ALBERT

Beschreibung: Ecological indicators for monitoring strategies are expected to combine three major characteristics: ecological significance, statistical credibility, and cost-effectiveness. Strategies based on stranding networks rank highly in cost-effectiveness, but their ecological significance and statistical credibility are disputed. Our present goal is to improve the value of stranding data as population indicator as part of monitoring strategies by constructing the spatial and temporal null hypothesis for strandings. The null hypothesis is defined as: small cetacean distribution and mortality are uniform in space and constant in time. We used a drift model to map stranding probabilities and predict stranding patterns of cetacean carcasses under H0 across the North Sea, the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, for the period 1990–2009. As the most common cetacean occurring in this area, we chose the harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena for our modelling. The difference between these strandings expected under H0 and observed strandings is defined as the stranding anomaly. It constituted the stranding data series corrected for drift conditions. Seasonal decomposition of stranding anomaly suggested that drift conditions did not explain observed seasonal variations of porpoise strandings. Long-term stranding anomalies increased first in the southern North Sea, the Channel and Bay of Biscay coasts, and finally the eastern North Sea. The hypothesis of changes in porpoise distribution was consistent with local visual surveys, mostly SCANS surveys (1994 and 2005). This new indicator could be applied to cetacean populations across the world and more widely to marine megafauna.

Beschreibung: Double droplet systems are comprised of two coupled spherical interfaces. These systems are effective harmonic oscillators, due to their low dissipation and fast response; features enabled by their pinned contact lines. Here, millimeter scale coupled droplets of water are actuated with a sinusoidal driving pressure. The phase and transient behavior of the driven double droplet system is characterized. With the exact position of the double droplets determined, implementation of devices such as tunable lenses, thermal switches, and liquid adhesion mechanisms can be realized.

Beschreibung: By using in situ field effect transistor characterization integrated with molecular beam epitaxy technique, we demonstrate the strong surface transfer p-type doping effect of single layer chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene, through the surface functionalization of molybdenum trioxide (MoO 3 ) layer. After doping, both the hole and electron mobility of CVD graphene are nearly retained, resulting in significant enhancement of graphene conductivity. With coating of 10 nm MoO 3 , the conductivity of CVD graphene can be increased by about 7 times, showing promising application for graphene based electronics and transparent, conducting, and flexible electrodes.

Beschreibung: Conformal coating of metal layers on three-dimensional structures is essential for advanced electronic devices such as storage elements, transistors, and sensors. The quality of atomic layer deposited platinum on oxide surfaces was enhanced by adding pre-deposition pulses of trimethylaluminum (TMA) for improved wetting. With an optimal number of TMA pre-pulses, a 6 nm thick Pt film was perfectly coalesced in contrast to only Pt island formation without TMA pre-pulses. A Pt gate all around Ge/Si nanowire field effect transistor was realized highlighting the potential of this approach for efficient deposition of Pt on 3D nanoelectronic devices.

Beschreibung: We present the design, fabrication, and realization of an electrically tunable metamaterial operating in the mid-infrared spectral range. Our devices combine intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum-wells with planar metamaterials and operate in the strong light-matter coupling regime. The resonance frequency of the intersubband transition can be controlled by an external bias relative to the fixed metamaterial resonance. This allows us to switch dynamically from an uncoupled to a strongly coupled system and thereby to shift the eigenfrequency of the upper polariton branch by 2.5 THz (corresponding to 8% of the center frequency or one full linewidth) with a bias of 5 V.

Beschreibung: We postulate that one will be able to quantitatively infer changes in the mechanical properties of proteins, cells, and other biological objects (BO) by measuring the shifts of several thermally excited resonance frequencies of atomic force microscopy cantilevers in contact with BOs. Here, we provide a method to extract spring constants and molecular damping factors of BOs in biologically relevant phosphate buffered saline medium and using compliant AFM cantilevers with a small aspect ratio (a ratio of length to width).

Beschreibung: We report an integrated microelectromechanical system (MEMS) with an on-chip heater for in-situ mechanical testing of nanostructures from room to elevated temperatures. Multiphysics simulation is used to predict the temperature distribution in air and vacuum conditions. The temperature simulation in air agrees well with the measurement based on Raman spectroscopy. Mechanical testing of single crystalline silicon nanowires is carried out to investigate the brittle-to-ductile transition, demonstrating the efficacy of the MEMS stage. The stage reported here could be applied to investigate the temperature effect on mechanical properties at the nanoscale.

Beschreibung: We report on hole g-factor measurements in three terminal SiGe self-assembled quantum dot devices with a top gate electrode positioned very close to the nanostructure. Measurements of both the perpendicular as well as the parallel g-factor reveal significant changes for a small modulation of the top gate voltage. From the observed modulations, we estimate that, for realistic experimental conditions, hole spins can be electrically manipulated with Rabi frequencies in the order of 100 MHz. This work emphasises the potential of hole-based nano-devices for efficient spin manipulation by means of the g-tensor modulation technique.