Photoluminescence and intrinsic properties of MBE-grown InN nanowires

The influence of the growth parameters on the photoluminescence (PL) spectra has been investigated for samples with columnar morphology, either with InN columns on original substrates or as free-standing nanowires. Valuable information about band gap and electron concentration was obtained by line shape analysis. Optical band gaps between 730 and 750 meV and electron concentrations of 8 x 10(17) to 6 x 10(18) cm(-3) were derived from the fit of the PL spectra of different samples. The crystalline quality of the wires was investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.     

Longer InN phonon lifetimes in nanowires

We present a Raman scattering study of the anharmonic phonon decay of the [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and E(1)(LO) phonons in InN nanowires over the 80-400?K temperature range. While the temperature-dependent anharmonic decay in the nanowires is similar to that found for bulk InN, the background contribution to the phonon lifetime is strongly reduced as a result of the improved crystalline quality. High-resolution measurements reveal a remarkably long lifetime of the [Formula: see text] mode. From the comparison between the [Formula: see text] frequencies measured in the nanowires with those of the thin film we obtain the deformation potentials for the [Formula: see text] mode.     

Layered double hydroxides as carriers for quantum dots@silica nanospheres

Quantum dot-hydrotalcite layered nanoplatforms were successfully prepared following a one-pot synthesis. The process is very fast and a priori delamination of hydrotalcite is not a prerequisite for the intercalation of quantum dots. The novel materials were extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, true color fluorescence microscopy, photoluminescence, and nitrogen adsorption. The quantum dot-hydrotalcite nanomaterials display extremely high stability in mimicking physiological media such as saline serum (pH 5.5) and PBS (pH 7.2). Yet, quantum dot release from the solid structure is noted. In order to prevent the leaking of quantum dots we have developed a novel strategy which consists of using tailor made double layered hydrotalcites as protecting shells for quantum dots embedded into silica nanospheres without changing either the materials or the optical properties.     

Direction finding using data-supported optimization

A novel data-supported optimization technique for maximum likelihood (ML) direction-of-arrival estimation is proposed. The essence of our approach is to optimize the likelihood function at certaindata-supported points obtained by a resampled root-MUSIC procedure. These points are shown to comprise a small but representative subset of all possible searching points and contain enough information for solving the ML problem.This work was supported in part by grants from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology (MEST) of Ontario, Communications and Information Technology Ontario (CITO), and by the Senior Individual Grant Program of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.     

Utilizing Space-Time Diversity for Wireless Communications

In this paper we consider the use of multiple antennas for wireless communication over fading channels.The fading we consider is quasi-static flat Rayleigh fading. For such a scenario optimal SNR schemes are derived when the transmitter knows the channel and when the transmitter does not know the channel. But in both cases the receiver has to estimate the channel. When the SNR during channel estimation is reasonably high we derive expressions to show the impact of channel estimation errors on SNR.     

Cyclic deformation of nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained nickel

The cyclic deformation behavior of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Ni samples synthesized by the electrodeposition method was studied. Different from those made by severely plastic deformation, the UFG samples used in this study are characterized by large-angle grain boundaries. Behaviors from nanocrystalline Ni and coarse-grained Ni samples were compared with that of ultrafine-grained Ni. With in situ neutron diffraction, unusual evolutions of residual lattice strains as well as cyclic hardening and softening behavior were demonstrated during the cyclic deformation. The microstructural changes investigated by TEM are discussed with respect to the unusual lattice strain and cyclic hardening/softening.     

Morphological changes induced in erythrocyte membrane by the antiepileptic treatment: An atomic force microscopy study

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), a powerful characterization tool widely applied in problems in a large range of disciplines of the natural sciences, including cellular biology, was used to obtain information about the morphological changes induced in the erythrocyte membrane at the patients with epilepsy that undergo a long time treatment that operates upon one or several neuronal ionic channels, comparative with a healthy donor. This technique allowed non‐invasive imaging of erythrocyte membrane, revealing details and specific characteristics down to the nanometer level with characterization of surface texture parameters, such as average height, average roughness and coefficient of kurtosis at micrometer/nanometer resolution. For the healthy donor the AFM morphology appears to have all the characteristics of a normal red blood cell membrane. Instead, the closer examination of the erythrocytes membrane surface morphology for the samples collected from the patients diagnosed with epilepsy and treated with specific drugs did not reveal similar structures with those obtained for the healthy donor. The nanostructure of the membrane was drastically damaged, depending on the administrated treatment, and probably in time will affect their functionality. Therefore, the anticomital drugs have influence not only at the neuronal level, but also at the red blood cell level.     

Sliding wear evaluation of hot isostatically pressed (HIPed) thermal spray cermet coatings

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of applying hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) as a post-treatment to thermally sprayed wear resistant cermet coatings. The relative performance of the as-sprayed and hot isostatically pressed functionally graded WC-NiCrBSi coatings was investigated in sliding wear conditions. Coatings were deposited using a high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF)—JP-5000 system, and HIPed without any encapsulation at temperatures of 850 and 1200 °C. The influence of post-treatment temperature on the coating's wear resistance was thus investigated. Sliding wear tests were carried out using a high frequency reciprocating ball on plate rig using steel and ceramic balls under two different loads. Results are discussed in terms of microstructural investigations, phase transformations, mechanical properties, and residual stress investigations. The results indicated significant alteration of the coating microstructure, brought about by the coating post-treatment, particularly when carried out at the higher temperature of 1200 °C. As a consequence, developments in the coating mechanical properties took place that led to higher wear resistance of the HIPed coatings.