On the Role of Metastable States in Low Pressure Oxygen Discharges

We use the one-dimensional object-oriented particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision code {\tt oopd1} to explore the spatio-temporal evolution of the electron heating mechanism in a capacitively coupled oxygen discharge in the pressure range 10 -- 200 mTorr. The electron heating is most significant in the sheath vicinity during the sheath expansion phase. We explore how including and excluding detachment by the singlet metastable states O$_2$(a$^1 \Delta_{\rm g}$) and O$_2$(b$^1\Sigma_{\rm g}^+$) influences the heating mechanism, the effective electron temperature and electronegativity, in the oxygen discharge. We demonstrate that the detachment processes have a significant influence on the discharge properties, in particular for the higher pressures. At 10 mTorr the time averaged electron heating shows mainly ohmic heating in the plasma bulk (the electronegative core) and at higher pressures there is no ohmic heating in the plasma bulk, that is electron heating in the sheath regions dominates.Comment: submitted to AIP Conference Proceeding

Turnstile pumping through an open quantum wire

We use a non-Markovian generalized master equation (GME) to describe the time-dependent charge transfer through a parabolically confined quantum wire of a finite length coupled to semi-infinite quasi two-dimensional leads. The quantum wire and the leads are in a perpendicular external magnetic field. The contacts to the left and right leads depend on time and are kept out of phase to model a quantum turnstile of finite size. The effects of the driving period of the turnstile, the external magnetic field, the character of the contacts, and the chemical potential bias on the effectiveness of the charge transfer of the turnstile are examined, both in the absence and in the presence of the magnetic field. The interplay between the strength of the coupling and the strength of the magnetic field is also discussed. We observe how the edge states created in the presence of the magnetic field contribute to the pumped charge.Comment: RevTeX (pdf-LaTeX), 9 pages with 12 included jpg figure

Spin Hot Spots in vertically-coupled Few-electron Quantum Dots

The effects of spin-orbit (SO) coupling arising from the confinement potential in single and two vertically-coupled quantum dots have been investigated. Our work indicates that a dot containing a single electron shows the lifting of the degeneracy of dipole-allowed transitions at B=0 due to the SO coupling which disappears for a dot containing two electrons. For coupled dots with one electron in each dot, the optical spectra is not affected by the coupling and is the same as the dot containing one electron. However, for the case of two coupled dots where one partner dot has two interacting electrons while the other dot has only one electron, a remarkable effect is observed where the oscillator strength of two out of four dipole-allowed transition lines disappears as the distance between the dots is decreased

Far-Infrared Excitations below the Kohn Mode: Internal Motion in a Quantum Dot

We have investigated the far-infrared response of quantum dots in modulation doped GaAs heterostructures. We observe novel modes at frequencies below the center-of-mass Kohn mode. Comparison with Hartree-RPA calculations show that these modes arise from the flattened potential in our field-effect confined quantum dots. They reflect pronounced relative motion of the charge density with respect to the center-of-mass.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX with integrated 6 PostScript figure

Rapid changes in the size of different functional organ and muscle groups during refueling in a long-distance migrating shorebird

The adaptive value of size changes in different organ and muscle groups was studied in red knots (Calidris canutus islandica) in relation to their migration. Birds were sampled on five occasions: at arrival in Iceland in May 1994, two times during subsequent refueling, at departure toward, and on return from, the high arctic breeding grounds. During their 24-d stopover in May, body mass increased from 144.3 to 214.5 g. Mass gains were lowest over the first week (0.85 g/d, only fat-free tissue deposited). Over the subsequent 10 d, average mass increased by 5.0 g/d (fat contributing 78%), and over the last week before takeoff, it increased by 2.0 g/d (fat contributing over 100% because of loss of lean components). There were no sex differences in body and fat mass gains. Over the first interval, lean masses of heart, stomach, and liver increased. During the middle 10 d, sizes of leg muscle, intestine, liver, and kidneys increased. Stomach mass decreased over the same interval. In the last interval before takeoff, the stomach atrophied further and the intestine, leg muscles, and liver became smaller too, but pectoral muscles and heart increased in size. Sizes of "exercise organs" such as pectoral muscle and heart were best correlated with body mass, whereas sizes of organs used during foraging (leg muscles) and nutrient extraction (intestine, liver) were best correlated with rate of mass gain. Kidneys changed little before takeoff, which suggests that they are needed as much during flight as during refueling

Manifestation of the magnetic depopulation of one-dimensional subbands in the optical absorption of acoustic magnetoplasmons in side-gated quantum wires

We have investigated experimentally and theoretically the far-infrared (FIR) absorption of gated, deep-mesa-etched GaAs/Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As quantum wires. To overcome Kohn's theorem we have in particular prepared double-layered wires and studied the acoustic magnetoplasmon branch. We find oscillations in the magnetic-field dispersion of the acoustic plasmon which are traced back to the self-consistently screened density profile in its dependence on the magnetic depopulation of the one-dimensional subbands.Comment: LaTeX-file, 4 pages with 3 included ps-figures, to appear in Physica

Spin effects in a confined 2DEG: Enhancement of the g-factor, spin-inversion states and their far-infrared absorption

We investigate several spin-related phenomena in a confined two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) using the Hartree-Fock approximation for the mutual Coulomb interaction of the electrons. The exchange term of the interaction causes a large splitting of the spin levels whenever the chemical potential lies within a Landau band (LB). This splitting can be reinterpreted as an enhancement of an effective g-factor, g*. The increase of g* when a LB is half filled can be accompanied by a spontaneous formation of a static spin-inversion state (SIS) whose details depend on the system sision state (SIS) whose details depend on the system size. The coupling of the states of higher LB's into the lowest band by the Coulomb interaction of the 2DEG is essential for the SIS to occur. The far-infrared absorption of the system, relatively insensitive to the spin splitting, develops clear signs of the SIS.Comment: 7 figure

Magnetization in short-period mesoscopic electron systems

We calculate the magnetization of the two-dimensional electron gas in a short-period lateral superlattice, with the Coulomb interaction included in Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations. We compare the results for a finite, mesoscopic system modulated by a periodic potential, with the results for the infinite periodic system. In addition to the expected strong exchange effects, the size of the system, the type and the strength of the lateral modulation leave their fingerprints on the magnetization.Comment: RevTeX4, 10 pages with 14 included postscript figures To be published in PRB. Replaced to repair figure