Local structure distortion and spin Hamiltonian parameters for Cr3＋-Vzn tetragonal defect centre in Cr3＋ doped KZnF3 crystal

The quantitative relationship between the spin Hamiltonian parameters (D, g_‖, Δg) and the crystal structure parameters for the Cr³⁺—V_Zn tetragonal defect centre in a Cr³⁺:KZnF₃ crystal is established by using the superposition model. On the above basis, the local structure distortion and the spin Hamiltonian parameter for the Cr³⁺—V_Zn tetragonal defect centre in the KZnF_3 crystal are systematically investigated using the complete diagonalization method. It is found that the V_Zn vacancy and the differences in mass, radius and charge between the Cr³⁺ and the Zn²⁺ ions induce the local lattice distortion of the Cr³⁺ centre ions in the KZnF₃ crystal. The local lattice distortion is shown to give rise to the tetragonal crystal field, which in turn results in the tetragonal zero-field splitting parameter D and the anisotropic g factor Δg. We find that the ligand F^- ion along [001] and the other five F^- ions move towards the central Cr³⁺ by distances of Δ₁ = 0.0121 nm and Δ₂ = 0.0026 nm, respectively. Our approach takes into account the spin—orbit interaction as well as the spin—spin, spin—other-orbit, and orbit—orbit interactions omitted in the previous studies. It is found that for the Cr³⁺ ions in the Cr³⁺:KZnF₃ crystal, although the spin—orbit mechanism is the most important one, the contribution to the spin Hamiltonian parameters from the other three mechanisms, including spin—spin, spin—other-orbit, and orbit—orbit magnetic interactions, is appreciable and should not be omitted, especially for the zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameter D.     

Theoretical investigations of the local distortion and electron paramagnetic resonance parameter for CdCl2：V^2＋ and CsMgX3：V^2＋（X=Cl,Br） systems

This paper systematically investigates the local distortion and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameter for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br) systems on the basis of the complete energy matrix, in which not only the contributions due to the spin–orbit coupling of the central ions but also that of the ligands are considered. To describe the difference of overlapping between d-orbits and p orbit, two spin–orbit coupling coefficients are introduced. By simulating the crystal field parameter and EPR parameter, the local distortion parameters are studied and the relationships between the EPR parameter and the spin–orbit coupling coefficients as well as divergent parameter are discussed. These results show that the local structures exhibit compression distortion for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and elongation distortions for CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br), respectively. It notes that the empirical formula R ≈ R H + (r i-r h )/2 is not suitable for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br) systems. The contributions of ligand to spin–orbit coupling interaction cannot be neglected for strong covalent systems, especially for V 2+ doped in CsMgBr 3 :V 2+ .     

Determination of Al Composition in Strained AlGaN Layers

AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures are grown on c-sapphire with the Al composition x from 0.2 to 0.4 and thicknesses from 20nm to 30nm. The lattice parameters a and c are determined from 2θ/ω scan. The AIGaN layers are found to be under tensile strain by using x-ray diffraction. Vegard＇s law induces a large deviation in Al composition determination by only considering the linear relationship between one lattice parameter （α or c） and Al composition. The accurate determination of Al composition is only possible with consideration of both the lattice parameters α and c, by assuming the tetragonal distortion in the AlGaN layer. Additionally, the results obtained from x-ray diffraction are verified by Rutherford backscattering.     

Structural, electronic, and optical properties of ZnOl_xSex alloys using first-principles calculations

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of binary ZnO, ZnSe compounds, and their ternary ZnOl_xSex alloys are computed using the accurate full potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbital （FP-LAPW ＋ lo） method in the rocksalt （B 1） and zincblende （B3） crystallographic phases. The electronic band structures, fundamental energy band gaps, and densities of states for ZnO1_xSex are evaluated in the range 0 〈 x 〈 1 using Wu-Cohen （WC） generalized gradient approximation （GGA） for the exchange-correlation potential. Our calculated results of lattice parameters and bulk modulus reveal a nonlinear variation for pseudo-binary and their ternary alloys in both phases and show a considerable deviation from Vegard＇s law. It is observed that the predicted lattice parameter and bulk modulus are in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. We establish that the composition dependence of band gap is semi-metallic in B1 phase, while a direct band gap is observed in B3 phase. The calculated density of states is described by taking into account the contribution of Zn 3d, O 2p, and Se 4s, and the optical properties are studied in terms of dielectric functions, refractive index, reflectivity, and energy loss function for the B3 phase and are compared with the available experimental data.     

Theoretical investigations of the local distortion and electron paramagnetic resonance parameter for CdCl2:V2+ and CsMgX3:V<sup>2+（X=Cl,Br） systems

This paper systematically investigates the local distortion and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameter for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br) systems on the basis of the complete energy matrix, in which not only the contributions due to the spin–orbit coupling of the central ions but also that of the ligands are considered. To describe the difference of overlapping between d-orbits and p orbit, two spin–orbit coupling coefficients are introduced. By simulating the crystal field parameter and EPR parameter, the local distortion parameters are studied and the relationships between the EPR parameter and the spin–orbit coupling coefficients as well as divergent parameter are discussed. These results show that the local structures exhibit compression distortion for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and elongation distortions for CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br), respectively. It notes that the empirical formula R ≈ R H + (r i-r h )/2 is not suitable for CdCl 2 :V 2+ and CsMgX 3 :V 2+ (X=Cl, Br) systems. The contributions of ligand to spin–orbit coupling interaction cannot be neglected for strong covalent systems, especially for V 2+ doped in CsMgBr 3 :V 2+ .     

Local structure distortion and spin Hamiltonian parameters of oxide-diluted magnetic semiconductor Mn-doped ZnO

The local structure distortion, the spin Hamiltonian (SH) parameters, and the electric fine structure of the ground state for Mn²⁺(3d⁵) ion in ZnO crystals are systematically investigated, where spin--spin (SS), spin--other--orbit (SOO) and orbit--orbit (OO) magnetic interactions, besides the well-known spin--orbit (SO) coupling, are taken into account for the first time, by using the complete diagonalization method. The theoretical results of the second-order zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameter D, the fourth-order ZFS parameter (a-F), the Zeeman g-factors: g_// and g_⊥, and the energy differences of the ground state: \delta₁ and \delta₂ for Mn²⁺ in Mn²⁺: ZnO are in good agreement with experimental measurements when the three O^2- ions below the Mn²⁺ ion rotate by 1.085^o away from the [111]-axis. Hence, the local structure distortion effect plays an important role in explaining the spectroscopic properties of Mn²⁺ ions in Mn²⁺: ZnO crystals. It is found for Mn²⁺ ions in Mn²⁺: ZnO crystals that although the SO mechanism is the most important one, the contributions to the SH parameters, made by other four mechanisms, i.e. SS, SOO, OO, and SO～SS～SOO～OO mechanisms, are significant and should not be omitted, especially for calculating ZFS parameter D.     

Improved Ligand-Field Theoretical Calculations of R-Line Thermal Broadenings of NIgO：Cr^3＋ and MgO：V^2＋

With the values of parameters obtained from improved ligand-field theory, by taking into account all the irreducible representations and their components in EPI as well as all the levels and the admixtures of basic wavefunctions within d^3 electronic configuration, the R-line thermal broadenings （TB） of both MgO：Cr^3＋ and MgO：V^2＋ have microscopic-theoretically been calculated, The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that the R-line TB of MgO：Cr^3＋ or MgO：V^2＋ comes from the first-order term of EPI. The elastic Raman scattering of acoustic phonons plays a dominant role in R-line TB of MgO：Cr^3＋ or MgO：V^2＋.     

Composition-induced structural modifications in the quaternary CuIn1-xGaxSe2 thin films： bond properties versus Ga content

In this paper the dependence of structural properties of the quaternary CuIn1-xGaxSe2 films with tetragonal structure on the Ga content has been systematically investigated by Raman scattering and x-ray diffraction spectra. The shift of the dominant A1 mode, unlike the lattice constants, does not follow the linear Vegard law with increasing Ga content x, whereas exhibits approximately polynomial change from 174 cm^-1 for CuInSe2 to 185 cm^-1 for CuGaSe2. Such behaviour should be indicative of presence of the asymmetric distribution of Ga and In on a microscopic scale in the films, due to Ga addition. The changes in the tetragonal distortion η lead to a significant variation in the anion displacement parameter U, which should be responsible for the evolution of bond parameters and resultant Raman bands with x.     

Tetragonal Distortion of GaN Epilayer with Multiple Buffer Layers on Si （111） Studied by RBS/Channelling and HRXRD

Rutherford backscattering （RBS）/channelling and high resolution x-ray diffraction （HRXRD） have been used to characterize the tetragonal distortion of a GaN epilayer with four Alx Ga1-xN and single AIN buffer layers grown on a Si （111） substrate by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy （MOVPE）. The results show that a 1000nm GaN epilayer with a perfect crystal quality （Xmin = 1.54%） can be grown on the Si （111） substrate in virtue of multiple buffer layers. Using the RBS/channelling angular scan around an off-normal （1213） axis in the （1010） plane and the conventional HRXRD θ - 20 scans normal to GaN （0002） and （1122） planes at the 0° and 180° azimuth angles, the tetragonal distortion eT, which is caused by the elastic strain in the epilayer and different buffer layers, can be obtained respectively. The two experiments are testified at one result, the tetragonal distortion of GaN epilayer is nearly to a fully relaxed （eT = 0）.     

Assignment of Photoelectron Spectra of MC2 （M= V, Cr, Fe, and Co）

Hybrid density functional theory （DFT） calculations are performed to study MC2 （M= V, Cr, Fe and Co） clusters in the neutral and anionic charge states. We find that the equilibrium geometries of MC2 and their anions are all cyclic structures with C2v symmetry, which agrees well with the previous theoretical studies. The Mulliken charge and spin populations of MC2 clusters and their anions are also calculated, and it is found that the electron charge transformations from anions to neutral molecules mainly take place on the M atoms. Time-dependent DFT is used to calculate the excited states, and a theoretical assignment for the features in the experimental photoelectron spectrum is given, which are in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Energy Spectrum,g Factors,Strain-Induced Level-Splittings and R-Line Thermal Shift of MgO：V^2＋＋

Traditional ligand-field theory has to be improved by taking into account both pure electronic contribution and electron-phonon interaction one （including lattice-vibrational relaxation energy）. By means of improved ligand-field theory, the R line, t^322T1 and t^322T2 lines, t^22（^3T1）e^4T2, t^22（^3T1）e^4T1 and t2e^2（^4A2）4T1 bands, g factors of t^32 ^4A2 and t32E, four strain-induced level-splittings and R-line thermal shift of MgO：V^2＋ have been calculated. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that for MgO：V^2＋, the contributions due to electronphonon interaction （EPI） come from the first-order term; the contributions from the second-order and higher terms are insignificant. In thermal shift of R line of MgO：V^2＋, the temperature-dependent contribution due to EPI is dominant. The results obtained in this work may be used in theoretical calculations of other effects of EPI.     

Electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of LiBC under high pressure

This paper investigates the electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of LiBC in the hexagonal structure by using the generalized gradient approximation （GGA） and local density approximation correction scheme in the frame of density functional theory. The geometric structure of LiBC under zero pressure, and the dependences of the normalized lattice parameters a/ao and c/co, the ratio e/a, the normalized primitive volume V/Vo on pressure are given. The thermodynamic quantity （including the heat capacity Cv, Debye temperature 6~D, thermal expansion a and Grfineisen parameter -y） dependences on temperature and pressure are obtained through the GGA method and the quasi-harmonic Debye model. The band structures and density of state of LiBC under different pressures have also been analysed.     

Effects of charge on the structures and spin moments of Nil3 cluster

The structural stability and magnetic properties of the icosahedral Ni13, Ni13^＋1 and Ni13^-1 clusters have been obtained by utilizing all-electron density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximations for the exchange-correlation energy. The calculated results show that the ground states of neutral and charged clusters all favour a D3d structure, a distorted icosahedron, due to the Jahn-Teller effect. The radial distortions caused by doping one electron and by doping one hole are opposite to each other. Doping one electron will result in a 1/2 decrease and doping one hole will result in a 1/2 increase of the total spin. Both increasing interatomic spacing and decreasing coordination will lead to an enhancement of the spin magnetic moments for Nil3 clusters.     

Resonant tunnelling of the magnetization in molecular crystal of [（Mn1-xCrx）12O12 （CH3COO）16（H2O）4]·2CH3COOH·4H2O（x=0,0.03,0.04,0.05）

The quantum tunnelling of magnetization （QTM） in single crystals of the single molecule magnet （Mn1-xCrx）12- Ac （x=0, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05） has been investigated. In comparison with its parent Mnl2-Ac, a greater rate of magnetization relaxation and a lower effective potential-energy barrier have been observed in Cr-doping samples. This modulation of QTM due to the Cr-doping could be attributed to the small change of Sz due to the smaller spin of Cr itself and additional intrinsic but distributed transverse and longitudinal anisotropy raised by a subtle change of the local environment in the magnetic Mn12 core.     

Ab initio MRCI＋Q study on potential energy curves and spectroscopic parameters of low-lying electronic states of CS＋

Carbon monosulfide molecular ion （CS＋）, which plays an important role in various research fields, has long been attracting much interest. Because of the unstable and transient nature of CS＋, its electronic states have not been well investigated. In this paper, the electronic states of CS＋ are studied by employing the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction method, and taking into account relativistic effects （scalar plus spin–orbit coupling）. The spin–orbit coupling effects are considered via the state-interacting method with the full Breit–Pauli Hamiltonian. The potential energy curves of 18 Λ–S states correlated with the two lowest dissociation limits of CS＋ molecular ion are calculated, and those of 10 lowest Ω states generated from the 6 lowest Λ–S states are also worked out. The spectroscopic constants of the bound states are evaluated, and they are in good agreement with available experimental results and theoretical values. With the aid of analysis of Λ–S composition of Ω states at different bond lengths, the avoided crossing phenomena in the electronic states of CS＋ are illuminated. Finally, the single ionization spectra of CS （X1Σ＋） populating the CS＋（X2Σ1/2＋, A2Π3/2, A2Π1/2, and B2Σ1/2＋） states are simulated. The vertical ionization potentials for X2Σ1/2＋, A2Π3/2, A2Π1/2, and B2Σ1/2＋ states are calculated to be 11.257, 12.787, 12.827, and 15.860 eV, respectively, which are accurate compared with previous experimental results, within an error margin of 0.08 eV~0.2 eV.     

Resonant tunnelling of the magnetization in molecular crystal of [（Mn1-xCrx）12O12 （CH3COO）16（H2O）4]·2CH3COOH·4H2O（x=0,0.03,0.04,0.05）

The quantum tunnelling of magnetization （QTM） in single crystals of the single molecule magnet （Mn1-xCrx）12- Ac （x=0, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05） has been investigated. In comparison with its parent Mnl2-Ac, a greater rate of magnetization relaxation and a lower effective potential-energy barrier have been observed in Cr-doping samples. This modulation of QTM due to the Cr-doping could be attributed to the small change of Sz due to the smaller spin of Cr itself and additional intrinsic but distributed transverse and longitudinal anisotropy raised by a subtle change of the local environment in the magnetic Mn12 core.     

Thermodynamic Stability,Half-Metallic and Optical Properties of Sc2CoSi [001] Film:a DFT Study

The electronic and optical characteristics of the Sc2 CoSi Heusler with L21 structure and also the surface effect on electronic and optical properties, and the ?lms thermodynamic stability of the [001] direction in four cases including:Sc-Sc, Sc-Co, Sc-Si and Co-Si terminations are studied using the ?rst principles calculations(FPLAPW) within the framework of the density functional theory(DFT). The band structure calculations represent the ferromagnetic halfmetallic properties with 100% spin polarization and 0.54 e V indirect gap in spin down for Sc2 CoSi bulk with optimized lattice parameters of 6.25 A?. The total magnetic moment obtained for this compound is-1.0 μB, which is in accordance with Slater-Pauling rule. The half-metallic(HM) behavior by 100% spin polarization at Fermi level is occurred in the Sc-Si termination with a 0.32 eV gap in down spin. The optical responses have been calculated for the bulk and ScSi termination by a red shift in these parameters and the metallic treatments have been increased. According to the thermodynamic phase diagrams, it is shown the Sc-Si and Sc-Sc terminations are more stable than other terminations.     

Microscopic—Theoretical Calculations of R—Line Thermal Shifts and Broadenings of MgO：V^2＋

A great improvement on a previous work (PHYS.Rev.B48 (1993) 14067) has been made.By taking into account all the irreducible representations and their components in the electron-phonon interaction (EPI) as well as all the levels and the admixtures of basic wavefunctions within d^3 electronic configuration,the values of all the parameters in the expressions of thermal shift(TS) and thermal broadening (TB) from EPI for the ground level,R level and R line of MgO:V^2 have microscopically been evaluated;and then,both the TS and TB of R line and various contributions to them have uniformly been calculated.The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data.It is found that all the three terms of TS from EPI are red shifts;the term of the contribution to TS from thermal expansion is blue shift.The Raman term is the largest,and the other terms are also important for TS.The R-line TS of MgO:V^2 comes from the first-order term of EPI.The elastic Raman scattering of acoustic phonons plays a dominant role in R-line TB of MgO:V^2 .For calculations of both the TS and TB,it is very important to take into account all the admixtures of wavefunctions.     

Spin polarization effect for Cr2 molecule

Density functional theory （DFT） （B3P86） of Gaussian 03 has been used to optimize the structure of the Cr2 molecule, a transition metal element molecule. The result shows that the ground state for the Cr2 molecule is a 13- multiple state, indicating that there exists a spin polarization effect in the Cr2 molecule. Meanwhile, we have not found any spin pollution because the wave function of the ground state does not mingle with wave functions of higher-energy states. So the ground state for Cr2 molecule being a 13-multiple state is indicative of spin polarization effect of the Cr2 molecule among transition metal elements, that is, there are 12 parallel spin electrons in the Cr2 molecule. The number of non-conjugated electrons is greatest. These electrons occupy different spatial orbitals so that the energy of the Cr2 molecule is minimized. It can be concluded that the effect of parallel spin in the Cr2 molecule is larger than the effect of the conjugated molecule, which is obviously related to the effect of electron d delocalization. In addition, the Murrell Sorbie potential functions with the parameters for the ground state and other states of the Cr2 molecule are derived. The dissociation energy De for the ground state of the Cr2 molecule is 0.1034eV, equilibrium bond length Re is 0.3396 nm, and vibration frequency we is 73.81cm^-1. Its force constants f2, f3 and f4 are 0.0835, -0.2831 and 0.3535 aJ. nm^-4 respectively. The other spectroscopic data for the ground state of the Cr2 molecule ωeχe, Be and αe are 1.2105, 0.0562 and 7.2938 x 10^-4cm^-1 respectively.     

Spin Glass Behaviour and Spin-Dependent Scattering in La0.7Ca0.3Mn0.9Cr0.1O3 Perovskites

The magnetic, electrical and thermal transport properties of the perovskite La0.7Ca0.3Mn0.9 Cr0.1O3 have been investigated by measuring dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, the magnetoresistance and thermal conductivity in the temperature range of 5-300 K. The spin glass behaviour with a spin freezing temperature of 70 K has been well confirmed for this compound, which demonstrates the coexistence and competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic clusters by the introduction of Cr. Colossal magnetoresistance has been observed over the temperature range investigated. The introduction of Cr causes the ““double-bump““ feature in electrical resistivity ρ(T). Anomalies on the susceptibility and the thermal conductivity associated with the double-bumps in ρ(T)are observed simultaneously. The imaginary part of ac susceptibility shows a sharp peak at the temperature of insulating-metallic transition where the first resistivity bump was observed, but it is a deep-set valley near the temperature where the second bump in ρ(T) emerges. The thermal conductivity shows an increase below the temperature of the insulating-metallic transition, but the phonon scattering is enhanced accompanying the appearance of the second peak of double-bumps in ρ(T). We relate those observed in magnetic and transport properties of La0.7Ca0.3Mn0.9Cr0.1O3 to the spin-dependent scattering. The results reveal that the spin-phonon interaction may be of more significance than the electron (charge)-phonon interaction in the mixed perovskite system.