The synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles has long been an area of active research. Magnetic nanoparticles can be used in a wide variety of applications such as magnetic inks, magnetic memory devices, drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, and pathogen detection in foods. In applications such as MRI, particle uniformity is particularly crucial, as is the magnetic response of the particles. Uniform magnetic particles with good magnetic properties are therefore required. One particularly effective technique for synthesizing nanoparticles involves biomineralization, which is a naturally occurring process that can produce highly complex nanostructures. Also, the technique involves mild conditions (ambient temperature and close to neutral pH) that make this approach suitable for a wide variety of materials. The term 'bioinspired' is important because biomineralization research is inspired by the naturally occurring process, which occurs in certain microorganisms called 'magnetotactic bacteria'. Magnetotactic bacteria use biomineralization proteins to produce magnetite crystals having very good uniformity in size and morphology. The bacteria use these magnetic particles to navigate according to external magnetic fields. Because these bacteria synthesize high quality crystals, research has focused on imitating aspects of this biomineralization in vitro. In particular, a biomineralization iron-binding protein found in a certain species of …

The development of multilayer optics for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation has led to advancements in many areas of science and technology, including materials studies, EUV lithography, water window microscopy, plasma imaging, and orbiting solar physics imaging. Recent developments in femtosecond and attosecond EUV pulse generation from sources such as high harmonic generation lasers, combined with the elemental and chemical specificity provided by EUV radiation, are opening new opportunities to study fundamental dynamic processes in materials. Critical to these efforts is the design and fabrication of multilayer optics to transport, focus, shape and image these ultra-fast pulses This thesis describes the design, fabrication, characterization, and application of multilayer optics for EUV femtosecond and attosecond scientific studies. Multilayer mirrors for bandwidth control, pulse shaping and compression, tri-material multilayers, and multilayers for polarization control are described. Characterization of multilayer optics, including measurement of material optical constants, reflectivity of multilayer mirrors, and metrology of reflected phases of the multilayer, which is critical to maintaining pulse size and shape, were performed. Two applications of these multilayer mirrors are detailed in the thesis. In the first application, broad bandwidth multilayers were used to characterize and measure sub-100 attosecond pulses from a high harmonic generation source and …

Engineers from a government-owned engineering and manufacturing facility were contracted by government-owned research laboratory to design and build an S-band telemetry transmitter using Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) technology packaged in a Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) Multi-Chip Module. The integrated circuit technology chosen for the Phase-Locked Loop Frequency Synthesizer portion of the telemetry transmitter was a 0.25 um CMOS process that utilizes a sapphire substrate and is fabricated by Peregrine Semiconductor corporation. This thesis work details the design of the Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) portion of the PLL frequency synthesizer and constitutes an fully integrated VCO core circuit and a high-isolation buffer amplifier. The high-isolation buffer amplifier was designed to provide 16 dB of gain for 2200-3495 MHz as well as 60 dB of isolation for the oscillator core to provide immunity to frequency pulling due to RF load mismatch. Actual measurements of the amplifier gain and isolation showed the gain was approximately 5 dB lower than the simulated gain when all bond-wire and test substrate parasitics were taken into account. The isolation measurements were shown to be 28 dB at the high end of the frequency band but the measurement was more than likely compromised due to the aforementioned …

Methods are presented for synthesizing nanocrystal heterostructures comprised of two semiconductor materials epitaxially attached within individual nanostructures. The chemical transformation of cation exchange, where the cations within the lattice of an ionic nanocrystal are replaced with a different metal ion species, is used to alter the chemical composition at specific regions ofa nanocrystal. Partial cation exchange was performed in cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanorods of well-defined size and shape to examine the spatial organization of materials within the resulting nanocrystal heterostructures. The selectivity for cation exchange to take place at different facets of the nanocrystal plays an important role in determining the resulting morphology of the binary heterostructure. The exchange of copper (I) (Cu+) cations in CdS nanorods occurs preferentially at the ends of the nanorods. Theoretical modeling of epitaxial attachments between different facets of CdS and Cu2S indicate that the selectivity for cation exchange at the ends of the nanorods is a result of the low formation energy of the interfaces produced. During silver (I) (Ag+) cation exchange in CdS nanorods, non-selective nucleation of silver sulfide (Ag2S), followed by partial phase segregation leads to significant changes in the spatial arrangement of CdS and Ag2S regions at the exchange reaction proceeds …

The work described in this dissertation has improved three essential components of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography: exposure tools, photoresist, and metrology. Exposure tools. A field-averaging illumination stage is presented that enables nonuniform, high-coherence sources to be used in applications where highly uniform illumination is required. In an EUV implementation, it is shown that the illuminator achieves a 6.5% peak-to-valley intensity variation across the entire design field of view. In addition, a design for a stand-alone EUV printing tool capable of delivering 15 nm half-pitch sinusoidal fringes with available sources, gratings and nano-positioning stages is presented. It is shown that the proposed design delivers a near zero line-edge-rougness (LER) aerial image, something extremely attractive for the application of resist testing. Photoresist. Two new methods of quantifying the deprotection blur of EUV photoresists are described and experimentally demonstrated. The deprotection blur, LER, and sensitivity parameters of several EUV photoresists are quantified simultaneously as base weight percent, photoacid generator (PAG) weight percent, and post-exposure bake (PEB) temperature are varied. Two surprising results are found: (1) changing base weight percent does not significantly affect the deprotection blur of EUV photoresist, and (2) increasing PAG weight percent can simultaneously reduce LER and E-size in EUV …

Itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO3 has drawn interest from physicists due to its unusual transport and magnetic properties as well as from engineers due to its low resistivity and good lattice-matching to other oxide materials. The exact electronic structure remains a mystery, as well as details of the interactions between magnetic and electron transport properties. This thesis describes the use of time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr spectroscopy to study the ferromagnetic resonance of SrRuO3 thin films, where the ferromagnetic resonance is initiated by a sudden change in the easy axis direction in response to a pump pulse. The rotation of the easy axis is induced by laser heating, taking advantage of a temperature-dependent easy axis direction in SrRuO3 thin films. By measuring the change in temperature of the magnetic system in response to the laser pulse, we find that the specific heat is dominated by magnons up to unusually high temperature, ~;;100 K, and thermal diffusion is limited by a boundary resistance between the film and the substrate that is not consistent with standard phonon reflection and scattering models. We observe a high FMR frequency, 250 GHz, and large Gilbert damping parameter, alpha ~;; 1, consistent with strong spin-orbit coupling. We observe a time-dependent …

The utility of the TDR as an instrument in the study of magnetically ordered materials has been expanded beyond the simple demonstration purposes. Results of static applied magnetic field dependent measurements of the dynamic magnetic susceptibility, ?, of various ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials showing a range of transition temperatures (1-800 K) are presented. Data was collected primarily with a tunnel diode resonator (TDR) at different radio-frequencies ({approx}10-30 MHz). In the vicinity of TC local moment ferromagnets show a very sharp, narrow peak in ? which is suppressed in amplitude and shifted to higher temperatures as the static bias field is increased. Unexpectedly, critical scaling analysis fails for these data. It is seen that these data are frequency dependent, however there is no simple method whereby measurement frequency can be changed in a controllable fashion. In contrast, itinerant ferromagnets show a broad maximum in ? well below TC which is suppressed and shifts to lower temperatures as the dc bias field is increased. The data on itinerant ferromagnets is fitted to a semi-phenomenological model that suggests the sample response is dominated by the uncompensated minority spins in the conduction band. Concluding remarks suggest possible scenarios to achieve frequency resolved …

Nanotechnology refers any technique that involves about object with nanoscale (10{sup -9} m) or even smaller. It has become more and more important in recently years and has changed our world dramatically. Most of modern electronic devices today should thanks to the miniaturizing driven by development of nanotechnology. Recent years, more and more governments are investing huge amount of money in research related to nanotechnology. There are two major reasons that nanostructure is so fascinate. The first one is the miniaturizing. It is obvious that if we can make products smaller without losing the features, we can save the cost and increase the performance dramatically. For an example, the first computer in the world, ENIAC, which occupied several rooms, is less powerful than the cheapest calculator today. Today's chips with sizes of less than half an inch contain millions of basic units. All these should thank to the development of nanotechnology. The other reason is that when we come to nanoscale, there are many new effects due to the quantum effect which can't be found in large systems. For an example, quantum dots (QDs) are systems which sizes are below 1{micro}m(10{sup -6}m) and restricted in three dimensions. There are many …

While historically hydrogen has been considered an impurity in titanium, when used as a temporary alloying agent it promotes beneficial changes to material properties that increase the hot-workability of the metal. This technique known as thermohydrogen processing was used to temporarily alloy hydrogen with commercially pure titanium sheet as a means of facilitating the friction stir welding process. Specific alloying parameters were developed to increase the overall hydrogen content of the titanium sheet ranging from commercially pure to 30 atomic percent. Each sheet was evaluated to determine the effect of the hydrogen content on process loads and tool deformation during the plunge phase of the friction stir welding process. Two materials, H-13 tool steel and pure tungsten, were used to fabricate friction stir welding tools that were plunged into each of the thermohydrogen processed titanium sheets. Tool wear was characterized and variations in machine loads were quantified for each tool material and weld metal combination. Thermohydrogen processing was shown to beneficially lower plunge forces and stabilize machine torques at specific hydrogen concentrations. The resulting effects of hydrogen addition to titanium metal undergoing the friction stir welding process are compared with modifications in titanium properties documented in modern literature. Such comparative …

The top quark is by far the heaviest known fundamental particle with a mass nearing that of a gold atom. Because of this strikingly high mass, the top quark has several unique properties and might play an important role in electroweak symmetry breaking - the mechanism that gives all elementary particles mass. Creating top quarks requires access to very high energy collisions, and at present only the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is capable of reaching these energies. Until now, top quarks have only been observed produced in pairs via the strong interaction. At hadron colliders, it should also be possible to produce single top quarks via the electroweak interaction. Studies of single top quark production provide opportunities to measure the top quark spin, how top quarks mix with other quarks, and to look for new physics beyond the standard model. Because of these interesting properties, scientists have been looking for single top quarks for more than 15 years. This thesis presents the first discovery of single top quark production. An analysis is performed using 2.3 fb{sup -1} of data recorded by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at centre-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. Boosted decision trees are …

MINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena of neutrino oscillations. By measuring the neutrino interactions in a detector near the neutrino source and again 735 km away from the production site, it is possible to probe the parameters governing neutrino oscillation. The majority of the {nu}{sub {mu}} oscillate to {nu}{sub {tau}} but a small fraction may oscillate instead to {nu}{sub e}. This thesis presents a measurement of the {nu}{sub e} appearance rate in the MINOS far detector using the first two years of exposure. Methods for constraining the far detector backgrounds using the near detector measurements is discussed and a technique for estimating the uncertainty on the background and signal selection are developed. A 1.6{sigma} excess over the expected background rate is found providing a hint of {nu}{sub e} appearance.

A search for charged massive stable particles has been performed with the D0 detector using 1.1 fb{sup -1} of data. The speed of the particle has been calculated based on the time-of-flight and position information in the muon system. The present research is limited to direct pair-production of the charged massive long-lived particles. We do not consider CMSPs that result from the cascade decays of heavier particles. In this analysis, the exact values of the model parameters of the entire supersymmetric particle mass spectrum, relevant for cascade decays, are not important. We found no evidence of the signal. 95% CL cross-section upper limits have been set on the pair-productions of the stable scaler tau lepton, the gaugino-like charginos, and the higgsino-like charginos. The upper cross section limits vary from 0.31 pb to 0.04 pb, for stau masses in the range between 60 GeV and 300 GeV. We use the nominal value of the theoretical cross section to set limits on the mass of the pair produced charginos. We exclude the pair-produced stable gaugino-like charginos with mass below 206 GeV, and higgsino-like charginos below 171 GeV, respectively. Although the present sensitivity is insufficient to test the model of the pair produced …

This thesis describes the search for K_L → π⁰π⁰μ⁺μ^-, which was conducted using data collected by the KTeV Experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Although this decay mode is possible within the Standard Model, it is limited to a very narrow band of phase space. The HyperCP Experiment has recently observed three Σ⁺ → pμ⁺μ^- events within a narrow dimuon mass range of 213.8 MeV/c² to 214.8 MeV/c². This suggests that the process could occur via a neutral intermediary particle, Σ⁺ → pX⁰ → pμ⁺μ^-, with an X⁰ mass of 214.3 MeV/c² ± 0.5 MeV/c² . Since the X⁰ has a light mass and a low interaction probability, then it is most likely a new neutral boson that exists beyond the Standard Model. Recent theoretical predictions suggest that the decay mode K_L → π⁰π⁰μ⁺μ^- can also occur via the aforementioned neutral boson: K_L → π⁰π⁰X⁰→ π⁰π⁰μ⁺μ^-. Therefore, in addition to a Standard Model measurement, the search for K_L → π⁰π⁰μ⁺μ^- is also carried out in an effort to address the viability of X⁰ in explaining the HyperCP phenomena. Measurement of the upper limits presented in this thesis were performed using blind analysis techniques. The upper limit of …

We report on the results of a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a W or Z boson in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb{sup -1}. We consider events having no identified charged leptons, a large imbalance in transverse momentum, and two or three jets where at least one jet contains a secondary vertex consistent with the decay of a b hadron. The main backgrounds are modeled with innovative techniques using data. The sensitivity of the search is optimized using multivariate discriminant techniques. We find good agreement between data and the standard model predictions. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on production cross section times branching ratio for several Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV=c{sup 2} to 150 GeV=c{sup 2}. For a mass of 115 GeV=c{sup 2} the observed (expected) limit is 6.9 (5.6) times the standard model prediction.