Optical waveguiding in proton-implanted GaAs

We have produced optical waveguides in n-type GaAs by implantation with 300-keV protons. The guiding is shown to be due to the elimination of charge carriers from the implanted region. Annealing of the waveguide leads to very large reductions in the 1.15-µ guided-wave absorption

Correlation effects in ionic crystals: I. The cohesive energy of MgO

High-level quantum-chemical calculations, using the coupled-cluster approach and extended one-particle basis sets, have been performed for (Mg2+)n (O2-)m clusters embedded in a Madelung potential. The results of these calculations are used for setting up an incremental expansion for the correlation energy of bulk MgO. This way, 96% of the experimental cohesive energy of the MgO crystal is recovered. It is shown that only 60% of the correlation contribution to the cohesive energy is of intra-ionic origin, the remaining part being caused by van der Waals-like inter-ionic excitations.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, no figure

The Properties of the Heterogeneous Shakhbazyan Groups of Galaxies in the SDSS

We present a systematic study of the sub-sample of Shakhbazyan groups (SHKs) covered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release--5 (SDSS-5). SHKs probe an environment with characteristics which are intermediate between those of loose and very compact groups. Surprisingly, we found that several groups identifying algorithms (e.g. Berlind et al. 2006, Tago et al. 2008) miss this type of structures. Using the SDSS-5 spectroscopic data and the photometric redshifts derived in D'Abrusco et al. 2007, we identified possible group members in photometric redshift space and derived, for each group, several individual properties. We also combined pointed and stacked Rosat All Sky Survey data to investigate the X-ray luminosities of these systems. Our study confirms that the majority of groups are physical entities with richness in the range 3--13 galaxies, and properties ranging between those of loose and compact groups. We confirm that SHK groups are richer in early-type galaxies than the surrounding environment and the field, as expected from the morphology-density relation and from the selection of groups of red galaxies. Furthermore, our work supports the existence of two sub-classes of structures, the first one being formed by compact and isolated groups and the second formed by extended structures. We suggest that while the first class of objects dwells in less dense regions like the outer parts of clusters or the field, possibly sharing the properties of Hickson Compact Groups, the more extended structures represent a mixture of [core+halo] configurations and cores of rich clusters. X-ray luminosities for SHKs are generally consistent with these results and with the expectations for the L_X-sigma_v relation, but also suggest the velocity dispersions reported in literature are underestimated for some of the richest systems.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication by MNRA

First principles study of local electronic and magnetic properties in pure and electron-doped Nd2_2CuO4_4

The local electronic structure of Nd2CuO4 is determined from ab-initio cluster calculations in the framework of density functional theory. Spin-polarized calculations with different multiplicities enable a detailed study of the charge and spin density distributions, using clusters that comprise up to 13 copper atoms in the CuO2plane. Electron doping is simulated by two different approaches and the resulting changes in the local charge distribution are studied in detail and compared to the corresponding changes in hole doped La2CuO4. The electric field gradient (EFG) at the copper nucleus is investigated in detail and good agreement is found with experimental values. In particular the drastic reduction of the main component of the EFG in the electron-doped material with respect to LaCuO4 is explained by a reduction of the occupancy of the 3d3z^2-r^2 atomic orbital. Furthermore, the chemical shieldings at the copper nucleus are determined and are compared to results obtained from NMR measurements. The magnetic hyperfine coupling constants are determined from the spin density distribution

Inelastic Diffraction and Spectroscopy of Very Weakly Bound Clusters

We study the coherent inelastic diffraction of very weakly bound two body clusters from a material transmission grating. We show that internal transitions of the clusters can lead to new separate peaks in the diffraction pattern whose angular positions determine the excitation energies. Using a quantum mechanical approach to few body scattering theory we determine the relative peak intensities for the diffraction of the van der Waals dimers (D_2)_2 and H_2-D_2. Based on the results for these realistic examples we discuss the possible applications and experimental challenges of this coherent inelastic diffraction technique.Comment: 15 pages + 5 figures. J. Phys. B (in press

Electron correlations for ground state properties of group IV semiconductors

Valence energies for crystalline C, Si, Ge, and Sn with diamond structure have been determined using an ab-initio approach based on information from cluster calculations. Correlation contributions, in particular, have been evaluated in the coupled electron pair approximation (CEPA), by means of increments obtained for localized bond orbitals and for pairs and triples of such bonds. Combining these results with corresponding Hartree-Fock (HF) data, we recover about 95 % of the experimental cohesive energies. Lattice constants are overestimated at the HF level by about 1.5 %; correlation effects reduce these deviations to values which are within the error bounds of this method. A similar behavior is found for the bulk modulus: the HF values which are significantly too high are reduced by correlation effects to about 97 % of the experimental values.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 2 figure

Correlation effects in MgO and CaO: Cohesive energies and lattice constants

A recently proposed computational scheme based on local increments has been applied to the calculation of correlation contributions to the cohesive energy of the CaO crystal. Using ab-initio quantum chemical methods for evaluating individual increments, we obtain 80% of the difference between the experimental and Hartree-Fock cohesive energies. Lattice constants corrected for correlation effects deviate by less than 1% from experimental values, in the case of MgO and CaO.Comment: LaTeX, 4 figure

Production of three-body Efimov molecules in an optical lattice

We study the possibility of associating meta-stable Efimov trimers from three free Bose atoms in a tight trap realised, for instance, via an optical lattice site or a microchip. The suggested scheme for the production of these molecules is based on magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances and takes advantage of the Efimov effect in three-body energy spectra. Our predictions on the energy levels and wave functions of three pairwise interacting 85Rb atoms rely upon exact solutions of the Faddeev equations and include the tightly confining potential of an isotropic harmonic atom trap. The magnetic field dependence of these energy levels indicates that it is the lowest energetic Efimov trimer state that can be associated in an adiabatic sweep of the field strength. We show that the binding energies and spatial extents of the trimer molecules produced are comparable, in their magnitudes, to those of the associated diatomic Feshbach molecule. The three-body molecular state follows Efimov's scenario when the pairwise attraction of the atoms is strengthened by tuning the magnetic field strength.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures (final version

Pre-discovery and Follow-up Observations of the Nearby SN 2009nr: Implications for Prompt Type Ia SNe

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Type Ia supernova SN 2009nr in UGC 8255 (z=0.0122). Following the discovery announcement at what turned out to be ten days after peak, we detected it at V ~15.7 mag in data collected by the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) North telescope 2 weeks prior to the peak, and then followed it up with telescopes ranging in aperture from 10-cm to 6.5-m. Using early photometric data available only from ASAS, we find that the SN is similar to the over-luminous Type Ia SN 1991T, with a peak at Mv=-19.6 mag, and a slow decline rate of Dm_15(B)=0.95 mag. The early post-maximum spectra closely resemble those of SN 1991T, while the late time spectra are more similar to those of normal Type Ia SNe. Interestingly, SN 2009nr has a projected distance of 13.0 kpc (~4.3 disk scale lengths) from the nucleus of the small star-forming host galaxy UGC 8255. This indicates that the progenitor of SN 2009nr is not associated with a young stellar population, calling into question the conventional association of luminous SNe Ia with the "prompt" component directly correlated with current star formation. The pre-discovery observation of SN 2009nr using ASAS demonstrates the science utility of high cadence all sky surveys conducted using small telescopes for the discovery of nearby (d=<50 Mpc) supernovae.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ on 11/02/201