578 research outputs found
Simulations of Time-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction in Laue Geometry
A method of computer simulation of Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction (TRXD) in
asymmetric Laue (transmission) geometry with an arbitrary propagating strain
perpendicular to the crystal surface is presented. We present two case studies
for possible strain generation by short-pulse laser irradiation: (i) a
thermoelastic-like analytic model; (ii) a numerical model including effects of
electron-hole diffusion, Auger recombination, deformation potential and thermal
diffusion. A comparison with recent experimental results is also presented.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
Pressure-induced structural transitions in MgH
The stability of MgH has been studied up to 20~GPa using
density-functional total-energy calculations. At ambient pressure
-MgH takes a TiO-rutile-type structure. -MgH is
predicted to transform into -MgH at 0.39~GPa. The calculated
structural data for - and -MgH are in very good agreement
with experimental values. At equilibrium the energy difference between these
modifications is very small, and as a result both phases coexist in a certain
volume and pressure field. Above 3.84~GPa -MgH transforms into
-MgH; consistent with experimental findings. Two further
transformations have been identified at still higher pressure: i) - to
-MgH at 6.73 GPa and (ii) - to -MgH at
10.26~GPa.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Time dependence of Bragg forward scattering and self-seeding of hard x-ray free-electron lasers
Free-electron lasers (FELs) can now generate temporally short, high power
x-ray pulses of unprecedented brightness, even though their longitudinal
coherence is relatively poor. The longitudinal coherence can be potentially
improved by employing narrow bandwidth x-ray crystal optics, in which case one
must also understand how the crystal affects the field profile in time and
space. We frame the dynamical theory of x-ray diffraction as a set of coupled
waves in order to derive analytic expressions for the spatiotemporal response
of Bragg scattering from temporally short incident pulses. We compute the
profiles of both the reflected and forward scattered x-ray pulses, showing that
the time delay of the wave is linked to its transverse spatial shift
through the simple relationship , where
is the grazing angle of incidence to the diffracting planes. Finally,
we apply our findings to obtain an analytic description of Bragg forward
scattering relevant to monochromatically seed hard x-ray FELs.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
New Pseudo-Phase Structure for -Pu
In this paper we propose a new pseudo-phase crystal structure, based on an
orthorhombic distortion of the diamond structure, for the ground-state
-phase of plutonium. Electronic-structure calculations in the
generalized-gradient approximation give approximately the same total energy for
the two structures. Interestingly, our new pseudo-phase structure is the same
as the Pu -phase structure except with very different b/a and c/a
ratios. We show how the contraction relative to the phase, principally
in the direction, leads to an -like structure in the [0,1,1] plane.
This is an important link between two complex structures of plutonium and opens
new possibilities for exploring the very rich phase diagram of Pu through
theoretical calculations
A simple formula for the L-gap width of a face-centered-cubic photonic crystal
The width of the first Bragg's scattering peak in the (111)
direction of a face-centered-cubic lattice of air spheres can be well
approximated by a simple formula which only involves the volume averaged
and over the lattice unit cell, being the
(position dependent) dielectric constant of the medium, and the effective
dielectric constant in the long-wavelength limit approximated
by Maxwell-Garnett's formula. Apparently, our formula describes the asymptotic
behaviour of the absolute gap width for high dielectric contrast
exactly. The standard deviation steadily decreases well below
1% as increases. For example for the sphere filling
fraction and . On the interval , our
formula still approximates the absolute gap width (the relative
gap width ) with a reasonable precision, namely with a standard
deviation 3% (4.2%) for low filling fractions up to 6.5% (8%) for the
close-packed case. Differences between the case of air spheres in a dielectric
and dielectric spheres in air are briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figs., RevTex, two references added. For more info see
http://www.amolf.nl/external/wwwlab/atoms/theory/index.htm
Spatiotemporal Response of Crystals in X-ray Bragg Diffraction
The spatiotemporal response of crystals in x-ray Bragg diffraction resulting
from excitation by an ultra-short, laterally confined x-ray pulse is studied
theoretically. The theory presents an extension of the analysis in symmetric
reflection geometry [1] to the generic case, which includes Bragg diffraction
both in reflection (Bragg) and transmission (Laue) asymmetric scattering
geometries. The spatiotemporal response is presented as a product of a
crystal-intrinsic plane wave spatiotemporal response function and an envelope
function defined by the crystal-independent transverse profile of the incident
beam and the scattering geometry. The diffracted wavefields exhibit amplitude
modulation perpendicular to the propagation direction due to both angular
dispersion and the dispersion due to Bragg's law. The characteristic measure of
the spatiotemporal response is expressed in terms of a few parameters: the
extinction length, crystal thickness, Bragg angle, asymmetry angle, and the
speed of light. Applications to self-seeding of hard x-ray free electron lasers
are discussed, with particular emphasis on the relative advantages of using
either the Bragg or Laue scattering geometries. Intensity front inclination in
asymmetric diffraction can be used to make snapshots of ultra-fast processes
with femtosecond resolution
Supersonic strain front driven by a dense electron-hole plasma
We study coherent strain in (001) Ge generated by an ultrafast
laser-initiated high density electron-hole plasma. The resultant coherent pulse
is probed by time-resolved x-ray diffraction through changes in the anomalous
transmission. The acoustic pulse front is driven by ambipolar diffusion of the
electron-hole plasma and propagates into the crystal at supersonic speeds.
Simulations of the strain including electron-phonon coupling, modified by
carrier diffusion and Auger recombination, are in good agreement with the
observed dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Topology of amorphous tetrahedral semiconductors on intermediate lengthscales
Using the recently-proposed ``activation-relaxation technique'' for
optimizing complex structures, we develop a structural model appropriate to
a-GaAs which is almost free of odd-membered rings, i.e., wrong bonds, and
possesses an almost perfect coordination of four. The model is found to be
superior to structures obtained from much more computer-intensive tight-binding
or quantum molecular-dynamics simulations. For the elemental system a-Si, where
wrong bonds do not exist, the cost in elastic energy for removing odd-membered
rings is such that the traditional continuous-random network is appropriate.
Our study thus provides, for the first time, direct information on the nature
of intermediate-range topology in amorphous tetrahedral semiconductors.Comment: 4 pages, Latex and 2 postscript figure
Field-Induced Quasiparticle Excitation in Ca(AlSi): Evidence for unconventional Superconductivity
The temperature () and magnetic field () dependence of the magnetic
penetration depth, , in Ca(AlSi) exhibits
significant deviation from that expected for conventional BCS superconductors.
In particular, it is inferred from a field dependence of () at 2.0 K that the quasiparticle excitation is strongly enhanced by the
Doppler shift. This suggests that the superconducting order parameter in
Ca(AlSi) is characterized by a small energy scale
K originating either from anisotropy or multi-gap
structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp
Confinement: Understanding the Relation Between the Wilson Loop and Dual Theories of Long Distance Yang Mills Theory
In this paper we express the velocity dependent, spin dependent heavy quark
potential in QCD in terms of a Wilson Loop determined
by pure Yang Mills theory. We use an effective dual theory of long-distance
Yang Mills theory to calculate for large loops; i.e. for loops of
size . ( is the flux tube radius, fixed by the value of the
Higgs (monopole) mass of the dual theory, which is a concrete realization of
the Mandelstam 't Hooft dual superconductor mechanism of confinement).
We replace by , given by a functional integral
over the dual variables, which for can be evaluated by a
semiclassical expansion, since the dual theory is weakly coupled at these
distances. The classical approximation gives the leading contribution to
and yields a velocity dependent heavy quark potential which
for large becomes linear in , and which for small approaches lowest
order perturbative QCD. This latter fact means that these results should remain
applicable down to distances where radiative corrections giving rise to a
running coupling constant become important. The spin dependence of the
potential reflects the vector coupling of the quarks at long range as well as
at short range. The methods developed here should be applicable to any
realization of the dual superconductor mechanism. They give an expression
determining independent of the classical approximation, but
semi classical corrections due to fluctuations of the flux tube are not worked
out in this paper. Taking these into account should lead to an effective string
theory free from the conformal anomaly.Comment: 39 pages, latex2e, 1 figure(fig.eps
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