The anisotropy of elastic waves in a tellurium crystal

For acoustic waves propagating in an acoustooptic tellurium crystal, the dependence of their polarization on the propagation direction with respect to the crystal axes is discussed. The characteristic features of waves propagating in the crystal are considered; these features manifest themselves in an excess of the phase velocity of shear acoustic modes over the velocity of longitudinal modes. The change in the wave type from quasi-longitudinal to quasi-transverse as a result of the variation in the propagation direction of ultrasound is investigated. It is shown that such a behavior of bulk acoustic waves is caused by the specific relation between the elastic moduli, which differs from the corresponding relations observed in other acoustooptic materials.     

Magnetic-field induced coupling of quasi-degenerate phonon modes in the rare-earth compounds TmVO4 and TbF3

In this work the effects of magnetoelastic interaction in Rare-Earth compounds between excited crystal field states and nondegenerate optical phonons have been studied in tetragonal TmVO₄ and in orthorhombic TbF₃, using Raman and far-infrared spectroscopy. In certain favourable cases a mutual energy renormalization of the phonons has been observed as a function of a magnetic field (TmVO₄) or depending on the direction of the spontaneous magnetization of the crystal (TbF₃).In magnetically ordered TbF₃ an effective phonon-phonon coupling between modes of pure transverse and longitudinal polarization has been studied. This interaction results in an elliptical polarization of the coupled polar modes and transfers transition intensity to the quasi-longitudinal modes.The observed phenomena have been treated theoretically in full agreement with the experiments as higher order effects using the well established theory of magnetoelastic effects.     

New type of an acoustic plate mode: quasi-longitudinal normal wave

A new type of an acoustic wave belonging to the family of the normal plate modes is discovered numerically and verified experimentally in ST, x-quartz plates with free surfaces. It exists within restricted bands of the normalized plate thickness H/λ, where H is the thickness, λ is the wavelength, separated by forbidden H/λ-bands attributed to the common plate modes. Polarization of the wave over the whole plate thickness is almost longitudinal. Velocity of the wave is close to or equal to the velocity of the longitudinal bulk wave, propagating in the same direction. The proximity or/and equality of the velocities is a necessary, but not sufficient condition of the existence of the new wave.     

Reflection of elastic waves in a crystal of Heusler alloy Ni<Subscript>2</Subscript>MnGa in the phase transition range

The reflection of longitudinal and transverse acoustic waves from the free surface of the ferromagnetic shape memory alloy Ni₂MnGa that is located in the ranges of the premartensite and martensite phase transformations is considered. The propagation directions and amplitudes of the waves reflected in the (001) plane of the crystal are determined. They acquire the character of substantially quasi-longitudinal and quasi-transverse vibrations rather than being pure modes. The angles of wave reflection and conversion are shown to be effectively controlled by temperature and a magnetic field due to the colossal acoustic anisotropy of the crystal over the wide range of its phase transitions. Beginning from a certain critical angle of incidence of a quasi-transverse wave, the quasi-longitudinal wave having appeared upon reflection becomes an accompanying surface vibration, and it can be emitted into the bulk of the crystal when the phase transition point is approached. Two angles of full conversion of an incident quasi-longitudinal wave into a quasi-transverse wave are established, and their temperature dependences are found. Trivisonno’s experimental data for the ultrasound velocity and absorption in an Ni₂MnGa crystal are used to numerically estimate these acoustic effects.     

Density of states determination of mixed semiconductors by neutron diffraction

The phonon density of states of mixed crystals has been determined by neutron diffraction in powders. In the “two mode type” mixed crystal ZnS_xSe_1-x, the great features of the host lattice density of states, are not modified up to an “impurity” concentration of 25%. On the other hand, the presence of Te in ZnSe_xTe_1-x with x = 0.25, give rise to a “one-mode type” mixed crystal, the density of states of which is an average of that of the two components.These results justify that the eigenfrequencies of a two modes type mixed crystal can be calculated using the unperturbed host lattice density of states (additivity of Green's function).     

Temperature properties of plate modes in quartz

The shear horizontal modes that occur in a quartz plate are studied both theoretically and experimentally. These modes are shown to possess a wide variety of temperature properties, including the characteristic behavior of the temperature coefficient of delay, which can take on negative, zero and record-breaking high positive values up to 350×10^?6/°C. The dependence of this coefficient on the mode number is explained by the varying partial contributions of three elastic moduli, c ₁₂, c ₁₄, and c ₄₄, to this coefficient.     

Investigation of defect modes in a defective photonic crystal with a semiconductor metamaterial defect

In this work, we theoretically investigate the properties of defect modes in a defective photonic crystal containing a semiconductor metamaterial defect. We consider the structure, (LH)^N/D^P/(LH)^N, where N and P are respectively the stack numbers, L is SiO₂, H is InP, and defect layer D is a semiconductor metamaterial composed of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) and ZnO. It is found that, within the photonic band gap, the number of defect modes (transmission peaks) will decrease as the defect thickness increases, in sharp contrast to the case of using usual dielectric defect. The peak height and position can be changed by the variation in the thickness of defect layer. In the angle-dependent defect mode, its position is shown to be blue-shifted as the angle of incidence increases for both TE and TM waves. The analysis of defect mode provides useful information for the design of tunable transmission filter in semiconductor optoelectronics.     

Optically nonlinear phonon-polariton modes in a three-layered structure

A theory is presented for the propagation of phonon-polariton modes arising when phonons are coupled to electromagnetic waves in multilayered structures. A multi-layered structure consists of a thin film surrounded symmetrically by a bounding media. Numerical calculations are given for s-polarized phonon-polariton modes in the case where the bounding media are assumed to be semi-infinite layers with nonlinear dielectric functions of ionic crystal type supporting optical phonon modes and the thin film is characterized by a Kerr-type nonlinear dielectric function. The phonon-polaritons were found to have distinct branches characteristic of optical phonons and showing features that are different from those of plasmon-polaritons [S. Baher, M.G. Cottam, Surf. Rev. Lett. 10 (2003) 13]. The parameters that modify the modes are the in-plane wave vector, the thickness of the film, the phonon frequency and the nonlinearity of each layer. It was found that by increasing the film thickness and nonlinearity coefficient, the curves move to the left and the number of the branches increases without changing the pattern of the curves.     

Magnetic resonance studies of the properties of water in cellulose acetate membranes

The properties of water in various cellulose acetate (CA) membranes have been investigated by magnetic resonance techniques. It has been observed that the longitudinal (T₁) relaxation time of ¹⁷O in CA membranes containing H₂ ¹⁷O is considerably shorter (by a factor of 5 to 6) than the corresponding value in pure water. The T₁ values of ²³Na ions contained in these membranes were, however, shorter than the corresponding values observed in measurements of the aqueous mother solution by a factor smaller than 2. The EPR spectra of Mn²⁺ and of Cr³⁺ contained in CA membranes were practically identical to the spectra of the pure aqueous solution.

The data suggest the existence, in the CA membrane, of two “types” of water; a small fraction of highly immobilized “bound” water and the remaining large fraction of “free” water displaying properties almost identical to those of pure bulk water. This model is supported by measurements of the longitudinal relaxation rates of H₂ ¹⁷O in CA membranes which were gradually dehydrated from their water.     

Interaction of two magnetic resonance modes in the polar phase of superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He

We report results of low frequency nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments in the superfluid polar phase of ³He, which is stabilized by a new type of “nematic” aerogel—nafen. We have found that an interaction between transverse and longitudinal NMR modes may essentially influence the spin dynamics. Theoretical formulas for NMR resonant frequencies are derived and applied for interpretation of the experimental results.     

The kinetics of hydrogen (deuterium) sorption by thin palladium layers studied with a piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance

The kinetics of the hydrogen (deuterium) Sorption processes in the α-phase region of a thin electrodeposited Pd layer (thickness 3 × 10^?5 cm) are reported. Measurements have been performed with a piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance using an AT-cut crystal with a resonance frequency f⁰_q = 5.27 MHz and a sensitivity of ～10¹⁰ digits g^?1, at a constant temperature 80.3 ± 0.05 °C and different pressures. Both the absorption and the desorption of H₂(D₂) on Pd layers are controlled successively by a chemisorption step (second order kinetics) in the early stage of the processes and by a surface migration step (first order kinetics), in the subsequent stage of the processes. Consistent with the reported piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance measurements, thermal desorption and electrochemical desorption studies, a mechanism is suggested which takes into account the adsorption ofH(D) atoms on two different surface states: (a) a “pre-dissolved” state which does not depend on the surface nature; (b) and adsorption state, the density of which depends upon the structure and nature of the Pd sample. The kinetic control of the entire processes (sorption and desorption) depends on the ratio of the density of sites (a) to (b).     

Electron spin resonance and antiferromagnetic resonance of single crystals of yttrium doped with gadolinium

The nonlinear interaction of oscillation modes is investigated on the basis of Lagrangian formalism. Equations describing the changes of the bound mode amplitudes versus time, are obtained. It is shown that the energy transformation between different modes is of a periodic nature: if in the initial moment of time an appreciable part of the energy is contained, for example, in them-th mode, then after a period of timeTt (called a time of nonlinear interaction) the energy will be transformed to then-th mode. Expressions forT _t for cases with the interaction of two and three modes are obtained. As a particular case the process of nonlinear interaction of the electron “transverse” and “longitudinal” oscillations in the highfrequency hybrid resonance region of a “weakly” inhomogeneous plasma was investigated.     

Excitations électroniques dans un supraconducteur pur de deuxième espèce en champ élevé: Effet tunnel et relaxation nucléaire

This paper discusses some properties of fermion-type excitations in a clean type II superconductor, near the upper critical field. This situation is “ergodic” in the sense introduced byde Gennes andTinkham [1]. This ergodic behavior (in the absence of collisions) is due to the variations of thephase of the order parameter along a one-electron trajectory in a vortex lattice. The energy spectrum shows no gap, but is more singular than for “dirty” superconductors [2]. The singularity stems from the electrons with paths nearly parallel to the fieldH. We discuss in particular: 1. tunnel experiments: here it is found that the singularity in the density of states is made weaker by the existence of diffuse scattering at the junction surface; the experiment has been carried out on lead forH～H _c3 and gives qualitative agreement with the theoretical predictions; 2. nuclear relaxation rates, which are shown to depend sensitively on the bulk density of states; 3. effects related to the existence of an anisotropic Fermi surface: the latter may be interesting since the low energy excitations have their velocity parallel toH.     

Mössbauer investigations of the surface state of hexagonal ferrites Sr-M near the curie point

The temperature dependence of the parameters of the hyperfine interaction in the surface layers and in the bulk of macroscopic crystals of hexagonal ferrites of the type Sr-M (SrFe₁₂O₁₉) is investigated by the method of simultaneous gamma-, x-ray, and electron Mössbauer spectroscopy. It is shown experimentally that the transition of an ≈ 200 nm thick surface layer of macroscopic ferromagnets to the paramagnetic state occurs at a temperature 3° below the Curie point (T _c) for the bulk of the crystal. It was established that the transition temperatureT _c(L) of a thin layer localized at a depthL from the surface of the crystal increases away from the surface and reaches the valueT _c at the lower (away from the surface) boundary of the so-called “critical” surface layer. A nonuniform state in which the bulk region of the crystal is magnetically ordered while the surface region is disordered is observed nearT _N.     

Instanton zero modes and β-functions in gauged supergravity

We prove that one loop infinities in N?3 gauged O(N) supergravities are produced only by zero modes both on de Sitter and gauge instanton backgrounds. This strongly suggests (in analogy with the super Yang-Mills case) that instantons may be used for establishing exact β-functions in supergravities. We also derive the general formula for the number of gauge instanton zero modes for arbitrary spin and find that the “magnetic moment” part of the contribution in the gauge β-function is completely due to zero modes.     

Polarized Raman spectra of brushite (CaHPO4.2H2O) crystal. Investigation of the phosphate stretching modes,study of the LOTO splitting

Polarized Raman measurements were recorded on a monoclinic brushite (CaHPO₄.2H₂O) crystal in the 800–1200 cm⁻¹ spectral range, corresponding to the P O stretching modes. This study is a continuation of the investigation of the phosphate stretching modes observed in polarized infrared reflectance spectra of brushite crystal. In such ionic non‐centrosymmetric crystals, the splitting between the transverse and longitudinal components of the optic vibrations was observed in the polarized Raman spectra recorded at several scattering geometries. A″ symmetry modes of the brushite crystal were measured. Using a simple model based on the symmetry of the PO₄ group, the Raman intensities of the stretching modes are calculated and compared with experimental bands. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Band structure of collective modes and effective properties of binary magnonic crystals

In this paper a theoretical study of the band structure of collective modes of binary ferromagnetic systems formed by a submicrometric periodic array of cylindrical cobalt nanodots partially or completely embedded into a permalloy ferromagnetic film is performed. The binary ferromagnetic systems studied are two-dimensional periodic, but they can be regarded as three-dimensional, since the magnetization is non uniform also along the z direction due to the contrast between the saturation magnetizations of the two ferromagnetic materials along the thickness. The dynamical matrix method, a finite-difference micromagnetic approach, formulated for studying the dynamics in one-component periodic ferromagnetic systems is generalized to ferromagnetic systems composed by F ferromagnetic materials. It is then applied to investigate the spin dynamics in four periodic binary ferromagnetic systems differing each other for the volume of cobalt dots and for the relative position of cobalt dots within the primitive cell. The dispersion curves of the most representative frequency modes are calculated for each system for an in-plane applied magnetic field perpendicular to the Bloch wave vector. The dependence of the dispersion curves on the cobalt quantity and position is discussed in terms of distribution of effective “surface magnetic charges” at the interface between the two ferromagnetic materials. The metamaterial properties in the propagative regime are also studied (1) by introducing an effective magnetization and effective “surface magnetic charges” (2) by describing the metamaterial wave dispersion of the most representative mode in each system within an effective medium approximation and in the dipole-exchange regime. It is also shown that the interchange between cobalt and permalloy does not necessarily lead to an interchange of the corresponding mode dispersion. Analogously to the case of electromagnetic waves in two-dimensional photonic crystals, the degree of localization of the localized collective modes is expressed in terms of an energy concentration factor.     

Edge localized modes of cold neutrons in periodic condensed media

It is found that for certain energies of discreet cold neutrons, quasi-stationary eigen solutions of the corresponding Schrodinger equation, which are localized in the layer of a periodic medium, exist. The localization time of these solutions is strongly dependent on the layer thickness, being finite for a finite layer thickness and increasing indefinitely upon a infinite growth of the layer thickness as the third power of the layer thickness. The problem has been solved in the two-wave approximation of the dynamic diffraction theory for the neutron propagation direction coinciding with the periodicity axes (normal incidence of the neutron beam on the layer). The expressions for neutron eigenwave functions in a periodic medium, the reflection and transmission coefficients, and the neutron wavefunction in the layer as a function of the neutron energy incident on the layer have been determined. It turns out that for the certain discrete neutron energies, the amplitudes of the neutron wavefunction in the layer reach sharp maxima. The corresponding energies are just outside of the neutron stop band (energies forbidden for neutron propagation in the layer) and determine the energies of neutron edge modes (NEMs) localized in the layer, which are direct analogs of the optical edge modes for photonic crystals. The dispersion equation for the localized neutron edge modes has been obtained and analytically solved for the case of thick layers. A rough estimate for the localization length L is L ~(db N)^–1, where b is the neutron scattering length, d is the crystal period, and N is the density of nuclei in the crystal. The estimates of the localized thermal neutron lifetime show that acheaving of a lifetime close to the free neutron lifetime seems nonrealistic due to absorption of thermal neutrons and requires a perfect large size crystal. Nevertheless, acheaving the localized neutron lifetime exceeding by ~10⁴ times the neutron time of flight through the layer appears as experimentally attainable. The perspectives of the NEM observation are briefly discussed. It is proposed to use NEM for ultrahigh thermal neutron monochromatization by means of NEM excitation in perfect single crystals.     

Asymmetric planar luminescent waveguide based on amorphous silicon carbide with polarized radiation in leaky modes

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is used to fabricate asymmetric planar luminescent waveguides (APWs) based on amorphous silicon-carbide films with submicron thickness on quartz substrates. Narrow peaks of linearly (P and S) polarized radiation related to the emission in the APW leaky modes are detected in the APW emission spectra from the end surface of a substrate under excitation of photoluminescence. The dependence of the spectral positions of peaks on the angle at which the radiation is emitted from the end surface and the film thickness is analyzed. At grazing angles of emission, the radiation wavelength is almost independent of the angle. It is demonstrated that the difference between the wavelengths of the P- and S-polarized peaks in the PL spectra decreases with an increase in the waveguide thickness. The waveguide works as an optical microcavity for leaky modes. The amplitude of the S-polarized peak is higher than the amplitude of the P-polarized peak due to the fact that the Q factor for the S-polarized leaky modes is greater than the Q factor for the P-polarized leaky mode. The luminescent APWs can be used to generate optical beams with radial and azimuthal polarizations.     

Terahertz phonon spectroscopy of doped superconducting cuprates

Facts are presented evidencing a strong electron-phonon interaction in doped BSCCO superconductors. A pronounced fine structure in dI/dV characteristics of Josephson junctions has been observed which is caused by interaction of AC Josephson current with Raman-active optical phonon modes. “Quantization” of the “gap” voltage for natural nanosteps on the cryogenically cleaved surfaces of BSCCO proves the existence of the intrinsic Josephson effect. A sharp extra structure in the current-voltage characteristics of nanosteps is attributed to the presence of the extended van Hove singularity.