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For a superconducting magnet of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the novel approach presented in this paper allows the design of cylindrical gradient and shim coils of finite length. The method is based on identification of the weighting of harmonic components in the current distribution that will generate a magnetic field whose z-component follows a chosen spherical harmonic function. Mathematical expressions which relate the harmonic terms in the cylindrical current distribution to spherical harmonic terms in the field expansion are established. Thus a simple matrix inversion approach can be used to design a shim coil of any order pure harmonic. The expressions providing a spherical harmonic decomposition of the field components produced by a particular cylindrical current distribution are novel. A stream function was applied to obtain the discrete wire distribution on the cylindrical-surface. This method does not require the setting of the target-field points. The discussion referring to matrix equations in terms of condition numbers proves that this novel approach has no ill-conditioned problems. The results also indicate that it can be used to design cylindrical-surface shim coils of finite length that will generate a field variation which follows a particular spherical harmonic over a reasonably large-sized volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate slanted silicon nanocone hole arrays as light absorbing structures for solar photovoltaics via simulation. With only 1-μm equivalent thickness, a maximum short-circuit current density of 34.9 mA/cm2 is obtained. Moreover, by adding an Ag mirror under the whole structure, a short-circuit current density of 37.9 mA/cm2 is attained. It is understood that the optical absorption enhancement mainly results from three aspects. First, the silicon nanocone holes provide a highly efficient antireflection effect. Second, after breaking the geometric symmetry, the slanted silicon nanocone hole supports more resonant absorption modes than vertical structures. Third, the Fabry–Perot resonance enhances the light absorption after adding an Ag mirror. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to deepen the understanding of the relationship between fundamental properties (including: microstructure and composition) and photocatalytic performance, four bismuthate compounds, including: LiBiO3, NaBiO3, KBiO3, and AgBiO3, are regarded as research examples in the present work, because they have particular crystal structures and similar compositions. Using density functional theory calculations, their structural, electronic, and optical properties are investigated and compared systematically. First of all, the calculated results of crystal structures and optical properties are in agreement with available published experimental data. Based on the calculated results, it is found that the tunneled or layered micro-structural properties lead to the stronger interaction between bismuth and oxygen, and the weaker interaction between alkaline-earth metal and [BiO6] octahedron, resulting in the feature of multi-band gaps in the cases of LiBiO3, NaBiO3, and KBiO3. This conclusion is supported by the case of AgBiO3, in which the feature of multi-band gaps disappears, due to the stronger interaction between the noble metal and [BiO6] octahedron. These properties have significant advantages in the photocatalytic performance: absorbing low energy photons, rapidly transferring energy carriers. Furthermore, the features of electronic structures of bismuthate compounds are well reflected by the absorption spectra, which could be confirmed by experimental measurements in practice. Combined with the calculated results, it could be considered that the crystal structures and compositions of the photocatalyst determine the electronic structures and optical properties, and subsequently determine the corresponding photocatalytic performance. Thus, a novel Bi-based photocatalyst driven by visible-light could be designed by utilizing specific compositions to form favorable electronic structures or specific micro-structures to form a beneficial channel for energy carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the co-propagation of a strong pump beam and a weak signal beam in lead glass, and find that the large phase shift of the strongly nonlocal spatial optical soliton (SNSOS) can be realized via cross-phase modulation. The theoretical study suggests a synchronous propagation of the pump SNSOS and the signal SNSOS under the required initial condition. A π-phase shift of the signal SNSOS is experimentally obtained by changing the power of the pump SNSOS by about 13 mW around the soliton critical power, which agrees qualitatively with our theoretical prediction. The ratio of the phase shift rate of the signal SNSOS to that of the pump SNSOS shows a close match to the reciprocal of the ratio between their wavelengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple three-dimensional (3D) autonomous chaotic system is extended to four-dimensions so as to generate richer nonlinear dynamics. The new system not only inherits the dynamical characteristics of its parental 3D system but also exhibits many new and complex dynamics, including assembled 1-scroll, 2-scroll and 4-scroll attractors, as well as hyperchaotic attractors, by simply tuning a single system parameter. Lyapunov exponents and bifurcation diagrams are obtained via numerical simulations to further justify the existences of chaos and hyperchaos. Finally, an electronic circuit is constructed to implement the system, with experimental and simulation results presented and compared for demonstration and verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated single-electron tunneling through single and coupling dopant-induced quantum dots (QDs) in silicon junctionless nanowire transistor (JNT) by varying temperatures and bias voltages. We observed that two possible charge states of the isolated QD confined in the axis of the initial narrowest channel are successively occupied as the temperature increases above 30 K. The resonance states of the double single-electron peaks emerge below the Hubbard band, at which several subpeaks are clearly observed respectively in the double oscillated current peaks due to the coupling of the QDs in the atomic scale channel. The electric field of bias voltage between the source and the drain could remarkably enhance the tunneling possibility of the single-electron current and the coupling strength of several dopant atoms. This finding demonstrates that silicon JNTs are the promising potential candidates to realize the single dopant atom transistors operating at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using density functional theory, the electronic structures, lattice constants, formation energies, and optical properties of AlxGa1−xN are determined with Al component content x in a range from 0 to 1. As x increases, the lattice constants decrease in e-exponential form, and the band gap increases with a band bending parameter b = 0.3954. The N–Al interaction force in the (0001) direction is greater than the N–Ga interaction force, while the N–Al interaction force is less than the N–Ga interaction force in the () direction. The formation energies under different Al component content are negative and increase with Al component content increasing. The static dielectric function decreases, the absorption edge has a blue shift, and the energy loss spectrum moves to high energy with the Al component content increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver nanocluster embedded ZnO composite thin film was observed to have an angle-sensitive and fast photovoltaic effect in the angle range from [?]90deg to 90deg, its peak value and the polarity varied regularly with the angle of incidence of the 1.064-mm pulsed Nd:YAG laser radiation onto the ZnO surface. Meanwhile, for each photovoltaic signal, its rising time reached [?]2 ns with an open-circuit photovoltage of [?]2 ns full width at half-maximum. This angle-sensitive fast photovoltaic effect is expected to put this composite film a candidate for angle-sensitive and fast photodetector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discharge channel with a chamfered wall not only has application in the design of modern Hall thrusters, but also exists where the channel wall is eroded, and so is a common status for these units. In this paper, the laws and mechanisms that govern the effect of the chamfered wall on the performance of a Hall thruster are investigated. By applying both experimental measurement and particle-in-cell simulation, it is determined that there is a moderate chamfer angle that can further improve the optimal performance obtained with a straight channel. This is because the chamfering of the wall near the channel exit can enhance ion acceleration and effectively reduce ion recombination on the wall, which is favorable to the promotion of the thrust and efficiency. However, the chamfer angle should not be too large; otherwise, both the density of the propellant gas and the distribution of the plasma potential in the channel are influenced, which is undesirable for efficient propellant utilization and beam concentration. Therefore, it is suggested that the chamfer shape of the channel wall is an important factor that must be carefully considered in the design of Hall thrusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zr0.5Hf0.5VPO7 is successfully synthesized by the solid-state method with near-zero thermal expansion. Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermal dilatometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to investigate the structure, the phase transition, and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of Zr0.5Hf0.5VPO7. The investigation results show that the samples are of the single cubic type with a space group of at room temperature (RT). It can be inferred that the superstructure is transformed from the 3 × 3 × 3 superstructure to the 1 × 1 × 1 ideal crystal in a temperature range between 310 K and 323 K. The CTE is measured by a dilatometer to be 0.59 × 10−6 K−1 (310 K–673 K). The values of intrinsic (XRD) and extrinsic (dilatometric) thermal expansion are both near zero. The results show that Zr0.5Hf0.5VPO7 has near-zero thermal expansion behavior over a wide temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a metasurface which consists of three conductive layers separated by two dielectric layers. Each conductive layer consists of a square array of square loop apertures, however, a pair of corners of each square metal patch surrounded by the square loop apertures have been truncated, so it becomes an orthotropic structure with a pair of mutually perpendicular symmetric axes u and v. The simulated results show that the metasurface can be used as a wideband transmission-type polarization converter to realize linear-to-circular polarization conversion in the frequency range from 12.21 GHz to 18.39 GHz, which is corresponding to a 40.4% fractional bandwidth. Moreover, its transmission coefficients at x- and y-polarized incidences are completely equal. We have analyzed the cause of the polarization conversion, and derived several formulas which can be used to calculate the magnitudes of cross- and co-polarization transmission coefficients at y-polarized incidence, together with the phase difference between them, based on the two independent transmission coefficients at u- and v-polarized incidences. Finally, one experiment was carried out, and the experiment and simulated results are in good agreement with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell migration plays an essential role in a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes. In this paper we numerically discuss the properties of an anisotropic persistent random walk (APRW) model, in which two different and independent persistent times are assumed for cell migrations in the x- and y-axis directions. An intrinsic orthogonal coordinates with the primary and non-primary directions can be defined for each migration trajectory based on the singular vector decomposition method. Our simulation results show that the decay time of single exponential distribution of velocity auto-correlation function (VACF) in the primary direction is actually the large persistent time of the APRW model, and the small decay time of double exponential VACF in the non-primary direction equals the small persistent time of the APRW model. Thus, we propose that the two persistent times of anisotropic migration of cells can be properly estimated by discussing the VACFs of trajectory projected to the primary and non-primary directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of boron carbide under a-axis and c-axis uniaxial compression are investigated by ab initio calculations based on the density functional theory. Strong anisotropy is observed. Under a-axis and c-axis compression, the maximum stresses are 89.0 GPa and 172.2 GPa respectively. Under a-axis compression, the destruction of icosahedra results in the unrecoverable deformation, while under c-axis compression, the main deformation mechanism is the formation of new bonds between the boron atoms in the three-atom chains and the equatorial boron atoms in the neighboring icosahedra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a black hole as a black body system, using general black body radiation theory, a Schwarzschild black hole and a Kerr-Newman black hole are investigated respectively. It is concluded that a black hole can be regarded as an ideal general black body system exactly for the changing process only. However, a stationary global black hole cannot be smoothly regarded as a general black body system. A black hole has some special characteristics which different from a general thermodynamics system. This conclusion means that a black hole should be inherently dynamical, at least when it is taken as a black body system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yb3+ doped Ba2YB'O6 (B'=Ta5+, Nb5+) were prepared by high temperature solid-state reaction method, their structures were determined by x-ray diffraction and refined by Rietveld method. The diffuse reflection absorption, excitation and emission spectra of Yb3+:Ba2YB'O6 (B'=Ta5+, Nb5+) were measured at room temperature. Under the excitation of ultraviolet light, these phosphors exhibit broad charge transfer band emissions of TaO6 or NbO6 centre with large Stokes shift. The Yb3+ doped into these hosts are situated at Y3+ sites of cubic symmetry (Oh). The experimental energy levels of Yb3+ in Ba2YTaO6 and Ba2YNbO6 were determined by photoluminescence and diffuse reflection absorption spectra. Their wavefunctions and theoretical energy levels were obtained by diagonalising the Hamiltonian matrix. The experimental energy levels were fitted by Levenberg--Marquardt iteration algorithm to determine crystal field parameters. Then, the magnetic-pole transition line strengths of Yb3+:Ba2YB'O6 (B'=Ta5+, Nb5+) from (2F5/2)G[?]8 to the low-energy states were calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to compute the numerical derivative of eigenvalues of parameterized crystal field Hamiltonian matrix is given, based on the numerical derivatives the general iteration methods such as Levenberg-Marquardt, Newton method, and so on, can be used to solve crystal field parameters by fitting to experimental energy levels. With the numerical eigenvalue derivative, a detailed iteration algorithm to compute crystal field parameters by fitting experimental energy levels has also been described. This method is used to compute the crystal parameters of Yb3+ in Sc2O3 crystal, which is prepared by a co-precipitation method and whose structure was refined by Rietveld method. By fitting on the parameters of a simple overlap model of crystal field, the results show that the new method can fit the crystal field energy splitting with fast convergence and good stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]