The consumption of probiotics by pregnant and lactating women may prevent the onset of allergic disorders in their children by increasing the concentrations of immunoactive agents such as cytokines in breast milk. Prebiotics such as fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) increase the number of beneficial organisms such as bifidobacteria. Thus, prebiotics may have an effect similar to that of probiotics. The objective of the present study was to carry out a comprehensive analysis of mRNA expression in human milk cells to identify changes in the concentrations of cytokines in breast milk after the consumption of FOS (4 g × 2 times/d) by pregnant and lactating women. The microarray analysis of human milk cells demonstrated that the expression levels of five genes in colostrum samples and fourteen genes in 1-month breast milk samples differed more than 3-fold between the FOS and control groups (sucrose group). The mRNA expression level of IL-27, a cytokine associated with immunoregulatory function, was significantly higher in 1-month breast milk samples obtained from the FOS group than in those obtained from the control group. In addition, the protein concentrations of IL-27 in colostrum and 1-month breast milk samples were significantly higher in the FOS group than in the control group. In conclusion, the consumption of FOS by pregnant and lactating women increases the production of IL-27 in breast milk. Future studies will address the association of this phenomenon with the onset of allergic disorders in children.

This article presents results from the first 3 rounds of an international intercomparison of measurements of Δ14CO2 in liter-scale samples of whole air by groups using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The ultimate goal of the intercomparison is to allow the merging of Δ14CO2 data from different groups, with the confidence that differences in the data are geophysical gradients and not artifacts of calibration. Eight groups have participated in at least 1 round of the intercomparison, which has so far included 3 rounds of air distribution between 2007 and 2010. The comparison is intended to be ongoing, so that: a) the community obtains a regular assessment of differences between laboratories; and b) individual laboratories can begin to assess the long-term repeatability of their measurements of the same source air. Air used in the intercomparison was compressed into 2 high-pressure cylinders in 2005 and 2006 at Niwot Ridge, Colorado (USA), with one of the tanks “spiked” with fossil CO2, so that the 2 tanks span the range of Δ14CO2 typically encountered when measuring air from both remote background locations and polluted urban ones. Three groups show interlaboratory comparability within l% for ambient level Δ14CO2. For high CO2/low Δ14CO2 air, 4 laboratories showed comparability within 2%. This approaches the goals set out by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) CO2 Measurements Experts Group in 2005. One important observation is that single-sample precisions typically reported by the AMS community cannot always explain the observed differences within and between laboratories. This emphasizes the need to use long-term repeatability as a metric for measurement precision, especially in the context of long-term atmospheric monitoring.

This article reviews the development of nonpolar and semipolar InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs), emphasizing structures on freestanding bulk GaN. A brief history of LED development on each orientation is provided, followed by a discussion of the most relevant and recent results. The context is related to several current LED issues, such as the realization of high-efficiency white solid-state lighting, potential solutions to the “green gap,” and applications for polarized emitters. The section on nonpolar LEDs highlights high-power violet and blue emitters and considers the effects of indium incorporation and substrate miscut. The section on semipolar GaN reviews the development of LEDs in the violet, blue, green, and yellow regions and highlights the potential of InGaN/GaN LEDs as an alternative technology to AlInGaP for yellow emitters. A brief review of polarization anisotropy also is included for each orientation. Finally, a two source white light system utilizing a nonpolar blue LED and a semipolar yellow LED is presented.

The continuous improvement in luminous efficacy of “white” light-emitting-diode (LED) sources offers the potential of considerable energy savings in general lighting applications. Recent experiments at UCSB have demonstrated 117 lumens per watt (lm/W) in white LEDs, with further improvements expected in the near future. Considerable progress has also been achieved using nonpolar GaN, such as a-plane {1120} and m-plane {1100} GaN, or semipolar GaN substrates. Such devices avoid the deleterious effects of charge separation due to spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization inherent in most c-axis-oriented devices.

We studied the effect of extended defects on electrical characteristics of Si doped n-type nonpolar a-plane GaN films. The n-type GaN layers were grown on co-loaded reduced defect density sidewall lateral epitaxial overgrowth (SLEO) a-plane GaN templates and high defect density planar a-plane GaN templates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The highest conductivity value was observed at the carrier concentration of 1.05 × 1019 cm−3 as 261.12 cm2/Vs for SLEO a-GaN and 106.77 cm2/Vs for the planar a-plane GaN samples. At the same doping level, the carrier compensation for SLEO samples was ∼12% less than planar samples.

High-energy protons are generated by focusing an ultrashort pulsed high intensity laser at the Advanced Photon Research Center, JAERI-Kansai onto thin (thickness <10 μm) Tantalum targets. The laser intensities are about 4 × 1018 W/cm2. The prepulse level of the laser pulse is measured with combination of a PIN photo diode and a cross correlator and is less than 10−6. A quarter-wave plate is installed into the laser beam line to create circularly polarized pulses. Collimated high energy protons are observed with CH coated Tantalum targets irradiated with the circularly polarized laser pulses. The beam divergence of the generated proton beam is measured with a CR-39 track detector and is about 6 mrad.

The performance of conventional c-plane GaN-based optoelectronic devices suffers from the effects of strong polarization-induced electric fields along the conduction direction, which result in a reduced overlap between electron and hole wavefunctions. These devices consequently demonstrate low radiative recombination rates, and a blue-shift in peak emission wavelength with increasing bias. There have been several recent demonstrations of light emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated on non-polar a- and m- plane GaN that show greatly reduced to zero blue-shift of peak emission wavelength, and other recent work on non-polar GaN has yielded hole concentrations that are almost an order of magnitude higher than for c-plane GaN.

The effects of the strong polarization-induced electric fields may, conceivably, also be mitigated or potentially eliminated by growing films on so-called ‘semipolar’ planes. A semipolar plane is any plane that may not be classified as a c-, a- or m- plane, and has at least two non-zero h, i, or k Miller indices and a nonzero l Miller index (, and planes, for example). It is expected that devices grown on these semipolar planes should also demonstrate a reduced blue-shift in peak emission wavelength and higher hole concentrations. Further, recent work also suggests that the indium incorporation efficiency for growth on semipolar planes is comparable to that for growth on the c-plane.

We demonstrate the first green InGaN/GaN LED grown on a planar semipolar GaN template. The LED structure is grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and the 20 μm-thick, specular and optically transparent template is grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The fabricated devices have a peak emission wavelength of ∼525 nm and demonstrate rectifying behavior, with a low turn-on voltage of 3.2 V. We observe a small ∼7 nm blue-shift in the peak emission wavelength during electroluminescence measurements, over the range 20 to 250 mA. We also see an almost linear increase in the output power from 5 mA to 200 mA, with no appreciable decrease in the external quantum efficiency over the same range. We also observe evidence of polarization anisotropy in the emission from the semipolar green LEDs.

We have investigated the design parameters for high-Q photonic-crystal (PC) bandgap modes in the emission wavelengths of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells. We demonstrate experimental schemes to realize 2D triangular-lattice PC membrane structures, which is essential to obtain photonic bandgap (PBG) modes, and the optical properties of L7 membrane nanocavities that consist of seven missing holes in the Γ-K direction. L7 cavities show pronounced resonances with Q factors of 300 to 800 in the PBG as well as the enhancement of light extraction of the broad InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well emission by the 2D PBG.

Ammonothermal growth of GaN was studied to determine its eventual utility for mass production of GaN bulk crystals. Dissolution of GaN in supercritical ammonia with 1 M NaNH2 was investigated through a weight loss method. The time dependence of the weight loss was examined at 500°C and 525°C. Since the weight loss did not reach saturation as a function of time, the solubility limit was not realized. However, experiments demonstrate that GaN has a negative temperature dependence of solubility in supercritical ammonobasic solutions. Based on this result, GaN was grown via fluid transport from metallic Ga to a free-standing GaN single crystal seed by placing the seed crystal in a higher temperature zone and the nutrient in a lower temperature zone. GaN films with thickness of 5 μm (Ga face) and 4 μm (N face) were simultaneously grown on the seed in three days. The surface morphology, optical property, and defect density were found to be different for films on Ga face and N face.

The effect of heat treatments (aging or annealing) on microstructure was investigated for rapidly solidified ribbons of near-stoichiometric TiCo. In as-spun ribbons, it was observed by TEM that an equiaxed grain structure was developed and its crystal structure had been already B2-ordered, while a small amount of a second phase, Ti2Co, finely disperses in grains and along grain boundaries. Some grains were dislocation-free but others contained curved or helical dislocations and prismatic loops having a Burgers vector parallel to <100> directions. By annealing the as-spun ribbons at 700°C for 24h, the dislocation density was obviously increased compared with that of the as-spun ribbons, while grain growth appears to occur slightly. The increase of the dislocation density in the annealed ribbons is believed to result from the condensation and/or absorption of supersaturated vacancies. Therefore, the TEM observation results indicate that a large amount of supersaturated thermal vacancies were retained in the TiCo ribbons by the rapid solidification.

Relaxation behavior of supersaturated vacancies in water-quenched and rapidly solidified B2 type CoAl and NiAl with the stoichiometric composition was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In both CoAl and NiAl quenched from 1773 K, a single exothermic peak due mainly to the recovery of supersaturated vacancies appeared near 950 K. On the other hand, the exothermic peak was also observed in as-spun rapidly solidified CoAl and NiAl ribbons, and the temperature range of the peak was much broader than that of quenched-in bulks, suggesting that the peak in the rapidly solidified ribbons results from not only a single recovery process of vacancies but also those of some other lattice defects. TEM observation showed that a large amount of dislocations were introduced in the NiAl ribbon and that comparatively many voids as well as an amount of dislocations were introduced in the CoAl ribbon.

Key issues of heavy ion beam (HIB) inertial confinement fusion (ICF) include an efficient stable beam transport, beam focusing, uniform fuel pellet implosion, and so on. To realize a HIB fine focus on a fuel pellet, space-charge neutralization of incident focusing HIB is required at the HIB final transport just after a final focusing element in an HIB accelerator. In this article, an insulator annular tube guide is proposed at the final transport part, through which a HIB is transported. The physical mechanism of HIB charge neutralization based on an insulator annular guide is as follows: A local electric field created by HIB induces local discharges, and plasma is produced on the insulator inner surface. Then electrons are extracted from the plasma by the HIB net space charge. The electrons emitted neutralize the HIB space charge well.

This study aimed to assess the visuospatial abilities of five children with Williams syndrome (four males aged 9 years 3 months, 7 years 11 months, 8 years 1 month, and 10 years 8 months respectively, and one female aged 6 years 3 months). First, the children's visuospatial abilities were examined by asking them to copy a figure. Second, their cognitive processing abilities were assessed using the Japanese Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. This test was used because it is an objective one, standardized in Japan, and is a measure of fluid ability including spatial localization. Participants scored significantly low on the spatial memory subtest indicating that there was a deficit in spatial localization. Children's performance in line copying tasks improved when the dots were in colour. Results suggest a deficit in the dorsal stream of visual cognition, with a relatively preserved ventral stream.

Epitaxially laterally overgrown GaN on sapphire was used to reduce the number of threading dislocations originating from the interface of the GaN epilayer with the sapphire substrate. The GaN layer above the SiO2 mask area surrounding the window and corresponding to the lateral overgrowth was nearly free of threading dislocations. A high density of threading dislocations was observed in the vicinity of GaN grown in the window regions. InGaN multiquantum well-structure laser diodes (LDs) grown on pure GaN substrates, which were fabricated by removing the sapphire substrate, were demonstrated. The LDs with an output power of 5 mW exhibited a lifetime of more than 290 h and an estimated lifetime of 10,000 h despite a relatively large threshold current density. The far-field pattern of the LDs with a cleaved mirror facet revealed single-mode emission without any interference effects.

The symmetry of the recombining electrons and holes in lightly photo-excited InGaN LEDs revealed through ODMR is related to the physical structure, band structure and defects present. Calculations of the electron-g within the k• p formalism give the average shift from the free-electron value for GaN but are not fully reconciled with the anisotropy. This theory is also extended to InGaN alloys for both pseudomorphic and relaxed layers. The average shift is close to the experimental values for the green LED. The strongly reduced hole anisotropies seen experimentally are explained by a recently published theory for acceptors in GaN.

The following article, originally published in Materials Research Society Proceedings Volume 482, is based on the address that Shuji Nakamura, recipient of an MRS Medal Award, presented during Symposium X of the 1997 MRS Fall Meeting. Nakamura was recognized for “the development of lattice-mismatched GaN based heteroepitaxy and its application to the creation of blue and green light-emitting diodes and short wave-length laser diodes.”

The symmetry of the recombining electrons and holes in lightly photo-excited InGaN LEDs revealed through ODMR is related to the physical structure, band structure and defects present. Calculations of the electron-g within the k•p formalism give the average shift from the free-electron value for GaN but are not fully reconciled with the anisotropy. This theory is also extended to InGaN alloys for both pseudomorphic and relaxed layers. The average shift is close to the experimental values for the green LED. The strongly reduced hole anisotropies seen experimentally are explained by a recently published theory for acceptors in GaN.

Short-wavelength-emitting devices, such as blue laser diodes (LDs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), are currently sought for a number of applications, including full-color electroluminescent displays, laser printers, read-write laser sources for high-density information storage on magnetic and optical media, and sources for undersea optical communications. For these purposes, II–VI materials such as ZnSe and SiC, and III–V-nitride semiconductors such as GaN have been investigated intensively for a long time. However it was impossible to obtain high-brightness (over 1 cd) blue LEDs and reliable LDs. Much progress has been achieved recently on green LEDs and LDs using II–VI-based materials. The short lifetimes prevent II–VI-based devices from commercialization at present. The short lifetime of these II-VI-based devices may be caused by the crystal defects at a density of 103/cm2 because one crystal defect would cause the propagation of other defects leading to failure of the devices. Another wide-bandgap material for blue LEDs is SiC. The brightness of SiC blue LEDs is only between 10 mcd and 20 mcd because of the indirect bandgap of this material.

On green LEDs, the external quantum efficiency of conventional, green GaP LEDs is only 0.1% due to the indirect bandgap of this material. The peak wavelength is 555 nm (yellowish green). As another material for green emission devices, AlInGaP has been used. The present performance of green AlInGaP LEDs is an emission wavelength of 570 nm (yellowish green) and maximum external quantum efficiency of 1%.

InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure laser diodes with A10.14Ga0.86N/GaN modulation doped strained-layer superlattice cladding layers grown on an epitaxially laterally overgrown GaN substrate were demonstrated to have an estimated lifetime of more than 10,000 hours under continuous-wave operation at 20°C. Under operation at a high temperature of 50°C, the lifetime was longer than 1,000 hours. The activation energy of the lifetime was estimated to be 0.5 eV. With the operating current increasing above the threshold, a self-pulsation with a high frequency of 3.5 GHz was observed. The relative intensity noise (RIN) less than -145 dB/Hz was obtained even at the 6% optical feedback using the high-frequency modulation of 600 MHz. The threshold carrier density of the InGaN MQW-structure LDs was estimated to be 3 × 1019/cm3 using a carrier lifetime of 1.8 ns.