Starting from a super saturated solid solution and two different conditions withβ′′ precipitates (T6) an Al-Mg-Si alloy was heat treated at 200◦C and investigated byhardness measurements. One of the T6 conditions was investigated with transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM). The phase transformation to post-β′′ was studiedwith TEM and there was found that post-β′′ phases nucleated on the β′′ particles.After longer overaging times the growths were larger. A simple model was proposed, and it suggested that the growth of post- β′′ phases was the first steps in thetransformation of β′′, and that the final result was a microstructure consisting onlyof post- β′′ particles

We study the effect of an impurity potential on spin-memory loss in graphene. Various general methods for finding the spin-orbit related effect of a slowly varying impurity potential on a semiconductor have been examined. We have also revisited problems concerning electronic properties and spin relaxation in graphene. To this end, the bandstructure for graphene has been calculated through analytical and computational methods. The following results have been reproduced: Low energy excitations behave like massless relativistic particles with an effective speed of light at roughly 10^6 m/s. Intrinsic spin-orbit coupling splits the bands at the Fermi level. The importance of the $d$ orbitals for this effect is also shown. Extrinsic spin-orbit coupling induced by a perpendicular electric field give rise to a Rashba type Hamiltonian. Our novel results are related to extrinsic effects from an impurity. We have calculated the renormalised impurity induced spin-orbit coupling due to mixing of the conduction bands and the other bands. This renormalisation is at most comparable to the vacuum term, and thus cannot explain the experimental results on spin relaxation.

In order to make cost effective solar cells from mc-Si materials, the negative contributions from defects and impurities should be reduced. The analysis of the photogenerated carrier properties is therefore of great importance for characterising carrier processes and hence, for improving the material performance.In this work, pump-probe measurement of a range of silicon wafers have been performed, using anultrafast laser of 800 nm wavelength and 85 fs pulses. The optical response in the samples were analysed by measuring the reflected probe beam initial transient.The purpose of this theses was to explore the use of pump-probe experiment to study carrier dynamics in mc-Si. Measurements of single c-Si samples were used as a basis for developing good experimental skills as well as achieving knowledge about carrier dynamics in c-Si. The initial Delta R/R was studied for a range of input parameters, aiming to characterise important contributions to the measurements.The effects of passivation has been studied, indicating a significant contribution to R~R. Etchingoff the passivated layer of an oxide (SiO2) wafer, showed a radically increased in pump beam reflectivity, from 9% to 32%, and a reduced DeltaR~R from 47×10-6 to 37×10-6 was be observed. Analysis has showed that incident angle may be chose such that the pump reflection loss is at a minimum for the given passivation thickness.The final results showed a R~R is in the range of (14-41)e-6 for bare c-Si, and (47-171)e-6 for passivated c-Si wafers.Ultrafast initial recovery has been observed for mc-Si samples, and attributed to trapping of carriers. Decay times in the range of 1-6 ps are deduced and trapping densities are found as (1:3 - 4:3) × 10^18 cm-3, which is in the same order as the excitation densities.A methodology for using pump-probe measurements to analyse mc-Si samples is established, and the technique is used in characterising the observed defect states, which is of great interest for improving solar cell materials.

A numerical approach to solving the problem of electromagnetic (EM) scattering on a single scatterer is studied. The problem involves calculating the total EM field in arbitrary observation points when a planar EM wave is scattered.The method considered is a surface integral equation (SIE) formulation involving the use of a dyadic Green's function. A theoretical derivation of the magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) and the electric field integral equation (EFIE) from Maxwell's equations are shown. The Method of Weighted Residuals (MWR) and Kirchoff's Approximation (KA) with their respective domains of application are studied as ways of estimating the surface current densities. A parallelized implementation of the SIE method including both the KA and the MWRis written using the FORTRAN language. The implementation is applied in three concrete versions of the scattering problem, all involving a spherical perfectly conducting scatterer, namely the cases of incoming wavelength much larger, much smaller and comparable with the radius of the scatterer. The problems are divided into two separate solution categories, separated by whether or not the KA is assumed valid. A recursive discretization algorithm was found to be superior to a Delaunay triangulationalgorithm due to less spread in element shape and area. The produced resultsfitted well considering the interference pattern and symmetry requirements with relative errors in the order of magnitude $10^{-5}$ and less. The case of having large wavelength compared to the radius was also compared with Rayleigh scattering theory considering the far field dependence on wavelenth, scattering angle and distance from the scatterer. This resulted in relative errors of 2.1 percent and less. The main advantage of the SIE method is only requiring the surface of the scatterer to be discretized thus saving computational time and memory compared to methods requiring discretization of volume. The method is also capable of producing accurate results for observation points arbitrary close to the scatterer surface. A brief discussion on how the program may be modified in order to extend its capabilities is also included.

Studies on sea ice have become increasingly popular among researchers in the last decades, due to its effect on the global climate and the challenges it presents for arctic engineering. The research is in demand of reliable data acquisition on various properties, in this case the temperature gradient in forming sea ice.This project continues the development of a spatial temperature instrument, which intends to provide measurements with an accuracy of 0.01°C, making the researchers able to distinguish between fine variations in melting point due to salinity.The outcome of the project is a complete revision of the probe design, which according to simulations not until now provides an environment for the sensor array that satisfies the accuracy requirement. The design also combines the low thermal resistance between sensor and medium from an earlier steel probe with the low thermal interference of an insulating plastic probe.Manufacturing and assembly of the updated temperature instrument with a new probe is almost finished, and should after completion provide experimental data to back up the claims made by the simulations.

Fixed-abrasive diamond wire sawing is a promising technique for reduction of costs related to sawing of silicon wafers for solar cells. The microscopic mechanisms of material removal in the process are however not fully understood, and must be surveyed in order for costs to be further reduced.An interference microscope for sub-surface inspection of mono-crystalline silicon has been built based on the Linnik configuration, with specific application to in-situ monitoring of moving indentations. The working principles of the instrument are explained from a literature study on relevant theory, combining concepts of optical interference and coherence with imaging theory. The optical system has been experimentally tested in terms of its performance in conventional imaging as well as its interferometric capabilities. Tests on the imaging performance show that a large magnification is accompanied by a lateral resolution with a lower limit of $0.9mumathrm{m}$ and an adequately long depth of field. This provides improved conditions for imaging of internal reflections in silicon, compared to a previously used prototype.Using a light source of low temporal coherence, the capability of the system to measure depth profiles of silicon surfaces has been tested. The technique calculates depths from interferograms recorded by scanning of a reference field. Preliminary results from a flat test surface show that depths are not determined accurately enough for calculated profiles to be considered as reliable reconstructions. It is discussed that the inaccuracy is caused by a number of experimental factors including non-uniform illumination, undesired reflections and non-uniform sampling intervals in scanning.Two experiments with moving indentations on silicon surfaces have been performed, monitored by conventional imaging and calculation of interferometric phase maps, respectively. Results are seen in context with the theoretical understanding of material removal mechanisms in fixed-abrasive diamond wire sawing. The evolution of surface damage is observed as interconnection of chippings in both experiments. In addition, sub-surface lateral cracks are identified from interferometric phase maps. The phase maps of surface damage can, however, only to a limited extent be interpreted as topographic contour lines of surface depth. A deeper knowledge of removal mechanisms requires quantitative measurements of depths. This can be better achieved by calculating accurate depth profiles from interferograms. Future enhancement of the system is dependent on a reevaluation of the optical design as well as better control of sampling intervals in scanning.

Self-assembled platinum and gold nanostructures, which are formed by evaporation and subsequent diffusion limited aggregation of metal on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, have been studied by photoemission spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Dendritic gold nanostructures were observed on samples onto which gold was evaporated at room temperature. For samples onto which gold was evaporated at reduced temperatures, no such dendrites were found. For samples evaporated with platinum, small nano-spiders were seen at low evaporation time, and more complex fractal structures at higher evaporation time. Studying the oxidation of carbon monoxide over the platinum nanostructures yielded no clear corrolation between nanostructure size and oxidation rate.

The level-set method is an implicit interface capturing method that can be used in two or more dimensions. The method is popular e.g. in computer graphics, and as here, in simulations of two-phase flow. The motivation for the simulations performed here is to obtain a better understanding of the complex two-phase flow phenomena ocurring in heat exchangers used for liquefaction of natural gas, including the study of droplet-film interactions and coalescence.One of the main advantages of the level-set method is that it handles changes in the interface topology in a natural way. In the present work, the calculation of the curvature and normal vectors of an interface represented by the level-set method is considered. The curvature and normal vectors are usually calculated using central-difference stencils, but this standard method fails when the interface undergoesa topological change, e.g. when two droplets collide and merge. Several methodshave previously been developed to handle this problem. In the present work,a new method is presented, which is a development on existing methods. The newmethod handles more general cases than previous methods. In contrast to someprevious methods, the present method retains the implicit formulation and can easily be extended to three-dimensional simulations, as demonstrated in this work.Briefly, the new method consists in extracting one or more local level sets forbodies close to the grid point considered, reinitializing these local level setsto remove kinks, and using these to calculate the curvature and normal vector atthe grid point considered. For the curvature, multiple values are averaged,while for the normal vector, the one corresponding to the closest interface isselected.With this new method, several two-phase flow simulations are performed that arerelevant for understanding the liquefaction of natural gas. The new methodenables simulations that are more general than previous ones. A two-dimensionalsimulation was performed of a 0.6 mm diameter methanol droplet falling through air and merging with a deep pool of methanol. The new method gave good results in this case, but unphysical oscillations in the pressure field rendered this result unsuitablefor comparison with experimental results.Several similar cases with significantly lower density differences between thetwo fluids were also considered; in these cases, the pressure field behavedphysically, but the results are less applicable to the understanding of naturalgas liquefication, and better suited for validation of the new method. Inparticular, an axisymmetric simulation of a 0.11 mm diameter water droplet in decanemerging with a deep pool of water has been considered. The results of thissimulation show a very close agreement with experimental data. Attempts werealso made to simulate a larger droplet, but in this case finer grids were neededthan what could be achieved here due to the computational time cost of gridrefinement. Purely geometrical results are also presented in order to validate the results of the new method, and three-dimensional results are given for a static interface configuration, demonstrating that the method is easily extended to higher dimensions.

The least squares method has been applied to estimate parameters inan aerodynamic model of a simulated aircraft, using data that can beexpected to available from sensors on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Acombination of two non-linear state observers have been implemented toestimate wind data such as angle of attack, sideslip and dynamic pressure.Simulations have confirmed that the observers are able to estimete thewind data using noisy sensor measurements. Parameter estimation havebeen demonstrated with both measured and estimated wind data.

The Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE), developed by John Harte, presents an entirely new method of making inferences in ecology. The method is based on the established mathematical procedure of Maximum Information Entropy (MaxEnt), developed by Edwin T. Jaynes, and is used to derive a range of important relationships in macroecology. The Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle is a more recent theory. This principle was used by Paltridge to successfully predict the climate on Earth in 1975. It has been suggested that this principle can be used for predicting the evolution of ecosystems over time in the framework of METE. This idea is at the very frontier of Harte's theory. This thesis investigates the hypothesis that the information entropy defined in METE is described by the MEP principle.I show that the application of the MEP principle to the information entropy in METE leads to a range of conceptual and mathematical difficulties. I show that the initial hypothesis alone cannot predict the time rate of change, but that it does predict that the number of individual organisms and the total metabolic rate of an ecosystem will continue to grow indefinitely, whereas the number of species will approach one.I also conduct a thorough review of the MEP literature and discuss the possibility of an application of the MEP principle to METE based on analogies. I also study a proof of the MEP principle published by Dewar in 2003 and 2005 in order to investigate the possibility of an application based on first principles. I conclude that the MEP principle has a low probability of success if applied directly to the information entropy in METE.One of the most central relationships derived in METE is the expected number of species in a plot of area $A$. I conduct a numerical simulation in order to study the variance of the actual number of species in a collection of plots. I then suggest two methods to be used for comparison between predictions and observations in METE.I also conduct a numerical study of selectied stability properties of Paltridge's climate model and conclude that none of these can explain the observed MEP state in nature.