Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Effects of Traverse Scanning Speed of Spray Nozzle on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cold-Sprayed Ti6Al4V Coatings

Cold spray has the potential to restore damaged aerospace components made from titanium alloy, Ti6Al4V at low temperature (200-400 °C). Traverse scanning speed during deposition is one of the key factors that affect the quality of the Ti6Al4V coatings as it influences the thermal build-up and coating thickness per pass. As there are fewer reported studies on this, this work investigated the effects of different traverse scanning speeds (100, 300 and 500 mm/s) of cold spray nozzle on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cold-sprayed Ti6Al4V coatings. The cross-sectional analysis showed coating porosities reduces with slower traverse speed, from 3.2 to 0.5%. In addition, the microhardness of the coatings increased from about 361-385 HV due to strain hardening. However, the adhesion strength of the coatings to the substrates significantly decreased with reduced traverse speed from about 60 MPa (glue failure) at 500 mm/s to 2.5 MPa (interface failure) at 100 mm/s. Therefore, this study revealed that the control of heat build-up and thickness per pass during the cold spray deposition of the Ti6Al4V coatings is crucial to attain the desirable properties of the coatings.NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)Published versio

High Efficiency Perovskite‐Silicon Tandem Solar Cells: Effect of Surface Coating versus Bulk Incorporation of 2D Perovskite

Mixed-dimensional perovskite solar cells combining 3D and 2D perovskites have recently attracted wide interest owing to improved device efficiency and stability. Yet, it remains unclear which method of combining 3D and 2D perovskites works best to obtain a mixed-dimensional system with the advantages of both types. To address this, different strategies of combining 2D perovskites with a 3D perovskite are investigated, namely surface coating and bulk incorporation. It is found that through surface coating with different aliphatic alkylammonium bulky cations, a Ruddlesden–Popper “quasi-2D” perovskite phase is formed on the surface of the 3D perovskite that passivates the surface defects and significantly improves the device performance. In contrast, incorporating those bulky cations into the bulk induces the formation of the pure 2D perovskite phase throughout the bulk of the 3D perovskite, which negatively affects the crystallinity and electronic structure of the 3D perovskite framework and reduces the device performance. Using the surface-coating strategy with n-butylammonium bromide to fabricate semitransparent perovskite cells and combining with silicon cells in four-terminal tandem configuration, 27.7% tandem efficiency with interdigitated back contact silicon bottom cells (size-unmatched) and 26.2% with passivated emitter with rear locally diffused silicon bottom cells is achieved in a 1 cm2 size-matched tandem.This work was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). T.D. acknowledges the financial support of a Postdoc Fellowship from the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP). T.W. is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT180100302) funded by the Australian Government. Furthermore, the authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Helmholtz Association through the HYIG of U.W.P. (FKZ VH-NG-1148), the project PEROSEED (FKZ ZT-0024), the Helmholtz Energy Materials Foundry (HEMF), the Recruitment Initiative of B.S.R. as well as the Karlsruhe School of Optics & Photonics (KSOP)

Erratum to: Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) (Autophagy, 12, 1, 1-222, 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356

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