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A Technique for Increasing the Optical Strength of Single-Crystal NaCl and KCl Through Temperature Cycling (open access)

A Technique for Increasing the Optical Strength of Single-Crystal NaCl and KCl Through Temperature Cycling

This thesis relates a technique for increasing the optical strength of NaCl and KCl single-crystal samples. The 1.06-μm pulsed laser damage thresholds were increased by factors as large as 4.6 for a bulk NaCl single-crystal sample. The bulk laser damage breakdown threshold (LDBT) of the crystal was measured prior to and after heat treatment at 800*C using a Nd:YAG laser operating at 1.06 μm. Bulk and surface LDBTs were also studied on samples annealed at 400° C. These samples showed differences in damage morphology on both cleaved and polished surfaces, and the cleaved surfaces had improved damage thresholds. However, neither the polished surfaces nor the bulk showed improved threshold at the lower annealing temperature.
Date: May 1983
Creator: Franck, Jerome B. (Jerome Bruce)
System: The UNT Digital Library
K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections of Selected Elements from Fe to As for Proton Bombardment from 0.5 to 2.0 MeV (open access)

K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections of Selected Elements from Fe to As for Proton Bombardment from 0.5 to 2.0 MeV

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of making experimental measurements of proton-induced K-shell x-ray production cross sections and to study the dependence of these cross sections upon the energy of the incident proton. The measurements were made by detection of the characteristic x-rays emitted as a consequence of the ionization of the K-shell of the atom. The method for relating this characteristic x-ray emission to the x-ray production cross section is discussed in this work.
Date: December 1973
Creator: Lear, Richard Dean
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Shubnikov-de Haas Effect in N-Type Indium Antimonide (open access)

The Shubnikov-de Haas Effect in N-Type Indium Antimonide

The Shubnikov-de Haas effect is an oscillation in the electrical resistivity or conductivity of a metal, semimetal, or semiconductor as a function of changing magnetic field which occurs at low temperatures. The effect is caused by the quantization of the momentum and energy of the charge carriers by the magnetic field. Since the nature of the oscillation depends strongly on the energy band structure of the material in which it is measured, the effect could be quite useful as an investigative tool. Its usefulness has been limited, however, by the uncertainty as to the functional form of the relationship between the measured oscillations and the parameters characterizing the material. One purpose of the present study is to extend the usefulness of the Shubnikov-de Haas effect by experimentally determining the functional form appropriate for a material such as n-type indium antimonide. The second purpose of the study is to determine values for the parameters which characterize the band structure of indium antimonide. The curve fitting procedure is found to be a powerful tool for investigating band structure. All computer programs used in processing the data, fitting the data, and comparing the results with the Kane model are given.
Date: August 1975
Creator: Stephens, Anthony Earl
System: The UNT Digital Library
K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections For Elements Se To Pd: 0.4 To 2.0 MeV (open access)

K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections For Elements Se To Pd: 0.4 To 2.0 MeV

K-Shell ionization cross section for protons over the energy range of 0.4 to 2.0 MeV have been measured on thin targets of the elements Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Y, Mo and Pd. Total x-ray and ionization cross sections for the K-shell are reported. The experimental values of the ionization cross sections are compared to the non-relativistic plane-wave Born approximation, the binary-encounter approximation, the constrained binary-encounter approximation, and the plane-wave Born approximation with corrections for Coulomb-deflection and binding energy effects.
Date: December 1974
Creator: Criswell, Tommy L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Collision Broadening of Microwave Spectral Lines of Monomeric Formaldehyde and Formic Acid (open access)

Collision Broadening of Microwave Spectral Lines of Monomeric Formaldehyde and Formic Acid

Line width parameters for a number of spectral lines in the pure rotational spectrum of formaldehyde (CH20) and formic acid (HCOOH) have been measured using a sourcemodulated microwave spectrograph. All transitions studied in this investigation were of the type ΔJ=O (i.e. Q-branch transitions), with ΔK-1=0 and ΔK+1 =+l. The center frequencies of the measured lines varied from 8662.0 MHz to 48612.70 MHz. The experimentally determined collision diameters for self broadening interactions involving HCOOH and CH2 Q molecules were found to be 2 - 27 per cent less than those calculated by the Murphy-Boggs theory of collision broadening. Much better agreement between a simplified broadening scheme for symmetric top molecules and the observed foreign-gas collision diameters is obtained by using Birnbaum's theory.
Date: August 1975
Creator: Venkatachar, Arun C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploration of hierarchical leadership and connectivity in neural networks in vitro. (open access)

Exploration of hierarchical leadership and connectivity in neural networks in vitro.

Living neural networks are capable of processing information much faster than a modern computer, despite running at significantly lower clock speeds. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms neural networks utilize is an issue of substantial importance. Neuronal interaction dynamics were studied using histiotypic networks growing on microelectrode arrays in vitro. Hierarchical relationships were explored using bursting (when many neurons fire in a short time frame) dynamics, pairwise neuronal activation, and information theoretic measures. Together, these methods reveal that global network activity results from ignition by a small group of burst leader neurons, which form a primary circuit that is responsible for initiating most network-wide burst events. Phase delays between leaders and followers reveal information about the nature of the connection between the two. Physical distance from a burst leader appears to be an important factor in follower response dynamics. Information theory reveals that mutual information between neuronal pairs is also a function of physical distance. Activation relationships in developing networks were studied and plating density was found to play an important role in network connectivity development. These measures provide unique views of network connectivity and hierarchical relationship in vitro which should be included in biologically meaningful models of neural networks.
Date: December 2008
Creator: Ham, Michael I.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ultrasensitive Technique for Measurement of Two-Photon Absorption (open access)

Ultrasensitive Technique for Measurement of Two-Photon Absorption

Intensive demands have arisen to characterize nonlinear optical properties of materials for applications involving optical limiters, waveguide switches and bistable light switches. The technique of Pulse Delay Modulation is described which can monitor nonlinear changes in transmission with shot noise limited signal-to-noise ratios even in the presence of large background signals. The theoretical foundations of the experiment are presented followed by actual measurements of beam depletion due to second harmonic generation in a LiIO3 crystal and two-photon absorption in the semiconductor ZnSe. Sensitivity to polarization rotation arising from the Kerr Effect in carbon disulfide, saturable absorber relaxation in modelocking dyes and photorefractive effects in ZnSe are demonstrated. The sensitivity of Pulse Delay Modulation is combined with Fabry-Perot enhancement to allow the measurement of two-photon absorption in a 0.46pm thick interference filter spacer layer. Also included is a study of nonlinear optical limiting arising from dielectric breakdown in gases.
Date: December 1991
Creator: Miller, Steven A. (Steven Alan)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Charged Particle Transport and Confinement Along Null Magnetic Curves and in Various Other Nonuniform Field Configurations for Applications in Antihydrogen Production (open access)

Charged Particle Transport and Confinement Along Null Magnetic Curves and in Various Other Nonuniform Field Configurations for Applications in Antihydrogen Production

Comparisons between measurements of the ground-state hyperfine structure and gravitational acceleration of hydrogen and antihydrogen could provide a test of fundamental physical theories such as CPT (charge conjugation, parity, time-reversal) and gravitational symmetries. Currently, antihydrogen traps are based on Malmberg-Penning traps. The number of antiprotons in Malmberg-Penning traps with sufficiently low energy to be suitable for trappable antihydrogen production may be reduced by the electrostatic space charge of the positrons and/or collisions among antiprotons. Alternative trap designs may be needed for future antihydrogen experiments. A computational tool is developed to simulate charged particle motion in customizable magnetic fields generated by combinations of current loops and current lines. The tool is used to examine charged particle confinement in two systems consisting of dual, levitated current loops. The loops are coaxial and arranged to produce a magnetic null curve. Conditions leading to confinement in the system are quantified and confinement modes near the null curve and encircling one or both loops are identified. Furthermore, the tool is used to examine and quantify charged particle motion parallel to the null curve in the large radius limit of the dual, levitated current loops. An alternative to new trap designs is to identify the effects …
Date: May 2016
Creator: Lane, Ryan A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Local Phase Manipulation for Multi-Beam Interference Lithography for the Fabrication of Two and Three Dimensional Photonic Crystal Templates (open access)

Local Phase Manipulation for Multi-Beam Interference Lithography for the Fabrication of Two and Three Dimensional Photonic Crystal Templates

In this work, we study the use of a spatial light modulator (SLM) for local manipulation of phase in interfering laser beams to fabricate photonic crystal templates with embedded, engineered defects. A SLM displaying geometric phase patterns was used as a digitally programmable phase mask to fabricate 4-fold and 6-fold symmetric photonic crystal templates. Through pixel-by-pixel phase engineering, digital control of the phases of one or more of the interfering beams was demonstrated, thus allowing change in the interference pattern. The phases of the generated beams were programmed at specific locations, resulting in defect structures in the fabricated photonic lattices such as missing lattice line defects, and single-motif lattice defects in dual-motif lattice background. The diffraction efficiency from the phase pattern was used to locally modify the filling fraction in holographically fabricated structures, resulting in defects with a different fill fraction than the bulk lattice. Through two steps of phase engineering, a spatially variant lattice defect with a 90° bend in a periodic bulk lattice was fabricated. Finally, by reducing the relative phase shift of the defect line and utilizing the different diffraction efficiency between the defect line and the background phase pattern, desired and functional defect lattices can be …
Date: December 2016
Creator: Lutkenhaus, Jeffrey Ryan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Low-Energy Electron Irradiation of Preheated and Gas-Exposed Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (open access)

Low-Energy Electron Irradiation of Preheated and Gas-Exposed Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

We investigate the conditions under which electron irradiation of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundles with 2 keV electrons produces an increase in the Raman D peak. We find that an increase in the D peak does not occur when SWCNTs are preheated in situ at 600 C for 1 h in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) before irradiation is performed. Exposing SWCNTs to air or other gases after preheating in UHV and before irradiation results in an increase in the D peak. Small diameter SWCNTs that are not preheated or preheated and exposed to air show a significant increase in the D and G bands after irradiation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows no chemical shifts in the C1s peak of SWCNTs that have been irradiated versus SWCNTs that have not been irradiated, suggesting that the increase in the D peak is not due to chemisorption of adsorbates on the nanotubes.
Date: December 2016
Creator: Ecton, Philip
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ion Beam Synthesis of Binary and Ternary Transition Metal Silicide Thin Films (open access)

Ion Beam Synthesis of Binary and Ternary Transition Metal Silicide Thin Films

Among the well-known methods to form or modify the composition and physical properties of thin films, ion implantation has shown to be a very powerful technique. In particular, ion beam syntheses of binary iron silicide have been studied by several groups. Further, the interests in transition metal silicide systems are triggered by their potential use in advanced silicon based opto-electronic devices. In addition, ternary silicides have been by far less studied than their binary counterparts despite the fact that they have interesting magnetic and electronic properties. In this study, we investigate ion beam synthesis of Fe-Si binary structures and Fe-Co-Si ternary structures. This work involves fundamental investigation into development of a scalable synthesis process involving binary and ternary transitional metal silicide thin films and Nano-structures using low energy ion beams. Binary structures were synthesized by implanting Fe- at 50 keV energy. Since ion implantation is a dynamic process, Dynamic simulation techniques were used in these studies to determine saturation fluences for ion implantation. Also, static and dynamic simulation results were compared with experimental results. The outcome of simulations and experimental results indicate, dynamic simulation codes are more suitable than static version of the TRIM to simulate high fluence, low energy …
Date: December 2016
Creator: Lakshantha, Wickramaarachchige Jayampath
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interacting complex systems: theory and application to real-world situations (open access)

Interacting complex systems: theory and application to real-world situations

The interest in complex systems has increased exponentially during the past years because it was found helpful in addressing many of today's challenges. The study of the brain, biology, earthquakes, markets and social sciences are only a few examples of the fields that have benefited from the investigation of complex systems. Internet, the increased mobility of people and the raising energy demand are among the factors that brought in contact complex systems that were isolated till a few years ago. A theory for the interaction between complex systems is becoming more and more urgent to help mankind in this transition. The present work builds upon the most recent results in this field by solving a theoretical problem that prevented previous work to be applied to important complex systems, like the brain. It also shows preliminary laboratory results of perturbation of in vitro neural networks that were done to test the theory. Finally, it gives a preview of the studies that are being done to create a theory that is even closer to the interaction between real complex systems.
Date: August 2017
Creator: Piccinini, Nicola
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dynamic Screening via Intense Laser Radiation and Its Effects on Bulk and Surface Plasma Dispersion Relations (open access)

Dynamic Screening via Intense Laser Radiation and Its Effects on Bulk and Surface Plasma Dispersion Relations

Recent experimentation with excitation of surface plasmons on a gold film in the Kretschmann configuration have shown what appears to be a superconductive effect. Researchers claimed to see the existence of electron pairing during scattering as well as magnetic field repulsion while twisting the polarization of the laser. In an attempt to explain this, they pointed to a combination of electron-electron scattering in external fields as well as dynamic screening via intense laser radiation. This paper expands upon the latter, taking a look at the properties of a dynamic polarization function, its effects on bulk and surface plasmon dispersion relations, and its various consequences.
Date: August 2017
Creator: Lanier, Steven t
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fabrication of Photonic Crystal Templates through Holographic Lithography and Study of their Optical and Plasmonic Properties in Aluminium Doped Zinc Oxide (open access)

Fabrication of Photonic Crystal Templates through Holographic Lithography and Study of their Optical and Plasmonic Properties in Aluminium Doped Zinc Oxide

This dissertation focuses on two aspects of integrating near-infrared plasmonics with electronics with the intent of developing the platform for future photonics. The first aspect focuses on fabrication by introducing and developing a simple, single reflective optical element capable of high–throughput, large scale fabrication of micro- and nano-sized structure templates using holographic lithography. This reflective optical element is then utilized to show proof of concept in fabricating three dimensional structures in negative photoresists as well as tuning subwavelength features in two dimensional compound lattices for the fabrication of dimer and trimer antenna templates. The second aspect focuses on the study of aluminum zinc oxide (AZO), which belongs to recently popularized material class of transparent conducting oxides, capable of tunable plasmonic capabilities in the near-IR regime. Holographic lithography is used to pattern an AZO film with a square lattice array that are shown to form standing wave resonances at the interface of the AZO and the substrate. To demonstrate device level integration the final experiment utilizes AZO patterned gratings and measures the variation of diffraction efficiency as a negative bias is applied to change the AZO optical properties. Additionally efforts to understand the behavior of these structures through optical measurements is …
Date: August 2017
Creator: George, David Ray
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transport Processes in Synchrotrons (open access)

Transport Processes in Synchrotrons

This thesis examines the evolution of beams in synchrotrons. Following an introduction to accelerator physics in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 I describe the Fermilab E778 'diffusion' experiment. Families of sextupoles were powered to drive the 2/5 resonance, and a beam was then kicked to populate a nonlinear region of the transverse phase space. The beam was then observed over periods of approximately 30 minutes for a variety of kick amplitudes and physical apertures. In Chapter 3 comments about the analytic treatment of such systems are discussed, including the assumptions inherent in the conventional treatment. I motivate my use of a simplified model in Chapter 4 after examining common computational methods. Deriving the model from the formalism of traditional accelerator physics, I discuss its implementation on a massively parallel computer, the Intel iPSC/860 hypercube, and examine the performance of this algorithm in detail. Using the simple model to perform the numerical experiment equivalent to E778 is the subject of Chapter 5. I derive the parameters needed for the simple model based upon the physical experiment. Both three dimensional cases and cases with reduced dimensionality are run. From power supply ripple data and an electrical model of the magnet string, I …
Date: May 1994
Creator: Cole, Benjamin H. (Benjamin Holland)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Nonlinear Dynamics in an Internal Water Wave Field in a Deep Ocean (open access)

A Study of Nonlinear Dynamics in an Internal Water Wave Field in a Deep Ocean

The Hamiltonian of a stably stratified incompressible fluid in an internal water wave in a deep ocean is constructed. Studying the ocean internal wave field with its full dynamics is formidable (or unsolvable) so we consider a test-wave Hamiltonian to study the dynamical and statistical properties of the internal water wave field in a deep ocean. Chaos is present in the internal test-wave dynamics using actual coupling coefficients. Moreover, there exists a certain separatrix net that fills the phase space and is covered by a thin stochastic layer for a two-triad pure resonant interaction. The stochastic web implies the existence of diffusion of the Arnold type for the minimum dimension of a non-integrable autonomous system. For non-resonant case, stochastic layer is formed where the separatrix from KAM theory is disrupted. However, the stochasticity does not increase monotonically with increasing energy. Also, the problem of relaxation process is studied via microscopic Hamiltonian model of the test-wave interacting nonlinearly with ambient waves. Using the Mori projection technique, the projected trajectory of the test-wave is transformed to a form which corresponds to a generalized Langevin equation. The mean action of the test-wave grows ballistically for a short time regime, and quenches back to …
Date: December 1996
Creator: Kim, Won-Gyu, 1962-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Steady-state and Dynamic Probe Characteristics in a Low-density Plasma (open access)

Steady-state and Dynamic Probe Characteristics in a Low-density Plasma

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining the steady-state and dynamic characteristics of the admittance of a metallic probe immersed in a laboratory plasma which has the low electron densities and low electron temperatures characteristic of the ionospheric plasma. The problem is separated into three related topics: the design and production of the laboratory plasma, the measurement of the steady-state properties of dc and very low frequency probe admittance, and the study of transient ion sheath effects on radio frequency probe admittance.
Date: December 1970
Creator: Bunting, William David
System: The UNT Digital Library
On Chaos and Anomalous Diffusion in Classical and Quantum Mechanical Systems (open access)

On Chaos and Anomalous Diffusion in Classical and Quantum Mechanical Systems

The phenomenon of dynamically induced anomalous diffusion is both the classical and quantum kicked rotor is investigated in this dissertation. We discuss the capability of the quantum mechanical version of the system to reproduce for extended periods the corresponding classical chaotic behavior.
Date: August 1998
Creator: Stefancich, Marco
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anisotropic Relaxation Time for Solids with Ellipsoidal Fermi Surfaces (open access)

Anisotropic Relaxation Time for Solids with Ellipsoidal Fermi Surfaces

Many solids have Fermi surfaces which are approximated as ellipsoids. A comprehensive solution for the magnetoconductivity of an ellipsoid is obtained which proves the existence of a relaxation time tensor which can be anisotropic and which is a function of energy only.
Date: May 1971
Creator: Fuchser, Troy Denrich
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nonlinear Optical Absorption and Refraction Study of Metallophthalocyanine Dyes (open access)

Nonlinear Optical Absorption and Refraction Study of Metallophthalocyanine Dyes

This dissertation deals with the characterization of the nonlinear absorption and refraction of two representative metallophthalocyanine dyes: chloro aluminum phthalocyanine dissolved in methanol, referred to as CAP, and a silicon naphthalocyanine derivative dissolved in toluene, referred to as SiNc. Using the Z-scan technique, the experiments are performed on both the picosecond and nanosecond timescales at a wavelength of 0.532 μm.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Wei, Tai-Huei
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Some Biological Effects of Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Radiation (open access)

A Study of Some Biological Effects of Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Radiation

The experimental studies of this work were done using a microwave cavity spectrometer, Escherichia coli (E-coli) bacteria, and other peripheral equipment. The experiment consists of two steps. First, a general survey of frequencies from 8 GHz to 12 GHz was made. Second, a detailed experiment for specific frequencies selected from the first survey were further studied. Interesting frequency dependent results, such as unusually higher growing or killing rates of E-coli at some frequencies, were found. It is also concluded that some results are genetic, that is, the 2nd, and 3rd subcultures showed the same growing status as the 1st cultures.
Date: December 1996
Creator: Park, Young C. (Young Chul), 1960-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nonlinear Dynamics of Semiconductor Device Circuits and Characterization of Deep Energy Levels in HgCdTe by Using Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy (open access)

Nonlinear Dynamics of Semiconductor Device Circuits and Characterization of Deep Energy Levels in HgCdTe by Using Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy

The nonlinear dynamics of three physical systems has been investigated. Diode resonator systems are experimentally shown to display a period doubling route to chaos, quasiperiodic states, periodic locking states, and Hopf bifurcation to chaos. Particularly, the transition from quasiperiodic states to chaos in line-coupled systems agrees well with the Curry-Yorke model. The SPICE program has been modified to give realistic models for the diode resonator systems.
Date: May 1994
Creator: Yü, Chi
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spatiotemporal Properties of Coupled Nonlinear Oscillators (open access)

Spatiotemporal Properties of Coupled Nonlinear Oscillators

Spatiotemporal properties of classical coupled nonlinear oscillators are investigated in this thesis. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to nonlinear lattices and to the concept of breathers, that are spatially localized and temporally periodic excitation in nonlinear lattices. The concept of anti-continuous limit that provides the basic methodology in probing spatiotemporal breather properties is discussed. In Chapter 2, the general approach for finding exact breather solutions from the anti-continuous limit is examined, and the rotating wave approximation(RWA) is applied to probe the spatial structure of static breathers. Numerical evidence reveals that the RWA relates the spatial structure of stable multi-breathers to a single breather of the same frequency. Chapter 3 presents linear stability analysis of static breathers and gives a systematic way to construct mobile breathers. Formation and collision properties of this moving breathers are also studied. Chapter 4 discusses dynamics of kinks and anti-kinks in hydrogen-bonded chains in the context of two-component soliton model. From molecular dynamics simulations with finite temperature, it is observed that, in a real system (eg. ice), a pair of kink and anti-kink can evolve into a moving-breather-like excitation. Chapter 5 is devoted to the understand of the effects of disorder in the Holstein model. The …
Date: July 1996
Creator: Chen, Ding
System: The UNT Digital Library
Numerical Investigations of Quantum Effects of Chaos (open access)

Numerical Investigations of Quantum Effects of Chaos

The quantum dynamics of minimum uncertainty wave packets in a system described by the surface-state-electron (SSE) Hamiltonian are studied herein.
Date: August 1993
Creator: Miroslaw, Latka
System: The UNT Digital Library