X-ray diffraction analysis of MOCVD grown GaN buffer layers on GaAs(001) substrates

In order to understand the growth feature of GaN on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), the crystallinity of GaN buffer layers with different thicknesses was investigated by using double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) measurements. The XRD results showed that the buffer layers consist of predominantly hexagonal GaN (h-GaN) and its content increases with buffer layer thickness. The nominal GaN (111) reflections with chi at 54.74degrees can be detected easily, while (0 0 2) reflections are rather weak. The integrated intensity of reflections from (111) planes is 4-6 times that of (0 0 2) reflections. Possible explanations are presented. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis and numerical simulation of eigenmode characteristics for semiconductor lasers with an equilateral triangle micro-resonator

The eigenmodes confined in the equilateral triangle resonator (ETR) are analyzed by deriving the eigenvalues and the mode field distributions and by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique. The analytical results show that the one-period-length for the mode light rays inside the ETR is the perimeter of the ETR, and the number of transverse modes is limited by the condition of total internal reflection. In addition, the sum of the longitudinal mode index and the transverse mode index should be an even number, which limits the number of confined modes again. Based on the FDTD technique and the Pade approximation, we calculate the mode resonant frequencies and the quality factors from the local maximum and the width of the spectral distribution of the intensity The numerical results of mode frequencies agree very well with the analytical results, and the quality factor of the fundamental mode is usually higher than that of the higher order transverse modes. The results show that the ETR is suitable to realize single-made operation as semiconductor microcavity lasers.

Resonant frequencies and quality factors for optical equilateral triangle resonators calculated by FDTD technique and the Pade approximation

The mode wavelength and quality factor (Q-factor) for resonant modes in optical equilateral triangle resonators (ETR's) are calculated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique and the Pade approximation, For an ETR with the side length of 3 mu m and the refractive index of 3.2, we get the mode wavelength interval of about 70 nm and the Q-factor of the fundamental mode over 10(3), The results show that the ETR is suitable to realize single-mode operation, and that the radiation loss in the corner regions of ETR is rather low, In addition, the numerical results of the mode wavelength agree very well with our analytical formula.

Analysis of directional emission in square resonator lasers with an output waveguide

Square microcavity laser with an output waveguide is proposed and analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. For a square resonator with refractive index of 3.2, side length of 4 microns, and output waveguide of 0.4-micron width, we have got the quality factors (Q factors) of 6.7×10~2 and 7.3×10~3 for the fundamental and first-order transverse magnetic (TM) mode near the wavelength of 1.5 microns, respectively. The simulated intensity distribution for the first-order TM mode shows that the coupling efficiency in the waveguide reaches 53%. The numerical simulation shows that the first-order transverse modes have fairly high Q factor and high coupling efficiency to the output waveguide. Therefore the square resonator with an output waveguide is a promising candidate to realize single-mode directional emission microcavity lasers.

Analysis of equilateral triangle semiconductor microlasers with rough sidewalls

The mode frequencies and quality factors are calculated for the equilateral triangle semiconductor microlasers with sinusoidal and random Gaussian sidewalls. The results show that the modes can still have high Q-factors.

CFD analysis of thermodynamic cycles in a pulse tube refrigerator

The objectives of this paper are to study the thermodynamic cycles in an inertance tube pulse tube refrigerator (ITPTR) by means of CFD method The simulation results show that gas parcels working in different parts of ITPTR undergo different thermodynamic cycles The net effects of those thermodynamic cycles are pumping heat from the low temperature part to the high temperature part of the system The simulation results also show that under different frequencies of piston movement the gas parcels working in the same part of the system will undergo the same type of thermodynamic cycles The simulated thermal cycles are compared with those thermodynamic analysis results from a reference Comparisons show that both CFD simulations and theoretical analysis predict the same type of thermal cycles at the same location However only CFD simulation can give the quantitative results while the thermodynamic analysis is still remaining in quality (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

Phosphoproteome analysis of mouse liver using immobilized metal affinity purification and linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Since protein phosphorylation is a dominant mechanism of information transfer in cells, there is a great need for methods capable of accurately elucidating sites of phosphorylation. In recent years mass spectrometry has become an increasingly viable alternative to more traditional methods of phosphorylation analysis. The present study used immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC coupled with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer to analyze phosphorylated proteins in mouse liver. A total of 26 peptide sequences defining 26 sites of phosphorylation were determined. Although this number of identified phosphoproteins is not large, the approach is still of interest because a series of conservative criteria were adopted in data analysis. We note that, although the binding of non-phosphorylated peptides to the IMAC column was apparent, the improvements in high-speed scanning and quality of MS/MS spectra provided by the linear ion trap contributed to the phosphoprotein identification. Further analysis demonstrated that MS/MS/MS analysis was necessary to exclude the false-positive matches resulting from the MS/MS experiments, especially for multiphosphorylated peptides. The use of the linear ion trap considerably enabled exploitation of nanoflow-HPLC/MS/MS, and in addition MS/MS/MS has great potential in phosphoproteome research of relatively complex samples. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

A method for the analysis of low-mass molecules by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

We report a novel method termed matrix suppressed laser desorption/ionization to improve the analysis of low-mass molecules by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In this method, the surfactant of cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) is added to the conventional matrix of alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid solution to prepare the MALDI samples. During the MALDI process, the presence of CTAB could substantially or even completely suppress the matrix-related ion background. As a result, very clean mass spectra can be routinely obtained in the low-mass range. In addition, the presence of CTAB can significantly improve the mass resolution of low-mass molecules. It is seen that high-quality spectra were routinely obtained at a matrix/CTAB ratio of 1000:1. This method has been successfully used to analyze a variety of low-mass molecules.

Spatial variability in water quality and surface sediment diatom assemblages in a complex lake basin,lake of the woods,ontario,canada

Lake of the Woods (LOW) is an international waterbody spanning the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, and the U.S. state of Minnesota. In recent years, there has been a perception that water quality has deteriorated in northern regions of the lake, with all increase in the frequency and intensity of toxin-producing cyanobacterial blooms. However, given the lack of long-term data these trends are difficult to verify. As a first step, we examine spatial and seasonal patterns in water quality in this highly complex lake on the Canadian Shield. Further, we examine surface sediment diatom assemblages across multiple sites to determine if they track within-take differences in environmental conditions. Our results show that there are significant spatial patterns in water quality in LOW. Principal Component Analysis divides the lake into three geographic zones based primarily on algal nutrients (i.e., total phosphorus, TP), with the highest concentrations at sites proximal to Rainy River. This variation is closely tracked by sedimentary diatom assemblages, with [TP] explaining 43% of the variation in diatom assemblages across sites. The close correlation between water quality and the surface sediment diatom record indicate that paleoecological models could be used to provide data on the relative importance of natural and anthropogenic sources of nutrients to the lake.

Spatial distribution of soil heavy metal pollution estimated by different interpolation methods: Accuracy and uncertainty analysis

Mapping the spatial distribution of contaminants in soils is the basis of pollution evaluation and risk control. Interpolation methods are extensively applied in the mapping processes to estimate the heavy metal concentrations at unsampled sites. The performances of interpolation methods (inverse distance weighting, local polynomial, ordinary kriging and radial basis functions) were assessed and compared using the root mean square error for cross validation. The results indicated that all interpolation methods provided a high prediction accuracy of the mean concentration of soil heavy metals. However, the classic method based on percentages of polluted samples, gave a pollution area 23.54-41.92% larger than that estimated by interpolation methods. The difference in contaminated area estimation among the four methods reached 6.14%. According to the interpolation results, the spatial uncertainty of polluted areas was mainly located in three types of region: (a) the local maxima concentration region surrounded by low concentration (clean) sites, (b) the local minima concentration region surrounded with highly polluted samples; and (c) the boundaries of the contaminated areas. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Land use and water quality response in the northern region of Changxing County

In this paper, taking the northern region of Changxing County for example, with ammonia nitrogen as a pollution assessment index, we used an improved export coefficient method for estimate polluting load of non-point source pollution (NSP) and the social pollution survey data in the study area to estimate point source pollution. By comparing the total pollution output and the national surface water environmental quality standards find that the whole study area achieves the second water quality standard. However, Jiapu Township exceeds the water quality standards seriously because of the superfluous point source pollution. The water quality of other Townships is good. Further analysis showed that different types of land use and proportions in the northern region of Changxing County have a significant impact on the non-point source pollution, the general law is farmland contributes the largest share of the non-point source pollution output, followed by residential area and bare land, besides, with the increase in the proportion of forest and the decrease of farmland and residential area, the non-point source pollution reduces gradually. © 2010 IEEE.

Analysis of nephroloxic and carcinogenic aristolochic acids in Aristolochia plants by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection at a carbon fiber microdisk electrode

Aristolochic acids (AAs) are the main bioactive ingredients in the most of Aristolochia plants, which are used to make dietary supplements, slimming pills and Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs). Excessive ingestion of AAs can lead to serious nephropathy. Therefore, quantitative analysis and quality control for the plants containing AAs is of great importance. In this paper, capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrochemical detection (ED) at a 33 mu m carbon fiber microdisk electrode (CFE) has been applied to detect AA-I and AA-II in Aristolochia plants. Under the optimum conditions: detection potential at 1.20 V, 2.0 x 10(-2) mol L-1 phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (pH 10.0), injection time 25 s at a height of 17 cm and separation voltage at 12.5 kV, the AA-I and AA-II were baseline separated within 5 min. Low detection limits for AA-I and AA-II were 4.0 x 10(-8) mol L-1 and 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1, respectively. Wide linear ranges were from 4.0 x 10(-8) mol L-1 to 1.9 x 10(-5) mol L-1 and 1.0 X 10(-7) mol L-1 to 5.0 x 10(-5) mol L-1 for AA-I and AA-II, respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied to analyze AAs contents in plant extracts. The results indicated that the contents of AAs in each part of Aristolochia debilis Sieb. Et Zucc.