Polarizabilities of rubidium (9-10)S 1/2 and 8D 3/2, 5/2 states

Polarizabilities of several rubidium states were determined by measuring stark shifts of transitions using an electro-optically modulated laser beam to excite an atomic beam. The voltage required for atoms excited by the laser beam in an electric field to be simultaneously in resonance as atoms excited by a frequency sideband of the laser in a field free region was measured. The scalar α and tensor α ₂ polarizabilities were found to be: α (9 S _1/2 ) = 103.77±0.09, α (10 S _1/2 ) = 272.54±0.16, α (8 D _3/2 ) = 230.68±0.25 and α ₂ (8 D _3/2 ) = 26.55±0.10, α (8 D _5/2 ) = 222.68±0.14 and α ₂ (8 D _5/2 ) = 51.91±0.10 MHz/(kV/cm)². The results are 100 times more accurate than previous measurements and are within 1% of those found theoretically using a Coulomb approximation calculation. Received 7 September 2000 and Received in final form 6 December 2000     

Transport properties of La 1 - x Ca x MnO 3 ( 0.5 ? x < 1)

The transport properties of the La_1-xCa_xMnO₃ ( 0.5 ? x < 1) system in magnetic fields up to 14 T were studied. We found that the relationship between the charge ordering temperature T _CO and Mn⁴⁺ content n _{Mn4 +} obeys the formula T _CO / T _max = 1 - a ( n _{Mn4 +} - n ₀ ) ² , here n₀ and a are constants and T _max is the maximum of T _CO . For x = 0.65, T _CO arrives at the maximum value of 249.5 K in zero magnetic field, while the charge ordered (CO) state is most stable around x = 0.75. For x = 0.5 when H < 6 T the resistivity displays Mott's variable-range hopping (VRH) behavior, when 6 < H < 12 T it is suggested that two kinds of conduction mechanism, i.e., VRH and magnetic polarons, coexist in the material, and when H > 12 T the resistivity shows metallic-like behavior and the transport mechanism is attributed to coexistence of magnetic polarons and free carriers. For x = 0.95, the conduction mechanism accords with the coexistence of VRH and magnetic polarons. Received 4 January 2002 and Received in final form 28 January 2002     

Formation of Cs molecules via Feshbach resonances stabilized by spontaneous emission: theoretical treatment with the Fourier grid method

This paper proposes a general method to investigate Feshbach resonances in atomic collisions similar to Cs(6 s ) + Cs(6 p ) in the thermal or cold regime. In order to compute the predissociation widths of the C ¹ Π _u (6 s + 5 d ) bound vibrational levels of Cs₂, coupled both with the (2) ³ Σ ⁺ _u (6 s + 6 p ) continuum and with the (2) ³ Π _u (6 s + 5 d ) vibrational series, a Fourier grid method is implemented, with an optical potential. A convenient way of optimizing the latter is proposed. A large number of resonances are found and calculations of their cross-sections for stabilization into ground state molecules show that the rate may be important. This confirms the interpretation of Lintz and Bouchiat [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2570 (1998)] who observed dimer formation in cell experiments. Possible generalization to the cold regime relies on the possibility to tune the position of a resonance to coincide with the maximum of the collisional energy distribution. Received 14 February 2002 Published online 28 June 2002     

Study of excitation transfer Li (3 D → 3 P ) occurring in optical collisions with rare gas atoms experimentally

By selective optical excitation of collision pairs and observation of the reemitted fluorescence information is obtained on the role of the molecular channels involved in inelelastic collisions. As an example case we have studied experimentally the Li( 3 D → 3 P) excitation transfer in Li(3D)X systems with X = Ne, Ar by means of the optical collision process Li (2 P ) + X + h ν→ LiX (3 D Λ) → Li (3 P , 3 D ) + X where LiX (3 D Λ) collision molecules dissociate into Li(3P, 3D) atoms following laser excitation h ν of Li (2 P ) + X pairs. For this purpose we measured the Li 3P/3D population ratio by the fluorescence from these levels as function of the laser detuning Δν from the Li(2P-3D) transition and the rare gas pressure, and determined from this the 3P/3D excitation ratio B (Δν) for single collision conditions. The experiments were performed using two step cw laser excitation of gaseous mixtures Li + X at temperatures around 600 K in the detuning range |Δν| ? 100 cm^-1. The B (Δν) profiles obtained display strong blue-red wing asymmetries both for Li ^* Ne and Li ^* Ar. This reflects different dissociation probabilities from the 3 D Σ or 3 D (Π,Δ) states that are initially prepared by blue wing or red wing excitation, respectively. The results are qualitatively discussed in terms of new ab initio potentials for the two systems. Received 23 February 2000 and Received in final form 5 July 2000     

Dynamics of BF 4 - anion reorientation in the spin-crossover compound [Fe(1-n-propyl-1H-tetrazole) 6 ](BF 4 ) 2 and in its Zn II analogue

¹⁹ F and ¹¹ B spin-lattice relaxation times were measured in [ Zn ( ptz ) ₆ ] ( BF ₄ ) ₂ and in the spin-crossover compound [ Fe ( ptz ) ₆ ] ( BF ₄ ) ₂ . For both compounds BF ₄ ^- anion reorientation is active above 50 K. For [ Zn ( ptz ) ₆ ] ( BF ₄ ) ₂ , the anion-reorientation dynamics is different in the temperature regions of 50-90 K, 90-120 K, and above 150 K; between 120 and 150 K it changes rapidly reflecting a structural change. In [ Fe ( ptz ) ₆ ] ( BF ₄ ) ₂ the mechanism for the paramagnetic relaxation involving the ¹⁹ F nuclei is found to be of the diffusion-limited type according to the theory of Lowe and Tse. The present results prove that the spin-crossover takes place in a dynamic surrounding and not in a static crystal lattice. Received 09 February 1999 and Received in final form 14 June 1999     

On the existence of <Emphasis Type="Bold">1, 3</Emphasis>P <Emphasis Type="Bold">o</Emphasis> resonances in H<Superscript>-</Superscript> between n = 2 and 3 H thresholds

We examine the influence of relativistic and QED effects on the existence of the ^1,3P ^o H^- resonances between n = 2 and 3 hydrogen thresholds, the relativistic and QED corrections and the coupling effects between the high singlet and triplet states are considered as first-order perturbations. We firstly obtain accurate non-relativistic resonant energies and widths of fifteen ¹P ^o resonances, and fifteen ³P ^o resonances. The fifteen ¹P ^o resonances are classified to be ₃ (2, 0) ^- _n ( 4 ? n ? 12) and ₃ (1, 1) ⁺ _n ( 3 ? n ? 8). The fifteen ³P ^o resonances are classified to be ₃ (2, 0) ⁺ _n ( 3 ? n ? 12) and ₃ (1, 1) ^- _n ( 4 ? n ? 8). We found there exist six Feshbach resonances for ₃ (2, 0) ^- _n (¹P ^o ) series, four Feshbach resonances for ₃ (1, 1) ⁺ _n (¹P ^o ) series, seven Feshbach resonances for ₃ (2, 0) ⁺ _n (³P ^o ) series, and three Feshbach resonances for ₃ (1, 1) ^- _n (¹P ^o ) series. Received 22 February 2002 Published online 24 September 2002     

69,71Ga NMR studies of a superconducting Ga 84 cluster compound

We present ^69,71Ga-NMR experiments on microcrystalline samples of the recently discovered supramolecular compound Ga ₈₄ [ N ( SiMe ₃ ) ₂ ] ₂₀ Li ₆ Br ₂ ( thf ) ₂₀ ^. 2 toluene, which is composed of ligand-coordinated Ga₈₄ metal clusters, packed together in a fully ordered crystalline matrix. The compound is highly conducting and even shows superconductivity below T _c ~ 7.2 K. Our preliminary results between 10-300 K show a metallic-like behavior: the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate T ₁ ^-1 follows the Korringa law ⁶⁹ ( T ₁ T ) ^-1 = 0.36 s ^-1 K ^-1 , but with a relaxation rate approximately three times smaller than in bulk -Ga metal. No quantum-size effects are observed, the Korringa law being followed down to 10 K, whereas the quantum-gaps for individual clusters should amount to ~ 10 ³ K. These results therefore suggest a transport process based on intermolecular charge transfer, similar as in alkali-doped fullerenes and silicon-clathrates.     

Unconventional antiferromagnetic correlations of the doped Haldane gapsystem Y 2 BaNi 1 - x Zn x O 5

We make a new proposal to describe the very low temperature susceptibility of the doped Haldane gap compound Y₂BaNi_1-xZn_xO₅. We propose a new mean field model relevant for this compound. The ground state of this mean field model is unconventional because antiferromagnetism coexists with random dimers. We present new susceptibility experiments at very low temperature. We obtain a Curie-Weiss susceptibility χ( T ) ∼ C /(Θ + T ) as expected for antiferromagnetic correlations but we do not obtain a direct signature of antiferromagnetic long range order. We explain how to obtain the “impurity” susceptibility ( T ) by subtracting the Haldane gap contribution to the total susceptibility. In the temperature range [1 K, 300 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = C _imp 1 + T _imp / T . In the temperature range [100 mK, 1 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = A ln( T / T _c ), where T _c increases with x. This fit suggests the existence of a finite Néel temperature which is however too small to be probed directly in our experiments. We also obtain a maximum in the temperature dependence of the ac-susceptibility ( T ) which suggests the existence of antiferromagnetic correlations at very low temperature. Received 17 July 2001     

Evolution of ( La 1 - y Pr y ) 0.7 Ca 0.3 MnO 3 crystal structure with A-cation size, temperature, and oxygen isotope substitution

The atomic structure of ( La _{1 - y} Pr _y ) _0.7 Ca _0.3 MnO ₃ compound with 0.5≤ y ≤1 has been systematically studied by neutron powder diffraction in the temperature range from 15 to 293 K. For composition with y = 0.75, the structural analysis was performed on two samples, one containing the natural mixture of oxygen isotopes and the other one 75% enriched by ¹⁸ O. The room temperature structural characteristics of the series, including cell volume, average Mn-O bond distance, and average Mn-O-Mn bond angle, are the linear functions of the < r _A >. Temperature dependencies of these parameters are quite smooth, except for the point T = T _FM , where a jump like changes occur. The isotope enriched samples have been found identical in crystal and magnetic structure down to the temperature of transition of the sample with ¹⁶ O into the metallic ferromagnetic phase. It confirms that different transport and magnetic properties of the samples with ¹⁶ O and ¹⁸ O at low temperature are driven by the different oxygen atoms dynamics solely. Temperature dependencies of the CO and AFM diffraction peak intensities and of the peak widths for compositions close to the metal-insulator boundary ( y ≈ 0.75) indicate the macroscopically phase separated AFM-dielectric + FM-metallic state below T _FM . Received 28 April 2000     

Isotope dependent predissociation in the C 1 Σ + , v =0 and v =1 states of CO

Rotationally resolved spectral lines in the C - X (1, 0) band of carbon monoxide are investigated under high resolution using a coherent vacuum ultraviolet laser source, continuously tunable near 107 nm. Transition frequencies are determined by calibrating against a reference standard of iodine lines, recorded with saturation spectroscopy in the visible range, yielding an absolute accuracy of 0.003 cm^-1 in the vacuum ultraviolet. Improved molecular constants for the excited state are derived and no effects of perturbation are found at the present level of accuracy. Line broadening measurements result in information on the excited state lifetime of the C ¹ Σ ⁺ , v = 1 state for five natural isotopomers of carbon monoxide: τ( ¹² C ¹⁷ O ) = 280 ps, τ( ¹² C ¹⁸ O ) = 210 ps, τ( ¹³ C ¹⁶ O ) = 295 ps, τ( ¹³ C ¹⁷ O ) = 160 ps, and τ( ¹³ C ¹⁸ O ) = 150 ps. Within the accuracy of the present measurements no effects of J-dependent lifetimes were observed, for neither of the isotopomers. In addition direct time domain measurements of the lifetime of the C ¹ Σ ⁺ , v = 0 and v = 1 states of the main isotopomer are performed in a pump-probe experiment using a picosecond VUV-laser, yielding τ( ¹² C ¹⁶ O ) = 1780 ps for v = 0 and τ( ¹² C ¹⁶ O ) = 625 ps for v = 1. For C ¹ Σ ⁺ , v = 0 in ¹²C¹⁶O and ¹³C¹⁶O the same lifetime is found; this lifetime matches experimental values of the oscillator strength and hence supports previous results showing pure radiative decay in this state; the error margins however do not exclude some low level of predissociation. The measurements indicate that the C ¹ Σ ⁺ , v = 0 state of the ¹³C¹⁸O isotopomer is predissociated with an estimated yield of 17% (i.e. above the level of predissociation for ¹²C¹⁶O.) From the combined data predissociation yields upon excitation of the C ¹ Σ ⁺ , v = 1 state are derived, lying in the range 0.84-0.91 for the five less abundant isotopomers; for the main ¹²C¹⁶O isotopomer a strongly deviating predissociation yield of 0.65 is deduced. Received 21 December 2000 and Received in final form 26 March 2001     

Study of : pronounced differences between the and ground states

We present electrical resistivity and specific heat measurements of alloys on the Rh rich side of the phase diagram of the Ce(Rh_1-xPd_x)₂Si₂ system. We compare these results with those obtained at intermediate and low Rh concentrations. The analysis of the concentration and temperature dependence of the entropy and of the scaling behaviour of C _el ( T ) and ρ( T ) clearly confirm a separation of the magnetic phase diagram into two regions: the region x ≤0.3, showing a concentration independent characteristic temperature for the 4 f-electrons with T ₀ ≈ 45 K, while for x > 0.3, T₀ decreases to T ₀ ( x = 1) ≈ 15 K. At low Pd-content, T_N decreases very rapidly from T _N = 36 K in pure CeRh₂Si₂ to T _N = 18 K at x = 0.1. With higher Pd concentration T_N stabilizes at T _N ≈ 15 K whereas the magnitude of the anomalies in C _el ( T ) and in the susceptibility around T_N are further reduced and disappear at x ≈ 0.3. This differs from the behavior found on the Pd-rich side, where T_N decreases continuously to zero with increasing Rh content. The pronounced differences observed between both phase boundaries and the drastic effect of doping on the Rh rich side suggest an itinerant character in CeRh₂ Si₂, in contrast with the localized character of CePd₂Si₂. Further evidence for the itinerant character of CeRh₂Si₂ is given by the ρ( T ) dependence observed for x ≤0.3, which scales with ρ( T ) of the prototype itinerant compound YCo₂. Received 31 December 2001 / Received in final form 6 July 2002 Published online 19 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: berisso@cab.cnea.gov.ar     

The electronic structure of the doped one-dimensional transition metal oxide Y 2 - x Ca x BaNiO 5 studied using X-ray absorption

A strong anisotropic distribution of the holes in Ni 3 d and O 2 p orbitals is observed in the polarization dependent O 1 s and Ni 2 p _3/2 X-ray absorption spectroscopy of the linear-chain nickelate Y_2-xCa_xBaNiO₅ (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2), which demonstrates the one-dimensional nature of the electronic state in these compounds. The holes introduced by Ca-doping occupy both O 2 p and Ni 3 d orbitals along the NiO₅ chains. By comparing the experimental Ni 2 p _3/2 absorption spectra of Y_2-xCa_xBaNiO₅ to those from charge transfer multiplet calculations we can derive the orbital character of the additional holes to be of ∼60% O2 p and ∼40% Ni 3 d. Received 7 January 2002     

Cascade feeding of the 1s3d D level of He I from high-l states excited by proton impact

The 1 s 3 d ³D level of atomic helium cannot be excited directly by proton impact, but it is strongly populated by cascade feeding from 1snl states with l ≥ 3, if 10÷15 keV protons are used for excitation. This cascade feeding process can be analysed in detail by investigating the intensity of the spectral line at λ(1 s 3 d ³ D- 1 s 2 p ³ P ) = 588 nm as a function of an electric field directed parallel and antiparallel to the proton beam. In this paper the intensity functions are calculated assuming collisional excitation of parabolic singlet states | 1 s ; n , n ₁ , n ₂ , m 〉 with large electric dipole moments. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental intensity function published earlier. Excellent agreement is obtained if the excitation cross-sections σ _n of the parabolic states scale as n^-3.     

Element-specific magnetic long- and short-range order and competing interactions in Gd x Eu 1 - x S

We report on an investigation of the magnetic properties of Gd _x Eu _{1 - x} S mixed crystals with compositions in the range of 0.6 < x < 1. For the two samples Gd _0.8 Eu _0.2 S and Gd _0.73 Eu _0.27 S a long-range antiferromagnetic order was observed at low temperatures. Element-specific measurements exhibited a different temperature dependence of the reduced sublattice magnetisation of the two magnetic species. A model calculation and Monte Carlo simulations revealed that the different temperature dependence is due to frustration effects. These frustration effects lead to a breakdown of the long-range order for higher europium contents. For the Gd _0.67 Eu _0.33 S-sample we were able to observe a short-range antiferromagnetic order with correlation lengths of a few 10? with X-ray resonance exchange scattering. Received 25 April 2001 and Received in final form 3 December 2001     

Dimer dissociation energies of small odd-size clusters

The dimer dissociation energies of gold cluster ions Au ⁺ _n , n = 9, 11, 13, 15 have been determined with an extension of a recently developed model-independent method. Monomer-dimer decay pathway branching ratios provide the energy dependent process which is needed in this method. The measured values are D ₂ ( Au ⁺ ₉ ) = 3.66(8)(9) eV, D ₂ ( Au ⁺ ₁₁ ) = 4.27(11)(8) eV, D ₂ ( Au ⁺ ₁₃ ) = 4.50(9)(7) eV and D ₂ ( Au ⁺ ₁₅ ) = 4.29(10)(6) eV. Received 13 May 2002 / Received in final form 22 July 2002 Published online 24 September 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: manuel.vogel@uni-mainz.de     

Finestructure, hyperfine structure and isotope shift of 4f 6s7s in Er I

The isotope shift (IS) and hyperfine structure (hfs) of nine levels (31720 to 38921 cm^-1) assigned to the configuration 4 f ¹² 6 s 7 s in neutral erbium have been determined experimentally using Doppler-reduced saturation absorption spectroscopy in a gas discharge. We performed a fine structure analysis in the SL-coupling scheme of the single configuration 4 f ¹² 6 s 7 s, confirming and extending the classification of even parity Er I levels. We discriminated the different hfs contributions of the 4f¹² core and the (6 s +7 s) outer electrons of the shell in a non-relativistic JJ-coupling approach and in the relativistic effective tensor operator formalism in SL-coupling. The relativistic one-electron parameters of the hfs for ¹⁶⁷Er were fitted to the experimental data by a least squares fit procedure: [0pt] a ⁰¹ _4f =-147(3) MHz, [0pt] a ¹⁰ _6s + a ¹⁰ _7s =-1840(30) MHz, [0pt] b ⁰² _4f =6560(80) MHz. The level dependencies of the isotope shift were evaluated based on crossed second order (CSO) effects. We obtained the following results for the CSO parameters for the isotope pairs ^170-168Er: d _6s7s =-740(30) MHz, z _4f = 0(5) MHz, ( g _3,6s ( f , 6 s )+ g _{3, 7s} ( f , 7 s ))= -24(15) MHz and for ^170-166Er: d _6s7s =-1500(50) MHz, z _4f =0(10) MHz, ( g _3,6s ( f ,6 s )+ g _3,7s ( f +7 s ))=-50(29) MHz. The resulting parameters for the hfs are compared with those known for other configurations of the Er atom and ion. Received 16 May 1999 and Received in final form 31 January 2000     

Lifetime measurements for some levels in Be-like Cl XIV and S XIII

Lifetime measurements have been carried out for some low lying (n = 2) levels in the four-electron ions Cl XIV and S XIII using the beam-foil technique. Accurate oscillator strengths for the 2 s2 ¹ S - 2 s 2 p ¹ P o transition have been determined by the inclusion of prominent cascades in the analysis. Lifetimes of the levels of the 2 p2 ³ P j multiplet have also been measured for both ions. The results are compared with theoretical predictions and earlier measurements. Received: 29 October 1997 / Revised: 10 February 1998 / Accepted: 5 March 1998     

Theoretical transition probabilities and lifetimes in nickel-like Se,Y and Sn ions

The 17 levels of the 3 d ¹⁰ , 3 d ⁹ 4 s and 3 d ⁹ 4 p configurations, and the electric-dipole transitions among these levels are calculated for the three nickel-like ions Se⁶⁺, Y¹¹⁺ and Sn²²⁺ by using large-scale multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock wavefunctions. From these computations, the excitation energies and transition probabilities as well as the lifetimes of 3 d ⁹ 4 p levels are derived, including all dominant effects of relativity, correlation and of the rearrangement of the electron density within the same framework. Comparison is made with the scarce number of experimental data and previous semi-empirical computations.