Iraqi Journal of Physics

This study reports the fabrication of tin oxide (SnO2) thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effect of 60Co (300, 900, and 1200 Gy) gamma radiation on the structural, morphological, and optical features is systematically demonstrated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and ultraviolet-visible light analysis (UV-Vis), respectively In XRD tests, the size of the crystallites decreased from 45.5 to 40.8 nm for the control samples and from 1200 Gy to 60Co for the irradiated samples. Using FESEM analysis, the particle diameter revealed a similar trend to that attained using XRD; in particular, the average diameters were 93.8 and 79.9 nm for the samples mentioned above. A similar profile was observed for the AFM analysis in which an increase in the radiation dose from 300 to 1200 Gy resulted in a decrease in the RMS values from 74.6 to 32.25 nm. Contrariwise, the calculated optical band gap demonstrated an increasing profile where optical band gaps of 3.08 and 3.18 eV were acquired for control and samples irradiated with 900 Gy. However, the attained optical band gap was further increased to 3.24 eV due to the 60Co gamma radiation increment to 1200 Gy.

In this study, the performance of the adaptive optics (AO) system was analyzed through a numerical computer simulation implemented in MATLAB. Making a phase screen involved turning computer-generated random numbers into two-dimensional arrays of phase values on a sample point grid with matching statistics. Von Karman turbulence was created depending on the power spectral density. Several simulated point spread functions (PSFs) and modulation transfer functions (MTFs) for different values of the Fried coherent diameter (ro) were used to show how rough the atmosphere was. To evaluate the effectiveness of the optical system (telescope), the Strehl ratio (S) was computed. The compensation procedure for an AO system was implemented. Analytical analysis was used to define the wave front and aberrations of the circular aperture telescope. Zernike polynomials were used to describe the residual error and figure out how much the compensation changed the measured turbulence values. The results of the computer simulation involving atmospheric turbulence reveal that elevating the ro values (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32) cm resulted in a 3.4% rise in S. However, when the adaptive optics system operated with a constant ro (20 cm), augmenting the Zernike aberration modes led to a remarkable 44% increase in S, signifying a substantial enhancement in the compensation procedure.

The electronic characteristics, including the density of state and bond length, in addition to the spectroscopic properties such as IR spectrum and Raman scattering, as a function of the frequency of Sn10O16, C24O6, and hybrid junction (Sn10O16/C24O6) were studied. The methodology uses DFT for all electron levels with the hybrid function B3-LYP (Becke level, 3-parameters, Lee -Yang-Parr), 6-311G (p,d) basis set, and Stuttgart/Dresden (SDD) basis set, using Gaussian 09 theoretical calculations. The geometrical structures were calculated by Gaussian view 05 as a supplementary program. The band gap was calculated and compared to the measured values. The density of states at the hybrid junction (Sn10O16/C24O6) increased because of the increased number of degeneracy states. Theoretical values of bonds for C=C, C=O, and Sn-O are equal to 1.33, 1.20 and 2.27 Å respectively, these bond values are in good agreement with experimental values of bond length of 1.34 for the C=C bond, 1.23 for the C=O bond, and 2.3 for the Sn-O bond Å. The spectroscopic properties such as IR spectra have shown a peak which is comparable to longitudinal modes of GO and tin dioxide SnO2 at (1582 and 690) cm-1, respectively.

In this work, silicon nitride (Si3N4) thin films were deposited on metallic substrates (aluminium and titanium sheets) by the DC reactive sputtering technique using two different silicon targets (n-type and p-type Si wafers) as well as two Ar:N2 gas mixing ratios (50:50 and 70:30). The electrical conductivity of the metallic (aluminium and titanium) substrates was measured before and after the deposition of silicon nitride thin films on both surfaces of the substrates. The results obtained from this work showed that the deposited films, in general, reduced the electrical conductivity of the substrates, and the thin films prepared from n-type silicon targets using a 50:50 mixing ratio and deposited on both surfaces of a titanium substrate reduced the electrical conductivity of this substrate by 30%. This reduction in the release of ions from the coated metal substrate is attributed to the dielectric properties of the deposited silicon nitride thin films. This result is very important and applicable. This work represents the first attempt in Iraq to study such effects and may represent a good starting point for advanced studies in biomedical engineering.

This study focuses on synthesizing Niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) thin films on silicon wafers and quartz substrates using DC reactive magnetron sputtering for NO2 gas sensors. The films undergo annealing in ambient air at 800 °C for 1 hr. Various characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Hall effect measurements, and sensitivity measurements, are employed to evaluate the structural, morphological, electrical, and sensing properties of the Nb2O5 thin films. XRD analysis confirms the polycrystalline nature and hexagonal crystal structure of Nb2O5. The optical band gap values of the Nb2O5 thin films demonstrate a decrease from 4.74 to 3.73 eV as the sputtering power is increased from 25 to 75 W. AFM images illustrate a progressive increase in particle size ranging from (41.86) to (45.56) nm, with varying sputtering power between 25 and 75 W. Additionally, EDS analysis validates the rise in Nb content, increasing from 12.2 at. % to 20.1 at. %, corresponding to the increase in sputtering power. Hall effect measurements show that all films exhibit n-type charge carriers, and increasing sputtering power leads to decreased carrier concentration and enhanced mobility. The gas sensor's sensitivity, response, and recovery time were evaluated at various operating temperatures. The NO2 sensor exhibited an optimal sensitivity of 28.6% at 200 °C when the sputtering power was set to 50 W.

In this study, gold nanoparticle samples were prepared by the chemical reduction method (seed-growth) with 4 ratios (10, 12, 15 and 18) ml of seed, and the growth was stationary at 40 ml. The optical and structural properties of these samples were studied. The 18 ml seed sample showed the highest absorbance. The X- ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of these samples showed clear peaks at (38.25o, 44.5o, 64.4o, and 77.95o). The UV-visible showed that the absorbance of all the samples was in the same range as the standard AuNPs. The field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) showed the shape of AuNPs as nanorods and the particle size between 30-50 nm. Rhodamine-610 (RhB) was prepared at 10-5 M concentration, the optical measurements were studied, AuNPs and RhB were mixed at ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:3), and the fluorescence measurements were done. Full width at half maximum (FHWM) and the intensity of RhB after mixing were changed, and this result showed significant efficacy for many applications. The study shows that this mixing could be used after doping with polymer as a random gain medium or saturation absorber for pulse laser generation.

Nitinol (NiTi) is used in many medical applications, including hard tissue replacements, because of its suitable characteristics, including a close elastic modulus to that of bones. Due to the great importance of the mechanical properties of this material in tissue replacements, this work aims to study the hysteresis response in an attempt to explore the ability of the material to remember its previous mechanical state in addition to its ability to withstand stress and to obtain the optimal dimensions and specifications of the manufacturer of NiTi actuators. Stress-strain examination is done in a computational way using a mutable Lagoudas MATLAB code for various coil radii, environment temperatures, and coil lengths. The computational methodology was done by varying the dimensions and the ambient temperature for the simulated NiTi spring actuator. The hysteresis loop is studied by increasing the external stress for a reversible martensitic transformation. The coil radius, spring height, and wire radius affect the spring force and deformations. In the same way, these parameters affect the strain and stress point values. These changes are shown through the martensite and austenite start and finish values. The NiTi hysteresis loop narrows with increasing ambient temperature or initial spring height. At a higher temperature, the force supplied to the actuator must be less for the same deformation; therefore, a higher ambient temperature provides more efficiency for the shape memory devices and a longer lifetime for the actuator.

This study is unique in this field. It represents a mix of three branches of technology: photometry, spectroscopy, and image processing. The work treats the image by treating each pixel in the image based on its color, where the color means a specific wavelength on the RGB line; therefore, any image will have many wavelengths from all its pixels. The results of the study are specific and identify the elements on the nucleus’s surface of a comet, not only the details but also their mapping on the nucleus. The work considered 12 elements in two comets (Temple 1 and 67P/Churyumoy-Gerasimenko). The elements have strong emission lines in the visible range, which were recognized by our MATLAB program in the treatment of the image. The percentage of the elements was determined relative to iron, where in comet Temple 1, the most significant percentage of the element ratio potassium to iron is K / Fe ~ 28.2%, while the lowest value is Ca / Fe ~ 1.3%. For the comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the most significant percentage of the elements relative to iron is also for potassium, K / Fe ~ 89.5%; while the lowest value is Ni / Fe ~ 0.26. In general, comparing both comets, the greatest percentage of the elements relative to iron is K / F. Iron is the base element in the structure of both comets, followed by potassium.

Silicon nanowire arrays (SiNWs) are created utilizing the metal-assisted chemical etching method with an Ag metal as a catalyst and different etching time of 15, 30, and 60 minutes using n-Si (100). Physical properties such as structural, surface morphology, and optical properties of the prepared SiNWs are studied. The diameter of prepared SiNWs ranged from 20 to 280 nm, and the reflectance in the visible part of the wavelength spectrum was less than 1% for all prepared samples. The obtained energy gap of prepared SiNWs was around 2 eV, which is higher than the energy gap of bulk silicon. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has diffraction peaks at 68.70o for all prepared samples. The heterojunction solar cell was fabricated based on the n-SiNWs/ P3HT/PEDOT: PSS structure. The heterojunction solar cell produced for 60 minutes has the highest Jsc of 11.55 mA.cm-2 and a conversion efficiency of 0.93%. Based on SiNWs prepared for etching time of 15 min, the solar cell demonstrated Jsc and Voc of 2.73 mA/cm2 and 0.46 V, respectively, and a conversion efficiency of 0.34%.