Plasmonic properties of aluminium nanowires in amorphous silicon.

Plasmonic structures can help enhance optical activity in the ultraviolet (UV) region and therefore enhancing photocatalytic reactions and the detection of organic and biological species. Most plasmonic structures are composed of Ag or Au. However, producing structures small enough for optical activity in the UV region has proved difficult.

Flux-Reducing Tendency of Pd-Based Membranes Employed in Butane Dehydrogenation Processes.

We report on the effect of butane and butylene on hydrogen permeation through thin state-of-the-art Pd-Ag alloy membranes. A wide range of operating conditions, such as temperature (200-450 °C) and H/butylene (or butane) ratio (0.5-3), on the flux-reducing tendency were investigated.

Surface Effects and Optical Properties of Self-Assembled Nanostructured a-Si:Al.

We present a study of the surface effects and optical properties of the self-assembled nanostructures comprised of vertically aligned 5 nm-diameter Al nanowires embedded in an amorphous Si matrix (a-Si:Al). The controlled (partial) removal of Al nanowires in a selective etching process yielded nanoporous a-Si media with a variable effective surface area. Different spectroscopy techniques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectrophotometry and photoluminescence (PL), have been combined to investigate the impact of such nanostructuring on optical absorption and emission properties.

Valence charge distribution in homogenous silicon-aluminium thin-films.

Homogenous aSi Al H alloyed thin films, made by magnetron sputtering, has been found to exhibit tunable band gap and dielectric constant depending on their composition. The optical properties of alloys are largely defined by their electronic structure, which is is strongly influenced by interatomic charge transfer. In this work we have quantified interatomic charge transfer between Si, Al and H in aSi Al H thin-films, with [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].

Formation of nanoporous Si upon self-organized growth of Al and Si nanostructures.

Nanostructured materials offer unique electronic and optical properties compared to their bulk counterparts. The challenging part of the synthesis is to create a balance between the control of design, size limitations, up-scalability and contamination. In this work we show that self-organized Al nanowires in amorphous Si can be produced at room temperature by magnetron co-sputtering using two individual targets.

Choroidal metastasis in disseminated lung cancer: frequency and risk factors.

Purpose: To determine frequency, risk factors, and benefit of a prospective screening for intraocular metastasis in patients with metastatic lung cancer.

Design: Consecutive observational case series.

Methods: An ophthalmologic screening was performed on 84 consecutive patients suffering from metastatic lung cancer.