The magnetocaloric effect and low temperature specific heat of SmNi

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a magnetic SmNi sample was evaluated from magnetization and heat capacity measurements. The MCE phenomena in the vicinity of magnetic phase transitions in terms of magnetic entropy change, , and adiabatic temperature change, , are reported. Isothermal magnetization measurements at several temperatures around the transition were carried out and used for versusT calculations. A similar dependence of the magnetic entropy change was evaluated from heat capacity C_p(T) measurements under zero field and 5 T. The SmNi system provides magnetic refrigerants that induce an adiabatic cooling of about during the magnetization process with a field of 5 T in the temperature range of 35-45 K. The temperature dependence of C_p(T) is analyzed in terms of the magnetic and the lattice contributions.     

Possible coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in intermetallic NiBi3

NiBi₃ polycrystals were synthesized via a solid state method. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the main phase present in the sample corresponds to NiBi₃ in a weight fraction of 96.82 % according to the refinement of the crystalline structure. SEM - EDS and XPS analysis reveal a homogeneous composition of NiBi₃, without Ni traces. The powder superconducting samples were studied by performing magnetic measurements. The superconducting transition temperature and critical magnetic fields were determined as , Oe and Oe. The superconducting parameters were , , and κ=5.136. Isothermal measurements below the transition temperature show an anomalous behavior. Above the superconducting transition the compound presents ferromagnetic characteristics up to 750 K, well above the Ni Curie temperature.     

Ac magnetotransport in La0.7Sr0.3Mn0.95Fe0.05O3 at low dc magnetic fields

We report the ac electrical response of La_0.7Sr_0.3Mn_1−xFe_xO₃(x=0.05) as a function of temperature, magnetic field (H) and frequency of radio frequency (rf) current (). The ac impedance (Z) was measured while rf current directly passes through the sample as well as in a coil surrounding the sample. It is found that with increasing frequency of the rf current, Z(T) shows an abrupt increase accompanied by a peak at the ferromagnetic Curie temperature. The peak decreases in magnitude and shifts down with increasing value of H. We find a magnetoimpedance of for at around room temperature when the rf current flows directly through the sample and when the rf current flows through a coil surrounding the sample. It is suggested that the magnetoimpedance observed is a consequence of suppression of transverse permeability which enhances skin depth for current flow. Our results indicate that the magnetic field control of high frequency impedance of manganites is more useful than direct current magnetoresistance for low-field applications.     

Structural, elastic, electronic and magnetic properties of ThCr2Si2 from first-principles calculations

The tetragonal (s.g. I4/mmm; #139) ThCr₂Si₂ is widely known as a structural type of the broad family of the so-called 122-like ternary phases which includes now more than 800 members. Among them the superconducting iron-pnictides (discovered in 2008, -earth metals) and the newest superconducting iron-chalcogenides (discovered in 2010, metals) have attracted recently enormous interest in this class of materials. Meanwhile, the data about the electronic, magnetic, and elastic properties of the ThCr₂Si₂ phase itself are still practically absent. Here, by means of first-principles calculations, the optimized structural parameters, spin ordering of the magnetic ground state, independent elastic constants, bulk, shear, and Young’s moduli, elastic anisotropy indexes, total and partial densities of states, and inter-atomic bonding picture for ThCr₂Si₂ were obtained for the first time and analyzed in comparison with the aforementioned most popular 122-like systems and .     

Sufficient and necessary condition of separability for generalized Werner states

In a celebrated paper [Optics Communications 179, 447, 2000], A.O. Pittenger and M.H. Rubin presented for the first time a sufficient and necessary condition of separability for the generalized Werner states. Inspired by their ideas, we generalized their method to a more general case. We obtain a sufficient and necessary condition for the separability of a specific class of N d-dimensional system (qudits) states, namely special generalized Werner state (SGWS): , where is an entangled pure state of N qudits system and α_i satisfies two restrictions: (i) ; (ii) Matrix , where , is a density matrix. Our condition gives quite a simple and efficiently computable way to judge whether a given SGWS is separable or not and previously known separable conditions are shown to be special cases of our approach.     

Multiple superconducting gap and anisotropic spin fluctuations in iron arsenides: Comparison with nickel analog

We present extensive ⁷⁵As NMR and NQR data on the superconducting arsenides PrFeAs_0.89F_0.11, LaFeAsO_0.92F_0.08, LiFeAs and Ba_0.72K_0.28Fe₂As₂ single crystal, and compare with the nickel analog LaNiAsO_0.9F_0.1. In contrast to LaNiAsO_0.9F_0.1 where the superconducting gap is shown to be isotropic, the spin lattice relaxation rate 1/T₁ in the Fe-arsenides decreases below T_c with no coherence peak and shows a step-wise variation at low temperatures. The Knight shift decreases below T_c and shows a step-wise T variation as well. These results indicate spin-singlet superconductivity with multiple gaps in the Fe-arsenides. The Fe antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are anisotropic and weaker compared to underdoped copper-oxides or cobalt-oxide superconductors, while there is no significant electron correlations in LaNiAsO_0.9F_0.1. We will discuss the implications of these results and highlight the importance of the Fermi surface topology.     

Giant magnetoimpedance and colossal ac magnetoresistance of a Cu coil wound on La0.67Sr0.33MnO3

We observed the giant magnetoimpedance and colossal ac magnetoresistance for a Cu coil wound on La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ under low dc magnetic fields. Even though the dc magnetoresistance for La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ plate is only −2.4% under H=12 kOe, a Cu coil wound on La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ plate exhibits a colossal ac magnetoresistance of −93% at 10 MHz and a giant magnetoimpedance of −59% in a wide frequency range of 500 kHz-10 MHz under a longitudinal field . The transverse magnetoimpedance is weaker than the longitudinal one. The giant magnetoimpedance and colossal ac magnetoresistance for a Cu coil wound on La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ are connected with the variation of permeability induced by dc magnetic field.     

The high quality ZnO growth on c-Al2O3 substrate with Cr2O3 buffer layer using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

High quality epitaxial ZnO films were grown on c-Al₂O₃ substrates with Cr₂O₃ buffer layer by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (P-MBE). The hexagonal crystalline Cr₂O₃ layer was formed by oxidation of the Cr-metal layer deposited on the c-Al₂O₃ substrate using oxygen plasma. The epitaxial relationship was determined to be ZnO//Cr₂O₃//Cr//Al₂O₃ and ZnO//Cr₂O₃//[0 0 1]Cr//Al₂O_3. The Cr₂O₃ buffer layer was very effective in improving the surface morphology and crystal quality of the ZnO films. The photoluminescence spectrum showed the strong near band-edge emissions with the weak deep-level emission, which implies high optical quality of the ZnO films grown on the Cr₂O₃ buffer.     

High pressure and temperature study of hydrogen storage material BH3NH3 from ab initio calculations

We report on BH₃NH₃, which is material considered promising to use as hydrogen storage, using density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We study the phase transition of BH₃NH₃ at high pressure and temperature. Our observed phase transition of BH₃NH₃ from body-centered tetragonal to orthorhombic at supports the recent and earlier studies. We observe the phase transformation of BH₃NH₃ at , which is in good agreement with experimental value. Specifically, we predict the phase transition at to be orthorhombic to body-centered tetragonal on the basis of our first principles calculations.     

Terahertz spectroscopy of oxygen, O2, in its Σg and Δ electronic states : THz Spectroscopy of O2

High precision rotational spectra of isotopic oxygen O₂ (with or ) in its electronic ground state have been measured in selected frequency regions between 0.4 and 2.0 THz. The main isotopic species, , was also investigated in its first excited electronic state . The new data, analyzed together with previous measurements, yielded improved spectroscopic parameters.     

Magnetoelastic instability in Ising-like models

The magnetoelastic instability in nanostructured ring-shaped Ising-like spin 1/2 model has been investigated by using the exact diagonalization method. It is found that there exists two critical anisotropy parameters and () in the phase diagram. As the anisotropy parameter , the magnetoelastic transition from dimerized phase to uniform phase is a first order transition with an increase of the lattice spring constant. While for , the transition is continuous. Another critical value divides the different lattice distortion behavior as the anisotropy is strengthened.     

Prospects of reactor neutrino experiments

Since the energy of a reactor neutrino is a few MeV, all , and oscillations are accessible by reactor neutrino experiments. KamLAND observed the oscillation and currently Double Chooz, RENO and Dayabay experiments are under construction aiming to detect oscillation. There are still good prospects for future reactor neutrino experiments after them. For example, there is room to further improve sin²2θ₁₃ accuracy at a baseline of ∼1.5 km, a very precise sin²2θ₁₂ measurement and the determination of mass hierarchy may be possible at a baseline ∼50 km, and if KamLAND is enlarged to the SuperKamiokande size, better measurement of and sin²2θ₁₂ will be anticipated. It is important to take into account such possibilities when planning future neutrino program after θ₁₃ is measured by current experiments.     

Molecular beam epitaxy of superconducting Pr2CuO4 films

Recent reports on superconductivity in parent compounds [RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd] prepared by metal-organic decomposition (MOD) shed new light on the electronic and magnetic phase diagram of electron-doped cuprates. A thorough reduction process is the key to inducing superconductivity in square-planar coordinated cuprates. In this work, Pr₂CuO₄ films were grown epitaxially by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on (001)SrTiO₃, (110)GdScO₃ and (110)DyScO₃ substrates. A modified two-step reduction process is required in order to obtain single-phase superconducting samples. The optimized superconducting properties are , while the room-temperature resistivity is about . Hence, we show that even amorphous Pr₂CuO_y films deposited on (110)DyScO₃ become superconducting after the application of the two-step annealing process. These results indicate that superconductivity is induced to Pr₂CuO₄ by systematic optimization of the reduction conditions, irrespective of the synthesis route.     

Computation of energy exchanges by combining information theory and a key thermodynamic relation: Physical applications

By considering a simple thermodynamic system, in thermal equilibrium at a temperature T and in the presence of an external parameter A, we focus our attention on the particular thermodynamic (macroscopic) relation . Using standard axioms from information theory and the fact that the microscopic energy levels depend upon the external parameter A, we show that all usual results of statistical mechanics for reversible processes follow straightforwardly, without invoking the Maximum Entropy principle. For the simple system considered herein, two distinct forms of heat contributions appear naturally in the Clausius definition of entropy, . We give a special attention to the amount of heat , associated with an infinitesimal variation at fixed temperature, for which a “generalized heat capacity”, , may be defined. The usefulness of these results is illustrated by considering some simple thermodynamic cycles.     

Pressure cycle of superconducting Cs0.8Fe2Se2 : A transport study

We report measurements of the temperature and pressure dependence of the electrical resistivity (ρ) of single-crystalline iron-based chalcogenide Cs_0.8Fe₂Se₂. In this material, superconductivity with a transition temperature develops from a normal state with extremely large resistivity. At ambient pressure, a large “hump” in the resistivity is observed around 200 K. Under pressure, the resistivity decreases by two orders of magnitude, concomitant with a sudden T_c suppression around . Even at 9 GPa a metallic resistivity state is not recovered, and the ρ(T) “hump” is still detected. A comparison of the data measured upon increasing and decreasing the external pressure leads us to suggest that the superconductivity is not related to this hump.     

Inelastic neutrino scattering off stable even-even Mo isotopes at low and intermediate energies

Inelastic neutrino scattering cross sections for the even-even Mo isotopes (contents of the MOON detector at Japan), at low and intermediate electron neutrino energies (?_i≤100 MeV), are calculated. MOON is a next-generation double beta and neutrino-less double-beta-decay experiment which is also a promising facility for low-energy neutrino detection. The nuclear wave functions required in this work have been constructed in the context of the quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA) and the results presented refer to , , , and isotopes.     

The effect of the Bi source on optical properties of Bi2Te3 nanostructures

nanostructures were synthesized by using different Bi sources via a simple solvothermal process, in which and BiCl₃ were used as the Bi sources. Optical properties of nanostructures prepared with and BiCl₃ as the Bi sources were investigated by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The Raman scattering spectrum of hexagonal nanoplates prepared by using as the Bi source shows that the infrared (IR) active mode A_1u, which must be odd parity and is Raman forbidden for bulk crystal due to its inversion symmetry, is greatly activated and shows up clearly in the Raman scattering spectrum. We attribute the appearance of the infrared active A_1u mode in the Raman spectrum to crystal symmetry breaking of hexagonal nanoplates. However, the Raman scattering spectrum of nanostructures with irregular shape prepared by using as the Bi source only exhibits the two characteristic Raman modes of crystals. Micro-Raman measurements on nanostructures with different morphologies offer us a potential way to tailor optical properties of nanostructures by controlling the morphologies of the nanostructures, which is very important for practical applications of nanostructures in thermoelectric devices.     

Optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45

The complex optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe_0.55Se_0.45 with T_c=14 K have been examined over a wide frequency range for light polarized in the Fe-Te(Se) planes above and below T_c. At room temperature the optical response may be described by a weakly interacting Fermi liquid; however, just above T_c this picture breaks down and the scattering rate takes on a linear frequency dependence. Below T_c there is evidence for two gap features in the optical conductivity at and . Less than 20% of the free carriers collapse into the condensate for T?T_c, and this material is observed to fall on the universal scaling line for a BCS dirty-limit superconductor in the weak-coupling limit.     

Synthesis, optical properties and crystal structures of carbazole end-capped phenylene ethynylene blue light-emitting materials

A class of highly fluorescent and stable carbazole end-capped phenylene ethynylene compounds have been synthesized and characterized. They show high extinction coefficients of absorption () and quantum yields of fluorescence (; Φ_F=0.52-0.73) in dichloromethane. The solid state absorptions and emissions are significantly red-shifted from the dilute solution ones (; ). Their photoluminescent properties and crystal structures have been investigated with the aim of providing a basis for elucidating the structure-physical property relationships. These data indicate their potential use as blue-emitting materials in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).     

Resonant enhancement of the formation of hydrogen-helium muonic molecules

Formation of muonic molecules and , where J is rotational quantum number, in electron conversion process is investigated at collision energies between 0.004 eV and 50 eV. Corresponding reaction rates are calculated in adiabatic approximation for the three-body Coulomb problem. Significant enhancement of the rates for and is found near 7 eV and 30 eV, respectively. It is shown that the enhancement is due to resonances present in elastic and scattering at these energies. Acceleration of dμ atoms up to the resonant energy could be realized in triple H-D-³He mixture due to the muon transfer from protium to deuterium. Experimental investigation of nuclear synthesis from molecular state directly formed in the mixture is suggested.