202 research outputs found
Magnetostatic field noise near metallic surfaces
We develop an effective low-frequency theory of the electromagnetic field in
equilibrium with thermal objects. The aim is to compute thermal magnetic noise
spectra close to metallic microstructures. We focus on the limit where the
material response is characterized by the electric conductivity. At the
boundary between empty space and metallic microstructures, a large jump occurs
in the dielectric function which leads to a partial screening of low-frequency
magnetic fields generated by thermal current fluctuations. We resolve a
discrepancy between two approaches used in the past to compute magnetic field
noise spectra close to microstructured materials.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, EPJ D style, accepted in Topical Issue on "Atom
Chips
Rotational excitation of methylidynium (CH+) by a helium atom at high temperature
We aim to obtain accurate rate coefficients for the collisional excitation of
CH+ by He for high gas temperatures. The ab initio coupled-cluster [CCSD(T)]
approximation was used to compute the interaction potential energy. Cross
sections are then derived in the close coupling (CC) approach and rate
coefficients inferred by averaging these cross sections over a
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of kinetic energies. Cross sections are
calculated up to 10'000 cm^-1 for J ranging from 0 to 10. Rate coefficients are
obtained at high temperatures up to 2000 K.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, table with rate coefficients, accepted for
publication by A&
Monte Carlo transient phonons transport in silicon and germanium at nanoscales
Heat transport at nanoscales in semiconductors is investigated with a
statistical method. The Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) which characterize
phonons motion and interaction within the crystal lattice has been simulated
with a Monte Carlo technique. Our model takes into account media frequency
properties through the dispersion curves for longitudinal and transverse
acoustic branches. The BTE collisional term involving phonons scattering
processes is simulated with the Relaxation Times Approximation theory. A new
distribution function accounting for the collisional processes has been
developed in order to respect energy conservation during phonons scattering
events. This non deterministic approach provides satisfactory results in what
concerns phonons transport in both ballistic and diffusion regimes. The
simulation code has been tested with silicon and germanium thin films;
temperature propagation within samples is presented and compared to analytical
solutions (in the diffusion regime). The two materials bulk thermal
conductivity is retrieved for temperature ranging between 100 K and 500 K. Heat
transfer within a plane wall with a large thermal gradient (250 K-500 K) is
proposed in order to expose the model ability to simulate conductivity thermal
dependence on heat exchange at nanoscales. Finally, size effects and validity
of heat conduction law are investigated for several slab thicknesses
Spatial coherence of thermal near fields
We analyze the spatial coherence of the electromagnetic field emitted by a
half-space at temperature T close to the interface. An asymptotic analysis
allows to identify three different contributions to the cross-spectral density
tensor in the near-field regime. It is shown that the coherence length can be
either much larger or much shorter than the wavelength depending on the
dominant contribution.Comment: 13 pages, 8 graphs, includes Elsevier elsart.cls preprint style.
Submitted to Optics Communications (27 july 2000
Electromagnetic field correlations near a surface with a nonlocal optical response
The coherence length of the thermal electromagnetic field near a planar
surface has a minimum value related to the nonlocal dielectric response of the
material. We perform two model calculations of the electric energy density and
the field's degree of spatial coherence. Above a polar crystal, the lattice
constant gives the minimum coherence length. It also gives the upper limit to
the near field energy density, cutting off its divergence. Near an
electron plasma described by the semiclassical Lindhard dielectric function,
the corresponding length scale is fixed by plasma screening to the Thomas-Fermi
length. The electron mean free path, however, sets a larger scale where
significant deviations from the local description are visible.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure files (.eps), \documentclass[global]{svjour},
accepted in special issue "Optics on the Nanoscale" (Applied Physics B, eds.
V. Shalaev and F. Tr\"ager
Coupled surface polaritons and the Casimir force
The Casimir force between metallic plates made of realistic materials is
evaluated for distances in the nanometer range. A spectrum over real
frequencies is introduced and shows narrow peaks due to surface resonances
(plasmon polaritons or phonon polaritons) that are coupled across the vacuum
gap. We demonstrate that the Casimir force originates from the attraction
(repulsion) due to the corresponding symmetric (antisymmetric) eigenmodes,
respectively. This picture is used to derive a simple analytical estimate of
the Casimir force at short distances. We recover the result known for Drude
metals without absorption and compute the correction for weakly absorbing
materials.Comment: revised version submitted to Phys. Rev. A, 06 November 200
Modeling semi-conductor thermal properties. The dispersion role
We study heat transport in semiconductor nanostructures by solving the
Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) by means of the Discrete Ordinate Method
(DOM). Relaxation time and phase and group velocitiy spectral dependencies are
taken into account. The Holland model of phonon relaxation time is revisited
and recalculated from dispersion relations (taken in litterature) in order to
match bulk silicon and germanium values. This improved model is then used to
predict silicon nanowire and nanofilm thermal properties in both ballistic and
mesoscopic regimes
Casimir force between designed materials: what is possible and what not
We establish strict upper limits for the Casimir interaction between
multilayered structures of arbitrary dielectric or diamagnetic materials. We
discuss the appearance of different power laws due to frequency-dependent
material constants. Simple analytical expressions are in good agreement with
numerical calculations based on Lifshitz theory. We discuss the improvements
required for current (meta) materials to achieve a repulsive Casimir force.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, graphicx, v4: Europhysics Letters, in pres
Effects of spatial dispersion in near-field radiative heat transfer between two parallel metallic surfaces
We study the heat transfer between two parallel metallic semi-infinite media
with a gap in the nanometer-scale range. We show that the near-field radiative
heat flux saturates at distances smaller than the metal skin depth when using a
local dielectric constant and investigate the origin of this effect. The effect
of non-local corrections is analysed using the Lindhard-Mermin and
Boltzmann-Mermin models. We find that local and non-local models yield the same
heat fluxes for gaps larger than 2 nm. Finally, we explain the saturation
observed in a recent experiment as a manifestation of the skin depth and show
that heat is mainly dissipated by eddy currents in metallic bodies.Comment: Version without figures (8 figures in the complete version
Detection of interstellar CH_3
Observations with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) onboard the {\it
Infrared Space Observatory} (ISO) have led to the first detection of the methyl
radical in the interstellar medium. The branch at 16.5
m and the (0) line at 16.0 m have been unambiguously detected
toward the Galactic center SgrA. The analysis of the measured bands gives a
column density of (8.02.4) cm and an excitation
temperature of K. Gaseous at a similarly low excitation
temperature and are detected for the same line of sight. Using
constraints on the column density obtained from and
visual extinction, the inferred abundance is
. The chemically related
molecule is not detected, but the pure rotational lines of are seen
with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS). The absolute abundances and the
and ratios are inconsistent with published
pure gas-phase models of dense clouds. The data require a mix of diffuse and
translucent clouds with different densities and extinctions, and/or the
development of translucent models in which gas-grain chemistry, freeze-out and
reactions of with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and solid
aliphatic material are included.Comment: 2 figures. ApJL, Accepte
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