Factors affecting the superconductivity in the process of depositing Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4-δ by the pulsed electron deposition technique

On SrTiO₃ single crystal substrate, by using the pulsed electron deposition technique, the high-quality electron doped Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4−δ superconducting film was successfully fabricated. After careful study on the R-T curves of the obtained samples deposited with different substrate temperatures, thicknesses, annealing methods and pulse frequencies, the effects of them on the superconductivity of the films were found, and the reasons were also analyzed. Additionally, by using the same model of the pulsed laser deposition technique, the relation between the target-to-substrate distance and the deposition pressure was drawn out as a quantitative one. Supported by the Key Project of Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. Z605131), the ‘100 Talents Project’ of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Creative Research Group of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60321001) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60571029)     

Low-temperature anomaly of the magnetization in alloys (Pr,Dy,<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>)<Subscript>2</Subscript>(Fe,Co)<Subscript>14</Subscript>B (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis> = Gd,Sm, Nd)

It has been found that temperature dependences of the saturation magnetization of sintered hard magnetic (Pr,Dy,M)₂(Fe,Co)₁₄B (M = Gd, Sm, Nd) alloys demonstrate an increase at a temperature lower than a critical temperature (150 K for Sm and Nd and 70 K for Gd). An additive of copper does not influence the critical temperature. It has been assumed that there is a low-temperature phase in which cobalt is replaced with boron that diffuses from the (Pr,Dy,Gd)(Fe,Co)₄B phase to the near-surface region of grains of the main magnetic (Pr,Dy,Gd)₂(Fe,Co)₁₄B phase.     

The influence of impurity on the critical thickness of the CeO_2 buffer layer for coated conductors

The lattice parameters, band structure, density of state and elastic constant of RE-doped CeO2 (RE=Sm, Gd, Dy), the buffer material for coated HTS conductors, are calculated using the plane-wave method with pseudopotentials based on the density functional theory (DFT) of first-principle. The rule and mechanism of the effect of rare earth impurity on the critical thickness of the CeO2 buffer layer are investigated. It is found that, in the range of the calculation, the changes of the lattice volume V and ela...     

Influence of the rare earth element substitution on oxygen adsorption-desorption properties of YBCO

The oxygen adsorption-desorption properties of RBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (R = Gd, Er, Eu, Dy, Sm, Ho and Nd) and Y_1−x La_xBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (x=0.1, 0.5 and 1.0) were investigated from room temperature to 950 °C by thermogravimetry (TG). The results show that all samples will release oxygen with the increasing of temperature and the released oxygen can be absorbed back into the sample when temperature decreases. However, dependent on the rare earth element, the amount of the released oxygen is different for these samples. Moreover, in the temperature increasing and decreasing circle the repetition of oxygen adsorption-desorption is also different.     

Electronic structure of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> rutile with oxygen vacancies: Ab initio simulations and comparison with the experiment

The electronic structure of TiO₂ rutile with oxygen vacancies, which is a promising insulator, has been analyzed. The ab initio density functional calculations, as well as the comparative analysis of the results obtained in the σ-GGA spin-polarized generalized approximation and those obtained by the σ-GGA + U method with allowance for Coulomb correlations of d electrons titanium atoms in the Hartree-Fock approximation for the Hubbard model, have been performed. It has been found that the effective electron mass in rutile is anisotropic and there are both light (m _e ^* = (0.6–0.8)m ₀, where m ₀ is the free-electron mass) and heavy (m _e ^* > 1m ₀) electrons, whereas holes in rutile are only heavy (m _e ^* ⩾ 2m ₀). It has been shown that the σ-GGA + U method gives a deep occupied level in the band gap and that an oxygen vacancy in rutile is an electron and hole trap.     

On the magnetism of Ln<Subscript>2/3</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> (Ln = lanthanide)

The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the complete Ln_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ series were investigated. Here Ln stands for the lanthanides La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb. All the samples investigated crystallize in the space group Im[`3]Im\bar{3} with lattice constants that follow the lanthanide contraction. The lattice constant of the Ce compound reveals the presence of Ce⁴⁺ leading to the composition Ce_1/2Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂. From magnetic susceptibility and electron-spin resonance experiments it can be concluded that the copper ions always carry a spin S = 1/2 and order antiferromagnetically close to 25 K. The Curie-Weiss temperatures can approximately be calculated assuming a two-sublattice model corresponding to the copper and lanthanide ions, respectively. It seems that the magnetic moments of the heavy rare earths are weakly coupled to the copper spins, while for the light lanthanides no such coupling was found. The 4f moments remain paramagnetic down to the lowest temperatures, with the exception of the Tm compound, which indicates enhanced Van-Vleck magnetism due to a non-magnetic singlet ground state of the crystal-field split 4f manifold. From specific-heat measurements we accurately determined the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature and obtained information on the crystal-field states of the rare-earth ions.     

First-principles calculations on the electronic structure and optical properties of BaSi<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The electronic structure, densities of states and optical properties of the stable orthorhombic BaSi₂ have been calculated using the first-principle density function theory and pseudopotential method. The results show that BaSi₂ is an indirect semiconductor with the band gap of 1.086 eV, the valence bands of BaSi₂ are mainly composed of Si 3p, 3s and Ba 5d, and the conduction bands are mainly composed of Ba 6s, 5d as well as Si 3p. The static dielectric function ɛ ₁(0) is 11.17, the reflectivity n ₀ is 3.35, and the biggest peak of the absorption coefficient is 2.15×10₅ cm⁻¹. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60566001 and 60766002), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20050657003), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. (2005)383), the Specialized Fund of Nomarch for Excellent Talent of Science and Technology of Guizhou Province (Grant No. Z053114), the Scientific and Technological Projects for the Returned Overseas of Guizhou Province (Grant No. (2004)03), and the Top Talent’s Scientific Research Project of Organization Department of Guizhou Province (Grant No. Z053123)     

Electron transmission and quantum current distribution of C<Subscript>70</Subscript> molecule

The characteristics of electron transmission through C₇₀ molecule bridge in which two atomic chain leads are connected to long-axis carbon atoms are investigated theoretically by using tight-binding approach based on the Green’s function with only one π orbital electron per carbon atom. Electron transmission through C₇₀ molecule from the input to the output terminal is obtained. From the spectrum, the switching feature of the electron transmission through C₇₀ is found, and the oscillation property based on the quantized level is explained. The quantum current distributions inside C₇₀ molecule bridge are calculated and simulated by the quantum current density theory based on Fisher-Lee formula at the energy point E = −0.2 eV, where the transmission spectrum shows a peak. The maximum and the minimum bond quantum currents are presented, and the reason why the currents are distributed nonuniformly is explained by the phase difference of the atomic orbits. The result shows that the currents at each atomic site agree with Kirchhoff quantum current conservation law. Supported by the National Key Basic Research Development Project (Grant No. 2003CB716204), the International Corporation Project of the Education Department of China (Grant No. 20050360563), the Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials of Jiangsu (Grant No. BM2003202) and the State Key Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures of Nanjing University     

Impurity band in SnBi<Subscript>4</Subscript>Se<Subscript>7</Subscript>: thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity measurements

Thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity measurements on polycrystalline samples of Bi₂Se₃ and stoichiometric ternary compound in the quasi-binary system SnSe–Bi₂Se₃ in the temperature range of 90–420 K are presented and explained assuming the existence of an impurity band. The variation of the electron concentration with temperature above 300 K is explained in terms of the thermal activation of a shallow donor, by using a single conduction band model. The density of states effective mass m ^*=0.15m ₀ of the electrons, the activation energy of the donors, their concentration, and the compensation ratio are estimated. The temperature dependence of the electron mobility in conduction band is analyzed by taking into account the scattering of the charge carriers by acoustic phonon, optical phonon, and polar optical phonon as well as by alloy and ionized impurity modes. On the other hand, by considering the two-band model with electrons in both the conduction and impurity bands, the change in the electrical resistivity with temperature between 420 and 90 K is explained.     

Reduction dependence of superconductivity in the end-member T′ cuprates

We have recently achieved superconductivity in T′-RE₂CuO₄ (RE: Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd), using epitaxial thin films by metal organic decomposition. The key recipes to achieve superconductivity are low-P_O2 firing and subsequent vacuum reduction to minimize the amount of impurity oxygen atoms, which are very harmful to high-T_c superconductivity. In this article, we report our investigation on the reduction dependence of superconductivity of T′-RE₂CuO₄. For thin films, the amount of remnant O_ap atoms is difficult to evaluate but we propose that one good measure for this may be the c-axis lattice constant, which tells us whether the reduction is insufficient or excessive.     

Study of the electric field gradient at <Superscript>111</Superscript>Cd in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>Al<Subscript>3</Subscript> compounds synthesized under high pressure

The electric quadrupole interaction parameters for impurity ¹¹¹Cd nuclei in intermetallic RAl₃ compounds (R = La, Ce, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb, or Lu) synthesized under high (8 GPa) pressure at high (1800–1900°C) temperatures have been measured using the method of perturbed angular γγ correlations. It has been established by X-ray diffraction analysis that with an increase in the atomic number of the R element the obtained high-pressure phases are crystallized successively in the orthorhombic, hexagonal, and cubic structures. In the compounds with R = La, Ce, Sm, and Gd, deviation from the known structural types and formation of new ones due to the change in the stoichiometric composition have been observed. The data obtained by the method of perturbed angular γγ correlations have confirmed deviation from the specified stoichiometric composition 1R: 3Al for the LaAl₃, CeAl₃, SmAl₃, and GdAl₃ compounds and verified the correctness of the stoichiometric composition and the presence of the Cu₃Au structural type for the remaining RAl₃ high-pressure phases.     

Properties of nanocrystalline Al–Cu–O films reactively sputtered by DC pulse dual magnetron

The article reports on the effect of the addition of copper in the Al₂O₃ film on its mechanical and optical properties. The Al–Cu–O films were reactively co-sputtered using DC pulse dual magnetron in a mixture of Ar + O₂. One magnetron was equipped with a pure Al target and the second magnetron with a composed Al/Cu target. The amount of Al and Cu in the Al–Cu–O film was controlled by the length of pulse at the Al/Cu target. The Al–Cu–O films with ≤16 at.% Cu were investigated in detail. The addition of Cu in Al₂O₃ film strongly influences its structure and mechanical properties. It is shown that (1) the structure of Al–Cu–O film gradually varies with increasing Cu content from γ-Al₂O₃ at 0 at.% Cu through (Al_8−2x,Cu_3x)O₁₂ nanocrystalline solid solution to CuAl₂O₄ spinel structure, (2) the Al–Cu–O films with ≥3 at.% Cu exhibit (i) relatively high hardness H increasing from ∼15 GPa to ∼20 GPa, (ii) enhanced elastic recovery W_e increasing from ∼67% to ∼76% with increasing Cu content from ∼5 to ∼16 at.% Cu and (iii) low values of Young's modulus E* satisfying the ratio H/E* > 0.1 at ≥5 at.% Cu, and (3) highly elastic Al–Cu–O films with H/E* > 0.1 exhibit enhanced resistance to cracking during indentation under high load.     

The Thermodynamic Evolution of the Cosmological Event Horizon

By manipulating the integral expression for the proper radius R _e of the cosmological event horizon (CEH) in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe we obtain an analytical expression for the change δR _e in response to a uniform fluctuation δρ in the average cosmic background density ρ. We stipulate that the fluctuation arises within a vanishing interval of proper time, during which the CEH is approximately stationary, and evolves subsequently such that δρ/ρ is constant. The respective variations 2πR _e δR _e and δE _e in the horizon entropy S _e and enclosed energy E _e should be therefore related through the cosmological Clausius relation. In that manner we find that the temperature T _e of the CEH at an arbitrary time in a flat FRW universe is E _e /S _e , which recovers asymptotically the usual static de Sitter temperature. Furthermore it is proven that during radiation-dominance and in late times the CEH conforms to the fully dynamical First Law T _e dS _e =PdV _e −dE _e , where V _e is the enclosed volume and P is the average cosmic pressure.     

Periodic domain structures obtained by growth of LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> crystals doped with gadolinium

The growth of a periodic domain structure in LiNbO₃ crystals doped with gadolinium (Gd, 0.44 wt %) was investigated by special electron beam surface charging in a scanning electron microscope and on a atomic force microscope. Ferroelectric domain boundaries with “tail-to-tail” and “head-to-head” P _s orientations were comparatively analyzed. The domain boundaries had different forms and differed by their physical properties. Micron-size surface crystal regions close to the “tail-to-tail” boundaries were charged slower by electron irradiation and had modified elastic properties. This region was detected by using the lateral force mode of atomic force microscopy. The observed morphology and property features were supposed to be due to different concentration gradients of the Gd impurity and different width of its distribution close to the domain boundaries of different types.     

Influence of the stress on magnetoelectric effect in magnetostrictive-PZT bilayers

In this letter, we investigate the influence of the stress on magnetoelectric (ME) effect in a magnetostrictive-PZT bilayer. ME voltage coefficient α*_E = δE / δH, where δE is the induced electric field for an applied alternating current (ac) magnetic field δH, is obtained by solving the stress-related piezoelectric constitutive equation and the conventional magnetostrictive equation with appropriate boundary condition. Based on the free-energy density function of the PZT film in stress state, we get the stress-related piezoelectric charge coefficient ^p d*₃₁ and dielectric permittivity ^pε*₃₃. After taking the cobalt ferrite (CFO) as magnetostrictive phase, it is found that α*_E increases with decreasing 2-d compressive stress for CFO-PZT, which not only is qualitatively consistent with previous experimental measurements, but also provides a possible route to improve the ME effect.      

Antisite defect types and temporal evolution characteristics of D0<Subscript>22</Subscript>-Ni<Subscript>3</Subscript>V structure: Studied by the microscopic phase field

Microscopic phase field simulation is performed to study antisite defect type and temporal evolution characteristic of D0₂₂-Ni₃V structure in Ni₇₅Al _x V_25−x ternary system. The result demonstrates that two types of antisite defect V_Ni and Ni_V coexist in D0₂₂ structure; however, the amount of Ni_V is far greater than V_Ni; when precipitates transform from D0₂₂ singe phase to two phases mixture of D0₂₂ and L1₂ with enhanced Al:V ratio, the amount of V_Ni has no evident response to the secondary L1₂ phase, while Ni_V exhibits a definitely contrary variation tendency: Ni_V rises without L1₂ structure precipitating from matrix but declines with it; temporal evolution characteristic and temperature dependent antisite defect V_Ni, Ni_V are also studied in this paper: The concentrations of the both defects decline from high antistructure state to equilibrium level with elapsed time but rise with elevated temperature; the ternary alloying element aluminium atom occupies both α and β sublattices of D0₂₂ structure with a strong site preference of substituting α site. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50671084 and 50875217), the Doctorate Foundation of Northwestern Polytechnical University of China (Grant No. CX200806), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Grant No. 20070420218), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province of China     

Formation,thermal stability and mechanical properties of Ti<Subscript>42.5</Subscript>Zr<Subscript>7.5</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>40</Subscript>Ni<Subscript>5</Subscript>Sn<Subscript>5</Subscript> bulk metallic glass

Ti_42.5Zr_7.5Cu₄₀Ni₅Sn₅ bulk metallic glass with a critical diameter of 4 mm was fabricated by the conventional copper mould casting method. The supercooled liquid region ΔT _x, reduced glass transition temperature T _rg, γ parameter, and δ parameter of the alloy were measured to be 63.9 K, 0.561, 0.393, and 1.400, respectively, implying that the alloy has an excellent glass-forming ability. The bulk metallic glass exhibits high compressive fracture strength of 2162 MPa with distinct plastic strain of 0.9%. The fracture surface consists mainly of vein-like patterns, typical of bulk glassy alloys. Supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)(Grant No. 50771040)     

Electroluminescence efficiency in bilayer organic light-emitting devices with LiF/Al cathode

An analytical model to calculate electroluminescence (EL) efficiency of bilayer organic light-emitting devices, considering the influence of introducing LiF insulating buffer layer at metal/organic interface on the barrier height for electron injection, was presented. The relations of EL efficiency versus the applied voltage and injection barrier or internal interfacial barrier or the thickness of organic layer were discussed. The results indicate that: (1) when δ e/δ h < 2, metal/organic (M/O) interface is ohmic contact; when δ e/δ h > 2, M/O becomes contact limited; and when δ e/δ h = 2 (Φ h ～ 0.2 eV, Φ e ～ 0.3 eV), there is a transition from ohmic contact to contact limited; (2) η EL decreases with the increase of δ′e / δ′h; however, when δ′e / δ′h > 2.5 (H ′h～ 0.2 eV, H ′e～ 0.4 eV), the changes of η EL are very small, which shows that η EL is dominated by the carrier’s injection; (3) when increasing Lh/L, η R has a descending trend at low voltage and a rising one at higher voltage. For a given Lh/L, η EL first increases and then decreases with the increasing applied voltage, and as Lh/L further increases, the variation tendency of η EL is more obvious. These conclusions are in agreement with the reported theoretic and experimental results.     

Special magnetic phenomena in heavily doped La<Subscript>0.7−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Dy<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Sr<Subscript>0.3</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> system

The magnetism in heavily Dy doped La_0.7−x Dy _x Sr_0.3MnO₃ (0.40⩽x⩽0.70) system is studied in this paper. The M-T relation seems to be complicated with the increase of x. For sample with x = 0.40, AFM behavior exists at T⩽T _N and M-T curves under zero field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) exhibit typical behavior of spincluster glass state above T _N. For the sample with x = 0.50, the M-T curve under ZFC exhibits a valley at a low temperature while the M-T curve under FC exhibits the negative magnetization below T _N. For samples with x = 0.60, 0.70, their ZFC M-T curves are similar to that of x = 0.50, but the FC M-T curves do not exhibit negative values any more. All the peculiar phenomena above are well explained by Néel double-lattice model combined with M-H relation at typical temperatures. The molecular field theory fits well the negative magnetization for x = 0.50. Supported by the State Key Project of Fundamental Research of China (Grant No. 2007CB925001), the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 001CB610604), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant Nos. 2006KJ266B and ZD2007003-1), Anhui Key Laboratory of Spin Electron and Nanomaterials (Cultivating Base)     

First-principle study on the electronic structure of stressed CrSi<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The electronic structure of stressed CrSi₂ was calculated using the first-principle methods based on plane-wave pseudo-potential theory. The calculated results showed that, under the uniaxial compression, the energy level of CrSi₂ shifted toward high energy and its energy gap became wider with the increasing uniaxial stress, while the gap became narrower under the negative uniaxial stress. When the negative uniaxial stress was up to −18.5 GPa, CrSi₂ was converted into a direct-gap semiconductor with the band gap of 0.32 eV. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60566001), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20050657003), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. (2005)383), the Program for the Excellent Young Talents of Guizhou Province (Grant No. 20050528), the Specialized Nomarch Research Fund for the Excellent Science and Technology and Education Talent’s Projects of Guizhou Province, Scientific and Technological Projects for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, the Guizhou Province (Grant No. (2004)03), and the Top Talent’s Scientific Research Project of Organization Department of Guizhou Province