Poly(p-xylylene) derivatives, widely known as Parylenes, have been considerably adopted by the scientific community for several applications, ranging from simple passive coatings to active device components. Here, we explore the thermal, structural, and electrical properties of Parylene C, and further present a variety of electronic devices featuring this polymer: transistors, capacitors, and digital microfluidic (DMF) devices. We evaluate transistors produced with Parylene C as a dielectric, substrate, and encapsulation layer, either semitransparent or fully transparent. Such transistors exhibit steep transfer curves and subthreshold slopes of 0.26 V/dec, negligible gate leak currents, and fair mobilities. Furthermore, we characterize MIM (metal–insulator–metal) structures with Parylene C as a dielectric and demonstrate the functionality of the polymer deposited in single and double layers under temperature and AC signal stimuli, mimicking the DMF stimuli. Applying temperature generally leads to a decrease in the capacitance of the dielectric layer, whereas applying an AC signal leads to an increase in said capacitance for double-layered Parylene C only. By applying the two stimuli, the capacitance seems to suffer from a balanced influence of both the separated stimuli. Lastly, we demonstrate that DMF devices with double-layered Parylene C allow for faster droplet motion and enable long nucleic acid amplification reactions.

K$_{\alpha , \beta}$ X-ray lines from photon excitation were measured in selected elements from Mg to Cu using a high-resolution double-crystal X-ray spectrometer with a proportional counter, and the K$_beta$/K$_\alpha$ intensity ratio for each element was obtained, after correcting for self-absorption, detection efficiency, and crystal reflectance. This intensity ratio increases rapidly from Mg to Ca but, in the 3d elements region, the increase becomes slower. This is related to the intensity of the Kβ line involving valence electrons. The slow increase of this ratio in the 3d elements region is thought to be due to the correlation between 3d and 4s electrons. Moreover, the chemical shifts, FWHM, asymmetry indices, and Kβ/Kα intensity ratios of the Cr compounds, due to different valences, were also investigated using the same double-crystal X-ray spectrometer. The chemical effects were clearly observed, and the Kβ/Kα intensity ratio was found to be compound-dependent for Cr.

In this work, we present K- and L- shell fluorescence yield values of the full isonuclear sequence of Fe ions, using a state-of-the-art multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock approach. These results may be of importance for spectral fitting and plasma modeling, both in laboratory and astrophysical studies, where Fe is an important benchmark element. The K-shell fluorescence yields were found to be very similar up to the removal of 14 electrons.

The geochemical signatures of dinosaur eggshells represent well-established proxies in paleoenvironmental and paleobiological research. The variable sampling procedures reported in the literature, however, deserve attention. In order to evaluate the impact of different sampling methodologies on carbon and oxygen isotope and elemental concentrations, grinding was contrasted with drilling to extract powder samples from eggshell fragments collected at several locations. Eggshell data were further contrasted with surface materials, encasing matrix and compared with independent proxies using petrographic and elemental techniques. Iron and manganese elemental concentrations revealed an enrichment sequence depending on the sampling strategy for the same eggshell fragment. This pattern can be mistaken for a variable state of preservation. In contrast, carbon and oxygen isotope values exhibited only subtle differences and lacked clear trends. This suggests that isotope data are less susceptible to different methodological approaches. It is shown that drilling offers a wider range of possibilities compared to grinding (e.g., faster and less destructive). Additionally, drilled powder samples can confidently be used for elemental and isotope analysis, excluding contamination, thus providing a more accurate set of proxy data from eggshell archives.

The CREMA collaboration is pursuing a measurement of the ground-state hyperfine splitting (HFS) in muonic hydrogen (μp) with 1 ppm accuracy by means of pulsed laser spectroscopy to determine the two-photon-exchange contribution with 2×10-4 relative accuracy. In the proposed experiment, the μp atom undergoes a laser excitation from the singlet hyperfine state to the triplet hyperfine state, then is quenched back to the singlet state by an inelastic collision with a H2 molecule. The resulting increase of kinetic energy after the collisional deexcitation is used as a signature of a successful laser transition between hyperfine states. In this paper, we calculate the combined probability that a μp atom initially in the singlet hyperfine state undergoes a laser excitation to the triplet state followed by a collisional-induced deexcitation back to the singlet state. This combined probability has been computed using the optical Bloch equations including the inelastic and elastic collisions. Omitting the decoherence effects caused by the laser bandwidth and collisions would overestimate the transition probability by more than a factor of two in the experimental conditions. Moreover, we also account for Doppler effects and provide the matrix element, the saturation fluence, the elastic and inelastic collision rates for the singlet and triplet states, and the resonance linewidth. This calculation thus quantifies one of the key unknowns of the HFS experiment, leading to a precise definition of the requirements for the laser system and to an optimization of the hydrogen gas target where μp is formed and the laser spectroscopy will occur.