Reproducibility of plastic measurements: The need to modify State Standard GOST 1186-87

A very important characteristic of coking coal is its clinkering ability, i.e., its ability to form a nonvolatile solid residue, consisting of disparate grains, on heating in specific conditions. The clinkering ability of the coal is determined by the properties of its plastic mass. Various methods may be used to evaluate the plastic-ductile properties of the coal. However, since the 1930s, the main method used to evaluate the clinkering properties of coal, within the nations of the former Soviet Union, has been the Sapozhnikov-Bazilevich plastometric method, because it provides more information than competing approaches. For the same reason, the thickness of the plastic layer, which is one of the parameters determined by this method, is used for coal classification in State Standard GOST 25543-88 (Lignite, Coal, and Anthracite: Genetic and TEchnological Classification) and its Ukrainian counterpart DSTU 3472-96 (Lignite, Coal, and Anthracite: Classification). This explains the strict requirements on the accuracy and reliability of the plastometric characteristics.     

Study of the microstructure of ceramics from different producers used for protecting precious metal thermocouples

Results are provided for a study of the microstructure of ceramics from four different producers by means of a scanning electron microscope and x-ray microanalysis. Results show that ceramic specimens often do not correspond to claimed parameters. The main disadvantages are ceramic structural inhomogeneity, presence of phases of a different nature, intergranular pores and cracks, and alkali impurities. The ceramics of only one producer correspond to the main parameters for this class, and this is provided by high production technology and starting material quality. Translated from Novye Ogneupory, No. 7, pp. 31–35, July 2008.     

Introduction of microdoses of germanium and indium dopants into the bulk and surface layers of semiconductor materials

A technique is proposed for introducing microdoses (10^?5–10^?10 g) of germanium and indium metals into semiconductor compounds by coulometric titration in a solid electrolyte cell. The solid electrolytes that are reversible with respect to germanium cations (the GeSe-GeI₂ system containing 5 mol % GeI₂) and indium cations (the InCl₃-MgCl₂ system containing 15 mol % MgCl₂, the InCl₃-CdCl₂ system containing 1.5 mol % CdCl₂, and the In₂S₃-InCl₃ system containing 5 mol % InCl₃) are chosen, and their electric transport properties are characterized. The optimum conditions for electrochemical doping (temperature, current density), under which the current efficiency reaches 90–100%, are determined. The doping with germanium and indium is performed for nonstoichiometric compounds, such as lead monotelluride, indium sulfide, and ternary chalcogenide spinel Cd_{1 ± δ}Cr₂Se₄. The doping efficiency is controlled by measuring the electromotive force of the corresponding electrochemical cells and the Hall effect, as well as using the electrical conductivity method. The solid electrolytes that are reversible with respect to indium are used to determine the standard Gibbs energies of formation of a number of indium-containing semiconductors.     

Generalized ACE Constrained Progressive Edge-Growth LDPC Code Design

In this letter, we propose a generalization of the progressive edge-growth (PEG) algorithm with the aim of designing LDPC code graphs with substantially improved approximated cycle extrinsic message degree (ACE) properties. The proposed realization of generalized PEG algorithm outperforms original PEG algorithm and its subsequent modification proposed by Xiao and Banihashemi.     

Optical orientation of holes in strained nanostructures

A theory describing the optical orientation and Hanle effect for holes in quantum wells or quantum dots based on cubic semiconductors is developed. It is demonstrated that the presence of internal or external strain in quantum-confinement heterostructures leads to the dependence of the Hanle effect on the orientation of the magnetic field with respect to the heterostructure growth axis.     

Efficient digitization of compound analog signals

The problems related to digitization of sonar compound analog sounding signals reflected from a target are considered. With the use of mathematical simulation, it is shown that, in the case of the most efficient Kotel’nikov digitization, errors occur that impede correct correlation signal processing. This difficulty can be overcome via a reduction of the sampling interval by a factor of 2 to 4 relative to the interval proposed by Kotel’nikov.     

Bistable amphoteric centers in semiconductors

It is shown that, at thermodynamic equilibrium, the release of charge carriers from the localized states of bistable amphoteric centers into quasi-free states depends on the degree of compensation. This brings about different functional dependences of the concentration of free charge carriers on temperature. It is found that, in uncompensated semiconductors, the concentration of free charge carriers follows the same dependence in the case of bistable amphoteric centers and bistable amphoteric U ^? centers, although the distributions of charge carriers over the charge states and configurations are different for these types of centers. The results can be used for interpreting various experimental data insufficiently explained in the context of the traditional approach.     

Enhancing Chaotic Communication Performances by Manchester Coding

A numerical analysis of an optical chaotic transmission system, based on the synchronization of two chaotic lasers, in a master-slave closed loop configuration is presented. At the transmitter, the master chaotic wave is superposed on the information message; at the receiver, the message is recovered by subtracting the synchronized slave chaotic wave from the received signal. The performances are analyzed in terms of the Q-factor, considering two different message modulation formats: the nonreturn-to-zero and the Manchester coding. The Manchester coding shows enhanced performances due to the shift of the signal spectrum to higher frequencies.     

A Novel Ordered Nanopore Array Diode Laser

In this work, we have created a new type of structure, the nanopore active layer, for achieving quantization of carrier states in a semiconductor. The nanopore structure consists of a periodic two-dimensional array of localized energy barriers perturbing an otherwise conventional quantum well. This perturbation leads to the formation of intraband forbidden energy gaps which are observed experimentally.     

Potential applications of LF-noise spectroscopy to the development of new-generation gas sensors

The solution proposed relates to flicker-noise gas sensors under development, which differ from conventional chemical sensors in offering exceptional selectivity for the analysis of a gaseous environment. The classification and analytical justification are given of low-frequency-noise spectroscopy techniques and measures that are proposed for investigation of disordered semiconductors. The feasibility is shown of patterning processes for flicker-noise gas sensors. Some methods are proposed for these processes and for measurement procedures of gaseous-environment monitoring.