Electronic states of silicon in Ni-silicides by nuclear magnetic resonance

Spin-lattice relaxation time (T₁) of ²⁹Si nuclei in several Ni-silicides (Ni_1?xSi_x:0.25?x?0.67) were studied at low temperature (1.4?T?4.2 K) by spin-echo technique. The relation of T₁T = const. and also very short T₁ were observed indicating that the silicides studied were metallic with enough densities of state of 3s-electrons at the Fermi energy (E_F). Another feature of the results was that T₁ decreased with the increment of silicon concentration. This effect was discussed in connection with the soft X-ray spectroscopy (SXS) data on Ni-silicides and Ni—Al compounds.     

Tunneling of coupled methyl groups

A method is developed which allows the calculation of tunneling frequencies for coupled methyl groups in strong or weak orientational potentials to any desired accuracy. The method is applied to two coupled methyl groups and the results of the calculation are compared with a recent experiment. The comparison allows conclusions on the strength and symmetry of the potential. A further important point is the prediction of coupling effects in rotational tunneling also in the limit of strong potentials.     

The rotational energy levels of four methyl groups

The energy level spectrum for a system of four interacting methyl groups belonging to an X(CH₃)₄ type molecule is calculated by numerical methods. The rotational potential at the site of each methyl group is assumed to be of a three-fold symmetry. The torsion-torsion interaction is defined as a term in the multipole expansion of the electrostatic interaction of two rigid charge distributions. It is shown, that the tunneling frequency characterizing the ground state manifold in the absence of methyl-methyl interaction, splits into a set of closely spaced frequencies.     

Preparing high purity initial states for nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computing

Here we demonstrate how parahydrogen can be used to prepare a two-spin system in an almost pure state which is suitable for implementing nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computation. A 12 ns laser pulse is used to initiate a chemical reaction involving pure parahydrogen (the nuclear spin singlet of H2). The product, formed on the micros time scale, contains a hydrogen-derived two-spin system with an effective spin-state purity of 0.916. To achieve a comparable result by direct cooling would require an unmanageable (in the liquid state) temperature of 6.4 mK or an impractical magnetic field of 0.45 MT at room temperature. The resulting spin state has an entanglement of formation of 0.822 and cannot be described by local hidden variable models.     

Surface phenomena investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance

This paper reviews recent achievements in the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to surface phenomena, especially to molecules adsorbed on surfaces of porous crystals. Basic principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance are treated only as far as it is necessary to understand potentialities of this method in a study of absolute number (section 2.1), electronic environment (section 2.2), arrangement (section 2.3), and of thermal motion (section 2.4) of nuclei which are part of the absorbate or adsorbent. The structure of an important group of porous crystals, called zeolites of faujasite type, is briefly discussed (section 3.1) and recent results concerning the state of water (section 3.2) and of simple cyclic hydrocarbons (section 3.3) adsorbed in these crystals are reviewed.     

Near-zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance

We investigate nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in near zero field, where the Zeeman interaction can be treated as a perturbation to the electron mediated scalar interaction (J?coupling). This is in stark contrast to the high-field case, where heteronuclear J?couplings are normally treated as a small perturbation. We show that the presence of very small magnetic fields results in splitting of the zero-field NMR lines, imparting considerable additional information to the pure zero-field spectra. Experimental results are in good agreement with first-order perturbation theory and with full numerical simulation when perturbation theory breaks down. We present simple rules for understanding the splitting patterns in near-zero-field NMR, which can be applied to molecules with nontrivial spectra.     

g-Factors of magnetic–rotational states in 85Zr

The properties of the double iron and tungsten carbide prepared by mechanical alloying technique (MA) from elemental powders are reported. The samples were milled for 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 h. The alloy progress for each milling time was evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrometry. Once the alloy was consolidated two sorts of paramagnetic sites and a magnetic distribution were detected according to the Mössbauer fitting. The majority doublet could correspond to Fe₆W₆C ternary carbide as X-ray diffraction suggests, and the other could be Fe₃W₃C. The hyper fine parameters are reported. Vickers microhardness measurements of 30 h milled sample was conducted at room temperature with a load of 0.245 N for 20 s.     

Measurement of heat transfer coefficients by nuclear magnetic resonance

We demonstrate an experimental method for the measurement of heat transfer coefficient for a fluid system by magnetic resonance imaging. In this method, the temporal variation of thermally induced nuclear shielding is monitored and the average heat transfer coefficient is measured as a function of fluid velocity. We examine the cases of natural convection and forced convection at fluid velocity up to 0.8 m s(-1). These cases correspond to low dimensionless Biot (Bi) number where the heat transfer is limited by thermal convection. We demonstrate the NMR method for two simple geometries, a cylinder and a sphere, to experimentally determine the heat transfer coefficient (h) in two NMR imaging and spectroscopy systems through measuring three NMR parameters, the chemical shift, magnetization and spin self diffusion coefficient.     

Interfacial density of states in magnetic tunnel junctions

Large zero-bias resistance anomalies as well as a collapse of magnetoresistance were observed in Co/Al2O3/Co magnetic tunnel junctions with thin Cr interfacial layers. The tunnel magnetoresistance decays exponentially with nominal Cr interlayer thickness with a length scale of approximately 1 A more than twice as fast as for Cu interlayers. The strong suppression of magnetoresistance, as well as the zero-bias anomalies, can be understood by considering a strong spin-dependent modification of the density of states at Co/Cr interfaces. The role of the interfacial density of states is shown by the use of specially engineered structures. Similar effects are predicted and observed in junctions with Ru interfacial layers.     

Eigenmodes in the long-time behavior of a coupled spin system measured with nuclear magnetic resonance

The many-body quantum dynamics of dipolar coupled nuclear spins I=1/2 on an otherwise isolated cubic lattice are studied with nuclear magnetic resonance. By increasing the signal-to-noise ratio by 2 orders of magnitude compared with previous reports for the free induction decay (FID) of (19)F in CaF(2) we obtain new insight into its long-time behavior. We confirm that the tail of the FID is an exponentially decaying cosine, but our measurements reveal a second decay mode with comparable frequency but twice the decay constant. This result is in agreement with a recent theoretical prediction for the FID in terms of eigenvalues for the time evolution of chaotic many-body quantum systems.     

170 nm nuclear magnetic resonance imaging using magnetic resonance force microscopy

We demonstrate one-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the semiconductor GaAs with 170 nm slice separation and resolve two regions of reduced nuclear spin polarization density separated by only 500 nm. This was achieved by force detection of the magnetic resonance, magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), in combination with optical pumping to increase the nuclear spin polarization. Optical pumping of the GaAs created spin polarization up to 12 times larger than the thermal nuclear spin polarization at 5K and 4T. The experiment was sensitive to sample volumes of 50 microm(3) containing approximately 4 x 10(11)71 Ga/Hz. These results demonstrate the ability of force-detected magnetic resonance to apply magnetic resonance imaging to semiconductor devices and other nanostructures.     

Molecular motion in liquid benzene by nuclear magnetic resonance

The proton spin-lattice relaxation time, T ₁, has been measured for a series of mixtures of benzene in perdeuterobenzene for the liquid in equilibrium with its vapour over the temperature range from below the normal freezing point up to the critical temperature. The two contributions to T ₁ due to interactions within the molecule (T _{1 intra}) and between molecules (T _{1 inter}) have been separated and are found to be very different in magnitude and in variation with temperature. The variation and magnitude of T _{1 inter} correlates well with other translational motion dependent properties such as self diffusion and viscosity. The correlation of T _{1 intra} with other re-orientation dependent properties such as deuteron T ₁ and Rayleigh scattering is poor.

The observed variation in T _{1 intra} and in particular the broad maximum at higher temperatures is then interpreted as due to a combination of dipolar and spin-rotation effects. This interpretation results in good agreement between the activation energies for re-orientational molecular motion deduced from proton T ₁ and deuteron T ₁. It supports the Hubbard theory for the relation between the dipolar and spin-rotation correlation times τ_d and τ_sr. It gives a rough value, 3·8 kc/s, for the spin-rotation interaction constant for protons in benzene. Reasonable values for τ_d and τ_sr are predicted and for all temperatures τ_sr < τ_d as expected.

There is clearly a considerable difference between the re-orientational and translational motion of the molecules in liquid benzene but the exact nature of the difference cannot be elucidated.     

Chemisorption and surfaces studied by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

This paper presents an introduction to the study of surfaces and chemically adsorbed species with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The analysis is based on nuclear magnetic interactions in the solid state: dipole-dipole couplings, chemical shift anisotropy, Knight shifts, and quadrupolar splitting. The physical origins and characteristics of each interaction, as well as relative intensities for different nuclei, are discussed. In particular, emphasis is placed on the relation of these interactions to quantities of interest to studies in adsorption and catalysis: motional properties of the adsorbate, the distribution of adsorption sites, the chemical state of atoms adsorbed at the surface, electrostatic field gradients, and the metallic character of surface atoms. Techniques to observe these interactions are described; subdivided by the type of nucleus: strongly coupled nuclei (e.g. ¹H, ¹⁹F), weakly coupled nuclei (e.g. ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ²⁹Si, ¹⁹⁵Pt), and quadrupolar nuclei (e.g. ²H, ¹⁴N, ²⁷Al). The techniques described to isolate and identify the overlapping effects in the spectra include multiple-pulse spin echoing and decoupling, double-resonance irradiation, multiple-quantum excitation, and mechanical sample spinning. A review of the recent application of these techniques to studies of adsorption and surfaces illustrates the potentials and limitations. Finally, a procedure for formulating a NMR study of surface samples is proposed, with respect to sample composition and character, and the type of information desired.     

Head and body imaging by hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance

A hydrogen (¹H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging study of the normal head, thorax, and limbs is reported. The images are 10 to 15 mm thick transverse slices obtained in 2 to 4 min using a two-dimensional Fourier transform technique. Spatial resolution in the imaging plane is about 2 mm, enabling the optic nerve and many small blood vessels to be observed. Thorax scans show details of the cardiac chambers, aorta wall, and lungs without artefacts arising from physiological motion.