Extended x-ray absorption fine structure study of porous GaSb formed by ion implantation

Porous GaSb has been formed by Ga ion implantation into crystalline GaSb substrates at either room temperature or −180 °C. The morphology has been characterized using scanning electron microscopy and the atomic structure was determined using extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Room-temperature implantation at low fluences leads to the formation of ∼20-nm voids though the material remains crystalline. Higher fluences cause the microstructure to evolve into a network of amorphous GaSb rods ∼15 nm in diameter. In contrast, implantation at −180 °C generates large, elongated voids but no rods. Upon exposure to air, the surface of the porous material is readily oxidized yielding Ga₂O₃ and metallic Sb precipitates, the latter resulting from the reduction of unstable Sb₂O₃. We consider and discuss the atomic-scale mechanisms potentially operative during the concurrent crystalline-to-amorphous and continuous-to-porous transformations

Portable Pulse Code Modulation /PCM/

Small, programmable, high speed PCM subsystem, supports the variety of signals inherent in sophisticated equipment. A signal generated by a transducer is first conditioned to the proper signal range, then sampled by an external multiplexer or by the subsystem directly and then converted and transmitted to a receiving station

Study of moments of event shapes in e+e- annihilation using JADE data

Data from e+e- annihilation into hadrons collected by the JADE experiment at centre-of-mass energies between 14 GeV and 44 GeV were used to study moments of event shape distributions. The data were compared with Monte Carlo models and with predictions from QCD NLO order calculations. The strong coupling constant measured from the moments is alpha_S(M_Z) = 0.1286 +/- 0.0007 (stat) +/- 0.0011 (expt) +/- 0.0022 (had) +/- 0.0068 (theo), alpha_S(M_Z) = 0.1286 +/- 0.0072 (total error), consistent with the world average. However, systematic deficiencies in the QCD NLO order predictions are visible for some of the higher moments.Comment: JADE note 147 submitted as contributed paper to ICHEP 2004, corrected statistical error of 6 observable average and several typo

Measurement of the Strong Coupling Constant alpha_S from the Four-Jet Rate in e+e- Annihilation using JADE data

Data from e+e- annihilation into hadrons collected by the JADE experiment at centre-of-mass energies between 14 GeV and 44 GeV were used to study the four-jet rate as a function of the Durham algorithm's resolution parameter y_cut. The four-jet rate was compared to a QCD NLO order calculations including NLLA resummation of large logarithms. The strong coupling constant measured from the four-jet rate is alpha_S(M_Z) = 0.1169 +/- 0.0004 (stat) +/- 0.0012 (expt) +/- 0.0021 (had) +/- 0.0007 (theo), alpha_S(M_Z) = 0.1169 +/- 0.0026 (total error) in agreement with the world average.Comment: JADE note 146 submitted as contributed paper to ICHEP 200

Formation and structural characterization of Ni nanoparticles embedded in SiO₂

Face-centered cubic Ni nanoparticles were formed in SiO₂ by ion implantation and thermal annealing. Small-angle x-ray scattering in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the nanoparticle size as a function of annealing temperature, whereas the local atomic structure was measured with x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The influence of finite-size effects on the nanoparticle structural properties was readily apparent and included a decrease in coordination number and bond length and an increase in structural disorder for decreasing nanoparticle size. Such results are consistent with the non-negligible surface-to-volume ratio characteristic of nanoparticles. In addition, temperature-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements showed the mean vibrational frequency (as obtained from the Einstein temperature) decreased with decreasing nanoparticle size. This reduction was attributed to the greater influence of the loosely bound, under-coordinated surface atoms prevailing over the effects of capillary pressure, the former enhancing the low frequency modes of the vibrational density of statesThis work was financially supported by the Australian Synchrotron and the Australian Research Council with access to equipment provided by the Australian Nanofabrication Facility

Early-onset metabolic syndrome in mice lacking the intestinal uric acid transporter SLC2A9

Excess circulating uric acid, a product of hepatic glycolysis and purine metabolism, often accompanies metabolic syndrome. However, whether hyperuricemia contributes to development of metabolic syndrome or is merely a by-product of other processes that cause this disorder has not been resolved. Additionally, how uric acid is cleared from the circulation is incompletely understood. Here, we present a genetic model of spontaneous, early-onset metabolic syndrome in mice lacking the enterocyte urate transporter Glut9 (encoded by the SLC2A9 gene). Glut9-deficient mice develop impaired enterocyte uric acid transport kinetics, hyperuricemia, hyperuricosuria, spontaneous hypertension, dyslipidemia, and elevated body fat. Allopurinol, a xanthine oxidase inhibitor, can reverse the hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. These data provide evidence that hyperuricemia per se could have deleterious metabolic sequelae. Moreover, these findings suggest that enterocytes may regulate whole-body metabolism, and that enterocyte urate metabolism could potentially be targeted to modulate or prevent metabolic syndrome

Structural modifications of low-energy heavy-ion irradiated germanium

Heavy-ion irradiation of crystalline germanium (c-Ge) results in the formation of a homogeneous amorphous germanium (a-Ge) layer at the surface. This a-Ge layer undergoes structural modification such as a strong volume expansion accompanied by drastic surface blackening with further ion irradiation. In the present paper we investigate the mechanism of this ion-induced structural modification in a-Ge basically for the irradiation with I ions (3 and 9 MeV) at room and low temperature as a function of ion fluence for the ion incidence angles of Θ=7 and Θ=45. For comparison, Ag- and Au-ion irradiations were performed at room temperature as a function of the ion fluence. At fluences two orders of magnitude above the amorphization threshold, morphological changes were observed for all irradiation conditions used. Over a wide range of ion fluences we demonstrate that the volume expansion is caused by the formation of voids at the surface and in the depth of the projected ion range. At high ion fluences the amorphous layer transforms into a porous structure as established by cross section and plan view electron microscopy investigations. However, the formation depth of the surface and buried voids as well as the shape and the dimension of the final porous structure depend on the ion fluence, ion species, and irradiation temperature and will be discussed in detail. The rate of the volume expansion (i.e., porous layer formation) depends linearly on the value of εn. This clearly demonstrates that the structural changes are determined solely by the nuclear energy deposited within the amorphous phase. In addition, at high ion fluences all perpendicular ion irradiations lead to a formation of a microstructure at the surface, whereas for nonperpendicular ion irradiations a nonsaturating irreversible plastic deformation (ion hammering) without a microstructure formation is observed. For the irradiation with ion energies of several MeV, the effect of plastic deformation shows a linear dependence on the ion fluence. Based on these results, we provide an explanation for the differences in surface morphology observed for different angles of incidence of the ion beam will be discussed in detail

Amorphization of embedded Cu nanocrystals by ion irradiation

While bulk crystalline elemental metals cannot be amorphized by ion irradiation in the absence of chemical impurities, the authors demonstrate that finite-size effects enable the amorphization of embedded Cu nanocrystals. The authors form and compare the atomic-scale structure of the polycrystalline, nanocrystalline, and amorphous phases, present an explanation for the extreme sensitivity to irradiation exhibited by nanocrystals, and show that low-temperature annealing is sufficient to return amorphized material to the crystalline form