The US Government has declared that approximately 50 tons of plutonium is surplus to US needs and should be set aside for eventual disposition. The US is currently following a dual path for the disposition of this plutonium: immobilization and irradiation of mixed-oxide fuel. Some fraction of this plutonium material that is undesirable for use in mixed-oxide fuel will be immobilized in a titanate ceramic and disposed of in a geologic repository for high level waste. The reminder of Pu will be fabricated into mixed-oxide fuel and irradiated in domestic light-water reactors. The resulting spent fuel would also be disposed of in a geologic repository for high level waste. The proposed US repository would be at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Plutonium present in the disposal forms, either ceramics or spent fuel, must remain isolated from the biosphere over the geologic repository regulatory performance period, which is currently 10,000 years. Contamination of the biosphere could result from slow dissolution of the disposal forms followed by transport of the dissolution products into the biosphere by flowing ground water. Measurable amounts of apparently soluble plutonium can be released if plutonium dioxide is exposed to water under some conditions. Furthermore, recent studies …

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy has been used to investigate carrier decay dynamics in a In{sub x}Ga{sub 1{minus}x}As{sub 1{minus}y}N{sub y} (x {approximately} 0.03, y {approximately} 0.01) epilayer grown on GaAs by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements, performed for various excitation intensities and sample temperatures, indicate that the broad PL emission at low temperature is dominated by localized exciton recombination. Lifetimes in the range of 0.07--0.34 ns are measured; these photoluminescence lifetimes are significantly shorter than corresponding values obtained for GaAs. In particular, the authors observe an emission energy dependence of the decay lifetime at 10 K, whereby the lifetime decreases with increasing emission energy across the PL spectrum. This behavior is characteristic of a distribution of localized states, which arises from alloy fluctuations.

A new algorithm compares the background corrected echelle emission image obtained from reference standards to images of unknowns for quantitative elemental analyses. Wavelength was not used in the calculations but instead pixel position and intensity. The data reduction solution was unique to the particular detector/spectrometer. The approach was found useful for several types of images including ICP, DCP and glow discharge images. The analysis scheme required that the emission pattern of standards and background be held in memory. A dual weighting scheme was used that decreased the importance of pixels in high background areas and enhanced the importance of signals from pixels where the standards had emissions. Threshold values were used to limit the calculations to signals in the linear range of the electronics. Logarithmic weighting, (by taking the square root), was found to work well for weighting pixels from the standards. This assured that minor emissions had some influence on the data fit. In the program the best-fit scalar was determined using simple iterative guess, change and test approaches. The test looked for the minimum least square residual value in the areas of the flagged pixels.

One of the legacies of the nuclear weapon and nuclear power cycles has been the generation of large quantities of nuclear waste and fissile materials. As citizens of this planet, it is everyone's responsibility to provide for safe, secure, transparent, disposal of these waste nuclear materials. The Sandia Cooperative Monitoring Center sponsored a Transparency Monitoring Workshop where the use of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was identified as a possible transparency demonstration test bed. Three experiments were conceived as jumpstart activities to showcase the effective use of the WIPP infrastructure as a Transparency Demonstration Test Bed. The three experiments were successfully completed and demonstrated at the International Atomic Energy Association sponsored International Conference on Geological Repositories held in Denver Colorado November 1999. The design and coordination of these efforts is the subject of this paper.

Modest thermal annealing to 600 C of diamondlike amorphous-carbon (a-C) films grown at room temperature results in the formation of carbon nanocomposites with hardness similar to diamond. These nanocomposite films consist of nanometer-sized regions of high density a-C embedded in an a-C matrix with a reduced density of 5--10%. The authors report on the evolution of density and bonding topologies as a function of annealing temperature. Despite a decrease in density, film hardness actually increases {approximately} 15% due to the development of the nanocomposite structure.

The nature and origin of lateral composition modulations in (AlAs){sub m}(InAs){sub n} SPSs grown by MBE on InP substrates have been investigated by XRD, AFM, and TEM. Strong modulations were observed for growth temperatures between {approx} 540 and 560 C. The maximum strength of modulations was found for SPS samples with InAs mole fraction x (=n/(n+m)) close to {approx} 0.50 and when n {approx} m {approx} 2. The modulations were suppressed at both high and low values of x. For x >0.52 (global compression) the modulations were along the <100> directions in the (001) growth plane. For x < 0.52 (global tension) the modulations were along the two <310> directions rotated {approx} {+-} 27{degree} from [110] in the growth plane. The remarkably constant wavelength of the modulations, between {approx} 20--30 nm, and the different modulation directions observed, suggest that the origin of the modulations is due to surface roughening associated with the high misfit between the individual SPS layers and the InP substrate. Highly uniform unidirectional modulations have been grown, by control of the InAs mole fraction and growth on suitably offcut substrates, which show great promise for application in device structures.

Secretary of Energy, Bill Richardson, has stated that one of the nuclear waste legacy issues is ``The challenge of managing the fuel cycle's back end and assuring the safe use of nuclear power.'' Waste management (i.e., the back end) is a domestic and international issue that must be addressed. A key tool in gaining acceptance of nuclear waste repository technologies is transparency. Transparency provides information to outside parties for independent assessment of safety, security, and legitimate use of materials. Transparency is a combination of technologies and processes that apply to all elements of the development, operation, and closure of a repository system. A test bed for nuclear repository transparency technologies has been proposed to develop a broad-based set of concepts and strategies for transparency monitoring of nuclear materials at the back end of the fuel/weapons cycle. WIPP is the world's first complete geologic repository system for nuclear materials at the back end of the cycle. While it is understood that WIPP does not currently require this type of transparency, this repository has been proposed as realistic demonstration site to generate and test ideas, methods, and technologies about what transparency may entail at the back end of the nuclear materials cycle, …

Recent data from the CDF and D0 experiments at the Tevatron are presented on b quark production cross sections, J/{psi}, {psi}{prime} and {Upsilon} production cross sections. An analysis from CDF of the production polarization of the J/{psi}, {psi}{prime} and {Upsilon}(1S) is reviewed and the results discussed in the context of the color octet model.

Polarized magneto-photoluminescence (MPL) measurements on a high mobility {delta}-doped GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well from 0--60 T at temperatures between 0.37--2.1 K are reported. In addition to the neutral heavy hole magneto-exciton (X{sup 0}), the singlet (X {sub s}{sup {minus}}) and triplet (X {sub t}{sup {minus}}) states of the negatively charged magneto-exciton are observed in both polarizations. The energy dispersive and time-resolved MPL data suggest that their development is fundamentally related to the formation of the neutral magneto-exciton. At a magnetic field of 40 T the singlet and the triplet states cross as a result of the role played by the higher Landau levels and higher energy subbands in their energetic evolution, confirming theoretical predictions. The authors also observed the formation of two higher energy peaks. One of them is completely right circularly polarized and its appearance can be considered a result of the electron-hole exchange interaction enhancement with an associated electron g-factor of 3.7 times the bulk value. The other peak completely dominates the MPL spectrum at fields around 30 T. Its behavior with magnetic field and temperature indicates that it may be related to previous anomalies observed in the integer and fractional quantum Hall regimes.

The Authenticated Tracking and Monitoring System (ATMS) is designed to answer the need for global monitoring of the status and location of proliferation-sensitive items on a worldwide basis, 24 hours a day. ATMS uses wireless sensor packs to monitor the status of the items within the shipment and surrounding environmental conditions. Receiver and processing units collect a variety of sensor event data that is integrated with GPS tracking data. The collected data are transmitted to the International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) communication system, which then sends the data to mobile ground stations. Authentication and encryption algorithms secure the data during communication activities. A typical ATMS application would be to track and monitor the stiety and security of a number of items in transit along a scheduled shipping route. The resulting tracking, timing, and status information could then be processed to ensure compliance with various agreements.

Nanostructural characterization of amorphous diamondlike carbon (a-C) films grown on silicon using pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) is correlated to both growth energetic and film thickness. Raman spectroscopy and x-ray reflectivity probe both the topological nature of 3- and 4-fold coordinated carbon atom bonding and the topographical clustering of their distributions within a given film. In general, increasing the energetic of PLD growth results in films becoming more ``diamondlike'', i.e. increasing mass density and decreasing optical absorbance. However, these same properties decrease appreciably with thickness. The topology of carbon atom bonding is different for material near the substrate interface compared to material within the bulk portion of an a-C film. A simple model balancing the energy of residual stress and the free energies of resulting carbon topologies is proposed to provide an explanation of the evolution of topographical bonding clusters in a growing a-C film.

The carbon ion energy used during filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition determines the bonding topologies of amorphous-carbon (a-C) films. Regions of relatively low density occur near the substrate/film and film/surface interfaces and their thicknesses increase with increasing deposition energy. The ion subplantation growth results in mass density gradients in the bulk portion of a-C in the growth direction; density decreases with distance from the substrate for films grown using ion energies < 60 eV and increases for films grown using ion energies > 160 eV. Films grown between these energies are the most diamondlike with relatively uniform bulk density and the highest optical transparencies. Bonding topologies evolve with increasing growth energy consistent with the propagation of subplanted carbon ions inducing a partial transformation of 4-fold to 3-fold coordinated carbon atoms.

The authors report a measurement of the variation of the value of the linewidth of an excitonic transition in InGaAsN alloys (1 and 2% nitrogen) as a function of hydrostatic pressure using photoluminescence spectroscopy. The samples were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and the photoluminescence measurements were performed a 4K. The authors find that the value of the excitonic linewidth increases as a function of pressure until about 100 kbars after which it tends to saturate. This change in the excitonic linewidth is used to derive the pressure variation of the reduced mass of the exciton using a theoretical formalism which is based on the premise that the broadening of the excitonic transition is caused primarily by compositional fluctuations in a completely disordered alloy. The variation of the excitonic reduced mass thus derived is compared with that recently determined using a first-principles band structure calculation based on local density approximation.

Disposal of tritium generation wastes in shallow, concrete vaults was modeled to determine aquifer concentrations created by advection and diffusion. A 10,000-year minimum duration was examined, hence material changes in waste containers, vaults and engineered barriers were accommodated in the simulations. Ground-water flow analyses were accomplished in three steady-state stages, representing the intact, cracked, and failed states of the concrete vaults. Radionuclide half-lives and Kds were major inputs to transient transport modeling that was performed to complete the analyses. Contaminant mass fluxes to the water table and concentrations at a hypothetical 100-m down-gradient well from the analyses of two radionuclides were presented displaying distinctively different behaviors.

The top quark pairs produced at a polarized muon collider are in a (nearly) pure spin configuration. This result holds for all center-of-mass energies, and is insensitive to the next-to-leading order QCD radiative corrections. The decay products of a polarized top quark show strong angular correlations. The authors describe an interesting interference effect between the left-handed and longitudinally polarized W bosons in top quark decay. This effect is easily observable in the angular distribution of the charged lepton with respect to the beam axis.

This paper is an overview of the wafer and reticle positioning system of the Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) Engineering Test Stand (ETS). EUVL represents one of the most promising technologies for supporting the integrated circuit (IC) industry's lithography needs for critical features below 100nm. EUVL research and development includes development of capabilities for demonstrating key EUV technologies. The ETS is under development at the EUV Virtual National Laboratory, to demonstrate EUV full-field imaging and provide data that supports production-tool development. The stages and their associated metrology operated in a vacuum environment and must meet stringent outgassing specifications. A tight tolerance is placed on the stage tracking performance to minimize image distortion and provide high position repeatability. The wafer must track the reticle with less than {+-}3nm of position error and jitter must not exceed 10nm rms. To meet these performance requirements, magnetically levitated positioning stages utilizing a system of sophisticated control electronics will be used. System modeling and experimentation have contributed to the development of the positioning system and results indicate that desired ETS performance is achievable.