Coulomb gap: how a metal film becomes an insulator

Electron tunneling measurements of the density of states (DOS) in ultrathin Be films reveal that a correlation gap mediates their insulating behavior. In films with sheet resistance R<5000 Omega the correlation singularity appears as the usual perturbative ln(V) zero bias anomaly (ZBA) in the DOS. As R is increased further, however, the ZBA grows and begins to dominate the DOS spectrum. This evolution continues until a nonperturbative |V| Efros-Shklovskii Coulomb gap spectrum finally emerges in the highest R films. Transport measurements of films which display this gap are well described by a universal variable range hopping law R(T) = (h/2e(2))exp(T0/T)(1/2).     

Variable range hopping conduction in semiconductor nanocrystal solids

The temperature and electrical field dependent conductivity of n-type CdSe nanocrystal thin films is investigated. In the low electrical field regime, the conductivity follows sigma approximately exp([-(T(*)/T)(1/2)] in the temperature range 10相似文献   

Aspects of “low field” magnetotransport in epitaxial thin films of the ferromagnetic metallic oxide SrRuO3

Epitaxial thin films of the conductive ferromagnetic oxide SrRuO₃ were grown on an (0 0 1) SrTiO₃ (STO) substrate by using DC sputtering technique. The magnetic and magnetoresistive properties of the films were measured by applying the magnetic field both perpendicular (out-of-plane) and parallel (in-plane) to the film plane and ever maintaining the direction of the applied field perpendicular to that of the transport current. The films grown on an (0 0 1) STO substrate showed identical magnetization properties in two orthogonal crystallographic directions of the substrate, [1 0 0]_S and [0 0 1]_S (in-plane and out-of-plane geometry), which suggests the presence of a multi domain structure within the plane of the film. For such samples, no anisotropic field (hard axis) along de [0 0 1]s direction, i.e., perpendicular to the film-plane could be detected. Nevertheless, a distinguishable temperature dependent out-of-plane anisotropic magnetoresistance (MR) along with strong temperature dependent low field hysteretic MR(H) behavior was detected for the studied films. A negative MR ratio MR(T)=[ρ(μ₀H=9 T; T)−ρ( μ₀H=0 T; T)]/ρ( μ₀H=0 T; T) on the order of a few percent, with maximums of 6% and 4% (right at the Curie temperature, T_C 160 K) was calculated for an in-plane and out-of plane measuring geometry, respectively. In addition there is an equally strong MR effect at low temperatures, which might be related to the temperature dependence of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy together with a magnetization rotation. Both the MR(T) behavior and the achieved values (except for T<30 K) are similar to those obtained on SrRuO₃ films grown on 2° miscut (0 0 1) STO substrates with the current parallel to the field and parallel to the direction, which was identified as the easier axis for magnetization.     

Totally asymmetric exclusion processes at constrained m-input n-output junction points

Totally asymmetric exclusion processes at constrained m-input n-output junction points under random update are studied by theoretical calculation and computer simulation in this paper. At the junction points, the hopping rate of particles from m-input parallel lattices to n-output parallel lattices is assumed to be equal to r/n （0 〈 r 〈 1 ）. The mean-field approach and Monte Carlo simulations show that the phase diagram can be classified into three regions at any value of r. More interestingly, there is a threshold rc = n（ 1 - √1 - m/n）/m. In the cases of r 〉 re and r 〈 rc, qualitatively different phases exist in the system. With the increase of the value of m/n, the regions of （LD, LD） and （MC, LD） or （HD, LD） decrease, and the （HD, HD） is the only phase that increases in the region （LD stands for low density, HD stands for high density, and MC for maximal current）. Stationary current and density profiles are calculated, showing that they are in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.     

Surface diffusion of carbon atom and carbon dimer on Si(0 0 1) surface

Carbon (C) atom and carbon dimer (C2) are known to be the main projectiles in the deposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. The adsorption and diffusion of the C adatom and addimer (C2) on the fully relaxed Si(0 0 1)-(2 × 1) surface was studied by a combination of the molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The adsorption sites of the C and C2 on the surface and the potential barriers between these sites were first determined using the semi-empirical many-body Brenner and Tersoff potential. We then estimated their hopping rates and traced their pathways. It is found that the diffusion of both C and C2 is strongly anisotropic in nature. In addition, the C adatom can diffuse a long distance on the surface while the adsorbed C2 is more likely to be confined in a local region. Thus we can expect that smoother films will be formed on the Si(0 0 1) surface with single C atoms as projectile at moderate temperature, while with C2 the films will grow in two-dimensional islands. In addition, relatively higher kinetic energy of the projectile, say, a few tens of eV, is needed to grow DLC films of higher quality. This is consistent with experimental findings.     

Half Ca-doped LaMnO3 films on (0 0 1) SLAO and STO substrate studied by magnetization and transport measurements

In this study, La_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ (LCMO) films, at the boundary between ferromagnetic metallic and charge-ordered antiferromagnetic insulator according to the bulk phase diagram, were epitaxially grown on (0 0 1) SrTiO₃ (STO) and SrLaAlO₄ (SLAO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, magnetization and magnetoresistance measurements. A considerably higher magnetization was measured for 290-nm-thick film on SLAO substrate compared to the film on STO substrate, although both films have the same chemical composition, thickness and epitaxial orientation. The film on SLAO shows a metal-insulator (MI) transition, which occurs at higher temperatures with increasing applied magnetic field, whereas only insulating behavior was observed for the 290-nm-thick film on STO except for the highest applied magnetic field (7 T). In addition, transport measurements were performed and analyzed by Mott's variable range hopping (VRH) model to correlate the resistivity of the films with the Jahn-Teller strain (ε_J−T) in the structure.     

Temperature dependent conductance of one dimensioanal systems

The eigenstates tunneling theory leads to some unexpected results for the temperature dependence of the conductance G(T). While G(T) sometimes obeys the usual Mott variable range hopping law, it may sometimes be metallic or even non-monotonic. Thus G(T) for a set of quasi-one-dimensional samples connected in parallel should be T independent. The energy dependence of the localization length and of the density of states have unusual effects on G(T) at higher T.     

Origin of the enhanced copper spin echo decay rate in the pseudogap regime of the multilayer high-T(c) cuprates

We report measurements of the anisotropy of the spin echo decay for the inner layer Cu site of the triple layer cuprate Hg(0.8)Re(0.2)Ba(2)Ca(2)Cu(3)O(8) (T(c)=126 K). The angular dependence of the second moment (T(-2)(2M) identical with ) deduced from the decay curves indicates that T(-2)(2M) for H0 parallel c is enhanced in the pseudogap regime below T(pg) approximately 170 K, as seen in bilayer systems. Comparison of T(-2)(2M) between H0 parallel c and H0 perpendicular c indicates that this enhancement is caused by electron spin correlations between the inner and the outer CuO2 layers. The results provide the answer to the long-standing controversy regarding the opposite T dependences of (T1T)(-1) and T(-2)(2G) (T(2G): Gaussian component) in the pseudogap regime of multilayer systems.     

Magnetoconductivity of thin epitaxial silver films

The magnetoconductance (MC) of thin epitaxial Ag films on Si(111) surfaces is studied as a function of film thickness (1–125 monolayers (ML)) at 20 K under ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Three different regimes of magnetoconductance are observed depending on the degree of disorder in the films which is controlled by film thickness and annealing procedures. Thick films (d>3 ML) with diffuse electron transport show in the case of large elastic scattering times ₀ a classical, negative MC B ² and in the case of small ₀ a positive MC due to weak localization effects. The MC of thin films (d<2 ML) which have a conductance smaller than e ²/h, i.e. localized electron states, is negative again.     

Pre-exponential factor of the hopping conductivity in disordered carbon films

The conductivity of carbon films grown by polymethylphenylsiloxane vapor decomposition in stimulated dc discharge plasma was studied. It is found that the Mott hopping conductivity $ \sigma \left( T \right) = \sigma _0 \left( T \right)\exp \left\{ { - \frac{{T_0 }} {T}^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 4}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 4}} } \right\} $ \sigma \left( T \right) = \sigma _0 \left( T \right)\exp \left\{ { - \frac{{T_0 }} {T}^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 4}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 4}} } \right\} is characteristic of the samples under study in the temperature range of 80–400 K in the electric field E to 5 · 10⁴ V/cm. An analysis of the pre-exponential factor σ ₀(T) = σ ₀₀(T ₀)T ^α allowed the conclusion that the hopping transport is most adequately described in the model with the exponential energy dependence of the density of localized states for which α = −1/2 and the universal relation ln σ ₀₀ −T ₀^1/4 0 is valid, which is satisfied in the range where the parameter σ ₀₀ varies by eight orders of magnitude.     

A unilateral NMR magnet for sub-structure analysis in the built environment: the Surface GARField

A new, portable NMR magnet with a tailored magnetic field profile and a complementary radio frequency sensor have been designed and constructed for the purpose of probing in situ the sub-surface porosity of cement based materials in the built environment. The magnet is a one sided device akin to a large NMR-MOUSE with the additional design specification of planes of constant field strength /B0/ parallel to the surface. There is a strong gradient G in the field strength perpendicular to these planes. As with earlier GARField magnets, the ratio G//:B0/ is a system constant although the method of achieving this condition is substantially different. The new magnet as constructed is able to detect signals 50mm (1H NMR at 3.2 MHz) away from the surface of the magnet and can profile the surface layers of large samples to a depth of 35-40 mm by moving the magnet, and hence the resonant plane of the polarising field, relative to the sample surface. The matching radio frequency excitation/detector coil has been designed to complement the static magnetic field such that the polarising B0 and sensing B1 fields are, in principal, everywhere orthogonal. Preliminary spatially resolved measurements are presented of cement based materials, including two-dimensional T1-T2 relaxation correlation spectra.     

The dc magnetic field,temperature and film thickness dependence of microwave surface resistance of YBCO and DyBCO thin films

We investigated the dc magnetic field and temperature dependences of the microwave surface resistance (R_s) of YBa₂Cu₃O_y (YBCO) and DyBa₂Cu₃O_y (DyBCO) superconducting thin films. The YBCO and DyBCO thin films, each with a thickness of 300, 500, or 700 nm, were deposited on MgO (1 0 0) substrates by the thermal co-evaporation method. The R_s was measured using the dielectric resonator method. A dc magnetic field of up to 5.0 T was applied parallel to the c-axis of the superconducting thin films. The results showed that the R_s value had almost the same temperature dependence at various thicknesses in a zero-external field. The R_s of the YBCO and DyBCO thin films increased with the applied dc magnetic field. The DyBCO thin films showed weaker magnetic field dependence of R_s than the YBCO thin films. The R_s ratio (defined as R_s(5 T)/R_s(0 T)) linearly increased with the film thickness. These results show that pinning strength decreased with an increasing film thickness.     

Structural and electrical characterisation of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Thin films of perovskite manganite, with nominal composition La_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃, have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition on (1 0 0) SrTiO₃, (1 0 0) LaAlO₃, (1 0 0) Si and YSZ/CeO₂-buffered (1 0 0) Si substrates. Structural and electrical characterisation was performed on the films. The magneto-transport properties of all the thin films depart from the bulk behaviour. The LCMO film grown on buffered Si shows an insulator–metallic transition around 130–150 K while the one deposited directly on Si displayed a similar behaviour under a melting field of 1 T. However, that transition is absent in the films grown on LAO and STO. We suggest that appropriate stress values induced by the substrate favour the formation of metallic percolative paths.     

物质纯重力场部分的能量-动量张量研究

认为物质的质量(能量)存在形式可分为两部分，一部分是以纯物质形式存在的，另一部分是以纯重力场形式存在的.物质质量(能量)这两种形式各自对应着相应的能量 动量张量，物质总的能量-动量张量可表示为Tμν=T(Ⅰ)μν+T(Ⅱ)μν,这里，T(Ⅰ)μν，T（Ⅱ）μν分别代表物质纯物质部分和纯重力场部分的能量-动量张量.通过类比电磁理论，定义：ωμ≡-c2gμ0/g00,并引入一个反对称张量Dμν=ωμ/xν-ων/xμ，则物质纯重力场部分的能量-动量张量为T(Ⅱ)μν=(DμρDρν-gμνDαβDαβ/4 关键词： 能量-动量张量 纯重力场 重力场方程 标量重力势 矢量重力势     

Coexistence of large positive and negative magnetoresistance in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films with microcracks

The coexistence of large positive and negative low-field magnetoresistance (LFMR) in the ferromagnetic La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ thin films with ordered microcrack (MC) distributions is reported. For the films with the highest linear density of MC, the negative LFMR can be up to −60% and rapidly changes to the positive value of 25% at 200 Oe field with the increase of temperature. We discuss the effect based on the spin-polarized tunneling and inhomogeneous magnetic state induced by the natural formations of MC in the films.     

Response to tilted magnetic fields in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8) with columnar defects: evidence for transverse Meissner effect

The transverse Meissner effect (TME) in the highly layered superconductor Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+y) with columnar defects is investigated by transport measurements. We present evidence for the persistence of the Bose glass phase for H(perpendicular)H(+)(perpendicular c), moving kink chains consistent with a commensurate-incommensurate transition scenario are observed. These results show the existence of the TME for H(perpendicular)相似文献   

Alternating current characterization of nano-Pt(Ⅱ)octaethylporphyrin(PtOEP) thin film as a new organic semiconductor

Alternating current(AC) conductivity and dielectric properties of thermally evaporated Au/Pt OEP/Au thin films are investigated each as a function of temperature(303 K–473 K) and frequency(50 Hz–5 MHz).The frequency dependence of AC conductivity follows the Jonscher universal dynamic law.The AC-activation energies are determined at different frequencies.It is found that the correlated barrier hopping(CBH) model is the dominant conduction mechanism.The variation of the frequency exponent s with temperature is analyzed in terms of the CBH model.Coulombic barrier height Wm,hopping distance Rω,and the density of localized states N(EF) are valued at different frequencies.Dielectric constant ε_1(ω,T) and dielectric loss ε_2(ω,T) are discussed in terms of the dielectric polarization process.The dielectric modulus shows the non-Debye relaxation in the material.The extracted relaxation time by using the imaginary part of modulus(M')is found to follow the Arrhenius law.     

Effects of interlayer coupling on the irreversibility lines of NbN/AlN superconducting multilayers

We have studied the temperature dependence of the in-plane resistivity of NbN/AlN multilayer samples with varying insulating layer thickness in magnetic fields up to 7 T parallel and perpendicular to the films. The upper critical field shows a crossover from 2D to 3D behavior in parallel fields. The irreversibility lines have the form (1-T/T(c))(alpha), where alpha varies from 4 / 3 to 2 with increasing anisotropy. The results are consistent with simultaneous melting and decoupling transitions for the low anisotropy sample, and with melting of decoupled pancakes in the superconducting layers for higher anisotropy samples.     

Loss of superconducting phase coherence in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) films: vortex-loop unbinding and Kosterlitz-Thouless phenomena

The linear conductance G' + iG(") parallel to the CuO(2) planes of flat d = 50-600 nm thin films is measured between 30 mHz and 800 kHz. The decay of the phase-coherent superfluid density signals the proliferation of 3D vortex loops which terminates at T*相似文献