Publications

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and lead-lead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 10(34)cm(-2)s(-1) (10(27)cm(-2)s(-1)). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic-field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4 pi solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudo-rapidity coverage to high values (vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t.

Mono- and multilayer HfO2 sol-gel thin films have been deposited on silicon wafers by dip-coating technique using a solution based on hafnium ethoxide as precursor. The densification/crystallization process was achieved by classical annealing between 400 and 600 degrees C for 0.5 h (after drying at 100 degrees C). Systematic TEM studies were performed to observe the evolution of the thin film structure depending on the annealing temperature. The overall density of the films was determined from RBS spectrometry correlated with cross section (XTEM) thickness measurements. After annealing at 450 degrees C the films are amorphous with a nanoporous structure showing also some incipient crystallization. After annealing at 550 degrees C the films are totally crystallized. The HfO2 grains grow in colonies having the same crystalline orientation with respect to the film plane, including faceted nanopores. During annealing a nanometric SiO2 layer is formed at the interface with the silicon substrate; the thickness of this layer increases with the annealing temperature. Capacitive measurements allowed determining the value of the dielectric constant as 25 for four layer films, i.e. very close to the value for the bulk material.

Polymer-like organic thin films obtained by plasma techniques are of wide interest for various applications. Polythiophene-like thin films were deposited by plasma polymerization in a parallel plate radiofrequency reactor starting from thiophene vapors. The optical properties of the films were obtained from spectroscopic ellipsometry, in the 250-1250 nm range. The calculated band gap is in agreement with a polythiophene-like material consisting of cross-linking of oligomers. The presence of functional groups and film stability against oxidation is analyzed by FTIR spectrometry. The monitoring of functional groups incorporation during the film deposition was done by analyzing the integral intensities of specific absorption bands and led to the conclusion that homogeneous films are obtained whatever the process duration.

Various mesoporous silica supported Pd materials were prepared by different methodologies in order to control and optimize the metal nanoparticle sizes for catalytic applications. The catalytic activities (conversion, mol% and selectivity to methyl-cinnamate) of the supported palladium catalysts were investigated in the Heck reaction under microwave irradiation using various haloarenes. Pd materials prepared by co-precipitation exhibited a very poor activity in the Heck reaction compared to that of Pd impregnated samples. Impregnated materials prepared without the use of a specific reducing agent had comparable activities to those of APTS-NaBH4 reduced Pd materials, validating the simplicity of the methodology. High selectivities to methylcinnamate were obtained for all materials.

Transparent oxyfluoride glass ceramic in the system SiO2-Al2O3-CaF2-EuF2 containing CaF2:Eu3+ nanocrystals were produced by annealing of the initial glasses slightly above the CaF2 phase crystallisation peak. The relative good transparency of these materials was due to the small 65 nm, nucleated CaF2 nanocrystallites. X-ray diffraction data have shown an increase of the cell parameters for CaF2:Eu3+ compared with CaF2 which was attributed to the substitution of Ca2+ ions with Eu3+ ions in the CaF2 nanoparticles. Optical investigations using UV-VIS-NIR absorption and luminescence spectroscopy have shown an increase of the splitting of the Eu3+-ion associated luminescences and small shifts of the Eu3+ ion characteristic IR absorption peaks. These effects have been attributed to the Eu3+ environment evolving from the glass to the crystalline-like one.

Pure, nanocrystalline cubic ZnS forming a stable mesoporous structure was synthesized at room temperature by a non-toxic surfactant-assisted liquid-liquid reaction, in the 9.5-10.5 pH range of values. The appearance of an X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak in the region of very small angles (similar to 2 degrees) reveals the presence of a porous material with a narrow pore size distribution, but with an irregular arrangement of the pores, a so-called worm hole or sponge-like material. The analysis of the wide angle XRD diffractograms shows the building blocks to be ZnS nanocrystals with cubic structure and average diameter of 2 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations confirm the XRD results; ZnS crystallites of 2.5 nm with cubic (blende) structure are the building blocks of the pore walls with pore sizes from 1.9 to 2.5 nm, and a broader size distribution for samples with smaller pores. Textural measurements (N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms) confirm the presence of mesoporous ZnS with a narrow range of small pore sizes. The relatively lower surface area of around 100 m(2)/g is attributed to some remaining organic molecules, which are filling the smallest pores. Their presence, confirmed by IR spectroscopy, seems to be responsible for the high stability of the resulting mesoporous ZnS as well.

A series of AlMCM-41 molecular sieves was prepared with constant composition (Si/Al = 14.7) and presumably same pore structure but different pore diameters (from 2.3 to 4.6 nm). The pore size distribution is narrow for each sample. The rotational fluctuations of water molecules confined inside the pores were investigated applying broadband dielectric spectroscopy (10(-2)-10(7) Hz) over a large temperature interval (213-333 K). A relaxation process, slower than that expected for bulk water, was observed which is assigned to water molecules forming a surface layer on the pore walls. The estimated relaxation time has an unusual non-monotonic temperature dependence, which is rationalized and modeled assuming two competing processes: rotational fluctuations of constrained water molecules and defect formation (Ryabov model). This paper focuses on the defects and notably the influence of the hydroxyl groups of the pore walls. The Ryabov model is fitted to the data and characteristic parameters are obtained. Their dependence on pore diameter is considered for the first time. The found results are compared with those obtained for other types of molecular sieves and related materials.

This paper investigates the conduction mechanism in Cr2O3 gas sensing thick films. A citrate combustion method was used for the preparation of the metal oxide and ethanol vapour as a test gas. The manner in which surface reactions induced electrical changes are affecting the sensor signals inputs was explored by simultaneous dc and work function changes (Kelvin probe method). The identification of the contributions to conduction of the different sensing layer elements was made possible by ac impedance spectroscopy measurements. A conduction model, which qualitatively explains the experimental findings, was elaborated on the basis of the acquired experimental data and the information provided in literature. The model validity should apply, besides Cr2O3, to all p-type metal oxides used as gas sensitive materials. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper demonstrates an analytical expression for the quasistatic capacitance of a quantum dot layer embedded in a junction, where the reverse bias is used to discharge the initially occupied energy levels. This analysis can be used to determine the position and the Gaussian homogeneous broadening of the energy levels in the conduction band, and is applied for an InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot structure grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. It is shown that the Gaussian broadening of the conduction band levels is significantly larger than the broadening of the interband photoluminescence (PL) transitions involving both conduction and hole states. The analysis also reveals a contribution from the wetting layer both in PL and modeled C-V profiles which is much stronger than in typical molecular beam epitaxy grown dots. The presence of a built-in local field oriented from the apex of the dot toward its base, contrary to the direction expected for a strained dot with uniform composition (negative dipole), is also derived from fitting of the C- V experimental data. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

The influence of different high energy milling times and of the addition of catalysts such as Nb2O5, TiCl3 and graphite on the hydrogen absorption/desorption (AID) kinetics of a mixture of 2LiNH(2) + 1.1MgH(2) has been studied in the temperature range 220-240 degrees C. It is found that a prolonged milling time is effective in improving the A/D kinetics, irrespective of the presence or not of any kind of tested additive. The enthalpy of decomposition reaction results to be about 40.4 kJ/mol, as derived from van't Hoff plot using the values of the plateau pressures measured in desorption mode. This thermodynamic parameter fits well with the current literature data. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.