Role of manganese in ferromagnetic (Al,Mn)N films

We have studied the (Al,Mn)N films grown by plasma-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy via Raman spectroscopy to verify how Mn atoms were incorporated into AlN lattice. In Raman spectra of (Al,Mn)N, the frequency of E₂ (high) mode blueshifts. Together with XRD results, the strain calculations support the existence of the substitutional dopant. Also, an additional peak, attributed to local vibrational mode of Mn, coincides with the calculated phonon frequency on the basis of a simple model. The Raman results reveal that Mn atoms replace Al atoms at the substitutional sites in the lattice. The (Al,Mn)N films were found to exhibit insulating characteristics and ferromagnetic ordering above room temperature. These results suggest that the ferromagnetism in the (Al,Mn)N films is due to the intrinsic nature originating from the substitutional Mn within (Al,Mn)N.     

Pulsed electron beam annealing and furnace annealing of Cu-implanted Al single crystals

A comparison has been performed of the effects of pulsed electron beam annealing (PEBA) and furnace annealing on the distribution and lattice site occupation of Cu implanted into Al single crystals. Both parameters have been determined by Rutherford backscattering and channeling measurements with 2 MeV He⁺ ions. With furnace annealing at 300°C the Cu diffusion into the bulk was determined by the release process from the implanted layer, while for PEBA a redistribution of the copper was observed for pulses with deposited energy densities above the threshold for melting. A supersaturated solid solution with 95% (2.1 at.%) of the impurity atoms on substitutional sites was formed by the electron beam treatment. After thermal annealing only little improvement of the lattice site occupation was observed with 66% of the impurities atoms on lattice sites, however with slight displacements from the perfect positions.     

Study on the oscillatory behaviour of the lattice parameter in ternary iron–nitrogen compounds

The structural properties of the XFe₃N (X=Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) cubic ternary iron based nitrides as well as the preferential occupation site of X in the structure were studied using Full Potential Linearized Augmented Plane Wave method, within the Density Functional Theory formalism, Wien2k code, the exchange-correlation potential described with the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof expression, based in the Local Spin Density Approximation and Generalized Gradient Approximation. According the calculations, the Sc, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn, atoms preferred the corner sites of the cubes, while Ti, V, Cr and Mn occupy the centre of the faces of the equilibrium structures. The equilibrium structure lattice parameters have an oscillatory behaviour with the atomic number of X, with decreasing amplitude as the atomic number of X increases. This trend do not correlated with the atomic radii of X.     

Multiscale structural changes of atomic order in severely deformed industrial aluminum

The regularities of multiscale structural changes in the atomic order of the aluminum alloy AD-1 after a severe cold plastic deformation by conventional rolling in smooth rolls or in rolls with relief recesses favorable for shear deformation have been investigated. It has been found that there are four types of structural fractions that differ in scale and perfection of atomic order: crystallographic planes with a long-range order; nanoscale fragments of the planes (D = 100–300 Å) with an incipient long-range order; smaller groups of atoms (D = 20–30 Å) of amorphized structure; and the least ordered structural fraction of intercluster medium, keeping only a short-range atomic order (2–3 interatomic distances, 10 Å). The presence of diffuse halo bands in the region of intense Debye lines indicates phase transitions of the order → disorder type with the formation of one to three groups of amorphous clusters with the dominance, in the nanometer scale, of the atomic order characteristic of the family of planes (111), (220), and (311) of crystalline aluminum. We have found a dynamic phase transition with the changing crystallographic order of aluminum, with the matrix structure of a face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice, in the form of nanosized local groups of atoms, that is, the deformation clusters of aluminum with a simple cubic K6 lattice. In the case of conventional rolling, the development of large clusters 50–500 Å in size is observed; however, in the use of rolls with relief recesses, the difference in the sizes of the clusters is one half as much: 50–250 Å. Based on the analysis of the integrated intensity of incoherent X-ray scattering by the samples, we have elucidated the nature of the lowest measured density for the sample subjected to conventional rolling, which consists in the volume concentration of disorderly arranged atoms, the highest of the compared structures, which indicates the formation therein of the greatest amount of fluctuation “voids.”     

EPR study of Mn2+ doped nanocrystalline PbF2

Nanocrystalline samples of PbF2 doped with 0.05, 0.1, 0.4 and 1 mol% Mn2+, used as paramagnetic probe, were prepared by inert gas condensation technique. All the samples were vacuum annealed at different temperatures to get different grain sizes. The X-ray diffraction studies showed the dominant content of -PbF2 phase with a fractional quantity of -PbF2. Thermal stability and sublattice melting were studied by TGA and DSC respectively. EPR measurements were made on all these samples at 77 and 300 K. The EPR spectra of all samples were found to contain well resolved sextet arising from the Mn2+ ions that occupied the cubic sites of Pb2+ ion of PbF2 lattice. The lower concentration of the Mn2+ ions (0.05 and 0.1 mol%) clearly monitored the Pb2+ environment in the PbF2 lattice. The 0.4 mol% showed the presence of only the cubic sites with a minor concentration of the orthorhombic sites. The spectra corresponding to 1 mol% Mn2+ clearly showed two different components. The isotropic nature of the 1 mol% as-prepared sample implied that there was no cluster formation and hence this EPR spectrum was taken as the single ion spectrum. The annealed samples contain two spectral components; one is from the isolated single ions and the other one from the Mn2+ clusters. The spectral component of Mn2+ clusters was obtained by subtracting the spectrum for the as-prepared sample for the spectra of annealed samples. The extracted cluster phase spectra and the pure spectrum from the as-prepared sample were then combined to simulate the entire set of experimental spectra. The simulated spectra were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The g values obtained were in the range very close to the free electron g factor as the electrons are in the S state (L=0).     

Density functional theory investigation on lattice dynamics,elastic properties and origin of vanished magnetism in Heusler compounds CoMnVZ (Z= Al,Ga)

The lattice dynamics, elastic properties and the origin of vanished magnetism in equiatomic quaternary Heusler compounds CoMnVZ (Z=Al, Ga) are investigated by first principle calculations in this work. Due to the similar constituent atoms in CoMnVAl and CoMnVGa compounds, they are both stable in LiMgPdSn-type structure with comparable lattice size, phonon dispersions and electronic structures. Comparatively, we find that CoMnVAl is more structurally stable than CoMnVGa. Meanwhile, the increased covalent bonding component in CoMnVAl enhances its mechanical strength and Vickers hardness, which leads to better comprehensive mechanical properties than those of CoMnVGa. Practically and importantly, structural and chemical compatibilities at the interface make non-magnetic semiconductor CoMnVAl and magnetic topological semimetals Co₂MnAl/Ga more suitable to be grown in heterostructures. Owing to atomic preferential occupation in CoMnVAl/Ga, the localized atoms Mn occupy C (0.5, 0.5, 0.5) Wyckoff site rather than B (0.25, 0.25, 0.25) and D (0.75, 0.75, 0.75) Wyckoff sites in LiMgPdSn-type structure, which results in symmetric band filling and consequently drives them to be non-magnetic. Correspondingly, by tuning localized atoms Mn to occupy B (0.25, 0.25, 0.25) or/and D (0.75, 0.75, 0.75) Wyckoff sites in off-stoichiometric Co-Mn-V-Al/Ga compounds and keeping the total valence electrons as 24, newly compensated ferrimagnetic compounds are theoretically achieved. We hope that our work will provide more choices for spintronic applications.     

Energy of Clusters Emitted During Ion Sputtering of a Metal

A procedure for calculating the energy spectra of clusters with numbers of atoms N 5 during ion sputtering of a metal is suggested. The results are presented in the form of simple formulas. The energy distributions of clusters in the bombardment of niobium and iron by atomic gold and xenon ions, calculated in the present work, are compared with the available experimental data.     

The emission of neutral clusters in sputtering

The mass, angle, and energy resolved emission of neutral clusters in sputtering was studied for a variety of metals and semiconductors. The main phenomena and results are the following: (i) Cluster emission from a series of transition metals reveals a prominent contribution of clusters to the total flux of ejected particles but there is no simple scaling of cluster intensities with the average sputtering yields. With increasing number of constituents, relative intensities of neutral clusters decrease much faster than those of secondary-ion clusters. (ii) The relative intensities of clusters emitted from amorphous and crystalline semiconductors are identical, but the energy spectra of Ge _n -clusters (n = 1–4) sputtered from Ge (111) peak at a slightly higher energy (1 eV) as compared to spectra taken from amorphous Ge. The intensities of all Ge _n -clusters exhibit the same dependence on emission angle; this holds for both the amorphous and crystalline Ge-sample. (iii) The flux of neutral monomers, dimers, and trimers sputtered from Cu(111), Ni(111), and Ag(111) crystals shows a pronouncedly anisotropic emission along the 110 lattice directions which is ascribed to a momentum alignment in the anisotropic part of the collision cascade. Energy spectra taken along 110 peak at higher energies than those obtained from a random emission angle.     

Temperature dependence of anomalous Rutherford scattering of fast electrons in crystals

In contrast to the channeling of positively charged particles, the effect of the crystal temperature on orientational scattering of fast electrons has not been investigated up to now. Only in [1] did they observe a decrease in the efficiency of the inverse scattering of ^–-particles upon the heating of <100> KCl and KBr crystals, which they explained by a decrease in the efficiency of focusing of the electrons on chains of atoms. In this article the effect of thermal vibrations of atoms on the interaction of electrons with single crystals is discussed within the framework of the model of bound states of fast electrons with atomic arrays and crystal planes, which consistently explains both the high penetration of particles into the lattice and the anomalous Rutherford scattering under channeling conditions [2, 3]. Detailed discussion is carried out for <111> and (100) Si crystals and electron energy E=(1.0–1.5) MeV.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 29–35, July, 1978.     

Noise correlation spectroscopy of the broken order of a Mott insulating phase

We use a two-color lattice to break the homogeneous site occupation of an atomic Mott insulator of bosonic 87Rb. We detect the disruption of the ordered Mott domains via noise correlation analysis of the atomic density distribution after time of flight. The appearance of additional correlation peaks evidences the redistribution of the atoms into a strongly inhomogeneous insulating state, in quantitative agreement with the predictions.     

Saturation magnetization and magnetostriction of Ni3Mn alloys containing aluminum and copper

An experimental investigation was made into the influence of the addition of copper and aluminum on the saturation magnetization J_s and magnetostriction _s of the Ni₃Mn alloy. It is shown that the behavior of J_s and _s depends on the distribution of the atoms of the added element over the sites of the fcc lattice of the Ni₃Mn alloy.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 29–33, February, 1981.We should like to thank A. I. Lotkov for the alloys made available for investigation.     

Structure of ultradisperse diamonds

The structure of crystallites (regions of coherent scattering — RCS), which comprise the grains of ultradisperse diamond (UDD) powder, was investigated by x-ray crystallography and coordination-sphere diffractometry. It was established that the RCS have an average size $\bar L = 42 \pm 2{\AA}$ and that these regions are themselves UDD grains with the structure of a diamond lattice and a negligible content of clusters of carbon atoms distributed throughout the volume that do not form a lattice and are mainly located at interatomic distances ～1.5 Å. The clusters of carbon atoms, for which the distribution of interatomic distances is close to Gaussian, which may indicate an amorphous structure of the boundary layers, lie along grain boundaries.     

Short-range order in amorphous ferromagnetic Fe-B alloys

Amorphous and quenched crystalline Fe-B alloys in the composition range of 4–25 at % B were prepared by melt spinning and investigated by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy at T = 87 K. The states of iron atoms in the α-Fe phases, including iron atoms having boron atoms in the nearest coordination sphere, and in the orthorhombic (o) and tetragonal (T) Fe₂B phases are detected in the microcrystalline alloys. The short-range order and the local atomic structure of the amorphous Fe-B alloys are determined. The amorphous alloys consist of microregions (clusters) with short-range order of the t- and o-Fe₂B and α-Fe types. The dependence of the content of various types of clusters on the alloy composition is quantitatively estimated.     

On muon localization in doped aluminium samples

The magnetic field dependence of the transverseSR linewidth has been studied in anAlAg single crystal. The muon site is found to be tetrahedral at 22 K and octahedral at 0.05 K. Both the site change and the magnitudes of the electric field gradients are similar to previous observations onAlMn, although these two impurities create different strain fields in Al.     

Emission channeling

Hyperfine interaction techniques like Mössbauer effect or perturbed angular correlation are commonly applied to study the structure and properties of impurity-defect complexes in solids. It is often difficult to resolve a certain defect structure unambiguously with these techniques, because an absolute determination of the lattice site of the probe atoms is not straight-forward. The emission channeling technique allows the direct determination of lattice sites of radioactive impurity atoms, incorporated into single crystalline solids. The channeling effects of electrons, positrons or alpha particles, emitted from radioactive impurities are measured along different crystal axes and planes. From the measured anisotropic emission distributions the lattice sites of the emitting atoms can be determined. Emission channeling can be applied to a large variety of different probe atoms. Also, rather low impurity concentrations, comparable to those typically required for hyperfine interaction techniques, are sufficient. In this contribution, the principles of the emission channeling technique, the experimental requirements and the quantitative analysis of emission channeling spectra are reviewed. The capabilities and possibilities, which the emission channeling technique offers, are highlighted by three recent experimental studies. First, studies of the diffusion of Ag in CdTe using transmutation doping with the electron emitting isotopes^107mAg and^109mAg are described. Second, lattice location studies of As in diamond, which is a potential n-type dopant in this material, will be discussed. Third, an experiment is described to study the lattice location of oversized impurities after low dose implantation into Fe. In this experiment, the unique decay properties of²²¹Fr and²²¹ Ra are utilized to determine the lattice sites of five different impurity atoms in a single emission channeling measurement.     

非晶合金结构演变影响玻璃形成能力的分子动力学研究

通过分子动力学方法模拟了Ti75Al25、Ni50Zr50和Cu50Zr50非晶合金的玻璃转变过程, 得到并分析了平均原子体积和双体分布函数等结构参数, 并应用Voronoi多面体指数分析法统计了玻璃转变过程中二十面体及类二十面体团簇的数量, 通过分析团簇在玻璃转变过程中种类和数量的涨落趋势, 研究了非晶原子由短程序连接至中程序再至长程无序的动力学演化过程. 结果表明, 非晶合金的玻璃形成能力以及塑性变形能力与动力学演化过程中Voronoi团簇的种类和数量密切相关. 在玻璃转变过程中局部五次对称性高的团簇倾向于连接在一起形成链,从而密排整个空间, 降低系统的动力学行为从而提高玻璃形成能力. 塑性形变倾向于发生在局部五次对称性较低的区域. 在玻璃转变温度附近团簇种类和数量的突变反映出非晶合金的自组织临界行为, 蕴含着丰富的非线性动力学现象.     

Self-avoiding walks on percolation clusters at criticality and lattice animals

We use the real-space renormalization group method to study the critical behavior of self-avoiding walks (SAWs) on both site percolation clusters at percolation threshold and site lattice animals in a square lattice. The correlation length exponents of SAWs are found to be on the percolation clusters atp _c and _SAW ^LA =0.804 on lattice animals. These results are compared with Kremer's suggestion of modified Flory formula where is the fractal dimension of the fractal object.     

Probing Single Nanometer-scale Particles with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopies

Scanning tunneling microscopy can be used to isolate single particles on surfaces for further study. Local optical and electronic properties coupled with topographic information collected by the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) give insight into the intrinsic properties of the species under study. Since each spectroscopic measurement is done on a single particle, each sample is monodisperse, regardless of the degree of heterogeneity of the original preparation. We illustrate this with three example systems – a metal cluster of known atomic structure, metal nanoparticles dispersed from colloid suspensions, and metallocarbohedrenes (Met-Cars) deposited with other reaction products. Au and Ag nanoparticles were imaged using a photon emission STM. The threshold voltage, the lowest bias voltage at which photons are produced, was determined for Au nanoparticles. Electronic spectra of small clusters of Ni atoms on MoS₂ were recorded. Preliminary images of Zr-based Met-Car-containing soot were obtained on Au and MoS₂ substrates and partial electronic spectra were recorded of these possible Met-Car particles.     

Structural defects in Ni-Ti alloys in the region of B2-phase homogeneity

A comparison is made of the x-ray and pycnometric densities of Ti-Ni alloys, with a high nickel content relative to the equiatomic composition, when the alloys are quenched outside the region of -phase homogeneity. An analysis is made of the possibility of the formation of vacancies, interstitial atoms, triple defects, and substitutional defects in the alloys. It is concluded that substitutional defects are formed: nickel atoms which are excess atoms relative to those found at the lattice points in the CsCl superstructure are located in the titanium sublattice. An evaluation showed that in the formation of alloys near the equiatomic composition of TiNi, the atomic volumes of titanium and nickel are about 1.8 and 7.4% smaller than for the pure components, respectively.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 11, pp. 45–50, November, 1987.     

Mössbauer spectra obtained using β − γ coincidence method after 57Mn implantation into LiH and LiD

Highly energetic ⁵⁷Mn (T_1/2 = 1.45 m) was generated by nuclear projectile fragmentation in a heavy-ion accelerator, and implanted into lithium hydride (LiH) and lithium deuteride (LiD) at 578 K. Mössbauer spectroscopy with β ? γ coincidence detection was then carried out on the ⁵⁷Fe obtained from β^?decay of the ⁵⁷Mn to study the time dependence of the site distributions and coordination environments of dilute Fe atoms implanted in the LiH and LiD. The results suggest that the Fe atoms can substitute for either the Li and H or D atoms within 100 ns. Additionally, the displacement behavior of the substitutional ⁵⁷Fe atoms on the lattice sites is discussed.