Other Physics Commons^™

Mechanical, Electronic And Optical Properties Of Multi-Ternary Semiconductor Alloys, Dongguo Chen

Dissertations

The ability to obtain tunable properties with composition makes multi-ternary alloys extremely useful for a variety of applications in semiconductor devices and is of significant interest in experimental and theoretical research. This dissertation investigates the mechanical, electronic and optical properties of multi-ternary, i.e., binary, ternary and quaternary, semiconductor alloys using analytical methods and first-principles calculations.

For the calculations of mechanical properties, existing models on the average shear modulus of III-V & II-VI binary semiconductors are revised. New expressions are developed for the average Young’s modulus as well as the shear modulus and Young’s modulus on (111) plane for these compounds. …

Study Of Deep Level Defects Of N+-Cds/P-Cdte Solar Cells, Poonam Rani Kharangarh

Dissertations

Among various photovoltaic materials, polycrystalline cadmium telluride thin film is now the most promising material, due to its low production cost excellent stability and reliability. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements of CdTe photovoltaic devices at different temperatures can provide valuable information about non-idealities in the n-p semiconductor junction. There are certain limitations which limit the efficiency of CdTe solar cells. There is no real distinction between defects and impurities in CdTe solar cells as both act as beneficial dopants or detrimental traps unlike Si where intentional shallow dopants and traps are distinctly different. Therefore, the role of defect states on CdTe …

A Statistical Study Of Plasmawaves And Energetic Particles In The Outer Magnetosphere, Kyungguk Min

Dissertations

The Earth magnetosphere contains energetic particles undergoing specific motions around Earth’s magnetic field, and interacting with a variety of waves. The dynamics of energetic particles are often described in terms of three kinds of adiabatic invariants. Energetic electrons are often unstable to the whistler-mode chorus waves, and ions, to the electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) instability. These waves play an important role in the dynamics of the magnetosphere by energizing electrons to form a radiation belt, extracting energy from the hot, anisotropic ions and causing pitch angle scattering of energetic ions and relativistic electrons into the loss cone. EMIC waves correspond …

Validation Of Solar Flare Forecasting & Evolution Of Magnetic Helicity Of Two Active Regions, Qin Li

Theses

This thesis includes two components: (1) Validation of the NJIT flare-forecasting model that was established in recent years is carried out based on the statistical correlation between solar magnetic parameters and flare productivity of active regions (ARs). 378 ARs are examined, comparing observation with prediction. It is found that the accuracy rate to some extent decreases with the level of flares. (2) The temporal evolution of the relative magnetic helicity of two ARs, AR 11072 and 11158 is investigated. The former is flare-quiet while the latter is flare-productive over the 5-day observation period. It is found that for both regions, …

Testing The Well-Posedness Of Characteristic Evolution Of Scalar Waves, Maria Babiuc-Hamilton, Heinz Otto Kreiss, Jeffrey Winicour

Physics Faculty Research

Recent results have revealed a critical way in which lower order terms affect the well-posedness of the characteristic initial value problem for the scalar wave equation. The proper choice of such terms can make the Cauchy problem for scalar waves well posed even on a background spacetime with closed lightlike curves. These results provide new guidance for developing stable characteristic evolution algorithms. In this regard, we present here the finite difference version of these recent results and implement them in a stable evolution code. We describe test results which validate the code and exhibit some of the interesting features due …

Characterization Of Mesoscopic Fluid Films For Applications In Spm Imaging And Fabrication Of Nanostructures On Responsive Materials, Xiaohua Wang

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation focuses on characterization of the mesoscopic fluid film, testing its behavior in different application scenarios, including its role in near-field scanning probe microscopy imaging, contribution to the phononic mechanism in nanotribology phenomena, utilizing it as a natural environment in the study of carbohydrate-protein interactions, and harnessing it as bridge to transport ions in the fabrication of nanostructures on responsive polymer materials.

Due to their high resolution and versatile applications in a variety of fields, the family of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has found widespread acceptance as an analytical and fabrication tool. However, the working mechanism of SPM that …

Atmosphere Observation By The Method Of Led Sun Photometry, Gregory Garza

Physics

No abstract provided.

Information-Based Physics: An Intelligent Embedded Agent's Guide To The Universe, Kevin H. Knuth

Physics Faculty Scholarship

In this talk, I propose an approach to understanding the foundations of physics by considering the optimal inferences an intelligent agent can make about the universe in which he or she is embedded. Information acts to constrain an agent’s beliefs. However, at a fundamental level, any information is obtained from interactions where something influences something else. Given this, the laws of physics must be constrained by both the nature of such influences and the rules by which we can make inferences based on information about these influences. I will review the recent progress we have made in this direction. This …

Superfluidity In Neutron Stars, Samuel J. Witte

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

Nucleon pairing is studied with specific considerations directed toward the possible influence on neutron star cooling. We present an in-depth analysis of BCS theory using realistic nuclear potentials and consider the impact short-range correlations can have on the gap. Gap calculations are incorporated into neutron star cooling simulations and the significance of the 3P2 −3F2 channel in various hadronic cooling models is closely examined. An analysis of the 1S0 gap in neutron matter suggests short-range correlations can drastically alter the magnitude, density range, and temperature dependence of the gap. While the newly constructed 1S0 gap does not significantly alter the …

A 30-Year Record Of The Isotopic Composition Of Atmospheric Methane, Doaa Galal Mohammed Teama

Dissertations and Theses

Methane (CH₄) is one of the most important greenhouse gases after water vapor and carbon dioxide due to its high concentration and global warming potential 25 times than that of CO₂ (based on a 100 year time horizon). Its atmospheric concentration has more than doubled from the preindustrial era due to anthropogenic activities such as rice cultivation, biomass burning, and fossil fuel production. However, the rate of increase of atmospheric CH₄ (or the growth rate) slowed from 1980 until present. The main reason for this trend is a slowdown in the trend of CH₄ sources. …

Study Of The Growth And Switching Kinetics On Ferroelectric Nanocrystals Of Copolymer Vinylidene Fluoride And Trifluoroethylene On An Atomic Force Microscope, R. V. Gaynutdinov, O. A. Lysova, A. L. Tolstikhina, V. M. Fridkin, S. G. Yudin, Stephen Ducharme

Stephen Ducharme Publications

The growth of nanocrystals obtained from Langmuir-Blodgett films of ferroelectric copolymer consisting of 70% vinylidene fluoride and 30% trifluoroethylene has been investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The radius and concentration of nanocrystals are found to depend on the annealing time of the film. A model for nanocrystal growth is proposed which yields adequate time dependences for nanocrystal size parameters. The switching kinetics of individual ferroelectric nanocrystals with an average diameter of 100–200 nm and a height of 15–20 nm has been investigated in the piezoelectric response mode. It is shown that the switching of nanocrystals has an activation character.

Strain-Mediated Elastic Coupling In Magnetoelectric Nickel/Barium-Titanate Heterostructures, Robert Streubel, Denny Köhler, Rudolf Schäfer, Lukas M. Eng

Robert Streubel Papers

Multiferroic nanomaterials bear the potential for assembling a manifold of novel and smart devices. For room temperature (RT) applications, however, only the BiFeO3 single-phase perovskites are potential candidates to date. Nevertheless, vertical heterostructures separating magnetic and ferroelectric functionality into different layers are now widely proposed to circumvent this lack in materials' availability. We show here that the second approach is very profitable as illustrated by the strain-mediated coupling between such two layers, i.e., a ferroelectric barium titanate single-crystal (BTO) and a magnetostrictive nickel (Ni) thin film. Applying an electric field across the BTO substrate forces the magnetic easy axis in …

Extension To Pv Optics To Include Front Electrode Design In Solar Cells, Debraj Guhabiswas

Dissertations

Proper optical designing of solar cells and modules is of paramount importance towards achieving high photovoltaic conversion efficiencies. Modeling softwares such as PV OPTICS, BIRANDY and SUNRAYS have been created to aid such optical designing of cells and modules; but none of these modeling packages take the front metal electrode architecture of a solar cell into account.

A new model, has been developed to include the front metal electrode architecture to finished solar cells for optical calculations. This has been implemented in C++ in order to add a new module to PV OPTICS (NREL’s photovoltaic modeling tool) to include …

Theoretical Studies Of Structural And Electronic Properties In Transition Metal Oxides, Tsezar F. Seman

Dissertations

The following studies are presented: theory of K-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and its application for La_0.5Sr_1.5MnO₄, effects of rare earth ion size on the stability of the coherent Jahn-Teller distortions in undoped perovskite manganites, and symmetry-mode-based classical and quantum mechanical formalism of lattice dynamics.

The formula based on tight-binding approach for the calculation of K-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectrum for transition metal oxides is presented first, by extending the previous existing result to include explicit momentum dependence and a basis with multiple core-hole sites. This formula is applied to layered charge, …

Adherent Cells Avoid Polarization Gradients On Periodically Poled Litao3 Ferroelectrics, Christof Christophis, Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti-Adam, Maximilian Hanke, Kenji Kitamura, Alexei Gruverman, Michael Grunze, Peter A. Dowben, Axel Rosenhahn

Peter Dowben Publications

The response of fibroblast cells to periodically poled LiTaO₃ ferroelectric crystals has been studied. While fibroblast cells do not show morphological differences on the two polarization directions, they show a tendency to avoid the field gradients that occur between polarization domains of the ferroelectric. The response to the field gradients is fully established after one hour, a time at which fibroblasts form their first focal contacts. If suspension cells, with a lower tendency to establish strong surface contacts are used, no influence of the field gradients is observed.

Excitation Of Radiative Polaritons By Polarized Broadband Infrared Radiation In Thin Oxide Films Deposited By Atomic Layer Deposition, Anita J. Vincent-Johnson, Andrew E. Masters, Xiaofeng Hu, Giovanna Scarel

Department of Physics and Astronomy - Faculty Scholarship

This work contributes to the understanding of infrared radiation interaction with matter and its absorption for energy harvesting purposes. By exciting radiative polaritons in thin oxide filmswith polarized infrared radiation, a further evidence is collected that a link exists between radiative polaritons and the heat recovery mechanism hypothesized in previous research. In the voltage transient occurring when the infrared radiation is turned on, the observed time necessary to reach the maximum voltage and the voltage intensity versus angle of incidence exhibit a mismatch when generated by polarized and nonpolarized infrared radiation. The existence of collective charge oscillation modes in the …

Using Heavy Flavors To Study New Physics, Kristopher Jason Healey

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this doctoral dissertation I discuss the possible standard model contributions to select leptonic heavy meson decay modes. Included are calculations of soft photon contributions to a di-lepton decay of B-mesons as well as two-particle hadronic unitary contributions to the rare di-leptonic decay of the neutral D meson. Additionally, constraints are calculated for two super-WIMP dark matter models from rare heavy flavor decays.

Search For Spin-Polarized Photoemission From Gaas Using Light With Orbital Angular Momentum, Nathan B. Clayburn, J. L. Mccarter, J. M. Dreiling, M. Poelker, D. M. Ryan, Timothy J. Gay

Timothy J. Gay Publications

Laser light with photon energy near the band gap of GaAs and in Laguerre-Gaussian modes with different amounts of orbital angular momentum was used to produce photoemission from unstrained GaAs. The degree of electron spin polarization was measured using a micro-Mott polarimeter and found to be consistent with zero with an upper limit of ∼3% for light with up to ±5h of orbital angular momentum. In contrast, the degree of spin polarization of 32.3 ± 1.4% using circularly polarized laser light at the as the same wavelength, which is typical for bulk GaAs photocathodes.

Rose: Roadmaps Towards Sustainable Energy Futures And Climate Protection: A Synthesis Of Results From The Rose Project, Elmar Kriegler, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Gunnar Luderer, Nico Bauer, Katherine Calvin, Enrica Decian, Robert J. Brecha, Wenying Chen, Aleh Cherp, Jae Edmonds, Kejun Jiang, Shonali Pachauri, Fabio Sferra, Massimo Tavoni, Ottmar Edenhofer

Physics Faculty Publications

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Exploring energy demand and supply uncertainty: An exploration of uncertainty on drivers of energy demand and supply is indispensable for better understanding the prospects of long-tern climate stabilization. The RoSE study is the first of its kind to systematically explore the impact of economic growth, population and fossil fuel scarcity, in scenarios with and without climate policy, using a model ensemble. A feature of RoSE is the participation of five established integrated assessment modelling teams from three important regions in international climate policy negotiations: the EU, the USA and China.

Economic growth: Neither slow nor rapid economic growth …

Oblique-Length Contraction Factor In The Special Theory Of Relativity, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper one generalizes the Lorentz Contraction Factor for the case when the lengths are moving at an oblique angle with respect to the motion direction. One shows that the angles of the moving relativistic objects are distorted.