Radiation-induced hydrogen transfer in metals

The paper presents processes of hydrogen (deuterium) diffusion and release from hydrogen-saturated condensed matters in atomic, molecular and ionized states under the influence of the electron beam and X-ray radiation in the pre-threshold region. The dependence is described between the hydrogen isotope release intensity and the current density and the electron beam energy affecting sample, hydrogen concentration in the material volume and time of radiation exposure to the sample. The energy distribution of the emitted positive ions of hydrogen isotopes is investigated herein. Mechanisms of radiation-induced hydrogen transfer in condensed matters are suggested

Non-thermal response of YBCO thin films to picosecond THz pulses

The photoresponse of YBa2Cu3O7-d thin film microbridges with thicknesses between 15 and 50 nm was studied in the optical and terahertz frequency range. The voltage transients in response to short radiation pulses were recorded in real time with a resolution of a few tens of picoseconds. The bridges were excited by either femtosecond pulses at a wavelength of 0.8 \mu m or broadband (0.1 - 1.5 THz) picosecond pulses of coherent synchrotron radiation. The transients in response to optical radiation are qualitatively well explained in the framework of the two-temperature model with a fast component in the picosecond range and a bolometric nanosecond component whose decay time depends on the film thickness. The transients in the THz regime showed no bolometric component and had amplitudes up to three orders of magnitude larger than the two-temperature model predicts. Additionally THz-field dependent transients in the absence of DC bias were observed. We attribute the response in the THz regime to a rearrangement of vortices caused by high-frequency currents

Writing Russia's future: paradigms, drivers, and scenarios

The development of prediction and forecasting in the social sciences over the past century and more is closely linked with developments in Russia. The Soviet collapse undermined confidence in predictive capabilities, and scenario planning emerged as the dominant future-oriented methodology in area studies, including the study of Russia. Scenarists anticipate multiple futures rather than predicting one. The approach is too rarely critiqued. Building on an account of Russia-related forecasting in the twentieth century, analysis of two decades of scenarios reveals uniform accounts which downplay the insights of experts and of social science theory alike