NMR studies of amorphous phosphorous

Linewidth, chemical shift, and relaxation time measurements have been made in amorphous phosphorous at 77 and 300 K. It is found that the chemical shift and T₂ measurements indicate that the short-range structure of amorphous phosphorous is similar to the short-range structure of black phosphorous. The T₁ measurements indicate that the spin-lattice relaxation is dominated by impurities, and that disorder mode relaxation is not effective in amorphous phosphorous, indicating either that the density of disorder modes in amorphous phosphorous is small or that the disorder mode coupling to the nuclear spin is weak.     

Oxidation studies of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon surfaces, atomically clean and subsequently oxidized to up to 20 Å oxide thickness, were studied using AES and UPS. The oxidation was made in O₂ in the pressure range 10^?9 Torr to 5 atm and at 23 and 300°C. The oxidation rate at 23°C was found to be the same as that of crystalline silicon while at 300°C it was appreciably faster. Changes in the d $\text{N(E)}\text{dE}$ AES Si LVV line shape near 80 eV upon oxidation could be correlated to changes in the silicon-oxygen bonding level observed in UPS. The detailed line shape of the AES Si LVV transition indicates that at 300°C a more homogeneous oxide is produced than at 23°C.     

Morphology-property relationships in polycarbonate-based blends. I. Modulus

The tensile, dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of PC/HDPE, PC/LDPE and PC/PS blends have been investigated with the intent of clarifying the major factors governing the modulus of these essentially incompatible blends. Scanning electron microscopy shows that all of the PC/HDPE, PC/LDPE and PC/PS blends have a domain structure whose morphology is strongly dependent on the concentration of the dispersed phase; when the dispersed phase concentration is less than 15%, the domains are mostly of spherical shape, while above 20% agglomeration takes place to form rodlike structures. Dynamic mechanical data shows there is essentially no adhesion at the PC-HDPE and PC-LDPE boundaries, while there is appreciable adhesion at the PC-PS interface. The existence of an intermixed zone was postulated to explain this interfacial adhesion. Morphological and thermal analysis results also indicate that both the HDPE and LDPE inclusions are loosely sitting in the holes in the PC matrix while the PS inclusions are compactly embedded in the PC matrix. These differences in boundary nature give marked effects on the tensile properties including the modulus. For the modulus, PC/HDPE and PC/LDPE blend systems can be regarded to be mechanically equivalent to a PC matrix alone with holes in it when the dispersed phase concentration is lower than 15%, while in the case of PC/PS blends the PS inclusions contribute substantially to the sample's overall modulus.     

Repolarization studies in amorphous and polycrystalline silicon

A procedure has been developed to extract qualitative and quantitative information on the muonium fractions, in particular the Mu^* fraction, in polycrystalline and amorphous materials from their longitudinal field repolarization curves. Preliminary results for amorphous silicon suggests that both the Mu^* and Mu^* fractions here are generally lower than in crystalline silicon at temperatures below 200K, but the Mu^* fraction may survive to room temperature in this disordered host.     

Hyperfine interaction studies of amorphous materials using NMR

Through hyperfine interactions the electronic structure of amorphous materials can be investigated by NMR. Furthermore, the local character of these interactions makes them adequate to study the local environment and the local symmetry around the probe nuclei through the measurement of hyperfine fields and electric field gradients. We review recent NMR studies of amorphous metals from the following two points of view: (1) Electronic structure: Knight shifts and spin relaxation times in paramagnetic materials and hyperfine fields in ferromagnetic materials. (2) Local amorphous structure: topological and chemical short-range order. Emphasis will be given to the comparisons between amorphous materials and corresponding crystalline materials.     

Mössbauer studies on NiBSn amorphous system

NiB is a system which glass formation from melt occurs readily in two composition ranges. With the purpose of analyzing the influence of Sn in the glass forming ability of the ternary alloy, Sn was added to NiB. Ni _x B _y Sn _z samples were obtained by rapid quenching from the melt with the melt spinning technique. The glass formation was checked by X-ray diffraction and the Sn environment was studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy.     

Magnetization studies of amorphous antiferromagnetism in manganese phosphate glass

The magnetization of amorphous antiferromagnetic manganese phosphate glass has been studied as a function of manganese concentration, temperature, and magnetic field. The experimental results are interpreted using a two spin model of amorphous antiferromagnetism where the probability of a given exchange interaction is calculated using crystalline Mn₂P₂O₇ as a structural model.     

掺氮四面体非晶碳的第一性原理研究

采用基于第一性原理的分子动力学方法对掺氮四面体非晶碳进行结构建模,并对其显微结构和电子结构进行了研究. 氮在非晶碳网络中的配位形态与密度没有明显关系,主要是以三配位形态存在,其次是两配位,四配位氮的比例很小. 掺氮后碳网络结构sp²含量大大增加,随着氮含量的增加,费米能级附近态密度增加. 氮掺入后并未使费米能级发生明显移动. 关键词： 掺氮四面体非晶碳 第一性原理 密度泛函理论 电子结构     

Surface energy and hybridization studies of amorphous carbon surfaces

Surface properties of a large number of amorphous carbon (a-C) films have been investigated using contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Dense a-C surfaces with variable sp³/(sp² + sp³) average hybridization were grown using sputtering or pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and were further chemically modified by thermal annealing, ion bombardment or covalent grafting of organic monolayers. The average carbon hybridization, impurity level and mass density, were deduced from XPS and photoelectron energy loss spectroscopy (PEELS). The depth sensitivity of the dispersive (Lifshitz–van der Waals) interaction, estimated at 1–2 nm from the dependence of γ^LW on the grafted perflorodecene molecule coverage, is much better than XPS which probes a 3–5 nm depth. The observation of a non-monotonic behavior in the correlation between surface hybridization and electron donor component of surface energy reveals that the average carbon hybridization alone does not describe the entire surface energy physics. The role of π bond clustering in the polar interactions is thus considered and some implications on surface reactivity and mutual interactions with molecular or biomolecular species are discussed.     

Recent advances in studies of magnetically soft amorphous microwires

In this paper, we present the giant magneto-impedance (GMI) effect (real part of longitudinal impedance, Z, and of the off-diagonal impedance) and hysteretic magnetic properties of amorphous glass-coated microwires with different compositions possessing nearly zero, positive and negative magnetostriction constant and metallic nucleus diameter ranging between 6 and 16 μm. Enhanced soft magnetic properties (low coercivity of about 4 A/m) and high-GMI effect have been observed in Co-rich microwires with vanishing magnetostriction constant. The magnetic anisotropy field of these microwires depends on the ratio between metallic diameter, d and total microwires diameter, D. Stress-sensitive magnetic properties have been obtained in Fe-rich microwires after stress annealing: hysteresis loop stress-annealed (SA) microwires drastically changes under applied stress. A variety of hysteresis loops with different hysteresis loops can be obtained in Fe-rich microwires changing the conditions (time and/or temperature) of the stress annealing. The obtained results allow us to tailor the microwire magnetic properties for magnetic sensors applications through selection of their composition and/or geometry and by thermal treatment.     

Optical and neutron domain structure studies of amorphous ribbons

The domain configuration of amorphous ribbons with positive, vanishing and negative magnetostriction constant λ_s has been investigated by means of the longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr-effect and a three-dimensional neutron depolarization analysis. The influence of an external tensile stress on the domain arrangement depends on the sign and the magnitude of the magnetostriction constant and could be measured quantitatively in the depolarization experiment. With the aid of the optical observations domain models have been established; these models were tested and completed by means of an analytic calculation of the corresponding depolarization matrix and a comparison with experimental data. Domain reorientation processes within the ribbons under an imposed tensile stress were found to agree with theoretical predictions. The nearly nonmagnetostrictive alloys shows neither stripe domains nor simple wide domains but a more complicated structure with several layers of domains.     

SHI induced modification in CR-39 polycarbonate by positron annihilation lifetime studies

CR-39 is a polycarbonate widely used as SSNTD for recording nuclear charged particles and in other applications. Latent ion tracks produced in the polymers due to the damage produced by the passage of Swift Heavy Ions contain amorphous material with highest degree of disorder, changing the free volume properties which have strong correlation with the macroscopic properties of the material. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) provides direct information about the dimension, content and hole size distribution of free volume in polymers. The effect of irradiation of ⁴⁰Ar (14.9 MeV/n) ions on CR-39 polycarbonate by Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) is reported here. PALS provides a non-destructive and non-interfering probe, having high detection efficiency for free volume hole properties. From o-Ps lifetime mean free volume hole radius and average free volume of the micro-voids have been calculated. PAL measurement shows an increase in free volume on irradiation.     

Auger-spectroscopy studies of the electronic structure of amorphous carbon films

Information on the density of valence states (DOVS) of aC films has been determined by Auger spectroscopy. The films were prepared by magnetron sputtering of graphite and plasma decomposition of hydrocarbon gas. The relative contents of graphite-like and diamond-like components in aC have been determined by comparison of the area under the π-band of aC with that of graphite. The effect of annealing on the aC structure has benn studied.     

First-principles studies of the vibrational properties of amorphous carbon nitrides

Raman spectra of amorphous carbon nitride films (a-C:N) resemble those of typical amorphous carbon (a-C), and no specific features in the spectra are shown due to N doping. The present work provides a correlation between the microstructure and vibrational properties of a-C:N films from first principles. The six periodic model structures of 64 atoms with various mass densities and nitrogen contents are generated by the liquid-quench method using Car-Parinello molecular dynamics. By using Raman coupling tensors calculated with the finite electric field method, Raman spectra are obtained. The calculated results show that the vibrations of C=N could directly contribute to the Raman spectrum. The similarity of the Raman line shapes of N-doped and N-free amorphous carbons is due to the overlapping of C=N and C=C vibration bands. In addition, the origin of characteristic Raman peaks is also given.     

Barkhausen noise studies in amorphous materials at vanishing anisotropies

In this work, Barkhausen noise measurements are shown for the amorphous ribbons Metglas 2605TCA and Fe_73.5Cu₁Nb₃Si_18.5B₄ FINEMET material which is the amorphous precursor of the well-known nanocrystalline material, under different stress, annealing and magnetizing frequency conditions. These parameters were varied in search for different dynamical regimes of the complex system composed by the set of domain walls interacting with a reservoir of defects.     

Luminescence and ESR studies of defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

New experimental information on luminescence and light induced ESR (LESR) in hydrogenated amorphous silicon is described. We demonstrate that the two experiments involve identical recombination transitions, and identify two separate processes. One process involves defect states, and from the doping dependence of LESR we deduce that the electronically active defects are dangling bonds with positive electronic correlation energy.     

Mössbauer studies of amorphous ferromagnets FeNiSiB nearT c

Our Mössbauer measurements on amorphous ferromagnets of FeNiSiB type are analysed just below T_c. The temperature dependence of the shape of the hyperfine field distribution and the effective exponent β is presented. The influence of quadrupole interaction is discussed.     

NMR studies of electron and gamma irradiated CoFeNiSiBC amorphous alloy

NMR spectra were obtained by spin-echo technique in the frequency interval of 40--I40 MHz at the temperature 4.2 K. Samples of the investigated amorphous ribbon of the composition Co--12.6%Ni-6.1%Fe-4.6%B-6.3%Si-0.018%C were prepared by rapid quenching from the melt. After electron and gamma irradiation the NMR spectrum main lines widths are decreased and the frequencies of the main peaks are shifted. The observed changes of the spectrum can be interpreted as irradiation-induced changes in Co₂B and Co₃B short-range order and as destruction of crystal nuclei. These findings are confirmed by increase of the crystallization temperature controlled by thermomagnetic analysis.