On the Stereochemistry of the Cations in the Doping Block of Superconducting Copper-Oxides

Metal-oxygen complexes containing Cu,- Tl-, Hg-, Bi- and Pb-cations are electronically active in superconducting copper-oxides by stabilizing single phases with enhanced $T_c$, whereas other metal-oxygen complexes deteriorate copper-oxide superconductivity. Cu, Tl, Hg, Bi, Pb in their actual oxidation states are closed shell $d^{10}$ or inert $s^2$ pair ions. Their electronic configurations have a strong tendency to polarize the oxygen environment. The closed shell $d$ ions with low lying $nd^{10}\leftrightarrow nd^9(n+1)s$ excitations form linear complexes through $d_{z^2}-s$ hybridization polarizing the apical oxygens. Comparatively low $nd^9(n+1)s$ excitation energies distinguish $\rm Cu^{1+,3+}, Tl^{3+}, Hg^{2+}$ from other closed shell $d^{10}$ ions deteriorating copper-oxide superconductivity, {\it e.g.} $\rm Zn^{2+}$.Comment: 5 pages, uses REVTEX. To be published in: J. Superconductivity, Proc. Int. Workshop on "Phase Separation, Electronic Inhomogenities and Related Mechanisms for High T_c Superconductors", Erice (Sicily) 9-15 July 199

Inelastic Diffraction and Spectroscopy of Very Weakly Bound Clusters

We study the coherent inelastic diffraction of very weakly bound two body clusters from a material transmission grating. We show that internal transitions of the clusters can lead to new separate peaks in the diffraction pattern whose angular positions determine the excitation energies. Using a quantum mechanical approach to few body scattering theory we determine the relative peak intensities for the diffraction of the van der Waals dimers (D_2)_2 and H_2-D_2. Based on the results for these realistic examples we discuss the possible applications and experimental challenges of this coherent inelastic diffraction technique.Comment: 15 pages + 5 figures. J. Phys. B (in press

The accommodation coefficient of water molecules on ice -cirrus cloud studies at the AIDA simulation chamber

Cirrus clouds and their impact on the Earth's radiative budget are subjects of current research. The processes governing the growth of cirrus ice particles are central to the radiative properties of cirrus clouds. At temperatures relevant to cirrus clouds, the growth of ice crystals smaller than a few microns in size is strongly influenced by the accommodation coefficient of water molecules on ice, αice, making this parameter relevant for cirrus cloud modeling. However, the experimentally determined magnitude of αice for cirrus temperatures is afflicted with uncertainties of almost three orders of magnitude, and values for αice derived from cirrus cloud data lack significance so far. This has motivated dedicated experiments at the cloud chamber AIDA (Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) to determine αice in the cirrus-relevant temperature interval between 190 K and 235 K under realistic cirrus ice particle growth conditions. The experimental data sets have been evaluated independently with two model approaches: the first relying on the newly developed model SIGMA (Simple Ice Growth Model for determining Alpha), the second one on an established model, ACPIM (Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interaction Model). Within both approaches a careful uncertainty analysis of the obtained αice values has been carried out for each AIDA experiment. The results show no significant dependence of αice on temperature between 190 K and 235 K. In addition, we find no evidence for a dependence of αice on ice particle size or on water vapor supersaturation for ice particles smaller than 20 μm and supersaturations of up to 70%. The temperature-averaged and combined result from both models is αice = 0.7−0.5+0.3, which implies that αice may only exert a minor impact on cirrus clouds and their characteristics when compared to the assumption of αice =1. Impact on prior calculations of cirrus cloud properties, e.g., in climate models, with αice typically chosen in the range 0.2–1 is thus expected to be negligible. In any case, we provide a well-constrained αice which future cirrus model studies can rely on

Photo- and Electroproduction of Eta Mesons

Eta photo- and electroproduction off the nucleon is investigated in an effective lagrangian approach that contains Born terms and both vector meson and nucleon resonance contributions. In particular, we review and develop the formalism for coincidence experiments with polarization degrees of freedom. The different response functions appearing in single and double polarization experiments have been studied. We will present calculations for structure functions and kinematical conditions that are most sensitive to details of the lagrangian, in particular with regard to contributions of nucleon resonances beyond the dominant $S_{11}$(1535) resonance.Comment: 24 pages RevTeX/LaTeX2.09, NFSS1, 13 figures (in separate file (tar,gzip and uue)), accepted for publication in Z. Phys.