The photodissociation of dimethylnitrosamine, (CH3)2N–NO, at 363.5 nm produces ro-vibrationally excited NO fragments. With two-photon laser-induced fluorescence the Doppler profiles of single rotational transitions were probed, using various polarization schemes for dissociation and probe lasers. These measurements provided a detailed product state distribution, the three-dimensional recoil velocity distribution of specific fragment states, and the alignment of their angular momentum. We present evidence of the presence of correlations between fragment recoil direction and alignment of fragment angular momentum.

Simple thin-film capacitor stacks were fabricated from sputter-deposited doped barium titanate dielectric films with sputtered Pt and/or Ni electrodes and characterized electrically. Here, we report small signal, low frequency capacitance and parallel resistance data measured as a function of applied DC bias, polarization versus applied electric field strength and DC load/unload experiments. These capacitors exhibited significant leakage (in the range 8–210 μA/cm2) and dielectric loss. Measured breakdown strength for the sputtered doped barium titanate films was in the range 200 kV/cm −2 MV/cm. For all devices tested, we observed clear evidence for dielectric saturation at applied electric field strengths above 100 kV/cm: saturated polarization was in the range 8–15 μC/cm2. When cycled under DC conditions, the maximum energy density measured for any of the capacitors tested here was ~4.7 × 10−2 W-h/liter based on the volume of the dielectric material only. This corresponds to a specific energy of ~8 × 10−3 W-h/kg, again calculated on a dielectric-only basis. These results are compared to those reported by other authors and a simple theoretical treatment provided that quantifies the maximum energy that can be stored in these and similar devices as a function of dielectric strength and saturation polarization. Finally, a predictive model is developed to provide guidance on how to tailor the relative permittivities of high-k dielectrics in order to optimize their energy storage capacities.

The photodissociation of CH3ONO→CH3O+NO at 363.9 nm generates vibrationally, rotationally, and translationally excited fragments (fNOvib =3%, fNOrot =15%, fNOtrans =33%). By means of two-photon LIF and sub-Doppler spectroscopy in combination with various polarization schemes of dissociation and probe lasers, the nascent NO(X 2Π) photofragment was characterized with respect to state distributions and three-dimensional recoil velocity distribution. Furthermore, the rotational alignment and the Λ-state populations were determined. Through the rotational alignment dependence of Doppler profiles probed by differently polarized transitions (R and S), the J–v vector correlation was assessed. Based on these results, stereochemical and dynamical information about the dissociation was obtained which shows that the fragmentation process is planar and takes place within 210 fs.

New apparatus and a new process for the sputter deposition of modified barium titanate thin-films were developed. Films were deposited at temperatures up to 900 °C from a Ba0.96Ca0.04Ti0.82Zr0.18O3 (BCZTO) target directly onto Si, Ni and Pt surfaces and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Film texture and crystallinity were found to depend on both deposition temperature and substrate: above 600 °C, the as-deposited films consisted of well-facetted crystallites with the cubic perovskite structure. A strongly textured Pt (111) underlayer enhanced the (001) orientation of BCZTO films deposited at 900 °C, 10 mtorr pressure and 10% oxygen in argon. Similar films deposited onto a Pt (111) textured film at 700 °C and directly onto (100) Si wafers showed relatively larger (011) and diminished intensity (00ℓ) diffraction peaks. Sputter ambients containing oxygen caused the Ni underlayers to oxidize even at 700 °C: Raising the process temperature produced more diffraction peaks of NiO with increased intensities. Thin-film capacitors were fabricated using ~500 nm thick BCZTO dielectrics and both Pt and Ni top and bottom electrodes. Small signal capacitance measurements were carried out to determine capacitance and parallel resistance at low frequencies and from these data, the relative permittivity (εr) and resistivity (ρ) of the dielectric films were calculated; values ranged from ~50 to >2,000, and from ~104 to ~1010 Ω∙cm, respectively.

Polarization quantum beats between hyperfine components of perturbed rotational states in the S1→S0 fluorescence of propynal (HC≡CCHO) have been measured. The quantum beats are explained by a periodic transfer of molecular alignment to nuclear spin polarization.