X-ray photoelectron spectrum, X-ray diffraction data, and electronic structure of chalcogenide quaternary sulfide Ag2In2GeS6: experiment and theory

We report measurements of the X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectrum on single crystals of Ag₂In₂GeS₆. We also present first principles calculations of the band structure and density of states using the state-of-the-art full potential augmented plane wave method with different possible approximation for the exchange correlation potential. In this paper, we make a detailed comparison of the density of states deduced from the X-ray photoelectron spectra with our calculations. The theoretical results of the density of states are in reasonable agreement with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (VB-XPS) measurements with respect to peak positions. The calculated density of states shows there is a strong hybridization between the states in the valence and conduction bands states. We have calculated the electron charge density distribution in the (100) and (110) planes. In the plane (100), there exists Ag, In, and S atoms, while the plane (110) Ag, S, and Ge atoms are present. The bonding properties are obtained from the charge density distributions. The calculation show that there is partial ionic and strong covalent bonding between Ag–S, In–S, and Ge–S atoms depending on Pauling electro-negativity difference of S (2.58), Ge (2.01), Ag (1.93), and In (31.78) atoms.     

Load balancing aware scheduling algorithms for fog networks

Fog networks have attracted the attention of researchers recently. The idea is that a part of the computation of a job/application can be performed by fog devices that are located at the network edge, close to the users. Executing latency sensitive applications on the cloud may not be feasible, owing to the significant communication delay involved between the user and the cloud data center (cdc). By the time the application traverses the network and reaches the cloud data center, it might already be too late. However, fog devices, also known as mobile data centers (mdcs), are capable of executing such latency sensitive applications. In this paper, we study the problem of balancing the application load while taking account of security constraints of jobs, across various mdcs in a fog network. In case a particular mdc does not have sufficient capacity to execute a job, the job needs to be migrated to some other mdc. To this end, we propose three heuristic algorithms: minimum distance, minimum load, and minimum hop distance and load (MHDL). In addition, we also propose an ILP-based algorithm called load balancing aware scheduling ILP (LASILP) for solving the task mapping and scheduling problem. The performance of the proposed algorithms have been compared with the cloud only algorithm and another heuristic algorithm called fog-cloud-placement (FCP). Simulation results performed on real-life workload traces reveal that the MHDL heuristic performs better as compared to other scheduling policies in the fog computing environment while meeting application privacy requirements.     

Single-crystal oxoborate (Pb3O)2(BO3)2WO4: Growth and characterization

An oxoborate, (Pb₃O)₂(BO₃)₂WO₄, has been prepared by solid-state reaction methods below 620 °C. Single-crystal XRD analysis shows that it crystallizes in the orthorhombic group Cmcm with a = 18.480(4) Å, b = 6.3567(13) Å, c = 11.672(2) Å, Z = 4. The crystal structure is composed of one-dimensional 1/∞ [Pb₃O]⁴⁺ chains formed by corner-sharing OPb₄ tetrahedra. BO₃ and WO₄ groups are located around the chains to hold them together via PbO bonds. The IR spectra further confirmed the presence of BO₃ groups. Furthermore we have performed theoretical calculations by employing the all-electron full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method to solve the Kohn Sham equations. Starting from our XRD data we have optimized the atomic positions by minimizing the forces. These are used to calculate the electronic band structure, the atomic site-decomposed density of states, electron charge density and the chemical bonding features. The calculated electronic band structure and densities of states suggest that this oxoborate possesses a wide energy band gap. The valence band maxima and the conduction band minima are located at Y point in the Brillouin zone resulting in a direct energy band gap of 2.3 eV using the local density approximation and 2.6 eV for the Engel–Vosko generalized gradient approximation. This compares well with our experimentally measured energy band gap of 2.9 eV. From our calculated electron charge density distribution, we obtain an image of the electron clouds that surround the molecules in the unit cell of the crystal. The chemical bonding features were analyzed and the substantial covalent interactions are observed between Pb and O, B and O and W and O atoms.     

Amino acid 2-aminopropanoic CH3CH(NH2)COOH crystals: materials for photo- and acoustoinduced optoelectronic applications

Photo-induced treatment of l-alanine single crystals grown by slow evaporation method at an ambient temperature was performed using a 25 ps Nd:YAG pulsed laser in the presence of an external acoustic filed. The changes of the absorption were studied for the wavelength 265 nm near the energy band gap edge at acoustical power density varying within 4–6 W/cm². The observed absorption changes indicate that the external optical electric field strengths and acoustical power densities may be efficient parameters for the characterization of photo-optical and acousto-optical treatment of the samples. From the X-ray diffraction data we have optimized the atomic positions assuming that force on the atoms is around 1 mRy/au. These are used to calculate the electronic structure and the chemical bonding for the amino acid l-alanine single crystals. The calculated electronic band structure and densities of states confirms the experimental results that this compound possesses a relatively large energy band gap. The upper valence band has its maximum at the Z point of the Brillouin zone while the conduction band minimum is located at Γ point in the zone center, resulting in an indirect energy band gap. The electronic energy gap is equal to 4.19 eV within a framework of the used local density approximation and 4.54 eV with the Engel–Vosko generalized gradient approximation as the exchange correlation potential. This is in an agreement with our experimentally measured energy band gap ~4.67 eV. The existence of O-p character in the upper valence band has a significant consequence for the optical band gap. From our calculated electron charge density distribution, we obtain a space electron charge density distribution in the average unit cell of the crystal. The chemical bonding features of l-alanine amino acid were analyzed.     

Dispersion of the linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities of disilver germanium sulfide from DFT calculations

The dispersion of the linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities is calculated for disilver germanium sulfide (Ag₂GeS₃) using the all-electron full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. Calculations are performed with four exchange correlations namely local density approximation (LDA), general gradient approximation (GGA), Engel–Vosko generalized gradient approximation (EVGGA), and modified Becke–Johnson potential (mBJ). Our calculations give a band gap of 0.40 eV (LDA), 0.42 eV (GGA), 1.03 eV (EVGGA), and 1.30 eV (mBJ) in comparison with our measured gap (1.98 eV). The mBJ exchange correlation gives the best agreement with experiment. We find that the calculated linear optical susceptibilities of Ag₂GeS₃ show considerable anisotropy which is useful for second harmonic generation and optical parametric oscillation. To analyze the spectra of the calculated χ ₁₁₃ ⁽²⁾ (ω), χ ₂₃₂ ⁽²⁾ (ω), χ ₃₁₁ ⁽²⁾ (ω), χ ₃₂₂ ⁽²⁾ (ω), and χ ₃₃₃ ⁽²⁾ (ω), we have correlated the features of these spectra with the features of ?₂(ω) spectra as a function of ω/2 and ω. From the calculated dominant component |χ ₃₃₃ ⁽²⁾ (ω)|, we find that the microscopic second-order hyperpolarizability, β₃₃₃, the vector components along the dipole moment direction is 41.2 × 10^?30 esu at static limit and 222.9 × 10^?30 esu at λ = 1064 nm.     

Effect of zone boundaries on the pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature of aluminum

An attempt is made to explain the pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperatureT _c of aluminum. The model calculation is essentially the same as that of Ott and Sorbello, with the difference that here the effect of zone boundaries on the density of states is included. The model calculations given here can explain both the low pressure and the high pressure data and suggest that one should include the effect of zone boundaries to explain theT _c data for the complete pressure range.