The Bi0.5As1.5Te2.98Se0.02 single crystal in 11 mm?80 mm size was grown using the Bridgman method. Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis used to determine chemical composition of studied samples, as well for checking and confirming homogeneity samples. Mobility, concentration charge majority carriers Hall coefficient crystal, were determined a Effec system based on Van der Pauw Effect m...

We employ low-energy electron microscopy to study the kinetics of thermal etching, or sublimation, of Cr(001) at approximately 1100 K. Atomic layers are removed from the surface by spontaneous nucleation and growth of two-dimensional vacancy islands, by rotation of spiral steps, and by island decay. The growth rates of vacancy islands and the rotation frequencies of double spirals are measured ...

We show that external fluctuations induce excitable behavior in a bistable spatially extended system with activator-inhibitor dynamics of the FitzHugh-Nagumo type. This can be understood as a mechanism for sustained signal propagation in bistable media. The phase diagram of the stochastic system is analytically obtained and numerically verified. For small-noise intensities, front propagation be...

Water under tension, as can be found in several systems including tree vessels, is metastable. Cavitation can spontaneously occur, nucleating a bubble. We investigate the dynamics of spontaneous or triggered cavitation inside water filled microcavities of a hydrogel. Results show that a stable bubble is created in only a microsecond time scale, after transient oscillations. Then, a diffusion dr...

Water under tension, as can be found in several systems including tree vessels, is metastable. Cavitation can spontaneously occur, nucleating a bubble. We investigate the dynamics of spontaneous or triggered cavitation inside water filled microcavities of a hydrogel. Results show that a stable bubble is created in only a microsecond timescale, after transient oscillations. Then, a diffusion dri...

Single crystals of distrontium lithium beryllium triborate, Sr(2)LiBeB(3)O(8), were obtained by spontaneous nucleation from a high-temperature melt. In the Sr(2)Li[BeB(3)O(8)] structure, [BeB(2)O(7)](6-) rings, made up from one BeO(4) tetra-hedron and two BO(3) triangles, are connected to each other by [BO(3)] triangles to form the smallest repeat unit {[BeB(3)O(8)](8-)} and then form chains al...

The value of the intrinsic ferroelectric coercive field is obtained independently, from general energy considerations and from the predictions of several models of the ferroelectric state. All predictions yield a value of the order of the depolarization field, which is equal to the spontaneous polarization divided by the dielectric permittivity, and are consistent with the recent measurements o...

Recent experiments have shown that the spontaneous activity of young dissociated neuronal cultures can be described as a process highly inhomogeneous nucleation and front propagation due to localization noise activity, i.e., focusing. However, basic understanding mechanisms build-up leading remain an open fundamental problem. Here we present minimal dynamical model called stochastic quorum perc...

Controlled ice nucleation is an important mechanism in cold-hardy plant tissues for avoiding excessive supercooling of the protoplasm, for inducing extracellular freezing and/or for accommodating ice crystals in specific tissues. To understand its nature, it is necessary to characterize the ice nucleation activity (INA), defined as the ability of a tissue to induce heterogeneous ice nucleation....