Search results for "PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY"
showing 10 items of 8108 documents
Post-AGB candidates in LMC and SMC SALT spectra
2020
We selected a sample of post-AGB candidates in the Magellanic Clouds on the basis of their near- and mid-infrared colour characteristics. Fifteen of the most optically bright post-AGB candidates were observed with the South African Large Telescope in order to determine their stellar parameters and thus to validate or discriminate their nature as post-AGB objects in the Magellanic Clouds. The spectral types of absorption-line objects were estimated according to the MK classification, and effective temperatures were obtained by means of stellar atmosphere modelling. Emission-line objects were classified on the basis of the fluxes of the emission lines and the presence of the continuum. Out of…
Catching the radio flare in CTA 102
2013
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations can resolve the radio structure of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and provide estimates of the structural and kinematic characteristics on parsec-scales in their jets. The changes in the kinematics of the observed jet features can be used to study the physical conditions in the innermost regions of these sources. We performed multifrequency multiepoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the blazar CTA102 during its 2006 radio flare, the strongest ever reported for this source. These observations provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the evolution of the physical properties of blazars, especially during these flaring e…
Modeling epidemics through ladder operators
2020
Highlights • We propose an operatorial model to describe epidemics. • The model describes well the asymptotic numbers of the epidemics. • Ladder operators are used to model exchanges between the “actors” of the system.
Visual cues improve students’ understanding of divergence and curl: Evidence from eye movements during reading and problem solving
2019
The coordination of multiple external representations is important for learning, but yet a difficult task for students, requiring instructional support. The subject in this study covers a typical relation in physics between abstract mathematical equations (definitions of divergence and curl) and a visual representation (vector field plot). To support the connection across both representations, two instructions with written explanations, equations, and visual representations (differing only in the presence of visual cues) were designed and their impact on students’ performance was tested. We captured students’ eye movements while they processed the written instruction and solved subsequent c…
Single Crystal Sub‐Nanometer Sized Cu6(SR)6 Clusters: Structure, Photophysical Properties, and Electrochemical Sensing
2016
Organic ligand-protected metal nanoclusters have attracted extensively attention owing to their atomically precise composition, determined atom-packing structure and the fascinating properties and promising applications. To date, most research has been focused on thiol-stabilized gold and silver nanoclusters and their single crystal structures. Here the single crystal copper nanocluster species (Cu6(SC7H4NO)6) determined by X-ray crystallography and mass spectrometry is presented. The hexanuclear copper core is a distorted octahedron surrounded by six mercaptobenzoxazole ligands as protecting units through a simple bridging bonding motif. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations provide…
Origins of radiation-induced attenuation in pure-silica-core and Ge-doped optical fibers under pulsed x-ray irradiation
2020
We investigated the nature, optical properties, and decay kinetics of point defects causing large transient attenuation increase observed in silica-based optical fibers exposed to short duration and high-dose rate x-ray pulses. The transient radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) spectra of pure-silica-core (PSC), Ge-doped, F-doped, and Ge + F-doped optical fibers (OFs) were acquired after the ionizing pulse in the spectral range of [∼0.8–∼3.2] eV (∼1500–∼380 nm), from a few ms to several minutes after the pulse, at both room temperature (RT) and liquid nitrogen temperature (LNT). Comparing the fiber behavior at both temperatures better highlights the thermally unstable point defects contribut…
Temporal spying and concealing process in fibre-optic data transmission systems through polarization bypass
2014
Recent research has been focused on the ability to manipulate a light beam in such a way to hide, namely to cloak, an event over a finite time or localization in space. The main idea is to create a hole or a gap in the spatial or time domain so as to allow for an object or data to be kept hidden for a while and then to be restored. By enlarging the field of applications of this concept to telecommunications, researchers have recently reported the possibility to hide transmitted data in an optical fibre. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of perpetual temporal spying and blinding process of optical data in fibre-optic transmission line based on polarization bypass. We succes…
Evolution of microstructure and related optical properties of ZnO grown by atomic layer deposition.
2013
A study of transmittance and photoluminescence spectra on the growth of oxygen-rich ultra-thin ZnO films prepared by atomic layer deposition is reported. The structural transition from an amorphous to a polycrystalline state is observed upon increasing the thickness. The unusual behavior of the energy gap with thickness reflected by optical properties is attributed to the improvement of the crystalline structure resulting from a decreasing concentration of point defects at the growth of grains. The spectra of UV and visible photoluminescence emissions correspond to transitions near the band-edge and defect-related transitions. Additional emissions were observed from band-tail states near th…
Stability, electronic structure, and optical properties of protected gold-doped silver Ag29−xAux (x = 0–5) nanoclusters
2017
In this work, we used density functional theory (DFT) and linear response time-dependent DFT (LR-TDDFT) to investigate the stability, electronic structure, and optical properties of Au-doped [Ag29-xAux(BDT)12(TPP)4]3- nanoclusters (BDT: 1,3-benzenedithiol; TPP triphenylphosphine) with x = 0-5. The aim of this work is to shed light on the most favorable doped structures by comparing our results with previously published experimental data. The calculated relative energies, ranging between 0.8 and 10 meV per atom, indicate that several doped Ag29-xAux nanoclusters are likely to co-exist at room temperature. However, only the Au-doped [Ag29-xAux(BDT)12(TPP)4]3- nanoclusters that have direct bon…
Unravelling the Intertwined Atomic and Bulk Nature of Localised Excitons by Attosecond Spectroscopy
2021
The electro-optical properties of most semiconductors and insulators of technological interest are dominated by the presence of electron-hole quasi-particles, called excitons. The manipulation of excitons in dielectrics has recently received great attention, with possible applications in different fields including optoelectronics and photonics. Here, we apply attosecond transient reflection spectroscopy in a sequential two-foci geometry and observe sub-femtosecond dynamics of a core-level exciton in bulk MgF2 single crystals. Furthermore, we access absolute phase delays, which allow for an unambiguous comparison with theoretical calculations. Our results show that excitons surprisingly exhi…