Persistent luminescence and synchrotron radiation study of the Ca2MgSi2O7:Eu2+,R3+ materials

The tetragonal ${\mathrm{Ca}}_2{\mathrm{MgSi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+},{\mathrm{R}}^{3+}$ persistent luminescence materials were prepared by a solid state reaction. The UV excited and persistent luminescence was observed in the green region centred at 535 nm. Both luminescence phenomena are due to the same ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$ ion occupying the single ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{2+}$ site in the host lattice. The ${\mathrm{R}}^{3+}$ codoping usually reduced the persistent luminescence of ${\mathrm{Ca}}_2{\mathrm{MgSi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$, which differs from the ${\mathrm{M}}_2{\mathrm{MgSi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$ $(\mathrm{M}=\mathrm{Sr},\mathrm{Ba})$ and ${\mathrm{MAl}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_4$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$ $(\mathrm{M}=\mathrm{Ca},\mathrm{Sr})$ materials. Only the ${\mathrm{Tb}}^{3+}$ ion enhanced slightly the persistent luminescence. With the aid of synchrotron radiation, the band gap energy of ${\mathrm{Ca}}_2{\mathrm{MgSi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$ was found to be about 7 eV that is very similar to those of the ${\mathrm{M}}_2{\mathrm{MgSi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$:${\mathrm{Eu}}^{2+}$ $(\mathrm{M}=\mathrm{Sr},\mathrm{Ba})$ materials. Thermoluminescence results suggested that the ${\mathrm{R}}^{3+}$ ions might act as electron traps, but only the TL peaks created by ${\mathrm{Tm}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{Sm}}^{3+}$ can be found in the temperature range accessible. Lattice defects (e.g. oxygen vacancies) are also important, since the same main thermoluminescence peak was observed at about $100{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ with and without ${\mathrm{R}}^{3+}$ codoping.     

Pressure dependence of negative thermal expansion in Zr2(WO4)(PO4)2

Negative thermal expansion materials can experience significant stresses when they are used in composites. Under ambient conditions Zr₂(WO₄)(PO₄)₂ displays anisotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE) (${\alpha }_v=?14.0\left(10\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_a=?7.9\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_b=2.5\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_c=?8.7\left(2\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$ at 0 GPa). The effect of hydrostatic pressure on its thermal expansion characteristics was investigated by neutron diffraction between 300 and 60 K at pressures up to 0.3 GPa. No phase transitions were observed in the pressure and temperature range examined. The material was found to have a bulk modulus, B₀, of 61.3(8) GPa at ambient temperature, and unlike some other NTE materials, pressure had no detectable effect on thermal expansion (${\alpha }_v=?14.2\left(8\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_a=?7.9\left(3\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_b=2.9\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_c=?9.2\left(2\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$ at 0.3 GPa).     

Disorder dependence electron phonon scattering rate of V82Pd18 − xFex alloys at low temperature

We have systematically investigated the disorder dependence electron phonon scattering rate in three dimensional disordered V₈₂Pd_18 ? xFe_x alloys. A minimum in temperature dependence resistivity curve has been observed at low temperature $T=T_{\mathrm{m}}$. In the temperature range $5\text{ K}\le T\le T_{\mathrm{m}}$ the resistivity correction follows ${{\rho }_{\mathrm{o}}}^{5/2}{T}^{1/2}$ law. The dephasing scattering time has been calculated from analysis of magnetoresistivity by weak localization theory. The electron dephasing time is dominated by electron–phonon scattering and follows anomalous temperature (T) and disorder $({\rho }_0)$ dependence behaviour like ${\tau }_{\mathrm{e}\text{-}\mathrm{ph}}^{?1}\propto T^2/{\rho }_0$, where ${\rho }_0$ is the impurity resistivity. The magnitude of the saturated dephasing scattering time $({\tau }_0)$ at zero temperature decreases with increasing disorder of the samples. Such anomalous behaviour of dephasing scattering rate is still unresolved.     

Monopoles on the Bryant–Salamon G2-manifolds

$G_2$-monopoles are solutions to gauge theoretical equations on noncompact $7$-manifolds of $G_2$ holonomy. We shall study this equation on the $3$ Bryant–Salamon manifolds. We construct examples of $G_2$-monopoles on two of these manifolds, namely the total space of the bundle of anti-self-dual two forms over the ${\mathbb{S}}^4$ and ${\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}^2$. These are the first nontrivial examples of $G_2$-monopoles.Associated with each monopole there is a parameter $m\in {\mathbb{R}}^{+}$, known as the mass of the monopole. We prove that under a symmetry assumption, for each given $m\in {\mathbb{R}}^{+}$ there is a unique monopole with mass $m$. We also find explicit irreducible $G_2$-instantons on ${\Lambda }_{-}^2\left({\mathbb{S}}^4\right)$ and on ${\Lambda }_{-}^2\left({\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}^2\right)$.The third Bryant–Salamon $G_2$-metric lives on the spinor bundle over the $3$-sphere. In this case we produce a vanishing theorem for monopoles.     

Pseudo anti-commuting and Ricci soliton real hypersurfaces in complex two-plane Grassmannians

In this paper, first we introduce a new notion of pseudo anti-commuting for real hypersurfaces in complex two-plane Grassmannians $G_2\left({\mathbb{C}}^{m+2}\right)$ and prove a complete classification theorem, which gives a shrinking Ricci soliton with potential Reeb flow on Hopf real hypersurfaces and a tube over a totally real totally geodesic $\mathbb{Q}{P}^n$, $m=2n$ in $G_2\left({\mathbb{C}}^{m+2}\right)$.     

Quantum point contact conductance in normal metal/insulator/ metal/dx2−y2+idxy mixed wave superconductor junctions

The tunneling conductance in a normal metal/insulator/metal/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave superconductor (N/I/N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$) junction is calculated, where the N/I/N region is a quantum wire. It is found in the single-mode case that the magnitude of the tunneling conductance near zero voltage is enhanced due to the Andreev bound state by quasiparticles with perpendicular and horizontal injection, and the zero-bias conductance varies with $L$ ($L$ is the distance from insulating layer to the interface of N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave superconductor). Splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak appears in the quantum point contact tunneling spectra for an N/I/N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ junction, and several subgap peaks can split at the same time. On increasing both $L$ and the magnitude ratio of the two components for the $d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave, the subgap resonances exhibit an alternately high and low behavior inside the energy gap. These results are different from those in d-wave and p-wave superconductor junctions.     

Luminescent properties of Yb-doped LaSc3(BO3)4 under VUV excitation

Ytterbium doped borate crystals are promising laser media, e.g. in ${\mathrm{LaSc}}_3({\mathrm{BO}}_3{)}_4$ (LSB) matrices large distance between ytterbium ions results in reduced concentration quenching of the ytterbium f–f luminescence [Petermann, K., Fagundes-Peters, D., Johansen, O., Mond, M., Peters, V., Romero, J.J., Kutovoi, S., Speiser, J., Giesen, A., 2005. Highly Yb-doped oxides for thin-disc lasers. J. Crystal Growth 275, 135-140]. ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}$ ions in complex oxides in addition to the 4f $\to$ 4f transitions often manifest fast charge transfer luminescence (CTL) in the UV-visible range. In some borates it was not observed at all, like in orthoborates of Sc, Y and La [Van Pieterson, L., Heeroma, M., de Heer, E., Meijerink, A., 2000. Charge transfer luminescence of ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}$. J. Lumin. 91, 177–193]; in haloborates ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{B}}_5{\mathrm{O}}_9\mathrm{X}$, where X = Cl, Br, the UV/visible luminescence was attributed to ytterbium CTL though it looked substantially different from other matrices [Dotsenko, V.P., Berezovskaya, I.V., Pyrogenko, P.V., Efryushina, N.P., Rodniy, P.A., Eijk van, C.W.E., Sidorenko, A.V., 2002. Valence states and luminescence properties of ytterbium ions in strontium haloborates. J. Solid State Chem. 166, 271–276]; while in oxyborate ${\mathrm{Li}}_2{\mathrm{Lu}}_5{\mathrm{O}}_4({\mathrm{BO}}_3{)}_3$ “classical” CTL was observed [Jubera, V., Garcia, A., Chaminade, J.P., Guillen, F., Sablayrolles, Jean, Fouassier, C., 2007. ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}\text{-}{\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}$ luminescent properties of the ${\mathrm{Li}}_2{\mathrm{Lu}}_5{\mathrm{O}}_4({\mathrm{BO}}_3{)}_3$ phase. J. Lumin. 124(1), 10–14]. In this work the luminescence properties of another borate, namely LSB doped by Yb are presented.