Defect induced ferromagnetism in carbon-doped ZnO thin films

We report on room temperature ferromagnetism in C-doped ZnO thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation. Magnetization, Hall effect, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction studies have been conducted to investigate the source and nature of ferromagnetism in C-doped ZnO. The samples were observed to have n-type conduction with the carrier concentration increasing with C doping. XPS does not give any evidence for C substituted at the O site, and is more consistent with the formation of C-O bonds and with the presence of C primarily in the +4 state. It is suggested that the ferromagnetism originates in the development of Zn vacancies that are stabilized due to the incorporation of C in a high valence state (C⁴⁺).     

Dynamics of the local moment induced by nonmagnetic defects in cuprates

We present a study of the spin dynamics of magnetic defects induced by Li substitution of the plane Cu in the normal state of YBa2Cu3O6+x. The fluctuations of the coupled Cu magnetic moments in the vicinity of Li are probed by near-neighbor 89Y and 7Li NMR spin lattice relaxation. The data indicate that the magnetic perturbation fluctuates as a single entity with a correlation time tau which scales with the local static susceptibility. This behavior is reminiscent of the low T Kondo state of magnetic impurities in conventional metals. Surprisingly it extends well above the "Kondo" temperature for the underdoped pseudogapped case.     

States of local moment induced by nonmagnetic impurities in cuprate superconductors

By using a model Hamiltonian with d-wave superconductivity and competing antiferromagnetic (AF) orders, the local staggered magnetization distribution due to nonmagnetic impurities in cuprate superconductors is investigated. We show that the net moment induced by a single impurity corresponds to a local spin with S(z)=0 or 1/2 depending on the strength of the AF interaction U and the impurity scattering strength epsilon. Phase diagram of epsilon versus U for the moment formation is presented. We discuss the connection of this result with the Kondo problem. When two impurities are placed at the nearest neighboring sites, the net moment is always zero, unusually robust to parameter changes. For two neighboring strong impurities, separated by a Cu-ion site, the induced net moment has S(z)=0, 1/2, or 1.     

Defect engineering of ZnO

The defect responsible for the transparent to red color change of nominally undoped ZnO bulk single crystals is investigated. Upon annealing in the presence of metallic Zn as reported by Halliburton et al. and also Ti and Zr a native defect forms with an energy level about 0.7 eV below the conduction band. This change is reversible upon annealing in oxygen. Optical transmission data along with positron depth profiles and annealing studies are combined to identify the defect as oxygen vacancies. Vacancy clustering occurs at about 500 °C if isolated zinc and oxygen vacancies. In the absence of zinc vacancies, clusters form at about 800 °C.     

Absence of interaction as a consequence of good ultraviolet behavior in the case of a local Fermi field

The ICAR theorem asserts that a local relativistic Fermi field is necessarily a free field, if it satisfies the canonical anticommutation relations, irreducibility of the fields at a fixed time, and certain regularity conditions. The regularity conditions are slightly stronger than the requirement that the mass renormalization be finite. It follows that an interacting Fermi field must violate one or more assumptions of the ICAR theorem.Work supported in part by the U.S. Air Force Office of Research, Air Research and Development Command under contract number AF 49(638)-1545.     

The Formation of Defect Complexes in a ZnO Grain Boundary

The microscopic properties a ZnO grain boundary containing extrinsic point defects are studied using a density functional computational approach. The results show that the grain boundary acts as a sink for native defects, such as the zinc vacancy and the oxygen interstitial, and also for bismuth substitutional impurities. The defects tend to accumulate at under-coordinated sites in the boundary core and prefer to form small clusters. In particular the segregation of Bi promotes the formation of the other native defects by lowering their formation energies in the boundary. Individually, the native defects and the Bi impurity do not produce deep interface states in the band gap which are electrically active. However, when the defects cluster to form a Bi_Zn-V_Zn-O_i complex, new gap states are created of acceptor type. It is suggested that these new states are caused by defect interactions which compensate one another resulting in the depletion of an occupied impurity state and new bond formation. The results are discussed in terms of the Schottky barrier model commonly used to describe the electrical characteristics of ZnO varistors.     

Transport as a consequence of state-dependent diffusion

Overdamped particles subject to a drift in a force field with sinusoidal space dependence and also a sinusoidally modulated space-dependent diffusion, with the same period as the drift, experience a net driving force. The resulting current depends on the amplitude of the modulation of the diffusion and is a periodic function of the phase difference between the sinusoidal drift and the sinusoidal modulation of the diffusion. For small modulation amplitudes a particle subject to state-dependent noise behaves the same way as a particle subject to thermal noise but with a drift which, in addition to the sinusoidal term, contains a net force term.Dedicated to Professor Harry Thomas on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Transport as a consequence of state-dependent diffusion

Overdamped particles subject to a drift in a force field with sinusoidal space dependence and also a sinusoidally modulated space-dependent diffusion, with the same period as the drift, experience a net driving force. The resulting current depends on the amplitude of the modulation of the diffusion and is a periodic function of the phase difference between the sinusoidal drift and the sinusoidal modulation of the diffusion. For small modulation amplitudes a particle subject to state-dependent noise behaves the same way as a particle subject to thermal noise but with a drift which, in addition to the sinusoidal term, contains a net force term [M. Büttiker,Z. Phys. B 68:161 (1987)]. A specific example of this behavior [N. G. van Kampen,IBM J. Res. Dev. 32:107 (1988); R. Landauer,J. Stat. Phys. 53:233 (1988).] is the motion of overdamped particles in a ring subject to a nonuniform temperature field. When the drift and the temperature, which are periodic with a period equal to the ring circumference, are not in phase a noise-induced circulating current results.This paper will appear in a forthcoming issue of theJournal of Statistical Physics.     

Intermediate statistics as a consequence of deformed algebra

We present a formulation of deformed oscillator algebra which leads to intermediate statistics as a continuous interpolation between Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics. It is deduced that a generalized permutation or exchange symmetry leads to the introduction of the basic number and it is then established that this in turn leads to the deformed algebra of oscillators. We obtain the mean occupation number describing the particles obeying intermediate statistics which thus establishes the interpolating statistics and describe boson-like and fermion-like particles obeying intermediate statistics. We also obtain an expression for the mean occupation number in terms of an infinite continued fraction, thus clarifying successive approximations.     

Defect induced magnetic interactions in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG): a local investigation using TDPAD method

We performed microscopic studies of the magnetic interaction in HOPG by measuring the hyperfine field of ¹⁹F using the time differential perturbed angular distribution (TDPAD) technique. The results show two hyperfine fields (B_hf) components: one varying strongly with temperature and saturating around 5 kG, while the other showing a maximum of 0.85 kG. The temperature dependence of B_hf does not show any signature of ferromagnetic ordering, but is reminiscent of enhanced paramagnetism.     

Magnetic moment of phonons in graphene induced by a magnetic field

A magnetic field not only changes the electronic structure in graphene but also affects the phonon excitations via the electron-phonon interaction and even enables the phonons to generate magnetism. In this paper, we evaluate the magnetic moment of phonons in graphene using a generating-functional technique. The calculation results indicate that the phonon magnetic moment exists only in a weak magnetic field. The step-like change of the magnetic moment with the magnetic field reflects a macroscopic quantum effect.     

Kondo insulators in the periodic Anderson model: a local moment approach

The symmetric periodic Anderson model is well known to capture the essential physics of Kondo insulator materials. Within the framework of dynamical mean-field theory, we develop a local moment approach to its single-particle dynamics in the paramagnetic phase. The approach is intrinsically non-perturbative, encompasses all energy scales and interaction strengths, and satisfies the low-energy dictates of Fermi liquid theory. It captures in particular the strong coupling behaviour and exponentially small quasiparticle scales characteristic of the Kondo lattice regime, as well as simple perturbative behaviour in weak coupling. Particular emphasis is naturally given to strong coupling dynamics, where the resultant clean separation of energy scales enables the scaling behaviour of single-particle spectra to be obtained. Received 19 December 2002 Published online 14 March 2003     

d-Symmetry superconductivity as a consequence of valence-bond type correlations

It is shown that d _x ²−y ² symmetry of superconducting order due to valence bond (VB) type correlations is possible. The VB correlations are compatible with antiferromagnetic (AF) spin order. For the two-dimensional Hubbard model with arbitrary doping, the variational method of local unitary transformations is used to construct explicitly a uniform state with VB structure. The d-channel attraction of holes is a consequence of the modulation of hops by the populations of centers accompanying VB formation, and the parameters of the modulation are determined variationally. The increase in the density of states at the Fermi level accompanying AF splitting of the band, which is absent in the paramagnetic state, is important for the gap width. The gap width and its ratio to T _c are of the order of 2Δ≃0.1t and 2Δ/kT _c≃4–4.5 with U/t≃8. The agreement between the phase diagram found and experiment is discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 5, 350–355 (10 March 1998)     

Substrate orientation-induced distinct ferromagnetic moment in Co:ZnO films

Dilute (3.8 at.%) cobalt-doped ZnO thin films are deposited on LiTaO₃ (LT) substrates with three different orientations [LT(1 1 0), LT(0 1 2) and LT(0 1 8)] by direct current reactive magnetron co-sputtering. The experimental results indicate that Co atoms with 2+ chemical valence are successfully incorporated into the ZnO host matrix on various oriented substrates, and the substrate orientations have a profound influence on the crystal growth and magnetization of Co:ZnO films. A large magnetic moment of 2.42μ_B/Co at room temperature is obtained in the film deposited on LT(0 1 2), while the corresponding values of the other films deposited on LT(1 1 0) and LT(0 1 8) are 1.21μ_B/Co and 0.65μ_B/Co, respectively. Furthermore, the crystal growth mode of Co:ZnO films on various oriented LT, the relationship between the microstructures and corresponding ferromagnetic properties are also discussed.     

Ferrotoroidic moment as a quantum geometric phase

We present a geometric characterization of the ferrotoroidic moment tau in terms of a set of Abelian Berry phases. We also introduce a fundamental complex quantity z munu, which provides an alternative way to calculate tau and its moments and is derived from the tensor T munu=2 under summation operator jrj muSj nu. This geometric framework defines a natural computational approach for density functional and many-body theories.     

Phase space quantization as a moment problem

We consider questions related to the following quantization scheme: a classical variable f: Ω → ℝ on a phase space Ω is associated with a unique semispectral measure E ^f , such that the kth moment operator of E ^f is required to coincide with the operator integral L(f ^k , E) of f ^k with respect to a certain fixed phase space semispectral measure E. Mainly, we take the phase space Ω to be a locally compact unimodular group. In the concrete case where Ω = ℝ² and E is a translation covariant semispectral measure, we determine explicitly the relevant operators L(f ^k , E) for certain variables f. In addition, we consider the question under what conditions a positive operator measure is projection valued. The text was submitted by the author in English.