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We propose a novel approach to detect a low power microwave signal with a frequency of the order of several GHz based on a coherent collective response of quantum states occurring in a superconducting qubits network (SQN). An SQN composes of a large number of superconducting qubits embedded in a low-dissipative superconducting resonator. Our theory predicts that an SQN interacting with the off-resonance microwave radiation, demonstrates the collective alternating current Stark effect that can be measured even in the limit of single photon counting. A design of the layout of three terminals SQN detectors containing 10 flux qubits weakly coupled to a low-dissipative R-resonator and T-transmission line was developed. The samples were fabricated by Al-based technology with Nb resonator. The SQN detector was tested in terms of microwave measurements of scattering parameters and two-tone spectroscopy. A substantial shift of the frequency position of the transmission coefficient drop induced by a second tone pump signal was observed, and this effect clearly manifests a nonlinear multiphoton interaction between the second-tone microwave pump signal and an array of qubits.

Acta crystallographica / A 79(2), 145 - 162 (2023). doi:10.1107/S2053273323000682, The recent diversification in macromolecular crystallographic experiments to pink beams, convergent electron diffraction and serial crystallography has shown the limitations of using the Laue equations for diffraction prediction. This publication aims to give a straightforward way of calculating approximate crystal diffraction patterns given varying distributions of the incoming beam, crystal shapes and other potentially hidden parameters. This approach models each pixel of a diffraction pattern and improves data processing of integrated peak intensities by enabling the correction of partially recorded reflections.The fundamental idea is to express the distributions as weighted sums of Gaussian functions., Published by Blackwell, Oxford [u.a.]

4th European Symposium on Superalloys and their Applications, Eurosuperalloys, Bamberg, Germany, 19 Sep 2022 - 22 Sep 2022; Metallurgical and materials transactions / A 54(5), 2037 - 2051 (2023). doi:10.1007/s11661-022-06942-5 special issue: "Processing and Applications of Superalloys", Ni-based superalloys are indispensable for applications in demanding environments, such as the heavily stressed rotating discs in the hot sections of modern gas turbines or jet engines. In this paper, the microstructure evolution during hot deformation to mimic the forging process was investigated in the polycrystalline VDM® Alloy 780 via in situ X-ray diffraction at temperatures of 950, 1000, and 1050 °C. For the tested temperatures, the hot forming led to subgrain formation, the built-up of a texture by rotation of the matrix grains into preferred orientations, and dynamic recrystallization. The influence of the deformation was analyzed depending on the direction of the lattice plane normals to the load direction, for the first five γ-reflections in the diffraction pattern. During uniaxial compressive deformation intensity, maxima develop in the loading direction solely for the γ-(220) reflections, while intensity minima develop for the other reflections which correspond to the formation of a fiber texture. In the transverse direction, all γ-reflections except the (220) have an increased intensity at the maximum specimen strain of 20 pct. Directly after the hot forming, three different cooling rates of 10, 100, and 1000 °C/min and their influence on the microstructure were investigated. The fast and medium cooling rates lead to low recrystallized fractions and a largely preserved deformation texture, whereas the low cooling rate leads to a high recrystallized fraction and a slight remaining texture. Additionally, the diffraction data are complemented by electron microscopy measurements., Published by Springer, Boston

Die Spinresonanz kommt in Kernspintomografen und in Analysegeräten in der Physik, Chemie und Biologie, sowohl in Forschung als auch Industrie zum Einsatz. Eine neue Methode erlaubt Elektronenspinresonanz an einzelnen Atomen und Molekülen in einem Rastertunnelmikroskop und liefert Einblicke in die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Atomen, in die Dynamik ihrer magnetischen Zustände und in die Eigenschaften einzelner Kernspins. Elektronenspins legen den Grundstein für verschiedene magnetische Phänomene und bilden in unterschiedlichen Quantenarchitekturen die Basis für hochsensitive Sensoren oder auch für Quantenbits. Die hier vorgestellte neue Methode gestattet es, einzelne Spins auf atomarer Skala zu messen und zu steuern. Dieser Zugang zu atomaren Quantenzuständen eröffnet auch neue Ansätze in der die Quanteninformationsverarbeitung.

Determination of lattice parameters from 3D electron diffraction (3D ED) data measured in a transmission electron microscope is hampered by a number of effects that seriously limit the achievable accuracy. The distortion of the diffraction patterns by the optical elements of the microscope is often the most severe problem. A thorough analysis of a number of experimental datasets shows that, in addition to the well known distortions, namely barrel-pincushion, spiral and elliptical, an additional distortion, dubbed parabolic, may be observed in the data. In precession electron diffraction data, the parabolic distortion leads to excitation-error-dependent shift and splitting of reflections. All distortions except for the elliptical distortion can be determined together with lattice parameters from a single 3D ED data set. However, the parameters of the elliptical distortion cannot be determined uniquely due to correlations with the lattice parameters. They can be determined and corrected either by making use of the known Laue class of the crystal or by combining data from two or more crystals. The 3D ED data can yield lattice parameter ratios with an accuracy of about 0.1% and angles with an accuracy better than 0.03°.

Acta crystallographica / Section E 78(10), 966-970 (2022). doi:10.1107/S205698902200860X, Published by National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD

Fusion power plants offer the prospect of a new sustainable source of energy for future generations. The design and R&D of future reactors is expected to largely benefit from the experience gained in the design, construction and operation of ITER. However, deploying reliable fusion power plants, requires to overcome the design challenges and to address the remaining readiness gaps. Europe is starting the Conceptual Design Phase for building a superconducting DEMOnstration Fusion Power Plant (DEMO) and starting operations around the middle of the century. The aim is demonstrating the production of 500 MW of net electricity, with a closed tritium fuel cycle and adequate plant availability. For the design of the Superconducting Magnet System several variants of coils have been investigated in the pre-conceptual design phase, which has concluded in 2020. Some of them are very close to ITER design, therefore have a relatively high technology readiness level. The 'alternative' proposed solutions, that are very promising in terms of costs and performances, need a validation to industrial scale in order to be eligible for the down-selection expected in 2024. In particular, the validation regards the design of the layer-wound graded TF winding pack based on React-and-Wind Nb3Sn conductors, and the hybrid, layer-wound graded CS coil. The challenging aspect is that the CS magnet is made of REBCO conductors in high-field, React-and-Wind Nb3Sn conductors in medium field and NbTi conductors in low field. Also innovative techniques need to be studied for insulating critical parts of the coils, as penetrations, discontinuities and joints. The main issues of the technological development are illustrated. A R&D work plan is presented for the Conceptual Design phase to validate the technology within 2024 and demonstrate the operational capabilities by testing superconducting insert coils, that is about 50-m long wound conductors, by 2027

The dynamics of magnetic moments consist of a precession around the magnetic field direction and a relaxation towards the field to minimize the energy. While the magnetic moment and the angular momentum are conventionally assumed to be parallel to each other, at ultrafast time scales their directions become separated due to inertial effects. The inertial dynamics give rise to additional high-frequency modes in the excitation spectrum of magnetic materials. Here, we review the recent theoretical and experimental advances in this emerging topic and discuss the open challenges and opportunities in the detection and the potential applications of inertial spin dynamics., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

Funder: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Funder: Experienced Researcher Fellowship, Funder: DFG Collaborative, Funder: PAPIIT, Funder: Danish National Research Foundation, Funder: JSPS, Funder: STFC Centre for Instrumentation, Funder: UKSA Centre for Earth, Funder: Leverhulme Trust; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000275, Funder: NRF, Funder: Royal Society; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000288, Funder: Australian Government; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100015539, Funder: Cancer Research UK; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000289, Funder: University of Warwick; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000741, Terahertz (THz) radiation encompasses a wide spectral range within the electromagnetic spectrum that extends from microwaves to the far infrared (100 GHz–∼30 THz). Within its frequency boundaries exist a broad variety of scientific disciplines that have presented, and continue to present, technical challenges to researchers. During the past 50 years, for instance, the demands of the scientific community have substantially evolved and with a need for advanced instrumentation to support radio astronomy, Earth observation, weather forecasting, security imaging, telecommunications, non-destructive device testing and much more. Furthermore, applications have required an emergence of technology from the laboratory environment to production-scale supply and in-the-field deployments ranging from harsh ground-based locations to deep space. In addressing these requirements, the research and development community has advanced related technology and bridged the transition between electronics and photonics that high frequency operation demands. The multidisciplinary nature of THz work was our stimulus for creating the 2017 THz Science and Technology Roadmap (Dhillon et al 2017 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 50 043001). As one might envisage, though, there remains much to explore both scientifically and technically and the field has continued to develop and expand rapidly. It is timely, therefore, to revise our previous roadmap and in this 2023 version we both provide an update on key developments in established technical areas that have important scientific and public benefit, and highlight new and emerging areas that show particular promise. The developments that we describe thus span from fundamental scientific research, such as THz astronomy and the emergent area of THz quantum optics, to highly applied and commercially and societally impactful subjects that include 6G THz communications, medical imaging, and climate monitoring and prediction. Our Roadmap vision draws upon the expertise and perspective of multiple international specialists that together provide an overview of past developments and the likely challenges facing the field of THz science and technology in future decades. The document is written in a form that is accessible to policy makers who wish to gain an overview of the current state of the THz art, and for the non-specialist and curious who wish to understand available technology and challenges. A such, our experts deliver a ‘snapshot’ introduction to the current status of the field and provide suggestions for exciting future technical development directions. Ultimately, we intend the Roadmap to portray the advantages and benefits of the THz domain and to stimulate further exploration of the field in support of scientific research and commercial realisation.

Acta crystallographica / F 78(9), 330 - 337 (2022). doi:10.1107/S2053230X22008317, Angiogenin is an unusual member of the RNase A family and is of great interest in multiple pathological contexts. Although it has been assigned various regulatory roles, its core catalytic function is that of an RNA endonuclease. However, its catalytic efficiency is comparatively low and this has been linked to a unique C-terminal helix which partially blocks its RNA-binding site. Assuming that binding to its RNA substrate could trigger a conformational rearrangement, much speculation has arisen on the topic of the interaction of angiogenin with RNA. To date, no structural data on angiogenin–RNA interactions have been available. Here, the structure of angiogenin bound to a double-stranded RNA duplex is reported. The RNA does not reach the active site of angiogenin and no structural arrangement of the C-terminal domain is observed. However, angiogenin forms a previously unobserved crystallographic dimer that makes several backbone interactions with the major and minor grooves of the RNA double helix., Published by Blackwell, Oxford [u.a.]

IUCrJ 9(5), 594 - 603 (2022). doi:10.1107/S2052252522006674, An approach is described for studying texture in nanostructured materials. The approach implements the real-space texture pair distribution function (PDF), txPDF, laid out by Gong & Billinge {(2018[Gong, Z. & Billinge, S. J. L. (2018). arXiv:1805.10342 [cond-mat].]). arXiv:1805.10342 [cond-mat]}. It is demonstrated on a fiber-textured polycrystalline Pt thin film. The approach uses 3D PDF methods to reconstruct the orientation distribution function of the powder crystallites from a set of diffraction patterns, taken at different tilt angles of the substrate with respect to the incident beam, directly from the 3D PDF of the sample. A real-space equivalent of the reciprocal-space pole figure is defined in terms of interatomic vectors in the PDF and computed for various interatomic vectors in the Pt film. Furthermore, it is shown how a valid isotropic PDF may be obtained from a weighted average over the tilt series, including the measurement conditions for the best approximant to the isotropic PDF from a single exposure, which for the case of the fiber-textured film was in a nearly grazing incidence orientation of ∼10°. Finally, an open-source Python software package, FouriGUI, is described that may be used to help in studies of texture from 3D reciprocal-space data, and indeed for Fourier transforming and visualizing 3D PDF data in general., Published by Chester

The 70 kDa heat-shock proteins (Hsp70s) are ATP-dependent molecular chaperones that contain an N-terminal nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) and a C-terminal substrate-binding domain. Hsp70s bind to misfolded/unfolded proteins and thereby prevent their aggregation. The ATP hydrolysis reaction in the NBD plays a key role in allosteric control of the binding of substrate proteins. In the present study, the neutron crystal structure of the NBD of Hsp72, a heat-inducible Hsp70 family member, was solved in complex with ADP in order to study the structure–function relationship with a focus on hydrogens. ADP bound to Hsp72 was fully deprotonated, and the catalytically important residues, including Asp10, Asp199 and Asp206, are also deprotonated. Neutron analysis also enabled the characterization of the water clusters in the NBD. Enzymatic assays and X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed that the Y149A mutation exhibited a higher ATPase activity and caused disruption of the water cluster and incorporation of an additional magnesium ion. Tyr149 was suggested to contribute to the low intrinsic ATPase activity and to stabilize the water cluster. Collectively, these structural studies will help to elucidate the molecular basis of the function of Hsp72.

The Josephson effect of inter-layer s-wave pairing in a double layer of two chiral metals is considered. We employ the duality relation between electron-electron and electron-hole double layers to discuss the zero-energy eigenmodes at a domain wall and their coupling to the superfluid state. This is described in terms of the quasiparticle current and the supercurrent. It turns out that the degeneracy of the zero-energy eigenmodes is resolved by the coupling to the supercurrent. The duality relation between the electron-electron and electron-hole double layers leads to the same current distribution in both systems but to different zero-energy modes., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the International Conference on Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems 2022

Recent achievements in the field of gate defined semiconductor quantum dots reinforce the concept of a spin-based quantum computer consisting of nodes of locally connected qubits which communicate with each other via superconducting circuit resonator photons. In this work we theoretically demonstrate a versatile set of quantum gates between adjacent spin qubits defined in semiconductor quantum dots situated within the same node of such a spin-based quantum computer. The electric dipole acquired by the spin of an electron that moves across a double quantum dot potential in a magnetic field gradient has enabled strong coupling to resonator photons and low-power spin control. Here we show that this flopping-mode spin qubit also provides with the tunability to program multiple two-qubit gates. Since the capacitive coupling between these qubits brings about additional dephasing, we calculate the estimated infidelity of different two-qubit gates in the most immediate possible experimental realizations., 6 pages, 5 figures + 3 pages of supplemental material

Cubic chiral magnets exhibit a remarkable diversity of two-dimensional topological magnetic textures, including skyrmions. However, the experimental confirmation of topological states localized in all three spatial dimensions remains challenging. In this paper, we investigate a three-dimensional topological state called a heliknoton, which is a hopfion embedded into a helix or conic background. We explore the range of parameters at which the heliknoton can be stabilized under realistic conditions using micromagnetic modeling, harmonic transition state theory, and stochastic spin dynamics simulations. We present theoretical Lorentz TEM images of the heliknoton, which can be used for experimental comparison. Additionally, we discuss the stability of the heliknoton at finite temperatures and the mechanism of its collapse. Our study offers a pathway for future experimental investigations of three-dimensional topological solitons in magnetic crystals., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

Atoms 11(5), 80 (2023). doi:10.3390/atoms11050080, Published by MDPI, Basel

The two-dimensional (2D) insulating material hexagonal boron nitride (h BN) has attracted much attention as the active medium in memristive devices due to its favorable physical properties, among others, a wide bandgap that enables a large switching window. Metal filament formation is frequently suggested for h-BN devices as the resistive switching (RS) mechanism, usually supported by highly specialized methods like conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Here, we investigate the switching of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) threshold memristors with two nickel (Ni) electrodes through their current conduction mechanisms. Both the high and the low resistance states are analyzed through temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements. We propose the formation and retraction of nickel filaments along boron defects in the h-BN film as the resistive switching mechanism. We corroborate our electrical data with TEM analyses to establish temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements as a valuable tool for the analysis of resistive switching phenomena in memristors made of 2D materials. Our memristors exhibit a wide and tunable current operation range and low stand-by currents, in line with the state of the art in h-BN-based threshold switches, a low cycle-to-cycle variability of 5%, and a large On/Off ratio of 10${^7}$., Comment: 39 pages

Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g., combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g., smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and electromagnetic power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyzes the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere.

Atoms 11(3), 50 (2023). doi:10.3390/atoms11030050, Published by MDPI, Basel

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 provides a pathway to a sustainable carbon cycle, allowing for the production of hydrocarbons critical for both chemical industry and mobility. Major engineering challenges need to be met in order to achieve efficient and large‐scale CO2 electrolysis. One central challenge is to find the optimum structure for the gas diffusion electrode at the heart of the electrolyzer. An optimum structure will achieve higher conversion efficiencies, lifetime, and product selectivity at lower cost. Critical structural properties of the electrode span the scale from nanometers to millimeters. To rationalize the optimization process, it behooves us to obtain a fully resolved multi‐scale model of the electrode. This digital twin, produced by bridging scale and employing multiple imaging methods, enables the digital study, simulation, and modification of the structure of the electrode. The model is used to simulate the transport processes vital to the functioning of the electrode thus further advancing the digital twin. Subsequently, it is explored how changes to the structure affect the predicted transport properties. The digital twin presented is only supposed to be the kernel and will be complemented by numerous future works.

This work presents a robust method that minimises the impact of user-selected parameter on the identification of generic models to study the coherent dynamics in turbulent flows. The objective is to gain insight into the flow dynamics from a data-driven reduced order model (ROM) that is developed from measurement data of the respective flow. For an efficient separation of the coherent dynamics, spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) is used, projecting the flow field onto a low-dimensional subspace, so that the dominating dynamics can be represented with a minimal number of modes. A function library is defined using polynomial combinations of the temporal modal coefficients to describe the flow dynamics with a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The most important library functions are identified in a two-stage cross-validation procedure (conservative and restrictive sparsification) and combined in the final model. In the first stage, the process uses a simple approximation of the derivative to match the model with the data. This stage delivers a reduced set of possible library function candidates for the model. In the second, more complex stage, the model of the entire flow is integrated over a short time and compared with the progression of the measured data. This restrictive stage allows a robust identification of nonlinearities and modal interactions in the data and their representation in the model. The method is demonstrated using data from particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of a circular cylinder undergoing vortex-induced vibration (VIV) at $$\mathrm{Re}=4000$$ Re = 4000 . It delivers a reduced order model that reproduces the average dynamics of the flow and reveals the interaction of coexisting flow dynamics by the model structure.

Journal of low temperature physics LTD19, 9 (2022). doi:10.1007/s10909-022-02732-w, Published by Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Dordrecht

We present guidelines to estimate the effect of electrostatic repulsion in sedimenting dilute particle suspensions. Our results are based on combined Langevin dynamics and lattice Boltzmann simulations for a range of particle radii, Debye lengths and particle concentrations. They show a simple relationship between the slope $K$ of the concentration-dependent sedimentation velocity and the range $\chi$ of the electrostatic repulsion normalized by the average particle-particle distance. When $\chi \to 0$, the particles are too far away from each other to interact electrostatically and $K=6.55$ as predicted by the theory of Batchelor. As $\chi$ increases, $K$ likewise increases as if the particle radius increased in proportion to $\chi$ up to a maximum around $\chi=0.4$. Over the range $\chi=0.4-1$, $K$ relaxes exponentially to a concentration-dependent constant consistent with known results for ordered particle distributions. Meanwhile the radial distribution function transitions from a disordered gas-like to a liquid-like form. Power law fits to the concentration-dependent sedimentation velocity similarly yield a simple master curve for the exponent as a function of $\chi$, with a step-like transition from 1 to 1/3 centered around $\chi = 0.6$., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

Soft glasses of colloidal rods ( fd-virus particles) with orientational domains were recently shown to exhibit inhomogeneous flow profiles [Dhont et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 043301 (2017)]: fracture and accompanied plug flow at small shear rates, which transits to gradient shear-banding on increasing the shear rate, while a uniform flow profile develops at sufficiently high shear rates. These flow profiles coexist with Taylor-vorticity bands. The texture of such glasses under flow conditions consists of domains with varying orientations. The observed gradient shear-banding was solely attributed to the strong shear thinning behavior of the material inside the domains (henceforth abbreviated as domain-interior), without considering the texture stress that is due to interactions between the glassy domains. Here, we present new experiments on the shear-banding transition to assess the role played by the texture stress in comparison to the domain-interior stress. For a large concentration, well into the glassy state, it is found that both texture stress and domain-interior stress contribute significantly to the gradient shear-banding transition in the shear-rate region where it occurs. On the other hand, for a small concentration close to the glass-transition concentration, the domains are shown to coalesce within the shear-rate range where gradient shear-banding is observed. As a result, the texture stress diminishes and the domain-interior stress increases upon coalescence, leading to a stress plateau. Thus, a subtle interplay exists between the stresses arising from the structural order on two widely separated length scales from interactions between domains and from the rod-rod interactions within the domain-interior for both concentrations.

The rapid development of smart electronics devices has stimulated intensive research on flexible supercapacitors with high mechanical tolerance and energy density. Up to date, most of the asymmetric devices are fabricated using carbon-based materials as negative electrode materials. However, the lower capacitance of carbon-based materials limited its applicability widely. Also, the device unavoidably carries unnecessary mass and volume, leads to poor contact and performance to repeated bending of devices, and occupies more space in the electronics devices. Herein, we prepared flexible, light-weight, and thin graphite paper current collectors to fabricate flexible supercapacitors. Further, the titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) coatings were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering over a flexible and light-weight graphite substrate as a potential negative electrode. The presence of nitrogen content in transition metal oxynitrides adds wettability to the material; hence more electrolyte ions get adsorps onto the surface of the electrode owing to their hydrophilic nature. The resultant TiOxNy/graphite electrode exhibited a high areal capacitance of 62 mF cm−2 and also showed 100% capacitance retention even after 1500 GCD cycles. The results of a series of tests indicated that the flexible electrode has better capacitive performance, suggesting that as-prepared film is a favorable candidate for light-weight and flexible supercapacitors. published

Soft matter 18(26), 4983-4990 (2022). doi:10.1039/D2SM00182A, Published by Royal Soc. of Chemistry, London

We demonstrate the efficient transfer of population from the upper to the lower inversion level within the rotational ground state of para-ND (Formula presented.). A packet of ND (Formula presented.) molecules is velocity controlled and state selected using a Stark decelerator, and subsequently transferred with (Formula presented.) efficiency using the principles of adiabatic rapid passage. Transitions are induced using microwave chirps both under zero-field conditions as well as in the presence of an electric field to probe (Formula presented.) -resolved transition efficiencies. Simulations of the transfer efficiencies based on the von Neumann equation, taking all hyperfine transitions into account, showed excellent agreement with experimental observations.

Journal of fluid mechanics 957, A8 (2023). doi:10.1017/jfm.2023.56, Published by Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge [u.a.]

The nature of superconductivity in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides is still an object of debate. It has already been argued that repulsive Coulomb interactions, combined with the disjoint Fermi surfaces around the $K$, $K'$ valleys and at the $\Gamma$ point, can lead to superconducting instabilities in monolayer NbSe$_2$. Here, we demonstrate the two bands nature of superconductivity in NbSe$_2$. It arises from the competition of repulsive long range intravalley and short range intervalley interactions together with Ising spin-orbit coupling. The two distinct superconducting gaps, one for each spin-orbit split band, consist of a mixture of s-wave and f-wave components. Their different amplitudes are due to different normal densities of states of the two bands at the Fermi level. Using a microscopic multiband BCS approach, we derive and self-consistently solve the gap equation, demonstrating the stability of nontrivial solutions in a realistic parameter range. We find a universal behavior of the temperature dependence of the gaps and of the critical in-plane field which is consistent with various sets of existing experimental data., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures

Materials science and engineering / A 144315, 144315 (2022). doi:10.1016/j.msea.2022.144315, The hypo-eutectic medium entropy alloy Al$_{0.75}$CrFeNi$_{2.1}$ was processed by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The off-equilibrium solidification conditions prohibited coupled eutectic growth. Instead, the primary face centered cubic phase A1(FCC) solidified with a cellular morphology and the body centered, initially ordered B2(BCC) phase formed as a thin intercellular envelope. During post-build annealing an ultrafine quasi-lamellar pattern evolved following BCC growth and coarsening. The novel solid state transformation from cellular to lamellar morphology was attributed to a pronounced anisotropy of the FCC|BCC phase boundary energy. Microstructure evolution was also studied during continuous heating using in situ high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction (HEXRD) carried out at the beamline P07-HEMS of PETRA III (German Electron Synchrotron, DESY). The ultrafine and nano-scale features of the microstructure were quantitatively analyzed by atom probe tomography (APT) in the as-built condition and after isothermal annealing at 950 °C. The benefits of LPBF processing were discussed on the basis of mechanical properties measured by 3-point bending. The estimated tensile properties after annealing at 950 °C/6 h reached YS ≈ 860 MPa, UTS ≈1384 MPa with an elongation at fracture of ≈11%. Tensile properties in the as-built condition were comparable to martensitic steels., Published by Elsevier, Amsterdam

This study reports high-pressure structural and spectroscopic studies on polycrystalline cubic chromium spinel compound LiInCr4O8. According to pressure-dependent X-ray diffraction measurements, three structural phase transitions occur at ∼14 GPa, ∼19 GPa, and ∼36 GPa. The first high-pressure phase is indexed to the low-temperature tetragonal phase of the system which coexists with the ambient phase before transforming to the second high-pressure phase at ∼19 GPa. The pressure-dependent Raman and infrared spectroscopic measurements show a blue-shift of the phonon modes and the crystal field excitations and an increase in the bandgap under compression. During pressure release, the sample reverts to its ambient cubic phase, even after undergoing multiple structural transitions at high pressures. The experimental findings are compared to the results of first principles based structural and phonon calculations.

Memristive valence change memory (VCM) cells show a strong non-linearity in the switching kinetics which is induced by a temperature increase. In this respect, thermal crosstalk can be observed in highly integrated crossbar arrays which may impact the resistance state of adjacent devices. Additionally, due to the thermal capacitance, a VCM cell can remain thermally active after a pulse and thus influence the temperature conditions for a possible subsequent pulse. By using a finite element model of a crossbar array, it is shown that spatio-temporal thermal correlations can occur and are capable of affecting the resistive state of adjacent cells. This new functional behavior can potentially be used for future neuromorphic computing applications.

We present an X-ray-optical cross-correlator for the soft (> 150 eV) up to the hard X-ray regime based on a molybdenum-silicon superlattice. The cross-correlation is done by probing intensity and position changes of superlattice Bragg peaks caused by photoexcitation of coherent phonons. This approach is applicable for a wide range of X-ray photon energies as well as for a broad range of excitation wavelengths and requires no external fields or changes of temperature. Moreover, the cross-correlator can be employed on a 10 ps or 100 fs time scale featuring up to 50% total X-ray reflectivity and transient signal changes of more than 20%. (C) 2016 Author(s)., Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe; 1331

Materials science and engineering / A 878, 145233 (2023). doi:10.1016/j.msea.2023.145233, neeringalloys, depending on their composition and thermomechanical processing. Up to now, several worksaimed at improving the mechanical properties and discovering different HEAs given the extremely largecompositional possibilities made available by the multicomponent approach associated to these materials. Theirprocessability, however, is an important topic that must be studied. Welding is a key manufacturing techniquethat will eventually be applied to HEAs. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the microstructure and propertychanges induced by the weld thermal cycles, to assess the suitability of certain welding process/HEAs combinationsfor possible industrial applications. In the present work, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) was used toachieve defect-free joints based on a novel transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) Fe$_{50}$Mn$_{30}$Co$_{10}$Cr$_{10}$ HEA. Themicrostructure and mechanical behavior of the joints were assessed by means of optical and electron microscopy,synchrotron X-ray diffraction, thermodynamical calculations, microhardness mapping and tensile testing.Overall, an excellent mechanical performance was obtained on the resulting joints, opening the door for theiradoption in real-life applications., Published by Elsevier, Amsterdam

We measure telegraph noise of current fluctuations in an electrostatically defined quantum dot in bilayer graphene by real-time detection of single electron tunneling with a capacitively coupled neighboring quantum dot. Suppression of the second and third cumulant (related to shot noise) in a tunable graphene quantum dot is demonstrated experimentally. With this method we demonstrate the ability to measure very low current and noise levels. Furthermore, we use this method to investigate the first spin excited state, an essential prerequisite to measure spin relaxation., Physical Review Research, 5 (1), ISSN:2643-1564

The great progress in organic photovoltaics (OPV) over the past few years has been largely achieved by the development of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs), with power conversion efficiencies now approaching 20%. To further improve device performance, loss mechanisms must be identified and minimized. Triplet states are known to adversely affect device performance, since they can form energetically trapped excitons on low-lying states that are responsible for non-radiative losses or even device degradation. Halogenation of OPV materials has long been employed to tailor energy levels and to enhance open circuit voltage. Yet, the influence on recombination to triplet excitons has been largely unexplored. Using the complementary spin-sensitive methods of photoluminescence detected magnetic resonance (PLDMR) and transient electron paramagnetic resonance (trEPR) corroborated by transient absorption and quantum-chemical calculations, we unravel exciton pathways in OPV blends employing the polymer donors PBDB-T, PM6 and PM7 together with NFAs Y6 and Y7. All blends reveal triplet excitons on the NFA populated via non-geminate hole back transfer and, in blends with halogenated donors, also by spin-orbit coupling driven intersystem crossing. Identifying these triplet formation pathways in all tested solar cell absorber films highlights the untapped potential for improved charge generation to further increase plateauing OPV efficiencies., Comment: 43 pages, 25 figures

Silver (Ag) pastes are widely used in the global market for most solar cell architectures. Thereby, lead (Pb) is no longer wanted in productions for environmental reasons. In this work, a model for the contact formation between Pb-free, tellurium oxide (TeO2) containing screen-printable Ag pastes and silicon is presented. It is shown that Te plays a key role in this model. Te is not only an important part in etching the surface passivation layers with TeO2 dissolving the dielectric layer but also for a formation of the contacts with Te forming a compound consisting of Ag2Te. Using EDX mapping, local contact regions can be examined and interpreted for contact formation. The used paste system enables far more flexible paste mixturing leading to a novel developed commercial paste which is on a par with other pastes used in industry concerning the resulting contact properties. This is also demonstrated in this work by the very low contact resistivity of less than 1 mΩcm2 over a wide range of firing peak temperatures. It is additionally shown that good resistivities can be achieved on both n+- and p+-doped regions.

Journal of sound and vibration 542, 117353 (2023). doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2022.117353, Published by Academic Press, London

Atoms 11(2), 22 (2023). doi:10.3390/atoms11020022, Published by MDPI, Basel

Vacuum : surface engineering, surface instrumentation & vacuum technology 213, 112121 (2023). doi:10.1016/j.vacuum.2023.112121, Published by Elsevier Science, Amsterdam [u.a.]

Metallurgical and materials transactions / A 54(4), 1083 - 1100 (2023). doi:10.1007/s11661-022-06948-z, The martensitic transformation was studied by in situ and ex situ experiments in two high-carbon, 0.54 and 0.74 wt pct C, steels applying three different cooling rates, 15 °C/s, 5 °C/s, and 0.5 °C/s, in the temperature range around Ms, to improve the understanding of the evolution of martensite tetragonality c/a and phase fraction formed during the transformation. The combination of in situ high-energy X-ray diffraction during controlled cooling and spatially resolved tetragonality c/a determination by electron backscatter diffraction pattern matching was used to study the transformation behavior. The cooling rate and the different Ms for the steels had a clear impact on the martensitic transformation with a decrease in average tetragonality due to stronger autotempering for a decreasing cooling rate and higher Ms. A slower cooling rate also resulted in a lower fraction of martensite at room temperature, but with an increase in fraction of autotempered martensite. Additionally, a heterogeneous distribution of martensite tetragonality was observed for all cooling rates., Published by Springer, Boston

The estimation and measurement of AC losses in coils based on high-temperature superconductors (HTS) are relevant aspects of HTS applications. They influence the cooling power requirement, operating temperature and efficiency, which can be decisive in the construction and implementation of superconducting equipment, such as superconducting electrical machines. The measurement of losses due to AC transport current (without external magnetic field) is not an easy task. Several efforts have been made to measure these AC transport losses in superconducting coils with a calorimetric approach by trying to minimize the influence of the environment, improve the accuracy and ensure the reproducibility of the results. This work presents the design and construction of a setup to measure transport AC losses in high-temperature superconducting coils based on a calorimetric approach (boil-off method). The evaporated cryogen (nitrogen) related to the dissipation of energy is collected by using a 3D printed bubble collector that guides the gas into a flow sensor. A box-inside-a-box approach is used to surround the measurement chamber with a cryogenic environment. This approach allows re-directing the heat transfer from the surroundings into an intermediate zone (space between external and internal box). Since this intermediate zone operates under cryogenic temperatures, the noise and the heat transfer in the internal part of the setup are reduced. A statistical analysis of the results based on a standard load cycle, average value, and standard deviation calculations allows assessing the variability in the measurements and expressing the results as average value and uncertainty range. The calibration and reproducibility of the measurements are verified with a set of resistors under different conditions and during different weeks. Finally, the AC transport losses in a racetrack coil for an electrical machine application are measured and compared with 3D simulation results based on the homogenization of the T-A formulation.

Physica status solidi / A 220, 2200646 (2023). doi:10.1002/pssa.202200646, Amorphous Cu–Sn–I is a promising p-type transparent semiconductor. Therefore, herein, composition and structure of sputtered Cu–Sn–I thin films with varying thickness and Sn content are investigated by different electron microscopy techniques, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Cu, Sn, and I K-edge. After exposure to air, the sputtered films are found to contain significant amounts of oxygen, leading to a complete phase separation of the resulting Cu–Sn–I–O films. Spatially-resolved compositional analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveal that one phase consists of crystalline $γ$-CuI while the other phase is composed of amorphous Cu–Sn–O, most likely a mixture of SnO$_2$ and Cu$_2$O/CuO. X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms that the local structural environment of the Sn and I atoms is similar to that in amorphous SnO$_2$ and crystalline CuI, respectively. In contrast, the X-ray absorption near edge structure and the extended X-ray absorption fine structure of the Cu K-edge both demonstrate that Cu atoms are not only bonded to I but also to O atoms. The incorporation of oxygen into the sputtered films thus completely alters the material and therefore clearly needs to be inhibited., Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

The present study aims at estimating the heat and the mass transfer coefficients in the case of the polyatomic gas flows through long rectangular microchannels driven by small and large pressure (Poiseuille flow) and temperature (Thermal creep flow) drops. The heat and mass transfer coefficients are presented for all gas flow regimes, from free molecular up to hydrodynamic ones, and for channels with different aspect ratios as well as for various values of translational and rotational Eucken factors. The applied values of the Eucken factors were extracted based on the Rayleigh-Brillouin experiments and the kinetic theory of gases. The numerical study has been performed on the basis of a kinetic model for linear and non-linear gas molecules considering the translational and rotational degrees of freedom. The solution of the obtained system of the kinetic equations is implemented on the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), allowing the reduction of the computational time by two orders of magnitude. The results show that the Poiseuille mass transfer coefficient is not affected by the internal degrees of freedom and the non-dependence of the previous observed deviations with the experimental data on the molecular nature of the gas molecules is confirmed. However, the study shows that the deviation between monatomic and polyatomic values of the mass transfer coefficient in the thermal creep flow is increased as the gas rarefaction is decreased, and for several polyatomic gases met in practical applications in the temperature range from 300 to 900 K might reach 15%. In addition, the effect of the internal degrees of freedom on the heat transfer coefficient is found to be rather significant. The polyatomic heat transfer coefficients are obtained essentially higher than the monatomic ones, with the maximum difference reaching about 44% and 67% for linear and non-linear gas molecules. In view of the large differences between monatomic and polyatomic gases, the present results may be useful in the design of technological devices in which the thermal creep phenomenon plays a dominant role.

Atoms 11(1), 2 (2023). doi:10.3390/atoms11010002, Published by MDPI, Basel

Journal of vacuum science & technology : JVST / A 41(3), 033009 (2023). doi:10.1116/6.0002555, Published by American Vacuum Society, New York, NY

Physics of fluids 35(1), 016126 (2023). doi:10.1063/5.0131457, We explore the pressure evolution and structural dynamics of transient phase transitions in a microfluidic water jet after laser-induced dielectric breakdown. To this end, we use a combined approach of near-field holography with single femtosecond x-ray free-electron laser pulses and x-ray diffraction. During cavitation and jet breakup, we observe shock wave emission along the jet. The formation of the shockwave is accompanied by pronounced changes in the structure factor of water as an evidence by a shift in the water diffraction peak. This indicates a transition to a high density liquid structure induced by the transient pressure increase., Published by American Institute of Physics, [Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar]

Journal of physics / D 56(3), 035102 (2022). doi:10.1088/1361-6463/aca2b8, Published by IOP Publ., Bristol