Energy levels and radiative rates for transitions in Ar XIII, Ar XIV and Ar XV

Energies for 524 levels of Ar XIII, 460 levels of Ar XIV and 156 levels of Ar XV have been calculated using the GRASP code of Dyall et al. (1989). Additionally, radiative rates, oscillator strengths, and line strengths are calculated for all electric dipole (E1), magnetic dipole (M1), electric quadrupole (E2), and magnetic quadrupole (M2) transitions among these levels. Comparisons are made with the limited results available in the literature, and the accuracy of the data is assessed. Our energy levels are estimated to be accurate to better than 1%, whereas results for other parameters are probably accurate to better than 20%. Additionally, the level lifetimes derived from our radiative rates are in excellent agreement with measured values.

Excitation rate coefficients for transitions from the ground level of Gd XXXVII

Excitation rate coefficients, for transitions from the ground level to excited levels of Gd XXXVII, have been calculated over the temperature range 5002500 eV using the R-matrix method. It is observed that the contribution of resonances enhances the rates by up to an order of magnitude over the available (non- resonant) results of Hagelstein.

Extreme ultraviolet transitions of Fe XXI in solar, stellar and laboratory spectra

Recent R-matrix calculations of electron impact excitation rates for transitions among the 2s(2)2p(2), 2s2p(3) and 2p(4) levels of Fe XXI are used to derive theoretical electron density (N-e) sensitive emission-line ratios involving 2S2(2)p(2)-2s2p(3) transitions in the similar to 98-146 Angstrom wavelength range. A comparison of these with observations from the PLT tokamak plasma, for which the electron density has been independently determined, reveals generally very good agreement between theory and experiment, and in some instances removes discrepancies found previously. The observed Fe XXI ratios for a solar flare, obtained with the OSO-5 satellite, imply electron densities which are consistent, with discrepancies that do not exceed 0.2 dex. In addition, the derived values of N-e are similar to those estimated for the high-temperature regions of other solar flares. The good agreement between theory and observation, in particular for the tokamak spectra, provides experimental support for the accuracy of the present line-ratio calculations, and hence for the atomic data on which they are based.

Semiclassical analytical approach to the description of quasimolecular optical transitions

A formula was obtained that describes asymptotically forbidden quasimolecular optical transitions in the frame of the semiclassical approach. It is particularly relevant for the weak extrema in the difference between the ground- and excited- state interaction potentials. When averaged over impact parameters and velocity distribution the formula agreed reasonably well with the recent experimental data for the Ca(4(1)S --> 3(1)D) + He transition.

A reactive force field simulation of liquid-liquid phase transitions in phosphorus

A force field model of phosphorus has been developed based on density functional (DF) computations and experimental results, covering low energy forms of local tetrahedral symmetry and more compact (simple cubic) structures that arise with increasing pressure. Rules tailored to DF data for the addition, deletion, and exchange of covalent bonds allow the system to adapt the bonding configuration to the thermodynamic state. Monte Carlo simulations in the N-P-T ensemble show that the molecular (P-4) liquid phase, stable at low pressure P and relatively low temperature T, transforms to a polymeric (gel) state on increasing either P or T. These phase changes are observed in recent experiments at similar thermodynamic conditions, as shown by the close agreement of computed and measured structure factors in the molecular and polymer phases. The polymeric phase obtained by increasing pressure has a dominant simple cubic character, while the polymer obtained by raising T at moderate pressure is tetrahedral. Comparison with DF results suggests that the latter is a semiconductor, while the cubic form is metallic. The simulations show that the T-induced polymerization is due to the entropy of the configuration of covalent bonds, as in the polymerization transition in sulfur. The transition observed with increasing P is the continuation at high T of the black P to arsenic (A17) structure observed in the solid state, and also corresponds to a semiconductor to metal transition. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Systematic study of visible transitions in Ti-like high Z ions

The magnetic dipole transitions between fine structure levels in the ground term of Ti-like ions, (3d(4)) D-5(2)-D-5(3), were investigated by observation of visible and near-UV light for several elements with atomic numbers from 51 to 78. The wavelengths are compared with theoretical values we recently calculated. The differences between the present calculations and measurements are less than 0.6%. The anomalous wavelength stability predicted by Feldman, Indelicato and Sugar [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8, 3 (1991)] was observed. We attribute this anomalous wavelength stability to the transition from LS to JJ coupling and the asymptotic behavior of the transition energies in the intermediate coupling regime.

Phase transitions in epitaxial Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films

Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) thin-film capacitor structures with various thicknesses, (50-1200 nm) and different strain conditions (on lanthanum strontium cobalt oxide La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 and strontium ruthenate SrRuO3 buffer layers) were made using pulsed laser deposition, and characterized by x-ray diffraction. The out-of-plane lattice parameter was followed as a function of temperature within the 100-300 K temperature interval. The phase sequence (cubic-tetragonal-orthorhombic-rhombohedral) known to exist in the bulk analog is shown to be strongly affected by both the stress conditions imposed by the buffer layer and the thickness of the BST film itself. Thus, no phase transition was found for the in-plane compressed BST films. On the stress-free BST films, on the contrary, more phase transitions were observed. It appeared that the complexity of structural phase transitions increased as the film thickness in this system was reduced.