Magnetic bistability of Co nanodots

Size-dependent magnetic single-domain versus vortex state stability of Co/Ru(0001) nanodots is explored with spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy, analytical modeling, and micromagnetic simulations. We show that both single-domain and vortex states can be stabilized in a broad region near the phase boundary. The calculated width of the bistability region and temperature dependent heights of the energy barriers between both states agree well with our experimental findings.     

Variation of Excitation Spectra in Mixed-Stack Charge-Transfer Complexes

Local excitation spectra in different spin and charge channels are calculated in the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model with alternating energy levels at half filling for mixed-stack charge-transfer complexes. Near the boundary between the neutral and ionic phases, the electronic system is easily distorted by an additional term that reduces the symmetry and opens a gap. Alternating transfer integrals produce a nonmagnetic spin-Peierls phase; while staggered magnetic fields produce an antiferromagnetic phase. Both of them enhance the ionicity when they are introduced into the neutral phase near the boundary. Accordingly, these additional terms enhance low-energy spin excitations, although these excitations are suppressed when compared with those in the regular ionic phase. The regular ionic phase has a larger spectral weight in the local current channel than the neutral phase. This would imply that, in one dimension and if the lattice effect is negligible, the ionic phase has smaller activation energy in the electric conductivity near the boundary than the neutral phase.     

Low-energy electron diffraction study of the phase transition of Si(001) surface below 40 K

The phase transition of Si(001) surface below 40 K was studied by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The temperature dependence of the intensities and widths of the quarter order diffraction spots and LEED intensity versus electron energy curves (I-V curves) were obtained in the temperature region from 20 to 300 K. While the spot intensities of the quarter order spots decrease and the widths broaden, the I-V curves do not change so much below 40 K. This clearly shows that a phase transition occurs from an ordered phase above 40 K to a disordered phase below 40 K.     

Delocalized fermions in underdoped cuprate superconductors

Low-temperature heat transport was used to investigate the ground state of high-purity single crystals of the lightly doped cuprate YBa2Cu3O6.33. Samples were measured with doping concentrations on either side of the superconducting phase boundary. We report the observation of delocalized fermionic excitations at zero energy in the nonsuperconducting state, which shows that the ground state of underdoped cuprates is a thermal metal. Its low-energy spectrum appears to be similar to that of the d-wave superconductor, i.e., nodal. The insulating ground state observed in underdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 is attributed to the competing spin-density-wave order.     

Spin waves and quantum criticality in the frustrated XY pyrochlore antiferromagnet Er2Ti2O7

We report detailed measurements of the low temperature magnetic phase diagram of Er2Ti2O7. Heat capacity and time-of-flight neutron scattering studies of single crystals reveal unconventional low-energy states. Er3+ magnetic ions reside on a pyrochlore lattice in Er2Ti2O7, where local XY anisotropy and antiferromagnetic interactions give rise to a unique frustrated system. In zero field, the ground state exhibits coexisting short and long-range order, accompanied by soft collective spin excitations previously believed to be absent. The application of finite magnetic fields tunes the ground state continuously through a landscape of noncollinear phases, divided by a zero temperature phase transition at micro{0}H{c} approximately 1.5 T. The characteristic energy scale for spin fluctuations is seen to vanish at the critical point, as expected for a second order quantum phase transition driven by quantum fluctuations.     

Low-energy(40 keV) proton irradiation of YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-x) thin films:Micro-Raman characterization and electrical transport properties

To investigate the damage profiles of high-fluence low-energy proton irradiation on superconducting materials and related devices, Raman characterization and electrical transport measurement of 40-keV-proton irradiated YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-x)(YBCO) thin films are carried out. From micro-Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction studies, the main component of proton-radiation-induced defects is found to be the partial transition of superconducting orthorhombic phase to the semiconducting tetragonal phase and non-superconducting secondary phase. The results indicate that the defects induced in the conducting CuO_2 planes, such as increased oxygen vacancies and interstitials, can result in an increase in the resistivity but a decrease in the transition temperature TCwith the increase in the fluence of proton irradiation, which is confirmed in the electrical transport measurements. Especially, zero-resistance temperature TC_0 is not observed at a fluence of 10~(15)p/cm~2.Furthermore, the variation of activation energy U_0 can be explained by the plastic-flux creep theory, which indicates that the plastic deformation and entanglement of vortices in a weakly pinned vortex liquid are caused by disorders of point-like defects. Point-like disorders are demonstrated to be the main contribution to the low-energy proton radiation damage in YBCO thin films. These disorders are likely to cause flux creep by thermally assisted flux flow, which may increase noise and reduce the precision of superconducting devices.     

Self-consistent check of the validity of Gibbs calculus using dynamical variables

The high- and low-energy limits of a chain of coupled rotators are integrable and correspond respectively to a set of free rotators and to a chain of harmonic oscillators. For intermediate values of the energy, numerical calculations show the agreement of finite time averages of physical observables with their Gibbsian estimate. The boundaries between the two integrable limits and the statistical domain are analytically computed using the Gibbsian estimates of dynamical observables. For large energies the geometry of nonlinear resonances enables the definition of relevant 1.5-degree-of-freedom approximations of the dynamics. They provide resonance overlap parameters whose Gibbsian probability distribution may be computed. Requiring the support of this distribution to be right above the large-scale stochasticity threshold of the 1.5-degree-of-freedom dynamics yields the boundary at the large-energy limit. At the low-energy limit, the boundary is shown to correspond to the energy where the specific heat departs from that of the corresponding harmonic chain.     

The low-energy limiting behavior of the pseudofermion dynamical theory

In this paper we show that the general finite-energy spectral-function expressions provided by the pseudofermion dynamical theory for the one-dimensional Hubbard model lead to the expected low-energy Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid correlation function expressions. Moreover, we use the former general expressions to derive correlation-function asymptotic expansions in space and time which go beyond those obtained by conformal-field theory and bosonization: we derive explicit expressions for the pre-factors of all terms of such expansions and find that they have an universal form, as the corresponding critical exponents. Our results refer to all finite values of the on-site repulsion U and to a chain of length L very large and with periodic boundary conditions for the above model, but are of general nature for many integrable interacting models. The studies of this paper clarify the relation of the low-energy Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid behavior to the scattering mechanisms which control the spectral properties at all energy scales and provide a broader understanding of the unusual properties of quasi-one-dimensional nanostructures, organic conductors, and optical lattices of ultracold fermionic atoms. Furthermore, our results reveal the microscopic mechanisms which are behind the similarities and differences of the low-energy and finite-energy spectral properties of the model metallic phase.     

晶体相场法研究预变形对熔点附近六角相/正方相相变的影响

应用双模晶体相场模型计算二维相图,并模拟了在熔点附近预变形和保温温度对六角相晶界演化以及六角相/正方相相变的影响.研究发现:在相变初期,当预变形为零、保温温度离熔点很近时在晶界发生缺陷诱发预熔;增大预变形,变形与缺陷的交互作用在熔点附近诱发预熔;随着预变形的进一步增大,变形在畸变处同时诱发液相和正方相,且预变形越大、保温温度越接近熔点,液相生长越明显,反之正方相生长明显.持续保温使得畸变能释放,晶粒最终完全转变为平衡正方相.模拟结果表明:预变形六角相在熔点附近保温时,由于晶界固有缺陷和预变形双重作用使得原子无序度增加,从而在晶界或其他缺陷处产生液相,待能量释放后晶粒再转变成平衡正方相,进而延缓了六角相/正方相相变时间.     

沉积粒子能量对薄膜早期生长过程的影响

利用Monte Carlo(MC)模型研究了能量粒子对薄膜生长的初始阶段岛膜的形貌和岛的尺寸的影响,沉积粒子的能量范围为:0—0.7eV.在模型中考虑了原子沉积、吸附原子扩散和蒸发等过程,并详细考虑了临近和次临近原子的影响.结果表明,在所采用的参量范围内不同的基底温度情况下,能量粒子的影响有很大的区别.低基底温度情况下,沉积粒子强烈地影响着薄膜的生长过程中,岛膜的形貌、数量和尺寸随能量粒子的能量增加而有很大的变化.分析表明,这些变化都是由于能量粒子的介入使得表面吸附粒子的扩散能力增强所致 关键词： 薄膜生长 Monte Carlo方法 扩散     

Solid-phase wetting at grain boundaries in the Zr-Nb system

The microstructure of Zr-Nb polycrystalline alloys with niobium concentrations of 1, 2.5, 4, and 8 wt % is investigated in the temperature interval of 620–840°C. It is revealed that the second solid phase β-Nb forms either a chain of separate lens-like precipitates or continuous homogeneous layers at grain boundaries in zirconium, depending on the annealing temperature and the energy of the Zr/Zr grain boundary. It is shown that the greater the quantity of the second solid phase, the lower is the temperature of the termination of grain-boundary wetting. A model is constructed that explains the dependence of the temperature of grain boundary wetting on the amount of wetting phase. It is found that the complete wetting of all grain boundaries in zirconium by the second solid phase does not occur in Zr-Nb alloys.     

Thermodynamics of the superfluid dilute bose gas with disorder

We generalize the Beliaev-Popov diagrammatic technique for the problem of interacting dilute Bose gas with weak disorder. Averaging over disorder is implemented by the replica method. The low-energy asymptotic form of the Green function confirms that the low-energy excitations of the superfluid dirty-boson system are sound waves with velocity renormalized by the disorder and additional dissipation due to the impurity scattering. We find the thermodynamic potential and the superfluid density at any temperature below the superfluid transition temperature (but outside the Ginzburg region) and derive the phase diagram in temperature vs disorder plane.     

Sm(CobalFe0.1Cu0.1Zr0.033)6.9高温永磁合金的矫顽力

对Sm(Co_balFe_0.1Cu_0.1Zr_0.033)_6.9合金, 经810℃等温时效后以0.5℃/min逐渐冷却, 在600℃-400℃温度区间淬火, 研究了不同淬火温度下的磁滞回线、磁畴和矫顽力温度系数β. 发现时效600℃淬火后磁滞回线出现台阶状, 说明畴壁中应存在两处钉扎. 随淬火温度的降低, 合金的室温矫顽力显著增加, 磁滞回线的台阶消失. 通过磁畴形貌发现时效600℃淬火后的磁畴接近条形畴, 1:5相中Cu分布相对均匀, 形成的畴壁钉扎较弱, 从而使磁滞回线出现台阶, 决定矫顽力的畴壁钉扎位于两相界面处; 随时效淬火温度的降低, 磁畴逐渐细化, 畴壁1:5相中的畴壁能降低, 形成了较强的内禀钉扎, 并决定材料的矫顽力, 两相界面处的畴壁钉扎被掩盖. 对不同温度淬火合金的高温矫顽力研究表明, 最强的畴壁钉扎位于两相界面处时, 矫顽力随温度升高逐渐增加, 矫顽力出现温度反常现象; 最强的畴壁钉扎位于1:5相中心时, 矫顽力随温度升高逐渐衰减. 当测试温度达到500℃后不同淬火温度样品的矫顽力几乎相同, 此时最强畴壁钉扎均在两相界面处.     

Ti-6Al-4V合金中片层组织形成的相场模拟

Ti-6Al-4V是典型的α+β钛合金,不同热处理制度和热加工工艺下可得到形貌各异的微观组织,从而表现出不同的力学性能,深刻理解合金中微观组织的形成机制有助于合金的进一步优化和改造.采用相场方法模拟Ti-6Al-4V合金中片层组织的形成及演化,以热力学数据库和动力学数据库为输入,通过计算定量预测β晶界上已存在初生α相时合金组织随时间的演化.结果表明,在一定条件下,随着时间的延长晶界α向β晶内生长形成片层组织,片状α簇的形貌与界面能各向异性密切相关;晶界取向对片层生长有重要作用,垂直于晶界生长时产生最密集的片层,随倾斜角增大片层加厚且生长缓慢;此外,热处理温度显著改变片层组织形貌,温度越高,片层尖端生长速度越慢,片层间距越大. 关键词： Ti-6Al-4V 相场模拟 片层组织     

Micro-photoluminescence and micro-Raman studies near the amorphous-to-microcrystalline transition in Si:H

Micro-photoluminescence and micro-Raman studies have been performed in the silicon-hydrogen system, near the onset of microcrystallinity, during the transition from amorphous-like to microcrystalline-like phase. Amorphous-like Si:H films before the onset of microcrystallization, as determined by a micro-Raman probe, exhibit a microcrystalline-like photoluminescence (PL) band, which is a doublet within the 1.0-1.2 eV energy band. These two satellite components exhibit two different natures of energy shifts with variation of either excitation intensity or temperature; however, both attribute to the germinate recombination of carriers. The ultimate line shape is determined by the low-energy component, because of its faster quenching with temperature. Two different characteristic temperatures of exponential band-tail states are obtained, contributing tail widths of 22 and 17 meV at lower and higher temperature regimes, respectively, across 200 K, as calculated in terms of the carrier thermalization model. PL-spectroscopy may offer a new means of diagnostics for Si:H network before the onset of microcrystallinity.     

Instabilities of weakly correlated electronic gas on a two dimensional lattice

We use the Kadanoff-Wilson renormalization group to find the instabilities of the two dimensional Hubbard model in the weak coupling limit. Starting from the full bandwidth, we reduce the energy cutoff for fermions and derive the low-energy effective action. If the filling is enough far from one half, the effective low-energy theory is BCS and there exists a mean-field like superconducting instability with D-wave order parameter. Close to the half-filling, the effective low-energy theory is parquet and the dominant fluctuations at the critical temperature are antiferromagnetic.     

Quantum dots with disorder and interactions: a solvable large-g limit

We analyze the problem of interacting electrons on a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions, where the effective interactions at low energies are characterized by Landau parameters. When the dimensionless conductance g of the dot is large, the disordered interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes exact as g --> infinity (as in a large-N theory), leading to a phase transition in each Landau interaction channel. In the weak-coupling phase constant charging and exchange interactions dominate the low-energy physics, while the strong-coupling phase displays a spontaneous distortion of the Fermi surface, smeared out by disorder.     

Nanoscale control of low-dimensional spin structures in manganites

Due to the upcoming demands of next-generation electronic/magnetoelectronic devices with low-energy consumption,emerging correlated materials(such as superconductors,topological insulators and manganites) are one of the highly promising candidates for the applications.For the past decades,manganites have attracted great interest due to the colossal magnetoresistance effect,charge-spin-orbital ordering,and electronic phase separation.However,the incapable of deterministic control of those emerging low-dimensional spin structures at ambient condition restrict their possible applications.Therefore,the understanding and control of the dynamic behaviors of spin order parameters at nanoscale in manganites under external stimuli with low energy consumption,especially at room temperature is highly desired.In this review,we collected recent major progresses of nanoscale control of spin structures in manganites at low dimension,especially focusing on the control of their phase boundaries,domain walls as well as the topological spin structures(e.g.,skyrmions).In addition,capacitor-based prototype spintronic devices are proposed by taking advantage of the above control methods in manganites.This capacitor-based structure may provide a new platform for the design of future spintronic devices with low-energy consumption.     

The melting and solidification of nanowires

A mathematical model is developed to describe the melting of nanowires. The first section of the paper deals with a standard theoretical situation, where the wire melts due to a fixed boundary temperature. This analysis allows us to compare with existing results for the phase change of nanospheres. The equivalent solidification problem is also examined. This shows that solidification is a faster process than melting; this is because the energy transfer occurs primarily through the solid rather than the liquid which is a poorer conductor of heat. This effect competes with the energy required to create new solid surface which acts to slow down the process, but overall conduction dominates. In the second section, we consider a more physically realistic boundary condition, where the phase change occurs due to a heat flux from surrounding material. This removes the singularity in initial melt velocity predicted in previous models of nanoparticle melting. It is shown that even with the highest possible flux the melting time is significantly slower than with a fixed boundary temperature condition.