Simulation of Temperature-Dependent Resistivity for Manganite La1/3Ca2/3MnO3

The resistivity of the heavy-doped La1/3Ca2/3MnO3 （LCMO） is simulated using a random resistor network model, based on a phase separation scenario. The simulated results agree well with the reported experimental data, showing a transition from a charge-disordered （CDO） state embedded with a few ferromagnetic （FM） metallic clusters to a charge-ordered （CO） state, corresponding to the transition from a high-temperature paramagnetic （PM） insulating state to a low-temperature antiferromagnetic （AF） insulating state. Furthermore, we find that the number of AF/CO clusters increases with decreasing temperature, and the clusters start to connect to each other around 250K, which causes percolating in the system. The results further verify that phase separation plays a crucial role in the electrical conductivity of LCMO.     

The effects of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on the ground-state properties of the XY chain in a transverse field

The effects of the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction on the ground-state properties of the anisotropic XY chain in a transverse field have been studied by means of correlation functions and entanglement. Different from the case without the DM interaction, the excitation spectra εk of this model are not symmetrical in the momentum space and are not always positive. As a result, besides the ferromagnetic (FM) and the paramagnetic (PM) phases, a gapless chiral phase is induced. In the chiral phase, the von Neumann entropy is proportional to log2L (L is the length of a subchain) with the coefficient A ≈ 1/3, which is the same as that of the XY chain in a transverse field without the DM interaction for γ = 0 and 0 h ≤ 1. And in the vicinity of the critical point between the chiral phase and the FM (or PM) phase, the behaviors of the nearest-neighbor concurrence and its derivative are like those for the anisotropy transition.     

Deoxygenation Enhanced Double-Resistivity-Peak Properties in Polycrystalline La0.7Ca0.3Mn0.92Cr0.08O3-δ

Influences of deoxygenation on the resistivity and the magnetic properties of La0.7Ca0.3Mn0.92Cr0.08O3-δ(M =Al, Cr) are compared to understand the peculiar doping effect of chromium in the ferromagnetic manganites. It is found that the double resistivity bumps exhibited by the Cr-doped compounds can be tuned by the oxygen content. We have related the double-bump feature with the well-known inefficiency of Cr in lowering Tc, and interpreted both the features consistently in terms of large-scale phase separation. It is suggested that the largescale phase separation is a general characteristic of Cr-doped manganites, and many unusual phenomena exhibited by Cr doping are directly related to the large-scale phase separation.     

Spin-Polarized Tunnelling Magnetoresistance Effects in La0.833K0.167MnO3／SrTiO3 Polycrystalline Perovskite Manganites

A sample of La0.833K0.167MnO3-SrTiO3 (LKMO/STO) is fabricated by the sol-gel method. The microstructure,magnetic and transportation properties have been studied. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that the structure of LKMO/STO is a homogeneous solid solution phase. The resistivity of LKMO/STO shows the insulator behaviour, which is different from La0.833K0.167MnO3 (LKMO) whose resistivity shows metal-insulator transition with decreasing temperature. The low-field (moH = 0.02 T) magnetoresistance decreases from 11% to 0.2% with the increasing temperature from 4 K‘to 220K for the LKMO/STO sample. The magnitude of magnetoresistance in a strong field (μoH = 5.5 T) almost increases linearly with decreasing temperature and reaches the maximum of 65% at the low temperature of 4.2K, which is much higher than that oE LKMO (40%). The enhanced low-field magnetoresistance effects are quantitatively explained by the spin-polarized tunnelling at grain boundaries.     

Substrate Dependence of Properties of Sputtered ITO Films

High-quality indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films are deposited on p-type Czochralski silicon and 7059 Coming glass by direct-current magnetron sputtering at various temperatures. The structural, electrical and optical properties of the ITO films are investigated as functions of the substrate temperature. A comparison between the characteristics of the ITO films on silicon and Coming glass is presented. The results show that for the ITO film on silicon,the nucleation begins from room temperature; the resistivity reaches a maximum value at 75℃; the reflectivity increases with increasing temperature; when temperature is above 125℃, the ITO grows in a three-dimensional manner and forms a granular structure. However, for the ITO film on glass, it is still in an amorphous state at 75℃. Moreover, both the resistivity and the reflectivity decrease with increasing temperature. Above 125℃, the ITO grows in a two-dimensional manner and forms a domain structure.     

Theoretical Analysis of the Critical Phenomena of a Brillouin Laser

The critical phenomena of a Brillouin laser are analyzed theoretically. The results show that the behavior of a Brillouin laser in the threshold region is a second-order phase transition. The critical point of the phase transition is the gain threshold of the Brillouin laser, and the order parameter is the amplitude of the Stokes component in stimulated Brillouin scattering. The critical slow-down phenomenon and the typical characteristics in phase transition are demonstrated. Further work on the combination of nonlinear optics and phase transition in the Brillouin laser may lead to a new view and findings that could be significant for both fields.     

Characterization of the BaBiO3-doped BaTiO3 positive temperature coefficient of a resistivity ceramic using impedance spectroscopy with Tc=155℃

BaBiO 3-doped BaTiO3(BB-BT) ceramic,as a candidate for lead-free positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) materials with a higher Curie temperature,has been synthesized in air by a conventional sintering technique. The temperature dependence of resistivity shows that the phase transition of the PTC thermistor ceramic occurs at the Curie temperature,Tc=155℃,which is higher than that of BaTiO3(≤130℃). Analysis of ac impedance data using complex impedance spectroscopy gives the alternate current (AC) resistance of the PTCR ceramic. By additional use of the complex electric modulus formalism to analyse the same data,the inhomogeneous nature of the ceramic may be unveiled. The impedance spectra reveal that the grain resistance of the BB-BT sample is slightly influenced by the increase of temperature,indicating that the increase in overall resistivity is entirely due to a grain-boundary effect. Based on the dependence of the extent to which the peaks of the imaginary part of electric modulus and impedance are matched on frequency,the conduction mechanism is also discussed for a BB-BT ceramic system.     

Field Emission Characteristics of BN Films with Cubic－BN Phase

Boron nitride (BN) thin films with cubic boron nitride (c-BN) phase were prepared on the (100)-oriented surface of n-Si (0.008-0.02 Ωm) by rf magnetron sputtering physical vapor deposition. The c-BN content is determined to be around 50% by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for the BN thin films. The field emission characteristics of BN films were measured in an ultrahigh vacuum system. It is found that the field emission of the BN film with c-BN phase is evidently more excellent than that without c-BN phase. A turnon field of 5 V/μm and a current of 460μA/cm^2 were obtained for the BN film with c-BN phase. The Fowler-Nordheim plots of emission characteristics of BN films indicate a straight line, which suggests the presence of the FN tunneling.     

Improvement of Field Emission Characteristics of Copper Nitride Films with Increasing Copper Content

A copper nitride （Cu3N） thin film is deposited on a Si substrate by the reactive magnetron sputtering method. The XPS measurements of the composite film indicate that the Cu content in the film is increased to 80.82 at. % and the value of the Cu/N ratio to 4.2：1 by introducing 4% 112 into the reactive gas. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the film is composed of Cu3N crystallites with an anti-ReO3 structure. The effects of the increase of copper content on the field emission characteristics of the Cu3N thin film are investigated. Significant improvement in emission current density and emission repeatability could be attributed to the geometric field enhancement, caused by numerous surface nanotips, and the decrease of resistivity of the film.     

Investigation of pump-wavelength dependence of terahertz-wave parametric oscillator based on LiNbO3

This paper investigates the performances of terahertz-wave parametric oscillators(TPOs) based on the LiNbO 3 crystal at different pump wavelengths.The calculated results show that TPO characteristics,including the frequency tuning range,the THz-wave gain and the stability of THz-wave output direction based on the Si-prism coupler,can be significantly improved by using a short-wavelength pump.It also demonstrates that a long-wavelength-pump allows the employment of a short TPO cavity due to an enlarged phase-matching angle,that is,an increased angular separation between the pump and oscillated Stokes beams under the THz-wave generation at a specific frequency.The study provides an useful guide and a theoretical basis for the further improvement of TPO systems.     

Electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminateddiamond surfaces exposed to the air

The electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces exposed to the air are investigated by scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The results indicate that for the hydrogen-terminated diamond surface a shallow acceptor above the valence-band-maximum (VBM) appears in the band gap. However, the oxygen-terminated diamond film exhibits a high resistivity with a wide band gap. Based on the density-functional-theory, the densities of states, corresponding to molecular adsorbate in hydrogenated and oxygenated diamond (100) surfaces, are studied. The results show that the shallow acceptor in the band gap for the hydrogen-terminated diamond film can be attributed to the interaction between the surface C--H bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules, while for the oxygen-terminated diamond film, the interaction between the surface C--O bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules can induce occupied states in the valence-band.     

Laser-induced voltage effects in Ca3Co4O9 thin films on tilted LaAlO3（001） substrates grown by chemical solution deposition

Laser-induced voltage effects in c-axis oriented Ca3Co4O9 thin films have been studied with samples fabricated on 10 tilted LaAlO3(001) substrates by a simple chemical solution deposition method. An open-circuit voltage with a rise time of about 10 ns and full width at half maximum of about 28 ns is detected when the film surface is irradiated by a 308-nm laser pulse with a duration of 25 ns. Besides, open-circuit voltage signals are also observed when the film surface is irradiated separately by the laser pulses of 532 nm and 1064 nm. The results indicate that Ca3Co4O9 thin films have a great potential application in the wide range photodetctor from the ultraviolet to near infrared regions.     

Shockwave–boundary layer interaction control by plasma aerodynamic actuation:An experimental investigation

The potential of controlling shockwave–boundary layer interactions(SWBLIs) in air by plasma aerodynamic actuation is demonstrated. Experiments are conducted in a Mach 3 in-draft air tunnel. The separation-inducing shock is generated with a diamond-shaped shockwave generator located on the wall opposite to the surface electrodes, and the flow properties are studied with schlieren imaging and static wall pressure probes. The measurements show that the separation phenomenon is weakened with the plasma aerodynamic actuation, which is observed to have significant control authority over the interaction. The main effect is the displacement of the reflected shock. Perturbations of incident and reflected oblique shocks interacting with the separation bubble in a rectangular cross section supersonic test section are produced by the plasma actuation. This interaction results in a reduction of the separation bubble size, as detected by phase-lock schlieren images.The measured static wall pressure also shows that the separation-inducing shock is restrained. Our results suggest that the boundary layer separation control through heating is the primary control mechanism.     

A theoretical estimation of the pre-breakdown-heating time in the underwater discharge acoustic source

One of the common characteristics of the electrothermal breakdown in an underwater discharge acoustic source(UDAS) is the existence of a pre-breakdown-heating phase.In our experiment,two phenomena were observed:(1) the breakdown time that takes on high randomicity and obeys a "double-peak" stochastic distribution;(2) the higher salt concentration that reduces the residual voltage and causes 100% non-breakdown.The mechanism of electrothermal breakdown is analysed.To specify the end of the pre-breakdown-heating phase,a "border boiling" assumption is proposed,in which the breakdown time is assumed to be the time needed to heat the border water around the initial arc to 773 K.Based on this ’border boiling’ assumption,the numerical simulation is performed to evaluate the effects of two heating mechanisms:the Joule heating from the ionic current,and the radiation heating from the initial arc.The simulation results verify the theoretical explanations to these two experiment phenomena:(1) the stochastic distribution of the radius of the initial arc results in the randomicity of the breakdown time;(2) the difference in efficiency between the radiation heating and the Joule heating determines that,in the case of higher salt concentration,more energy will be consumed in the pre-breakdown-heating phase.     

Structures of surface—and bulk—dispersion phases of NiO／Al2O3

The structural features of surface-disperison and bulk-dispersion states of NiO on/in γ-Al2O3 have been studied by x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) in combination with x-ray diffraction(XRD) and XPS.The results obtained from XRD and XAFS show that surface and buld dispersions of Ni^2 ions need different conditions and have different diffraction features and different corrdination structures.In both the surace-dispersion phase and the solid solution,Ni^2 ions seem to prefer to keep the coordination mode in NiO,which is quite different from that in the stoichioetric spinel.The Ni/Ai intensity ratios of XPS at different etching depths of samples have a maximum and the distribution of Ni^2 ions in the solid solution is not homogeneous.Both it and the coordination features provide evidence of the transition process of dispersing from surface to bulk.Copyright 2001 John Wiley and Sons,Ltd.     

Improvement of Electrical Properties of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Film by Doping Si for Phase-Change Random Access Memory

Si-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films have been prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering with Ge2Sb2Te5 and Si targets. The addition of Si in the Ge2Sb2Te5 film results in the increase of both crystallization temperature and phasetransition temperature from face-centred-cubic （fcc） phase to hexagonal （hex） phase. The resistivity of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film shows a significant increase with the Si doping. When doping 11.8 at.% of Si in the film, the resistivity after 460℃ annealing increases from 1 to 11 mΩ.cm and dynamic resistance increase from 64 to 99Ω compared to the undoped Ge2Sb2Te5 film. This is very helpful to writing current reduction of phase-change random access memory.     

Diffractive characteristics of the liquid crystal spatial light modulator

The liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC SLM) is very suitable for wavefront correction and optical testing and can produce a wavefront with large phase change and high accuracy. The LC SLM is composed of thousands of pixels and the pixel size and shape have effects on the diffractive characteristics of the LC SLM. This paper investigates the pixel effect on the phase of the wavefront with the scalar diffractive theory. The results show that the maximum optical path difference modulation is 41\,$\mu$m to produce the paraboloid wavefront with the peak to valley accuracy better than $\la$/10. Effects of the mismatch between the pixel and the period, and black matrix on the diffraction efficiency of the LC SLM are also analysed with the Fresnel phase lens model. The ability of the LC SLM is discussed for optical testing and wavefront correction based on the calculated results. It shows that the LC SLM can be used as a wavefront corrector and a compensator.     

Low Resistivity C54 Phase TiSi2 Films Synthesized by a Novel Two—Step Method

Synthesis and growth properties of the TiSi2 film on a Si (001) substrate are investigated. A novel two-step method is used for deposition of the C54 phase TiSi2 film with low resistivity. The first step is the formation ofthe C49 phase TiSi2 at a relative low substrate temperature of 400℃, followed by rapid thermal annealing processat 850℃ in N2 for the formation of the C54 phase TiSi2 as the second step. Finally, selective wet, etching isemployed to remove the un-reaction Ti on the surface and the low resistivity C54 TiSi2 film can be obtained. Thefilms deposited under various parameters are evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and the resistivity measurement. Compared with other sputtering technologies used commonly for TiSi2 synthesis,this two-step method has apparent advantages such as the mild synthesis temperature and the high purity of the final product with low resistivity, uniform large area and improving surface roughness. In addition, the film also shows that the low coefficient of resistivity-temperature appears in the temperature range from 20℃to 800℃.     

Dynamically Tunable Perfect Absorbers Utilizing Hexagonal Aluminum Nano-Disk Array Cooperated with Vanadium Dioxide

A tunable perfect absorber composed of hexagonal-arranged aluminum nano-disk array embedded in the vanadium dioxide(VO_2) film is proposed. The aim is to achieve the tunability of resonance absorption peak in the visible and near-infrared regimes. Numerical results reveal that the absorption peak achieves a large tunability of 76.6% while VO_2 undergoes a structural transition from insulator phase to metallic phase. By optimizing the structural parameters, an average absorption of 95% is achieved from 1242 to 1815 nm at the metallic phase state. In addition, the near unity absorption can be fulfilled in a wide range of incident angle(0°–60°) and under all polarization conditions. The method and results presented here would be beneficial for the design of active optoelectronic devices.     

Analysis of Second-Harmonic Generation from CuttbPc LB Film／Metal Interface

Second-harmonic generation signals from a CuttbPc LB film deposited on metal (Al or Au)-glass substrates were investigated. It was observed that there were two second-harmonic peaks at the wavelength of 1060 and 1250nm in the CuttbPc/Al film, but only one peak at 1050nm in the CuttbPc/Au film. Meanwhile the surface electric potentials (SEP) at the interfaces of LB film/metals were also measured using a Kelvin probe. The SEP in the CuttbPc/Al decreases and eventually approaches a saturated value of -1.0V as the film thickness increases, while the SEP in the CuttbPc/Au is nearly zero. Based on the experimental results and theoretical analysis, it was considered that the space-charge-induced electric field makes a main contribution to the second-harmonic generation at 1250nm in the CuttbPc/Al film.