9,749 research outputs found
Interaction between U/UO2 bilayers and hydrogen studied by in-situ X-ray diffraction
This paper reports experiments investigating the reaction of H with
uranium metal-oxide bilayers. The bilayers consist of 100 nm of
epitaxial -U (grown on a Nb buffer deposited on sapphire) with a
UO overlayer of thicknesses of between 20 and 80 nm. The oxides were made
either by depositing via reactive magnetron sputtering, or allowing the uranium
metal to oxidise in air at room temperature. The bilayers were exposed to
hydrogen, with sample temperatures between 80 and 200 C, and monitored via
in-situ x-ray diffraction and complimentary experiments conducted using
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy - Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy
(STEM-EELS). Small partial pressures of H caused rapid consumption of the
U metal and lead to changes in the intensity and position of the diffraction
peaks from both the UO overlayers and the U metal. There is an
orientational dependence in the rate of U consumption. From changes in the
lattice parameter we deduce that hydrogen enters both the oxide and metal
layers, contracting the oxide and expanding the metal. The air-grown oxide
overlayers appear to hinder the H-reaction up to a threshold dose, but
then on heating from 80 to 140 C the consumption is more rapid than for the
as-deposited overlayers. STEM-EELS establishes that the U-hydride layer lies at
the oxide-metal interface, and that the initial formation is at defects or
grain boundaries, and involves the formation of amorphous and/or
nanocrystalline UH. This explains why no diffraction peaks from UH
are observed. {\textcopyright British Crown Owned Copyright 2017/AWE}Comment: Submitted for peer revie
Effective Confinement as Origin of the Equivalence of Kinetic Temperature and Fluctuation-Dissipation Ratio in a Dense Shear Driven Suspension
We study response and velocity autocorrelation functions for a tagged
particle in a shear driven suspension governed by underdamped stochastic
dynamics. We follow the idea of an effective confinement in dense suspensions
and exploit a time-scale separation between particle reorganization and
vibrational motion. This allows us to approximately derive the
fluctuation-dissipation theorem in a "hybrid" form involving the kinetic
temperature as an effective temperature and an additive correction term. We
show numerically that even in a moderately dense suspension the latter is
negligible. We discuss similarities and differences with a simple toy model, a
single trapped particle in shear flow
When it Pays to Rush: Interpreting Morphogen Gradients Prior to Steady-State
During development, morphogen gradients precisely determine the position of
gene expression boundaries despite the inevitable presence of fluctuations.
Recent experiments suggest that some morphogen gradients may be interpreted
prior to reaching steady-state. Theoretical work has predicted that such
systems will be more robust to embryo-to-embryo fluctuations. By analysing two
experimentally motivated models of morphogen gradient formation, we investigate
the positional precision of gene expression boundaries determined by
pre-steady-state morphogen gradients in the presence of embryo-to-embryo
fluctuations, internal biochemical noise and variations in the timing of
morphogen measurement. Morphogens that are direct transcription factors are
found to be particularly sensitive to internal noise when interpreted prior to
steady-state, disadvantaging early measurement, even in the presence of large
embryo-to-embryo fluctuations. Morphogens interpreted by cell-surface receptors
can be measured prior to steady-state without significant decrease in
positional precision provided fluctuations in the timing of measurement are
small. Applying our results to experiment, we predict that Bicoid, a
transcription factor morphogen in Drosophila, is unlikely to be interpreted
prior to reaching steady-state. We also predict that Activin in Xenopus and
Nodal in zebrafish, morphogens interpreted by cell-surface receptors, can be
decoded in pre-steady-state.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
The malleability of uranium: manipulating the charge-density wave in epitaxial films
We report x-ray synchrotron experiments on epitaxial films of uranium,
deposited on niobium and tungsten seed layers. Despite similar lattice
parameters for these refractory metals, the uranium epitaxial arrangements are
different and the strains propagated along the a-axis of the uranium layers are
of opposite sign. At low temperatures these changes in epitaxy result in
dramatic modifications to the behavior of the charge-density wave in uranium.
The differences are explained with the current theory for the electron-phonon
coupling in the uranium lattice. Our results emphasize the intriguing
possibilities of producing epitaxial films of elements that have complex
structures like the light actinides uranium to plutonium.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Electronic structure of the muonium center as a shallow donor in ZnO
The electronic structure and the location of muonium centers (Mu) in
single-crystalline ZnO were determined for the first time. Two species of Mu
centers with extremely small hyperfine parameters have been observed below 40
K. Both Mu centers have an axial-symmetric hyperfine structure along with a
[0001] axis, indicating that they are located at the AB_{O,//} and BC_{//}
sites. It is inferred from their small ionization energy (~6 meV and 50 meV)
and hyperfine parameters (~10^{-4} times the vacuum value) that these centers
behave as shallow donors, strongly suggesting that hydrogen is one of the
primary origins of n type conductivity in as-grown ZnO.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Magnetic Excitations in NpCoGa5
We report the results of inelastic neutron scattering experiments on
NpCoGa, an isostructural analogue of the PuCoGa superconductor. Two
energy scales characterize the magnetic response in the antiferromagnetic
phase. One is related to a non-dispersive excitation between two crystal field
levels. The other at lower energies corresponds to dispersive fluctuations
emanating from the magnetic zone center. The fluctuations persist in the
paramagnetic phase also, although weaker in intensity. This supports the
possibility that magnetic fluctuations are present in PuCoGa, where
unconventional d-wave superconductivity is achieved in the absence of magnetic
order.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Structural properties of epitaxial {\alpha}-U thin films on Ti, Zr, W and Nb
Thin layers of orthorhombic uranium ({\alpha}-U) have been grown onto
buffered sapphire substrates by d.c. magnetron sputtering, resulting in the
discovery of new epitaxial matches to Ti(00.1) and Zr(00.1) surfaces. These
systems have been characterised by X-ray diffraction and reflectivity and the
optimal deposition temperatures have been determined. More advanced structural
characterisation of the known Nb(110) and W(110) buffered {\alpha}-U systems
has also been carried out, showing that past reports of the domain structures
of the U layers are incomplete. The ability of this low symmetry structure to
form crystalline matches across a range of crystallographic templates
highlights the complexity of U metal epitaxy and points naturally toward
studies of the low temperature electronic properties of {\alpha}-U as a
function of epitaxial strain
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