Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

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40466 Publications

Thermoelectric Magnetohydrodynamic Control in Alloy Solidification

Kao, A.; Fan, X.; Shevchenko, N.; Tonry, C.; Soar, P.; Krastins, I.; Eckert, S.; Pericleous, K.; Lee, P. D.

Magnetic fields have been shown to have a significant effect during solidification in a wide range of conditions from the slow growth of traditional casting to the more rapid growth of Additive Manufacturing. An underlying phenomenon is Thermoelectric Magnetohydrodynamics (TEMHD), which, due to inherent thermal gradients, generate thermoelectric currents and ultimately a Lorentz force through interaction with the magnetic field. In casting this leads to inter-dendritic convective solute transport. This can be used to control freckle defect formation in the GaIn system, where the magnetic field can be used to reposition channel formation, introduce preferential growth of secondary arms, plume migration and complex grain boundary interactions. These mechanisms have been observed by X-ray synchrotron experiments and predicted by TESA (ThermoElectric Solidification Algorithm), a parallel Cellular Automata Lattice Boltzmann based numerical model.
In laser AM, melt pools are subject to large thermal gradients and consequently form relatively large thermoelectric currents. The system is highly dependent on the orientation and strength of the magnetic field with competition between Marangoni flow and TEMHD resulting in control of the depth, width and potential deflections of the melt pool. This leads to significant changes in the microstructure including modification to the melt pool boundary layer and epitaxial growth. The numerical predictions also compare favourably to X-ray synchrotron experiments.

Keywords: Magnetic fields; Alloy solidification; Additive Manufacturing; Thermoelectric Magnetohydrodynamics

  • Lecture (Conference)
    International scientific colloquium “Modelling for Materials Processing”, 18.-19.09.2023, Riga, Latvia

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37999
Publ.-Id: 37999


In-situ Measurements of Dendrite Tip Shape Selection in a Metallic Alloy

Neumann-Heyme, H.; Shevchenko, N.; Grenzer, J.; Eckert, K.; Beckermann, C.; Eckert, S.

The size and shape of the primary dendrite tips determine the principal length scale of the microstructure evolving during solidification of alloys. In-situ X-ray measurements of the tip shape in metals have been unsuccessful so far due to insufficient spatial resolution or high image noise. To overcome these limitations, high-resolution synchrotron radiography and advanced image processing techniques are applied to a thin sample of a solidifying Ga-35wt.%In alloy, as shown in Figure 1. Quantitative in-situ measurements are performed of the growth of dendrite tips during the fast initial transient and the subsequent steady growth period, with tip velocities ranging over almost two orders of magnitude. As shown in Figure 2, the value of the dendrite tip shape selection parameter is found to be σ^*=0.0768. According to microscopic solvability theory, this value suggests an interface energy anisotropy of ε_4=0.015 for the present Ga-In alloy. The non-axisymmetric dendrite tip shape amplitude coefficient is measured to be A_4≈0.004, which is in excellent agreement with the universal value previously established for dendrites.

Keywords: dendrite tip; In-situ Measurements; Ga - In alloys; Interface energy anisotropy

  • Invited lecture (Conferences)
    TMS 2023 Frontiers in Solidification: An MPMD Symposium Honoring Jonathan A. Dantzig, 19.-23.03.2023, San Diego, California, USA

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37998
Publ.-Id: 37998


The impact of melt flow on solidification patterns in a ternary Ga-In-Bi alloy

Shevchenko, N.; Budenkova, O.; Chichignoud, G.; Eckert, S.

In situ X-ray observations are scarce for ternary and multi-component alloys. A Ga-In-Bi alloy is solidified in a Hele-Shaw cell under buoyancy-driven convection. A complex and strongly disoriented dendrite-type solid phase is formed that differs from a regular dendrite network. It is shown that primary arms of dendrites in a ternary system adapt their velocity to the local concentration ahead of their tips and change continuously or abruptly the growth direction. Some grains exhibit a morphology that is rather similar to the "seaweed" pattern. The appearance of seaweed grains is usually related to a solid/liquid interfacial energy. Further, we focus on the role of melt flow in transition from dendritic arrays to seaweed structures. In particular, it is shown that the splitting of a dendrite tip is preceded by the oscillation of the local intensity of the X-ray pattern which is related to the local concentration of the components.

Keywords: Ternary alloy; in situ X-ray imaging; solidification; seaweed pattern; melt convection

  • Lecture (Conference)
    TMS 2023 Frontiers in Solidification: An MPMD Symposium Honoring Jonathan A. Dantzig, 19.-23.03.2023, San Diego, California, USA

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37997
Publ.-Id: 37997


Momentum spectrum of Schwinger pair production in four-dimensional e-dipole fields

Degli Esposti, G.; Torgrimsson, G.

We calculate the momentum spectrum of electron-positron pairs created via the Schwinger mechanism by a class of four-dimensional electromagnetic fields called e-dipole fields. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the momentum spectrum has been calculated for 4D, exact solutions to Maxwell’s equations. Moreover, these solutions give fields that are optimally focused, and are hence particularly relevant for future experiments. To achieve this we have developed a worldline instanton formalism where we separate the process into a formation and an acceleration region.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37992
Publ.-Id: 37992


Efficient Near-Infrared Light-Emitting Diodes Based on CdHgSe Nanoplatelets

Prudnikau, A.; Roshan, H.; Paulus, F.; Martín-García, B.; Hübner, R.; Bahmani Jalali, H.; de Franco, M.; Prato, M.; Di Stasio, F.; Lesnyak, V.

Cadmium mercury selenide (CdHgSe) nanocrystals exhibit a unique combination of low-energy optical absorption and emission, which can be tuned from the visible to the infrared range through both quantum confinement and adjustment of their composition. Owing to this advantage, such nanocrystals have been studied as a promising narrow-band infrared light emitter. However, the electroluminescence of CdHgSe-based nanocrystals has remained largely unexplored, despite their potential for emitting light in the telecom wavelength range. Further benefits to their optical properties are expected from their shape control, in particular the formation of 2D nanocrystals, as well as from a proper design of their heterostructures. In this work, a colloidal synthesis of CdHgSe/ZnCdS core/shell nanoplatelets (NPLs) starting from CdSe template NPLs employing a cation exchange strategy is developed. The heterostructures synthesized exhibit photoluminescence that can be tuned from ≈1300 to 1500 nm. These near-infrared-active NPLs are employed in light-emitting diodes, demonstrating low turn-on voltage and high external quantum efficiency.

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37991
Publ.-Id: 37991


Effects of a horizontal magnetic field on the cross-sectional distribution of gas bubbles chain rising in a gallium alloy

Murakawa, H.; Maeda, S.; Eckert, S.

Understanding the behavior of rising bubbles in a liquid metal under the influence of a magnetic field (MF) is
crucial for optimizing continuous casting processes. The study experimentally investigated the effects of a hor-
izontal MF on the behavior of bubble chains in a gallium alloy. High-speed ultrasonic computed tomography was
used to measure the instantaneous bubble crossing positions in a cylindrical column with an inner diameter of 50
mm. With an increase in the MF strength, the oscillations of the bubbles were suppressed, resulting in the
crossing position being concentrated in a certain area of the cross-section. The fluctuations in the time intervals
of the chain bubbles decreased. These effects were more pronounced when the magnetic interaction parameter
(or Stuart number) was greater than 1. The distribution of bubbles in the direction perpendicular to the MF was
widespread slightly compared to that in the direction parallel to the MF; this was noticeable at higher flow rates.
The suppression of the wake turbulence induced by the Lorentz force was larger in the direction parallel to the
MF than that in the direction perpendicular to the MF. Our results have the potential to be used for the direct
verification of numerical models.

Keywords: liquid metal; bubbly flow; magnetic field; high-speed ultrasonic computed tomography

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  • Secondary publication expected from 31.10.2024

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37988
Publ.-Id: 37988


Vibrations Analysis of Bubble Evolution in Liquids of Varying Physical Properties

Rigas, K.; Willers, B.; Eckert, S.; Glaser, B.

In recent years there is an attempt to control the gas stirring intensity in metal-making ladles with the aid of vibration measurements. Understanding better the induced vibrations in two-phase flows can substantially improve the existing models for gas stirring control. In this work, highly sensitive accelerometers were used for the vibration measurements in a liquid metal alloy; Sn–40 wt pctBi alloy at 200 °C and water at 20 °C. The examination of the liquids was conducted in the ladle mockup integrated into the Liquid Metal Model for Steel Casting facility at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf. Single bubbles were generated in the respective
liquids by controlled argon injection at low flow rates in the range of 0.01 to 0.15 NL/min through a single nozzle installed at the bottom of the ladle. Obtained results demonstrate differences between the induced vibrations in the examined liquids in terms of the magnitude of the root mean square values of vibration amplitude and the shape of the resulting curves with increasing flow rate. Furthermore, continuous wavelet transform reveals variations in the duration and vibrational frequency of the evolved bubble phenomena. The findings suggest that
differences in the physical properties of the examined liquids result in variations in the vibrations induced during bubble evolution.

Keywords: steel ladle; gas stirring; bubbly flow; vibration measurements

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37987
Publ.-Id: 37987


New Insights in Controlling Freckle Defect Formation using Magnetic Fields

Fan, X.; Shevchenko, N.; Tonry, C.; Clark, S. J.; Atwood, R. C.; Eckert, S.; Pericleous, K.; Lee, P. D.; Kao, A.

Static magnetic fields have been shown to have a significant effect on channel formation in the GaIn freckle defect forming alloy. Inter-dendritic convective solute transport driven by the Thermoelectric Magnetoydrodynamics (TEMHD) phenomena leads to repositioning of the channel, preferential growth of secondary arms, plume migration and complex grain boundary interactions. This paper focuses on a secondary TEMHD mechanism that is generated by larger scale thermoelectric currents that circulate between the liquid and the entire mushy zone. This secondary mechanism is strongly dependent on the thermal profile and this leads to further modification of the bulk flow and ultimately plume migration. This mechanism has been observed by Xray synchrotron experiments and predicted by TESA (ThermoElectric Solidification Algorithm), a parallel Cellular Automata Lattice Boltzmann based numerical model, providing new insights into the intimate coupling between thermal solidification conditions and the effect of the magnetic field.

Keywords: Static magnetic fields; Solidification; Thermoelectric Magnetoydrodynamics; Freckle defect; Ga-In alloys

  • Lecture (Conference)
    TMS 2023 Frontiers in Solidification: An MPMD Symposium Honoring Jonathan A. Dantzig, 19.-23.03.2023, San Diego, California, USA

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37986
Publ.-Id: 37986


Manipulation of Encapsulated Plasmons in Solids for Photonic Applications

Li, R.; Pang, C.; Sun, X.; Jamshidi, K.; Zhou, S.; Chen, F.

Plasmonics offers a promising framework for next-generation photonic applications, including optical tweezers, ultrafast lasing, and quantum communication. Integrating plasmonics into photonics enables efficient interface coupling between heterogeneous systems, resulting in enhanced performance and diverse functionality. This review presents various unique encapsulation methods for developing plasmonics-embedded hybrid nanocomposite systems. Recent progress in the manipulation mechanisms of encapsulated plasmons is systematically summarized, offering an active modulation platform for optimizing optical performance. Considering the opportunities and challenges, the advancement of tunable encapsulated plasmons exhibits promising prospects, as demonstrated by a section discussing recent significant progress in photonic applications.

Keywords: Plasmonics; Nanostructures; Ion implantation; Optical tailoring; Integrated photonic application

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37983
Publ.-Id: 37983


Fine-tuning of plasmonics by Au@AuY/Au core-shell nanoparticle monolayer for enhancement of third-order nonlinearity

Yong, L.; Pang, C.; Amekura, H.; Schumann, T.; Peng, L.; Zhixian, W.; Haocheng, L.; Li, R.

The manipulation of plasmonics on noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is of great interest in developing nonlinear photonic devices, such as all-optical switches and frequency combs. An Au@AuY-core/Au-shell nanoparticle (Au@AuY/Au NP) monolayer is proposed for the fine-tuning of plasmonics and enhanced third-order nonlinearity. Based on the different thermodynamic mechanisms of Au and Y ions, the compact Au@AuY/Au core–shell architectures are designed and surface-modified in fused silica (SiO2) with enhanced free electron density, mobility, and quantum size effect. The flexible modulation of plasmonics is realized, resulting in significant absorption enhancement (165% for interband absorption and 38% for free electron absorption, respectively) and fine-tuning of the localized surface plasma resonance (LSPR) band. In addition, the physical mechanism is investigated by density functional theory (DFT) and Mie theory, which reveals a transition from size-independence to size-dependence of LSPR owing to the synergistic effect of multiple physical factors such as free electron density and mobility. With the above advantages, the third-order nonlinearity is enhanced by 4.4 times compared with traditional Au NPs. It indicates the significant potential of Au@AuY/Au core–shell NP monolayer in the performance improvement of nonlinear photonic devices.

Keywords: Plasmonics; Core-shell alloy nanostructure; Localized surface plasmon resonance; Third-order nonlinearity; Sequential ion implantation

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37980
Publ.-Id: 37980


Data publication: Piezostrain as a Local Handle to Control Gyrotropic Dynamics of Magnetic Vortices

Iurchuk, V.; Sorokin, S.; Faßbender, J.; Lindner, J.; Kakay, A.

The archive contains the experimental (MR and EDFMR) and simulated (mumax3) data related to the publication "Piezostrain as a Local Handle to Control Gyrotropic Dynamics of Magnetic Vortices" (Physical Review Applied 20(2023), 024080).

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37978
Publ.-Id: 37978


Software: removal of bremsstrahlung background from SAXS signals with deep neural networks

Starke, S.; Smid, M.

Software for training and inference of neural network models to remove bremsstrahlung background from SAXS imaging data obtained at the European XFEL laboratory.

We thank Peter Steinbach for providing the codebase for the equivariant UNet, which we integrated into our repository.

Keywords: SAXS; XFEL; equivariant neural networks; noise removal

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37977
Publ.-Id: 37977


Near-infrared photodetectors based on single germanium nanowires

Echresh, A.; Shaikh, M. S.; Helm, M.; Erbe, A.; Berencen, Y.; Rebohle, L.; Georgiev, Y.

Germanium (Ge) is a promising candidate for designing near-infrared photodetectors because of its bandgap (0.66 eV), which induces a large absorption coefficient at near-infrared wavelengths. Also, Ge has excellent compatibility of parallel processing with silicon technology [1,2]. Photodetectors based on Ge material have been fabricated with different structures such as metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) and p−n junctions. On the other hand, the observation of high responsivity in semiconductor nanowires with a high surface-to-volume ratio has attracted growing interest in using nanowires in photodetectors. So far, significant efforts have been made to fabricate single nanowire-based photodetectors with different materials such as Si, Ge, and GaN to achieve miniaturized devices with high responsivity and short response time [3-5]. Hence, Ge nanowires are an excellent candidate to fabricate single nanowire-based near-infrared photodetectors.

In this work, we report on the fabrication and characterization of an axial p−n junction along Ge nanowires. First, through a resist mask created by electron beam lithography (EBL), the top Ge layers of germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) substrates were locally doped with phosphorus ions using ion beam implantation followed by rear-side flash lamp annealing. Then, the single Ge nanowire-based photodetectors containing an axial p−n junction were fabricated using EBL and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. The fabricated single Ge nanowire devices demonstrate the rectifying current−voltage characteristic of a p−n diode in dark conditions. Moreover, the photoresponse of the axial p−n junction-based photodetectors was investigated under light illumination with three different wavelengths: 637 nm, 785 nm, and 1550 nm. The measurements indicated that the fabricated photodetectors can be operated at zero bias and room temperature under ambient conditions. A high responsivity of 3.7×102 AW-1 and a detectivity of 1.9×1013 cmHz1/2W-1 were observed at zero bias under illumination of a 785 nm laser diode. The responsivity of the single Ge NW photodetectors was increased by applying a reverse bias of 1V.

Related publications

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Micro and Nano Engineering (MNE) conference, 25.-28.09.2023, Berlin, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37976
Publ.-Id: 37976


Piezostrain as a Local Handle to Control Gyrotropic Dynamics of Magnetic Vortices

Iurchuk, V.; Sorokin, S.; Lindner, J.; Faßbender, J.; Kakay, A.

We present a study of the piezostrain-tunable gyrotropic dynamics in Co40Fe40B20 vortex microstructures fabricated on a 0.7Pb[Mg1/3Nb2/3]O3-0.3PbTiO3 single-crystal substrate. Using field-modulated-spin-rectification measurements, we demonstrate large frequency tunability (up to 45%) in individual microdisks accessed locally with low surface voltages, and magnetoresistive readout. With increased voltage applied to the substrate, we observe a gradual decrease of the vortex-core gyrotropic frequency associated with the contribution of the strain-induced magnetoelastic energy. The frequency tunability strongly depends on the disk size, with increased frequency downshift for disks with larger diameter. Micromagnetic simulations suggest that the observed size effects originate from the joint action of the strain-induced magnetoelastic and demagnetizing energies in large magnetic disks. These results enable a selective energy-efficient tuning of the vortex gyrotropic frequency in individual vortex-based oscillators with all-electrical operation.

Keywords: Magnetic vortices; Magnetoelastic effect; Magnetoresistance; Spin dynamics

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37975
Publ.-Id: 37975


Probing shock dynamics inside micro-wire targets after high-intensity laser irradiation using small angle x-ray scattering of a free-electron laser

Kluge, T.; Bussmann, M.; Galtier, E.; Glenzer, S.; Grenzer, J.; Gutt, C.; Hartley, N. J.; Huang, L.; Laso García, A.; Ja Lee, H.; McBride, E. E.; Metzkes-Ng, J.; Nakatsutsumi, M.; Nam, I.; Pelka, A.; Prencipe, I.; Randolph, L.; Rehwald, M.; Rödel, C.; Rödel, M.; Toncian, T.; Yang, L.; Zeil, K.; Schramm, U.; Cowan, T.

In this paper, we present an experiment that explores the plasma dynamics of a 7 μm diameter carbon wire after being irradiated with a near-relativistic-intensity short pulse laser. Using an x-ray free electron laser pulse to measure the small angle x-ray scattering signal, we observe that the scattering surface is bent and prone to instability over tens of picoseconds. The dynamics of this process are consistent with the presence of a sharp, propagating shock front inside the wire, moving at a speed close to the hole boring velocity or that expected from a thermal shock at a few tens of Mbar.

Keywords: plasma; SAXS; XFEL; laser; proton acceleration

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37974
Publ.-Id: 37974


AND-Targeting of EpCAM+ and CEA+ colorectal cells using the modular Dual-RevCAR platform

González Soto, K. E.; Rodrigues Loureiro, L. R.; Abken, H.; Momburg, F.; Bachmann, M.; Feldmann, A.

Genetically engineered T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have shown promising results particularly when targeting tumor associated antigens (TAAs) related to hematological malignancies. However, TAAs are usually expressed to some extend also on healthy tissues leading to on-target/off-tumor effects. To overcome this important safety issue along with improving targeting specificity and efficient killing of tumor escape variants, we adapted our Reverse CAR (RevCAR) system to follow an AND-gate Boolean logic. For that, Dual-RevCAR T cells were designed and armed with (I) a signaling (SIG) RevCAR, that includes the intracellular domain (ICD) of CD3 zeta; and (II) a costimulatory (COS) RevCAR, which contains a domain derived from CD28. Because the extracellular domains of both RevCARs are derived from the La/SS-B nuclear protein, Dual-RevCAR T cells will remain inactive until they encounter matching target modules (RevTMs). The bispecific antibody (bsAb)-like structure of the RevTMs allows their binding to RevCAR molecules and to specific antigens. However, only the simultaneous binding of RevTMs to SIG and COS RevCARs will promote the full activation of the Dual-RevCAR T cells. The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) have become appealing markers due to their overexpression in various solid tumor entities such as colorectal cancer, therefore representing promising target antigens for cancer immunotherapies following such a Dual Targeting CAR approach.

Having this in mind, the aim of this work was to assess the potential therapeutic application of the Dual-RevCAR system to target EpCAM and CEA following an AND-gating approach.

  • Poster
    TUMOR IMMUNOLOGY MEETS ONCOLOGY (TIMO) XVII 2023, 20.-22.04.2023, Halle, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37971
Publ.-Id: 37971


Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Effects on Dendritic Solidification in a Thin Cell

Shevchenko, N.; Bai, Q.; Kao, A.; Eckert, S.

This study aims to investigate how pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) can affect grain refinement and microstructure during the solidification of a model Ga-In alloy. The magnetic system used generates field intensities of 8 - 11 mT and frequencies in the domain between 10 and 300 Hz, a duty cycle of 50%. We record the dendritic structures at the end of solidification experiments after switching OFF the electromagnetic field via X-ray radiographic imaging. Preliminary lab-scale results show that the solidification under frequencies above 100 Hz leads to dendrite fragmentation and solute redistribution in the mushy zone. No evidence of a CET is observed despite numerous fragmentation events. The fragments that detached from the dendritic network were unable to grow as equiaxed dendrites in the liquid as they became trapped within the dendritic network.

Keywords: Solidification; X-ray radiography; Dendrite fragmentation; Ga - In alloys; Pulsed electromagnetic fields

  • Lecture (Conference)
    International scientific colloquium “Modelling for Materials Processing”, 18.-19.09.2023, Riga, Latvia
  • Contribution to proceedings
    International Scientific Colloquium "Modelling for Materials Processing", 18.-19.09.2023, Riga, Latvia
    Proceedings of the IX International Scientific Colloquium "Modelling for Materials Processing", 70-75

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37970
Publ.-Id: 37970


Visualisation of flow effects in liquid and solidified metals

Shevchenko, N.; Lappan, T.; Eckert, S.

X-ray radiographic imaging is an efficient tool for investigating flow phenomena and solidification processes in optically opaque metallic alloys. This contribution is an overview of the latest advances in in-situ radiographic experiments made by the authors, as well as recent applications, including magnetohydrodynamic systems. We investigated a range of phenomena, such as bubble flow in liquid metal under an applied magnetic field, collective bubble dynamics, particle flow in liquid metal channels, and mesoscale solidification of alloys. Radiography measurements in liquid/solidified metal experiments are inevitably performed under adverse conditions of low signal-to-noise ratio, low image contrast, scattering, etc. To extract meaningful information from experimental data we combine both well-known methodology of data processing and our original codes. Examples of image analysis and results of in-situ experiments performed with low melting point alloys are presented and discussed in this contribution. A focus of these experiments is exploring scaled-down representative systems of industrial processes in metallic alloys.

Keywords: X-ray radiographic imaging; flow phenomena; solidification; Ga-In alloys

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Helmholtz Imaging Conference 2023, 14.-16.06.2023, Hamburg, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37969
Publ.-Id: 37969


Molybdenum Chloride Nanostructures with Giant Lattice Distortions Intercalated into Bilayer Graphene

Liu, Q.; Lin, Y.-C.; Kretschmer, S.; Ghorbani Asl, M.; Solís-Fernández, P.; Siao, M.-D.; Chiu, P.-W.; Ago, H.; Krasheninnikov, A.; Suenaga, K.

The nanospace of the van der Waals (vdW) gap between structural units of two-dimensional (2D) materials serves as a platform for growing unusual 2D systems through
intercalation and studying their properties. Various kinds ofmetal chlorides have previously been intercalated for tuning the properties of host layered materials, but the atomic structure of
the intercalants remains still unidentified. In this study, we investigate the atomic structural transformation of molybdenum(V) chloride (MoCl 5 ) after intercalation into
bilayer graphene (BLG). Using scanning transmission electron microscopy, we found that the intercalated material represents MoCl 3 networks, MoCl 2 chains, and Mo 5 Cl 10 rings. Giant lattice distortions and frequent structural transitions occur in the 2D MoCl x that have never been observed in metal chloride systems. The trend of symmetric to nonsymmetric structural
transformations can cause additional charge transfer from BLG to the intercalated MoCl x , as suggested by our density functional theory calculations. Our study deepens the understanding of the behavior of matter in the confined space of the vdW gap in BLG and provides hints at a more efficient tuning of material properties by intercalation for potential applications,
including transparent conductive films, optoelectronics, and energy storage.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37966
Publ.-Id: 37966


Electron holographic mapping of structural reconstruction at mono- and bilayer steps of h-BN

Subakti, S.; Daqiqshirazi, M.; Wolf, D.; Linck, M.; Kern, F. L.; Jain, M.; Kretschmer, S.; Krasheninnikov, A.; Brumme, T.; Lubk, A.

Here, by making use of medium and high resolution autocorrected off-axis electron holography, we directly probe the electrostatic potential as well as in-plane structural reconstruction at edges and steps in multilayer hexagonal boron nitride. In combination with ab initio calculations, the data allows revealing the formation of folded zigzag edges at steps comprising two monolayers and their absence at monolayer steps.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37962
Publ.-Id: 37962


Measurement and Simulation of Ultra-Low-Energy Ion–Solid Interaction Dynamics

Titze, M.; Poplawsky, J. D.; Kretschmer, S.; Krasheninnikov, A.; Doyle, B. L.; Bielejec, E. S.; Hobler, G.; Belianinov, A.

Ion implantation is a key capability for the semiconductor industry. As devices shrink, novel materials enter the manufacturing line, and quantum technologies transition to being more mainstream. Traditional implantation methods fall short in terms of energy, ion species, and positional precision. Here, we demonstrate 1 keV focused ion beam Au implantation into Si and validate the results via atom probe tomography. We show the Au implant depth at 1 keV is 0.8 nm and that identical results for low-energy ion implants can be achieved by either lowering the column voltage or decelerating ions using bias while maintaining a sub-micron beam focus. We compare
our experimental results to static calculations using SRIM and dynamic calculations using binary collision approximation codes TRIDYN and IMSIL. A large discrepancy between the static and dynamic simulation is found, which is due to lattice enrichment with high-stopping-power Au and surface sputtering. Additionally, we demonstrate how model details are particularly important to the simulation of these low-energy heavy-ion implantations. Finally, we discuss how our results pave a way towards much lower implantation energies while maintaining high spatial resolution.

Keywords: focused ion beam; ion implantation; ultra-low energy

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37961
Publ.-Id: 37961


Terahertz Néel spin-orbit torques drive nonlinear magnon dynamics in antiferromagnetic Mn2Au

Behovits, Y.; Chekhov, A. L.; Bodnar, S. Y.; Gueckstock, O.; Reimers, S.; Lytvynenko, Y.; Skourski, Y.; Wolf, M.; Seifert, T. S.; Gomonay, O.; Kläui, M.; Jourdan, M.; Kampfrath, T.

Antiferromagnets have large potential for ultrafast coherent switching of magnetic order with minimum heat dissipation. In materials such as Mn2Au and CuMnAs, electric rather than magnetic fields may control antiferromagnetic order by Néel spin-orbit torques (NSOTs). However, these torques have not yet been observed on ultrafast time scales. Here, we excite Mn2Au thin films with phase-locked single-cycle terahertz electromagnetic pulses and monitor the spin response with femtosecond magneto-optic probes.We observe signals whose symmetry, dynamics, terahertz-field scaling and dependence on sample structure are fully consistent with a uniform inplane antiferromagnetic magnon driven by field-like terahertz NSOTs with a torkance of (150 ± 50) cm2 A−1 s−1. At incident terahertz electric fields above 500 kV cm−1, we find pronounced nonlinear dynamics with massive Néelvector deflections by asmuch as 30°. Our data are in excellent agreement with a micromagnetic model. It indicates that fully coherent Néel-vector switching by 90° within 1 ps is within close reach.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37957
Publ.-Id: 37957


Wire-mesh sensor data for vertical upward gas-liquid flow

Kipping, R.; Schleicher, E.

This data set contains the processed data of the wire-mesh sensor, obtained in a flow loop with inner diameter of 50 mm with a vertical section of 3 m length. The dimension of the sensor is 16x16 wires and a lateral wire distance of 3.125 mm. Each file contains data of 60 s measurement time with 10 kHz samling frequency.

The set up was operated with pressurized air and deionized water. The experimental matrix contains meausrements at different superficial velocities of the gas and the liquid. Thus different flow pattern are observed. For injection of the gas two different types have been used. In the first set of experiments (files 1- 61, *injection1*) the gas was injected with a small tube with inner diameter of 9 mm. In the second set of experiments (files 101 - 151, *injection2*) the gas was injected with a small pipe of 25 mm inner diameter.

An overview of the experimental conditions for the two sets of experiments are summarized in the excel file. The corresponding *.zip files contain the processed data. These are void files, which contain the gas holdup in each crossing point and for all time steps of the measurement stack. Additionally the time averaged cross sectional gas holdup distribution (*.epsxy), the time averaged radial gas holdup (*.epsrad_20) and the cross sectional average gas holdup at each time step (*.epst) is provided,

Keywords: two-phase flow; wire-mesh sensor

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37954
Publ.-Id: 37954


Effect of carbon content on electronic structure of uranium carbides

Butorin, S. M.; Bauters, S.; Amidani, L.; Beck, A.; Rossberg, A.; Weiss, S.; Vitova, T.; Kvashnina, K.; Tougait, O.

The electronic structure of UC (x = 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 2.0) was studied by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the C K edge and measurements in the high energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD) mode at the U and edges. The full-relativistic density functional theory calculations taking into account the Coulomb interaction U and spin-orbit coupling (DFT+U+SOC) were also performed for UC and UC. While the U HERFD-XAS spectra of the studied samples reveal little difference, the U HERFD-XAS spectra show certain sensitivity to the varying carbon content in uranium carbides. The observed gradual changes in the U HERFD spectra suggest an increase in the C 2p-U 5f charge transfer, which is supported by the orbital population analysis in the DFT+U+SOC calculations, indicating an increase in the U 5f occupancy in UC as compared to that in UC. On the other hand, the density of states at the Fermi level were found to be significantly lower in UC, thus affecting the thermodynamic properties. Both the x-ray spectroscopic data (in particular, the C K XAS measurements) and results of the DFT+U+SOC calculations indicate the importance of taking into account U and SOC for the description of the electronic structure of actinide carbides.

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37950
Publ.-Id: 37950


Influence of the cement additive PBTC on aquatic uranium(VI) speciation and retention on cementitious material

Wollenberg, A.; Acker, M.; Kretzschmar, J.; Schmeide, K.; Tsushima, S.; Chiorescu, I.; Krüger, S.

The ingress of water into an underground nuclear repository, described as a worst-case scenario, can lead to the degradation of cement-based engineered barriers and thus to the release of organic cement additives that can affect radionuclide immobilisation. The additive 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid (PBTC) is one of the most commonly used long-term retarders in cement, and also used as a corrosion inhibitor in reinforced concrete and steel. PBTC
is an organophosphonate ligand with one phosphonate and three carboxyl groups [1]. These functional groups make PBTC an effective dispersant and strong complexing agent for various metal ions (e.g. Ca2+, Al3+, Fe3+). However, neither the complexation of radionuclides by PBTC nor the influence of PBTC on radionuclide retention in cement phases has been investigated.
Therefore, both the complexation of U(VI) with PBTC in solution (binary system) and the influence of PBTC on the U(VI) retention by cementitious materials (ternary system) were investigated for the first time. The U(VI) complexation studies were performed by different series varying the pH from 2 to 11 and/or the U(VI) to PBTC ratio. The structure-sensitive methods NMR, IR and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the complex structure. Complementary DFT calculations were carried out. The U(VI) speciation in presence of PBTC was determined by UV-Vis and TRLFS spectroscopy. In the case of PBTC excess, soluble complex species are formed up to pH >10, which is relevant for cementitious systems due to degradation processes. For the U(VI) retention studies both calcium (aluminate) silicate hydrate (C-(A-)S-H) phases of different compositions, representing different cement degradation stages, as well as hardened cement paste were applied. TRLFS was applied to characterize the U(VI) binding. The PBTC retention was quantified by 1H and 31P solution NMR.

Keywords: uranium; 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid; complexation; stability constants; cement; retention; spectroscopy

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Joint 6th International Workshop on Mechanisms and Modelling of Waste / Cement Interactions, 20.-22.11.2023, Prague, Czech Republic

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37949
Publ.-Id: 37949


Structural identification of aquatic U(VI)-PBTC complexes by spectroscopic investigations

Wollenberg, A.; Kretzschmar, J.; Tsushima, S.; Krüger, S.; Acker, M.; Taut, S.; Stumpf, T.

In a nuclear waste repository, cement-based materials are to be used for waste conditioning and as an engineered barrier. The ingress of water into the nuclear waste repository, described as a worst-case scenario, leads to increased aging and degradation of the concrete. These processes are associated with a leaching of diverse organic substances usually added to the cement to realize the desired physicochemical and mechanical properties of the cement-based materials. The impact of the additives is based on their excellent ability to complex metal ions. Consequently, the complexation behavior of such additives towards radionuclides (RN) and thus their impact on RN mobilization and migration into the environment is essential for a comprehensive risk assessment. One of the additives commonly used for long-term retardation of cement hardening is 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid (PBTC).
PBTC is a polyfunctional ligand possessing three carboxyl groups and one phosphonate group, which have been shown to make PBTC a strong complexing agent for various metal ions (e.g. Ca2+, Zn2+, Al3+, Fe3+) [1,2]. However, to date, there are no studies on PBTC interaction with radionuclides. Therefore,
the complexation of PBTC with U(VI) was investigated for the first time, using different spectroscopic methods over a wide pH range (2 through 11) to identify and characterize possible complex species.
U(VI)-PBTC species with solubility as high as 100 mM were observed throughout the entire pH range studied, especially when PBTC is in excess. This allowed the convenient application of structuresensitive methods such as NMR, IR, and Raman spectroscopies. Furthermore, time-resolved laserinduced
fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) and UV-Vis titration studies provided insight into U(VI)–PBTC system’s speciation.

Keywords: uranium(VI); 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid; complexation; stability constants; spectroscopy

  • Lecture (Conference)
    18th International Conference on the Chemistry and Migration Behaviour of Actinides and Fission Products in the Geosphere - Migration 2023, 24.-29.09.2023, Nantes, France

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37948
Publ.-Id: 37948


Characterisation of highly soluble U(VI)-PBTC complexes

Wollenberg, A.; Kretzschmar, J.; Schmeide, K.; Acker, M.; Taut, S.; Stumpf, T.

Organophosphonates are used multipurpose in the chemical industry. One of the most commonly used organophosphonates is 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid (PBTC).[1] The functional groups of PBTC consist of one phosphonate and three carboxylate groups, which make PBTC not only an effective dispersant, but also a very good complexing agent for various metal ions (e.g. Ca2+, Al3+, Fe3+).[2,3] Due to these properties, PBTC is used, for example, as an efficient long-term retarder in cement, as a corrosion inhibitor in reinforced concrete and steel, or as a scale inhibitor in water treatment plants or cooling water circulation systems.[4,5] However, this ubiquitous use can also lead to anthropogenic discharge into the environment, where PBTC can complex heavy metals or even radionuclides. Complexation can increase the solubility of metal ions and thus their bioavailability. As a result, there is an increased risk of toxic metal ions being distributed in the environment and thus also being absorbed into the human food chain.
However, to date there have been no studies on the complexation of PBTC with radionuclides. For this reason, the complexation of PBTC with U(VI) in the pH range from 1 to 11 was investigated for the first time using various spectroscopic methods. The studies were performed by different series varying the pH or the U(VI) to PBTC ratio. For the methods used, U(VI) concentrations in the mM range were employed, which was possible due to the very good water solubility of the U(VI)-PBTC complexes. The structure-sensitive methods NMR, IR and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterise the complex structure. Supporting DFT calculations were carried out. The stability constants of the complex species were determined by UV-Vis spectroscopy. By applying the different spectroscopic methods, it was possible to determine chelation of U(VI) by the phosphonate group and one of the carboxyl groups. Furthermore, by means of factor analysis, the distribution of complex species as well as the complexation constants could be determined for the first time. Therefore, the results of this study make it possible to evaluate the risk of PBTC entering the environment in relation to the radionuclide uranium.

Keywords: uranium(VI); 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid; complexation; stability constants; spectroscopy

  • Lecture (Conference)
    5th International Caparica Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules (PTIM) 2023, 06.-09.11.2023, Caparica, Portugal

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37947
Publ.-Id: 37947


Magnetic structure and phase diagram of the Heisenberg-Ising spin chain antiferromagnetic PbCo2V2O8

Puniak, K.; Aguilar-Maldonado, C.; Feyerherm, R.; Prokes, K.; Islam, A. T. M. N.; Skourski, Y.; Keller, L.; Lake, B.

The effective spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg-Ising chain materials, ACo2V2O8, A = Sr, Ba, are a rich source of exotic fundamental phenomena and have been investigated for their model magnetic properties both in zero and nonzero magnetic fields. Here we investigate a new member of the family, namely, PbCo2V2O8. We synthesize powder and single-crystal samples of PbCo2V2O8 and determine its magnetic structure using neutron diffraction. Furthermore, the magnetic field/temperature phase diagrams for a magnetic field applied along the c, a, and [110] crystallographic directions in the tetragonal unit cell are determined via magnetization and heat capacity measurements. A complex series of phases and quantum phase transitions are discovered that strongly depend on both the magnitude and direction of the field. Our results show that PbCo2V2O is an effective spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg-Ising chain with properties that are, in general, comparable to those of SrCo2V2O8 and BaCo2V2O8. One interesting departure from the results of these related compounds is, however, the discovery of a new field-induced phase for the field direction H ӏӏ [110].

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37943
Publ.-Id: 37943


300 mm CMOS-compatible superconducting HfN and ZrN thin films for quantum applications

Potjan, R.; Wislicenus, M.; Ostien, O.; Hoffmann, R.; Lederer, M.; Reck, A.; Emara, J.; Roy, L.; Lilienthal-Uhlig, B.; Wosnitza, J.

The rising interest in increased manufacturing maturity of quantum processing units is pushing the development of alternative superconducting materials for semiconductor fab process technology. However, these are often facing CMOS process incompatibility. In contrast to common CMOS materials, such as Al, TiN, and TaN, reports on the superconductivity of other suitable transition-metal nitrides are scarce, despite potential superiority. Here, we demonstrate fully CMOS-compatible fabrication of HfN and ZrN thin films on state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor process equipment, utilizing reactive DC magnetron sputtering on silicon wafers. Measurement of mechanical stress and surface roughness of the thin films demonstrates process compatibility. We investigated the materials phase and stoichiometry by structural analysis. The HfN and ZrN samples exhibit superconducting phase transitions with critical temperatures up to 5.84 and 7.32 K, critical fields of 1.73 and 6.40 T, and coherence lengths of 14 and 7 nm, respectively. A decrease in the critical temperature with decreasing film thickness indicates mesoscopic behavior due to geometric and grain-size limitations. The results promise a scalable application of HfN and ZrN in quantum computing and related fields.

  • Open Access Logo Applied Physics Letters 123(2023), 172602
    Online First (2023) DOI: 10.1063/5.0176060

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37942
Publ.-Id: 37942


Local-symmetry-sensitive elastic softening in the Kramers doublet system Y1−xNdxCo2Zn20

Ishii, I.; Umeno, T.; Yamamoto, R.; Onimaru, T.; Suzuki, T.; Araki, K.; Miyata, A.; Zherlitsyn, S.; Wosnitza, J.

We investigated the elastic properties of Y1−xNdxCo2Zn20 with localized Nd f electrons and ground-state Kramers doublet. All longitudinal and transverse moduli of NdCo2Zn20 (x = 1) show an elastic softening below 50 K accompanied by a minimum around 2.5 K. The softening, which is robust to magnetic fields up to 8 T, is not observed for samples with Nd concentrations of x = 0.19, 0.05, and 0. In localized f electron systems, elastic softening from high temperatures is often understood by crystal electric field effects; however, this cannot explain the behavior in NdCo2Zn20. Our experimental and calculated results reveal that the softening neither is caused by a phonon contribution, a Nd3+ single-site effect, nor a magnetic interaction. We conclude that the softening is due to a local-symmetry-sensitive electronic state in NdCo2Zn20.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37941
Publ.-Id: 37941


Giant irreversibility of the inverse magnetocaloric effect in the Ni47Mn40Sn12.5Cu0.5 Heusler alloy

Kamantsev, A. P.; Koshkidko, Y. S.; Bykov, E.; Gottschall, T.; Gamzatov, A. G.; Aliev, A. M.; Varzaneh, A. G.; Kameli, P.

Direct studies of the adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad) in the Ni47Mn40Sn12.5Cu0.5 Heusler alloy in steady magnetic fields up to 8 T by the extraction method and in pulsed magnetic fields up to 50 T were carried out in this paper. The alloy Ni47Mn40Sn12.5Cu0.5 demonstrates a magnetostructural phase transition (MSPT) of the first order in the 254–283 K temperature range as well as a second order phase transition near the Curie temperature TC = 313 K. An inverse magnetocaloric effect (MCE) was found in the region of the MSPT, and it reaches the maximum value ΔTad = -12 K in 20 T at the initial temperature T0 = 275 K. The irreversible part of the MCE reached ΔTir = -10 K when the field is completely removed. We consider the dynamics of the MCE in the vicinity of the MSPT and discuss the mechanisms that cause the giant irreversibility of the MCE as well as the possibilities of its application in hybrid cooling systems.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37940
Publ.-Id: 37940


Foundational Competencies and Responsibilities of a Research Software Engineer

Goth, F.; Alves, R.; Braun, M.; Jael Castro, L.; Chourdakis, G.; Christ, S.; Cohen, J.; Erxleben, F.; Grad, J.-N.; Hagdorn, M.; Hodges, T.; Juckeland, G.; Kempf, D.; Lamprecht, A.-L.; Linxweiler, J.; Schwarzmeier, M.; Seibold, H.; Philipp Thiele, J.; von Waldow, H.; Wittke, S.

The term Research Software Engineer, or RSE, emerged a little over 10 years ago as a way to represent
individuals working in the research community but focusing on software development. The term has been widely
adopted and there are a number of high-level definitions of what an RSE is. However, the roles of RSEs vary
depending on the institutional context they work in. At one end of the spectrum, RSE roles may look similar to
a traditional research role. At the other extreme, they resemble that of a software engineer in industry. Most
RSE roles inhabit the space between these two extremes. Therefore, providing a straightforward, comprehensive
definition of what an RSE does and what experience, skills and competencies are required to become one is
challenging. In this community paper we define the broad notion of what an RSE is, explore the different types
of work they undertake, and define a list of fundamental competencies as well as values that define the general
profile of an RSE. On this basis, we elaborate on the progression of these skills along different dimensions, looking
at specific types of RSE roles, proposing recommendations for organisations, and giving examples of future
specialisations. An appendix details how existing curricula fit into this framework.

Keywords: research software engineering; curriculum design; training; learning; competencies; certification

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37938
Publ.-Id: 37938


Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration - Facilitating FAIR metadata in Helmholtz

Schaller, T.; Günter, G.; Kubin, M.; Özkan, Ö.; Rau, F.; Steinmeier, L.

Data are an essential part of every scientific endeavour. An efficient and future oriented research data management is therefore essential in order to ensure long-term availability of the generated data. This in turn ensures the reproducibility of scientific results. In order to facilitate FAIR data management within the Helmholtz community the incubator platform “Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC)” was established.

HMC develops and provides services, tools and trainings to support and improve FAIR (meta)data management in the Helmholtz Association and aligns these approaches with national and international approaches and initiatives (e.g. RDA, EOSC, NFDI) to ensure compatibility with international research communities.

To achieve this goal, HMC builds its work along three strategic areas: (1) Assessing and monitoring the state of FAIR data across Helmholtz, (2) Facilitating the connectivity of Helmholtz research data, and (3) Transforming (meta)data recommendations into implementations. At the centres, HMC supports research communities and data professionals with six research-field specific hubs: At HZDR HMC is represented locally by a unit dedicated to research field Energy and remotely by a unit for research field Matter. In our poster we will illustrate how research and data professional communities at HZDR can benefit from HMC's services, tools and trainings.

Keywords: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf; HZDR data management day; metadata management; Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration

  • Poster
    HZDR Data Management Day, 21.11.2023, Dresden, Dresden

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37937
Publ.-Id: 37937


Influence of selected organics on the retention of uranium(VI) by calcium-(aluminate-)silicate-hydrate phases

Schmeide, K.; Kretzschmar, J.; Huittinen, N. M.

Most underground nuclear waste disposal concepts envisage the extensive use of cementitious materials in the geo-engineered barrier as a buffer and borehole sealing material and to ensure the mechanical stability of disposal systems. In order to assess the radionuclide (RN) retention potential of these barrier materials, it is necessary to study the impact of various repository relevant conditions that will evolve over time, such as changed pH values, increased ionic strength, elevated temperatures, or the release of organic components. The U(VI) retention by calcium (aluminate) silicate hydrate (C-(A-)S-H) phases, forming owing to Al-rich additives in cement formulations, was studied for samples with C/S molar ratios of 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6, representing different alteration stages of concrete, and with increasing A/S molar ratios of 0, 0.06, and 0.18 in each series, with special focus on the presence of organics. The latter thereby comprise gluconate (GLU), 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4,-tricarboxylate (PBTC), and a mixture of cellulose degradation products (CDP) obtained from dry radiolysis (dose rate 0.6 kGy/h, absorbed dose ~ 1.37 MGy) followed by hydrolysis in artificial cement water (pH > 13, anoxic conditions) provided by project partners within the CORI framework. Complementary analytical techniques were applied to address the different specific aspects of the cement / organics / RN ternary systems. 27Al and 29Si magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) were applied to determine the bulk structure and composition of the synthesized C-(A-)S-H phases. 13C-, and in case of PBTC also 31P-, MAS NMR measurements aimed at localization and speciation of the organic components involved [1]. 1H and 31P solution NMR of the aqueous phase allowed for quantification of the organics’ fraction removed from solution and hence associated with the solid phase. Retained U(VI) species were identified by time-resolved laser-induced luminescence spectroscopy (TRLFS). Zeta-potential measurements were conducted to study the organics’ influence on the surface charge and, upon changing the order of mixing the individual components of the ternary systems (e.g., C-(A-)S-H phases synthesized in absence or presence of U(VI) and/or organics), along with results from spectroscopies, to derive mechanistic understanding of retention processes as well as surface complex models.

Keywords: uranium; C-S-H; C-A-S-H; hydrothermal synthesis; luminescence; spectroscopy

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Joint 6th International Workshop on Mechanisms and Modelling of Waste / Cement Interactions, 20.-22.11.2023, Prague, Czech Republic

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37936
Publ.-Id: 37936


NiGe formation on thin Ge films by flash lamp annealing: electrical properties

Begeza, V.; Rebohle, L.; Stöcker, H.; Mehner, E.; Hübner, R.; Zhou, S.

Flash lamp annealing (FLA) is an ultra-short annealing method which excellently meets the requirements of thin film processing and has already been used in microelectronics. Due to the relatively high hole mobility, thin Ge layers are highly interesting as a transistor channel material or generally as a functional layer both in CMOS technology and in the field of low-cost electronics. One possibility to realize ohmic contacts with low contact resistance is the use of metal germanides, especially the stoichiometric NiGe phase.
In this work, NiGe contacts on thin Ge films were fabricated by magnetron sputtering followed by FLA. The evolution of microstructure with increasing thermal budget was traced by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The electrical measurements focus on the determination of contact resistance by the circular transfer length method (cTLM). The contacts were fabricated by two different approaches, and the influence of different process steps on layer morphology and the uncertainty of the measurement was studied.

Keywords: germanium; nickel germanide; thin films; sputtering; flash lamp annealing; circular transfer length

Related publications

  • Lecture (Conference)
    E-MRS SPRING MEETING 2023, 29.05.-02.06.2023, Strasbourg, Frankreich

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37931
Publ.-Id: 37931


NiGe formation on thin Ge films by flash lamp annealing

Begeza, V.; Rebohle, L.; Stöcker, H.; Mehner, E.; Hübner, R.; Zhou, S.

In this work, NiGe contacts on thin Ge films were fabricated by magnetron sputtering followed by flash lamp annealing (FLA). The evolution of microstructure with increasing thermal budget was traced by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The film sheet resistance, the free charge carrier mobility and concentration, and the contact resistance were measured by the four-point-probe method, by Hall effect measurements, and by the circular transfer length method, respectively. Based on this data, the formation process of NiGe contacts during FLA is described, which passes through a stage of Ni-rich phases with high electrical resistivity, before the final stoichiometric NiGe phase is formed.

Keywords: germanium; nickel germanide; thin films; sputtering; flash lamp annealing; circular transfer length

Related publications

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Nutzertreffen Heissprozesse und Ionenimplantation, 10.-11.05.2023, Erlangen, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37930
Publ.-Id: 37930


Data publication: Cadmium sorption on alumina nanoparticles, and mixtures of alumina and smectite: An experimental and modelling study

Mayordomo, N.; Missana, T.; Alonso, U.

Data is shown in origin, the thermodynamic database of Cd is adapted for Chess V2 software

Keywords: Cd; sorption model; retention; immobilization; heavy metals; Al2O3

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37929
Publ.-Id: 37929


Learning Crop-Type Mapping From Regional Label Proportions in Large-Scale SAR and Optical Imagery

La Rosa, L.; Oliveira, D.; Ghamisi, P.

The application of deep learning (DL) algorithms to Earth observation (EO) in recent years has enabled substantial progress in fields that rely on remotely sensed data. However, given the data scale in EO, creating large datasets with pixel-level annotations by experts is expensive and highly time-consuming. In this context, priors are seen as an attractive way to alleviate the burden of manual labeling when training DL methods for EO. For some applications, those priors are readily available. Motivated by the great success of contrastive-learning methods for self-supervised feature representation learning in many computer-vision tasks, this study proposes an online deep clustering method using crop label proportions as priors to learn a sample-level classifier based on government crop-proportion data for a whole agricultural region. We evaluate the method using two large datasets from two different agricultural regions in Brazil. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the method is robust to different data types [synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and optical images], reporting higher accuracy values considering the major crop types in the target regions. Thus, it can alleviate the burden of large-scale image annotation in EO applications.

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37928
Publ.-Id: 37928


Leveraging involution and convolution in an explainable building damage detection framework

Teymoor Seydi, S.; Hasanlou, M.; Chanussot, J.; Ghamisi, P.

Timely and accurate building damage mapping is essential for supporting disaster response activities. While RS satellite imagery can provide the basis for building damage map generation, detection of building damages by traditional methods is generally challenging. The traditional building damage mapping approaches focus on damage mapping based on bi-temporal pre/post-earthquake dataset extraction information from bi-temporal images, which is difficult. Furthermore, these methods require manual feature engineering for supervised learning models. To tackle the abovementioned limitation of the traditional damage detection frameworks, this research proposes a novel building damage map generation approach based only on post-event RS satellite imagery and advanced deep feature extractor layers. The proposed DL based framework is applied in an end-to-end manner without additional processing. This method can be conducted in five main steps: (1) pre-processing, (2) model training and optimization of model parameters, (3) damage mapping generation, (4) accuracy assessment, and (5) visual explanations of the proposed method’s predictions. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by two real-world RS datasets that include Haiti-earthquake and Bata-explosion. Results of damage mapping show that the proposed method is highly efficient, yielding an OA of more than 84%, which is superior to other advanced DL-based damage detection methods.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37927
Publ.-Id: 37927


Earthquake spatial probability and hazard estimation using various explainable AI (XAI) models at the Arabian peninsula

Ratiranjan, J.; Abdallah, S.; Rami, A.-R.; Biswajeet, P.; Mohamed, B. A. G.; Mohamad, A. K.; Omid, G.; Ghamisi, P.

Earthquakes are the most destructive natural hazards because of their adversely severe impacts on urban areas. Earthquakes affect people's lives and properties, thus captivating the extensive attention of seismologists. Carrying out probability and hazard assessment for the prevention, and reduction of mega-events and recovery will be of great significance in affected areas. Given that limited studies have attempted to estimate earthquake Spatial Probability Assessment (SPA) in the Arabian Peninsula, this study aims to evaluate the SPA and Earthquake Hazard Assessment (EHA). This study implements and evaluates various machine learning and explainable-AI (XAI) techniques for the estimation of SPA and EHA in the Arabian Peninsula, explores the contribution and highlights the importance of different factors in the development of AI-based models. A total of twelve factors ranging from seismological to geophysical factors were evaluated. Two machine learning models namely Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) and deep Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) along with three XAI approaches (i.e, Smart predictor, Smart Explainer and Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanation (LIME) model) were investigated. Results of the comparative earthquake SPA estimation demonstrated that the accuracy of 89% and 87% were achieved by LightGBM and RNN models. Moreover, the results of the XAI models show that the Smart Predictor provides better spatial outputs than the other evaluated XAI models. The stable factors identified by Smart Predictor were magnitude variation and earthquake frequency whereas the important factors were magnitude variation, earthquake frequency, depth variation, and seismic gap. Collectively, results of SPA show that, the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Iran, and Turkey are falling under a very-high SPA index (0.991–1). Correspondingly, Gulf areas, coastal areas of Saudi Arabia, and areas in the Zagros fault and Anatolian fault zone fall under a very-high hazard zone. This research could support planners, and decision-makers for emergency planning, infrastructure development, and reconstruction projects.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37914
Publ.-Id: 37914


Demographic effects of aggregation in the presence of a component Allee effect

Jorge, D. C. P.; Martinez Garcia, R.

Intraspecific interactions are key drivers of population dynamics because they establish relations between individual fitness and population density. The component Allee effect is defined as a positive correlation between any fitness component of a focal organism and population density, and it can lead to positive density dependence in the population per capita growth rate. The spatial population structure is key to determining whether and to which extent a component Allee effect will manifest at the demographic level because it determines how individuals interact with one another. However, existing spatial models to study the Allee effect impose a fixed spatial structure, which limits our understanding of how a component Allee effect and the spatial dynamics jointly determine the existence of demographic Allee effects. To fill this gap, we introduce a spatially-explicit theoretical framework where spatial structure and population dynamics are emergent properties of the individual-level demographic and movement rates. Depending on the intensity of the individual-level processes, the population exhibits a variety of spatial patterns, including evenly spaced aggregates of organisms, that determine the demographic-level by-products of an existing individual-level component Allee effect. We find that aggregation increases population abundance and allows populations to survive in harsher environments and at lower global population densities when compared with uniformly distributed organisms. Moreover, aggregation can prevent the component Allee effect from manifesting at the population level or restrict it to the level of each independent group. These results provide a mechanistic understanding of how component Allee effects might operate for different spatial population structures and show at the population level. Because populations subjected to demographic Allee effects exhibit highly nonlinear dynamics, especially at low abundances, our results contribute to a better understanding of population dynamics in the presence of Allee effects and can potentially inform population management strategies.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37907
Publ.-Id: 37907


Development Of A Novel ACE2 Decoy For Both SARS-CoV-2 Variant Neutralization And Infected Cell Elimination Via Unmodified Or CAR Modified Immune Cells

Drewitz, L.; Kegler, A.; Arndt, C.; Daglar, C.; Rodrigues Loureiro, L. R.; Mitwasi, N.; Neuber, C.; González Soto, K. E.; Bartsch, T.; Baraban, L.; Ziehr, H.; Heine, M.; Nieter, A.; Moreira-Soto, A.; Kühne, A.; Drexler, J. F.; Seliger, B.; Laube, M.; Máthé, D.; Pályi, B.; Hajdrik, P.; Forgách, L.; Kis, Z.; Sziget, K.; Bergmann, R.; Feldmann, A.; Bachmann, M.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic with millions of infections and deaths worldwide and devastating impact on global economy. Up to now, vaccines and monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies lack to provide a long-lasting protection against rapidly evolving new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Thus, novel therapeutic options are pressingly needed especially for immunocompromised patients and/or patients with high risk for developing a severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In that regard, we developed a novel immunotherapeutic drug based on the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). This ACE2 decoy potently binds to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD), neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 as well as the Delta and Omicron variant and protects hamsters from a SARS-CoV-2 infection. To additionally use this ACE2 decoy for elimination of virus infected cells, we equipped it with an epitope tag. Thus, it can be applied as adapter molecule in the modular platform technologies UniMAB and UniCAR, which already demonstrated great success in the setting of malignant diseases. As adapter molecule the ACE2 decoy is able to efficiently recruit either universal chimeric antigen receptor (UniCAR) modified T cells or, in combination with an anti-peptide epitope-anti-CD3 bispecific Ab of the UniMAB system, unmodified T cells to efficiently kill SARS-CoV-2 RBD expressing human cells.
Taken together, the ACE2 decoy represents a very promising immunotherapeutic drug for both SARS-CoV-2 variant neutralization and infected cell killing via the UniMAB and UniCAR system and might, therefore, clearly improve the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37905
Publ.-Id: 37905


openPMD – the Open Standard for Particle-Mesh Data

Huebl, A.; Wan, L.; Lehe, R.; Podhorszki, N.; Gu, J.; Thévenet, M.; Schnetter, E.; Pöschel, F.; Bussmann, M.

The Open Standard for Particle-Mesh Data (openPMD) is a F.A.I.R. metadata standard for tabular (particle/dataframe) and structured mesh data in science and engineering.
We show the basic components of openPMD, its extensions to specific domains, applications from laser-plasma physics, particle accelerators, material physics to imaging and the ability to bridge multiple heterogeneous scientific models with a commonly-understood markup.

The openPMD-api builds upon established portable I/O formats such as HDF5 and ADIOS2, enabling workflows that scale from single-user computers up to Exascale simulations, in-transit data processing, 3D visualization, GPU-accelerated data analytics and AI/ML. openPMD links into the existing ecosystems of its scalable I/O backends and extends them with tooling that understands the openPMD data markup.
An overview over the openPMD ecosystem and community is shown.

Attention is given to recent developments in openPMD that interplay with HDF5, including mesh refinement and the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration's HELPMI project which aims for an easier integration of openPMD with other HDF5-based standards, this way bringing openPMD closer to experiment workflows.

References:

[1] Axel Huebl, Remi Lehe, Jean-Luc Vay, David P. Grote, Ivo F. Sbalzarini, Stephan Kuschel, David Sagan, Christopher Mayes, Frederic Perez, Fabian Koller, and Michael Bussmann. “openPMD: A meta data standard for particle and mesh based data,” DOI:10.5281/zenodo.591699 (2015)
[2] Homepage: https://www.openPMD.org
[3] GitHub Organization: https://github.com/openPMD
[4] Projects using openPMD: https://github.com/openPMD/openPMD-projects
[4] Reference API implementation: Axel Huebl, Franz Poeschel, Fabian Koller, and Junmin Gu. “openPMD-api 0.14.3: C++ & Python API for Scientific I/O with openPMD,” DOI:10.14278/rodare.1234 (2021)
https://openpmd-api.readthedocs.io
[5] Selected earlier presentations on openPMD:
https://zenodo.org/search?page=1&size=20&q=openPMD&type=presentation
[6] Axel Huebl, Rene Widera, Felix Schmitt, Alexander Matthes, Norbert Podhorszki, Jong Youl Choi, Scott Klasky, and Michael Bussmann. “On the Scalability of Data Reduction Techniques in Current and Upcoming HPC Systems from an Application Perspective,” ISC High Performance 2017: High Performance Computing, pp. 15-29, 2017. arXiv:1706.00522, DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-67630-2_2
[7] Franz Poeschel, Juncheng E, William F. Godoy, Norbert Podhorszki, Scott Klasky, Greg Eisenhauer, Philip E. Davis, Lipeng Wan, Ana Gainaru, Junmin Gu, Fabian Koller, Rene Widera, Michael Bussmann, and Axel Huebl. Transitioning from file-based HPC workflows to streaming data pipelines with openPMD and ADIOS2, Part of Driving Scientific and Engineering Discoveries Through the Integration of Experiment, Big Data, and Modeling and Simulation, SMC 2021, Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS), vol 1512, 2022. arXiv:2107.06108, DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-96498-6_6
[8] The Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration's ongoing HELPMI project: https://helmholtz-metadaten.de/de/inf-projects/helpmi-helmholtz-laser-plasma-metadata-initiative

Keywords: F.A.I.R.; openPMD; HDF5; ADIOS2; HPC

  • Open Access Logo Lecture (Conference)
    2023 European HDF User Group (HUG) plugins and data compression summit, 19.-21.09.2023, Hamburg, Deutschland
  • Open Access Logo Invited lecture (Conferences)
    9. Annual MT Meeting, 09.-11.10.2023, Karlsruhe, Deutschland
  • Open Access Logo Poster
    9. Annual MT Meeting, 09.-11.10.2023, Karlsruhe, Deutschland
  • Open Access Logo Poster
    DMA ST1 synergy workshop, 08.-10.11.2023, Hamburg, Deutschland

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37902
Publ.-Id: 37902


Non-coaxial deformation of foreland basement involved in a fold-and-thrust belt: a strain partitioning approach to the Eastern Variscan orogen

Mareček, L.; Melichar, R.; Cerny, J.; Schnabl, P.; Hrdličková, K.; Buriánek, D.

The general SW–NE course of the Variscan orogen in Europe is abruptly bent to the N–S course at its eastern margin, where an oblique convergence occurred. The main suture in this part of the Variscan orogenic belt is called the Moldanubian Thrust, characterized by a dominant dextral strike‑slip kinematics and a minor thrust component. The deep level of erosion and the good exposure of this structure allowed us to study the mechanisms of oblique convergence and the incorporation of the foreland basement into the orogenic belt. The combination of small‑scale structures with the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility studies allowed the recognition of two deformations in the studied rocks: dextral simple shearing and drag folding. Due to oblique convergence, the deformations induced by this mechanism were non‑coaxial; therefore, their contributions can be easily distinguished. Finally, an overturned, almost recumbent large‑scale synformal fold structure in the footwall and an antiformal structure in the hanging wall of the Moldanubian Thrust were formed. These two folds can be interpreted as structures formed by dragging along the Moldanubian Thrust. The previously described sinistral simple shearing in the upper limb of the synform resulted from the original dextral strike‑slip shearing, which was overturned during progressive deformation.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37901
Publ.-Id: 37901


On the anatomy and structural control of a dyke swarm that fed caldera-forming ignimbrite eruptions

Tomek, F.; Olšanská, I.; Trubač, J.; Cerny, J.; Rejšek, J.; Ackerman, L.

The evolution of eruptive vents related to calderas is not fully understood. We focus on a structural, rock-magnetic, and geochemical investigation of a ∼314 Ma rhyolite dyke swarm associated with the late-orogenic Altenberg–Teplice Caldera, Bohemian Massif, eastern Variscan belt. The whole-rock major element, trace element, and Nd–Pb isotope geochemistry along with the published U-Pb zircon geochronology link the extra-caldera dyke swarm with intra-caldera ignimbrites. The magnetic fabrics determined using the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility are interpreted to record a continuum from magma ascent, emplacement, and eruption during sinistral shearing. The latter evidences an interplay with regional tectonics associated with the activity of crustal-scale shear zones. The sinistral kinematics and strike of the dyke swarm, the elongation of caldera intrusive units, and the kinematics of major caldera faults are consistent with the dextral Riedel shear system, where the dykes correspond to antithetic Ŕ/X-shears. Such a kinematic configuration implies that the maximum and minimum principal stresses were oriented roughly north-south and east-west, respectively. The relation between the stress field with respect to the caldera elongation and orientation is not typical. We suggest that a pre-existing mutually perpendicular set of cross-cutting structural lineaments largely controlled the magma chamber and caldera formation.

  • Journal of the Geological Society 180(2023), jgs2022-119
    Online First (2023) DOI: 10.1144/jgs2022-119

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37899
Publ.-Id: 37899


Datengestützte Intralogistik zur Optimierung von Aufbereitungs- & Recyclingprozessen

Nagel, M.; Rau, F.; Pereira, L.

Intralogistik gewinnt bei der Produktionssteuerung für die Organisation und Optimierung von Zulieferung und Warenumschlag stetig an Bedeutung. Darüber hinaus werden durch Intralogistik innerbetriebliche Materialflüsse und Informationsströme gesteuert und – wenn möglich – die Produktionslogistik intelligent gesteuert.

Die Intralogistik von Aufbereitungs- und Recyclingprozesse unterscheidet sich erheblich von der Intralogistik bei Produktionsprozessen. Bei Herstellung von Produkten und Halbzeugen sind Eigenschaften von Ausgangsmaterialien meist chargengenau bekannt. Während bei der Aufbereitung von Bergbauhalden oder dem Recycling die relevanten Stoffe in den Ausgangsmaterialien in ihrer Zusammensetzung, Qualität und Quantität höchst inhomogen verteilt und weitgehend unbekannt sind. Die Intralogistik bei solchen Prozessen ist hochkomplex und muss daher bei der dynamischen Analyse des Ausgangsmaterials beginnen und mit Ergebnissen des Aufbereitungsprozesses enden. Die Steuerung des Aufbereitungsprozesses muss dynamisch und datengesteuert angepasst werden.

Am Beispiel der Aufbereitung von Haldenmaterial mit Hilfe der Flotation soll die Verknüpfung der Datenerfassung des Aufgabegutes mit der Prozesssteuerung, der Intralogisitk und weiteren Verarbeitungs- und Optimierungsschritten gezeigt werden.

Keywords: DigiFloat

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Finden statt Suchen – agieren statt reagieren, 24.11.2023, Chemnitz, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37897
Publ.-Id: 37897


Changes to Captions: An Attentive Network for Remote Sensing Change Captioning

Shizhen, C.; Ghamisi, P.

In recent years, advanced research has focused on the direct learning and analysis of remote-sensing images using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The ability to accurately describe changes occurring in multi-temporal remote sensing images is becoming increasingly important for geospatial understanding and land planning. Unlike natural image change captioning tasks, remote sensing change captioning aims to capture the most significant changes, irrespective of various influential factors such as illumination, seasonal effects, and complex land covers. In this study, we highlight the significance of accurately describing changes in remote sensing images and present a comparison of the change captioning task for natural and synthetic images and remote sensing images. To address the challenge of generating accurate captions, we propose an attentive changes-to-captions network, called Chg2Cap for short, for bi-temporal remote sensing images. The network comprises three main components: 1) a Siamese CNN-based feature extractor to collect high-level representations for each image pair; 2) an attentive encoder that includes a hierarchical self-attention block to locate change-related features and a residual block to generate the image embedding; and 3) a transformer-based caption generator to decode the relationship between the image embedding and the word embedding into a description. The proposed Chg2Cap network is evaluated on two representative remote sensing datasets, and a comprehensive experimental analysis is provided. The code and pre-trained models will be available online at https://github.com/ShizhenChang/Chg2Cap .

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37894
Publ.-Id: 37894


BDD-Net+: A Building Damage Detection Framework Based on Modified Coat-Net

Seydi, S. T.; Hasanlou, M.; Chanussot, J.; Ghamisi, P.

The accurate and fast assessment of damaged buildings following a disaster is critical for planning rescue and reconstruction efforts. The damage assessment by the traditional methods is time-consuming and with limited performance. In this article, we propose an end-to-end deep-learning network named building damage detection network-plus (BDD-Net+). The BDD-Net+ is based on a combination of convolution layers and transformer blocks. The proposed framework takes the advantage of the multiscale residual convolution blocks and self-attention layers. The proposed framework consists of four main steps: data preparation, model training, damage map generation and evaluation, and the use of an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) framework for understanding and interpretation of the operation model. The experimental results include two representative real-world benchmark datasets (i.e., the Haiti earthquake and the Bata explosion). The obtained results illustrate that BDD-Net+ achieves excellent efficacy in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, the visualization of the results by XAI shows that BDD-Net+ provides more interpretable and explainable results for damage detection than the other studied methods.

  • Open Access Logo IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 16(2023), 4232-4247
    DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2023.3267847

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37893
Publ.-Id: 37893


X-ray Thomson Scattering as a high-precision tool for Warm Dense Matter diagnostics

Dornheim, T.

Warm dense matter (WDM)---an extreme state that is characterized by extreme densities and
temperatures---has emerged as one of the most active frontiers in plasma physics and material
science. In nature, WDM occurs in astrophysical objects such as giant planet interiors and brown
dwarfs. In addition, WDM is highly important for cutting-edge technological applications such as
inertial confinement fusion and the discovery of novel materials. In the laboratory, WDM is studied
experimentally in large facilities around the globe, and new techniques have facilitated
unprecedented insights. Yet, the interpretation of these experiments requires a reliable diagnostics
based on accurate theoretical modeling, which is a notoriously difficult task [1].

In this talk, I will explain how we can use X-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) measurements [2] to infer important system parameters such as the temperature, density, and degree of ionization. Interestingly, standard forward modeling methods based on the widespread Chihara decomposition have neglected transitions between free and bound electrons (the inverse process of the usual bound-free transitions), which are negligible at ambient conditions, but become important in the WDM regime [3]. In addition, I will show how switching to the imaginary-time representation opens up new avenues towards the model-free interpretation of XRTS signals, and gives one direct access to the temperature [4,5] and electronic correlations [6] of the system. Finally, I will outline new PIMC capabilities [7,8] that allow for quasi-exact simulations of experiments conducted at the Gbar platform at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore.

[1] M. Bonitz et al, Physics of Plasmas 27, 042710 (2020)
[2] S. Glenzer and R. Redmer, Reviews of Modern Physics 81, 1625 (2009)
[3] M. Böhme et al, arXiv:2306.17653 (submitted)
[4] T. Dornheim et al, Nature Communications 13, 7911 (2022)
[5] T. Dornheim et al, Physics of Plasmas 30, 042707 (2023)
[6] T. Dornheim et al, arXiv:2305.15305 (submitted)
[7] M. Böhme et al, Physical Review Letters 129, 066402 (2022)
[8] T. Dornheim et al, Journal of Chemical Physics 159, 164113 (2023)

  • Lecture (others)
    GSI Plasmaphysik-Seminar, 28.11.2023, Darmstadt, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37891
Publ.-Id: 37891


Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Benchmark Database for Oil Spill Detection With an Isolation Forest-Guided Unsupervised Detector

Duan, P.; Kang, X.; Ghamisi, P.; Li, S.

Oil spill detection has attracted increasing attention in recent years, since marine oil spill accidents severely affect environments, natural resources, and the lives of coastal inhabitants. Hyperspectral remote sensing images provide rich spectral information which is beneficial for the monitoring of oil spills in complex ocean scenarios. However, most of the existing approaches are based on supervised and semi-supervised frameworks to detect oil spills from hyperspectral images (HSIs), which require a massive amount of effort to annotate a certain number of high-quality training sets. In this study, we make the first attempt to develop an unsupervised oil spill detection method based on isolation forest (iForest) for HSIs. First, a Gaussian statistical model is designed to remove the bands corrupted by severe noise. Then, kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) is employed to reduce the high dimensionality of the HSIs. Next, the probability of each pixel belonging to one of the classes of seawater and oil spills is estimated with the iForest, and a set of pseudolabeled training samples is automatically produced using the clustering algorithm on the detected probability. Finally, an initial detection map can be obtained by performing the support vector machine (SVM) on the dimension-reduced data, and the initial detection result is further optimized with the extended random walker (ERW) model so as to improve the detection accuracy of oil spills. Experiments on hyperspectral oil spill database (HOSD) created by ourselves demonstrate that the proposed method obtains superior detection performance with respect to other state-of-the-art detection approaches. We will make HOSD and our developed library for oil spill detection publicly available at https://github.com/PuhongDuan/HOSD to further promote this research topic.

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37889
Publ.-Id: 37889


Report on research data management interviews conducted for HMC Hub Energy in 2022

Ballani, F.; Schaller, T.; Steinmeier, L.; Koubaa, M. A.; Schweikert, J.; Stucky, K.-U.; Süß, W.

The Energy Hub of the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) conducted interviews with various stakeholders from the Helmholtz Research Field Energy on the topic of research data management (RDM) in 2022. The intentions were to build and serve a metadata community in the energy research field and to extend the Helmholtz-wide survey conducted by HMC in 2021 Arndt et al., 2022). Besides the deeper insight into the current state of RDM and metadata handling at the Helmholtz sites relevant to the Energy Hub the interviews focused on the related needs and difficulties of researchers and their satisfaction with the current state. Furthermore, we tried to discover already existing workflows and software solutions, to establish contacts and to make HMC better known.

Keywords: Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration; Research data management

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37881
Publ.-Id: 37881


Data publication: Ion emission from warm dense matter produced by irradiation with a soft x-ray free-electron laser

Krása, J.; Burian, T.; Hájková, V.; Chalupský, J.; Jelínek, Š.; Frantálová, K.; Krupka, M.; Kuglerová, Z.; Kumar Singh, S.; Vozda, V.; Vyšín, L.; Smid, M.; Perez-Martin, P.; Kühlman, M.; Pintor, J.; Cikhardt, J.; Dreimann, M.; Eckermann, D.; Rosenthal, F.; Vinko, S. M.; Forte, A.; Gawne, T. D.; Campbell, T.; Ren, S.; Shi, Y.; Hutchinson, T.; Humphries, O. S.; Preston, T.; Makita, M.; Nakatsutsumi, M.; Pan, X.; Köhler, A.; Harmand, M.; Toleikis, S.; Falk, K.; Juha, L.

Data set on the ion emission of different materials. Each dataset is separate and titled with the chemical symbol or abbreviation of the specific material.

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37880
Publ.-Id: 37880


Effect of Chain Length on Swelling Transitions of Brodie Graphite Oxide in Liquid 1-Alcohols

Iakunkov, A.; Nordenström, A.; Boulanger, N.; Li, G.; Hennig, C.; Jørgensen, M. R. V.; Kantor, I.; Talyzin, . A. V.

Swelling is the most fundamental property of graphite oxides (GO). Here, a structural study of Brodie graphite oxide (BGO) swelling in a set of long chain 1-alcohols (named C11 to C22 according to the number of carbons) performed using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction at elevated temperatures is reported. Even the longest of tested alcohols (C22) is found to intercalate BGO with enormous expansion of the interlayer distance from ≈6Å up to ≈63Å, the highest expansion of GO lattice ever reported. Swelling transitions from low temperature alpha-phase to high temperature beta-phase are found for BGO in all alcohols in the C11–C22 set. The transitions correspond to decrease of inter-layer distance correlating with the length of alcohol molecules, and change in their orientation from perpendicular to GO planes to layered parallel to GO (Type II transitions). These transitions are very different compared to BGO swelling transitions (Type I) found in smaller alcohols and related to insertion/de-insertion of additional layer of alcohol parallel to GO. Analysis of general trends in the whole set of 1-alcohols (C1 to C22) shows that the 1-alcohol chain length defines the type of swelling transition with Type I found for alcohols with C<10 and Type II for C>10.

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37879
Publ.-Id: 37879


Ion Irradiation-Induced Sinking of Ag Nanocubes into Substrates

Choupanian, S.; Möller, W.; Seyring, M.; Pacholski, C.; Wendler, E.; Undisz, A.; Ronning, C.

Ion irradiation can cause burrowing of nanoparticles in substrates, strongly depending on the material properties and irradiation parameters. In this study, it is demonstrated that the sinking process can be accomplished with ion irradiation of cube-shaped Ag nanoparticles on top of silicon; how ion channeling affects the sinking rate; and underline the importance of the amorphous state of the substrate upon ion irradiation. Based on these experimental findings, the sinking process is described as being driven by capillary forces enabled by ion-induced plastic flow of the substrate.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37872
Publ.-Id: 37872


Experimentelle und rechnerische Bestimmung der Aktivierung für die Rückbauplanung von Kernkraftwerken

Barkleit, A.; Rachamin, R.; Pönitz, E.; Konheiser, J.

Vorstellung der FORKA-Projekte EMPRADO und WERREBA

  • Lecture (Conference)
    55. Kraftwerkstechni­sches Kolloquium, 10.-11.10.2023, Dresden, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37871
Publ.-Id: 37871


Comparative structural and (radio-)chemical investigations of activated cement and concrete samples

Zilbermann, M. E.

To help with the decommissioning of the unit 2 of the Greifswald NPP, this study aims at determining the activities of 3H, 14C, 60Co, 152Eu and 154Eu in the concrete to estimate the maximal activity in the entire bioshield.
The study will focus on the activity as a function of depth in the concrete layer, as well as composition of the mineral phases. As the flux of neutrons generated during fission reaction encounters the mineral phases of concrete, the natural elements present in these phases absorb neutrons, which leads to the formation of their radioactive isotopes. Therefore, the elemental composition of each mineral phase in the concrete is important in the activation process, and the concrete being a heterogeneous material, different phases will present different activities.
A precise knowledge of the activities and of the elemental composition of the concrete and its mineral phases helps refining the models to calculate and predict the activities in a long-term scale. The calculations and the experimental results support the sorting of the materials for disposal.
This study will analyze the concrete with three main objectives:

  • Activation;
  • Chemical composition;
  • Structure of the concrete and mineral phases.
  • Master thesis
    TU Dresden, 2023
    Mentor: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Stumpf, Dr. Astrid Barkleit

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37870
Publ.-Id: 37870


On the missing single collision peak in low energy heavy ion scattering

Wilhelm, R. A.; Deuzeman, M. J.; Rai, S.; Husinsky, W.; Szabo, P. S.; Biber, H.; Stadlmayr, R.; Cupak, C.; Hundsbichler, J.; Lemell, C.; Möller, W.; Mutzke, A.; Hobler, G.; Versolato, O. O.; Aumayr, F.; Hoekstra, R.

We present experimental and simulation data on the oblique angle scattering of heavy Sn ions at 14 keV energy from a Mo surface. The simulations are performed with the binary collision approximation codes TRIM, TRIDYN, TRI3DYN, SDTrimSP, and IMSIL. Additional simulations were performed in the molecular dynamics framework with LAMMPS. Our key finding is the absence of an expected peak in the experimental energy spectrum of backscattered Sn ions associated with the pure single collision regime. In sharp contrast to this, however, all simulation codes we applied do show a prominent single collision signature both in the energy spectrum and in the angular scatter pattern. We discuss the possible origin of this important discrepancy and show in the process, that widely used binary collision approximation codes may contain hidden parameters important to know and to understand.

Keywords: Binary collision approximation; Heavy ions; Ion scattering; Molecular dynamics

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37866
Publ.-Id: 37866


Post growth thermal treatments of Si1-x-yGexSny alloys

Steuer, O.; Schwarz, D.; Oehme, M.; Ganss, F.; Khan, M. M.; Cheng, Y.; Rebohle, L.; Zhou, S.; Helm, M.; Cuniberti, G.; Georgiev, Y.; Prucnal, S.

Si1-x-yGexSny alloys are promising materials for future applications in opto- and
nanoelectronics. These alloys enable effective band gap engineering, a broad
adjustability of the lattice parameter, exhibit much higher carrier mobility than pure Si
and are compatible with CMOS technology. Unfortunately, the equilibrium solid
solubility of Sn in Si1-xGex is less than 1% and pseudomorphic growth of Si1-xyGexSny
on Ge or Si causes in-plane compressive strain in the grown layer, which
degrades the superior properties of the alloys. Therefore, the post-growth strain
engineering using ultrafast non-equilibrium thermal treatments like flash lamp
annealing (FLA) or pulsed laser annealing (PLA) to improve the layer quality is
needed. In this contribution, we discuss the influence of millisecond FLA and
nanosecond PLA on Si1-x-yGexSny alloys and present an efficient way to improve
the layer quality of thin film Si1-x-yGexSny on insulator by PLA. Different Si1-xyGexSny
alloys are directly grown on commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers
and treated by FLA or PLA. The material is analysed by micro-Raman spectroscopy,
Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) before
and after the thermal treatments. It is shown that after annealing, the material is
single-crystalline with much better crystallinity than the as-grown layer.

Related publications

  • Poster
    E-MRS 2023 Spring Meeting, 29.05.-02.06.2023, Strasbourg, Frankreich

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37864
Publ.-Id: 37864


Aluminium substituted yttrium iron garnet thin films with reduced Curie temperature

Scheffler, D.; Steuer, O.; Zhou, S.; Siegl, L.; Goennenwein, S. T. B.; Lammel, M.

Magnetic garnets such as yttrium iron garnet (Y3 Fe 5 O12 , YIG) are widely used in spintronic and magnonic
devices. Their magnetic and magneto-optical properties can be modified over a wide range by tailoring their
chemical composition. Here, we report the successful growth of Al-substituted yttrium iron garnet (YAlIG) thin
films via radio frequency sputtering in combination with an ex situ annealing step. Upon selecting appropriate
process parameters, we obtain highly crystalline YAlIG films with different Al 3+ substitution levels on both
single crystalline Y 3 Al 5 O12 (YAG) and Gd 3 Ga 5 O12 (GGG) substrates. With increasing Al 3+ substitution levels,
we observe a reduction of the saturation magnetization as well as a systematic decrease of the magnetic ordering
temperature to values well below room temperature. YAlIG thin films thus provide an interesting material
platform for spintronic and magnonic experiments in different magnetic phases.

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37860
Publ.-Id: 37860


Comparando las estimaciones de selección de hábitat mediante modelos de distribución de especies y step selection functions

Saraiva De Menezes, J. F.

Recently, two methods of habitat selection have gained more relevance in the scientific literature: step selection functions (SSF) and MaxEnt. Despite their similarity these models are hardly ever used in the same context. The former is usually associated with studies based in movement ecology, and the latter is connected to species distribution modeling. Motivated by the difficulty in estimating habitat preferences using SSF, I compared the accuracy of predictions from both models based on movement data. As a case study, I utilized jaguar movement data from 5 countries in Latin American and created SSF and MaxEnt models based on climatic data and land use available from WorldClim and satellite imagery. I compared the accuracy of both types of models using the “Area Under Curve” (AUC) metric, on a separate subset of data. SSF models presented an average AUC of 0.5510 ± 0.0147 in comparison with 0.7544 ± 0.0185 of their MaxEnt equivalents. I believe those differences are partially caused by the convergence difficulties of SSF and conditional logistic regression. Consequently, I recommend the use of MaxEnt in predictive modelling, such as the ones needed in reserve and corridor design.

Keywords: Latin America; Jaguars; niche modelling; resource selection function; trajectory

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37859
Publ.-Id: 37859


Example data Publication Data Management Day

Fiedler, M.; Müller, S.; Knodel, O.

"This dataset is a multiyear mean Southern Ocean freshwater flux field that uses recently compiled measurements of ice sheet melting, iceberg calving, icerberg tracking, and river runoff"

Keywords: Test; Data; Publication; Data Management Day

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37854
Publ.-Id: 37854


Using Julia to Accelerate Monte Carlo Event Generation with Neural Importance Sampling

Jungnickel, T.; Steiniger, K.; Bussmann, M.; Hernandez Acosta, U.

Monte Carlo event generation is essential for analysis in high energy physics and fast implementations are required to keep up with the large amounts of data measured by experiments. Therefore, these methods need to reflect the theoretical predictions accurately to enable efficient data generation, e.g. by rejection sampling. However, traditional importance sampling algorithms, such as the commonly used VEGAS algorithm, often struggle with adapting targets with multiple or non-coordinate aligned features, as is common in high energy physics. Especially in strong-field QED, processes dynamically depend on field parameters, which means the use of established codes for these problems needs to be questioned. An importance sampling approach using neural networks applied to strong-field processes is presented within the framework QED.jl. The quality of the generated proposals, e.g. the unweighting efficiency, is compared to VEGAS, providing insights beneficial to applications beyond strong-field QED.

Keywords: strong field QED; machine learning; Julia; QED.jl; neural importance sampling

  • Lecture (Conference)
    JuliaHEP 2023, 06.-09.11.2023, Erlangen, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37848
Publ.-Id: 37848


Investigation of Mixing using Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography (µCT)

Baecke, A. M.

Fine-grained solid particles from various industrial sources, which would otherwise be discarded, should ideally be processed to valuable products or inert residues. Among others, a) shredder fines from electronics and end-of-life vehicles, and b) flue dusts from non-ferrous metallurgical processes are of timely interest. They contain valuable residuals, such as metals, that can be returned to the industrial cycle instead of being landfilled. This is one aim of the Helmholtz project FINEST in which this work is embedded. In this work, mixing and agglomeration of such particles with a size below 1 mm are investigated for further use in the metallurgical industry. Different particle sizes and densities are considered. The process is observed experimentally using camera imaging technique and µCT. From the µCT images a mixing index is acquired. We present an experimental setup and methods for the aforementioned investigations.

Keywords: Microfocus X-Ray Computed Tomography; Particle Flow; Mixing and Segregation

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Bałdyga Technical Seminars - Mixing meets reality, 14.-15.09.2023, Berlin, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37846
Publ.-Id: 37846


Accelerating Event Generation in Strong-Field QED with Neural Importance Sampling

Jungnickel, T.; Steiniger, K.; Hernandez Acosta, U.; Bussmann, M.

Efficient Monte Carlo integreation is crucial for modeling processes at the European XFEL. However, traditional approaches to importance sampling like VEGAS do not perform well when integrands display multiple features or non-coordinate aligned features. In this work, we present an implementation of neural importance sampling (NIS) in the Julia programming language to address this challenge. We demonstrate the effectiveness of NIS by applying it to processes in strong-field QED at high energies, showing superior adaption of the integrand and thus enabling efficient event generation.

Keywords: strong field QED; machine learning; Julia; QED.jl; neural importance sampling

  • Poster
    Helmholtz AI Conference 2023, 12.-14.06.2023, Hamburg, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37845
Publ.-Id: 37845


Probing Iron in Earth's Core With Molecular-Spin Dynamics

Nikolov, S.; Ramakrishna, K.; Rohskopf, A.; Lokamani, M.; Tranchida, J.; Carpenter, J.; Cangi, A.; Wood, M. A.

Dynamic compression of iron to Earth-core conditions is one of the few ways to gather important elastic and transport properties needed to uncover key mechanisms surrounding the geodynamo effect. Herein a new machine-learned ab-initio derived molecular-spin dynamics (MSD) methodology with explicit treatment for longitudinal spin-fluctuations is utilized to probe the dynamic phase-diagram of iron. This framework uniquely enables an accurate resolution of the phase-transition kinetics and Earth-core elastic properties, as highlighted by compressional wave velocity and adiabatic bulk moduli measurements. In addition, a unique coupling of MSD with time-dependent density functional theory enables gauging electronic transport properties, critically important for resolving geodynamo dynamics.

Keywords: Molecular dynamics; Density functional theory; Machine Learning; Phase transitions; Geodynamo

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37844
Publ.-Id: 37844


Critical review on production, characterization and applications of microalgal hydrochar: Insights on circular bioeconomy through hydrothermal carbonization

Supraja, K. V.; Doddapaneni, T. R. K. C.; Ramasamy, P. K.; Kaushal, P.; Ahammad, S. Z.; Pollmann, K.; Jain, R.

Exploitation of microalgal biomass as a valuable resource is hindered by the challenges associated with high downstream
processing costs, including biomass harvesting, drying, and product extraction. Direct utilization of microalgae as a solid fuel
source, soil conditioner, capacitor or adsorbent material raises environmental concerns. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC)
is a highly efficient and promising technology for microalgal biomass conversion. This comprehensive review provides an indepth
understanding of the HTC reaction mechanisms involved in microalgal hydrochar production, shedding light on the
underlying processes and factors affecting the quality of hydrochar. HTC has the potential to improve fixed carbon content,
thermal stability and nutrient availability in the resulting hydrochar. Furthermore, this review explores the integration of HTC
with anaerobic digestion (AD) to establish a circular bioeconomy, thereby promoting sustainability in energy generation. The
synergistic combination offers a promising approach for the efficient utilization of microalgal biomass, where hydrochar can
serve as a renewable energy source while the aqueous fraction can be utilized as a nutrient-rich feedstock for biogas
production. By highlighting the potential benefits and futuristic directives associated with microalgal biomass valorisation
through HTC, this review aims to contribute to the development of sustainable waste management strategies for recovery of
value-added compounds from microalgae. Ultimately, this review strives to foster the transition towards a more
environmentally friendly and resource-efficient bioeconomy.

Keywords: Algae; Anaerobic digestion; Bioconversion; Biomass; Carbonization; Microorganisms; Nutrients; Soils

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  • Secondary publication expected from 01.10.2024

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37842
Publ.-Id: 37842


Rohstoffe und Ressourcen

Möckel, R.

Im Vortrag geht es um Resourcen und Rohstoffe, Einteilung, Kritikalität, circular economy, Recycling und Alternativen, sowie als Beispiel um Seltene Erden

  • Lecture (others)
    Schulische Veranstaltung, 27.10.2023, Chemnitz, Montessori-Gymnasium, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37839
Publ.-Id: 37839


Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Genesis of Agates from Chihuahua, Northern Mexico

Mrozik, M.; Götze, J.; Pan, Y.; Möckel, R.

The present study aimed to investigate the genesis and characteristics of some of the world-famous agate deposits in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico (Rancho Coyamito, Ojo Laguna, Moctezuma, Huevos del Diablo, Agua Nueva). Geochemical and textural studies of host rocks showed that all the studied deposits are related to the same rock type within the geological unit of Rancho el Agate andesite, a quartz-free latite that shows clear indications of magma mixing. As a result of their large-scale distribution and various differentiation processes, as well as transport separation, different textures and local chemical differences between rocks of different localities can be observed. These differences have also influenced the properties of SiO2 mineralization in the rocks. The mixing of near-surface fluids from rock alterations with magmatic hydrothermal solutions led to the accumulation of various elements in the SiO2 matrix of the agates, which were, on the one hand, mobilized during secondary rock alteration (Fe, U, Ca, K, Al, Si) and, on the other hand, transported with magmatic fluids (Zn, Sb, Si, Zr, Cr). Different generations of chalcedony indicate a multi-stage formation as well as multiple cycles of filling the cavities with fluids. The hydrothermal fluids are presumably related to the residual solutions of a rhyolitic volcanism, which followed the latitic extrusions in the area and probably caused the formation of polymetallic ore deposits in the Chihuahua area. The enrichment of highly immobile elements indicates the involvement of volatile fluids in the agate formation. The vivid colors of the agates are almost exclusively due to various mineral inclusions, which consist mainly of iron compounds.

Keywords: agate; chalcedony; trace elements; EPR spectroscopy; silica minerals; agate colors; cathodoluminescence; geology; Rancho Coyamito; Ojo laguna; Moctezuma; Agua Nueva

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37838
Publ.-Id: 37838


A new approach to model the fluid dynamics in sandwich packings

Franke, P.; Shabanilemraski, I.; Schubert, M.; Hampel, U.; Kenig, E. Y.

Sandwich packings represent new separation column internals, with a potential to intensify mass
transfer. They comprise two conventional structured packings with different specific geometrical surface areas.
In this work, the complex fluid dynamics in sandwich packings is modeled using a novel approach based on a onedimensional,
steady momentum balance of the liquid and gas phases. The interactions between the three present
phases (gas, liquid, and solid) are considered by closures incorporated into the momentum balance. The
formulation of these closures is derived from two fluid-dynamic analogies for the film and froth flow patterns.
The adjustable parameters in the closures are regressed for the film flow using dry pressure drop measurements
and liquid hold-up data in trickle flow conditions. For the froth flow, the tuning parameters are fitted to overall
pressure drop measurements and local liquid hold-up data acquired from ultra-fast X-ray tomography (UFXCT).
The model predicts liquid hold-up and pressure drop data with an average relative deviation of 16.4 % and 19 %,
respectively. Compared to previous fluid dynamic models for sandwich packings, the number of adjustable
parameters could be reduced while maintaining comparable accuracy.

Keywords: sandwich packings; modeling; tomography; fluid dynamics

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37836
Publ.-Id: 37836


Data publication: Fluid Transport in Ordinary Portland Cement and Slag Cement from in-situ Positron Emission Tomography

Reiss, A.; Kulenkampff, J.; Fischer, C.
RelatedPerson: Gruhne, Stefan; RelatedPerson: Lösel, Dagmar; RelatedPerson: Schößler, Claudia

Supplemental Primary PET Data to Fluid Transport in Ordinary Portland Cement and Slag Cement from in-situ Positron Emission Tomography Reiss, A.; Kulenkampff, J.; Bar-Nes, G.; Fischer, C.; Emmanuel, S. Submitted to Cement and Concrete Research 02.11.24 Material and procedure are characterized in the paper. PET data are supplied in Interfile format (Original: Cradduck T.D., Bailey D.L., Hutton BF, Deconinck F., Busemann Sokole E., Bergmann H., Noelpp U.: “A standard protocol for the exchange of nuclear medicine image files. Nucl Med Commun; 10:703-713 (1989), used version: https://stir.sourceforge.net/links/petinterfile03.pdf). The interfile format includes an ASCII header file (.hv) and a binary file containing the volume data (.v). Import filters exist for many visualization frameworks (e.g. Matlab, Avizo); otherwise the binary data files can be imported as raw data, taking into account the format given in the header file. The header tags were extended for relevant experimental parameters of non-medical PET experiments and in this way serve as experimental protocol. List of data files: cem1_F-18.7z: 17 PET frames from the 18F intrusion experiment cem1_Cu-64.7z: 31 PET frames from the 64Cu intrusion experiment cem1_I-124.7z: 34 PET frames from the 124I intrusion experiment The PET data sets (LMFs) were acquired with a tilted ClearPET-scanner (Elysia-Raytest) with a vertical axis of the cylindrical FOV at HZDR. The “trues”-projections were corrected for attenuation and scatter with a procedure based on the STIR-library (https://stir.sourceforge.net, version 3.0, Kris Thielemans, Charalampos Tsoumpas, Sanida Mustafovic, Tobias Beisel, Pablo Aguiar, Nikolaos Dikaios, and Matthew W Jacobson, STIR: Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction Release 2, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 57 (4), 2012 pp.867-883).

Keywords: Positron Emission Tomography (PET); Imbibition; Cement paste; Fluid transport

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37835
Publ.-Id: 37835


Large-Scale Formation of DNA Origami Lattices on Silicon

Tapio, K.; Kielar, C.; Parikka, J. M.; Keller, A.; Järvinen, H.; Fahmy, K.; Jussi Toppari, J.

In recent years, hierarchical nanostructures have found applications in fields like diagnostics, medicine, nano-optics, and nanoelectronics, especially in challenging applications like the creation of metasurfaces with unique optical properties. One of the promising materials to fabricate such nanostructures has been DNA due to its robust self-assembly properties and plethora of different functionalization schemes. Here, we demonstrate the assembly of a two-dimensional fishnet-type lattice on a silicon substrate using cross-shaped DNA origami as the building block, i.e., tile. The effects of different environmental and structural factors are investigated under liquid atomic force microscopy (AFM) to optimize the lattice assembly. Furthermore, the arm-to-arm binding affinity of the tiles is analyzed, revealing preferential orientations. From the liquid AFM results, we develop a methodology to produce closely-spaced DNA origami lattices on silicon substrate, which allows further nanofabrication process steps, such as metallization. This formed polycrystalline lattice has high surface coverage and is extendable to the wafer scale with an average domain size of about a micrometer. Further studies are needed to increase the domain size toward a single-crystalline large-scale lattice.

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37834
Publ.-Id: 37834


Pulsed interactions unify reaction-diffusion and spatial nonlocal models for biological pattern formation

Colombo, E. H.; Martinez Garcia, R.; Calabrese, J.; López, C.; Hernández-García, E.

The emergence of a spatially-organized population distribution depends on the dynamics of the population and mediators of interaction (activators and inhibitors). Two broad classes of models have been used to investigate when and how self-organization is triggered, namely, reaction-diffusion and spatially nonlocal models. Nevertheless, these models implicitly assume smooth propagation scenarios, neglecting that individuals many times interact by exchanging short and abrupt pulses of the mediating substance. A recently proposed framework advances in the direction of properly accounting for these short-scale fluctuations by applying a coarse-graining procedure on the pulse dynamics. In this paper, we generalize the coarse-graining procedure and apply the extended formalism to new scenarios in which mediators influence individuals' reproductive success or their motility. We show that, in the slow- and fast-mediator limits, pulsed interactions recover, respectively, the reaction-diffusion and nonlocal models, providing a mechanistic connection between them. Furthermore, at each limit, the spatial stability condition is qualitatively different, leading to a timescale-induced transition where spatial patterns emerge as mediator dynamics becomes sufficiently fast.

Keywords: self-organization; population dynamics; pattern formation; animal communication

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37832
Publ.-Id: 37832


Preparation of Volborthite by a Facile Synthetic Chemical Solvent Extraction Method

Sánchez-Loredo, M. G.; Palomares-Sánchez, S. A.; Labrada-Delgado, G. J.; Helbig, T.; Chekhonin, P.; Ebert, D.; Möckel, R.; Owusu Afriyie, J.; Kelly, N.

In this work, the extraction of vanadium (V) ions from an alkaline solution using a commercial quaternary ammonium salt and the production of metal vanadates through precipitation stripping were carried out. The crystallization of copper vanadates from the extracts was performed using a solution containing a copper(II) source in concentrated chloride media as a stripping agent. In an attempt to control growth, a stabilizing polymer (polyvinylpyrrolidone, PVP) was added to the stripping solution. The structural characteristics of the crystallized products, mainly copper pyrovanadate (volborthite, Cu3V2O7(OH)2·(H2O)2) nanoflakes and nanoflowers and the experimental parameter influencing the efficiency of the stripping process were studied. From the results, the synthesis of nanostructured vanadates is a simple and versatile method for the fabrication of valuable three-dimensional structures providing abundant active zones for energy and catalytic applications.

Keywords: vanadium(V) extraction; anion exchange; quaternary ammonium salt; precipitation stripping; nanostructured vanadates; volborthite; polyvinylpyrrolidone

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37830
Publ.-Id: 37830


Geochemistry and formation of agate-bearing lithophysae in Lower Permian volcanics of the NW-Saxonian Basin (Germany)

Götze, J.; Möckel, R.; Pan, Y.; Müller, A.

Geochemical and mineralogical investigations of the Lower Permian Kemmlitz rhyolite within the NW-Saxonian Basin
(Germany) and associated lithophysae (high-temperature crystallization domains) as well as agates were carried out to
constrain the genesis and characteristics of these volcanic rocks and the origin of the agate-bearing lithophysae. The
volcanic rocks of rhyolitic composition are dominated by quartz, sanidine, and orthoclase and most likely derive from lava
flows. Agate-bearing lithophysae were exclusively formed in a glassy facies (pitchstone) of the rhyolites, which was
afterwards altered to illite-smectite mixed-layer clays. The results of this study show that agate formation can be related to
the alteration of the volcanic rocks accompanied by the infill of mobilized silica into cavities of lithophysae. Fluid inclusion
studies point to temperatures of agate formation above 150 °C, indicating that the mobilization and accumulation of silica
started already during a late phase of or soon after the volcanic activities. Remarkable high concentrations of B (29 ppm),
Ge (> 18 ppm), and U (> 19 ppm) as well as chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) distribution patterns of the
agates with pronounced negative Eu-anomalies, slightly positive Ce-anomalies and enriched heavy rare earth elements
(HREE) indicate interactions of the host rocks and transport of SiO2 with magmatic volatiles (F/Cl, CO2) and heated
meteoric water. Characteristic yellow cathodoluminescence (CL), heterogeneous internal textures as well as high defect
density of micro- and macrocrystalline quartz detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy point to
crystallization processes via an amorphous silica precursor under non-equilibrium conditions.

Keywords: Agate; Geochemistry; Lithophysae; Permian rhyolites; Quartz

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37829
Publ.-Id: 37829


Neutron radiography of liquid foam structure near a vertical wall

Skrypnik, A.; Knüpfer, L.; Trtik, P.; Tholan, V.; Parkes, S.; Heitkam, S.

At a solid boundary, the structural formation of bubbles is different from that in the bulk of a liquid foam. The presence of a solid boundary imposes additional constraints, resulting in a crystalline arrangement of the bubbles. For dry and monodisperse foam, the Kelvin and Fejes-T ́ oth structure is expected in the vicinity of the wall, while a random ordering should occur in the bulk. In this study, we investigate the transition from a crystalline to a random structure near a vertical wall located in the middle of a flat foam cell. The corresponding layering of the liquid was quantified by measuring the distribution of liquid fraction within the cell using neutron radiography. The amplitude of the liquid fraction distribution and its decay with distance from the solid boundary were correlated with the foam bubble size and polydispersity. Furthermore, by applying forced drainage, we measured the corresponding permeability and wetting front velocity near the vertical wall. We found that the crystalline sorting reduces the permeability and wetting front velocity compared to a randomly packed foam.

Keywords: Neutron Radiography; Foam

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37827
Publ.-Id: 37827


A comparative study on the measurement of surface bubble size distributions in dry aqueous foams using optical methods

Knüpfer, L.; Eckert, K.; Heitkam, S.

The measurement of bubble sizes in aqueous foams based on images of the surface is a typical method used in laboratory and industrial scales. In this article the relationship between the size distribution of the facet areas and the bubble size of wall-touching bubbles is investigated. To achieve this an invasive sampling approach is used for in-situ collection of wall-touching bubbles in dry foams, while the surface is imaged in parallel. Bubble and facet
size distributions are obtained using automated image processing. It is shown that sharp peaks in the bubble size distribution will appear smoother in the facet size distribution. This results in an overestimation of polydispersity by the surface measurements. Furthermore, it is observed that the mean equivalent diameter of the facets is on average 6% smaller than the bubble diameter obtained using the sampling method. An approach proposed by
Wang and Neethling (Colloids Surf. A: Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 33, 73-81 (2009)) gives a good approximation of the relation between facet and bubble size and can be used to reduce potential uncertainties in surface based bubble size measurements.

Keywords: Foam; Bubble Size; Optical Measurement

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37825
Publ.-Id: 37825


Investigating the effect of multiple particle properties on the separation of ultrafine particles via froth flotation by means of MLA and multivariate Tromp maps

Sygusch, J.; Rudolph, M.

Although, the wettability is the most prominent separation feature in froth flotation, other particle properties, such as size or morphology also affect the separation process since it includes a number of complex micro processes with specific particle-bubble interactions that occur in the pulp and in the froth phase. A novel separation apparatus is used that combines the advantages of a mechanical flotation cell (high particle-bubble collision rate) with those from a flotation column (fractionating effect of the deep froth). A well-characterised model system of ultrafine particles (< 10 µm), consisting of glass spheres and glass fragments as the floatable fraction and magnetite as the non-floatable fraction is used for the separation tests. Based on image analysis bivariate tromp maps are computed which reveal the combined effect of the particle properties of size and shape on the separation behaviour of ultrafine particles.

Keywords: Ultrafine particles; Multidimensional separation; Flotation; Multivariate Tromp maps

  • Poster
    Flotation '23, 06.-09.11.2023, Cape Town, South Africa

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37824
Publ.-Id: 37824


Unit and Integration testing in modularized Julia package eco-systems

Ehrig, S.

In high-energy physics, we want to simulate complex physical processes that require computational resources of the fastest HPC systems in the world. In order to fully use the computational resources, software that is maintainable, performant and extensible is required. To achieve these goals, automated testing is essential.
Modern Julia HEP software is modularized into sub-packages to improve maintainability and extensibility. This creates new challenges for automated testing. Unit tests and integration tests are required. If the code of one package is changed, unit tests ensure that the package is still working, whereas integration tests ensure that in dependent packages no functionality break is caused by the change.
Using the QED.jl [1] project as an example, I will demonstrate how we implemented unit and integration tests for the main QED.jl package and its sub-packages.

[1] https://github.com/QEDjl-project/QED.jl

Keywords: Julia; Integration Tests; QED.jl; Automatic Testing

  • Open Access Logo Lecture (Conference)
    JuliaHEP 2023 Workshop, 06.-09.11.2023, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Deutschland

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37823
Publ.-Id: 37823


Ion emission from warm dense matter produced by irradiation with a soft x-ray free-electron laser

Krása, J.; Burian, T.; Hájková, V.; Chalupský, J.; Jelínek, Š.; Frantálová, K.; Krupka, M.; Kuglerová, Z.; Kumar Singh, S.; Vozda, V.; Vyšín, L.; Smid, M.; Perez-Martin, P.; Kühlman, M.; Pintor, J.; Cikhardt, J.; Dreimann, M.; Eckermann, D.; Rosenthal, F.; Vinko, S. M.; Forte, A.; Gawne, T. D.; Campbell, T.; Ren, S.; Shi, Y.; Hutchinson, T.; Humphries, O. S.; Preston, T.; Makita, M.; Nakatsutsumi, M.; Pan, X.; Köhler, A.; Harmand, M.; Toleikis, S.; Falk, K.; Juha, L.

We report on an experiment performed at the FLASH2 free-electron laser (FEL) aimed at producing warm dense matter via soft x-ray isochoric heating. In the experiment, we focus on study of the ions emitted during the soft x-ray ablation process using time-of-flight electron multipliers and a shifted Maxwell–Boltzmann velocity distribution model. We find that most emitted ions are thermal, but that some impurities chemisorbed on the target surface, such as protons, are accelerated by the electrostatic field created in the plasma by escaped electrons. The morphology of the complex crater structure indicates the presence of several ion groups with varying temperatures. We find that the ion sound velocity is controlled by the ion temperature and show how the ion yield depends on the FEL radiation attenuation length in different materials.

Related publications

  • Open Access Logo Matter and Radiation at Extremes 9(2024)1, 016602
    Online First (2023) DOI: 10.1063/5.0157781

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37822
Publ.-Id: 37822


Synthesis and characterization of lanthanide and actinide doped zirconates

Richter, S.; Gilson, S.; Braga Ferreira Dos Santos, L.; Stumpf, T.; Huittinen, N. M.

Zirconium dioxide is a corrosion product of the Zircaloy cladding, which houses the nuclear fuel pellets. It can form solid solutions with uranium as well as fission and activation products. Moreover, ZrO2 and other zirconium bearing crystalline solid phases, such as pyrochlores, are being investigated as potential host matrices for the immobilization of radionuclides present in high-level waste streams. Zirconate pyrochlores are characterized by high chemical durability and radiation resistance. However, upon irradiation, some zirconate pyrochlores undergo a phase transition to the defect fluorite crystal structure, or become amorphous, which could hamper a continued immobilization of radionuclides in the solid matrix. In the current study, the influence of different synthesis methods on the phase purity of Ce/Nd-co-doped zirconates was investigated. Furthermore, phase transformations occurring in zirconate phases as a result of different U/Y-dopant concentrations were studied.
Ce/Nd-co-doped zirconates and U/Y-co-doped zirconates were obtained via coprecipitation. In addition, identical zirconate compositions were synthesized using three different solid-state methods involving manual mixing with a mortar and pestle, mechanical mixing with a ball mill or magnetic mixing in a slurry. PXRD measurements of all solids were done for crystal structure analysis.
For the Ce/Nd-co-doped zirconates synthesized via coprecipitation, rather phase-pure monoclinic, cubic defect fluorite and cubic pyrochlore structures could be obtained. The samples synthesized via solid-state methods were found to contain multiple phases due to insufficient mixing of the educts. Manual mixing led to the most phase-pure ceramics and was therefore chosen for further investigation. It was shown that re-sintering the ceramics as well as longer grinding time resulted in enhanced phase purity. Furthermore, an increase of the Nd-content also correlates with an improved phase purity.
PXRD data of the U-doped zirconates showed a peak-shift towards lower two theta values with increasing U-concentration. At the same dopant concentrations, U/Y-co-doped zirconates showed higher symmetry crystal structures than Ce/Nd-co-doped zirconates. This is caused by the larger ionic radius of U4+ compared to Ce4+ allowing for the stabilization of higher symmetry crystal structures at equal dopant concentrations.

Related publications

  • Poster
    NEA Global Forum Rising Stars Workshop in Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy, 21.-22.09.2023, Boston, USA

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37820
Publ.-Id: 37820


Microbial immobilization of technetium-99

Cardaio, I.; Mayordomo, N.; Cherkouk, A.; Stumpf, T.; Müller, K.

Iron-reducing bacteria perform anaerobic respiration by coupling the oxidation of organic molecules to the reduction of Fe(III)-species via dissimilatory iron reduction. This leads to the formation of ferrous minerals, such as vivianite [Fe(II)₃(PO₄)₂], pyrite (Fe(II)S₂), siderite (Fe(II)CO₃) and jahnsite [(CaMn(II))Fe(II)₂Fe(III)₂(PO₄)₄(OH)₂·(H₂O)₈], which, depending on oxygen exposure and the cultivation nutrients, may oxidize and generate magnetite (Fe(II)Fe(III)₂O₄) and/or hematite (Fe(III)₂O₃). The aforementioned secondary Fe(II)-minerals may promote the reduction of radionuclides such as the β-emitter technetium-99 (⁹⁹Tc).
⁹⁹Tc is a long lived fission product (t(1/2) = 2.13 × 10⁵ years) of ²³⁵U and ²³⁹Pu. It can also originate from the decay chain of ⁹⁹₄₂Mo, (Mo-99 → ₄₃Tc-99m + e⁻, 66 h; ₄₃Tc-99m → ₄₃Tc-99 + γ, 6.02 h). In the environment, Tc is prevalent as Tc(VII) or Tc(IV). Due to the common use of Tc-99m in radiodiagnostics, water contamination through the highly hydrosoluble pertechnetate Tc(VII)O₄⁻ must be considered. Nevertheless, Tc can be immobilized by reducing it to the low-soluble oxide Tc(IV)O₂.
This work aims at unravelling the interactions between pivotal anaerobic bacteria (e.g. the iron reducer Desulfitobacterium sp. G1-2) that can be found in bentonite (a clay potentially used as a barrier material for deep geological repositories) and Tc(VII), to achieve its reduction to Tc(IV) and preserve the environmental safeguard.
The authors acknowledge the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the financial support of NukSiFutur TecRad young investigator group (02NUK072).

Keywords: microorganisms; technetium; iron minerals; deep geological repositories

  • Lecture (Conference)
    HZDR Science Conference 2023, 15.-16.11.2023, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e. V., Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37819
Publ.-Id: 37819


Molecular Adhesion of a Pilus-derived Peptide Involved in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation on non-polar ZnO Surfaces

Prüßner, T.; Meinderink, D.; Zhu, S.; Orive, A. G.; Kielar, C.; Huck, M.; Steinrück, H.-G.; Keller, A.; Grundmeier, G.

Bacterial colonization and biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces are initiated by the adhesion of peptides and proteins. Understanding the adhesion of such peptides and proteins at a molecular level thus represents an important step toward controlling and suppressing biofilm formation on technological and medical materials. This study investigates the molecular adhesion of a pilus-derived peptide that facilitates biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a multidrug-resistant opportunistic pathogen frequently encountered in healthcare settings. Single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) was performed on chemically etched ZnO(112̅0)surfaces to gather insights about peptide adsorption force and its kinetics. Metal-free click chemistry for the fabrication of peptide-terminated SMFS cantilevers was performed on amine-terminated gold cantilevers and verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and polarization-modulated infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and XPS analyses reveal stable topographies and surface chemistries of the substrates that are not affected by SMFS. Rupture events described by the worm-like chain model (WLC) up to 600 pN were detected for the non-polar ZnOsurfaces. The dissociation barrier energy at zero force ΔG(0), the transition state distance xband bound-unbound dissociation rate at zero force koff(0) for the single crystalline substrate indicate that coordination and hydrogen bonds dominate thepeptide/surfaceinteraction.

Keywords: Adsorption; Bell-Evans theory; peptides; Single-molecule studies; ZnO

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37817
Publ.-Id: 37817


Wechselwirkung von Tc mit Eisen(II)phosphaten

Börner, C.

Technetium (Tc, Ordnungszahl 43) ist das leichteste Element, welches keine stabilen Isotope besitzt. Das Hauptvorkommen von Tc stammt aus anthropogen Quellen, wie abgebrannten Brennstoffen aus Kernkraftwerken, Atomwaffentests, sowie nuklearen Unfällen. Das Radionuklid Tc-99 entsteht hierbei als ein Spaltprodukt mit rund 6% Ausbeute und ist somit im nuklearen Abfall vorhanden, welcher im geologischen Tiefenendlager für 1Mio Jahre gelagert werden soll. Zusätzlich wird Tc-99m als Kontrastmittel in der Medizindiagnostik angewendet, welches zu Tc-99 zerfällt und in das Abwasser gelangt. Aus diesen Gründen besteht die Notwendigkeit, die Interaktion von Tc mit Mineralen zu untersuchen, um Möglichkeiten zur immobilisierung zu finden. Das in Wasser mobile Pertechnetat (Tc(VII)O₄⁻) kann durch Sorption und Reduktion zu schwerlöslichem TcO₂ an Fe(II)-haltigen Mineralen zurückgehalten werden.
In dieser Arbeit wurde die Retention an Vivianit (Fe₃(PO₄)₂·8 H₂O) untersucht. Das türkisfarbene Mineral wurde erfolgreich über eine Präzipitation unter Inertgas synthetisch hergestellt. Mittels XRD und Raman konnte die Übereinstimmung mit Referenzspektren für Vivianit bei dem Gleichwichts-pH-Wert pH 6,7 festgestellt werden. Bei einer Verringerung des pH-Wertes auf pH 5 ist Vivianit weiterhin stabil, während bei einem pH-Wert von pH 12 eine Phasenänderung zu Amakinit (Fe(II)(OH)₂) stattfindet. TcO₄− kann durch suspendiertes Vivianit aus der Lösung bei pH 8 im Verlauf von 20 d entfernt werden, während bei pH 6,5 die Immobilisierung nicht stattfindet. Mit steigender Konzentration an Vivianit in der Lösung steigt auch die Entfernung von TcO₄− bei pH 6,5. Bei pH 8 hingegen sinkt die Entfernung mit größerer Mineralkonzentration bei 3 d Sorptionszeit, wobei nach 10 d Tc in der Lösung nicht mehr detektierbar ist. Vermutet wird die Bildung löslicher Tc-phosphate. Mit steigendem pH-Wert steigt die Immobilisierung von Tc aus der Lösung. Bei niedrigen pH-Werten ist die geringe Sorption auf die hohe Löslichkeit des Minerals und damit auf die kinetisch gehinderte Homoreduktion von Tc(VII) durch gelöstes Fe(II) zurückzuführen. Die Untersuchung der Oberfläche mit XPS deutet auf eine vollständige Reduktion von Tc(VII) zu Tc(IV) hin. Die weiterhin hohe Löslichkeit des Tc untermauert die Theorie der Tc-phosphatverbindungen.
Ein Anstieg an oxidischen Verbindungen, welche auf TcO₂ hindeuten, wurden einzig bei pH 12 detektiert. Die Reoxidationsexperimente in dieser Arbeit haben eine geringe Remobilisierung von Technetium unter oxidierenden Bedingungen nach 30 d gezeigt. Im Gegenteil konnte sogar eine Steigerung der Immobilisierung bei niedrigen pH-Werten festgestellt werden.

Keywords: Technetium; Vivianite; Immobilization; Re-oxidation; Reduction

  • Master thesis
    Technische Universität Dresden, 2023
    Mentor: Prof. Thorsten Stumpf and Dr. Natalia Mayordomo

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37815
Publ.-Id: 37815


Application of dissimilatory iron reduction by a novel Desulfitobacterium sp. isolate for Tc-99 immobilization

Cardaio, I.; Mayordomo, N.; Stumpf, T.; Cherkouk, A.; Müller, K.

Dissimilatory iron reduction is an anaerobic respiratory pathway, wherein ferric (Fe³) reducers couple the oxidation of organic acids, sugars and aromatic hydrocarbons to the reduction of Fe³-species [1]. This may lead to the formation of minerals such as magnetite (Fe²Fe³₂O₄) and siderite (Fe²CO₃) [2], which, in turn, can mediate the reduction of soluble pollutants as pertechnetate (Tc⁷O₄⁻) to insoluble oxides (Tc⁴O₂) [3].
The genus Desulfitobacterium contains obligate anaerobic bacteria that are capable of utilizing a wide range of electron acceptors, including nitrite, sulfite, metals, humic acids and halogenated organic compounds [4].
In this work, the Fe³ reduction of a Desulfitobacterium species was examined. The microorganism has been isolated from bentonite, which is potentially used as geotechnical barrier in deep geological repositories for radioactive waste [5].
The cultivation conditions included DSMZ 579 medium with Na-acetate as electron donor to reduce Fe³ citrate [6]. During cultivation, the formation of white precipitates was observed. The phases were collected both under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and repeatedly investigated by using Raman microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD). It was noticed that the phases turned immediately to blue-greenish overnight under oxic conditions. Both Raman spectra and pXRD diffractograms can be attributed to vivianite (Fe²₃(PO₄)₂). Moreover, Raman spectra revealed the possible presence of pyrite (Fe²S₂), siderite, magnetite and hematite (Fe³₂O₃). These results suggest the ability of the bacterium of forming different Fe²-minerals. Notwithstanding, both methods indicate the change of the chemistry of the precipitates according to environmental factors. The Fe²-minerals formation by this microorganism depending on Fe³-compounds and background electrolytes is currently ongoing. The biogenic ferrous minerals will be studied regarding the reduction of Tc⁷O₄⁻.
The authors acknowledge the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the financial support of NukSiFutur TecRad young investigator group (02NUK072).

Keywords: microorganisms; iron minerals; technetium; deep geological repositories

  • Lecture (Conference)
    ChemTUgether 2023 & Alumni Meeting 2023, 29.09.2023, TU Dresden, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37814
Publ.-Id: 37814


Tc(VII) reductive immobilization by S(-II) pre-sorbed on alumina

Garcia-Gomez, S.; Börner, C.; Gimenez, J.; Casas, I.; Llorca, J.; de Pablo, J.; Müller, K.; Mayordomo, N.

Tc-99 is a fission product of U-235 and Pu-239 with a long half-live (2.14∙10⁵ years). Under oxidizing conditions, Tc main species (Tc(VII)O₄⁻) exhibits a high solubility and hardly interacts with minerals. In contrast, under reducing conditions, Tc(IV) presents a more limited mobility, either because Tc(IV) interacts with minerals or Tc(IV)O₂ is formed [1]. However, the formation of Tc(IV)O₂ is not sufficient to ensure the immobilization of Tc, since when it is in contact with O₂, the reoxidation of Tc(IV) to Tc(VII) would be thermodynamically favorable. In contrast, the formation of Tc(IV) polysulfide species (such as TcSx or Tc₂S7) could inhibit Tc oxidation under oxidizing conditions [2]. Therefore, S(-II) seems a promising candidate to immobilize Tc. Sulfide would be present in the nuclear waste repository due to the addition of fly ash in the concrete, as well as the presence of minerals such as pyrite (FeS₂). It has been proven for Fe(II) that Tc(VII) reduction is more favorable when Fe(II) takes part in the mineral structure or it is sorbed on a surface than when Tc(VII) reduction is carried by dissolved Fe(II) homoreduction) [3]. We have recently showed that Tc(VII) heteroreduction (reduction occurring at the mineral-water interface) by Fe(II) pre-sorbed on alumina nanoparticles is highly efficient [4].
Thus, in this work, we have studied kinetically as a function of pH: i) S(-II) sorption on alumina, and ii) subsequent Tc uptake promoted by S(-II) pre-sorbed on alumina. We have also focused on the effect of different sulfide sources on Tc(VII) reduction. All the experiments were performed in a N₂ glove box free of CO₂ and O₂ (< 2 ppm). The alumina
nanoparticles used in the experiments has been previously characterized with 127 m² /g N₂ BET and pH 9 as isoelectric point pH [5]. For the batch sorption experiments, suspensions of alumina (0.5 g/L) containing 50 μM of NaHS at pH 5.3, 6.7 and 7.7 were prepared and shaken for two days. Then, KTcO₄ was added to the suspensions to obtain 5 μM of KTcO₄. Subsequently, the suspensions were placed in a horizontal shaker. The suspension pH was monitored frequently and readjusted when needed. Samples were taken periodically and centrifuged at 14,000 rpm for 45 min. The Tc concentration in the supernatant solution was measured by liquid scintillation counter to determine the percentage of Tc removed.
Figure 1 shows the uptake of Tc in % as a function of time and pH. Tc removal increases with decreasing pH. This is in agreement with the highest anion sorption on alumina nanoparticles at lower pH, when alumina surface is positive charged [5]. The maximum Tc retention is 70% at pH 5.3, being complete after one day of contact. Whereas at higher pH values, Tc removal is significantly lower, i.e., 10% at pH 6.7 and 5% at pH 7.7. It is noteworthy to mention that the NaHS reactant used for the experiments in Figure 1. was partially oxidized. Despite of its oxidation, reduction of Tc(VII) yield at pH 5.3 was above 70% after one day of contact.

Further contact experiments have been performed to isolate the contribution of S(-II) in Tc(VII) heteroreduction, and the effect of the sulfide source on Tc removal. Raman microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy have been used to determine the changes occurring at a molecular level when Tc(VII) is heteroreduced by S(-II).

Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Research and Universities for the abroad internship fellowship (PRE2018-085618) and the project (ENE2017-83048-R). Part of this work was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) NukSiFutur TecRad young investigator group (02NUK072).

Keywords: Technetium; Sulfide; Reduction; Removal; Scavenging

  • Open Access Logo Poster
    18th International Conference on the Chemistry and Migration Behaviour of Actinides and Fission Products in the Geosphere (Migration), 25.-29.09.2023, Nantes, France

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37813
Publ.-Id: 37813


Fundamental investigations of actinide immobilization by incorporation into solid phases relevant for final disposal

Huittinen, N. M.; Braga Ferreira Dos Santos, L.; Gilson, S.; Hennig, C.; Lender, T.; Marquardt, J.; Murphy, G.; Nießen, J.; Peters, L.; Richter, S.

This contribution provides an overview of a current research network funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), entitled “Fundamental investigations of actinide immobilization by incorporation into solid phases relevant for final disposal” – AcE. The AcE project aims at understanding the incorporation and immobilization of actinides (An) in crystalline, repository-relevant solid phases, such as zirconia (ZrO2) and UO2, but also in zircon (ZrSiO4), pyrochlores (Ln2Zr2O7) and orthophosphates of the monazite type (LnPO4), which may find use as host matrices for the immobilization and safe disposal of high-level waste streams.
Recent studies by the AcE-project consortium, addressing the structure, properties, and the radiation tolerance of monazites and Zr(IV)-based solid phases containing actinides or their surrogates from the lanthanide series will be presented. Material synthesis strategies in the AcE project have aimed at generating single-phase solid solutions in the form of polycrystalline powders, dense ceramics, and single crystals. Structural studies using powder X-ray diffraction at ambient conditions, but also at high temperatures and pressures have been complemented with a wide range of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques to address differences between the host- and dopant environments in the solid matrices at ambient and extreme conditions. The radiation tolerance of the synthetic solid phases have been investigated by combining external heavy-ion irradiation of inactive Ln-doped materials and in situ self-irradiation of 241Am-doped Zr(IV)-phases with monoclinic, cubic defect fluorite and pyrochlore structures. The latter experiments have been conducted in joint efforts with the Joint Research Center in Karlsruhe within the ActUsLab programme.

Related publications

  • Poster
    Actinides 2023, 04.-08.06.2023, Golden Colorado, United States

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37809
Publ.-Id: 37809


Interaction of Marangoni and buoyancy effects during mass transfer at liquid interfaces

Schwarzenberger, K.; Köllner, T.; Boeck, T.; Eckert, K.

Complex flow patterns frequently emerge when a surface active substance undergoes mass transfer between an organic and an aqueous phase. At the same time, density effects can play a major role, e.g. during the partial dissolution of floating organic droplets \cite{cejkova2019dancing}. The resulting droplet ensemble dynamics can be understood by highly resolved measurements of the transient velocity field via particle image velocimetry (PIV). At bubbles in a shear flow, the interaction of the Marangoni effect with the surrounding bulk flow leads to the formation of a circulating flow at the bubble surface \cite{eftekhari2021interfacial}. Bubbles or droplets which are placed in a vertical concentration gradient of a surface-active solute show an intriguing interaction of solutal Rayleigh and Marangoni convection in the form of relaxation oscillations \cite{mokbel2018information}. Depending on the distance between multiple droplets, convective interaction can lead to collective relaxation oscillations over the whole ensemble.

A repeated coupling of Rayleigh and Marangoni effects likewise can occur during mass transfer of a solute at a planar interface between two liquid layers. Solutal Rayleigh instability is able to provoke intense Marangoni-driven spreading motions at the interface, even if the mass transfer system is primarily stable towards stationary Marangoni convection \cite{koellner2016eruptive}. A more detailed study \cite{koellner2023eruptive} unravels the underlying mechanisms by a defined variation of key parameters: the layer height and the initial concentration of the solute. The flow structures are analyzed in detail by experiments and elaborate three-dimensional simulations of the two liquid layers. The flow in the interfacial region decouples from the bulk volume flow since for deep layers, the interfacial velocity gets invariant under a change of the nondimensional layer height. Due to the additional convection, mass transfer is strongly enhanced in comparison to the purely diffusive process. This can significantly increase the efficiency of liquid-liquid extraction processes.

\bibitem{cejkova2019dancing} J.~{\v{C}}ejkov{\'a}, K.~Schwarzenberger, K.~Eckert, S.~Tanaka, Colloids and Surfaces A, 566, 141 (2019)
\bibitem{mokbel2018information} M.~Mokbel, K.~Schwarzenberger, S.~Aland, K.~Eckert, Soft Matter, 14, 9250 (2018)
\bibitem{eftekhari2021interfacial} M.~Eftekhari, K.~Schwarzenberger, S.~Heitkam, K.~Eckert, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 599, 837 (2021)
\bibitem{koellner2016eruptive} T.~K{\"o}llner, K.~Schwarzenberger, K.~Eckert, T.~Boeck, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 791, R4 (2016)
\bibitem{koellner2023eruptive} T.~K{\"o}llner, K.~Schwarzenberger, K.~Eckert, T.~Boeck, in progress (2023)

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Dynamic Days Europe 2023 Conference, 03.-08.09.2023, Neapel, Italien

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37807
Publ.-Id: 37807


Response of a surfactant- and particle-laden bubble surface to asymmetric shear flow

Eftekhari, M.; Schwarzenberger, K.; Heitkam, S.; Javadi, A.; Eckert, K.

The shear stress of an axisymmetric flow field triggers a nonuniform distribution of adsorbed
surfactants at the surface of a rising bubble. This creates a surface tension gradient that
counteracts the viscous shear stress of the flow and thus reduces the mobility of the interface.
However, in technological processes the flow field often is asymmetric, e.g. due to the
vorticity in the flow. Under such conditions, the interface experiences an unbalanced shear
stress that is not free of curl, i.e. it cannot be compensated by the redistribution of the surfactants
at the interface (Vlahovska et al., 2009). Here, we conduct model experiments with
a bubble at the tip of a capillary placed in a defined asymmetric flow field, in the presence of
surfactants and nanoparticles. Unlike classical surfactants, nanoparticles adsorb irreversibly
at the bubble surface. Thus, a different interaction between the bulk flow and the interface
is expected. In this study, we show a direct experimental observation of the circulating flow
at the interface under asymmetric shear stress (Eftekhari et al., 2021a,b). The results indicate
that the interface remains mobile regardless of the surfactant concentration. Additionally, we
show that the nanoparticle-laden interface adopts a solid-like state and resists the interfacial
flow upon surface compression. Our results imply that the immobilization of the interface
can be described by the ratio of the interfacial elasticity to the bulk viscous forces.
Vlahovska, P. M., Bławzdziewicz, J., & Loewenberg, M. (2009). Small-deformation theory for a
surfactant-covered drop in linear flows. J.Fluid Mech., 624, 293.
Eftekhari, M., Schwarzenberger, K., Heitkam, S., & Eckert, K. (2021). Interfacial flow of a surfactant-
laden interface under asymmetric shear flow. J. Colloid Interface Sci., 599, 837.
Eftekhari, M., Schwarzenberger, K., Heitkam, S., Javadi, A., Bashkatov, A., Ata, S., & Eckert, K.
(2021). Interfacial behavior of particle-laden bubbles under asymmetric shear flow. Langmuir,
37, 13244.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    93rd Annual Meeting of the International Association of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 30.05.-02.06.2023, Dresden, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37805
Publ.-Id: 37805


Grenzflächenkonvektion an Tropfen und Blasen

Schwarzenberger, K.; Eftekhari, M.; Mokbel, M.; Weber, N.; Aland, S.; Eckert, K.

Die Grenzflächenkonvektion (Marangoni-Effekt) ist eine kleinskalige Strömung, die
durch Gradienten der Grenzflächenspannung verursacht wird. Sie beeinflusst den
Stofftransport und die Strömungsbedingungen in einer Vielzahl von natürlichen und
technologischen Prozessen. Grenzflächenkonvektion kann an Tropfen oder Blasen
beobachtet werden, die in einem vertikalen Konzentrationsgradienten einer gelösten
grenzflächenaktiven Substanz platziert werden [1,2]. Die Frequenz der
Strömungswirbel wird direkt vom anliegenden Konzentrationsgradienten des
gelösten Stoffs bestimmt. Mehrere benachbarte Tropfen oder Blasen (Abb. 1, links)
synchronisieren sich durch konvektive Interaktion zu Oszillationen über das gesamte
Ensemble. Die genannten Erkenntnisse werden durch numerische Simulationen
bestätigt.
Abbildung 1: Wechselwirkung von Grenzflächenkonvektion an benachbarten Tropfen (links [2]),
Geschwindigkeitsfeld um zwei schwimmende Decanoltropfen (mittig [4]), asymmetrische
Bulkströmung um partikelbeladene Blasenoberfläche (rechts)
Grenzflächenkonvektion beeinflusst zudem die Dynamik von schwimmenden
Dichlormethan- und Decanoltropfen [3,4]. Durch zeitlich und örtlich hochaufgelöste
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)-Messungen kann der Einfluss der
Grenzflächenkonvektion auf die Deformation und Interaktion der schwimmenden
Tropfen verstanden werden (Abb. 1, mittig).
1 mm
Mit dieser Technik konnte auch zum ersten Mal eine kontinuierliche
Grenzflächenkonvektion auf der Blasenoberfläche aufgrund einer asymmetrischen
Scherkraft durch die anliegende Bulkströmung visualisiert werden [5]. In diesem
Prozess bleibt die Grenzfläche unabhängig von der Konzentration eines klassischen
Tensids mobil. Bei Adsorption von Partikeln auf der Blasenoberfläche nimmt die
Mobilität der Grenzfläche jedoch ab (Abb. 1, rechts). Durch eine Kompression der
Oberfläche bildet sich weiterhin ein zusammenhängendes Netzwerk aus Partikeln,
das die Grenzflächenkonvektion schließlich zum Erliegen bringt [6].
Dies zeigt, dass in Abhängigkeit von der Art des adsorbierten Stoffs deutlich
unterschiedliche Randbedingungen für die Strömung an der Grenzfläche von Tropfen
und Blasen vorherrschen können [7]. Die kleine Längenskala der
Grenzflächenkonvektion eröffnet zudem die Möglichkeit, diesen Effekt zur passiven
Durchmischung [8] oder zur Informationsübertragung in mikrofluidischen Prozessen
zu nutzen [2].
Publikationen:
[1] Schwarzenberger, K., Aland, S., Domnick, H., Odenbach, S., & Eckert, K. (2015). Relaxation
oscillations of solutal Marangoni convection at curved interfaces. Colloids and Surfaces A, 481, 633.
[2] Mokbel, M., Schwarzenberger, K., Aland, S., & Eckert, K. (2018). Information transmission by
Marangoni-driven relaxation oscillations at droplets. Soft Matter, 14(45), 9250.
[3] Antoine, C., Irvoas, J., Schwarzenberger, K., Eckert, K., Wodlei, F., & Pimienta, V. (2016). Selfpinning
on a liquid surface. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 7(3), 520.
[4] Čejková, J., Schwarzenberger, K., Eckert, K., & Tanaka, S. (2019). Dancing performance of
organic droplets in aqueous surfactant solutions. Colloids and Surfaces A, 566, 141.
[5] Eftekhari, M., Schwarzenberger, K., Heitkam, S., & Eckert, K. (2021). Interfacial flow of a
surfactant-laden interface under asymmetric shear flow. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 599,
837.
[6] Eftekhari, M., Schwarzenberger, K., Heitkam, S., Javadi, A., Bashkatov, A., Ata, S., & Eckert, K.
(2021). Interfacial Behavior of Particle-Laden Bubbles under Asymmetric Shear Flow. Langmuir,
37(45), 13244.
[7] Keshavarzi, B., Krause, T., Sikandar, S., Schwarzenberger, K., Eckert, K., Ansorge-Schumacher,
M. B., & Heitkam, S. (2022). Protein enrichment by foam Fractionation: Experiment and modeling.
Chemical Engineering Science, 256, 117715.
[8] Bratsun, D., Kostarev, K., Mizev, A., Aland, S., Mokbel, M., Schwarzenberger, K., & Eckert, K.
(2018). Adaptive micromixer based on the solutocapillary Marangoni effect in a continuous-flow
microreactor. Micromachines, 9(11), 600.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    Jahrestreffen der DECHEMA-Fachgruppen Kristallisation, Grenzflächenbestimmte Systeme und Prozesse sowie Mechanische Flüssigkeitsabtrennung, 09.-10.03.2023, Frankfurt, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37804
Publ.-Id: 37804


Jupyter notebooks to calculate the electric field and properties of focusing (Gaussian) laser pulses

Steiniger, K.

These are the Jupyter notebooks which are used to compute the figures in K. Steiniger et al., "Distortions in focusing laser pulses due to spatio-temporal couplings - An analytic description".

They can be used to:

(1) Numerically calculate the electric field of laser pulses in time-space domain which are defined in frequency-space domain,

(2) Analytically calculate the properties and dispersion parameters of Gaussian laser pulses in time-space domain in the course of propagation through their focus,

(3) Compute the values of laser dispersion parameters in the focus of an off-axis parabolic mirror from the dispersion parameters before focusing at the mirror.

Keywords: laser pulse propagation; pulse-front tilt; laser dispersion; high-power laser; ultrafast optics

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37803
Publ.-Id: 37803


Measurement of the flux-weighted cross-sections for the natYb(γ,xn)175,169,167Yb reactions in the Bremsstrahlung end-point energies of 12 - 16 MeV and 60 - 70 MeV

Naik, H.; Kim, G. N.; Schwengner, R.; Wooyoung, J.; Nguyen, T. H.; Shin, S. G.; Kye, Y.; Massarczyk, R.; John, R.; Junghans, A.; Wagner, A.; Cho, M. H.

The flux-weighted cross-sections of the natYb(γ,xn)175,169,167Yb reactions were measured at the bremsstrahlung end-point energies of 12, 14, 16, 60, 65, and 70 MeV by the activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique using the 20 MeV electron linac (ELBE) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany, and 100 MeV electron linac at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), Korea. The
natYb(γ,xn)175,169,167Yb reaction cross-sections as a function of photon energy were also calculated theoretically using the TALYS 1.9 code. The flux-weighted average values at different end-point energies were obtained from the literature as well as from the theoretical values reported in
the TALYS library based on mono-energetic photons. They were compared with the flux-weighted values based on the present experimental data and were found to be in general agreement. It was also found that the experimental and theoretical cross-section data increased from the threshold values to a certain energy, where other reaction channels opened, which highlights the role of excitation energy. After a certain value, the individual reaction cross-sections
decrease with an increase in bremsstrahlung energy owing to the opening of other reaction channels, which indicates the partitioning of energy in different reaction channels.

Keywords: Nuclear structure; nuclear reactions; photoactivation; bremsstrahlung; gamma-ray spectroscopy; statistical reaction model

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37799
Publ.-Id: 37799


Selecting active matter according to motility in an acoustofluidic setup: Self-propelled particles and sperm cells

Misko, V. R.; Baraban, L.; Makarov, D.; Huang, T.; Gelin, P.; Mateizel, I.; Wouters, K.; de Munck, N.; Nori, F.; de Malsche, W.

Active systems – including sperm cells, living organisms like bacteria, fish, birds, or active soft matter systems like synthetic “microswimmers” – are characterized by motility, i.e., the ability to propel using their own “engine”. Motility is the key feature that distinguishes active systems from passive or externally driven systems. In a large ensemble, motility of individual species can vary in a wide range. Selecting active species according to their motility represents an exciting and challenging problem. We propose a new method for selecting active species based on their motility using an acoustofluidic setup where highly motile species escape from the acoustic trap. This is demonstrated in simulations and in experiments with self-propelled Janus particles and human sperm. The immediate application of this method is selecting highly motile sperm for medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Due to the tunable acoustic trap, the proposed method is more flexible than the existing passive microfluidic methods. The proposed selection method based on motility can also be applied to other active systems that require selecting highly motile species or removing immotile species.

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  • Secondary publication expected from 30.10.2024

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37787
Publ.-Id: 37787


Magnetism and magnetoelectricity of textured thin films and polycrystalline bulk α-Cr2O3

Veremchuk, I.; Makushko, P.; Hedrich, N.; Zabila, Y.; Kosub, T.; Liedke, M. O.; Butterling, M.; Elsherif, A. G. A.; Wagner, A.; Ganss, F.; Burkhardt, U.; Pylypovskyi, O.; Hübner, R.; Faßbender, J.; Maletinsky, P.; Makarov, D.

Magnetoelectric antiferromagnets like α-Cr2O3 are attractive for the realization of energy-efficient and high-speed spin−orbitronic-based memory devices controlled by electric fields [1-3]. In contrast to single crystals, the quality of Cr2O3 thin films and bulk polycrystalline samples is usually compromised by the presence of point defects and their agglomerations at grain boundaries, putting into question their application potential. Here, we experimentally investigated the defect nanostructure of magneton-sputtered 250-nm-thick Cr2O3 thin films prepared under different conditions on single crystals of Al2O3 (0001) and correlate it with the integral and local magnetic properties of the samples [4]. Also, we fabricated of polycrystalline bulk α-Cr2O3 sample in conditions far out of equilibrium relying on spark plasma sintering (SPS) allows high quality material with a density close to that of a single crystal [5]. The sintered sample possesses a preferential [0001] texture at the surface, which can be attributed to uniaxial strain applied to the sample during the sintering process [5]. We evaluated the type and relative concentration of defects. For this purpose, positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) was used as a unique probe for open-volume defects in the samples. Our analysis reveals that the Cr2O3 samples are characterized by the presence of complex defects at grain boundaries, formed by groups of single monovacancies, coexisting with complex defects and dislocations. The concentration of complex defects for the thin films can be controlled by the sample fabrication conditions including the deposition temperature as well as the post-annealing in vacuum or in air [4]. The antiferromagnetic state of the sample and linear magnetoelectric effect are accessed all electrically relying on the spin Hall magnetoresistance effect in the Pt electrode interfaced with Cr2O3 [6]. In line with the integral magnetometry measurements, the magnetotransport characterization reveals that the samples possesses the magnetic phase transition temperature of about 308 K, which is hardly affected by the formed defects. The antiferromagnetic domain patterns consist of small domains with size equals the grain size, which is formed due to the granular structure of the samples. Furthermore, the presence of larger defects like grain boundaries has a strong influence on the pinning of magnetic domain walls in studied samples. The possibility to access the magnetoelectric properties of the samples relying on magnetotransport measurements indicates the potential of the thin films and polycrystalline bulk Cr2O3 samples for prospective research in antiferromagnetic spintronics.
[1] X. He, Y. Wang, N. Wu, A. N. Caruso, E. Vescovo, K. D. Belashchenko, P. A. Dowben, C. Binek, Nature Mater., 9, 579 (2010).
[2] T. Kosub, M. Kopte, R. Hühne, P. Appel, B. Shields, P. Maletinsky, R. Hübner, M. O. Liedke, J. Fassbender, O. G. Schmidt, D. Makarov, Nature Commun., 8, 13985 (2017).
[3] N. Hedrich, K. Wagner, O. V. Pylypovskyi, B. J. Shields, T. Kosub, D. D. Sheka, D. Makarov, P. Maletinsky, Nature Phys., 17, 574 (2021).
[4] I. Veremchuk, M. O. Liedke, P. Makushko, T. Kosub, N. Hedrich, O. V. Pylypovskyi, F. Ganss, M. Butterling, R. Hübner, E. Hirschmann, A. G. Attallah, A. Wagner, K. Wagner, B. Shields, P. Maletinsky, J. Fassbender, D. Makarov, Small, 18, 2201228 (2022).
[5] I. Veremchuk, P. Makushko, N. Hedrich, Y. Zabila, T. Kosub, M. O. Liedke, M. Butterling, A. G. Attallah, A. Wagner, U. Burkhardt, O. V. Pylypovskyi, R. Hübner, J. Fassbender, P. Maletinsky, and D. Makarov, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater., 4, 2943 (2022).
[6] R. Schlitz, T. Kosub, A. Thomas, S. Fabretti, K. Nielsch, D. Makarov, S. T. B. Goennenwein, Appl. Phys. Lett., 112, 132401 (2018).

  • Lecture (Conference)
    CMD30 FisMat, 04.-08.09.2023, Milan, Italy

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37785
Publ.-Id: 37785


Defect nanostructure and its impact on magnetism of α-Cr2O3 thin films.

Veremchuk, I.; Liedke, M. O.; Makushko, P.; Kosub, T.; Hedrich, N.; Pylypovskyi, O.; Ganss, F.; Butterling, M.; Hübner, R.; Hirschmann, E.; Wagner, A.; Elsherif, A. G. A.; Wagner, K.; Shields, B.; Maletinsky, P.; Faßbender, J.; Makarov, D.

Thin films of the magnetoelectric insulator Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ are technologically relevant for energy-efficient magnetic memory devices controlled by electric fields. We experimentally investigated the defect nanostructure of 250-nm-thick Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin films prepared under different conditions on single crystals of Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ (0001) and correlate it with the integral and local magnetic properties of the samples. Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) was used as a unique probe for open-volume defects in thin films. Analysis reveals that the Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin films are characterized by the presence of complex defects at grain boundaries, formed by groups of monovacancies, coexisting with monovacancies and dislocations. The concentration of complex defects can be controlled by the sample fabrication conditions. The defect nanostructure strongly affects the magnitude of the electrical readout, which is measured of the Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ samples capped with a thin layer of Pt relying on spin Hall effect. Furthermore, the presence of larger defects like grain boundaries has a strong influence on the pinning of magnetic domain walls in thin films. Independent of these findings, we showed that the N\'{e}el temperature, which is one of the important technological metrics, is hardly affected by the formed defects in a broad range of deposition parameters.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    DPG spring meeting 2023, 26.-31.03.2023, Dresden, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37784
Publ.-Id: 37784


Flexomagnetic Effects in Antiferromagnetic Epitaxial Cr2O3 Thin Films

Makushko, P.; Kosub, T.; Pylypovskyi, O.; Hedrich, N.; Li, J.; Pashkin, O.; Avdoshenko, S.; Hübner, R.; Ganss, F.; Wolf, D.; Lubk, A.; Liedke, M. O.; Butterling, M.; Wagner, A.; Wagner, K.; Shields, B.; Lehmann, P.; Veremchuk, I.; Faßbender, J.; Maletinsky, P.; Makarov, D.

Thin films of antiferromagnetic insulators (Cr2O3, Fe2O3, NiO etc.) are a prospective material platform for magnonics, spin superfluidity, THz spintronics, and non-volatile data storage. A standard micromagnetic approach for the description of thin film system commonly relies on the effective parameters, assumed to be homogeneously distributed within a material. The family of magnetomechanical effects includes piezo- and flexomagnetic responses, which determine the modification of the magnetic order parameters due to homogeneous or inhomogeneous strain, respectively. Accounting for the strain-gradient-driven magnetomechanical coupling promises technological advantages: the cross-coupling between elastic, magnetic and electric subsystems opens additional degrees of freedom in the control of the respective order parameters [1]-[3].
In this work, we discover the presence of flexomagnetic effects in epitaxial antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 thin films [4]. We demonstrate that a gradient of mechanical strain affect the order-disorder magnetic phase transition resulting in the distribution of the Néel temperature along the thickness of Cr2O3 thin film. The inhomogeneous reduction of the antiferromagnetic order parameter induces a flexomagnetic coefficient of about 15 µB nm-2. The antiferromagnetic ordering in the strained films can persist up to 100 °C, rendering Cr2O3 as a prospective material for industrial spintronic applications. Strain gradient in Cr2O3 thin films enables fundamental research on magnetomechanics and thermodynamics of antiferromagnetic solitons, spin waves and artificial spin ice systems in magnetic materials with continuously graded parameters.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    8th International conference on superconductivity and magnetism, 04.-11.05.2023, Fethiye, Turkey

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37779
Publ.-Id: 37779


Flexomagnetism and vertically graded Néel temperature in the epitaxial Cr2O3 thin films

Makushko, P.; Kosub, T.; Pylypovskyi, O.; Hedrich, N.; Li, J.; Pashkin, O.; Avdoshenko, S.; Hübner, R.; Ganss, F.; Wolf, D.; Lubk, A.; Liedke, M. O.; Butterling, M.; Wagner, A.; Wagner, K.; Shields, B.; Lehmann, P.; Veremchuk, I.; Faßbender, J.; Maletinsky, P.; Makarov, D.

Thin films of magnetoelectric antiferromagnetic insulators (Cr2O3, BiFeO3 etc.) have emerged as a prospective material platform for magnonics, spin superfluidity, THz spintronics, and energy efficient spin-orbitronics. Understanding the magnetomechanical coupling in antiferromagnets offers vast advantages in the control of the primary order parameters. A standard micromagnetic approach for the description of a material relies on the effective parameters being homogeneously distributed throughout the system. Such an approach is commonly sufficient, but does not provide full characterization of the system. The family of magnetomechanical effects includes piezo- and flexomagnetic responses, which determine the modification of the magnetic order parameters due to homogeneous or inhomogeneous strain, respectively. Accounting for the flexomagnetic effects promises technological advantages for multiferroic and antiferromagnetic materials, where cross-coupling between elastic, magnetic and electric subsystems open additional degrees of freedom in the control of the respective order parameters [1, 2].
In this work, we discover the effect of strain gradient onto the magnetic behaviour of epitaxial Cr2O3 thin films [3, 4]. We demonstrate that by tuning the parameters of Cr2O3 epitaxial growth a fine control of the crystallographic and defect structure can be realized. A persistent strain gradient was obtained in Cr2O3 affecting its magnetic order parameters rendering a distribution of the Néel temperature along the thickness of the thin film. The antiferromagnetic ordering in the strained films can persist up to 100°C, rendering Cr2O3 as a prospective material for industrial electronics applications. The inhomogeneous enhancement of the antiferromagnetic order parameter induced by the strain gradient renders a flexomagnetic response of about 15 µB nm-2.
Strain gradient in Cr2O3 thin films enables fundamental research on magnetomechanics and thermodynamics of antiferromagnetic solitons, spin waves and artificial spin ice systems in magnetic materials with graded parameters. Distribution of the Neel temperature along the thin film thickness introduces temperature as a took for realization of reconfigurable spintronic and magnonic devices.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    CMD30 FisMat 2023, 04.-08.09.2023, Milano, Italy

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37778
Publ.-Id: 37778


Flexomagnetism and vertically graded Néel temperature of antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 thin films

Makushko, P.; Kosub, T.; Pylypovskyi, O.; Hedrich, N.; Li, J.; Pashkin, O.; Avdoshenko, S.; Hübner, R.; Ganss, F.; Wolf, D.; Lubk, A.; Liedke, M. O.; Butterling, M.; Wagner, A.; Wagner, K.; Shields, B.; Lehmann, P.; Veremchuk, I.; Faßbender, J.; Maletinsky, P.; Makarov, D.

Thin films of antiferromagnetic insulators are a prospective material platform for magnonics, spin superfluidity, THz spintronics, and nonvolatile data storage. Here, we explore the presence of flexomagnetic effects in epitaxial Cr2O3 [1]. We demonstrate that a gradient of mechanical strain effect the order-disorder magnetic phase transition, resulting in the distribution of the Néel temperature along the thickness of a Cr2O3 film. The inhomogeneous reduction of the antiferromagnetic order parameter induces a flexomagnetic coefficient of about 15µB nm−2. The
antiferromagnetic ordering in the strained films can persist up to 100∘C, rendering Cr2O3 as a prospective material for industrial electronics applications.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    DPG Spring Meeting 2023, 26.-31.03.2023, Dresden, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37777
Publ.-Id: 37777


Rollenscan Data Science und KI

Ernst, M.; Hartmann, M.; Marx, S.; Schindler, T.; Steinbach, P.; Wilde, A.

Im Zeitalter der datengestützten Entscheidungsfindung hat sich der Bereich Datenwissenschaft (Data Science) zu einem wichtigen Katalysator für Innovation und Fortschritt sowohl in der Industrie als auch in der Wissenschaft entwickelt. Die Rollen und Aufgaben von Data Scientists haben sich jedoch erheblich weiterentwickelt und umfassen ein breites Spektrum an Fähigkeiten, Fachwissen und Anwendungen. Um die Vielschichtigkeit dieser Rollen zu erfassen und unser kollektives Verständnis zu vermitteln, traf sich eine Gruppe von sechs Fachleuten bei Silicon Saxony und nutzte "Personas" als Methode, um unsere derzeitigen Ansichten über die Rolle von Datenwissenschaftler:innen zu formulieren. Dieses Papier fasst die Erkenntnisse dieser Aktivität zusammen.

Keywords: Data Science; Skill Set; Beruf; Industrie

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37776
Publ.-Id: 37776


Laser-Induced Positional and Chemical Lattice Reordering Generating Ferromagnetism

Pflug, T.; Pablo-Navarro, J.; Anwar, M. S.; Olbrich, M.; Magén, C.; Ibarra, M. R.; Potzger, K.; Faßbender, J.; Lindner, J.; Horn, A.; Bali, R.

Atomic scale reordering of lattices can induce local modulations of functional material properties, such as reflectance and ferromagnetism. Pulsed femtosecond laser irradiation enables lattice reordering in the picosecond range. However, the dependence of the phase transitions on the initial lattice order as well as the temporal dynamics of these transitions remain to be understood. This study investigates the laser-induced atomic reordering and the concomitant onset of ferromagnetism in thin Fe-based alloy films with vastly differing initial atomic orders. The optical response to single fs laser pulses on selected prototype systems, one that initially possesses positional disorder, Fe60V40, and a second system initially in a chemically ordered state, Fe60Al40, has been tracked with time. Despite the vastly different initial atomic orders the structure in both systems converges to a positionally ordered but chemically disordered state, accompanied by the onset of ferromagnetism. Time-resolved measurements of the transient reflectance combined with simulations of the electron and phonon temperature reveal that the reordering processes occur via the formation of a transient molten state with an approximate lifetime of 200 ps. These findings provide insights into fundamental processes involved in laser-induced atomic reordering, paving the way for controlling material properties in the picosecond range.

Keywords: positional order; chemical order; atomic reordering; ferrmagnetism; pump-probe reflectometry

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37775
Publ.-Id: 37775


Data publication: Fermionic physics from ab initio path integral Monte Carlo simulations of fictitious identical particles

Dornheim, T.

This repository contains the PIMC/CPIMC results shown in J. Chem. Phys. 159, 164113 (2023).

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-37774
Publ.-Id: 37774


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