensional thermodynamic model was developed to account for the observed difficulty in the fabrication of epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) thin films in which tetragonal and rhombohedral phases coexist. The thermodynamic formalism based on the Landau-Devonshire's phenomenological theory predicts the enhanced thermodynamic stability of the tetragonal-phase field under a two-dimensional compressive stress. We have experimentally proved this prediction by fabricating an epitaxially oriented tetragonal PZT thin film on MgO substrate with the target composition corresponding to the bulk morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.open1160sciescopu

Recovery process of degraded ferroelectric properties in the forming-gas-annealed Pt/Bi4-xLaxTi3O12/Pt capacitor

The recovery of ferroelectric properties in the forming-gas-annealed Pt/Bi4-xLaxTi3O12/Pt (Pt/BLT/Pt) capacitor was studied by examining changes in ferroelectric responses, phase evolution, and spatial distributions of relevant species during the recovery annealing. The degraded ferroelectric properties were practically restored to their original values after the recovery annealing at 600 degreesC for 10 min in an O-2 atmosphere. The following recovery process has been delineated from the present study: (i) the removal of impregnated protons from the degraded capacitor due to the chemical potential difference of protons between the forming-gas-annealed capacitor and the contacting atmosphere, and (ii) the restoration of perovskite BLT phase with the help of replenishment of the Bi and oxygen losses via diffusion from the neighboring intact region to the Bi-depleted columnar region located beneath the top Pt electrode. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.open1156sciescopu

Modulated spin structure responsible for the magnetic-field-induced polarization switching in multiferroic TbMn2O5

Orthorhombic TbMn2O5 (o-TMO) is a well-known multiferroic manganite with the remarkable property of polarization switching at 3 K under a bias magnetic (H) field along the a axis of Pb2(1)m. To theoretically account for this outstanding observation, we have proposed a modulated spin structure under the saturated bias H field by considering the relative strength of the three relevant exchange parameters in o-TMO. The proposed modulated structure based on density-functional theory (DFT) calculations is described in terms of the spin angle phi between the neighboring Mn4+-Mn3+ spin moments on the a-b plane. We have shown that the computed DFT polarization plotted as a function of f satisfactorily accounts for the observed H-field-induced polarization switching. We have further theoretically shown that the square of the critical field strength (H-c) needed for the polarization switching is inversely proportional to the degree of the extrinsic magnetoelectric coupling. The computed partial charge density demonstrates that the H-field-induced polarization switching also accompanies with the switching in the sign of the excess valence-electron density.open1134sciescopu

A Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

Document submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresHyper-Kamiokande will be a next generation underground water Cherenkov detector with a total (fiducial) mass of 0.99 (0.56) million metric tons, approximately 20 (25) times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. One of the main goals of Hyper-Kamiokande is the study of $CP$ asymmetry in the lepton sector using accelerator neutrino and anti-neutrino beams. In this document, the physics potential of a long baseline neutrino experiment using the Hyper-Kamiokande detector and a neutrino beam from the J-PARC proton synchrotron is presented. The analysis has been updated from the previous Letter of Intent [K. Abe et al., arXiv:1109.3262 [hep-ex]], based on the experience gained from the ongoing T2K experiment. With a total exposure of 7.5 MW $\times$ 10$^7$ sec integrated proton beam power (corresponding to $1.56\times10^{22}$ protons on target with a 30 GeV proton beam) to a $2.5$-degree off-axis neutrino beam produced by the J-PARC proton synchrotron, it is expected that the $CP$ phase $\delta_{CP}$ can be determined to better than 19 degrees for all possible values of $\delta_{CP}$, and $CP$ violation can be established with a statistical significance of more than $3\,\sigma$ ($5\,\sigma$) for $76$ ($58$) of the $\delta_{CP}$ parameter space

Magnetoelectric coupling of [00l]-oriented Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O-3-Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 multilayered thin films

Multilayered thin films consisting of alternatively stacking Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O-3 (PZT) and Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 (NZFO) layers were fabricated to exploit a strain-mediated coupling of piezoelectricity and magnetostriction. The 450-nm-thick PZT/NZFO multilayer fabricated by pulsed laser deposition showed magnetodielectric effects upon applying a static magnetic field. The magnetoelectric (ME) susceptibility values estimated using these magnetodielectric responses were in the range of 15-30 mV/cm Oe at a zero magnetic-field strength and were comparable to those obtained using a more commonly employed "dynamic" ME method. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.open116567sciescopu