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Generating capillary waves with an alternating electric field gradient is a noncontact way to study the mechanical properties of monolayers. By studying capillary waves the surface tension can be calculated. In addition, the surface elasticity can be deduced and film inhomogeneity can be determined. We have incorporated a fiber-optic detection system into a capillary wave apparatus. This makes the apparatus more compact, movable, versatile, and easier to use than detection systems currently in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe an instrument consisting of two adjacent Langmuir troughs and an apparatus capable of dipping substrates in either trough. Such a capability permits the fabrication of Langmuir–Blodgett multilayer films consisting of two alternating components. The troughs are housed in a hermetically sealed enclosure which may be evacuated to permit the establishment of a clean and/or modified (e.g., O2 free) atmosphere. The enclosure is double walled for circulation of thermostating fluid (e.g., ethylene glycol) in order to establish temperatures in the range -30 to 130 °C. The monolayer pressures, film size, and dipping sequence can be controlled manually or by a computer. The surface pressure in each trough is sensed by independent Cahn balances employing filter paper ‘‘Wilhelmy plates’’ in such a manner as to maintain the hermetic seal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the linear thermal expansion along the hexagonal c axis (ΔL), in-plane resistivity (ρ), and specific heat (Cp) of the topological insulator Sb2Te3 single crystal. ΔL exhibits a clear anomaly in the temperature region 204-236 K. The coefficient of linear thermal expansion α decreases rapidly above 204 K, passes through a deep minimum at around 225 K, and then increases abruptly in the region 225-236 K. α is negative in the interval 221-228 K. The temperature dependence of both α and Cp can be described well by the Debye model from 2 to 290 K, excluding the region around the anomaly in α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terahertz emission mechanisms from the surface of bulk InAsxP1-x crystals have been examined. The dominant terahertz emission mechanism from InAsxP1-x for low-fluence optical excitation is the photo-Dember effect for As compositions of 78% and greater while the surface field effect is dominant for As compositions of 50% and lower for the measured transport properties. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the photo-Dember effect increased with As composition due to decreasing absorption depth. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the surface field effect decreased with increasing As composition and was lower than modeled values due to the lower high-field mobility in the depletion region in those samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terahertz emission mechanisms from the surface of bulk InAsxP1-x crystals have been examined. The dominant terahertz emission mechanism from InAsxP1-x for low-fluence optical excitation is the photo-Dember effect for As compositions of 78% and greater while the surface field effect is dominant for As compositions of 50% and lower for the measured transport properties. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the photo-Dember effect increased with As composition due to decreasing absorption depth. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the surface field effect decreased with increasing As composition and was lower than modeled values due to the lower high-field mobility in the depletion region in those samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) capped with dodecanethiol (DT), the authors report the observation of superparamagnetic blocking temperature TB≃50 K in D≃5 nm NPs but only diamagnetism in 12 nm NPs. For T

Lattice mismatched layers of InxGa1-xAsySb1-y with band edge corresponding to a wavelength of 10.9 μm have been grown on GaAs substrates using a self-graded compositionally organized near-equilibrium growth process based on quaternary melt thermochemistry. A variable composition quaternary acts as a buffer layer between the GaAs substrate and the final layer of uniform composition. Layers of a constant composition with thicknesses as high as 100 μm have been achieved. The dislocation densities in the layers are as low as 8×105 cm-2 even for a lattice mismatch of 13.08%. van der Pauw measurements showed room temperature electron mobility as high as 1.4×104 cm2/V s and carrier concentration of 4.2×1016 cm-3. With further optimization in the growth conditions and improvements in the material quality, the grown layers are expected to be suitable for infrared optoelectronics, high speed electronic devices, and magnetoresistive sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report significant enhancement of magnetoresistance (MR) in melt-processed La[sub 0.67]Ca[sub 0.33]MnO[sub 3] (LCM) and in Ho-doped LCM samples. The LCM system exhibits surprising enhancement of metal-insulator transition (T[sub IM]) that coincides with the Curie transition temperature (T[sub c]), T[sub IM]approx. T[sub c], illustrating the enhanced percolative transport and spin-polarization through grain boundaries. Surprisingly, 1 mol % of addition of Ho enhances T[sub c] of ∼70 K with remarkable colossal MR. The nanoscale Ho distribution is consistent with the magnetic inhomogeneity-induced MR due to phase segregation in Ho-doped sample whereas charge-segregation picture is valid for undoped LCM. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specular x-ray reflectivity has been used to probe the microstructures of siloxane-based self-assembled electro-optic superlattices composed of high-hyperpolarizable organic chromophore arrays intercalated with Ga and In oxide sheets. The film thickness increases linearly as a function of the number of layers, underscoring the high structural regularity and efficiency of the synthetic approach. Relatively dense metal oxide structures are detected in these systems. The x-ray reflectivity data also indicate that the dependence of the relative surface roughness on the number of layers is nearly identical for self-assembled organic and organic–inorganic hybrid film structures. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the representation of small rigid spherical particles advected in a time-periodic bounded flow by a dissipative dynamical system with simple or strange attractors. Difference between the behavior of such particles and the patterns in the fluid flow driving the system; Implications for transport, mixing and separation in multiphase flows.

Examines the effect of oxygen partial pressure on the growth of YBCO thin film on strontium titanate. Observation of nucleated c-axis orientation; Link between critical thickness and axis orientation; Nucleation of YBCO films.

We report a modification recently made to a Langmuir–Blodgett superlattice apparatus previously described in this journal. The modification permits the preparation of so-called A/B superlattices consisting of the sequence ABAB···, where A and B are monolayers of two different film-forming molecules deposited into a multilayer structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have performed magnetic and transport measurements on La[sub 0.67]Ca[sub 0.33]MnO[sub 3] polycrystalline and partially melted samples. The magnetization and resistance decrease as sintering temperature is increased. The insulator-to-metal transition temperature is remarkably enhanced in the partially melted sample, enabling its possible applications at room temperature. The microscopic studies in melt samples show an excellent connectivity between grains, suggesting the enhancement of percolative transport by opening new conduction channels and the disappearance of magnetic phase boundary at elevated temperature by the ordering of Mn spins blocked at the grain boundary of sintered samples. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of molecular diffusion has been studied both numerically and experimentally for the case of Stokes flow between two eccentric cylinders. The parameters (eccentricity, time periods, and directions of rotation of the cylinders) are so chosen that for the nondiffusive case, we obtain a mixed phase space of regular and chaotic regions. This enables us to study the relative effects of molecular diffusion in the two kinds of regions of the same flow. The Lagrangian description of a diffusing particle has been modeled by the use of Langevin equation (as done by Aref and Jones in Ref. 1) in which the instantaneous velocity of a particle has a deterministic component (as a result of the flow solution) and a stochastic component (arising out of the Brownian motion of the molecules). The stochastic component is assumed to be a Gaussian process with zero mean and variance proportional to the diffusivity. The numerical investigation is carried out by locating circular blobs of particles in various regions of the given phase space. Each blob is represented by about 1000 evenly distributed points inside a small circle. With a given value of diffusivity, D, our two-cylinder system is stirred by completing three cycles of motion followed by three reverse cycles. For a deterministic case, the particles are expected to return to their initial locations after flow reversal, as has been observed for the case with D = 0. For D > 0, the mean-square separation of the particles from their initial locations has been evaluated with the idea of finding an effective diffusivity for each blob location. The mean-square separations for the stirred cases are then compared with that of the unstirred case for the same value of D. It has been found that the mean-square separation in a regular region is slightly greater than that of the unstiffed case, whereas in the chaotic region it is greater than that of the corresponding unstirred case by an order of magnitude. The reason for this... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birhythmicity is evident in many nonlinear systems, which include physical and biological systems. In some living systems, birhythmicity is necessary for response to the varying environment while unnecessary in some physical systems as it limits their efficiency. Therefore, its control is an important area of research. This paper proposes a space-dependent intermittent control scheme capable of controlling birhythmicity in various dynamical systems. We apply the proposed control scheme in five nonlinear systems from diverse branches of natural science and demonstrate that the scheme is efficient enough to control the birhythmic oscillations in all the systems. We derive the analytical condition for controlling birhythmicity by applying harmonic decomposition and energy balance methods in a birhythmic van der Pol oscillator. Further, the efficacy of the control scheme is investigated through numerical and bifurcation analyses in a wide parameter space. Since the proposed control scheme is general and efficient, it may be employed to control birhythmicity in several dynamical systems., (© 2023 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

Stochasticity or noise is omnipresent in ecosystems that mediates community dynamics. The beneficial role of stochasticity in enhancing species coexistence and, hence, in promoting biodiversity is well recognized. However, incorporating stochastic birth and death processes in excitable slow-fast ecological systems to study its response to biodiversity is largely unexplored. Considering an ecological network of excitable consumer-resource systems, we study the interplay of network structure and noise on species' collective dynamics. We find that noise drives the system out of the excitable regime, and high habitat patch connectance in the ordered as well as random networks promotes species' diversity by inducing new steady states via noise-induced symmetry breaking., (© 2023 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

Biophysical processes often encounter high energy transition states that lie in regions of the free energy landscape (FEL) inaccesible to conventional molecular dynamics simulations. Various enhanced sampling methods have been developed to handle the inherent quasi-nonergodicity, either by adding a biasing potential to the underlying Hamiltonian or by forcing the transitions with parallel tempering. However, when attempting to probe systems of increasing complexity with limited computational resources, there arises an imminent need for fast and efficient FEL exploration with sufficient accuracy. Herein, we present a computationally efficient algorithm based on statistical inference for fast estimation of key features in the two-dimensional FEL. Unlike conventional enhanced sampling methods, this newly developed method avoids direct sampling of high free energy states. Rather, the transition states connecting metastable regions of comparable free energies are estimated using Bayesian likelihood maximization. Furthermore, the method incorporates a tunable self-feedback mechanism with classical molecular dynamics for preventing unnecessary sampling that no more effectively contributes to the underlying distributions of metastable states. We have applied this novel protocol in three independent case studies and compared the results against a conventional method. We conclude with the scope of further developments for improved accuracy of the new method and its generalization toward estimation of features in more complex FELs.

Organic free radicals related to the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) radical are known as photoluminescence-quenchers when coupled to group II-chalcogenide colloidal quantum dots (QDs), but the mechanism responsible for this phenomenon has so far remained unresolved. Using a combination of time-resolved photoluminescence and transient absorption spectroscopies, we demonstrate that photoexcited colloidal CdSe QDs coupled to 4-amino-TEMPO undergo highly efficient reductive quenching, that is, hole transfer from the valence band of the quantum dot to the organic paramagnetic species. Interestingly, the process is shown to occur on a subpicosecond time scale for bound 4AT; such a large rate constant for the extraction of holes from photoexcited CdSe QD by a molecular species is rare and underlines the potential that TEMPO derivatives can play in mediating efficient redox processes involving colloidal CdSe QDs.

Electrorotation is widely used for characterization of biological cells and materials using a rotating electric field. Generally, multiphase AC electric fields and quadrupolar electrode configuration are needed to create a rotating electric field for electrorotation. In this study, we demonstrate a simple method to rotate dielectrophoretically trapped microparticles using a stationary AC electric field. Coplanar interdigitated electrodes are used to create a linearly polarized nonuniform AC electric field. This nonuniform electric field is employed for dielectrophoretic trapping of microparticles as well as for generating electroosmotic flow in the vicinity of the electrodes resulting in rotation of microparticles in a microfluidic device. The rotation of barium titanate microparticles is observed in 2-propanol and methanol solvent at a frequency below 1 kHz. A particle rotation rate as high as 240 revolutions per minute is observed. It is demonstrated that precise manipulation (both rotation rate and equilibrium position) of the particles is possible by controlling the frequency of the applied electric field. At low frequency range, the equilibrium positions of the microparticles are observed between the electrode edge and electrode center. This method of particle manipulation is different from electrorotation as it uses induced AC electroosmosis instead of electric torque as in the case of electrorotation. Moreover, it has been shown that a microparticle can be rotated along its own axis without any translational motion.

Electric field-driven separation and purification techniques, such as isoelectric focusing (IEF) and isotachophoresis, generate heat in the system that can affect the performance of the separation process. In this study, a new mathematical model is presented for IEF that considers the temperature rise due to Joule heating. We used the model to study focusing phenomena and separation performance in a microchannel. A finite volume-based numerical technique is developed to study temperature-dependent IEF. Numerical simulation for narrow range IEF (6 < pH < 10) is performed in a straight microchannel for 100 ampholytes and two model proteins: staphylococcal nuclease and pancreatic ribonuclease. Separation results of the two proteins are obtained with and without considering the temperature rise due to Joule heating in the system for a nominal electric field of 100 V/cm. For the no Joule heating case, constant properties are used, while for the Joule heating case, temperature-dependent titration curves and thermo-physical properties are used. Our numerical results show that the temperature change due to Joule heating has a significant impact on the final focusing points of proteins, which can lower the separation performance considerably. In the absence of advection and any active cooling mechanism, the temperature increase is the highest at the mid-section of a microchannel. We also found that the maximum temperature in the system is a strong function of the [Formula: see text] value of the carrier ampholytes. Simulation results are also obtained for different values of applied electric fields in order to find the optimum working range considering the simulation time and buffer temperature. Moreover, the model is extended to study IEF in a straight microchip where pH is formed by supplying H(+) and OH(-), and the thermal analysis shows that the heat generation is negligible in ion supplied IEF.

Even though isoelectric focusing (IEF) is a very useful technique for sample concentration and separation, it is challenging to extract separated samples for further processing. Moreover, the continuous sample concentration and separation are not possible in the conventional IEF. To overcome these challenges, free flow IEF (FFIEF) is introduced in which a flow field is applied in the direction perpendicular to the applied electric field. In this study, a mathematical model is developed for FFIEF to understand the roles of flow and electric fields for efficient design of microfluidic chip for continuous separation of proteins from an initial well mixed solution. A finite volume based numerical scheme is implemented to simulate two dimensional FFIEF in a microfluidic chip. Simulation results indicate that a pH gradient forms as samples flow downstream and this pH profile agrees well with experimental results validating our model. In addition, our simulation results predict the experimental behavior of pI markers in a FFIEF microchip. This numerical model is used to predict the separation behavior of two proteins (serum albumin and cardiac troponin I) in a two-dimensional straight microchip. The effect of electric field is investigated for continuous separation of proteins. Moreover, a new channel design is presented to increase the separation resolution by introducing cross-stream flow velocity. Numerical results indicate that the separation resolution can be improved by three folds in this new design compare to the conventional straight channel design.

Recent studies show that reduction in cross-sectional area can be used to improve the concentration factor in microscale bioseparations. Due to simplicity in fabrication process, a step reduction in cross-sectional area is generally implemented in microchip to increase the concentration factor. But the sudden change in cross-sectional area can introduce significant band dispersion and distortion. This paper reports a new fabrication technique to form a gradual reduction in cross-sectional area in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microchannel for both anionic and cationic isotachophoresis (ITP). The fabrication technique is based on hot embossing and surface modification assisted bonding method. Both one-dimensional and two-dimensional gradual reduction in cross-sectional area microchannels were formed on PMMA with high fidelity using proposed techniques. ITP experiments were conducted to separate and preconcentrate fluorescent proteins in these microchips. Thousand fold and ten thousand fold increase in concentrations were obtained when 10 × and 100 × gradual reduction in cross-sectional area microchannels were used for ITP.

We study the condition of the occurrence of the rim instability in the solvent-induced dewetting process. Our experimental results show that the film thickness not only greatly influences the occurrence of the rim instability, but also influences the wavelength lambda as characterized by the undulation of the deformed contact line. The molecular weight of polymer does not almost influence the occurrence of the rim instability and the wavelength lambda. The wavelength lambda is proportional to the width of the rim in the rim instability region. The receding contact angle theta of polymer solutions on substrates in the dewetting process is an important factor to influence the rim instability in the solvent-induced dewetting.

X-ray studies performed during the growth of CdCO(3) and MnCO(3) crystals from supersaturated aqueous solutions, at fatty acid monolayer templates, reveal that the nucleates are nearly three-dimensional powders below a threshold supersaturation. However, at higher supersaturations, the crystals are preferentially oriented with the {0 1 2} direction vertical. Scanning electron microscope images of samples transferred to substrates show discrete crystals at low concentrations, while at higher concentrations the crystals self-aggregate to form linear chains and sheets. The authors speculate that preferential alignment at the organic-inorganic interface is enhanced as a consequence of oriented aggregation of crystals. The role of monolayer-ion interactions in governing the morphologies and the resulting orientation of the inorganic nucleate is discussed.