Persistent organic pollutants in water and surface sediments of Taihu Lake, China and risk assessment

Organic pollutants, especially persistent organic pollutants were examined in the water and surface sediments of Taihu Lake, China. Both 12 water and 12 sediment samples were collected over the lake. C-18 solid-phase extraction technique was applied to extract organic pollutants in collected water samples. Soxhlet extraction procedure was used to extract organic pollutants in sediment samples. The analysis was performed by GC-MS controlled by a Hewlett Packard chemstation. Two hundred and seventy-three kinds of organic chemicals in water were examined, 200 more than that detected in 1985; 188 kinds of chemicals in sediments were detected as well. Among them 21 kinds of chemicals belong to priority pollutants as well as 17 kinds to be the endocrine disruptors. The concentrations of the pollutants were more than 2 times higher than that in 1985. The possible source and relation to anthropogenic activity were discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Growth of juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis fed live and formulated diets

Triplicate groups of 3.8-g juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis were reared for 8 weeks in indoor flow-through systems on one of four diets: a natural diet consisting solely of live tubificid worms, a semimoist practical diet, a dry practical diet, and a purified diet. The formulated diets were prepared in the laboratory and had protein contents of 47-50%. Except for the group fed the purified diet, fish showed high survival (94-96%) and growth (final weight, 41-45 g). Survival and specific growth rate did not differ significantly between groups fed the natural, semimoist, and dry practical diets, but were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in fish fed the purified diet. Proximate analysis showed that fish fed purified diet had lower protein and lipid levels but a higher moisture content than fish fed other diets. Our results demonstrated that growth and survival of cultured juvenile Chinese sturgeon fed practical diets were comparable with those fed live tubificid worms. However, Chinese sturgeon fed a purified diet showed inferior growth and survival.

First-principles study of ground-state properties and high pressure behavior of ThO2

The mechanical properties, electronic structure and phonon dispersion of ground state ThO2 as well as the structure behavior up to 240 GPa are studied using first-principles density-functional theory. Our calculated elastic constants indicate that both the ground-state fluorite structure and high pressure cotunnite structure of ThO2 are mechanically stable. The bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young's modulus of cotunnite ThO2 are all smaller by approximately 25% compared with those of fluorite ThO2. The Poisson's ratios of both structures are approximately equal to 0.3 and the hardness of fluorite ThO2 is 22.4 GPa. The electronic structure and bonding nature of fluorite ThO2 are fully analyzed, and show that the Th-O bond displays a mixed ionic/covalent character. The phase transition from the fluorite to cotunnite structure is calculated to occur at the pressure of 26.5 GPa, consistent with recent experimental measurement by ldiri et al. [1]. For the cotunnite phase it is further predicted that an isostructural transition takes place in the pressure region of 80-130 GPa.

The diphasic nc-Si/a-Si : H thin film with improved medium-range order

A series of silicon film samples were prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) near the threshold from amorphous to nanocrystalline state by adjusting the plasma parameters and properly increasing the reactions between the hydrogen plasma and the growing surface. The microstucture of the films was studied by micro-Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The influences of the hydrogen dilution ratio of silane (R-H = [H-2]/[SiH4]) and the substrate temperature (T-s) on the microstructural and photoelectronic properties of silicon films were investigated in detail. With the increase of RH from 10 to 100, a notable improvement in the medium-range order (MRO) of the films was observed, and then the phase transition from amorphous to nanocrystalline phase occurred, which lead to the formation of diatomic hydrogen complex, H-2* and their congeries. With the increase of T-s from 150 to 275 degreesC, both the short-range order and the medium range order of the silicon films are obviously improved. The photoconductivity spectra and the light induced changes of the films show that the diphasic nc-Si/a-Si:H films with fine medium-range order present a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength and a lower degradation upon illumination than conventional a-Si:H films. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical properties and exciton localization in GaNas/GaAs

GaNAs/GaAs single quantum wells (SQWs) and dilute GaNAs bulk grown by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE) were studied by photoluminescence (PL), selectively-excited PL, and time-resolved PL. Exciton localization and delocalization were investigated in detail. Under short pulse laser excitation, the delocalization exciton emission was revealed in GaNAs/GaAs SQWs. It exhibits quite different optical properties from N-related localized states. In dilute GaNAs bulk, a transition of alloy band related recombination was observed by measuring the PL dependence on temperature and excitation intensity and time-resolved PL, as well. This alloy-related transition presents intrinsic optical properties. These results are very important for realizing the abnomal features of III-V-N semiconductors.

Electrical characterization of Er- and Pr-implanted GaN films

Hall, current-voltage, and deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements were used to characterize the electrical properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown undoped, Er- and Pr-implanted GaN films. Only one deep level located at 0.270 eV below the conduction band was found in the as-grown GaN films. However, four defect levels located at 0.300, 0.188, 0.600, and 0.410 eV below the conduction band were found in the Er-implanted GaN films after annealing at 900 degrees C for 30 min, and four defect levels located at 0.280, 0.190, 0.610, and 0.390 eV below the conduction band were found in the Pr-implanted GaN films after annealing at 1050 degrees C for 30 min. The origins of the deep defect levels are discussed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Rapid photoluminescence quenching in GaInNAs quantum wells at low temperature

Temperature dependence of optical properties of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) has been studied by photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL. A rapid PL quenching is observed even at very low temperature and is of the excitation power dependence. These results strongly suggest that the non-radiative recombination process plays a very important role at low temperature. In the TRPL measurement the shape of the PL decay curve shows significant difference under different excitation powers. It is attributed to the different involvement of non-radiative recombination in the overall recombination process. The TRPL data are well fitted with the rate equation involving both the radiative and non-radiative recombination. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deep level and photoluminescence studies of Er-implanted GaN films

Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements were performed on the metal organic chemical vapor deposition epitaxially grown GaN before and after the implantation with Er. Only one deep level located at 0.270 eV below the conduction band was found in the as-grown GaN films. But four defect levels located at 0.300, 0.188, 0.600 and 0.410 eV below the conduction band were found in the Er-implanted GaN films after annealing at 900 degrees for 30 min. The origins of the deep defect levels were discussed. The photoluminescence (PL) properties of Er-implanted GaN thin films were also studied. After annealing at 900 degrees for 30 min in a nitrogen flow, Er-related 1.54 mu m luminescence peaks could be observed for the Er-implanted GaN sample. Moreover, the energy-transfer and recombination processes of the Er-implanted GaN film were described. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deep level transient spectroscopy studies of Er and Pr implanted GaN films

Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements were used to characterize the electrical properties of metal organic chemical vapor deposition grown undoped, Er-implanted and Pr-implanted GaN films. Only one deep level located at 0.270 eV below the conduction band was found in the as-grown GaN films. But four defect levels located at 0.300 eV, 0.188 eV, 0.600 eV and 0.410 eV below the conduction band were found in the Er-implanted GaN films after annealing at 900 degrees C for 30 min, and four defect levels located at 0.280 eV, 0.190 eV, 0.610 eV and 0.390 eV below the conduction band were found in the Pr-implanted GaN films after annealing at 1050 degrees C for 30min. The origins of the deep defect levels are discussed. After annealing at 900 degrees C for 30min in a nitrogen flow, Er-related 1538nm luminescence peaks could be observed for the Er-implanted GaN sample. The energy-transfer and luminescence mechanism of the Er-implanted GaN film are described.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Two types of InAs self-assembled Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that, compared to QDs grown on GaAs substrate, QDs grown on InGaAs layer has a significantly enhanced density. The short spacing (several nanometer) among QDs stimulates strong coupling and leads to a large red-shift of the 1.3 mu m photoluminescence (PL) peak. We study systematically the dependence of PL lifetime on the QDs size, density and temperature (1). We found that, below 50 K, the PL lifetime is insensitive to temperature, which is interpreted from the localization effects. As T increases, the PL lifetime increases, which can be explained from the competition between the carrier redistribution and thermal emission at higher temperature. The increase of carriers in QDs migrated from barriers and wetting layer (WL), and the redistribution of carriers among QDs enhance the PL lifetime as T increases. The thermal emission and non-radiative recombination have effects to reduce the PL lifetime at higher T. As a result, the radiative recombination lifetime is determined by the wave function overlapping of electrons and holes in QDs, and QDs with different densities have different PL lifetime dependence on the QDs size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A new method to fabricate InGaN quantum dots by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

A new method to form nanoscale InGaN quantum dots using MOCVD is reported, This method is much different from a method. which uses surfactant or the Stranski-Krastannow growth mode. The dots were formed by increasing the energy barrier for adatoms, which are hopping by surface passivation, and by decreasing the growth temperature. Thus, the new method can be called as a passivation-low-temperature method. Regular high-temperature GaN films were grown first and were passivated. A low-temperature thin layer of GaN dot was then deposited on the surface that acted as the adjusting layer. At last the high-density InGaN dots could be fabricated on the adjusting layer. Atomic force microscopy measurement revealed that InGaN dots were small enough to expect zero-dimensional quantum effects: The islands were typically 80 nm wide and 5 nm high. Their density was about 6 x 10(10) cm(-2). Strong photoluminescence emission from the dots is observed at room temperature, which is much stronger than that of the homogeneous InGaN film with the same growth time. Furthermore, the PL emission of the GaN adjusting layer shows 21 meV blueshift compared with the band edge emission of the GaN due to quantum confine effect. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Influences of initial nitridation process on the optical and structural characterization of GaN layer grown on sapphire (0001) by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

In this paper. we investigate the influences of the initial nitridation of sapphire substrates on the optical and structural characterizations in GaN films. Two GaN samples with and without 3 min nitridation process were investigated by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy in the temperature range of 12-300 K and double-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). In the 12 K PL spectra of the GaN sample without nitridation, four dominant peaks at 3.476, 3.409 3.362 and 3.308 eV were observed, which were assigned to donor bound exciton, excitons bound to stacking faults and extended structural defects. In the sample with nitridation, three peaks at 3.453, 3.365. and 3.308 eV were observed at 12 K, no peak related to stacking faults. XRD results at different reflections showed that there are more stacking faults in the samples without nitridation.

Defect states in cubic GaN epilayer grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Defect states in cubic GaN epilayers grown on GaAs were investigated with the photoluminescence technique. One shallow donor and two acceptors were identified to be involved in relevant optical transitions. The binding energies of the free excitons, the bound excitons. the donor and the acceptors were determined. These values are in good agreement with recent theoretical results.

Influence of indium composition on the surface morphology of self-organized InxGa1-xAs quantum dots on GaAs substrates

InxGa1-xAs self-organized quantum dots with x=1.0, 0.5, and 0.35 have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The areal density, distribution, and shapes have been found to be dependent on x. The dot shape changes from a round shape for x=1.0 to an elliptical shape for x less than or equal to 0.5. The major axis and minor axis of the elliptical InxGa1-xAs dots are along the [(1) over bar 10] and [110] directions, respectively. The ordering phenomenon is also discussed. It is suggested that the dot-dot interaction may play important roles in the self-organization process. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)10701-7].

Raman scattering study on diluted magnetic semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs prepared by Mn-ion implantation

Raman scattering measurements have been performed in diluted magnetic semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs prepared by Mn-ion implantation, deposition, and post-annealing technique. It is found that the Raman spectrum measured from the implanted surface of the sample shows some new weak modes in addition to the GaAs-like modes which are observed from the unimplanted surface. The new vibrational modes observed are assigned to MnAs-like modes. The coupled LO-phonon plasmon mode, and Mn and As related vibrational modes caused by Mn-ion implantation, deposition, and post-annealing are also observed. Furthermore, the GaAs-like modes are found to be shifted by approximately 4 cm(-1) in the lower frequency side, compared with those observed from the unimplanted surface.