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Zn(_x)Co(_2-x)GeO(_4) materials were prepared and the variation in structure with composition was investigated using XED, SEM and EDX analysis. Limited series of solid solution were identified at both ends of the compositional range. D C electrical measurements were carried out to characterize the variation in the resistivity of the materials with humidity. Resistivities of the order of 10(^8) Ω m were observed in dry conditions, decreasing by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude with increasing humidity. Resistivity was not found to vary greatly with composition. Resistivity was temperature dependent, increasing by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude for a 70 C decrease in temperature. A C impedance measurements were performed to gain an understanding of the mechanism of the humidity dependent conductivity. At low frequencies impedance was found to be independent of frequency and humidity dependent. At high frequencies impedance was found to be inversely proportional to frequency and independent of humidity. The break point frequency was also humidity dependent and an increase in the impedance indicated inductive-type behaviour. Complex plane representation of the impedance gave a distorted semicircle at high frequencies and a low frequency tail. At high humidities the tail appears as a straight line, inclined at approximately 45 . At medium levels of humidity a distinctive loop is apparent at the intersection between the semicircle and the tail, corresponding to the inductive behaviour indicated at the break point frequency. The impedance response was modelled by an equivalent circuit consisting of various ideal and constant phase (dispersive) elements. The proposed mechanism of humidity-dependent conductivity is due to chemisorption and physisorption of water vapour from the atmosphere at the surface of the material, It is suggested that conduction occurs by hopping of protons between cheraisorbed hydroxyl groups at low humidities, by diffusion of H(_3)O(^+) ions between the hydroxyl groups at intermediate humidities and by hopping of protons between physisorbed H(_3)O(^+) ions (Grotthus Chain reaction) at high humidities.

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Thesis advisor: Vidya Madhavan / <p>It has been more than two decades since the first high temperature superconductor was discovered. In this time there has been tremendous progress in understanding these materials both theoretically and experimentally. Some important questions however remain to be answered; one of them is the temperature dependence of the superconducting gap which is in turn tied to question of the origin of the pseudogap and its connection with superconductivity.</p> <p> In this thesis, we present detailed Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) spectroscopic studies of an electron doped superconductor, Pr<subscript>0.88</subscript>LaCe<subscript>0.12</subscript>CuO<subscript>4-&#948;</subscript> (PLCCO). The electron doped compounds form an interesting venue for STM studies for many reasons. In the hole-doped materials, especially in the underdoped side of the phase diagram, there is mounting evidence of a second gap that survives to high temperatures (high temperature pseudogap) that may have a different origin from superconductivity. This complicates studies of the temperature dependence of the superconducting gap in these materials. In PLCCO however, there is little evidence for a high temperature pseudogap potentially allowing us to address the question of the temperature evolution of the superconducting gap without the complication of a second gap. Secondly, the low T<subscript>c</subscript> of the optimally doped materials makes it easily accessible to temperature dependent STM studies. Finally, while hole-doped materials have been extensively studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), there have been no detailed STM spectroscopic studies on the electron doped compounds. </p> <p> In the first part of the thesis, we investigate the effect of temperature on the superconducting gap of optimally doped PLCCO with T<subscript>c</subscript> = 24K. STM spectroscopy data is analyzed to obtain the gap as a function of temperature from 5K to 35K. The gap is parameterized with a d-wave form and the STM spectra are fit at each temperature to extract the gap value. A plot of this gap value as a function of temperature shows clear deviations from what is expected from BCS theory. We find that similar to the hole-doped superconductors a fraction of the surface still shows a gap above T<subscript>c</subscript>. The implications of our finding to the pseudogap phase are discussed.</p> <p> In the second part of the thesis, STM spectra are analyzed to determine the effect of impurities or vacancies on the local density of states. Electron doped superconductors require a post-annealing process to induce superconductivity. It is claimed that Cu vacancies in the CuO<subscript>2</subscript> planes which suppress superconductivity are healed by this process. This implies that for the same doping, a sample with higher T<subscript>c</subscript> should have fewer impurities compared to a sample with lower T<subscript>c</subscript>. We studied two PLCCO samples with 12% Ce doping; one with higher T<subscript>c</subscript> (24K) and the other with lower T<subscript>c</subscript> (21K). Through quasiparticle scattering study we find that there are more impurities in 21K samples than 24K sample, consistent with the picture of Cu vacancies in as grown samples. Finally, we present a discussion of the bosonic modes observed in the STM spectra and their connection to the spin excitations measured by neutron scattering.</p> / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

O transistor de efeito de campo de porta estendida (EGFET) é um dispositivo composto por uma membrana sensível a íons e um MOSFET comercial, que pode ser aplicado para a medição do teor de íons em uma solução. O filme fino de óxido de estanho dopado com flúor (FTO) foi utilizado como a membrana seletiva do EGFET, e todo o sistema foi utilizado como sensor de pH. Os sensores de pH desenvolvidos a partir de transistores de efeito de campo (FETs) detectam o campo elétrico criado pelos íons da solução. A alteração do pH no organismo afeta a estrutura e a atividade das macromoléculas biológicas, por isso a detecção da alteração do pH no organismo é de grande importância. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o estudo da influência de alguns agentes externos sobre o FTO para ser utilizado como membrana sensível a íons do EGFET como sensor de pH. O sensor padrão apresentou uma resposta linear no escuro por volta de 37 mV/pH, para uma área de membrana de 230 mm2 . Foram estudados o efeito da evolução da medida no tempo, o efeito da iluminação, o efeito da alteração da área de contato do filme fino de FTO com a solução de pH e o efeito da alteração da temperatura da solução de pH. Para as medições feitas no escuro a dependência do tempo foi diferente das medições feitas na presença de luz UV-VIS. Para pHs ácidos a presença da luz faz com que o valor da corrente Ids diminua em relação a mesma medição no escuro enquanto que para pHs básicos, o valor da corrente aumenta. A sensibilidade na presença da luz altera em torno de 10%. Para o estudo do efeito da área foram utilizadas duas formas diferentes de medições, sendo a primeira forma utilizando diferentes áreas da mesma amostra e a segunda forma utilizando áreas diferentes para diferentes amostras. O aumento da temperatura da solução aumenta o valor da corrente do sensor em até 5% e aumenta a sensibilidade em 60%. / The extended gate field effect transistor (EGFET) is a device composed of a conventional ion sensitive electrode and a commercial MOSFET device, which can be applied for the measurement of ion content in a solution. The fluorine-doped tin oxide thin film (FTO) is used as a sensitive membrane of the EGFET, and the whole system was used as a pH sensor. The pH sensor developed from field effect transistors (FTO) detect the electric field created by the ions of the solution. Changing the pH in the body affects the structure and activity of biological macromolecules, and the detection of pH change in the body is of great importance. The aim of this paper was study the influence of some external agents in the FTO for used as ion sensitive membrane EGFET as pH sensor. The standard sensor presented a linear response in the dark about 37 mV/pH, for a membrane area of 230 mm2 . Was studied the effect of the evolution of the measure in time, the illumination effect, the effect of changing the contact area of the FTO thin film with the solution pH and the effect of changing the temperature of the pH solution. For measurements in the dark the time dependence is different than for the case under UV-VIS illumination. For acids solutions the light presence causes a current value decreases over the same measurement in the dark, whereas for basic solution the current values increases. The sensitivity in light presence changes around 10%. To study the area effect two different studies was applied. The first measure was using different areas of the same sample and the second measure was using different areas of different samples. Increasing the solution temperature the current value of the sensor also increases and the sensitivity increase about 60%.

I och med övergödningsproblematiken i Östersjön och Sveriges åtaganden i samband med Baltic Sea Action Plan kommer det i framtiden ställas högre krav på rening av kväve från de större avloppsreningsverken i Sverige. Anammox är processen där ammonium oxideras till kvävgas med nitrit som elektonacceptor. Anammox har under den senare tiden implementerats för rejektvattenbehandling i avloppsreningsverk runt om i världen.  När anammox används för att rena ammonium krävs att ca hälften av inkommande ammonium oxideras till nitrit genom nitritation. Detta steg utförs av ammoniakoxiderande bakterier (AOB) vilka kräver en aerob miljö. Den kombinerade processen med anammox och nitritation kallas deammonifikation. På Sjölunda avloppsreningsverk i Malmö har en pilotstudie, i sammarbete med VA-teknik på Lunds Tekniska Högskola, startats för att undersöka potentialen i att implementera deammonifikation i huvudströmmen på reningsverket. Detta examensarbete har syftat till att utarbeta metoder för aktivitetstest av anammox och AOB på bärarmaterial från pilotanläggningen. Med de utarbetade metoderna studerades sedan anammoxbakteriernas aktivitet vid förändrad temperatur. Eftersom anammox producerar kvävgas kunde en metod som baseras på tryckmätning utarbetas för att bestämma anammoxaktiviteten. Metoden visade sig vara tidseffektiv och enkel att utföra. I examensarbetet framkom resultat som visar på att anammox­aktiviteten är beroende av startkoncentrationen av nitrit vid startkoncentrationer under 75 milligram kväve per liter (mg N/l). Beroendet följer av diffusionsbegränsningar i biofilmen vid lägre koncentrationer. Vid startkoncentrationer i intervallet 75-150 mg N/l var aktiviteten oberoende av startkoncentrationen. Vid koncentrationer över 150 mg N/l konstaterades en aktivitetsminskning som troligtvis beror på nitritinhibering. Metoden som arbetades fram för aktivitetstest av AOB baserades på att mäta syrerespirationen innan och efter tillsats av ammonium i en alternerande syresatt reaktor. I metoden skulle en inhibitor för nitritoxiderande bakterier, NaClO3, tillsättas vid slutet av försöket för att säkerställa att dessa bakterier inte konsumerar syre och därmed påverkar resultatet. Vid tillsats av inhibitorn uppstod en orimligt stor aktivitetsförlust som tyder på att denna även inhiberar AOB.  Anammoxaktivitetens temperaturberoende analyserades genom aktivitetsmätning vid fyra temperaturer, i intervallet 11,1-24,9 °C. Försöken visade att förhållandet var exponentiellt och att vid en temperatursänkning från 24,9 °C till 11,1 °C förloras 93 % av aktiviteten. / Given the problem with eutrophication in the Baltic Sea and Sweden's obligations in the Baltic Sea Action Plan, a higher requirement on the removal of nitrogen from the major wastewater treatment plants is expected to be set in the future. Anammox is the process where ammonium is oxidized to nitrogen gas with nitrite as electron acceptor. Anammox has been implemented for treatment of the sludge liquor in wastewater treatment plants around the world. When anammox is used to reduce ammonium, the process requires about half the incoming ammonium to be oxidized into nitrite. This is conducted by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) that require an aerobic environment. The combined process with anammox and nitritation is called deammonification. A pilot study is taking place at Sjölunda Wastewater Treatment Plant in Malmö in collaboration with Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University. The aim of the pilot study is to explore the potential of implementing deammonification in the main stream at the wastewater treatment plant. The aim of this Master Theisis is to develop methods for activity tests of Anammox and AOB on carrier material. The elaborated methods were then supposed to be used to study the change in activity with decreasing temperature.  Since anammox produces nitrogen gas a method based on pressure measurements was developed to determine the anammox activity. The results in this thesis showed that the anammox activity was dependent of the initial concentration of nitrite at concentrations below 75 mg N / L. This dependence is a result of the limitations of the diffusion in the biofilm at low concentrations. When the initial concentration of nitrite was within the range of 75 to 150 mg N / L the activity was independent of the initial concentration. At concentrations above 150 mg N / L there was a decrease in activity which probably occurred as a result of nitrite inhibition. To determine the activity of AOB a method based on the oxygen consumption rate was developed. The aeration switched between being turned on and off every five minutes and after some rounds of aereation, ammonium was added. The AOB activity was determined by calculating the difference between the oxygen consumption before and after the addition of ammonium. To ensure that nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were not consuming any oxygen, NaClO3 was added at the end of the experiment. The resulting decrease in activity was too excessive to only represent the activity loss from only NOB which may suggest that NaClO3 also inhibits AOB. The temperature dependence of anammox activity was analyzed in activity tests at four temperatures in the range of 11.1 to 24.0°C. The experiments concluded that the relationship was exponential and by a drop in temperature from 24.9 ° C to 11.1 °C 93% of the activity was lost.

A metal-to-insulating transition has been observed in iron, iron oxide, iron silicide and cobalt silicide thin films when deposited on Si substrate with a native SiOx layer. This transition produced a change in resistance of 5 orders of magnitude at a temperature of 250 K. To the best of the author's knowledge, this effect has not been reported in the literature prior to this study. This work reports a systematic experimental investigation carried out to understand the fundamental mechanism involved in the manifestation of this metal-to-insulator transition. The films were deposited using the pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD) in a base vacuum of the order of 10-6 torr at 400o C and room temperature. Several experiments were systematically conducted to understand the nature of the transition and the current path. Deposition of films on different substrates and the deposition of different transition metal films were made to narrow down the physical origin of the transition in the sample. Temperature-dependent resistance measurements not only exhibited a transition but also suggested more than one conduction mechanism. This is confirmed by the data collected for the IV curves. Current and voltage have a linear relation at temperatures greater than the transition temperature, and a non-linear relation at lower temperatures. Magnetoresistance (MR) measurements revealed a quadratic dependence of the resistance on the applied magnetic field. This is an indication that the MR observed is due to Lorentz forces acting on the charge carriers. Transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have identified different layers that are believed to be responsible for the observed transition.

In-vivo dosimetry with diode detectors is used in radiation therapy as a quality assurance tool. The diode sensitivity under radiation depends upon temperature, dose rate and SDD (source-to-detector distance), field size, beam angle, and energy. This dissertation presents the first systematic and quantitative study of dosimetric characteristics for most of the commercial radiation diodes (n-type and p-type) under different radiation beams.In the temperature dependence study, the systematic study on the dose rate dependence of svwt (sensitivity variation with temperature) was performed. It was concluded that sufficient preirradiation can eliminate dose rate dependence of svwt. However, preirradiation cannot eliminate dose rate dependence of the diode sensitivity, S, itself. In the dose rate and SDD dependence study, it was shown that the p-type diodes do not always show less dose rate dependence than the n-type diodes. Preirradiation does not always reduce diode dose rate dependence. SDD dependence of diode sensitivity can be explained by the instantaneous dose rate dependence if sufficient buildup is provided to eliminate electron contamination. An empirical formula was proposed to fit the dose rate dependence of diode sensitivity. In the energy dependence study, the energy dependence diode detectors are quantified. The empirical theory to quantify this effect was developed. Monte Carlo simulation and the cavity theory are used to predict the energy dependence. It was concluded that the energy dependence does not depend on whether the diode is n- or p- type but rather depends mainly on the material around the die (buildup and its geometry). A systematic study of the correction factors for accurate diode dosimetry is presented in this dissertation.This dissertation has established a theoretical foundation for the modeling of the transient electric and radiation properties of the diode detectors, separately. We believe that the Monte Carlo simulations code for radiation transport should be coupled with the continuity equations to describe the charge transport in the diode detector, and thus provides a complete quantitative description of dosimetric characteristics of the diode detectors. The ultimate goal is to use the diode detector as an absolute dosimeter, rather than as a relative dosimeter.