Interplay between 3d and 4f magnetism in CeCoPO

The ground state properties of CeCoPO, a homologue of the new high temperature superconductors LnFePnO_1-xF_x, were studied by means of susceptibility, specific heat, and resistivity measurements on polycrystals. The observation of a well defined Curie-Weiss behavior above 230 K with μ_eff=2.9μ_B and a ferromagnetic ordering below is similar to what was observed in LaCoPO and points to magnetism of the Co-3d electrons. However, the Ce-ions are on the border to magnetism with a Kondo scale of and show an enhanced Sommerfeld coefficient of .     

Ab initio calculation of electronic transition moments for singlet excited states of the H2 molecule

Ab initio CI electronic dipole transition moments have been calculated for the transitions between singlet states of the hydrogen molecule correlating asymptotically with H(nl)+H(1s) (n=1,2,3). The investigated singlet-singlet transitions include the 30 (n=3) inter-Rydberg transitions and the 32 transitions which may contribute to absorption in the far wings of the Balmer α line of atomic hydrogen perturbed by another hydrogen atom in its ground state. Results are presented for internuclear distances 1.0a₀?R?12a₀. The present results compare well with the previous theoretical calculations available for about half of the transitions treated in the present work. Thirty eight new transitions are presented. Adiabatic potential energies for the and and improved energies for the and states are reported as well.     

Optical phonon modes and structure of ZnGa2Se4 and ZnGa2S4

We present the infrared and Raman study of the optical phonon modes of the defective compounds ZnGa₂Se₄ and ZnGa₂S₄. Most of the compounds have been found to crystallize in the thiogallate structure (defect chalcopyrite) with space group where all cations and vacancies are ordered. For some Zinc compounds a partially disordered cationic sublattice with various degrees of cation and vacancy statistical distribution, which lead to the higher symmetry (defect stannite), has been reported. For ZnGa₂Se₄ we have found three modes of A symmetry, showing Raman activity only. In addition, we have observed each five modes of B and E symmetry, showing infrared as well as Raman activity. The number of modes and their symmetry assignment, based on polarized measurements, clearly indicate space group for the investigated crystals of ZnGa₂Se₄.Regarding ZnGa₂S₄ we have found three modes exclusively showing Raman activity (2A⊕1B₁), and only eight modes showing infrared as well as Raman activity (3B₂⊕5E). The assignment of the modes has been derived by analyzing the spectral positions of the vibrational modes in comparison to a number of compounds. From the number and symmetry assignment of the optical phonon modes we confirm that ZnGa₂S₄ most likely crystallizes in space group .     

Possible coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in intermetallic NiBi3

NiBi₃ polycrystals were synthesized via a solid state method. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the main phase present in the sample corresponds to NiBi₃ in a weight fraction of 96.82 % according to the refinement of the crystalline structure. SEM - EDS and XPS analysis reveal a homogeneous composition of NiBi₃, without Ni traces. The powder superconducting samples were studied by performing magnetic measurements. The superconducting transition temperature and critical magnetic fields were determined as , Oe and Oe. The superconducting parameters were , , and κ=5.136. Isothermal measurements below the transition temperature show an anomalous behavior. Above the superconducting transition the compound presents ferromagnetic characteristics up to 750 K, well above the Ni Curie temperature.     

Oxidation of nickel and transport properties of nickel oxide

Oxidation kinetics of high purity nickel, as well as the nonstoichiometry and chemical diffusion in nickel oxide have been studied as a function of temperature (1373-1673 K) and oxygen pressure (10-10⁵ Pa) using microthermogravimetric techniques. In order to eliminate the possible participation of grain boundary diffusion in scale growth at lower temperatures, the oxidation rate measurements have always been started at the highest temperature (1673 K), when coarse-grained scale was formed, and the temperature and pressure dependence of the oxidation rate was determined by step-wise lowering the temperature of such pre-oxidized sample. Nonstoichiometry and the chemical diffusion coefficient in Ni_1−yO have also been determined on such coarse-grained oxide samples, obtained by complete oxidation of nickel at highest temperature (1673 K). It has been found, that under such conditions oxidation of nickel follows strictly the parabolic rate law, and the parabolic rate constant of this reaction is the following function of temperature and oxygen pressure: The results of nonstoichiometry measurements, in turn, may be described by the following relationship Finally, chemical diffusion coefficient in Ni_1−yO has been found to be independent on oxygen activity, indicating that the mobility of point defects in this oxide does not depend on their concentration, being the following function of temperature: It has been shown, that the parabolic rate constants of nickel oxidation, calculated from nonstoichiometry and chemical diffusion data are in excellent agreement with experimentally determined k_p values. All these results clearly indicate that the predominant defects in nonstoichiometric nickel oxide (Ni_1−yO) are double ionized cation vacancies and electron holes and the oxide scale on nickel growths by the outward volume diffusion of cations.     

Investigation of nonlinear optical properties of organic dye by Z-scan technique using He-Ne laser

The third-order nonlinear optical properties of Basic Green 1 dye were measured by the Z-scan technique and measurements were carried out at different concentrations and several incident intensities. The results showed that the Basic Green 1 dye exhibited large nonlinear refractive coefficient () and nonlinear absorption coefficient () at the wavelength 632.8 nm of He-Ne. The negative sign of the nonlinear refractive index n₂ indicates that this material exhibits self-defocusing optical nonlinearity. These results show that Basic Green 1 dye has potential applications in nonlinear optics.     

The magnetocaloric effect and low temperature specific heat of SmNi

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a magnetic SmNi sample was evaluated from magnetization and heat capacity measurements. The MCE phenomena in the vicinity of magnetic phase transitions in terms of magnetic entropy change, , and adiabatic temperature change, , are reported. Isothermal magnetization measurements at several temperatures around the transition were carried out and used for versusT calculations. A similar dependence of the magnetic entropy change was evaluated from heat capacity C_p(T) measurements under zero field and 5 T. The SmNi system provides magnetic refrigerants that induce an adiabatic cooling of about during the magnetization process with a field of 5 T in the temperature range of 35-45 K. The temperature dependence of C_p(T) is analyzed in terms of the magnetic and the lattice contributions.     

Diffuse volume transport in fluids

The diffuse flux of volume in a single-component liquid or gas, the subject of this paper, is a purely molecular quantity defined as the difference between the flux of volume and the convective flux of volume carried by the flowing mass, with the mass flux, the specific volume, and ρ the mass density. Elementary statistical-mechanical arguments are used to derive the linear constitutive equation , valid in near-equilibrium fluids from which body forces are absent. Here, D_S is the fluid’s self-diffusion coefficient. The present derivation is based on Einstein’s mesoscopic Brownian motion arguments, albeit applied here to volume- rather than particle-transport phenomena. In contrast to these mesoscale arguments, all prior derivations were based upon macroscale linear irreversible thermodynamic (LIT) arguments. D_S replaces the thermometric diffusivity α as the phenomenological coefficient appearing in earlier, ad hoc, derivations. The prior scheme based on α, which had been shown to accord with Burnett’s well-known gas-kinetic constitutive data for the heat flux and viscous stress, carries over intact to now show comparable accord of D_S with these same data, since for gases the dimensionless Lewis number Le=α/D_S is essentially unity. On the other hand for most liquids, where Le?1, use of D_S in place of α is shown to agree much better with existing experimental data for liquids. For the case of binary mixtures it is shown for the special case of isothermal, isobaric, force-free, Fick’s law-type molecular diffusion processes that , where D is the binary diffusion coefficient. In contrast with the preceding use in the single-component case of both mesoscopic and LIT models to obtain a constitutive equation for , the corresponding mixture result is derived here without use of any physical model whatsoever. Rather, the derivation effectively requires little more than the respective definitions of the diffuse volume- and Fickian mass-fluxes.     

Giant intersubband polariton splitting in InAs/AlSb microcavities

The optical response of the intersubband excitation of multiple InAs/AlSb quantum wells embedded in a planar semiconductor microcavity has been studied through angle-dependent reflectance measurements. Using a resonator based on total internal reflection, a strong coupling is demonstrated between the intersubband optical transition and the cavity photon, with the attendant formation of intersubband polaritons. A giant vacuum-Rabi splitting 2Ω_R was observed both at liquid helium temperatures () as well as at 300 K (), for a transition energy . The observed ratio is a record high value (14%) for any strongly-coupled systems, and demonstrates the huge potential of this material for the achievement of the ultra-strong coupling regime predicted theoretically.     

Low temperature phase transition in ZnSe doped with nickel

Neutron diffraction and ultrasonic experiments as well as measurements of heat conductivity in ZnSe and Zn_1−xNi_xSe (x=0.0025) semiconductors have been carried out. As a result, a structural transition induced by Ni impurity has been found at      

Measurements of insulator band parameters using combination of single-electron and two-electron spectroscopy

We describe the application of low energy time-of-flight coincidence (e,2e) spectroscopy for measurements of the energy band parameters of a dielectric. The (e,2e) spectrometer can operate also in a single-electron mode by switching off coincidence conditions, and can be used for recording electron energy loss spectra (EELS). Thus, the combination of (e,2e) and EELS allows the measurement of energy gap E_g, valence bandwidth ΔE_val, electron affinity χ and excitonic levels position E_ex of a dielectric. The energy band parameters of LiF film deposited on Si(001) surface are measured: ΔE_val=      

Thermal and electronic transport in CeRu2Al10: Evidence for a metal-insulator transition

A first report of physical properties of the ternary intermetallic compound CeRu₂Al₁₀ is given. The electrical resistivity below room temperature shows activated behaviour with a narrow gap of before the onset of a sharp peak in ρ(T) below . The Hall coefficient as well as the thermoelectric power are overall positive, and both increase in a similarly sharp manner below T^*. The lattice part of the thermal conductivity indicates phonon coupling of the heat transport at T^*, possibly underlying a lattice transformation that accompanies the putative metal-to-insulator and magnetic phase transitions.     

Field suppression of the modulated phase of Ce2Pd2Sn

Low temperature magnetic (M) and thermal (C_P) properties of the intermetallic compound Ce₂Pd₂Sn have been investigated at zero and different magnetic fields. Two transitions were recognized at and , with latter nearly coinciding with the extrapolated Curie-Weiss temperature . The Curie factor evaluated from T≥T_M, is ≈2μ_B. The positive value of θ_P, the triangular coordination of the magnetic (Ce) atoms and the weak effect of applied magnetic field, reveal that T_M cannot be considered as a canonic antiferromagnetic transition like claimed in the literature. M(T) measurements under moderate magnetic fields () show T_C(B) increasing while T_M(B) is practically not affected. Both transition merge in a critical point at for , where the intermediate phase is suppressed. At , the cusp of a first order transition is observed in C_P(T). According to the proposed ferromagnetic ground state, it is followed by a C_P(T)∝T^3/2exp(-E_g/T) dependence, with a gap of anisotropy .     

Frustrated magnetic structure of TmAgGe

Physical properties of the compound TmAgGe have been investigated by means of magnetometric, transport, calorimetric as well as neutron diffraction measurements. The compound crystallizes in the hexagonal ZrNiAl-type crystal structure. The reported results indicate that the sample exhibits an antiferromagnetic ordering below . The low temperature behavior of the magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat is in good agreement with the spin-wave theory with linear dispersion relation. In addition, the magnetic structure of TmAgGe was determined by means of neutron diffraction measurements. The Tm moments are equal to 6.44(10) μ_B at 1.5 K and form a non-collinear magnetic structure within the basal plane. To describe this structure three different propagation vectors: , and are required. Such a spin arrangement is analyzed on the basis of group theory.     

Substitution structure of cyanogen, NCCN, from high-resolution far infrared spectra

The lowest lying vibrational bands of the gas-phase spectra of cyanogen, NCCN, and four of its isotopomers, , , , and , were recorded with a Fourier transform interferometer. The resolution was limited by the maximum optical path difference (MOPD) attainable with the interferometer to . Rovibrational transitions of the ν₅ () and also the ν₂-ν₅ () band systems were assigned for all five isotopomers. The use of an effective Hamiltonian for linear molecules to fit the data yielded precise spectroscopic vibrational and rotational constants for the vibrational states (v₁v₂v₃v₄v₅) or (v₄v₅)=(00), (01), (02), (03), and (01000). These data include the first rotationally resolved transitions involving (01000). Complete substitution (r_s) structures of cyanogen, based on both single and double isotopic substitution of the parent species, were calculated. The derived structure is r_CC=138.48(17) pm and r_CN=115.66(13) pm. The two r_s structures coincide within the errors due to remaining contributions of zero-point vibrations.     

Equation of state of cubic hafnium(IV) nitride having Th3P4 -type structure

Pressure dependence of the specific volume, V(P), of the recently discovered high-pressure compound Hf₃N₄ having cubic Th₃P₄-type structure (c- Hf₃N₄) has been measured at room temperature up to 43.9 GPa in a diamond anvil cell using energy-dispersive X-ray powder diffraction combined with synchrotron radiation. A least-square fit of the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state to the experimental V(P)-data yielded for c- Hf₃N₄ the bulk modulus of and its first pressure derivative of . For fixed at 4 the bulk modulus of c- Hf₃N₄ was determined to be . The obtained B₀-value is only insignificantly below that estimated in preliminary measurements. Existing theoretical predictions for B₀ scatter around the present experimental data. The observation of a high bulk modulus of c- Hf₃N₄ supports the suggestion that this compound could have high hardness.