Interfacial fracture strength property of micro-scale SiN/Cu components

AbstractThe strength against fracture nucleation from an interface free-edge of silicon-nitride (SiN)/copper (Cu) micro-components is evaluated. A special technique that combines a nano-indenter specimen holder and an environmental transmission electron microscope (E-TEM) is employed. The critical load at the onset of fracture nucleation from a wedge-shaped free-edge (opening angle: 90°) is measured both in a vacuum and in a hydrogen (H2) environment, and the critical stress distribution is evaluated by the finite element method (FEM). It is found that the fracture nucleation is dominated by the near-edge elastic singular stress field that extends about a few tens of nanometers from the edge. The fracture nucleation strength expressed in terms of the stress intensity factor (K) is found to be eminently reduced in a H2 environment

A cascading nonlinear magneto-optical effect in topological insulators

Topological insulators (TIs) are characterized by possessing metallic (gapless) surface states and a finite band-gap state in the bulk. As the thickness of a TI layer decreases down to a few nanometers, hybridization between the top and bottom surfaces takes place due to quantum tunneling, consequently at a critical thickness a crossover from a 3D-TI to a 2D insulator occurs. Although such a crossover is generally accessible by scanning tunneling microscopy, or by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, such measurements require clean surfaces. Here, we demonstrate that a cascading nonlinear magneto-optical effect induced via strong spin-orbit coupling can examine such crossovers. The helicity dependence of the time-resolved Kerr rotation exhibits a robust change in periodicity at a critical thickness, from which it is possible to predict the formation of a Dirac cone in a film several quintuple layers thick. This method enables prediction of a Dirac cone using a fundamental nonlinear optical effect that can be applied to a wide range of TIs and related 2D materials

Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B->eta' K and Search for B->eta'pi+

We report measurements for two-body charmless B decays with an eta' meson in the final state. Using 11.1X10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector, we find BF(B^+ ->eta'K^+)=(79^+12_-11 +-9)x10^-6 and BF(B^0 -> eta'K^0)=(55^+19_-16 +-8)x10^-6, where the first and second errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. No signal is observed in the mode B^+ -> eta' pi^+, and we set a 90% confidence level upper limit of BF(B^+-> eta'pi^+) eta'K^+- decays is investigated and a limit at 90% confidence level of -0.20<Acp<0.32 is obtained.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for Direct CP Violation in B -> K pi Decays

We search for direct CP violation in flavor specific B -> K pi decays by measuring the rate asymmetry between charge conjugate modes. The search is performed on a data sample of 11.1 million B B bar events recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the Belle experiment at KEKB. We measure 90% confidence intervals in the partial rate asymmetry A_CP of -0.25 < A_CP(K-/+ pi+/-) < 0.37, -0.40 < A_CP(K-/+ pi^0) < 0.36, and -0.53 < A_CP(K^0 pi-/+) < 0.82. By combining the K-/+ pi+/- and K-/+ pi^0 final states, we conclude that -0.22 < A_CP[K-/+(pi+/- + pi^0)] < 0.25 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to PRD Rapid Communication

Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays

Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in $b$, $c$ and light quark ($u,d,s$) events from $Z^0$ decays measured in the SLD experiment. Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of $b$ and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select $c$ quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities: $\bar{n}_{uds} = 20.21 \pm 0.10 (\rm{stat.})\pm 0.22(\rm{syst.})$, $\bar{n}_{c} = 21.28 \pm 0.46(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.41}_{-0.36}(\rm{syst.})$ $\bar{n}_{b} = 23.14 \pm 0.10(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.38}_{-0.37}(\rm{syst.})$, from which we derived the differences between the total average charged multiplicities of $c$ or $b$ quark events and light quark events: $\Delta \bar{n}_c = 1.07 \pm 0.47(\rm{stat.})^{+0.36}_{-0.30}(\rm{syst.})$ and $\Delta \bar{n}_b = 2.93 \pm 0.14(\rm{stat.})^{+0.30}_{-0.29}(\rm{syst.})$. We compared these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters

A Measurement of the Branching Fraction for the Inclusive B --> X(s) gamma Decays with the Belle Detector

We have measured the branching fraction of the inclusive radiative B meson decay B --> X(s) gamma to be Br(B->X(s)gamma)=(3.36 +/- 0.53(stat) +/- 0.42(sys) +0.50-0.54(th)) x 10^{-4}. The result is based on a sample of 6.07 x 10^6 BBbar events collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- storage ring.Comment: 14 pages, 6 Postsript figures, uses elsart.cl

Observation of Mixing-induced CP Violation in the Neutral B Meson System

This report describes an observation of mixing-induced CP violation and a measurement of the CP violation parameter, sin(2phi_1), with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider. Using a data sample of 29.1 fb-1 recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance that contains 31.3 million BBbar pairs, we reconstruct decays of neutral B mesons to the following CP eigenstates: J/psi K_S^0, psi(2S) K_S^0, chi_c1 K_S^0, eta_c K_S^0, J/psi K_L^0 and J/psi K^*0. The flavor of the accompanying B meson is identified by combining information from primary and secondary leptons, K+/- mesons, lambda baryons, slow and fast pions. The proper-time interval between the two B meson decays is determined from the distance between the two decay vertices measured with a silicon vertex detector. The result sin(2phi_1) = 0.99 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.06(syst) is obtained by applying a maximum likelihood fit to the 1137 candidate events. We conclude that there is large CP violation in the neutral B meson system. A zero value for sin(2phi_1) is ruled out by more than six standard deviations.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Observation of Cabibbo suppressed B→D(∗)K−B \to D^{(*)}K^- decays at Belle

Cabibbo-suppressed decays $B \to D^{(*)} K^-$ using a 10.4 fb$^{-1}$ data sample accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ storage ring. The high-momentum particle identification system of Belle is used to isolate signals for $B\to D^0 K^-$, $D^+K^-$, $D^{*0}K^-$ and $D^{*+}K^-$ from the $B\to D^{(*)}\pi^-$ decay processes which have much larger branching fractions. We report ratios of Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favored branching fractions of: ${\cal B}(B^- \to D^0 K^-)/{\cal B}(B^- \to D^0\pi^-) = 0.079\pm0.009\pm0.006$; ${\cal B}(\bar{B^0} \to D^+ K^-)/{\cal B}(\bar{B^0} \to D^+\pi^-) = 0.068\pm0.015\pm0.007$; ${\cal B}(B^-\to D^{*0}K^-)/{\cal B}(B^-\to D^{*0}\pi^-) = 0.078 \pm 0.019 \pm 0.009$; and ${\cal B}(\bar{B}^0\to D^{*+}K^-)/{\cal B}(\bar{B}^0\to D^{*+}\pi^-)= 0.074 \pm 0.015 \pm 0.006$. The first error is statistical and the second is systematic. These are the first reported observations of the $B\to D^+K^-$, $D^{*0}K^-$ and $D^{*+}K^-$ decay processes.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 2 figure