995 research outputs found
Low-cost, aerial photographic inventory of tidal wetlands
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
High-pressure x-ray diffraction study of bulk and nanocrystalline PbMoO4
We studied the effects of high-pressure on the crystalline structure of bulk
and nanocrystalline scheelite-type PbMoO4. We found that in both cases the
compressibility of the materials is highly non-isotropic, being the c-axis the
most compressible one. We also observed that the volume compressibility of
nanocrystals becomes higher that the bulk one at 5 GPa. In addition, at 10.7(8)
GPa we observed the onset of an structural phase transition in bulk PbMoO4. The
high-pressure phase has a monoclinic structure similar to M-fergusonite. The
transition is reversible and not volume change is detected between the low- and
high-pressure phases. No additional structural changes or evidence of
decomposition are found up to 21.1 GPa. In contrast nanocrystalline PbMoO4
remains in the scheelite structure at least up to 16.1 GPa. Finally, the
equation of state for bulk and nanocrystalline PbMoO4 are also determined.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
Effect of high pressure on multiferroic BiFeO3
We report experimental evidence for pressure instabilities in the model
multiferroic BiFeO3 and namely reveal two structural phase transitions around 3
GPa and 10 GPa by using diffraction and far-infrared spectroscopy at a
synchrotron source. The intermediate phase from 3 to 9 GPa crystallizes in a
monoclinic space group, with octahedra tilts and small cation displacements.
When the pressure is further increased the cation displacements (and thus the
polar character) of BiFeO3 is suppressed above 10 GPa. The above 10 GPa
observed non-polar orthorhombic Pnma structure is in agreement with recent
theoretical ab-initio prediction, while the intermediate monoclinic phase was
not predicted theoretically.Comment: new version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Incorporation of tetrahedral ferric iron in hydrous ringwoodite
Hydrous Fo_{91} ringwoodite crystals were synthesized at 20 GPa and high-temperature conditions using a multi-anvil press. Recovered crystals were analyzed using electron microprobe analysis, Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal Laue neutron diffraction, to carefully characterize the chemistry and crystallography of the samples. Analysis of the combined data sets provides evidence for the presence of tetrahedrally coordinated ferric iron and multiple hydrogen incorporation mechanisms within these blue-colored iron-bearing ringwoodite crystals. Tetrahedral ferric iron is coupled with cation disorder of silicon onto the octahedrally coordinated site. Cation disorder in mantle ringwoodite minerals may be promoted in the presence of water, which could have implications for current models of seismic velocities within the transition zone. Additionally, the presence of tetrahedrally coordinated ferric iron may cause the blue color of many ringwoodite and other high-pressure crystals
Stress Balance in Synthetic Serpentinized Peridotites Deformed at Subduction Zone Pressures
Weak serpentine minerals affect the mechanical behavior of serpentinized peridotites at depth, and may play a significant role in deformation localization within subduction zones, at local or regional scale. Mixtures of olivine with 5, 10, 20 and 50 vol. % fraction of antigorite, proxies for serpentinized peridotites, were deformed in axial shortening geometry under high pressures (ca. 2–5 GPa) and moderate temperatures (ca. 350°C), with in situ stress and strain measurements using synchrotron X-rays. We evaluate the average partitioning of stresses at the grains scale within each phase (mineral) of the aggregate and compare with pure olivine aggregates in the same conditions. The in situ stress balance is different between low antigorite contents up to 10 vol. %, and higher contents above 20 vol. %. Microstructure and stress levels suggest the deformation mechanisms under these experimental conditions are akin to (semi)brittle and frictional processes. Unlike when close to dehydration temperatures, hardening of the aggregate is observed at low serpentine fractions, due to an increase in local stress concentrations. Below and above the 10–20 vol. % threshold, the stress state in the aggregate corresponds to friction laws already measured for pure olivine aggregates and pure antigorite aggregates respectively. As expected, the behavior of the two-phase aggregate does not evolve as calculated from simple iso-stress or iso-strain bounds, and calls for more advanced physical models of two-phase mixtures
Trace formulae for non-equilibrium Casimir interactions, heat radiation and heat transfer for arbitrary objects
We present a detailed derivation of heat radiation, heat transfer and
(Casimir) interactions for N arbitrary objects in the framework of
fluctuational electrodynamics in thermal non-equilibrium. The results can be
expressed as basis-independent trace formulae in terms of the scattering
operators of the individual objects. We prove that heat radiation of a single
object is positive, and that heat transfer (for two arbitrary passive objects)
is from the hotter to a colder body. The heat transferred is also symmetric,
exactly reversed if the two temperatures are exchanged. Introducing partial
wave-expansions, we transform the results for radiation, transfer and forces
into traces of matrices that can be evaluated in any basis, analogous to the
equilibrium Casimir force. The method is illustrated by (re)deriving the heat
radiation of a plate, a sphere and a cylinder. We analyze the radiation of a
sphere for different materials, emphasizing that a simplification often
employed for metallic nano-spheres is typically invalid. We derive asymptotic
formulae for heat transfer and non-equilibrium interactions for the cases of a
sphere in front a plate and for two spheres, extending previous results. As an
example, we show that a hot nano-sphere can levitate above a plate with the
repulsive non-equilibrium force overcoming gravity -- an effect that is not due
to radiation pressure.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures (v2: Sentence added in Sec. 1
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