Ambipolar pentacene field-effect transistors and inverters

Organic field-effect transistors based on pentacene single crystals, prepared with an amorphous aluminum oxide gate insulator, are capable of ambipolar operation and can be used for the preparation of complementary inverter circuits. The field-effect mobilities of carriers in these transistors increase from 2.7 and 1.7 square centimeters per volt per second at room temperature up to 1200 and 320 square centimeters per volt per second at low temperatures for hole and electron transport, respectively, following a power-law dependence. The possible simplification of the fabrication process of complementary logic circuits with these transistors, together with the high carrier mobilities, may be seen as another step toward applications of plastic electronics.     

Pheromone source location by flying moths: a supplementary non-anemotactic mechanism

After the wind was stopped in an insect flight tunnel, male oriental fruit moths continued to fly in zigzag fashion along a stationary pheromone plume. Their lateral excursions from the time-averaged pheromone plume were no greater without wind than in wind of 38 centimeters per second. When the pheromone plume was removed and the wind stopped, males initiated wider track reversals when they reached the pheromone-free area in still air than they had made while in the pheromone plume. This non-anemotactic mechanism of maintaining plume contact-possibly a special kind of klinotaxis-when coupled with the orthokinetic retinal velocity of apparent ground pattern motion, allowed males to reach the pheromone source area from 1 to 2 meters away without wind.     

High carrier mobility in single-crystal plasma-deposited diamond

Room-temperature drift mobilities of 4500 square centimeters per volt second for electrons and 3800 square centimeters per volt second for holes have been measured in high-purity single-crystal diamond grown using a chemical vapor deposition process. The low-field drift mobility values were determined by using the time-of-flight technique on thick, intrinsic, freestanding diamond plates and were verified by current-voltage measurements on p-i junction diodes. The improvement of the electronic properties of single-crystal diamond and the reproducibility of those properties are encouraging for research on, and development of, high-performance diamond electronics.     

Bottom Velocity Observations Directly under the Gulf Stream

Speeds as high as 44 centimeters per second were observed 200 meters above the ocean bottom under the Gulf Stream at 70 degrees W longitude and were associated with time-dependent motion that had a speed range of 40 centimeters per second and a time scale of about 30 days. These deep current fluctuations appear to be coupled with fluctuations in the surface position of the Stream and with surface and bottom current fluctuations 200 kilometers to the north.     

Fractional quantum hall effect in organic molecular semiconductors

High-quality crystals of the organic molecular semiconductors tetracene and pentacene were used to prepare metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structures exhibiting hole and electron mobilities exceeding 10(4) square centimeters per volt per second. The carrier concentration in the channel region of these ambipolar field-effect devices was controlled by the applied gate voltage. Well-defined Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and quantized Hall plateaus were observed for two-dimensional carrier densities in the range of 10(11) per square centimeter. Fractional quantum Hall states were observed in tetracene crystals at temperatures as high as approximately 2 kelvin.     

Sea floor spreading, topography, and the second layer

Local sea floor topography and also the thickness of the second layer of the oceanic rise-ridge system appear related to the spreading rate in the region. Slow spreading, away from the ridge center at 1 to 2 centimeters per year, is associated with a thick second layer, a central rift, and adjacent rift mountains. Fast spreading, 3 to 4.5 centimeters per year, is associated with a thin second layer and subdued topography lacking any central rift. The volume of lava discharged in this layer per unit time and per unit length along the crest of the whole active system is relatively constant regardless of the spreading rate. Total second layer discharge of the system has been about 5 to 6 cubic kilometers per year during the last several million years.     

Detection of overflow events in the shag rocks passage, scotia ridge

During an almost yearlong period of observations made with a current meter in the fracture zone between the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia, several overflow events were recorded at a depth of 3000 meters carrying cold bottom water from the Scotia Sea into the Argentine Basin. The outflow bursts of Scotia Sea bottom water, a mixing product of Weddell Sea and eastern Pacific bottom water, were associated with typical speeds of more than 28 centimeters per second toward the northwest and characteristic temperatures below 0.6 degrees C. The maximum 24-hour average speed of 65 centimeters per second, together with a temperature of 0.29 degrees C, was encountered on 14 November 1980 at a water depth of 2973 meters, 35 meters above the sea floor.     

Continuous gas chromatography

Continuous gas chromatography has been achieved with a radialflow chromatographic channel free of packing and formed between two closely spaced (50 to 75 microns) disc surfaces (optically flat and solvent-coated) rotating at one-half or one revolution per second. This technique provides high capacity and immediate response (in a fraction of a second). Mixtures of hydrocarbon gases have been separated at flow rates of 6 to 30 cubic centimeters per minute with 100 to 150 cubic centimeters per minute of nitrogen carrier gas in a chromatographic channel only 39 millimeters long.     

Rate constants for the reactions of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl radicals with ozone

Chain decomposition of ozone by hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl radicals has been observed. The rate constant at 3000 degrees K for OH + O(3)-->HO(2) + O(2) is 8 x 10(-14) cubic centimeters per second. The rate constant for HO(2) + O(3)--> OH + 2O(2), is 3 x 10(-15) cubic centimeters per second. These results have implications concerning stratospheric ozone.     

Southward Flow under the Florida Current

High-resolution current profiles were obtained in the Florida Straits by means of a new technique. Large temporal variations in the current profiles were observed. At times extensive southward flow, with speeds up to 30 centimeters per second, was recorded in the lower half of the water column.     

Radium-226 and radon-222: concentration in atlantic and pacific oceans

Measurements of radon-222 in seawater suggest the following. The radium-226 content of surface water in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is uniformly close to about 4 x 10(-14) gram per liter. The deep Pacific has a concentration of radium-226 that is four times higher and the deep Atlantic a concentration twice as high as that of the surface. These distribution profiles can be explained by the same particle-settling rate for radium-226 from surface to depth for the two oceans and by a threefold longer residence time of water in the deep Pacific than in the deep Atlantic. The vertical distribution of the deficiency of radon-222 in the surface water of the northwest Pacific Ocean suggests a coefficient of vertical eddy diffusion as high as 120 square centimeters per second and a gas-exchange rate for carbon dioxide in surface water between 14 and 60 moles per square meter per year. Vertical profiles of the excess of radon-222 in near-bottom water of the South Atlantic give coefficients of vertical eddy diffusion ranging from 1.5 to more than 50 square centimeters per second.     

Bottom currents in the hudson canyon

In-place measurements of the bottom currents in the Hudson Canyon reveal that the current regime is characterized by a pronounced reversal of flow up and down the canyon. Velocities are commonly of the order of 8 to 15 centimeters per second, reaching 27 centimeters per second on occasion in the upper and central portion of the canyon. Although alpha 2.5-day recording of currents showed a net transport upcanyon, a combination of 66 current measurements from the submersible Alvin, the analysis of sediment texture and organic carbon, and the determination of the benthic fauna-nutrient relationship indicate that over the long term there is a net transport of fine material through the canyon to the outer continenital rise.     

Turbidity currents: monitoring their occurrence and movement with a three-dimensional sensor network

Detailed field data on the occurrence, flow pattern, and internal dynamics of both surge and continuous turbidity currents have been obtained with a three-dimensional array of optical and thermal sensors. The array, operated in a glacial lake in southeastern British Columbia, collected detailed information on the character of surge events with velocities reaching 110 centimeters per second and continuous underflows exceeding 90 centimeters per second. Thefindings (i) indicate that such currents are frequent events, occurring with density differences between the incoming stream water and the lake water as low as 0.19 kilogram per cubic meter of water; (ii) document the differences in the initiation and internal characteristics of the continuous and surge events; and (iii) support the concept of erosion by turbidity currents.     

Excepftonally strong near-bottom flows on the continental rise of nova scotia

Recent current velocity measurements across the lower continental rise of Nova Scotia show a deep equatorwardflow with speeds (maximum, 73 centimeters per second) among the highest recorded for the deep sea. Silicate measurements indicate that this flow usually consists of southern-source (Antarctic) bottom water. These measurements confirm the existence of a second and deeper western boundary flow that was earlier inferredfrom geological observations.     

Mesoscale ocean eddies in the north pacific: westward propagation

A set of subsurface temperature measurements in the trade wind region northeast of Hawaii reveals large perturbations about the mean state, with zonal wavelengths of 480 kilometers. The perturbations are identified as mesoscale baroclinic eddies, and they appear to drift westward at a rate of 4.7 +/- 2.0 centimeters per second. The large-scale ( 1000 kilometers) baroclinic flow at a depth of 200 meters is 1.5 +/- 0.7 centimeters per second, also toward the west, and comparable in magnitude with the eddy drift velocity; this finding suggests that the eddy drift is strongly influenced by the large-scale flow. Mesoscale eddies have been discovered in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean. Their existence in the Pacific Ocean is now confirmed.     

Remote sensing of ocean currents

A method of remotely measuring near-surface ocean currents with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is described. The apparatus consists of a single SAR transmitter and two receiving antennas. The phase difference between SAR image scenes obtained from the antennas forms an interferogram that is directly proportional to the surface current. The first field test of this technique against conventional measurements gives estimates of mean currents accurate to order 20 percent, that is, root-mean-square errors of 5 to 10 centimeters per second in mean flows of 27 to 56 centimeters per second. If the full potential of the method could be realized with spacecraft, then it might be possible to routinely monitor the surface currents of the world's oceans.     

Remote acoustic imaging of the plume from a submarine spring in an arctic fjord

Acoustic backscatter observations at 200 kilohertz were made of the buoyant plume from a submarine spring at a depth of 47 meters in Cambridge Fiord, Baffin Island. Vertical velocities of up to 37 centimeters per second are inferred from the ascent rates of discrete scattering structures in the plume.     

Effects of trace gases and water vapor on the diffusion coefficient of polonium-218

The two-filter method described by Thomas and LeClare was used to investigate the effects of trace concentrations of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide in dry nitrogen on the diffusion coefficient of radium A (polonium-218). Charged radium A was neutralized in 10 parts per million (ppm) nitrogen dioxide in dry nitrogen, in 8.3 ppm nitric oxide in dry 92 percent nitrogen and 8 percent oxygen, and in nitrogen with 20 and 80 percent relative humidity. No neutralization was seen in dry nitrogen, dry oxygen, dry air, or 10 ppm nitric oxide in dry nitrogen. The diffusion coefficient of the neutral radium A species was found to be 0.079 square centimeters per second, regardless of the relative humidity of the nitrogen gas atmosphere. Lower values were observed for charged species.     

Ice-edge eddies in the fram strait marginal ice zone

Five prominent ice-edge eddies in Fram Strait on the scale of 30 to 40 kilometers were observed over deep water within 77 degrees N to 79 degrees N and 5 degrees W to 3 degrees E. The use of remote sensing, a satellite-tracked buoy, and in situ oceanographic measurements showed the presence of eddies with orbital speeds of 30 to 40 centimeters per second and lifetimes of at least 20 days. Ice ablation measurements made within one of these ice-ocean eddies indicated that melting, which proceeded at rates of 20 to 40 centimeters per day, is an important process in determining the ice-edge position. These studies give new insight on the formation, propagation, and dissipation of ice-edge eddies.     

Lunar surface: changes in 31 months and micrometeoroid flux

Comparison of pictures of the lunar surface taken 31 months apart by Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12 show only one change in the areas disturbed by Surveyor: a 2-millimeter particle, in a footpad imprint, that may have fallen in from the rim or been kicked in by an approaching astronaut. Vertical walls 6 centimeters high did not collapse and dark ejecta remained dark. No meteorite craters as large as 1.5 millimeters in diameter were seen on a smooth soil surface 20 centimeters in diameter; this indicates a micrometeoroid flux lower than 4 x 10(-7) micrometeoroids per square meter-second at an energy equivalent to about 3 x 10(-8) gram at 20 kilometers per second. This flux is near the lower limit of previous determinations.