We report measurements of the real and imaginary part of the dielectric constant of liquid water in the far-infrared region from 0.1 to 2.0 THz in a temperature range from 271.1 to 366.7 K. The data have been obtained with the use of THz time domain reflection spectroscopy, utilizing ultrashort electromagnetic pulses generated from a photoconductive antenna driven by femtosecond laser pulses. A Debye model with an additional relaxation time is used to fit the frequency dependence of the complex dielectric constants. We obtain a fast ͑fs͒ and a Debye ͑ps͒ relaxation time for the macroscopic polarization. The corresponding time correlation functions have been calculated with molecular dynamics simulations and are compared with experimental relaxation times. The temperature dependence of the Debye relaxation time is analyzed using three models: Transition state theory, a Debye-Stoke-Einstein relation between the viscosity and the Debye time, and a model stating that its temperature dependence can be extrapolated from a singularity of liquid water at 228 K. We find an excellent agreement between experiment and the two latter models. The simulations, however, present results with too large statistical error for establishing a relation for the temperature dependence.

We have used multiconfiguration self-consistent-field theory to determine indirect nuclear spin–spin coupling constants. The Fermi contact, spin dipole, and paramagnetic spin–orbit contributions are evaluated as multiconfiguration linear response functions at zero frequency and the diamagnetic spin–orbit contribution as an average value of the multiconfiguration wave function. Sample calculations on HD and CH4 demonstrate that most of the correlation contributions can be recovered in relatively small complete active space (CAS) reference state calculations.

A comparative study of confined fluid films composed of three different alkanes has been carried out using molecular dynamic simulation techniques. The films were confined in thin slit pores, only a few molecular diameters thick, and the substances studied were n-butane, n-decane, and 5-butyl-nonane. The properties of the film were obtained in equilibrium conditions and under shear. All the studied films show a strong layering of the distribution of methylene subunits. Chains at the solid boundaries align with the walls and show a tendency to stretch. The diffusion parallel to the solid walls is found to be higher in the proximity of the walls than in the inner part of the pore. The molecular motion normal to the confining walls can be described as noncorrelated molecular transitions between the contact layer and the inner part of the pore. Shear flow was induced in the film by moving the solid walls. The resulting velocity profiles across the pore were computed as well as the viscosity of the films. The viscosities of the confined fluids in the three cases appear to be the same as those of the bulk, within the uncertainty of the results. No significant influence of the shear flow on the inter- or intramolecular was found.

Growth and characterization of midinfrared InGaAs/InAlAs strained triplequantumwell lightemitting diodes grown on latticemismatched GaAs substrates

With chemical beam epitaxy we stacked small InAs islands, separated by thin GaAs layers. Reflection electron diffraction during growth showed that after a seed-layer growth, subsequent depositions require less InAs to form the islands. At 5 K the stacks have narrower luminescence peaks at lower energies than single island layers, and the stacks luminesce at room temperature. For 4-nm-high pyramidal islands with 20-nm-wide bases, we observed vertical periods down to 5.4 nm, small enough to couple quantum mechanically. The electronic structures possible for this class of objects should be sufficient for designing and observing room temperature quantum mechanical phenomena.