Thin-film heat-sensitive elements on the basis of semimetals for electromagnetic radiation receivers

The paper presents the generalized results of the authors’ work on the study of thin films of semimetals, which can be used in the development of universal electromagnetic radiation receivers. It is shown that thin-film materials based on semimetals have high thermal sensitivity, low intrinsic noise and an increased absorption coefficient of radiation in the millimeter region of the spectrum. Samples of bismuth films and bismuth–antimony films were obtained by vacuum thermal spraying. A study was made on the thermoelectric properties of bismuth–antimony thin films in the range from liquid helium temperature to room temperature in order to use these films as a bolometric type sensitive element in the range from infrared to radio frequency. A scheme and description of experimental installations for measuring current-voltage characteristics and determining the resistance of samples in the temperature range 1.4–400 K are presented. In the course of the study, the current-voltage characteristics and the temperature dependences of the resistance of film samples with a thickness of 80 and 20 nm were obtained. The characteristics of the manufactured prototype receiver were measured and used as a basis for estimating the possibility of developing bolometric-type receivers with increased NEP (Noise Equivalent Power). The NEP of the manufactured receivers at a frequency of 147 GHz was measured at room temperature and appeared to be ≈(0.3÷1)∙10–9 Hz1/2. This NEP value can be improved by cooling the receiver to liquid nitrogen or helium temperatures

Multi-element receiver with semimetal film sensing element for the submillimeter thermal imagers of viewing type

Prospects of developing multi-element receivers for the submillimeter range (SMM) on the basis of thin-film semimetallic sensitive bolometers are considered. Electromagnetic waves of the SMM band have a high penetrating power and allow developing a thermal imager for the detection and observation of objects through various materials: fabrics, cardboard, wood, etc. The previously obtained research results are summarized. On the basis of the theoretical and experimental studies and of a review of scientific, technical and patent literature, in this work, a thermoresistive converter based on single-crystal films of materials in the metal – narrow-bandgap semiconductor – dielectric transition state is selected as a sensitive element. To determine the possibilities of using thinfilm Bi and Bi–Sb system as an absorber of terahertz radiation, as well as a polyimide film as an absorption-enhancing antireflection coating, the transmission spectra and reflection spectra of single-crystal Bi films grown on a 12 μm thick polyimide substrate were measured. The measurements were performed on a setup using selective radiation reception at cyclotron resonance absorption in InSb, which records the thermal radiation of material samples in the range from 1 to 5 THz with a spectral resolution of 0.6 THz. The design and characteristics of the model receiver are presented. The experimental setup was performed using a terahertz gas-discharge laser. The NEP of the proposed receiver is ~(4 ÷ 6)∙10–11 W/Hz1/2

Structural Features and Defect Equilibrium in Cubic PrBa1−xSrxFe2O6−δ

The structure, oxygen non-stoichiometry, and defect equilibrium in perovskite-type PrBa1−xSrxFe2O6−δ (x = 0, 0.25, 0.50) synthesized at 1350 °C were studied. For all compositions, X-ray diffraction testifies to the formation of a cubic structure (S.G. Pm3¯m), but an electron diffraction study reveals additional diffuse satellites around each Bragg spot, indicating the primary incommensurate modulation with wave vectors about ±0.43a*. The results were interpreted as a sign of the short-order in both A-cation and anion sublattices in the areas of a few nanometers in size, and of an intermediate state before the formation of an ordered superstructure. An increase in oxygen deficiency was found to promote the ordering, whereas partial substitution of barium by strontium caused the opposite effect. The oxygen content in oxides as a function of oxygen partial pressure and temperature was measured by coulometric titration, and the data were used for the modeling of defect equilibrium in oxides. The simulation results implied oxygen vacancy ordering in PrBa1−xSrxFe2O6−δ that is in agreement with the electron diffraction study. Besides oxidation and charge disproportionation reactions, the reactions of oxygen vacancy distribution between non-equivalent anion positions, and their trapping in clusters with Pr3+ ions were taken into account by the model. It was demonstrated that an increase in the strontium content in Pr0.5Ba0.5−xSrxFeO3−δ suppressed ordering of oxygen vacancies, increased the binding energy of oxygen ions in the oxides, and resulted in an increase in the concentration of p-type carriers

Combination of Organic‐Based Reservoir Computing and Spiking Neuromorphic Systems for a Robust and Efficient Pattern Classification

Nowadays, neuromorphic systems based on memristors are considered promising approaches to the hardware realization of artificial intelligence systems with efficient information processing. However, a major bottleneck in the physical implementation of these systems is the strong dependence of their performance on the unavoidable variations (cycle‐to‐cycle, c2c, or device‐to‐device, d2d) of memristive devices. Recently, reservoir computing (RC) and spiking neuromorphic systems (SNSs) are separately proposed as valuable options to partially mitigate this problem. Herein, both approaches are combined to create a fully organic system based on 1) volatile polyaniline memristive devices for the reservoir layer and 2) nonvolatile parylene memristors for the SNS readout layer. This combination provides a simpler SNS training procedure compared with the formal neural networks and results in greater robustness to device variability, while ensuring the extraction and encoding of the input critical features (performed by the polyaniline reservoir) and the analysis and classification performed by the SNS layer. Furthermore, the spatiotemporal pattern recognition of the system brings us closer to the implementation of efficient and reliable brain‐inspired computing systems built with partially unreliable analog elements

Dynamic changes in circulating miRNA levels in response to antitumor therapy of lung cancer

<p><b>Purpose:</b> Expression levels of cancer-associated microRNAs were reported to be altered in serum/plasma samples from lung cancer patients compared with healthy subjects. The purpose of this study was to estimate the value of five selected miRNAs plasma levels as markers of response to antitumor therapy in lung cancer patients. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Expression levels of miR-19b, miR-126, miR-25, miR-205, and miR-125b have been evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription PCR versus control miR-16 in blood plasma samples from 23 lung cancer (LC) patients. Plasma samples were obtained from LC patients before treatment (untreated-UT), within 30 days after completing two courses of chemotherapy (postchemotherapy-PC) and 15 days after surgery (postoperative-PO). <b>Results:</b> Repeated Measures ANOVA demonstrated that miR-19b expression levels were decreased in PC and increased in PO samples. These changes were characterized by a significant quadratic trend (<i>p</i> = 0.03). Expression levels of miR-125b increased both after chemotherapy and again after surgery and demonstrated a significant linear trend (<i>p</i> = 0.03). The miR-125b/miR-19b ratio changed during the course of the antitumor treatment with a significant linear trend (<i>p</i> = 0.04). Individual analysis in the groups of patients with partial response to chemotherapy and patients with stable or progressive disease showed different trends for miR-19b, miR-125b, and miR-125b/miR-19b ratio between the groups. The Kaplan–Meier survival curves demonstrated an association of miR-125b/miR-19b ratio value with the survival time without the tumor relapse (<i>p</i> < 0.1). <b>Conclusions:</b> Dynamic change of trends for miR-19b and miR-125b expression levels and miR-125b/miR-19b ratio in the blood plasma have shown a potentiality to discriminate types of response to antitumor therapy in lung cancer patients. Further in-depth investigation is needed to establish a direct link the miRNAs expression levels in blood plasma with therapy response and patient's survival.</p

Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics

The direct measurement of the QCD dead cone in charm quark fragmentation is reported, using iterative declustering of jets tagged with a fully reconstructed charmed hadron

Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics

At particle collider experiments, elementary particle interactions with large momentum transfer produce quarks and gluons (known as partons) whose evolution is governed by the strong force, as described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) [1]. The vacuum is not transparent to the partons and induces gluon radiation and quark pair production in a process that can be described as a parton shower [2]. Studying the pattern of the parton shower is one of the key experimental tools in understanding the properties of QCD. This pattern is expected to depend on the mass of the initiating parton, through a phenomenon known as the dead-cone effect, which predicts a suppression of the gluon spectrum emitted by a heavy quark of mass m and energy E, within a cone of angular size m/E around the emitter [3]. A direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD has not been possible until now, due to the challenge of reconstructing the cascading quarks and gluons from the experimentally accessible bound hadronic states. Here we show the first direct observation of the QCD dead-cone by using new iterative declustering techniques [4, 5] to reconstruct the parton shower of charm quarks. This result confirms a fundamental feature of QCD, which is derived more generally from its origin as a gauge quantum field theory. Furthermore, the measurement of a dead-cone angle constitutes the first direct experimental observation of the non-zero mass of the charm quark, which is a fundamental constant in the standard model of particle physics.The direct measurement of the QCD dead cone in charm quark fragmentation is reported, using iterative declustering of jets tagged with a fully reconstructed charmed hadron.In particle collider experiments, elementary particle interactions with large momentum transfer produce quarks and gluons (known as partons) whose evolution is governed by the strong force, as described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). These partons subsequently emit further partons in a process that can be described as a parton shower which culminates in the formation of detectable hadrons. Studying the pattern of the parton shower is one of the key experimental tools for testing QCD. This pattern is expected to depend on the mass of the initiating parton, through a phenomenon known as the dead-cone effect, which predicts a suppression of the gluon spectrum emitted by a heavy quark of mass $m_{\rm{Q}}$ and energy $E$, within a cone of angular size $m_{\rm{Q}}$/$E$ around the emitter. Previously, a direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD had not been possible, owing to the challenge of reconstructing the cascading quarks and gluons from the experimentally accessible hadrons. We report the direct observation of the QCD dead cone by using new iterative declustering techniques to reconstruct the parton shower of charm quarks. This result confirms a fundamental feature of QCD. Furthermore, the measurement of a dead-cone angle constitutes a direct experimental observation of the non-zero mass of the charm quark, which is a fundamental constant in the standard model of particle physics