A review on Raman finger prints of doping and strain effect in TMDCs

Transient experiments on oxidation and degradation of Cr-coated Zircaloy in steam up to 1600 ℃

The scope and importance of early-phase clinical trials in drug development has increased over the past decade. The imperative for earlier Go-/No-Go decisions has led to more complex study designs and aggressive timelines. The increase in complexity has led to intensified pressure on sites, not only for conducting the trial but for resourcing and capabilities surrounding design, regulatory strategy, and data analysis and management. Sponsors want to maximize objectives in studies to address an extensive range of questions, often above and beyond the traditional safety and tolerability, and pharmacokinetic design of old. At the same time, the sponsor is pushing to have the studies done faster and in a cost-effective manner. With this landscape, subject safety and data integrity are key concerns. Even after several measures have been implemented to ensure subject welfare, incidents like the recent Bial study conducted at Biotrial still occur, highlighting the need for thorough preclinical evaluation and consideration for firstin-human study design. In the absence of an FDA FIH/phase 1 guidance, early-phase studies have been designed and performed based upon industry precedence. Training for individuals performing functions in this arena has been largely through apprenticeship, evolving and scarce academic programs, ‘‘private party’’ training courses, and organizational offerings such as the DIA annual meeting and webinars. For continued support of the DIA membership and colleagues in the field, the Clinical Pharmacology Community will be contributing a series of articles to TIRS describing the successful design and conduct of phase 1 studies. Representatives from the CRO and sponsor perspective with years of experience in early-phase drug development will share best practices and potential pitfalls. The series, to be published 3Q2017, will define key components for study design and start-up, successful conduct of early-phase studies, essential elements of study close out and reporting with considerations regarding safety for phase 1 studies included throughout. The benefits of early interactions between preclinical and clinical teams within the sponsor organization, between the site and the sponsor, and between the regulatory authorities and the sponsor will be highlighted. The optimization of study design to achieve program objectives and reach Go-/No-Go decisions earlier in development, as well as the implementation of appropriate endpoints will be addressed. Although phase 1 is thought to be straightforward by those not that familiar with it, this setting has its own challenges and difficulties, which will be underscored. The series will address potential concerns for subject safety, sites and sponsors, and strategies to mitigate risks. White papers for the series will be submitted by leaders in early clinical development from site, sponsor, and regulatory perspectives. Stay tuned!

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Phase 1: An Upcoming Series of White Papers for Successful Early Clinical Development.

Alternative plasmonic materials are gaining more and more interest since they deliver a plethora of advantages in designing of optical metadevices. Among other alternatives, titanium nitride (TiN) has shown an exceptional combination of encouraging properties, such as CMOS- and bio-compatibility, high carrier concentration, tunability and outstanding robustness (high mechanical, chemical and temperature durability). Optical constants of TiN can be tuned at the synthesis stage. This allows for the adjustment of the spectral position of a plasmon resonance within the visible and near-infrared (NIR) range in order to match the desired working wavelength of a particular device. Together, these factors made TiN a popular material of choice in a diversity of recent plasmonic applications. Titanium oxynitride (TiON), which can be produced through the oxidation of TiN, have a great potential to build upon the success of TiN. Recently, it has been demonstrated that TiON thin films can exhibit a negative double-epsilon-near-zero (2ENZ) dielectric function. This unusual behavior of the permittivity opens up novel opportunities for the excitation of the plasmon resonance at several distinct frequencies within the visible and NIR region. Multi-resonant plasmonic components are beneficial for applications, where the enhanced light-matter interaction at multiple frequencies is demanded, such as nonlinear optics, up- and down-conversion, wavelength multiplexing and broadband absorption. This work begins with a brief survey of the recent progress in plasmonics made with TiN-based structures. Then we focus on TiON thin films with the 2ENZ behavior by discussing their potential in plasmonics. The experimental approaches useful for characterization of TiON thin films and the corresponding results are analyzed. These results are valuable for the development of 2ENZ plasmonic materials with large figure-of-merits in a diversity of applications. We believe that 2ENZ media is a powerful concept for multi-resonant plasmonics that will augment the functionalities and extend the operation bandwidth of plasmonic devices.

Tunable optical materials for multi-resonant plasmonics: from TiN to TiON [Invited]

Systematic investigations on the coating degradation mechanism during the steam oxidation of Cr-coated Zry-4 at 1200 °C

Epitaxial growth of Pd1-Fe films on MgO single-crystal substrate

Magnetic anisotropies of 20 nm epitaxial film of palladium–iron alloy Pd0.92Fe0.08 grown on the (001) MgO substrate were studied. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) were exploited to determine magnetic parameters of the film. It was found that the synthesized film reveals cubic anisotropy with tetragonal distortion. The simulated magnetic hysteresis loops, obtained utilizing the magnetic anisotropy constants taken from the FMR spectra analysis, agree well with those measured by VSM.

FMR Studies of Ultra-Thin Epitaxial Pd 0.92 Fe 0.08 Film

Single-layer vanadium nitride (VN) and bilayer Pd0.96Fe0.04/VN and VN/Pd0.92Fe0.08 thin-film heterostructures for possible spintronics applications were synthesized on (001)-oriented single-crystalline magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates utilizing a four-chamber ultrahigh vacuum deposition and analysis system. The VN layers were reactively magnetron sputtered from a metallic vanadium target in Ar/N2 plasma, while the Pd1-x Fe x layers were deposited by co-evaporation of metallic Pd and Fe pellets from calibrated effusion cells in a molecular beam epitaxy chamber. The VN stoichiometry and Pd1-x Fe x composition were controlled by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In situ low-energy electron diffraction and ex situ X-ray diffraction show that the 30 nm thick single-layer VN as well as the double-layer VN(30 nm)/Pd0.92Fe0.08(12 nm) and Pd0.96Fe0.04(20 nm)/VN(30 nm) structures have grown cube-on-cube epitaxially. Electric resistance measurements demonstrate a metallic-type temperature dependence for the VN film with a small residual resistivity of 9 μΩ·cm at 10 K, indicating high purity and structural quality of the film. The transition to the superconducting state was observed at 7.7 K for the VN film, at 7.2 K for the Pd0.96Fe0.04/VN structure and at 6.1 K for the VN/Pd0.92Fe0.08 structure with the critical temperature decreasing due to the proximity effect. Contrary to expectations, all transitions were very sharp with the width ranging from 25 mK for the VN film to 50 mK for the VN/Pd0.92Fe0.08 structure. We propose epitaxial single-crystalline thin films of VN and heteroepitaxial Pd1-x Fe x /VN and VN/Pd1-x Fe x (x ≤ 0.08) structures grown on MgO(001) as the materials of a choice for the improvement of superconducting magnetic random access memory characteristics.

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Epitaxial growth and superconducting properties of thin-film PdFe/VN and VN/PdFe bilayers on MgO(001) substrates.

Thin epitaxial films of the palladium-rich Pd1−xFex alloy were synthesized and extensively studied as a tunable ferromagnetic material for superconducting spintronics. The (001)-oriented MgO single-crystal substrate and the composition range of x = 0.01–0.07 were chosen to support the epitaxial growth and provide the films with magnetic properties spanning from very soft ferromagnet for memory applications to intermediately soft and moderately hard for the programmable logic and circuit biasing, respectively. Dependences of the saturation magnetization, Curie temperature and three magnetic anisotropy constants on the iron content x were obtained for the first time from the analyses of the magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance data. The experimental results were discussed based on existing theories of dilute ferromagnetic alloys. Simulation of the hysteresis loops within the Stoner-Wohlfarth model indicates the predominant coherent magnetic moment rotation at cryogenic temperatures. The obtained results were compiled in a database of magnetic properties of a palladium-iron alloy in a single-crystal thin-film form considered as a material for superconducting spintronics.

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I. V. Yanilkin

Papers

Epitaxial growth of Pd1-Fe films on MgO single-crystal substrate

FMR Studies of Ultra-Thin Epitaxial Pd 0.92 Fe 0.08 Film

Epitaxial growth and superconducting properties of thin-film PdFe/VN and VN/PdFe bilayers on MgO(001) substrates.

Epitaxial thin-film Pd1−xFex alloy: a tunable ferromagnet for superconducting spintronics

Irradiation with hydrogen atoms and ions as an accelerated hydrogenation test of zirconium alloys and protective coatings