Evidence for the Band‐Edge Exciton of CuInS2 Nanocrystals Enables Record Efficient Large‐Area Luminescent Solar Concentrators

Ternary I‐III‐VI₂ nanocrystals (NCs), such as CuInS₂, are receiving attention as heavy‐metals‐free materials for solar cells, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs), LEDs, and bio‐imaging. The origin of the optical properties of CuInS₂ NCs are however not fully understood. A recent theoretical model suggests that their characteristic Stokes‐shifted and long‐lived luminescence arises from the structure of the valence band (VB) and predicts distinctive optical behaviours in defect‐free NCs: the quadratic dependence of the radiative decay rate and the Stokes shift on the NC radius. If confirmed, this would have crucial implications for LSCs as the solar spectral coverage ensured by low‐bandgap NCs would be accompanied by increased re‐absorption losses. Here, by studying stoichiometric CuInS₂ NCs, it is revealed for the first time the spectroscopic signatures predicted for the free band‐edge exciton, thus supporting the VB‐structure model. At very low temperatures, the NCs also show dark‐state emission likely originating from enhanced electron‐hole spin interaction. The impact of the observed optical behaviours on LSCs is evaluated by Monte Carlo ray‐tracing simulations. Based on the emerging device design guidelines, optical‐grade large‐area (30×30 cm²) LSCs with optical power efficiency (OPE) as high as 6.8% are fabricated, corresponding to the highest value reported to date for large‐area devices.     

History of the “Detector Materials Engineering” Crystal Growth Process for Bulk Hg1−x Cd x Te

This paper reviews the history and technology of a bulk Hg_1?x Cd _x Te crystal growth process that was developed in the early 1980s at Honeywell Electro-Optics Division (presently BAE Systems, Electronic Solutions). The crystal growth process name, DME, was an acronym for the department name: Detector Materials Engineering. This was an accelerated crucible rotation technique (ACRT) vertical traveling heater method growth process. Crystal growth occurred in the pseudobinary Hg_1?x Cd _x Te system. ACRT mixing allowed the lower-density, higher-x-value Hg_1?x Cd _x Te growth nutrient in the upper region of the ampoule to replenish the depleted melt and allowed the growth of constant-x-value, higher-density Hg_1?x Cd _x Te. The material grown by this research and production growth process yielded single crystals that had improved purity, compositional uniformity, precipitate density, and reproducibility in comparison with solid-state recrystallization and other bulk Hg_1?x Cd _x Te growth techniques. Radial and longitudinal nonuniformities in x-value for Hg_1?x Cd _x Te were reduced to <0.0008/cm. The net electrically active background impurities did not exceed 1 × 10¹⁴ cm^?3. Electron mobilities in excess of 1.5 × 10⁶ cm²/V-s were observed at 77 K. Structural defects of less than 10⁴ cm^?2 were measured. Te precipitates were not observed. As a result of these material improvements, long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) photoconductive devices fabricated from DME material had highly desired performance characteristics.     

Adaptive viewpoints for co-browsing on heterogeneous devices

Co-browsing is an activity in which a group of users navigate their way through of a set of Web pages together for a shared purpose. Effective co-browsing among users with different device capabilities requires a shared understanding of those Web pages. This paper demonstrates the concept of shared viewpoints (SVPs), and personal viewpoints (PVPs), for co-browsing, before detailing a framework for implementing these concepts. Finally, the effectiveness of the framework is presented through a perceptual experiment.     

Sparse LCMV beamformer design for suppression of ground clutter inairborne radar

Cancellation of the ground clutter received at an airborne phased array radar is an inherently two dimensional problem. Clutter returns are Doppler shifted due to platform motion forcing the use of processors that can resolve targets in both velocity (Doppler) and azimuth. Fully adaptive processors that operate in both dimensions require prohibitively large computation so that reduced adaptive dimension, or partially adaptive processors must be considered. In conventional partially adaptive linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) beamformer design the approach taken has been to represent the interference subspace with some reduced set of vectors, typically the eigenvectors associated with the largest eigenvalues of the interference covariance matrix. This technique does yield good performance but will not give the optimum performance for a given partially adaptive dimension. In this paper, an off-line method for selecting the “best” degrees of freedom to be retained in a partially adaptive design is presented. The sequential algorithm described selects those degrees of freedom that best minimize the beamformer output mean square error. This approach leads to a sparse structure for the transformation matrix, which when implemented in a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) structure results in a reduction in the computational load. This approach also allows a reduction in the required adaptive dimension as compared to the eigenvector based approach. Illustrative examples demonstrate the effectiveness of this method     

On-demand routing and channel assignment in multi-channel mobile ad hoc networks

The capacity of mobile ad hoc networks is constrained by the intra-flow interference introduced by adjacent nodes on the same path, and inter-flow interference generated by nodes from neighboring paths. By assigning orthogonal channels to neighboring nodes, one can minimize both types of interferences and allow concurrent transmissions within the neighborhood, thus improving the throughput and delay performance of the ad hoc network. In this paper, we present three novel distributed channel assignment protocols for multi-channel mobile ad hoc networks. The proposed protocols combine channel assignment with distributed on-demand routing, and only assign channels to active nodes. They are shown to require fewer channels and exhibit lower communication, computation, and storage complexity, compared with existing approaches. Through simulation studies, we show that the proposed protocols can effectively increase throughput and reduce delay, as compared to several existing schemes, thus providing an effective solution to the low capacity problem in multi-hop wireless networks.     

InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors incorporating carbon-doped bases and superlattice graded base-collector junctions

High performance InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) incorporating carbon-doped bases and graded base-collector junctions implemented using a short period superlattice were grown by gas source MBE (GSMBE). Base hole concentrations up to 1.6*10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/ were obtained, using CCl/sub 4/ as the dopant source. Transistors with 2*10 mu m/sup 2/ emitters achieved f/sub t/ and f/sub max/ values up to 76 and 82 GHz, respectively. These devices demonstrate state of the art values of f/sub max/.<>     

The combustion of large particles of char in bubbling fluidized beds: The dependence of Sherwood number and the rate of burning on particle diameter

Particles of char derived from a variety of fuels (e.g., biomass, sewage sludge, coal, or graphite), with diameters in excess of , burn in fluidized bed combustors containing smaller particles of, e.g., sand, such that the rate is controlled by the diffusion both of O₂ to the burning solid and of the products CO and CO₂ away from it into the particulate phase. It is therefore important to characterize these mass transfer processes accurately. Measurements of the burning rate of char particles made from sewage sludge suggest that the Sherwood number, Sh, increases linearly with the diameter of the fuel particle, dchar (for ). This linear dependence of Sh on dchar is expected from the basic equation Sh=2εmf(1+dchar/2δdiff)/τ, provided the thickness of the boundary layer for mass transfer, δdiff, is constant in the region of interest (). Such a dependence is not seen in the empirical equations currently used and based on the Frössling expression. It is found here that for chars made from sewage sludge (for ), the thickness of the boundary layer for mass transfer in a fluidized bed, δdiff, is less than that predicted by empirical correlations based on the Frössling expression. In fact, δdiff is not more than the diameter of the fluidized sand particles. Finally, the experiments in this study indicate that models based on surface renewal theory should be rejected for a fluidized bed, because they give unrealistically short contact times for packets of fluidized particles at the surface of a burning sphere. The result is the new correlation

     

Frequency-Dependent Attenuation Effects in Pulsed Doppler Ultrasound: Experimental Results

The quantitative capability of pulsed Doppler ultrasound in clinical practice is limited by the effects of frequency-dependent attenuation of ultrasound in tissue, as well as several other spectral-broadening mechanisms which distort the Doppler spectrum of an ultrasonic echo. In this communication, we present results of in vitro experiments which demonstrate the magnitude of the errors expected in clinical measurements of blood flow parameters when frequency-dependent attenuation Of ultrasound in biological tissue is ignored. It is shown that errors as large as 15 percent may occur in Doppler measurements of blood flow velocity through 7 cm of intervening tissue. A comparison is also made between experimental results and a theoretical model which includes the effects of scattering and attenuation.     

The determination of phosphate availability for some less conventional phosphate fertilisers

More than in the case of the other major fertiliser elements the performance of phosphorus in fertilisers in dependent on the state of chemical combination of the element. As distinct from typical American practice where fully acidulated fertilisers are emphasised, some other countries have moved in part to production of materials of less than full acidulation where some reliance is placed on the reactivity of the original phosphate rock. Solutions of various aliphatic acids and their salts have been used as tests for the availability of phosphorus in fully acidulated fertilisers and, to a degree, for phosphate rocks themselves. Less than fully acidulated products are at present assessed in the same way as fully acidulated materials, but in this and other evaluations problems and anomalies arise which are discussed within the framework of a number of fertiliser systems. Analytical data are adduced which illustrate the effects of some extraneous cations on the results achieved which conflict with some previous opinions. Research towards a fuller understanding of the subject is suggested.