On cloud ice induced absorption and polarisation effects in microwave limb sounding

Microwave limb sounding in the presence of ice clouds was studied by detailed simulations, where clouds and other atmospheric variables varied in three dimensions and the full polarisation state was considered. Scattering particles were assumed to be horizontally aligned oblate spheroids with a size distribution parameterized in terms of temperature and ice water content. A general finding was that particle absorption is significant for limb sounding, which is in contrast to the down-looking case, where it is usually insignificant. Another general finding was that single scattering can be assumed for cloud optical paths below about 0.1, which is thus an important threshold with respect to the complexity and accuracy of retrieval algorithms. The representation of particle sizes during the retrieval is also discussed. Concerning polarisation, specific findings were as follows: Firstly, no significant degree of circular polarisation was found for the considered particle type. Secondly, for the ±45° polarisation components, differences of up to 4 K in brightness temperature were found, but differences were much smaller when single scattering conditions applied. Thirdly, the vertically polarised component has the smallest cloud extinction. An important goal of the study was to derive recommendations for future limb sounding instruments, particularly concerning their polarisation setup. If ice water content is among the retrieval targets (and not just trace gas mixing ratios), then the simulations show that it should be best to observe any of the ±45° and circularly polarised components. These pairs of orthogonal components also make it easier to combine information measured from different positions and with different polarisations

Direct evidence of terahertz emission arising from anomalous Hall effect

A detailed understanding of the different mechanisms being responsible for terahertz (THz) emission in ferromagnetic (FM) materials will aid in designing efficient THz emitters. In this report, we present direct evidence of THz emission from single layer Co$_{0.4}$Fe$_{0.4}$B$_{0.2}$ (CoFeB) FM thin films. The dominant mechanism being responsible for the THz emission is the anomalous Hall effect (AHE), which is an effect of a net backflow current in the FM layer created by the spin-polarized current reflected at the interfaces of the FM layer. The THz emission from the AHE-based CoFeB emitter is optimized by varying its thickness, orientation, and pump fluence of the laser beam. Results from electrical transport measurements show that skew scattering of charge carriers is responsible for the THz emission in the CoFeB AHE-based THz emitter.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Atomic Supersymmetry, Rydberg Wave Packets, and Radial Squeezed States

We study radial wave packets produced by short-pulsed laser fields acting on Rydberg atoms, using analytical tools from supersymmetry-based quantum-defect theory. We begin with a time-dependent perturbative calculation for alkali-metal atoms, incorporating the atomic-excitation process. This provides insight into the general wave packet behavior and demonstrates agreement with conventional theory. We then obtain an alternative analytical description of a radial wave packet as a member of a particular family of squeezed states, which we call radial squeezed states. By construction, these have close to minimum uncertainty in the radial coordinates during the first pass through the outer apsidal point. The properties of radial squeezed states are investigated, and they are shown to provide a description of certain aspects of Rydberg atoms excited by short-pulsed laser fields. We derive expressions for the time evolution and the autocorrelation of the radial squeezed states, and we study numerically and analytically their behavior in several alkali-metal atoms. Full and fractional revivals are observed. Comparisons show agreement with other theoretical results and with experiment.Comment: published in Physical Review

Many-body GW calculations of ground-state properties: Quasi-2D electron systems and van der Waals forces

We present GW many-body results for ground-state properties of two simple but very distinct families of inhomogeneous systems in which traditional implementations of density-functional theory (DFT) fail drastically. The GW approach gives notably better results than the well-known random-phase approximation, at a similar computational cost. These results establish GW as a superior alternative to standard DFT schemes without the expensive numerical effort required by quantum Monte Carlo simulations

The Abnormal Contralateral Atrioventricular Valve in Mitral and Tricuspid Atresia in Neonates: An Echocardiographic Study

Abnormalities of the mitral valve (MV) or the tricuspid valve (TV) morphology and/or function in patients with functional single ventricle may result in early morbidity and death. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of contralateral atrioventricular valve (AVV) pathologies in mitral valve atresia (MA) and tricuspid valve atresia (TA). We retrospectively reviewed the echocardiographic data of 50 neonates with MV and 20 with TA. Appearance of the papillary muscles, chordae tendinae, and valve leaflets was assessed. AVV regurgitation was semiquantitated by color-flow Doppler and the AVV annulus diameter was measured and indexed to body surface area. MV abnormalities were found in 9 of 20 (45%) of patients with TA. The MV was myxomatous in 9 patients, the leaflets were redundant in 5 patients, and prolapsing occurred in 4 patients. Mild regurgitation was found in 2 patients. In 18 of 20 (90%) patients MV annulus size was larger than 95% of predicted normal values. TV abnormalities were found in 12 of 50 (24%) patients with MA. The TV was myxomatous in 4 patients, prolapsing in 2, and redundant in 3, and moderate TV regurgitation was found in 3 patients. In 29 of 50 (58%) patients TV annulus size was larger than 95% of predicted normal values. Contralateral AVV abnormalities in tricuspid and mitral valve atresia are common and should be assessed carefully before surgical procedures.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42381/1/246-20-3-200_20n3p200.pd

Semiconducting Monolayer Materials as a Tunable Platform for Excitonic Solar Cells

The recent advent of two-dimensional monolayer materials with tunable optoelectronic properties and high carrier mobility offers renewed opportunities for efficient, ultra-thin excitonic solar cells alternative to those based on conjugated polymer and small molecule donors. Using first-principles density functional theory and many-body calculations, we demonstrate that monolayers of hexagonal BN and graphene (CBN) combined with commonly used acceptors such as PCBM fullerene or semiconducting carbon nanotubes can provide excitonic solar cells with tunable absorber gap, donor-acceptor interface band alignment, and power conversion efficiency, as well as novel device architectures. For the case of CBN-PCBM devices, we predict the limit of power conversion efficiencies to be in the 10 - 20% range depending on the CBN monolayer structure. Our results demonstrate the possibility of using monolayer materials in tunable, efficient, polymer-free thin-film solar cells in which unexplored exciton and carrier transport regimes are at play.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Graphite and Hexagonal Boron-Nitride Possess the Same Interlayer Distance. Why?

Graphite and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) are two prominent members of the family of layered materials possessing a hexagonal lattice. While graphite has non-polar homo-nuclear C-C intra-layer bonds, h-BN presents highly polar B-N bonds resulting in different optimal stacking modes of the two materials in bulk form. Furthermore, the static polarizabilities of the constituent atoms considerably differ from each other suggesting large differences in the dispersive component of the interlayer bonding. Despite these major differences both materials present practically identical interlayer distances. To understand this finding, a comparative study of the nature of the interlayer bonding in both materials is presented. A full lattice sum of the interactions between the partially charged atomic centers in h-BN results in vanishingly small monopolar electrostatic contributions to the interlayer binding energy. Higher order electrostatic multipoles, exchange, and short-range correlation contributions are found to be very similar in both materials and to almost completely cancel out by the Pauli repulsions at physically relevant interlayer distances resulting in a marginal effective contribution to the interlayer binding. Further analysis of the dispersive energy term reveals that despite the large differences in the individual atomic polarizabilities the hetero-atomic B-N C6 coefficient is very similar to the homo-atomic C-C coefficient in the hexagonal bulk form resulting in very similar dispersive contribution to the interlayer binding. The overall binding energy curves of both materials are thus very similar predicting practically the same interlayer distance and very similar binding energies.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

The interlayer cohesive energy of graphite from thermal desorption of polyaromatic hydrocarbons

We have studied the interaction of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with the basal plane of graphite using thermal desorption spectroscopy. Desorption kinetics of benzene, naphthalene, coronene and ovalene at sub-monolayer coverages yield activation energies of 0.50 eV, 0.85 eV, 1.40 eV and 2.1 eV, respectively. Benzene and naphthalene follow simple first order desorption kinetics while coronene and ovalene exhibit fractional order kinetics owing to the stability of 2-D adsorbate islands up to the desorption temperature. Pre-exponential frequency factors are found to be in the range $10^{14}$-$10^{21} s^{-1}$ as obtained from both Falconer--Madix (isothermal desorption) analysis and Antoine's fit to vapour pressure data. The resulting binding energy per carbon atom of the PAH is $52\pm$5 meV and can be identified with the interlayer cohesive energy of graphite. The resulting cleavage energy of graphite is $61\pm5$~meV/atom which is considerably larger than previously reported experimental values.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Calculation of the interspecies s-wave scattering length in an ultracold Na-Rb vapor

We report the calculation of the interspecies scattering length for the sodium-rubidium (Na-Rb) system. We present improved hybrid potentials for the singlet $X^1\Sigma^+$ and triplet $a^3\Sigma^+$ ground states of the NaRb molecule, and calculate the singlet and triplet scattering lengths $a_{s}$ and $a_{t}$ for the isotopomers $^{23}$Na$^{87}$Rb and $^{23}$Na$^{85}$Rb. Using these values, we assess the prospects for producing a stable two-species Bose-Einstein condensate in the Na-Rb system.Comment: v2: report correct units in Table captions, fix error in conclusions for $^{23}$Na$^{85}$Rb TBEC. Otherwise, more concise presentation, typos fixed. 6 pages, 1 figur

Unified Treatment of Asymptotic van der Waals Forces

In a framework for long-range density-functional theory we present a unified full-field treatment of the asymptotic van der Waals interaction for atoms, molecules, surfaces, and other objects. The only input needed consists of the electron densities of the interacting fragments and the static polarizability or the static image plane, which can be easily evaluated in a ground-state density-functional calculation for each fragment. Results for separated atoms, molecules, and for atoms/molecules outside surfaces are in agreement with those of other, more elaborate, calculations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure