Search results for "Metastability"
showing 10 items of 262 documents
VUV irradiance measurement of a 2.45 GHz microwave-driven hydrogen discharge
2015
Absolute values of VUV-emission of a 2.45 GHz microwave-driven hydrogen discharge are reported. The measurements were performed with a robust and straightforward method based on a photodiode and optical filters. It was found that the volumetric photon emission rate in the VUV-range (80-250 nm) is $10^{16}$-$10^{17}$ 1/cm$^3$s, which corresponds to approximately 8% dissipation of injected microwave power by VUV photon emission. The volumetric emission of characteristic emission bands was utilized to diagnostics of molecular plasma processes including volumetric rates of ionization, dissociation and excitation to high vibrational levels and metastable states. The estimated reaction rates impl…
Two-dimensional hydrogenated buckled gallium arsenide: an ab initio study
2020
First-principles calculations have been carried out to investigate the stability, structural and electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) hydrogenated GaAs with three possible geometries: chair, zigzag-line and boat configurations. The effect of van der Waals interactions on 2D H-GaAs systems has also been studied. These configurations were found to be energetic and dynamic stable, as well as having a semiconducting character. Although 2D GaAs adsorbed with H tends to form a zigzag-line configuration, the energy differences between chair, zigzag-line and boat are very small which implies the metastability of the system. Chair and boat configurations display a [Formula: see text]-[Formu…
Measurement of the self-intermediate scattering function of suspensions of hard spherical particles near the glass transition
1998
Dynamic light-scattering measurements are reported for suspensions at concentrations in the vicinity of the glass transition. In a mixture of identically sized but optically different particles having hard-sphere-like interactions, we project out the incoherent (or self-) intermediate scattering functions by adjusting the refractive index of the suspending liquid until scattering from the structure is suppressed. Due to polydispersity, crystallization is sufficiently slow so that good estimates of ensemble-averaged quantities can be measured for the metastable fluid states. Crystallization of the suspensions is still exploited, however, to set the volume fraction scale in terms of effective…
On the Ground State Structure of Adsorbed Monolayers: Can One Find them by Monte Carlo Simulation?
2002
While the classical ground state structure of an atomic monolayer adsorbed at a noncorrugated perfectly flat substrate trivially is a triangular lattice, the spacing being the minimum of the interatomic potential, nontrivial structures occur on corrugated substrates. This problem is exemplified for the (100) face of a face-centered cubic crystal, varying both the density of the adsorbed monolayer and the strength of the potential due to the surface. Increasing the density beyond that of the commensurate c(2 x 2) structure, incommensurate patterns become stable with “heavy” walls (HW) oriented along the face diagonals [including the “crossing heavy walls” (CRHW) phase]. It is shown that slow…
First-principles study of the electronic structure of cubicGaS: Metallic versus insulating polymorphs
2007
The electronic structure of different polymorphs of gallium sulphide $(\mathrm{GaS})$ with cubic structure is investigated by means of first-principles band structure calculations in connection with experimental reports on a metastable semiconducting cubic form of this material. The expected metallic character of simple cubic phases containing one $\mathrm{GaS}$ group per unit cell (rocksalt or zinc-blende) is confirmed by the calculations. A cubane-based zinc-blende structure is found to exhibit a band gap which is compatible with experimental results but the unit cell parameter is much larger than the reported ones. We have also studied cubic phases containing hydrogen. It is found that t…
Evidence for Graphene Edges Beyond Zigzag and Armchair
2009
The edges of nanoscopic objects determine most of their properties. For this reason the edges of honeycomb carbon--always considered either zigzag- or armchair-like--need special attention. In this report we provide experimental evidence confirming a previous unexpected prediction: zigzag is a metastable edge, as its planar reconstruction lowers energy and forms the most stable graphene edge. Our evidence is based on re-analyzing a recent experiment. Since the reconstructed edge, along with other unconventional edges we discuss, has distinct chemical properties, this discovery urges for care in experiments and theory--we must enter the realm beyond zigzag and armchair.
Phase separation of binary mixtures in thin films: Effects of an initial concentration gradient across the film.
2012
We study the kinetics of phase separation of a binary (A,B) mixture confined in a thin film of thickness $D$ by numerical simulations of the corresponding Cahn-Hilliard-Cook (CHC) model. The initial state consisted of 50$%$ A:50$%$ B with a concentration gradient across the film, i.e., the average order parameter profile is ${\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{\mathrm{av}}(z,t=0)=(2z/D\ensuremath{-}1){\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{g},\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}0\ensuremath{\leqslant}z\ensuremath{\leqslant}D$, for various choices of ${\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{g}$ and $D$. The equilibrium state (for time $t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$) consists of coexisting A-rich and B-rich domains separated by interfac…
3d
1999
We have measured the lifetime of the metastable 3D 5/2 level in Ca+ using the “quantum jump" technique on a single stored and laser cooled ion in a linear Paul trap. We found a linear dependence of the measured decay rate on the power of the laser which repumps the ions from the long lived 3D 3/2 level. This can be explained by off-resonant depletion of the 3D 5/2 level. The proper lifetime of this level is obtained by a linear extrapolation of the measured lifetime to zero laser power. We obtain 1100(18) ms in agreement with theoretical calculations. The observed systematic change of the decay rate resolves discrepancies between earlier experiments in which this effect had not been conside…
VUV diagnostic of electron impact processes in low temperature molecular hydrogen plasma
2015
Novel methods for diagnostics of molecular hydrogen plasma processes, such as ionization, production of high vibrational levels, dissociation of molecules via excitation to singlet and triplet states and production of metastable states, are presented for molecular hydrogen plasmas in corona equilibrium. The methods are based on comparison of rate coefficients of plasma processes and optical emission spectroscopy of lowest singlet and triplet transitions, i.e. Lyman-band ($B^1\Sigma^+_u \rightarrow X^1\Sigma^+_g$) and molecular continuum ($a^3\Sigma^+_g \rightarrow b^3\Sigma^+_u$), of the hydrogen molecule in VUV wavelength range. Comparison of rate coefficients of spin-allowed and/or spin-f…
Surface effects on kinetics of ordering
1992
We study the effects of surfaces on the kinetics of phase changes in Ising-type systems. If the surface effects can be modelled by a field which couples linearly to the local order parameter, the growth of wetting or drying layers occurs. The numerical solution of the corresponding time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation yields a temporally logarithmic growth for the thickness of a wetting (drying) layer growing from an unstable dry (wet) state. On the other hand, if one starts off with a metastable state, the radius of a supercritical plug (wet or dry) grows linearly in time, in accordance with recent experimental results.