Journal of Applied Physics

Linear electro-optic properties of 0.24Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-(0.76 - x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 single crystals, with compositions in the rhombohedral, morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and tetragonal phases, have been investigated. Very large effective electro-optic coefficient [Formula: see text] (204 pm/V) was observed in a crystal with the MPB composition when it is poled along [001]. The rhombohedral phase (x = 0.27 and 0.30) single crystals poled along [111] direction and tetragonal phase (x = 0.39) single crystal poled along [001] direction are in single domain, and their electro-optic coefficients ([Formula: see text] = 76, 94, and 43 pm/V for the crystals with x = 0.27, 0.30, and 0.39, respectively) were found to be much higher than that of traditional electro-optic single crystal LiNbO3 ([Formula: see text] = 19.9 pm/V). The electro-optic coefficients of the single crystal in the rhombohedral phase have excellent temperature stability in the experimental temperature range of 10-40 °C. The half-wave voltage [Formula: see text] was calculated to be much lower (less than 1000 V) than that of LiNbO3 single crystal (2800 V). These superior properties make the ternary relaxor-PT single crystals very promising for electro-optic modulation applications.

Complete sets of elastic, piezoelectric, dielectric, and electromechanical properties of [001]c and [011]c poled pure and 0.5 wt. % manganese-doped 0.24Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.47Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 single crystals have been characterized at room temperature. The results indicate that manganese ion substitution in the B-site of perovskite 0.24PIN-0.47PMN-0.29PT single crystals makes the material harder with much higher mechanical quality factor Q m and slight decrease in piezoelectric and dielectric constants. The much improved Q m value (200-900) makes Mn-doped single crystals more suitable for high-power transducer applications than pure single crystals.

Effect of nano-patterned composite electrode and backswitching poling technique on dielectric and piezoelectric properties of 0.7 Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3 PbTiO3 was studied in this paper. Composite electrode consists of Mn nano-patterns with pitch size of 200 nm, and a blanket layer of Ti/Au was fabricated using a nanolithography based lift-off process, heat treatment, and metal film sputtering. Composite electrode and backswitching poling resulted in 27% increase of d 33 and 25% increase of dielectric constant, and we believe that this is attributed to regularly defined nano-domains and irreversible rhombohedral to monoclinic phase transition in crystal. The results indicate that nano-patterned composite electrode and backswitching poling has a great potential in domain engineering of relaxor single crystals for advanced devices.

Mn modified rhombohedral Pb(In0.5Nb0.5)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (PIN-PMN-PT:Mn) single crystals poled along [011]C crystallographic direction exhibit a "2R" engineered domain configuration, with macroscopic mm2 symmetry. The complete sets of material constants were determined using combined resonance and ultrasonic methods, and compared to [001]C poled PIN-PMN-PT:Mn crystals. The thickness shear piezoelectric coefficient d 15 and electromechanical coupling factor k 15 were found to be on the order of ∼3000 pC/N and 0.92, respectively, with longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d 33 and coupling factor k 33 being on the order of ∼1050 pC/N and 0.90. Of particular importance is that PIN-PMN-PT:Mn single crystals exhibited high mechanical quality factor Q 33 ∼ 1000, comparable to "hard" PZT8 ceramics, which can also be confirmed by the low extrinsic contribution, being ≤2% from the Rayleigh analysis.

[This corrects the article on p. 014701 in vol. 109.].

The ferroelectric, dielectric, elastic, piezoelectric, and electromechanical properties of tetragonal Pb(In(12)Nb(12))O(3)-Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-PbTiO(3) (PIN-PMN-PT) crystals were investigated. The single domain piezoelectric coefficients d(33), d(15), and d(31) were found to be 530, 2350, and -200 pCN, respectively, with electromechanical coupling factors k(33), k(15), and k(31) being on the order of 0.84, 0.85, and 0.58. The mechanical quality factor Q for longitudinal mode was found to be >700, with high coercive field (E(c)) being on the order of 10 kVcm. The temperature and dc bias electric-field characteristics of single domain tetragonal PIN-PMN-PT crystals were also investigated. In contrast to [001] oriented domain engineered rhombohedral crystals, tetragonal PIN-PMN-PT crystals exhibited broader temperature usage range and higher thermalelectric field stability, with improved coercive field and mechanical quality factor.

The full set of material constants for relaxor-based ternary single crystals Pb(In(12)Nb(12))O(3)-Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-PbTiO(3) (PIN-PMN-PT) were determined and compared to binary Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-PbTiO(3) (PMNT) crystals. The Curie temperature for rhombohedral compositions of PIN-PMN-PT was found to be in the range of 160-200 degrees C with ferroelectric rhombohedral to tetragonal phase transition on the order of 120-130 degrees C, more than 30 degrees C higher than that found for PMNT. The piezoelectric coefficients (d(33)) were in the range of 1100-1500 pCN, with electromechanical coupling factors (k(33)) about 89%-92% comparable to PMNT crystals. The coercive field of the ternary crystal was found to be 5.5 kVcm, double the value of the binary counterparts. The dielectric behavior under varying dc bias exhibited a similar trend as observed in PMNT with a much broader usage temperature range. Together with its enhanced field induced phase transition level, the ternary PIN-PMN-PT crystals are promising candidates for high temperature and high drive transducer applications.

Relaxor based [Formula: see text] ternary single crystals (PIN-PMN-PT) were reported to have broader temperature usage range [Formula: see text] and comparable piezoelectric properties to [Formula: see text] (PMNT) crystals. In this work, the orientation dependent dielectric, piezoelectric and electromechanical properties for PIN-PMN-PT crystals were investigated along [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] directions. The electromechanical couplings [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] poled crystals were found to be 0.91 and 0.91, respectively, with piezoelectric coefficients [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] on the order of 925 and -1420 pC/N. Of particular significance was the mechanical quality factor [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] oriented crystals, which was found to be [Formula: see text], much higher than the [Formula: see text] values of [Formula: see text] oriented relaxor-PT crystals [Formula: see text]. The temperature dependence of the piezoelectric properties exhibited good temperature stability up to their ferroelectric phase transition [Formula: see text], indicating [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] oriented PIN-PMN-PT are promising materials for transducer applications, with the latter for high power resonant devices where low loss (high [Formula: see text]) was required.

Laser ablation arrays of triangular and square shaped clusters, comprised of 23 micrometers diam circular holes, are defined upon 100 nm thick Ni81Fe19 films used to control the rf permeability spectra. Cluster-to-cluster spacing is varied from 200 to 600 micrometers. For each geometry it is found that the loss peak frequency and permeability magnitude shift lower, in a step-wise fashion, at a cluster-to-cluster spacing between 275 and 300 micrometers. The nonlinear shift in the behavior of the permeability spectra correlates with a dramatic increase in domain wall density.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), referred to as the Dartmouth MNPs, which exhibit high specific absorption rate at low applied field strength have been developed for hyperthermia therapy applications. The MNPs consist of small (2-5 nm) single crystals of gamma-Fe2O3 with saccharide chains implanted in their crystalline structure, forming 20-40 nm flower-like aggregates with a hydrodynamic diameter of 110-120 nm. The MNPs form stable (>12 months) colloidal solutions in water and exhibit no hysteresis under an applied quasistatic magnetic field, and produce a significant amount of heat at field strengths as low as 100 Oe at 99-164 kHz. The MNP heating mechanisms under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) are discussed and analyzed quantitatively based on (a) the calculated multi-scale MNP interactions obtained using a three dimensional numerical model called the method of auxiliary sources, (b) measured MNP frequency spectra, and (c) quantified MNP friction losses based on magneto-viscous theory. The frequency responses and hysteresis curves of the Dartmouth MNPs are measured and compared to the modeled data. The specific absorption rate of the particles is measured at various AMF strengths and frequencies, and compared to commercially available MNPs. The comparisons demonstrate the superior heating properties of the Dartmouth MNPs at low field strengths (<250 Oe). This may extend MNP hyperthermia therapy to deeper tumors that were previously non-viable targets, potentially enabling the treatment of some of the most difficult cancers, such as pancreatic and rectal cancers, without damaging normal tissue.

The intense development and study of resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices has opened a new era in semiconductor memory manufacturing. Resistive switching and carrier conduction inside RRAM films have become critical issues in recent years. Electron trapping/detrapping behavior is observed and investigated in the proposed contact resistive random access memory (CR-RAM) cell. Through the fitting of the space charge limiting current (SCLC) model, and analysis in terms of the random telegraph noise (RTN) model, the temperature-dependence of resistance levels and the high-temperature data retention behavior of the contact RRAM film are successfully and completely explained. Detail analyses of the electron capture and emission from the traps by forward and reverse read measurements provide further verifications for hopping conduction mechanism and current fluctuation discrepancies.

A compact nonvolatile programmable switch (NVPS) using 90 nm CMOS technology together with perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) devices is fabricated for zero-standby-power field-programmable gate array. Because routing information does not change once it is programmed into an NVPS, high-speed read and write accesses are not required and a write-control transistor can be shared among all the NVPSs, which greatly simplifies structure of the NVPS. In fact, the effective area of the proposed NVPS is reduced by 40% compared to that of a conventional MTJ-based NVPS. The instant on/off behavior without external nonvolatile memory access is also demonstrated using the fabricated test chip.

An analysis is developed for the frequency response of a quartz crystal resonator (often referred to as a quartz crystal microbalance) that is modified with a grafted solvent-swollen polymer brush and placed in contact with a membrane capping layer. The shear wave generated at the resonator surface couples into the membrane layer with an efficiency that is strongly dependent on the thickness of the swollen brush layer. As a result, the resonant frequency changes by a maximum amount that is closely approximated by the Sauerbrey shift for the capping layer. The calculated shift substantially decreases for increases in the brush thickness of approximately 10 nm, which gives a net frequency response that is extremely sensitive to the degree of swelling of the polymer brush. An optimum capping layer thickness is determined by balancing the Sauerbrey shift against dissipative effects that weaken the crystal resonance. This optimum membrane thickness depends only weakly on the properties of the membrane material and is in the micron range. Detailed multilayer calculations are presented for the specific case of a poly(ethylene glycol) brush swollen with water and brought into contact with an elastomeric water-permeable membrane. These calculations confirm that the method is sensitive to the properties of the brush layer in the experimentally relevant thickness regime. Connections are also made to conceptually simpler two and three layer models of the acoustic impedance of the material systems that are brought into contact with the resonator.

This article reports the design concept of a novel acoustic beam aperture modifier using butt-jointed gradient-index phononic crystals (GRIN PCs) consisting of steel cylinders embedded in a homogeneous epoxy background. By gradually tuning the period of a GRIN PC, the propagating direction of acoustic waves can be continuously bent to follow a sinusoidal trajectory in the structure. The aperture of an acoustic beam can therefore be shrunk or expanded through change of the gradient refractive index profiles of the butt-jointed GRIN PCs. Our computational results elucidate the effectiveness of the proposed acoustic beam aperture modifier. Such an acoustic device can be fabricated through a simple process and will be valuable in applications, such as biomedical imaging and surgery, nondestructive evaluation, communication, and acoustic absorbers.

We report a material-dependent critical temperature for ion beam sculpting of nanopores in amorphous materials under keV ion irradiation. At temperatures below the critical temperature, irradiated pores open at a rate that soon saturates with decreasing temperature. At temperatures above the critical temperature, the pore closing rate rises rapidly and eventually saturates with increasing temperature. The observed behavior is well described by a model based on adatom diffusion, but is difficult to reconcile with an ion-stimulated viscous flow model.

We report a novel method for high-throughput investigations on cell-material interactions based on metal oxide nanoscaffolds. These scaffolds possess a continuous gradient of various titanium alloys allowing the compositional and morphological variation that could substantially improve the formation of an osseointegrative interface with bone. The model nanoscaffold has been fabricated on commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti) substrate with a compositional gradients of tin (Sn), chromium (Cr), and niobium (Nb) deposited using a combinatorial approach followed by annealing to create native oxide surface. As an invitro test system, the human fetal osteoblastic cell line (hFOB 1.19) has been used. Cell-adhesion of hFOB 1.19 cells and the suitability of these alloys have been evaluated for cell-morphology, cell-number, and protein adsorption. Although, cell-morphology was not affected by surface composition, cell-proliferation rates varied significantly with surface metal oxide composition; with the Sn- and Nb-rich regions showing the highest proliferation rate and the Cr-rich regions presenting the lowest. The results suggest that Sn and Nb rich regions on surface seems to promote hFOB 1.19 cell proliferation and may therefore be considered as implant material candidates that deserve further analysis.

Polymer-shelled micro-bubbles are employed as ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) and vesicles for targeted drug delivery. UCA-based delivery of the therapeutic payload relies on ultrasound-induced shell rupture. The fragility of two polymer-shelled UCAs manufactured by Point Biomedical or Philips Research was investigated by characterizing their response to static overpressure. The nominal diameters of Point and Philips UCAs were 3 μm and 2 μm, respectively. The UCAs were subjected to static overpressure in a glycerol-filled test chamber with a microscope-reticule lid. UCAs were reconstituted in 0.1 mL of water and added over the glycerol surface in contact with the reticule. A video-microscope imaged UCAs as glycerol was injected (5 mL∕h) to vary the pressure from 2 to 180 kPa over 1 h. Neither UCA population responded to overpressure until the rupture threshold was exceeded, which resulted in abrupt destruction. The rupture data for both UCAs indicated three subclasses that exhibited different rupture behavior, although their mean diameters were not statistically different. The rupture pressures provided a measure of UCA fragility; the Philips UCAs were more resilient than Point UCAs. Results were compared to theoretical models of spherical shells under compression. Observed variations in rupture pressures are attributed to shell imperfections. These results may provide means to optimize polymeric UCAs for drug delivery and elucidate associated mechanisms.

Magnetic hysteresis loops were measured for ferrimagnetic iron chalcogenide [Formula: see text] nanoparticles in the whole temperature range below the Curie temperature [Formula: see text] (315 K). The coercivity of the material is huge, reaching about 40 kOe at 10 K. The magnetic anisotropy constant K was determined from the magnetic hysteresis loop using the law of approach to saturation. The deduced anisotropy constant at 10 K is [Formula: see text], which is over one order of magnitude larger than that of [Formula: see text]. We also demonstrated that the experimental magnetic hysteresis loop is in good agreement with the theoretical curve calculated by Stoner and Wohlfarth for a noninteracting randomly oriented uniaxial single-domain particle system. Moreover, we show that K is proportional to the cube of the saturation magnetization [Formula: see text], which confirms earlier theoretical models for uniaxial magnets.

Piezoresistive cantilevers fabricated from doped silicon or metal films are commonly used for force, topography, and chemical sensing at the micro- and macroscales. Proper design is required to optimize the achievable resolution by maximizing sensitivity while simultaneously minimizing the integrated noise over the bandwidth of interest. Existing analytical design methods are insufficient for modeling complex dopant profiles, design constraints, and nonlinear phenomena such as damping in fluid. Here we present an optimization method based on an analytical piezoresistive cantilever model. We use an existing iterative optimizer to minimimize a performance goal, such as minimum detectable force. The design tool is available as open source software. Optimal cantilever design and performance are found to strongly depend on the measurement bandwidth and the constraints applied. We discuss results for silicon piezoresistors fabricated by epitaxy and diffusion, but the method can be applied to any dopant profile or material which can be modeled in a similar fashion or extended to other microelectromechanical systems.

Bubble-based microfluidic devices have been proven to be useful for many biological and chemical studies. These bubble-based microdevices are particularly useful when operated at the trapped bubbles' resonance frequencies. In this work, we present an analytical expression that can be used to predict the resonant frequency of a bubble trapped over an arbitrary shape. Also, the effect of viscosity on the dispersion characteristics of trapped bubbles is determined. A good agreement between experimental data and theoretical results is observed for resonant frequency of bubbles trapped over different-sized rectangular-shaped structures, indicating that our expression can be valuable in determining optimized operational parameters for many bubble-based microfluidic devices. Furthermore, we provide a close estimate for the harmonics and a method to determine the dispersion characteristics of a bubble trapped over circular shapes. Finally, we present a new method to predict fluid properties in microfluidic devices and complement the explanation of acoustic microstreaming.

Laser ultrasonic (LU) inspection represents an attractive, non-contact method to evaluate composite materials. Current non-contact systems, however, have relatively low sensitivity compared to contact piezoelectric detection. They are also difficult to adjust, very expensive, and strongly influenced by environmental noise. Here, we demonstrate that most of these drawbacks can be eliminated by combining a new generation of compact, inexpensive fiber lasers with new developments in fiber telecommunication optics and an optimally designed balanced probe scheme. In particular, a new type of a balanced fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer is presented as part of an all-optical LU pump-probe system for non-destructive testing and evaluation of aircraft composites. The performance of the LU system is demonstrated on a composite sample with known defects. Wide-band ultrasound probe signals are generated directly at the sample surface with a pulsed fiber laser delivering nanosecond laser pulses at a repetition rate up to 76 kHz rate with a pulse energy of 0.6 mJ. A balanced fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer is employed to detect pressure signals at the same point on the composite surface. A- and B-scans obtained with the Sagnac interferometer are compared to those made with a contact wide-band polyvinylidene fluoride transducer.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum dielectric constant, ε', loss tangent, tan(δ), electric modulus, M*, and ac conductivity, σ(ac), of pure polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as well as La-, Gd-, and Er-PVA doped samples have been carried out. The dielectric properties have been studied in the temperature and frequency ranges; 300-450 K and 1 kHz-4 MHz, respectively. FTIR measurements reveal that La(3+), Gd(3+), and Er(3+) ions form complex configuration within PVA structure. Two relaxation processes, namely, ρ and α were observed in pure PVA sample. The first process is due to the interfacial or Maxwell-Wagner-Sillers polarization. The second one is related to the micro-Brownian motion of the main chains. For doped PVA samples, α-relaxation process splits into α(a) and α(c). This splitting is due to the segmental motion in the amorphous (α(a)) and crystalline (α(c)) phases of PVA matrix. Electric modulus analysis was discussed to understand the mechanism of the electrical transport process. The behavior of ac conductivity for all PVA samples indicates that the conduction mechanism is correlated barrier hopping.

Understanding and controlling the hierarchical self-assembly of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is vital for designing materials such as transparent conductors, chemical sensors, high-performance composites, and microelectronic interconnects. In particular, many applications require high-density CNT assemblies that cannot currently be made directly by low-density CNT growth, and therefore require post-processing by methods such as elastocapillary densification. We characterize the hierarchical structure of pristine and densified vertically aligned multi-wall CNT forests, by combining small-angle and ultra-small-angle x-ray scattering (USAXS) techniques. This enables the nondestructive measurement of both the individual CNT diameter and CNT bundle diameter within CNT forests, which are otherwise quantified only by delicate and often destructive microscopy techniques. Our measurements show that multi-wall CNT forests grown by chemical vapor deposition consist of isolated and bundled CNTs, with an average bundle diameter of 16 nm. After capillary densification of the CNT forest, USAXS reveals bundles with a diameter >4 μm, in addition to the small bundles observed in the as-grown forests. Combining these characterization methods with new CNT processing methods could enable the engineering of macro-scale CNT assemblies that exhibit significantly improved bulk properties.

The low molecular weight tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) has been incorporated with magnesium (Mg) that altered the nature of its opto-electronic characteristics. The lowering of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) in Mg:Alq(3), compared to pure Alq(3), creates a stronger field (exceeding the exciton binding energy) at the donor-acceptor junction to dissociate the photo-generated exciton and also provides a low barrier for electron transport across the device. In an electron-only device (described in the text), a current enhancement in excess of 10(3), with respect to pure Alq(3), could be observed at 10 V applied bias. Optimized Mg:Alq(3) layer, when introduced in the photovoltaic device, improves the power conversion efficiencies significantly to 0.15% compared to the pure Alq(3) device. The improvement in the photovoltaic performance has been attributed to the superior exciton dissociation and carrier transport.

Nanopores fabricated in free-standing amorphous silicon thin films were observed to close under 3 keV argon ion irradiation. The closing rate, measured in situ, exhibited a memory effect: at the same instantaneous radius, pores that started larger close more slowly. An ion-stimulated viscous flow model is developed and solved in both a simple analytical approximation for the small-deformation limit and in a finite element solution for large deformations. The finite-element solution exhibits surprising changes in cross-section morphology, which may be extremely valuable for single biomolecule detection, and are untested experimentally. The finite-element solution reproduces the shape of the measured nanopore radius versus fluence behavior and the sign and magnitude of the measured memory effect. We discuss aspects of the experimental data not reproduced by the model, and successes and failures of the competing adatom diffusion model.

The detailed structural variations of amorphous zinc oxide (ZnO) as well as wurtzite (B4) and zinc blende (B3) crystal structures during the temperature elevation process were observed by molecular dynamics simulation. The amorphous ZnO structure was first predicted through the simulated-annealing basin-hopping algorithm with the criterion to search for the least stable structure. The density and X-ray diffraction profiles of amorphous ZnO of the structure were in agreement with previous reports. The local structural transformation among different local structures and the recrystalline process of amorphous ZnO at higher temperatures are observed and can explain the structural transformation and recrystalline mechanism in a corresponding experiment [Bruncko et al., Thin Solid Films 520, 866-870 (2011)].

We present a study of the optical properties of InAs self-assembled nanostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(11N)A substrates (N = 3-5). Photoluminescence (PL) measurements revealed good optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs(115)A compared to those grown on GaAs(113)A and (114)A orientations substrate. An additional peak localized at 1.39 eV has been shown on PL spectra of both GaAs(114)A and (113)A samples. This peak persists even at lower power density. Supporting on the polarized photoluminescence characterization, we have attributed this additional peak to the quantum strings (QSTs) emission. A theoretical study based on the resolution of the three dimensional Schrödinger equation, using the finite element method, including strain and piezoelectric-field effect was adopted to distinguish the observed photoluminescence emission peaks. The mechanism of QDs and QSTs formation on such a high index GaAs substrates was explained in terms of piezoelectric driven atoms and the equilibrium surfaces at edges.

FeCoCd thin films with 500 nm thickness are directly prepared through electrodeposition in the sulphate bath in which glycine and citric acid were added as complex agents. The composition, structure, and magnetic of FeCoCd films were investigated as a function of Cd(2+) concentration, cathode current density, and deposition temperature. A wonderful soft magnetic FeCoCd film was prepared and its coercivity of easy axis and hard axis are 5 Oe and 4 Oe, respectively. The natural resonance frequency is about 3.0 GHz, which imply that the FeCoCd film is potential candidate for high frequency applications.

The surface magnetic behavior of La(0.8)Ca(0.2)MnO(3) nanoparticles was investigated. We observed irreversibility in high magnetic field. The surface spin-glass behavior as well as the high-field irreversibility is suppressed by increasing particle size while the freezing temperature T(F) does not change with particle size. The enhanced coercivity has been observed in the particles and we attributed it to the large surface anisotropy. We have disclosed a clear relationship between the particle size, the thickness of the shell, and the saturation magnetization of the particles. The large reduction of the saturation magnetization of the samples is found to be induced by the increase of nonmagnetic surface large since the thickness of the spin-disordered surface layer increases with a decrease in the particle size. Due to the reduction of the magnetization, the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has been reduced by the decreased particle size since the nonmagnetic surface contributes little to the MCE. Based on the core-shell structure, large relative cooling powers RCP(s) of 180 J/kg and 471 J/kg were predicted for a field change of 2.0 T and 4.5 T, respectively, in the small particles with thin spin-glass layer.

Magnetic susceptibility measurements of high purity MgO single crystals (<50-wt. ppm transition metals) by means of a vibrating-sample magnetometer shows an anomaly at 800 K. At the same temperature the electric conductivity increases anomalously, the static dielectric constant epsilon increases from 9 to approximately 150, a pronounced positive surface charge appears, and Fe2+ in the MgO matrix oxidizes to Fe3+. The data are consistent with O2(2-) (peroxy) defects, representing self-trapped, spin-paired positive holes at Mg2+ vacancy sites. Diamagnetic at low temperatures, the holes start to decouple their spins > 600 K, probably forming at first V0 centers (two O- at an Mg2+ vacancy), then V- centers (single O- at an Mg2+ vacancy), and releasing mobile O- states. These O- represent itinerant charge carriers on acceptor levels near the O 2p-dominated valence band and conduct by O- /O2- valency fluctuations. The O- concentration is of the order of 8 X 10(19) cm-3.

A giant magnetoresistance effect (∼46% at 20 K under 7 T) and anomalous magnetic properties were found in a highly epitaxial double perovskite LaBaCo2O5.5+δ (LBCO) thin film on (001) MgO. Aberration-corrected Electron Microscopy and related analytical techniques were employed to understand the nature of these unusual physical properties. The as-grown film is epitaxial with the c-axis of the LBCO structure lying in the film plane and with an interface relationship given by (100)LBCO || (001)MgO and [001]LBCO || [100]MgO or [010]MgO. Orderly oxygen vacancies were observed by line profile electron energy loss spectroscopy and by atomic resolution imaging. Especially, oxygen vacancy and nanodomain structures were found to have a crucial effect on the electronic transport and magnetic properties.

Synthetic antiferromagnetic nanoparticles (SAFNPs) have been successfully coated with two different kinds of silanes, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and 2-[methoxy(polyethyleneoxy)propyl]trimethoxysilane. The morphology of SAF particles is characterized by scanning electron microscopy and magnetic properties by alternating gradient magnetometry. The attachment of silane molecules is verified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and colloidal stability is studied using dynamic light scattering. These two silanes change the surface chemical properties of SAFNPs dramatically in different ways, which in turn affects the stability of these particles.

High-moment synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) nanoparticles were produced using 4 in. diameter stamps made by self-assembly and nanosphere lithography of latex nanospheres. This leads to a significant increase in particle yield over a pre-existing technique which utilizes a 1 cm(2) stamp patterned using e-beam lithography. Changes in nanopillar dimensions from the self-assembled stamps and variations in the associated processing conditions can lead to the fabrication of particles with different dimensions. We demonstrate that it is possible to produce reasonably uniformly sized SAFs with diameters from 70 nm upward using self-assembled stamps. The particles exhibit low remanence at low externally applied magnetic fields, and that the saturation magnetization more than double that for conventional iron oxide nanoparticles.

Contractile forces generated by cells and the stiffness of the surrounding extracellular matrix are two central mechanical factors that regulate cell function. To characterize the dynamic evolution of these two mechanical parameters during tissue morphogenesis, we developed a magnetically actuated micro-mechanical testing system in which fibroblast-populated collagen microtissues formed spontaneously in arrays of microwells that each contains a pair of elastomeric microcantilevers. We characterized the magnetic actuation performance of this system and evaluated its capacity to support long-term cell culture. We showed that cells in the microtissues remained viable during prolonged culture periods of up to 15 days, and that the mechanical properties of the microtissues reached and maintained at a stable state after a fast initial increase stage. Together, these findings demonstrate the utility of this microfabricated bio-magneto-mechanical system in extended mechanobiological studies in a physiologically relevant 3D environment.

Biological membranes are composed of a thermally disordered lipid matrix and therefore require non-crystallographic scattering approaches for structural characterization with x-rays or neutrons. Here we develop a continuous distribution (CD) model to refine neutron or x-ray reflectivity data from complex architectures of organic molecules. The new model is a flexible implementation of the composition-space refinement of interfacial structures to constrain the resulting scattering length density profiles. We show this model increases the precision with which molecular components may be localized within a sample, with a minimal use of free model parameters. We validate the new model by parameterizing all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of bilayers and by evaluating the neutron reflectivity of a phospholipid bilayer physisorbed to a solid support. The determination of the structural arrangement of a sparsely-tethered bilayer lipid membrane (stBLM) comprised of a multi-component phospholipid bilayer anchored to a gold substrate by a thiolated oligo(ethylene oxide) linker is also demonstrated. From the model we extract the bilayer composition and density of tether points, information which was previously inaccessible for stBLM systems. The new modeling strategy has been implemented into the ga_refl reflectivity data evaluation suite, available through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).

A nonequilibrium regime of size-based separation was observed experimentally for double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules with lengths below 1 kbp moving electrokinetically through nanofluidic nanoslit arrays. The breakdown of Ogston sieving was supplanted at higher electric fields to recover rapid separation with a reversed elution order and elution times one to two orders of magnitude faster than with Ogston sieving at lower fields. A simple kinetic model describes the experimental results.

GaAs junction-field-effect transistors (JFETs) are utilized to achieve label-free detection of biological interaction between a probe transactivating transcriptional activator (TAT) peptide and the target trans-activation-responsive (TAR) RNA. The TAT peptide is a short sequence derived from the human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 TAT protein. The GaAs JFETs are modified with a mixed adlayer of 1-octadecanethiol (ODT) and TAT peptide, with the ODT passivating the GaAs surface from polar ions in physiological solutions and the TAT peptide providing selective binding sites for TAR RNA. The devices modified with the mixed adlayer exhibit a negative pinch-off voltage (V(P)) shift, which is attributed to the fixed positive charges from the arginine-rich regions in the TAT peptide. Immersing the modified devices into a TAR RNA solution results in a large positive V(P) shift (>1 V) and a steeper subthreshold slope ( approximately 80 mVdecade), whereas "dummy" RNA induced a small positive V(P) shift ( approximately 0.3 V) without a significant change in subthreshold slopes ( approximately 330 mVdecade). The observed modulation of device characteristics is analyzed with analytical modeling and two-dimensional numerical device simulations to investigate the electronic interactions between the GaAs JFETs and biological molecules.

Mean excitation energies for stopping by isolated atoms are accurately predicted by the plasma absorption spectrum associated with the atomic orbitals when the plasma frequency shift due to individual electron motion proposed by Pines [Phys. Rev. 92, 626 (1953)] is incorporated.

A new high temperature superconductor axial-flux coreless maglev motor (HTS AFIM) is proposed, of which the primary windings are made of HTS tapes and the secondary is a non-magnetic conductor. The main works of this paper are the magnetic-field computation and characteristics analysis of HTS AFIM. For the first one, the reduction of magnetic fields near outer and inner radius of the HTS AFIM is solved by introducing the sub-loop electro-magnetic model along the radial position. For the second one, the AC losses of HTS coils are calculated. The relationships between the device's characteristics and device parameters are presented, and the results indicate that under certain frequency and current levitation device can output enough lift force. The conclusions are verified by finite element calculations.

We revealed that the Ba(Co0.85Mn0.15)O3-δ ceramic samples exhibited ferromagnetic-dielectric behavior below the magnetic transition temperature of about 35 K. The origin of their magnetic ordering was expected to super-exchange coupling of Co(4+)(d (5))-O(2-)-Mn(4+)(d (3)) with bonding angle of 180° and/or Mn(4+)(d (3))-O(2-)-Mn(4+)(d (3)) with bonding angle of 90°. The magnetic spin momentum estimated by the magnetic Compton profiles (MCP) of the samples had similar temperature dependence as that determined by the temperature dependence of magnetic moment by superconducting quantum interference device, which meant that the observed magnetic moments could be ascribed to the spin moment. The shapes of the MCPs of the samples were completely same regardless of the temperature measured. This result indicates that there are no changes of the momentum space distribution of spin density between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states. So, this magnetic transition is simply caused by a thermal fluctuation of the spin.

A piezoelectric domain wall model has been developed to analyze the effective piezoelectric properties of domain engineered BaTiO(3) (BT) single crystals with different volume fractions of 90 degrees domain walls. The model takes into account the nonuniform deformation in the domain wall region, which can create additional anisotropy to enhanced functional properties of multidomain single crystals. Our theoretical results indicate that a larger volume fraction of domain walls will produce larger effective piezoelectric coefficients. In addition, with the increase in domain wall volume fraction, [011](c) poled BT single crystals will have a much larger piezoelectric property enhancement than [111](c) poled BT single crystals.

Prominent deflections are shown to occur in freestanding silicon nitride thin membranes when exposed to a 50 keV gallium focused ion beam for ion doses between 10(14) and 10(17) ions/cm(2). Atomic force microscope topographs were used to quantify elevations on the irradiated side and corresponding depressions of comparable magnitude on the back side, thus indicating that what at first appeared to be protrusions are actually the result of membrane deflections. The shape in high-stress silicon nitride is remarkably flattopped and differs from that in low-stress silicon nitride. Ion beam induced biaxial compressive stress generation, which is a known deformation mechanism for other amorphous materials at higher ion energies, is hypothesized to be the origin of the deflection. A continuum mechanical model based on this assumption convincingly reproduces the profiles for both low-stress and high-stress membranes and provides a family of unusual shapes that can be created by deflection of freestanding thin films under beam irradiation.

An ultracompact plasmonic beam splitter is theoretically and numerically investigated. The splitter consists of a V-shaped nanoslit in metal films. Two groups of nanoscale metallic grooves inside the slit (A) and at the small slit opening (B) are investigated. We show that there are two energy channels guiding light out by the splitter: the optical and the plasmonic channels. Groove A is used to couple incident light into the plasmonic channel. Groove B functions as a plasmonic scatter. We demonstrate that the energy transfer through plasmonic path is dominant in the beam splitter. We find that more than four times the energy is transferred by the plasmonic channel using structures A and B. We show that the plasmonic waves scattered by B can be converted into light waves. These light waves redistribute the transmitted energy through interference with the field transmitted from the nanoslit. Therefore, different beam splitting effects are achieved by simply changing the interference conditions between the scattered waves and the transmitted waves. The impact of the width and height of groove B are also investigated. It is found that the plasmonic scattering of B is changed into light scattering with increase of the width and the height of B. These devices have potential applications in optical sampling, signal processing, and integrated optical circuits.

Energy dissipation experienced by vibrating microcantilever beams immersed in fluid is strongly dependent on the mode of vibration, with quality factors typically increasing with mode number. Recently, we examined energy dissipation in a new class of cantilever device that embeds a microfluidic channel in its interior-the fundamental mode of vibration only was considered. Due to its importance in practice, we examine the effect of mode number on energy dissipation in these microfluidic beam resonators. Interestingly, and in contrast to other cantilever devices, we find that the quality factor typically decreases with increasing mode number. We explore the underlying physical mechanisms leading to this counterintuitive behavior, and provide a detailed comparison to experimental measurements for which good agreement is found.

In this study, we fabricated a Cr2O3 (0001) film without and with a Pt buffer layer and investigated its effect on perpendicular exchange coupling in a Cr2O3/Co3Pt interface. The results showed that the exchange bias field (μ0Hex) and blocking temperature (TB) of a Cr2O3 film without and with Pt were very different. The Cr2O3 film without Pt had a lower μ0Hex of 176 Oe and a lower TB of 75 K, whereas that with Pt had a higher μ0Hex of 436 Oe and a higher TB of 150 K. We discussed this difference in μ0Hex and TB values based on collinear/non-collinear coupling in a ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interface using Meiklejohn and Bean's exchange anisotropy model.

Pure spin transport via spin pumping in the condition of ferromagnetic resonance can be transformed to charge current in the ferromagnetic/paramagnetic bilayer systems, based on inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). Here, we explore La0.7Sr0.3MnO(x)/Pt(5.5 nm) [x = 10 to 65 nm] bilayers to investigate the influence of damping constant on spin pumping efficiency. The results show that the ISHE voltage depend on the damping constant of magnetic moment, suggesting that the precession energy tansferred to lattice/electron of normal metal is a key parameter to control the magnitude of spin current.

Magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) nanoparticles (MNPs) are suitable materials for Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia (MFH), provided their size is carefully tailored to the applied alternating magnetic field (AMF) frequency. Since aqueous synthesis routes produce polydisperse MNPs that are not tailored for any specific AMF frequency, we have developed a comprehensive protocol for synthesizing highly monodispersed MNPs in organic solvents, specifically tailored for our field conditions (f = 376 kHz, H(0) = 13.4 kA∕m) and subsequently transferred them to water using a biocompatible amphiphilic polymer. These MNPs (σ(avg.) = 0.175) show truly size-dependent heating rates, indicated by a sharp peak in the specific loss power (SLP, W∕g Fe(3)O(4)) for 16 nm (diameter) particles. For broader size distributions (σ(avg.) = 0.266), we observe a 30% drop in overall SLP. Furthermore, heating measurements in biological medium [Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM) + 10% fetal bovine serum] show a significant drop for SLP (∼30% reduction in 16 nm MNPs). Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurements show particle hydrodynamic size increases over time once dispersed in DMEM, indicating particle agglomeration. Since the effective magnetic relaxation time of MNPs is determined by fractional contribution of the Neel (independent of hydrodynamic size) and Brownian (dependent on hydrodynamic size) components, we conclude that agglomeration in biological medium modifies the Brownian contribution and thus the net heating capacity of MNPs.

We investigated the effects of laser excitation wavelength on water-window emission lines of laser-produced boron-nitride plasmas. Plasmas are produced by focusing 1064 nm and harmonically generated 532 and 266 nm radiation from a Nd:YAG laser on BN target in vacuum. Soft x-ray emission lines in the water-window region are recorded using a grazing-incidence spectrograph. Filtered photodiodes are used to obtain complementary data for water-window emission intensity and angular dependence. Spectral emission intensity changes in nitrogen Ly-α and He-α are used to show how laser wavelength affects emission. Our results show that the relative intensity of spectral lines is laser wavelength dependent, with the ratio of Ly-α to He-α emission intensity decreasing as laser wavelength is shortened. Filtered photodiode measurements of angular dependence showed that 266 and 532 nm laser wavelengths produce uniform emission.

A d'Alembert-based solution of forced wave motion with internal and boundary damping is presented with the specific intention of investigating the transient response. The dynamic boundary condition is a convenient method to model the absorption and reflection effects of an interface without considering coupled PDE's. Problems with boundary condition of the form [Formula: see text] are not self-adjoint which greatly complicates solution by spectral analysis. However, exact solutions are found with d'Alembert's method. Solutions are also derived for a time-harmonically forced problem with internal damping and are used to investigate the effect of ultrasound in a bioreactor, particularly the amount of energy delivered to cultured cells. The concise form of the solution simplifies the analysis of acoustic field problems.

Noninvasive, high resolution imaging of mouse brain activity is poised to provide clinically translatable insights into human neurological disease progression. Toward noninvasive imaging of brain activity through the hemodynamic response, the dark-field photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) technique was enhanced to image the cortex vasculature of the mouse brain in vivo using endogenous hemoglobin contrast. Specifically, the PAM system was redesigned to efficiently collect photoacoustic waves originating from cortical vessels, providing high (70 mum lateral and 54 mum axial) resolution images of the mouse brain vasculature with a contrast-to-noise ratio of 25 dB. These findings confirm the efficacy of PAM to noninvasively image vascular structures in the mouse brain and the potential to image mouse brain function by tracking the hemodynamic response.