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The ATLAS Inner Detector is a composite tracking system consisting of silicon pixels, silicon strips and straw tubes in a 2 T magnetic field. Its installation was completed in August 2008 and the detector took part in data- taking with single LHC beams and cosmic rays. The initial detector operation, hardware commissioning and in-situ calibrations are described. Tracking performance has been measured with 7.6 million cosmic-ray events, collected using a tracking trigger and reconstructed with modular pattern-recognition and fitting software. The intrinsic hit efficiency and tracking trigger efficiencies are close to 100%. Lorentz angle measurements for both electrons and holes, specific energy-loss calibration and transition radiation turn-on measurements have been performed. Different alignment techniques have been used to reconstruct the detector geometry. After the initial alignment, a transverse impact parameter resolution of 22.1+/-0.9 ��m and a relative momentum resolution ��p/p = (4.83+/-0.16) \times 10-4 GeV-1 \times pT have been measured for high momentum tracks. 34 pages, 25 figures

The authors have performed high resolution angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (HRARPES) on samples of K{sub 0.3}MoO{sub 3}, TiTe{sub 2} and Ti{sub 1+x}S{sub 2}, materials which are a quasi-one dimensional metal, a quasi-two dimensional metal, and a quasi two-dimensional metal (x > 0) or semi-conductor (x = 0), respectively. They are interested in looking at these samples using HRARPES as part of the general program to assess the use of photoemission to determine whether a particular system behaves like a Fermi liquid or not. For one dimensional metallic systems, angle integrated photoemission studies to date, e.g., reveal that, contrary to higher dimensional cases where a sharp Fermi cutoff is seen at the Fermi level, there is very little weight at the Fermi level. It seems that there is yet no agreement why this is so. They think that detailed information they get from HRARPES will help them answer this question. The system Ti{sub 1+x}S{sub 2} gives the possibility to control the filling of the Ti 3d conduction band by adjusting x. Interest in this system lies in measuring the spectra and the line shape of samples with different stoichiometry and correlating the spectroscopic data with the corresponding transport data.

Nanoporous metals have many technologically promising applications, but their tendency to coarsen limits their long-term stability and excludes high temperature applications. Here, we demonstrate that atomic layer deposition (ALD) can be used to stabilize and functionalize nanoporous metals. Specifically, we studied the effect of nanometer-thick alumina and titania ALD films on thermal stability, mechanical properties, and catalytic activity of nanoporous gold (np-Au). Our results demonstrate that even only 1 nm thick oxide films can stabilize the nanoscale morphology of np-Au up to 1,000°C, while simultaneously making the material stronger and stiffer. The catalytic activity of np-Au can be drastically increased by TiO(2) ALD coatings. Our results open the door to high-temperature sensor, actuator, and catalysis applications and functionalized electrodes for energy storage and harvesting applications.

After pioneering work in the 1980s, plasma-based ion implantation (PBII) and plasma-based ion implantation and deposition (PBIID) can now be considered mature technologies for surface modification and thin film deposition. This review starts by looking at the historical development and recalling the basic ideas of PBII. Advantages and disadvantages are compared to conventional ion beam implantation and physical vapor deposition for PBII and PBIID, respectively, followed by a summary of the physics of sheath dynamics, plasma and pulse specifications, plasma diagnostics, and process modeling. The review moves on to technology considerations for plasma sources and process reactors. PBII surface modification and PBIID coatings are applied in a wide range of situations. They include the by-now traditional tribological applications of reducing wear and corrosion through the formation of hard, tough, smooth, low-friction, and chemically inert phases and coatings, e.g., for engine components. PBII has become viable for the formation of shallow junctions and other applications in microelectronics. More recently, the rapidly growing field of biomaterial synthesis makes use of PBII and PBIID to alter surfaces of or produce coatings on surgical implants and other biomedical devices. With limitations, also nonconducting materials such as plastic sheets can be treated. The major interest in PBII processing originates from its flexibility in ion energy (from a few electron volts up to about 100 keV), and the capability to efficiently treat, or deposit on, large areas, and (within limits) to process nonflat, three-dimensional workpieces, including forming and modifying metastable phases and nanostructures.