Effect of Kinetic Alfvén Waves on Electron Transport in an Ion-Scale Flux Rope

At the Earth＇s magnetopause, the electron transport due to kinetic Alfvén waves（KAWs） is investigated in an ion-scale flux rope by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. Clear electron dropout around 90° pitch angle is observed throughout the flux rope, where intense KAWs are identified. The KAWs can effectively trap electrons by the wave parallel electric field and the magnetic mirror force, allowing electrons to undergo Landau resonance and be transported into more field-aligned directions. The pitch angle range for the trapped electrons is estimated from the wave analysis, which is in good agreement with direct pitch angle measurements of the electron distributions. The newly formed beam-like electron distribution is unstable and excites whistler waves,as revealed in the observations. We suggest that KAWs could be responsible for the plasma depletion inside a flux rope by this transport process, and thus be responsible for the formation of a typical flux rope.

Carrier transport in III–V quantum-dot structures for solar cells or photodetectors

According to the well-established light-to-electricity conversion theory,resonant excited carriers in the quantum dots will relax to the ground states and cannot escape from the quantum dots to form photocurrent,which have been observed in quantum dots without a p–n junction at an external bias.Here,we experimentally observed more than 88% of the resonantly excited photo carriers escaping from In As quantum dots embedded in a short-circuited p–n junction to form photocurrent.The phenomenon cannot be explained by thermionic emission,tunneling process,and intermediate-band theories.A new mechanism is suggested that the photo carriers escape directly from the quantum dots to form photocurrent rather than relax to the ground state of quantum dots induced by a p–n junction.The finding is important for understanding the low-dimensional semiconductor physics and applications in solar cells and photodiode detectors.

Water quality model with multiform of N/P transport and transformation in the Yangtze River Estuary

As the Yangtze River Estuary and adjacent sea have been classified as a problem area with regard to eutrophication, it is important to explore the spatial and temporal variations of nitrogen and phosphorus （N/P） nutrients in this area. Based on danish hydraulic institute （DHI）＇s open platform Ecolab, a hydrodynamic and water quality model was developed for the Yangtze River Estuary, in which the transport and transformation processes of different forms of N/P nutrients were considered. Validations against measured data show that the model is overall reliable. Preliminary application of the model suggests that the model can simulate the characteristics of high phosphorus concentration area in the Yangtze River Estuary, and the high concentration area is closely related to the resuspension process of particulate phosphorus.