Diffusion Profiles Research Articles

Efficiency of random search with space-dependent diffusivity.

We address the problem of random search for a target in an environment with a space-dependent diffusion coefficient D(x). Considering a general form of the diffusion differential operator that includes Itô, Stratonovich, and Hänggi-Klimontovich interpretations of the associated stochastic process, we obtain and analyze the first-passage-time distribution and use it to compute the search efficiency E=〈1/t〉. For the paradigmatic power-law diffusion coefficient D(x)=D_{0}|x|^{α}, where x is the distance from the target and α<2, we show the impact of the different interpretations. For the Stratonovich framework, we obtain a closed-form expression for E, valid for arbitrary diffusion coefficient D(x). This result depends only on the distribution of diffusivity values and not on its spatial organization. Furthermore, the analytical expression predicts that a heterogeneous diffusivity profile leads to a lower efficiency than the homogeneous one with the same average level within the space between the target and the searcher initial position, but this efficiency can be exceeded for other interpretations.

Scanning Electron Microscopy Dopant Contrast Imaging of Phosphorus‐Diffused Silicon

AbstractPhosphorous dopant diffusion profiles feature in many silicon semiconductor devices, including the vast majority of silicon solar cells. Accurate spatially resolved dopant profiling is crucial for understanding the performance of these diffused regions, however, it is very challenging to obtain such profiles in non‐planar samples. Scanning electron microscopy for dopant contrast imaging (SEMDCI), where the secondary electron (SE) image contrast is used to determine the dopant level of a semiconductor sample, is an ideal candidate for Si dopant profiling, especially for silicon samples with surface nanotexturing or black silicon (BSi) technology. However, in previous SEMDCI studies, the dopant concentration of heavily doped n‐type layers in silicon samples have shown a poor correlation with the SE signal contrast. In this work, 1) good contrast for n‐type diffused silicon without contrast‐enhancing techniques; 2) a new contrast definition to account for imaging non‐uniformities; 3) clear correlations between SE contrast and sample work function for phosphorus‐diffused planar silicon specimens across a wide range of emitter profiles; 4) implementation of an empirical baseline correction to normalize scanning electron microscopy image condition variations, are presented. This SEMDCI method is subsequently used for the first time to obtain 2D electron concentration maps for both planar and BSi samples.

Estimation of Tracer and Intrinsic Diffusion Coefficients from Body Diagonal Diffusion Couples in a Multi-Principal Element Alloy

The estimation of (n-1)2 interdiffusion coefficients in an n component system requires (n-1) diffusion paths to intersect or pass closely in the (n-1) dimensional space according to the body diagonal diffusion couple method. These interdiffusion coefficients are related to n(n-1) intrinsic (or n tracer diffusion coefficients), which cannot be estimated following the Kirkendall marker experiment in a multicomponent system despite their importance for understanding the atomic mechanism of diffusion and the physico-mechanical properties of materials. In this study, the estimation of tracer diffusion coefficients from only two diffusion profiles following the concept of the body diagonal diffusion couple method in a multicomponent system is demonstrated. Subsequently, one can estimate the intrinsic and interdiffusion coefficients. This reduces the overall effort up to a great extent since it needs only two instead of (n-1) diffusion profiles irrespective of the number of components, with an additional benefit of enabling the estimation of all types of diffusion coefficients. The available tracer diffusion coefficients estimated following the radiotracer method are compared to the data estimated in this study. This method can also be extended to the systems where the radiotracer method is not feasible.

Modelling of dispersed oil/water flow in a near-horizontal pipe

A gravity-diffusion model was implemented for predicting water concentration profiles in dispersed oil-continuous oil–water flows. In this model, the measured droplet size distributions were used instead of a droplet size closure law. The turbulent diffusion was modelled assuming single-phase flow while the gravitational drift was based on closure laws from the literature, including hindrance effects. The results showed that including the effect of turbulence on the drag force was important, where the turbulent fluctuations cause an increase in the average drag because of the non-linearity of the drag law. The model yielded a good match with the experimental data reported by Gonzales et al. (Gonzalez et al., 2022), especially at the highest flow rates.We also concluded that the following model simplification could be introduced without changing the results significantly:1)The droplet size distributions could be replaced by the Sauter mean droplet size.2)The diffusivity profile model could be replaced by a uniform diffusivity model.

Recent advances in nanoelectrochemistry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions

The nanoscale interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (nanoITIES) is an emerging versatile analytical platform. Analytical advantages of chemical analysis using the nanoITIES include imaging with nanometer spatial resolution, probing fast dynamics with millisecond temporal resolution and fast response times, selectively detecting analytes, probing fundamental chemical processes (e.g., diffusion profiles), and versatile sensing of metal ions, proteins, neurotransmitters, ionic and neutral species, redox-active and non-redox active analytes, etc. We present here a brief theoretical background of the nanoITIES and experimental advances from the past five years. These advances include imaging of nanopores, probing diffusion profiles, biosensing, a new pH modulation mechanism for sensing neutral species, and studying exocytosis from Aplysia californica neurons.

Modeling of the transient diffusion regime in fully porous particles—Application to the analysis of large biomolecules by ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography

The transient diffusion regime of large biomolecules such as monoclonal antibodies, double-stranded (ds) DNA (base pair number ∼ 100), and virus-like particles is modeled in a single fully porous particle utilized as size exclusion chromatography (SEC) packing materials in ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC). The expression of the time and space dependent concentration profiles is derived for a step concentration change. Four different UHPLC particles were considered in the calculations depending on the size of the analyte : 2.0 μm 125 Å Bridge-Ethylene-Hybrid (BEH) XBridgeTM particles for small molecules (size: 4 Å), 2.0 μm 125 Å and 250 Å BEH particles for monoclonal antibodies (size: 55 Å), 2.0 μm 250 Å and 2.5 μm 450 Å BEH particles for dsDNA (size: 160 Å), and 2.5 μm 900 Å BEH particles for virus-like particles (size: 500 Å). The accessible porosities and the hindrance diffusion factors of these analytes were determined from the physical reconstruction of the internal structure of a 2.0 μm 130 Å BEH particle and from the simulation of the analyte mobility in the reconstructed mesopores. The analysis of the transient diffusion profiles reveals that there is insufficient time for the largest analytes to fully equilibrate the BEH particles in UHPLC. The dynamic capacity of the BEH particles is estimated to decrease from more than 99% for small molecules to 96% for monoclonal antibodies, 74% for 100 base pair dsDNA, and to less than 2% for virus-like particles. A full but reduced column capacity relative to fully porous particles can be recovered for monoclonal antibodies by considering superficially porous particles with a core-to-particle diameter ratio of about 0.8. In contrast, this is not possible for either large dsDNA (base pair number ≥ 100) or virus-like particles because the shell thickness would become smaller than the mesopore size required. The presented results open up two research avenues in order to analyze such large biomolecules by UHPLC: prepare ultra-high pressure-resistant sub-3 μm silica-based particles with pore sizes much larger than 1000 Å and design proper nonporous macrostructures to load, trap, separate, and elute rapidly by gradient UHPLC.

Diffusion coefficients and atomic mobilities in fcc Ag–Ge and Cu–Ge alloys: Experiment and modeling

The comprehensive investigations regarding the diffusion behaviors for Ag–Ge and Cu–Ge solders play key roles in their design and application. However, the diffusion behaviors in fcc Ag–Ge and Cu–Ge binary systems have not been carried out. To fill this gap, their diffusion characteristics were studied in this work based on the measured composition profiles of diffusion couples prepared for fcc Ag/Ag–Ge diffusion couples annealed at 873, 923 and 973 K as well as fcc Cu/Cu–Ge diffusion couples annealed at 1023, 1073 and 1123 K. On the basis of measured composition profiles, the composition-dependent interdiffusivities were calculated by the numerical inverse method incorporated in CALTPP (CALculation of ThermoPhysical Properties) program, which agree well with the ones calculated by the classic Sauer-Freise method. Besides, the atomic mobilities in fcc Ag–Ge and Cu–Ge alloys were assessed based on the diffusivities obtained from the literature and this work. Comparisons between model-predicted diffusion characteristics (viz. composition profiles and interdiffusivities) and experimental ones further validate the reliability of the presently obtained atomic mobilities. Insights gained in this work are of scientific significance and practical benefit for designing new Ge-bearing Ag and Cu solers.

Age-related changes in diffuse optical tomography sensitivity profiles from childhood to adulthood.

.Significance: Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) uses near-infrared light spectroscopy to measure changes in cerebral hemoglobin concentration. Anatomical interpretations of the brain location that generates the hemodynamic signal require accurate descriptions of the DOT sensitivity to the underlying cortex. DOT sensitivity profiles are different in infants compared with adults. However, the descriptions of DOT sensitivity profiles from early childhood to adulthood are lacking despite the continuous head and brain development.Aim: We aim to investigate age-related differences in DOT sensitivity profiles in individuals aged from 2 to 34 years with narrow age ranges of 0.5 or 1 year.Approach: We implemented existing photon migration simulation methods and computed source–detector channel DOT sensitivity using age-appropriate, realistic head models.Results: DOT sensitivity profiles change systematically as a function of source–detector separation distance for all age groups. Children displayed distinctive DOT sensitivity profiles compared to older individuals, and the differences were enhanced at larger separation distances.Conclusions: The findings have important implications for the design of source–detector placement and image reconstruction. Age-appropriate realistic head models should be used to provide anatomical guidance for standalone DOT data. Using age-inappropriate head models will have more negative impacts on estimation accuracy in younger children.

Mixing in the Philippine Sea: Geography variability and parameterization

The Philippine Sea Mixing Experiment (PhiMix) was carried out in 2021 concurrently from two research vessels, obtaining microstructure measurements and fine structure-based estimates of turbulence and diffusivity covering nearly the whole Philippine basin for the first time. The inhomogeneous spatial distribution and weak magnitudes of turbulent mixing in the Philippine Sea basin were revealed, according to the upper-ocean turbulence measurements and full-depth CTD datasets. The averaged diffusivities in the Philippine Basin were ∼10−2 m2s−1 in the surface mixed layer and ∼10−5.5 m2s−1 in the ocean interior. Below the thermocline, the diffusivities generally increased and reached 10−4 m2s−1 above rough topography. Centered on the Palau Ridge, a significant east-west asymmetry was noted, with stronger mixing on the east side of the ridge. Additionally, the diapycnal diffusivity's spatial variability coincided with that inferred from tidal mixing between 500 and 3000 m. Typical dissipation rate and diapycnal diffusivity profiles in the Philippine Sea differed from the global averaged profiles, which form the basis of most existing mixing parameterizations. Here we proposed an improved parameterization scheme based on these new direct microstructure observations in the Philippine Sea. The new mixing parameterization scheme (PhiMixPar-PMP) performed well for the Northwest Pacific Ocean in ocean simulations. This regional study on mixing properties in the Philippine Sea can fill a knowledge gap in the big picture of global mixing geography and improve turbulence parameterizations in the ocean models.

A study of distributed‐order time fractional diffusion models with continuous distribution weight functions

AbstractThe distributed‐order time fractional diffusion model with Dirichlet nonhomogeneous boundary conditions on a finite domain is considered. Four choices of continuous distribution weight functions with mean μ and standard deviation σ are investigated to study their impact on both the short‐time and long‐time solution behavior. An implicit numerical method implemented on a graded mesh is proposed to solve the model and the stability and convergence analysis are presented. Semi‐analytic solutions are also derived for these distributions to assess the accuracy of the scheme. Numerical results highlight that the four continuous distribution weight functions produce a short‐time solution behavior that is consistent with those solutions from the classical time fractional partial differential equation with fractional order γ* = μ. There are however long‐time differences in the solution behavior that become more distinguishable as σ increases. In particular, we find a smaller value of σ produces more diffuse profiles and the diffusion rate slows as σ increases. Furthermore, the asymptotic behavior of the solution may be influenced by the time‐fractional orders ranging between the smallest nonzero weight order and mean μ for the continuous uniform and raised cosine distribution weight functions, respectively. Similar findings are also observed for the truncated normal and beta distributions.

Simultaneously Embedding Indomethacin and Electrodeposition of Polypyrrole on Various CoCr Alloys from Ionic Liquids.

The aim of the present investigation is the electrochemical deposition of polypyrrole films from choline chloride-based ionic liquids at various potential, period times and simultaneously an indomethacin embedding and release. The electrodeposition films were performed on CoCr commercial type Wirobond C (WBC) and, Heraenium CE (Hera) using as electroprocedures for deposition cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The morphology of obtained films was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An FT-IR investigation of CoCr alloys before and after electrodeposition was able to identify the presence of polymer and drug. The research included an evaluation of the hydrophilic character of all studied samples and their electrochemical characterization in Tanni Zuchi artificial saliva. In the electrochemical study, the following methods have been used: open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization. Indomethacin release from the polymeric film was determined using UV-VIS spectra. Based on Fick’s law of diffusion and indomethacin release profile, a kinetic law for release was established and discussed.

Probabilistic estimation of depth-resolved profiles of soil thermal diffusivity from temperature time series

Abstract. Improving the quantification of soil thermal and physical properties is key to achieving a better understanding and prediction of soil hydro-biogeochemical processes and their responses to changes in atmospheric forcing. Obtaining such information at numerous locations and/or over time with conventional soil sampling is challenging. The increasing availability of low-cost, vertically resolved temperature sensor arrays offers promise for improving the estimation of soil thermal properties from temperature time series, and the possible indirect estimation of physical properties. Still, the reliability and limitations of such an approach need to be assessed. In the present study, we develop a parameter estimation approach based on a combination of thermal modeling, sliding time windows, Bayesian inference, and Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation to estimate thermal diffusivity and its uncertainty over time, at numerous locations and at an unprecedented vertical spatial resolution (i.e., down to 5 to 10 cm vertical resolution) from soil temperature time series. We provide the necessary framework to assess under which environmental conditions (soil temperature gradient, fluctuations, and trend), temperature sensor characteristics (bias and level of noise), and deployment geometries (sensor number and position) soil thermal diffusivity can be reliably inferred. We validate the method with synthetic experiments and field studies. The synthetic experiments show that in the presence of median diurnal fluctuations ≥ 1.5 ∘C at 5 cm below the ground surface, temperature gradients &gt; 2 ∘C m−1, and a sliding time window of at least 4 d the proposed method provides reliable depth-resolved thermal diffusivity estimates with percentage errors ≤ 10 % and posterior relative standard deviations ≤ 5 % up to 1 m depth. Reliable thermal diffusivity under such environmental conditions also requires temperature sensors to be spaced precisely (with accuracy to a few millimeters), with a level of noise ≤ 0.02 ∘C, and with a bias defined by a standard deviation ≤ 0.01 ∘C. Finally, the application of the developed approach to field data indicates significant repeatability in results and similarity with independent measurements, as well as promise in using a sliding time window to estimate temporal changes in soil thermal diffusivity, as needed to potentially capture changes in bulk density or water content.

Role of submesoscale processes in the isopycnal mixing associated with subthermocline eddies in the Philippine Sea

Submesoscale processes are very typical in the ocean interior with a front formed by mesoscale eddies, and contribute to ocean mixing. However, the role of submesoscale processes in the isopycnal mixing associated with ocean eddies has never been explored from observations. Based on hourly velocity and temperature data from the mooring at 8.5°N, 130°E between 26 September 2015 and 22 December 2016, this study provides the horizontal eddy diffusivity using a mixing-length framework and a parameterization related to the Rhines scale, and estimates the contribution of submesoscale processes to isopycnal mixing for the first time. The subthermocline eddies in the Philippine Sea exist between 200 m and 800 m depth, have characteristic speeds of 0.1–0.5 m/s with a typical period of 40–100 days, and can cause the temperature fluctuation of ∼0.5 °C. The horizontal diffusivity due to subthermocline eddies is about 4000–11,000 m2/s, and has a significant maximum near ∼400 m depth but the horizontal diffusivity associated with mixing length gradually increases below ∼700 m. The submesoscale processes can change the current velocity and temperature by ∼5 cm/s and ∼0.1 °C, respectively. The submesoscale processes in the ocean interior can increase the isopycnal mixing associated with subthermocline eddies by about 6–7%. The profile of horizontal eddy diffusivity derived in this study is useful for parameterization of ocean eddies and submesoscale processes in the Philippine Sea in coarse-resolution ocean models.

Multi‐mineral petrochronology on a high‐pressure mafic granulite reveals short‐lived high‐temperature metamorphism in the North China Craton

AbstractAccurately defining the peak ages and timescales of high‐temperature metamorphism is fundamental to unravelling tectonic dynamics. However, metamorphic constraints are frequently hampered by a large spread of zircon U–Pb ages without explicit textural relationships. Integrated garnet and zircon petrochronology may clarify ambiguous ages retrieved from ancient high‐temperature metamorphic rocks. There is a long‐standing debate on the interpretation of the spread of zircon ages from c. 2.5–1.8 Ga for the granulites of the North China Craton. In order to clarify the timing and duration of (ultra)high‐temperature metamorphism in the North China Craton, we investigated a mafic granulite and the adjoining gneiss from the Yinshan Block of the North China Craton using zircon and titanite U–Pb geochronology combined with garnet Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd geochronology. Pseudosection modelling and conventional thermobarometric calculations constrain the peak metamorphic conditions to be ~1.0 GPa and ~850°C. The near‐complete lack of major‐element zoning in garnet, aside from ~2 μm diffusion profiles at crystal rims, suggests complete re‐equilibration at peak temperatures followed by fast cooling from high temperatures. The Lu–Hf garnet age of 1870 ± 4 Ma and Sm–Nd age of 1870 ± 7 Ma, determined on the same garnet fractions, are indistinguishable from the zircon U–Pb age of 1866 ± 11 Ma obtained from zircon that grew contemporaneously with garnet, evidenced by the chemical equilibrium of coexisting garnet and zircon, and are additionally consistent with a titanite U–Pb age of 1876 ± 7 Ma. We interpret this close agreement of ages, within uncertainty, coupled to the existence of flat Sm–Nd–Hf profiles in garnet that also has well‐preserved Lu zoning, to reflect a short‐lived high‐temperature metamorphic event that was terminated by rapid exhumation and cooling. The short‐lived (&lt;4 Myr) high‐temperature metamorphism may be generated in the lowermost parts of the crust through magmatic underplating/intraplating during extension that follows collision of the Ordos and the Yinshan Blocks.

Calcium diffusion in enstatite, with application to closure temperature of the Ca-in-opx thermometer

Chemical diffusion of Ca has been characterized in natural enstatite under buffered conditions (IW, NNO) and in air. Experiments were conducted using synthesized powder sources, with Ca diffusion profiles measured with Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry. A variety of sources of diffusant were used to investigate the effects of silica activity and Ca concentration on diffusion. Calcium diffusion appears relatively insensitive to crystallographic orientation and oxygen fugacity under the range of investigated conditions, and also appears little influenced by differences in silica activity and Ca concentration in the diffusant source. For Ca diffusion in a natural enstatite, we obtain the following Arrhenius relation for diffusion over the temperature range 750–1150 °C,D = 1.17 × 10−10exp(−240 ± 10 kJ mol−1/RT) m2sec−1.Calcium diffusion is slower than Mg, Cr and Fe in enstatite, but faster than larger divalent cations Pb and Eu that also are likely to preferentially occupy the M2 site. Calcium diffusion is also faster than that for trivalent REE and tetravalent Ti in enstatite. Calcium diffusivities in enstatite are intermediate between Ca diffusivities in clinopyroxene and olivine, with Ca diffusion in enstatite about 2 orders of magnitude faster than Ca self-diffusion in diopside and 2 orders of magnitude slower than Ca diffusion in olivine.Diffusion parameters obtained from this study were used to develop a simple model for closure temperature of the Ca-in-opx thermometer of Brey and Köhler (1990). By coupling closure temperature and the Ca-in-opx thermometer, it is possible to constrain cooling rates of peridotites and pyroxenites. Applications to peridotites from the Lanzo Massif and the Oman ophiolite are presented.

Permeability of Polymer Membranes beyond Linear Response

The permeability of a membrane to solute penetrants is well defined on the linear response level simply as the ratio of penetrants’ flux and concentration gradient at the membrane boundary layers. However, nonlinearities emerge in the flux–force relation j(f) for large driving forces f, in which the definition of permeability becomes ambiguous. Here, we study nonequilibrium membrane permeation orchestrated by a generic driving force using penetrant- and monomer-resolved computer simulations of transport in a polymer network, supported by exact solutions of the Smoluchowski (drift–diffusion) equation in the stationary state. In the simulations, we consider the transport across a finite polymer membrane immersed in a reservoir of penetrants, addressing one- and two-component penetrant systems. We calculate the f-dependent inhomogeneous steady-state density profiles, boundary layer concentrations, and fluxes of the penetrants. The Smoluchowski approach, using solely coarse-grained equilibrium partitioning and diffusion profiles as input, exhibits remarkable qualitative agreement with our nonequilibrium simulations, which serves for rationalization of the observations. We discuss possible definitions of nonequilibrium, f-dependent permeability, distinguishing between “system” and “membrane” permeabilities. In particular, we introduce the concept of differential permeability as a response to f. The latter turns out to be a highly nonmonotonic function of f for low-permeable systems, demonstrating how a differential permselectivity is substantially tunable by the driving force beyond linear response.

Island and lake size distributions in gradient percolation

The well known problem of gradient percolation has been revisited to study the probability distribution of island sizes. It is observed that like the ordinary percolation, this distribution is also described by a power law decaying function but the associated critical exponents are found to be different. Because of the underlying gradient for the occupation probability, the average value of the island sizes also has a gradient. The variation of the average island size with the probability of occupation along the gradient has been studied together with its scaling analysis. Further, we have introduced and studied the gradient bond percolation and on studying the island size distribution statistics, we have obtained very similar results. We have also studied the characteristics of the diffusion profile of the particle system on a lattice which is initially half filled and half empty. Here also we observe the same value for the island size probability distribution exponent. Finally, the same study has been repeated for the nonlinear gradient percolation and the value of the island size distribution exponent is found to be a function of the strength of the nonlinear parameter.

Deep distributed optimization for blind diffuser-modulation ptychography.

Blind diffuser-modulation ptychography has emerged as a low-cost technique for micro-nano holographic imaging, which enables breaking the resolution limit of optical systems. However, the existing reconstruction method requires thousands of measurements to recover object and diffuser profile simultaneously, which makes the data acquisition time-consuming and cumbersome. In this Letter, we report a novel, to the best of our knowledge, blind ptychography technique with deep distributed optimization, termed BPD2O. It decomposes the complicated optimization task into subproblems, then introduces extended ptychographical iterative engine and enhanced network solver to optimize each in a distributed strategy. In this way, BPD2O combines the advantages of both model-driven and data-driven strategies, realizing high-fidelity robust ptychography imaging. Extensive experiments validate that BPD2O can realize better resolution and lead to a reduction of more than one order of magnitude in the number of measurements.

A physics-informed neural network-based numerical inverse method for optimization of diffusion coefficients in NiCoFeCr multi principal element alloy

The composition-dependent pseudo-binary (PB) interdiffusion coefficients and the main intrinsic diffusion coefficients of all the components at the near equiatomic composition of NiCoFeCr system are estimated following the PB diffusion couple method. These are otherwise impossible to estimate directly following the conventional method. Subsequently, a physics-informed machine learning based numerical inverse method is used to optimize the diffusion parameters in two steps. Initially, optimization is done by developing a good match with the diffusion profiles and estimated interdiffusion coefficients over whole composition range of the diffusion couples. However, a mismatch was found in the extracted intrinsic diffusion coefficients. Therefore, the second level of optimization is done with estimated intrinsic diffusion coefficients at the Kirkendall plane as constraints demonstrating the need for these diffusion parameters for generating a reliable mobility database. The direct estimation and optimization of diffusion coefficients without using thermodynamic details is an added advantage, especially in multicomponent alloy systems.

CRIRES high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of diffuse interstellar band profiles

Aims. A high spectral resolution investigation of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in the near-infrared (YJ band) is conducted to test new methods, to confirm and improve existing parameters, and to search for new DIBs. Methods. The CRyogenic high-resolution InfraRed Echelle Spectrograph (CRIRES) on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope was employed to obtain spectra of four reddened background supergiant stars (HD 183143, HD 165784, HD 92207, HD 111613) and an unreddened comparison star (HD 87737) at the highest resolution of R ≈ 100 000 currently achievable at near-infrared wavelengths, more than twice as high as accomplished in previous near-infrared DIB studies. The correction for telluric absorption was performed by a modelling approach. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium spectral modelling of available optical and the new near-infrared stellar spectra facilitated a comprehensive characterisation of the atmospheric properties of the background stars. As a consequence, a more precise and accurate determination of the reddening and the reddening law along the respective sight lines could be achieved than feasible before by comparison of the observed and model spectral energy distributions. For DIBs that overlap with stellar lines the DIB profile shapes could be recovered. Results. Seventeen known near-infrared DIBs were confirmed, and 12 previously unknown and generally weaker DIBs were identified in the YJ band. Three DIBs that show uniform profiles along all sight lines were identified, possibly connected to transitions from a common lower state of the same carrier. The divergent extinction curve towards the frequently discussed DIB standard star HD 183143 could be reproduced for the first time, requiring extra absorption by ~3.5 mag due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to match the ultraviolet extinction bump. This extra absorption probably stems from a circumstellar bubble lying in front of the star which is intersected tangentially by the line of sight, making this particular sight line more peculiar than standard.