Temperature and pump power dependent photoluminescence characterization of MBE grown GaAsBi on GaAs

Bulk and quantum well GaAs_1?xBi_x/GaAs layers with Bi mole fractions from 0.02 to 0.10 are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at temperatures ranging from 280 to 320?°C. The samples are characterized using temperature and pump-power dependent photoluminescence measurements covering 8–300?K and 1–250?mW (7–1,800?W/cm²), respectively. The results indicate that there is strong reduction in bandgap energy with the incorporation of small amounts of Bi and that GaAsBi most likely forms a weak type-I band alignment with GaAs.     

Fouling Detection in an Optically Accessible Microstructured Heat Exchanger

The application of highly effective microstructured devices in continuous production and industrial environments is frequently prone to fouling. A new method is presented to characterize fouling in these microstructures. Thermal fouling of aqueous solutions containing whey protein were used as a test system. Different fouling effects could be observed and distinguished. Integral fouling indicators, such as thermal fouling resistance and pressure drop, as conventional criteria for the occurrence of fouling were compared with direct local optical observation. Low thermal fouling resistances could be detected.     

Error from Delay Drift in Terahertz Attenuated Total Reflection Spectroscopy

In this article we discuss the influence of temporal stability on the value obtained for dielectric properties of materials measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with particular emphasis on attenuated total reflection. The stability of three different terahertz attenuated total reflection spectroscopy systems is carefully characterized. The formalism for the complex refractive index extraction is presented and the effect of delay errors is calculated numerically. We found that good thermal stability of the terahertz system helps to minimize delay fluctuations and therefore the uncertainty of the resulting complex refractive index.     

Hot Deformation of AA6082 Containing Fine Intermetallic Particles

Hot deformation of AA6082 aluminum alloy was studied by compression tests carried out between 573 K and 823 K (300 °C and 550 °C) under a wide range of strain rates. Light optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the as-received microstructure, which consisted of elongated, partially recrystallized grains containing fine Mg₂Si and AlFeMnSi particles. The hot-deformed material showed the effects of dynamic recovery, i.e., small low angle grain boundary formation and dislocation pinning by fine particles. The flow data were used to calculate the constitutive equations, obtaining high values of n exponent. This behavior was attributed to the interaction of particles with dislocations during hot deformation. Threshold stresses were introduced to adjust the constitutive equation to a n exponent value of 5 at high stresses and a value of 3 in the low stresses range, which was related to dislocations’ climbing and sliding and thus to dynamic recovery. The threshold values were related to the detachment stresses in close connection with the precipitation state which was a function of the deformation temperature.