MuSR study of weakly magnetic Y(Co1−x Al x )2

All previous experiments have suggested that Y(Co_1−x Al _x )₂ is a weak itinerant ferromagnet for 0.12<x<0.20. The muon transverse damping rate (λ) increases rapidly near the Curie point forx≥0.155 and for one sample withx=0.145. The value of λ increases with decreasing temperature for other samples withx<0.155 but shows no feature at the Curie point.     

Modeling of the energy spectrum of the CdTe/Hg1-xCdxTe/CdTe quantum well by varying the band offset, well width, and composition x

Currently, CdTe/Cd _x Hg_1-x Te/CdTe heterostructures attract particular interest and are very promising for developing the next-generation terahertz radiation detectors. However, properties of such structures have not yet been studied in sufficient detail. The energy spectrum and wave functions of the CdTe/Cd _x Hg_1-x Te/CdTe heterostructure were theoretically modeled for various well widths, the valence band offset, and composition x in the range 0<x<0.16. Characteristic features of the behavior of energy levels of two-dimensional electrons in such structures were studied with respect to x variation. A criterion for determining the number of electronic levels below the conduction band bottom, applicable to compositions 0<x<0.16 was obtained. The time of two-dimensional electron relaxation by longitudinal optical phonons was calculated.     

Phase states in the Y<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Ca<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> solid solution system

The room-temperature stability region of the tetragonal phase in the Y_{1 − x} Ca _x MnO₃ solid solution system has been found for the first time. The concentration boundaries between this phase and the orthorhombic (x > 0.5) and hexagonal (x < 0.25) phases are sensitive to the sample preparation conditions. The coexistence of the hexagonal and tetragonal phases in the range 0.15 < x < 0.25 indicates that these phases undergo a first-order reconstructive phase transition. Preliminary measurements of magnetic ordering effects for compositions with x = 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 have been performed.     

Characteristics of magnetic order in perovskite manganites La1−x CaxMnO3

Solid solutions of the system La_1−x Ca_xMnO₃ are synthesized, and their magnetic and electrical properties are investigated. As x is increased, the crystal lattice changes symmetrically from an orthorhombic (x=0 and x=0.8) to a cubic structure (0<x⩽0.6 and x=1). Nonstoichiometric LaMnO₃ and compositions with a low Ca content (0<x<0.4) are collinear ferromagnets. A metal-insulator transition is observed in them near the Curie temperature. Compositions with 0.6⩽x⩽0.9 exhibit a semiconductor-type conductivity and an unusual temperature behavior of the magnetization and the susceptibility with very distinct Curie and Néel temperatures. The magnetic properties of the solid solutions are explained on the basis of the model of ferro-antiferromagnetic phase separation. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1664–1675 (November 1999)     

Micro-Raman response and phonon oscillator parameters in solid solutions Pb1 ? xCaxTiO3 (0.40 < x < 0.62)

The temperature (295 K < T < 650 K) investigations of the polarized Raman spectra measured for a single-crystal sample of the Pb_0.54Ca_0.46TiO₃ solid solution in the frequency range 10 < ν < 1200 cm⁻¹ have established the existence of at least one specific temperature (T _c ≈ 392 K) at which the oscillator parameters of phonon modes exhibit noticeable anomalies. Similar phenomena are observed in solutions with 0.4 < x < 0.5. A sharp increase in the intensity of the spectral lines corresponding to polarization waves at temperatures immediately below T _c suggests a transformation of Pb_{1 −x} Ca _x TiO₃ (0.4 < x < 0.5) into a polar state, which does not exist for x > 0.5. Original Russian Text ? A.N. Chabanyuk, V.I. Torgashev, Yu.I. Yuzyuk, V.V. Lemanov, P. Simon, 2009, published in Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 2009, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 155–163.     

Phonon and electron-hole plasma effects on binding energies of excitons in wurtzite GaN/In<Subscript>x</Subscript>Ga<Subscript>1−x</Subscript>N quantum wells

The binding energy of an exciton screened by the electron-hole plasma in a wurtzite GaN/In _x Ga_1−x N quantum well (in the case of 0.1 < x < 1 within which the interface phonon modes play a dominant role) is calculated including the exciton-phonon interaction by a variational method combined with a self-consistent procedure. The coupling between the exciton and various longitudinal-like optical phonon modes is considered to demonstrate the polaronic effect which strongly depends on the exciton wave function. All of the built-in electric field, the exciton-phonon interaction and the electron-hole plasma weaken the Coulomb coupling between an electron and a hole to reduce the binding energy since the former separates the wave functions of the electron and hole in the z direction and the later two enlarge the exciton Bohr radius. The electron-hole plasma not only restrains the built-in electric field, but also reduces the polaronic effect to the binding energy.     

Galvanomagnetic properties of the Al1−x Six nonequilibrium substitutional solid solutions

Galvanomagnetic characteristics of the A_1−x Si_x solid solutions (x<12 at. %) have been studied within a broad range of temperatures (1.8–290 K) and magnetic fields (up to 15 T). An anomaly in the concentration dependence of the Hall coefficient R _H (x,T=290 K) has been revealed near the boundary of absolute instability (x<8.5 at. %) of compounds in the Al_1−x Si_x series. The variation of the Hall coefficient and of the magnetoresistance in the A_1−x Si_x series at low (T<77 K) temperatures is analyzed within models taking into account the anisotropy in conduction-band electron scattering. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 3–10 (January 1999)     

Valence and sea contributions to the nucleon spin

The first moments of the polarized valence parton distribution functions (PDFs) truncated to the wide Bjorken x region 0.004<x<0.7 are directly (without any fitting procedure) extracted in the next to leading order (NLO) QCD from both COMPASS and HERMES data on pion production in polarized semi-inclusive DIS (SIDIS) experiments. The COMPASS and HERMES data are combined in two ways and two scenarios for the fragmentation functions (FFs) are considered. Two procedures are proposed for an estimation of light sea quark contributions to the proton spin. Both lead to the conclusion that these contributions are compatible with zero within the errors.     

Electrical conductivity of hydrogenated barium-yttrium cuprate and of oxidized hydrocuprate in the 300–450 K interval

The electrical conductivity of ceramic samples with a general formula H_xBa₂YCu₃O_7+z has been measured in the course of hydrogenation (formation of the hydrocuprate) and subsequent oxidation (formation of the oxyhydrocuprate). The hydrocuprate (x>0, −0.1<z<0) was synthesized by exposing the parent Ba₂YCu₃O_6.9 ceramic to hydrogen at a temperature of 450 K and a pressure of 50 kPa. The oxyhydrocuprate (x=2, z⩽1.5) was prepared by treating the preliminarily hydrogenated ceramic of composition H₂Ba₂YCu₃O_6.9 with oxygen at 470 K at a pressure of 70 kPa. The four-probe dc method was used in the electrophysical measurements. The measurements were performed in the temperature interval 300–450 K and within the compositional ranges 0<x<2.1, −0.1<z<1.5. The resistivity of the samples increases by nearly six orders of magnitude with hydrogenation from x=0 to x=2, and decreases by three orders of magnitude with oxidation, changing from z=−0.1 to z=0.8 for x=2. The electrode polarization effect is observed, which is apparently caused by ionic processes occurring at the electrode-ceramic interface. Water vapor is experimentally found to exert considerable effect on the electrophysical parameters of the hydrocuprate-copper electrodes system. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 823–828 (May 1997)     

Magnetic phases of FexV1−x S and their electronic structure

A study has been made of the Fe_xV_1−x S solid solutions with 0<x<0.5. For the compounds with x>0.1, x-ray diffraction analysis discloses a V₅S₈ superstructure. Samples with x>0.1 are magnetically ordered at room temperature. The concentration dependences of resistivity and magnetization exhibit sharp peaks for x=0.1 and x=0.2, respectively. The main features of the structure and electronic properties have been qualitatively explained in terms of the three-band exciton-insulator model, and the maxima in resistivity and magnetization are assigned to the formation of localized magnetic moments with S=1, which become delocalized with increasing x. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1890–1893 (October 1998)     

Mössbauer effect and X-ray diffraction investigation of Si–Fe thin films

An X-ray diffraction and ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy investigation of Si_{100– x} Fe _x (0?<?x?<?80) thin films prepared by combinatorial sputtering methods is reported. Resulting Mössbauer spectra were fit to Voigt-based distributions of quadrupole doublets for paramagnetic spectral components and Zeeman split sextets for ferromagnetic spectral components. In conjunction with the X-ray measurements, these results show that the Si-rich films are a mixture of dilute Fe in amorphous Si and an approximately equiatomic amorphous SiFe phase. Fe-rich films show the presence of a ferromagnetically ordered phase. For x?<?73, this ferromagnetic phase is amorphous or nanostructured and for x?≥?73, the phase is shown to be a crystalline bcc phase. Results are discussed in terms of short-range structural ordering in these alloys.     

Features of the structure and dynamics of Me1−x (NH4) x SCN (Me = K, Rb) mixed crystals

Neutron scattering is used to study the structure and dynamics of Me_{1 − x} (NH₄) _x SCN (Me = K, Rb) mixed crystals along the concentration section of 0.0 < x < 1.0 at room temperature 10 and 290 K. Phase transitions in Me_{1 − x} (NH₄) _x SCN mixed crystals are analyzed by neutron powder diffraction. The measured spectra of inelastic incoherent neutron scattering from mixed crystals in a concentration range of 0.0 < x < 1.0 at 10 are transformed into the generalized phonon density of states G(E) in the one-phonon incoherent approximation. Using G(E), we determine the changes in ammonium ion dynamics during phase transitions. Low energy resonance and local translational (two bands) and librational (two bands) modes are observed in the disordered rhombic phase at 10 K. The low energy resonance mode is not found in the ordered monoclinic phase at 10 K, though the local translational mode in the form of two bands and the local librational mode in the form of four bands are present there. The low energy resonance mode appears due to hybridization of the phonon spectrum of the host crystal with rotational tunneling modes of the split librational ground state of the impurity’s molecular ammonium ion.     

Clustering of exponentially separating trajectories

It might be expected that trajectories of a dynamical system which has no negative Lyapunov exponent (implying exponential growth of small separations) will not cluster together. However, clustering can occur such that the density ρ(Δx) of trajectories within distance |Δx| of a reference trajectory has a power-law divergence, so that ρ(Δx) ∼ |Δx| ^−β when |Δx| is sufficiently small, for some 0 < β < 1. We demonstrate this effect using a random map in one dimension. We find no evidence for this effect in the chaotic logistic map, and argue that the effect is harder to observe in deterministic maps.     

Shift in elastic phase boundaries due to nanoscale phase separation in network glasses: the case of Ge x As x S1 − 2 x

Binary and ternary sulphide glasses, in contrast to their selenium counterparts, are usually not fully polymerized. This circumstance provides a means to examine the role of nanoscale phase separation effects on global elastic phase diagrams of disordered networks. In bulk Ge _x As _x S_{1 ? ?2 x} glasses, the non-reversing enthalpy (ΔH _nr) near T _g is found to display a global minimum (～0) in the 0.11<x<0.15 range, the reversibility window. Furthermore, the ΔH _nr term is found to age for glass compositions below (x<0.11) and above (x>0.15) the window, but not in the window. In analogy to corresponding selenides, glass compositions in the window represent the intermediate phase, those at x<0.11 are floppy, and those at x>0.15 stressed-rigid. Raman scattering shows floppy and stressed-rigid networks to consist of S₈, and As₄S₄ and As₄S₃ monomers, respectively, aspects of structure that contribute to a narrowing of the intermediate phase and to suppression of the ΔH _nr term in S-rich glasses qualitatively in relation to corresponding Se-rich glasses that are fully polymerized.     

Magnetic-Field-Controlled Quantum Critical Points in the Triangular Antiferromagnetic Cs2CuCl4-xBrx Mixed System

The triangular antiferromagnetic Cs₂CuCl_4-xBr_x mixed system is studied by neutron single-crystal diffraction in magnetic field. It shows a rich magnetic phase diagram consisting of four regimes depending on the Br concentration and is characterized by different exchange coupling mechanisms. For the investigated compositions from regime I (0 < x ≤ 1.5), a critical magnetic field B_c is found for a Br concentration x = 0.8 at B_c = 8.10(1) T and for x = 1.1 at B_c = 7.73(1) T and from regime IV (3.2 < x < 4) for x = 3.3 at B_c = 0.99(3) T. For magnetic fields larger than the respective B_c, magnetic superlattice reflections of these compounds are not found. The incommensurate magnetic wave vector q = (0, 0.470, 0) appears below the ordering temperature T_N = 0.51(1) K for Cs₂CuCl_3.2Br_0.8, and q = (0, 0.418, 0) below T_N = 1.00(6) K for Cs₂CuCl_0.3Br_3.7. Neutron diffraction experiments at around 60 mK for x = 3.7 in a magnetic field show the critical magnetic field at B_c = 7.94(16) T and the formation of the second magnetic phase at around 8.5 T depending on the temperature. Inelastic neutron scattering experiments for the compound from regime III (2 < x ≤ 3.2) with x = 2.2 show dynamical correlations at a temperature around 50 mK giving evidence for a spin liquid phase.     

Mesoscopic structure of Ni<Subscript>2 + <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Mn<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Ga alloys in the concentration range corresponding to a coupled magnetic-structural phase stransition

The Ni_{2 + x} Mn_{1 − x} Ga magnetic shape memory alloys at concentrations x = 0.18–0.36 have been studied using small-angle polarized neutron scattering in magnetic fields 0 < H ≤ 5.7 kOe. In this concentration range, the alloy undergoes a coupled magnetic-structural phase transition. At x < 0.18, the martensitic phase transition occurs, as usual, in the ferromagnetic state, i.e., T _m < T _C (T _m and T _C are the temperatures of the martensitic and magnetic phase transitions, respectively). However, at x > 0.27, the relationship between the characteristic temperatures is changed, i.e., T _m > T _C. The small-angle polarized neutron scattering data indicate that, in the concentration range under investigation, there occurs a complex transformation of the magnetic and atomic structures. All phase transitions exhibit a temperature hysteresis of scattering and polarization, which is characteristic of first-order phase transitions. A comparative analysis of the mesoscopic structures of the Ni_{2 + x} Mn_{1 − x} Ga and Ni_{2 + x + y} Mn_{1 − x} Ga_{1 − y} alloys studied using the small-angle polarized neutron scattering technique has been carried out.     

New magnetic materials Cu<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Mn<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>S with a metal-insulator transition

This paper reports on first results of the synthesis and study of the thermal, structural, electrical, resonance, and magnetic properties of new sulfide materials Me _x Mn_{1 − x} S (Me = Cu, 0 < x < 0.2) synthesized based on manganese monosulfide. The materials have a NaCl cubic structure at 300 K and undergo a concentration metal-insulator transition with increasing degree of substitution and with varying temperature. The magnetic transition occurs in the region of the heat capacity anomaly. The Néel temperature is slightly dependent on the copper concentration. The samples with a high copper content exhibit metallic conduction at T < 260 K and semiconductor conduction at T > 260 K.     

Atomic scale models of $\mathsf{Co{-}Ag}$ mixed nanoclusters at thermodynamic equilibrium

The configurations at thermodynamic equilibrium of Co_xAg_201-x nanoparticles are explored for 0 < x < 201 by means of Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations with a semi-empirical embedded atom potential at temperatures from 100 K to 1000 K. Remarkable configurations are predicted in this temperature range. As a consequence of a competition between strain and Co binding at low temperature, for x < 20, Co is distributed just below the cluster surface layer into groups of no more than 5 atoms, favouring well-defined positions, and the cluster central area is avoided. To increase the temperature favours the clustering of these small groups. Their dissolution is predicted at temperatures higher than the melting temperature of the cluster. For x > 50, Co regroups at the centre of the cluster and intersects {111}-facets when Ag atoms are not numerous enough to form an entire surface shell. At these stoechiometries, temperature is not sufficient to mix Ag and Co, even above the melting point. At still smaller Ag concentrations, the Ag atoms are distributed at lowest coordination sites, along the edges of the cluster, avoiding the cluster facets as well as inner sites. At intermediate stoechiometries (20 < x < 50), either oblate Co groups below the surface or a compact group at the centre of the cluster are possible.Received: 1 October 2003, Published online: 27 January 2004PACS: 61.46. + w Nanoscale materials: clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals - 61.43.Bn Structural modeling: serial-addition models, computer simulation     

Photoacoustic investigation of the absorption edge of Cd1−x Fe x Te compounds

Summary We have measured at room temperature the photoacoustic spectra of Cd_1−x Fe _x Te(0<x<0.055) around the CdTe fundamental absorption threshold. We identified an absorption band at (1.38±0.01) eV, increasing with the Fe concentration, that we assigned to the⁵ E→³ T ₁ transition within the Fe²⁺ (3d ⁶) manifold. We observed also a broadening and a shift to higher energies of the CdTe absorption edge for increasingx. Work partially supported by the Italian Consorzio INFM and CNR through the GNSM.