The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect harbors a wealth of unique phenomena, many of which remain mysterious. Of particular interest is the predicted existence of quasi-particles with unusual topological properties, especially in light of recent proposals to observe these properties using electronic interferometers. An introduction to quantum Hall physics and electronic interferometry is given in Chapter 1 of this thesis. The remaining chapters, summarized below, describe a set of experiments in which FQH systems are studied using electronic Fabry-Perot interferometry and related techniques. Since prior studies of electronic Fabry-Perot interferometers revealed unexpected behavior even in the integer quantum Hall (IQH) regime, we began our measurements there. Our initial experiment, presented in Chapter 2, disentangles signatures of Coulomb interaction effects from those of Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference and provides the first measurement of pure AB interference in these devices. In our next experiment, presented in Chapter 3, we measure AB interference oscillations as a function of an applied dc bias, use their period to study the velocity of the interfering electrons, and study how the oscillations decay as a function of bias and magnetic field. Moving to the FQH regime, applying a similar-sized bias to a quantum point contact leads to long-lasting changes in the strengths and positions of FQH plateaus. The involvement of lattice nuclear spins in this effect, suggested by the long persistence times, is confirmed using NMR-type measurements. Although the exact physical process responsible for the effect remains unclear, its filling-factor dependence provides a striking illustration of composite fermion physics. These measurements are described in Chapter 4. In certain devices, interference oscillations associated with several FQH states are observed. Interpretation of their magnetic-field and gate-voltage periods provides a measurement of quasi-particle charge, and temperature dependence measurements suggest differences between the edge structure of IQH and FQH states. These measurements are described in Chapter 5. Finally, Chapter 6 presents some recent, not-yet-published observations that may shed light on ways to improve the visibility of existing oscillations and potentially observe interference at additional FQH states. This chapter concludes with a discussion of possible next steps toward achieving these goals. / Physics

This thesis describes electronic transport experiments in graphene from the hopping to the ballistic regime. The first experiment studies dual-gated bilayer graphene devices. By applying an electric field with these dual gates, we can open a band gap in bilayer graphene and observe an increase in resistance of over six orders of magnitude as well as a strongly non-linear behavior in the transport characteristics. A temperature-dependence study of resistance at large electric field at the charge neutrality point shows the change in the transport mechanism from a hopping dominated regime at low temperature to a diffusive regime at high temperature. / Physics

Over the past twenty-five years, condensed matter physics has been developing materials with novel electronic characteristics for a wide range of future applications. Two research directions have shown particular promise: topological insulators, and high temperature copper based superconductors (cuprates). Topological insulators are a newly discovered class of materials that can be manipulated for spintronic or quantum computing devices. However there is a poor spectroscopic understanding of the current topological insulators and emerging topological insulator candidates. In cuprate superconductors, the challenge lies in raising the superconducting transition temperature to temperatures accessible in non-laboratory settings. This effort has been hampered by a poor understanding of the superconducting mechanism and its relationship with a mysterious pseudogap phase. In this thesis, I will describe experiments conducted on topological insulators and cuprate superconductors using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, which provide nanoscale spectroscopic information in these materials. / Physics

Vegetable grafting confers soil-borne disease resistance through the use of selected rootstocks. Additional costs associated with grafted vegetable seedling propagation limit grower access to this technology. The use of low temperature storage in grafted seedling production reduces labor costs and allows propagators to meet the seasonal and narrow-window demand of growers. For the first part of the experiment 22 genotypes of Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae seedlings were evaluated in low temperature storage conditions (5 or 12°C). Seedling performance was better in 12°C storage than in 5°C storage. For the second part of the experiment watermelon, the most low-temperature sensitive species found in our first study, was grafted onto two different commercial rootstocks or on to other watermelon seedlings and stored at 12°C for two and four weeks. Both 'Strong Tosa' and 'Emphasis' rootstocks conferred chilling tolerance during storage to watermelon scions, allowing storage of grafted plants for two weeks.

A close relation between structural and optical properties of any semiconductor material does exist. An adequate knowledge and understanding of this relationship is necessary for fabrication of devices with desired optical properties. The structural quality and hence the optical properties can be influenced by the growth method and the substrate used. The aim of this work was to investigate the change in optical properties caused by growth techniques and substrate modification. To study the influence of growth technique on optical properties, ZnO nanostructures were grown using atmospheric pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (APMOCVD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The structural and optical investigations were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro photoluminescence (μ-PL), respectively. The results revealed that the grown structures were in the shape of nano-rods with slightly different shapes. Optical investigation revealed that low temperature PL spectrum for both the samples was dominated by neutral donor bound excitons emission and it tends to be replaced by free exciton (FX) emission in the temperature range of 60-140K. Both excitonic emissions show a typical red-shift with increase in temperature but with a different temperature dynamics for both the sample and this is due to difference in exciton-phonon interaction because of the different sizes of nano-rods. Defect level emission (DLE) is negligible in both the sample at low temperature but it increased linearly in intensity after 130 K up to the room temperature.Modification in substrate can also play a significant role on structural and optical properties of the material. Specially variation in the miscut angle of substrate can help to control the lateral sizes of the Nanostructures and thus can help to obtain better structural andoptical quality. Also optical quality is a key requirement for making blue and ultraviolet LEDs. Therefore, ZnO Nanostructures were grown on SiC on-axis and off-axis substrates having different off-cut angles. Morphological investigation revealed thatgrown structures are epitaxial for the case when substrate off-cut angle is higher and deposition rate is low. Low temperature PL spectrum of all the samples was dominated by neutral donor bound excitons and free exciton emission become dominant at 100 K for all the samples which completely eliminate the neutral donor bound excitonic emission at 160K. Two electron satellite of the neutral donor bound excitons and LO phonons of excitonic features are also present. A typical red-shift in excitonic features was evident in temperature dependence measurement. Red-shift behavior of free exciton for all the samples was treated by applying Varshni empirical expression and several important parameter, such as, the Debye temperature and the band gap energy value was extracted. Thermal quenching behavior was also observed and treated by thermal quenching expression and value of the activation energy for non-radiative channel was extracted. The results that are obtained demonstrate a significant contribution in the fields of ZnO based nano-optoelectronics and nano-electronics.

This thesis is a study of the heat transfer correlations between a wire and liquid helium cooled to either 1.9 or 4.3 K. The wire resembles a part of a superconducting magnet used in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator currently being built at CERN. The magnets are cooled to 1.9 K and using helium as a coolant is very efficient, especially at extremely low temperatures since it then becomes a superfluid with an apparent infinite thermal conductivity. The cooling of the magnet is very important, since the superconducting wires need to be thermally stable. Thermal stability means that a superconductive magnet can remain superconducting, even if a part of the magnet becomes normal conductive due to a temperature increase. This means that if heat is generated in a wire, it must be transferred to the helium by some sort of heat transfer mechanism, or along the wire or to the neighbouring wires by conduction. Since the magnets need to be superconductive for the operation of the particle accelerator, it is crucial to keep the wires cold. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the heat transfer mechanisms from the wires to the liquid helium. The scope of this thesis was to describe the heat transfer mechanisms from a heater immersed in liquid and superfluid helium. By performing both experiments and simulations, it was possible to determine properties like heat transfer correlations, critical heat flux limits, and the differences between transient and steady-state heat flow. The measured values were in good agreement with values found in literature with a few exceptions. These differences could be due to measurement errors. A numerical program was written in Matlab and it was able to simulate the experimental temperature and heat flux response with good accuracy for a given heat generation.

A new technique based on the study of the transmitted neutron beam has been developed to study the low-temperature decomposition of austenite in a 0.4 wt.% C–3 wt.% Mn–2 wt.% Si steel. Experiments were conducted in which the neutron beam continuously passed through a specially designed layered sample, the temperature of which could be controlled to allow for a high-temperature austenization treatment followed by accelerated cooling to an isothermal transformation temperature in the range of 275–450 °C. It was possible to measure the volume fraction of the face-centred cubic (fcc) and body-centred cubic (bcc) phases and the carbon concentration of the fcc phase by characterizing the neutron Bragg edges in the transmitted beam. This provides a technique for in situ continuous measurements on the decomposition of austentite. The technique has been validated by comparing the data with other experimental techniques such as dilatometry, quantitative optical metallography and room temperature X-ray diffraction.

In this paper we report a low symmetry version of structure H hydrate that results from the hexagonal form on cooling below 167 K. Phase changes with temperature in the common clathrate hydrates structural families I, II and H have not been observed before, except in doped systems where ordering transitions take place or in the structure I hydrate of trimethylene oxide where the guest molecule dipoles are known to order. Since there is an inverse relationship between the effect of temperature and pressure on ices, it may well be that the low symmetry form reported at low temperature can also be reached by applying high pressure, and that in fact some of the observed high pressure phases are lower symmetry versions of hexagonal sH.

A thermodynamic inhibitor - methanol is used for hydrates control both at gas-gathering pipelines and gas conditioning / treatment field plants of Novatek JSC. Due to severe climate conditions and absence of serious infrastructure high operation costs for hydrate control take place. For reducing inhibitor losses some new technological solutions were proposed including recycling and regeneration of saturated methanol. A small module for producing methanol at field conditions was designed. Technological schemes for methanol injection and recirculation are discussed. These technologies reduce methanol losses. Small methanol-producing plant at Yurkharovskoe gas-condensate field (12.5 million ton methanol per year) integrated with field gas treatment plant is presented. The technology includes producing converted gas (syngas) from natural gas, catalytic process for raw methanol synthesis and rectification of raw methanol at final stage. Some particularities of the integrated technology are as follows. Not needs for preliminary purification of required raw materials (natural gas and water). Dried natural gas after conditioning (without any traces of sulfuric compounds) and pure water from simplified water treatment block are used. Rectification of raw methanol is combined with rectification of saturated methanol from gas treatment plant. Economic estimations show that the integrated methanol-producing technology and optimization of methanol circulation in technological processes essentially reduce capital and operational costs for hydrate control at northern gas and gas-condensate fields.

This thesis will present research that studies the role of disorder, geometric frustration and the long range dipolar interaction on the collective behaviour of several insulating, rare earth magnets. Experiments were performed at low temperatures to measure the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility of several materials. Susceptibility was measured with a SQUID magnetometer that has been designed and constructed primarily for the study of slow dynamics in glassy systems. Specifically, this thesis will discuss three distinct topics. The first is the series of materials LiHo(x)Y(1-x)F(4), which are manifestations of the dilute, dipolar coupled Ising model. The low-x portion of the phase diagram has become a rather contentious issue in recent years with both theoretical and experimental groups disagreeing on the existence of a spin glass freezing transition and one experimental group arguing for the existence of an exotic "antiglass'' or spin liquid state resulting from quantum entanglement at x=0.045. We present specific heat and dynamical susceptibility measurements on four stoichiometries in this series: x = 0.018, 0.045, 0.080 and 0.012. No evidence of an unusual antiglass state is observed. Instead, our results show evidence, at all dilution levels studied, of a spin glass freezing transition. Interpretation of experimental data is found to be complicated by the anomalously slow dynamics in these materials. The relaxation time scales are found to increase as the concentration of Ho(3+) ions is reduced, an effect which can be attributed to single-ion physics and the importance of the nuclear hyperfine coupling in this system. A second set of materials studied here is a series of several Gd garnet materials, the most famous of which is Gd(3)Ga(5)O(12) (GGG), a material previously argued to be a disorder-free spin glass. Our specific heat experiments reproduce previous experiments on GGG and show that the homologous Gd garnets Gd(3)Te(2)Li(3)O(12) and Ga(3)Al(5)O(12) do not share the same glassy physics but exhibit sharp ordering features. By experimenting with the introduction of random site dilution, it is concluded that a 1-2% off-stoichiometry inherent in GGG is likely a special kind of disorder that is particularly effective in inducing random frustration and the formation of a spin glass. Finally, specific heat measurements on the pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd(2)Sn(2)O(7) (GSO) are presented. While GSO has generally been found to be a well behaved and well understood model magnet, with long range order developing at around 1 K, like many other geometrically frustrated magnets, it has been discovered to possess persistent spin dynamics down to very low temperatures as measured by μSR and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Measurement of the low temperature limit of the specific heat when compared with linear spin-wave theory, however, presents a consistent picture of gapped magnon excitations that freeze out at low temperatures and make the existence of the proposed dynamic ground state unlikely.