Valence electrons contribute a small fraction of the total electron density of materials, but they determine their essential chemical, electronic and optical properties. Strong laser fields can probe ...electrons in valence orbitals
and their dynamics
in the gas phase. Previous laser studies of solids have associated high-harmonic emission
with the spatial arrangement of atoms in the crystal lattice
and have used terahertz fields to probe interatomic potential forces
. Yet the direct, picometre-scale imaging of valence electrons in solids has remained challenging. Here we show that intense optical fields interacting with crystalline solids could enable the imaging of valence electrons at the picometre scale. An intense laser field with a strength that is comparable to the fields keeping the valence electrons bound in crystals can induce quasi-free electron motion. The harmonics of the laser field emerging from the nonlinear scattering of the valence electrons by the crystal potential contain the critical information that enables picometre-scale, real-space mapping of the valence electron structure. We used high harmonics to reconstruct images of the valence potential and electron density in crystalline magnesium fluoride and calcium fluoride with a spatial resolution of about 26 picometres. Picometre-scale imaging of valence electrons could enable direct probing of the chemical, electronic, optical and topological properties of materials.
Domain walls may play an important role in future electronic devices, given their small size as well as the fact that their location can be controlled. Here, we report the observation of ...room-temperature electronic conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls in the insulating multiferroic BiFeO(3). The origin and nature of the observed conductivity are probed using a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles density functional computations. Our analyses indicate that the conductivity correlates with structurally driven changes in both the electrostatic potential and the local electronic structure, which shows a decrease in the bandgap at the domain wall. Additionally, we demonstrate the potential for device applications of such conducting nanoscale features.
The expansion of a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill requires the ability to predict settlement behavior of the existing landfill. The practice of using a single compressibility value when ...performing a settlement analysis may lead to inaccurate predictions. This paper gives consideration to changes in the mechanical compressibility of MSW as a function of the fill age of MSW as well as the embedding depth of MSW. Borehole samples representative of various fill ages were obtained from five boreholes drilled to the bottom of the Qizhishan landfill in Suzhou, China. Thirty-one borehole samples were used to perform confined compression tests. Waste composition and volume-mass properties (i.e., unit weight, void ratio, and water content) were measured on all the samples. The test results showed that the compressible components of the MSW (i.e., organics, plastics, paper, wood and textiles) decreased with an increase in the fill age. The
in situ void ratio of the MSW was shown to decrease with depth into the landfill. The compression index,
C
c, was observed to decrease from 1.0 to 0.3 with depth into the landfill. Settlement analyses were performed on the existing landfill, demonstrating that the variation of MSW compressibility with fill age or depth should be taken into account in the settlement prediction.
1,4,5,8-Naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (NTCDA)-derived Polyimide is proposed as the anode material for aqueous rechargeable lithium-ion or sodium-ion battery (ARLB or ARSB), which is based on ...a mechanism beyond the intercalation chemistry. Comparing with other transient oxide anode for ARLB, Polyimide has more suitable working voltage, higher capacity and better structure stability. Therefore, the ARLB with Polyimide anode and LiCoO2 cathode presents a specific capacity of 71 mAh g-1 and a specific energy of 80 Wh kg-1 in 5 M LiNO3 solution at the current rate of 100 mA g-1, which is the highest among all reported ARLB system. Besides, it shows excellent cycling stability and rate capability. The ARSB system is demonstrated by Polyimide/NaVPO4F cell. It has been proved that the Polyimide anode has a good capacity performance and cycling stability in 5 M NaNO3 solution. The two aqueous rechargeable batteries with Polyimide anode both show a promising prospect in large-scale energy storage.
Uniform nanorods of hydroxyapatite (HAP) with an unusual orthorhombic shape have been synthesized from homogeneous solutions of Ca2+ and HPO42– in the presence of gelatin and urea. The lengths of the ...nanorods are in the range of hundreds of micrometers, and the widths are about 100 nm. The HAP phase is generated by the transformation from its precursor phase of octacalcium phosphate (OCP), which has been monitored by X‐ray diffraction, NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The rise in pH due to the decomposition of urea drives the OCP transformation to HAP. In the presence of gelatin, nanorods of OCP phase formed first and then transformed into the HAP phase, preserving the single‐crystal morphology. On the other hand, blade‐like OCP crystals form from the solution in the absence of gelatin. On increasing the pH of the solution, the large, blade‐like OCP crystals tend to crash into irregular, hexagonal HAP crystallites. A single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal topochemical transformation may be attributed to the evolution of HAP nanorods from the precursor OCP phase. This gives a strong indication as to the OCP to HAP transformation mechanism in the mineralization of biological apatite in tooth enamel and bone.
Octacalcium phosphate (OCP) nanorods have been obtained by homogeneous precipitation in the presence of gelatin. Subsequently, orthorhombic hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanorods can be generated by a single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal transformation process from OCP to HAP with preservation of the crystal shape (see Figure).
The Daya Bay experiment has observed correlations between reactor core fuel evolution and changes in the reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum. Four antineutrino detectors in two experimental ...halls were used to identify 2.2 million inverse beta decays (IBDs) over 1230 days spanning multiple fuel cycles for each of six 2.9 GW_{th} reactor cores at the Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power plants. Using detector data spanning effective ^{239}Pu fission fractions F_{239} from 0.25 to 0.35, Daya Bay measures an average IBD yield σover ¯_{f} of (5.90±0.13)×10^{-43} cm^{2}/fission and a fuel-dependent variation in the IBD yield, dσ_{f}/dF_{239}, of (-1.86±0.18)×10^{-43} cm^{2}/fission. This observation rejects the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino flux as a function of the ^{239}Pu fission fraction at 10 standard deviations. The variation in IBD yield is found to be energy dependent, rejecting the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino energy spectrum at 5.1 standard deviations. While measurements of the evolution in the IBD spectrum show general agreement with predictions from recent reactor models, the measured evolution in total IBD yield disagrees with recent predictions at 3.1σ. This discrepancy indicates that an overall deficit in the measured flux with respect to predictions does not result from equal fractional deficits from the primary fission isotopes ^{235}U, ^{239}Pu, ^{238}U, and ^{241}Pu. Based on measured IBD yield variations, yields of (6.17±0.17) and (4.27±0.26)×10^{-43} cm^{2}/fission have been determined for the two dominant fission parent isotopes ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu. A 7.8% discrepancy between the observed and predicted ^{235}U yields suggests that this isotope may be the primary contributor to the reactor antineutrino anomaly.
We report a new measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance using the fully constructed Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. The final two of eight antineutrino detectors were installed in ...the summer of 2012. Including the 404 days of data collected from October 2012 to November 2013 resulted in a total exposure of 6.9×10^{5} GW_{th} ton days, a 3.6 times increase over our previous results. Improvements in energy calibration limited variations between detectors to 0.2%. Removal of six ^{241}Am-^{13}C radioactive calibration sources reduced the background by a factor of 2 for the detectors in the experimental hall furthest from the reactors. Direct prediction of the antineutrino signal in the far detectors based on the measurements in the near detectors explicitly minimized the dependence of the measurement on models of reactor antineutrino emission. The uncertainties in our estimates of sin^{2}2θ_{13} and |Δm_{ee}^{2}| were halved as a result of these improvements. An analysis of the relative antineutrino rates and energy spectra between detectors gave sin^{2}2θ_{13}=0.084±0.005 and |Δm_{ee}^{2}|=(2.42±0.11)×10^{-3} eV^{2} in the three-neutrino framework.
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