Infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy of dipole-forbidden adsorbate vibrations

Formally dipole-forbidden adsorbate vibrational modes have recently been detected using infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRAS). In an earlier publication we have proposed that the excitation of these modes is indirect, mediated by the metal electrons and closely related to the concept of surface resistivity. Here we extend that theory to lower frequencies; for parallel adsorbate vibrations the theory predicts an anti-absorption resonance with an unique asymmetry which only depends on the ratio ω₀/ω₁ between the adsorbate vibrational frequency ω₀ and ω₁ = v_F/δ where v_F is the Fermi velocity and δ = c/ω_p the skin depth. The theory is in very good agreement with the IRAS measurements of Hirschmugl et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 65 (1990) 480] for CO on Cu(100) and in qualitative agreement with the measurements of Lin et al. [Phys. Rev. B 48 (1993) 2791] for CO on Ni(100).     

Vortex pinning in polycrystalline Eu1.5Ce0.5Sr2Cu2NbO10 from rotational magnetic measurements

Rotational magnetization-vector measurements were carried out on a superconducting polycrystalline disk of EuCSCNO. The results at 4.2 K and low fields resemble recent results for YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (YBCO) and Ba_0.57K_0.43BiO₃ (BKBO) in revealing a broad distribution in the strength of the vortex pinning torques. This resemblance extends to higher fields, where it was found that the average pinning torque per vortex (τ_p), which is directly related to the critical current density, decreases steadily with increasing field in a manner consistent with vortex bundling. Quantitatively, however, the values of τ_p for EuCSCNO are smaller by an order of magnitude than those for YBCO but are only moderately smaller than those for BKBO. This comparison supports the notion that the vortex pinning may derive in part from deviations from oxygen stoichiometry, which are normally present in YBCO but are essentially absent in EuCSCNO and BKBO. Moreover, as in YBCO and BKBO, the τ_p in EuCSCNO at fixed field is found to diminish rapidly as the temperature rises towards T_c.     

Magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity and thermal expansion coefficient of NiAs-type V1−xCrxSe

V_1−xCr_xSe(0.05x0.83) shows a temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility χ which is similar to that of CrSe. At small x, the magnetic transition temperature T_t(x) and the Weiss constant θ_p(x) decrease with decreasing x, while the effective number of Bohr magnetons per Cr (P_eff) significantly increases.     

Inelastic electron scattering from He

The spectra of electrons scattered inelastically from ⁴He have been measured at incident energies from 150 MeV to 400 MeV for scattering angles from 38° to 90°. Through the use of a liquid ⁴He target, a high momentum resolution (≈0.25%) was obtained, and the 20 MeV 0⁺ state of the -particle was observed for the first time in electron scattering. The excitation energy and the total width of this state were determined and are in good agreement with the results from other experimental methods. It was found that the total disintegration cross section appears be smaller than 2(σ_p+σ_n) by more than an order of magnitude at the lowest q²(≈ 0.33 fm⁻²). In earlier work the assumption of a total cross section of 2(σ_p+σ_n) was found to be quite accurate for higher q². As a new result, the partial radiative width for the 0⁺ state is determined to be Γ_rad = 1.1±0.3 meV.     

Determination of Si-SiO2 interface trap properties of p-MOS structures with very thin oxides by conductance measurement

The interface traps of as-oxidized p-MOS structures with very thin (88–434 Å) oxides are characterized by conductance technique. The interface trap density is found to increase inversely with the oxide thickness. The hole capture cross sections σ_p show no obvious dependence on the oxide thickness, but decrease exponentially with energy towards the midgap. The dispersion parameters σ_s are compared with the theoretical predictions based on the patchwork model. Both the magnitude and bias dependence of the measured σ_s are much larger than the theory predicts. With numerical simulation, it is shown that the width of the conductance peak can be strongly influenced by the behaviour of the capture cross section. By incorporating the energy dependence of σ_p into the patchwork model, good agreement between the experimental values and theoretical estimations of σ_s is obtained.     

A new type oscillatory phenomenon in the magnetotransport of θ-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

A new type oscillatory magnetotransport phenomenon has been observed in θ-type crystals of (BEDT-TTF)₂I₃ at temperatures below 6 K and in the magnetic field above 3 T. The oscillation appears when the magnetic field of a fixed strength is rotated from the direction normal to the conductive two dimensional plane to a direction parallel to the plane. The period of the oscillation is described by an equation tan (θ_min)=sN (s=0.39, N=0, 1, 2, 3,…), where θ_min is the angle giving the position of the trough of the oscillation. The amplitude of the oscillation is primarily determined by the magnetic field component normal to the conductive plane. It is related to the temperature through the change in the resistivity ₀.     

Molecular associations in binary mixtures of pyridine and chlorobenzene in benzene solution using microwave absorption data

The dielectric relaxation time (τ) of binary mixtures of different molar concentrations of pyridine (C₅H₅N) and chlorobenzene (C₆H₅Cl) in benzene solution at different temperatures (25, 30, 35 and 40 °C) has been calculated by using standard microwave techniques and Gopala Krishna's single frequency (9.875 GHz) concentration variation method. The energy parameters (ΔH_ε, ΔF_ε, and ΔS_ε) for the dielectric relaxation process of the binary mixture containing 0.5 mol fraction of pyridine have been calculated at the respective temperatures. Comparisons have been made with the corresponding energy parameters for the viscous flow (ΔH_η, ΔF_η, and ΔS_η). From the observations it is found that the dielectric relaxation process can be treated as the rate process. Based upon above studies, solute–solvent type of molecular associations arising from the interaction of chlorobenzene and benzene and pyridine and benzene molecules has been proposed. No solute–solute type of molecular association has been observed.     

High-field vs. low-field magneto-transport in a percolating medium

Recent theoretical and numerical work on high-field magneto-transport in a percolating medium is described and compared to earlier work on weak-field magneto-transport in such systems. While the weak-field behavior is well described by the simple nodes-links picture, which ignores blobs and loops on a scale smaller than the percolation correlation length ξ_p, the strong-field behavior is extremely sensitive to those features. The critical behavior at strong magnetic fields H near the percolation threshold is governed by competition between the usual H=0 fixed point and a new H=∞ fixed point. Which of those fixed points dominates the behavior is determined by the relative sizes of two characteristic lenghts: the percolation correlation length ξ_p and a new, magnetic field dependent length ξ_H.     

Temperature dependence of the resistivity and its anisotropy in n-type Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 single crystal

Measurements of the in-plane and c-axis normal-state resistivity in a superconducting Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4−δ single crystal are reported. The resistivity anisotropy of this n-type material is ≤250, much smaller than BiSCCO and comparable to YBaCuO. Both, _ab(T) and _c(T) displays a metallic-like positive temperature coefficient of resistivity with a basic T² dependence. We discuss some possible origins of this peculiar temperature dependence.     

Magnetic and transport properties of the extended s—f model

On the basis of the extended s-f model including 5d-4f electron-hole attraction and the hybridization between the 4f and 5d electrons the coexistence between ferromagnetism and fluctuating valence has been considered. The Curie temperature, effective magnetic moment, the phase diagram of the system and dc conductivity (resistivity) has been found by using in all numerical calculations the triple integration over the Brillouin zone (s.c.lattice). The calculations of the dc conductivity (resistivity) as a function of temperature has been performed for the semiconducting and metallic state of the system by using different parameter constellations of the model. The calculated conductivities and resistivities show great similarities in shape to the experimentally observed in the real mixed-valent or heavy fermion systems as e.g. EuO, US, UN, NpAl₂, NpOs₂, CePd₃, CeAl₃, PuAl₂, EuNi₂P₂, Ce_xLa_1-xSi₂,…     

Carbon solubility and superconductivity in MgB2

Successful replacement of B by C in the series MgB_2−xC_x for values of x upto 0.3 is reported. Resistivity and ac susceptibility measurements have been carried out in the samples. Solubility of carbon, inferred from the observed change in the lattice parameter with carbon content indicates that carbon substitutes upto x=0.30 into the MgB₂ lattice. The superconducting transition temperature, T_c measured both by zero resistivity and the onset of the diamagnetic signal shows a systematic decrease with increase in carbon content upto x=0.30, beyond which the volume fraction decreases drastically. The temperature dependence of resistivity in the normal state fits to the Bloch–Gruneisen formula for all the carbon compositions studied. The Debye temperature, θ_D, extracted from the fit, is seen to decrease with carbon content from 900 to 525 K, whereas the electron–phonon interaction parameter, λ, obtained from the McMillan equation using the measured T_c and θ_D, is seen to increase monotonically from 0.8 in MgB₂ to 0.9 in the x=0.50 sample. The ratio of the resistivities between 300 and 40 K versus T_c is seen to follow the Testardi correlation for the C substituted samples. The decrease in T_c is argued to mainly arise due to large decrease in θ_D with C concentration and a decrease in the hole density of states at N(E_F).     

Effect of partial substitution of Ni and Zn for Cu in CaBaLaCu3O7−δ superconductor

Superconducting behaviour of the tetragonal superconductor CaBaLaCu₃O_7−δ (T_c = 70 K) has been studied as a function of substitution of Ni and Zn for Cu. Both electrical resistivity and AC susceptibility measurements show that T_c decreases monotonically with increasing concentration of the substituent ion, within the composition range where the samples remain single phase, although Zn suppresses T_c more strongly than Ni for equivalent concentrations. It is argued that the suppression of T_c in this system cannot be explained by the Abrikosov-Gorkov mechanism alone.     

Low-temperature structure of Fe-Ni alloys

The Debye temperature (θ_M) of Fe-Ni alloys was obtained from measurements of the X-ray integrated intensity and the electrical resistivity at low temperatures from 4 to 300 K. A decrease of θ_M, implying a lattice softening effect, was found by lowering the temperature or increasing the iron concentration in the Invar region.     

Fabrication, microstructure and critical current density of screen-printed Ag-(Bi, Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3Ox superconducting tapes

The influence of the sintering conditions on the microstructure and critical current density J_c has been studied on screen-printed Ag-(Bi, Pb)₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_x tapes with a ceramics mono-layer core. Three kinds of fabrication processes, which consist of a combination of cold working (rolling and/or pressing) and sintering, are applied. Four times repetition of pressing and sintering after the pre-sintering produces the highest c-axis alignment and achieves J_c= 1.5 × 10⁴ A/cm² (77 K, 0 T). The J_c versus θ data with an angle θ between B and the c-axis elucidate the relation between the anisotropy ratio γ=J_c(Bc)/J_c(B|c and the half-height angular width Δθ of a peak for Bc. This is related to both grain alignment and the J_c value. An increase in J_c, which comes from an improvement for grain alignment, enhances γ and narrows Δθ. The J_c versus θ data are fitted to the expression J_c(B, θ)=J _c(B, 90°)/[(γ−1)|cos θ|ⁿ+1] by regarding both γ and n as adjustable parameters. Fabrication of screen-printed tapes with multilayers (1≤N≤5) is presented, where the critical current increases from 8.0 A to 30.2 A at 77 K and 0 T as N increases.     

Positivity of energy in five dimensional classical unified field theories, II

Five dimensional classical unified field theories as well as Yang-Mills theory with gauge group U(1), are described in terms of a Lorentzian five dimensional space V₅ with metric tensor γβ which admits a space-like Killing vector ζ. It is assumed that: (1) V₅ has the topology of V₄ x S¹, S¹ is a circle and V₄ is a four dimensional Lorentzian space that is asymptotically flat and (2) the Einstein tensor Γ_β of V₅ satisfies Γ_β Uυ^{β 0} where U and υ are future oriented time-like vectors with γ_βυζ^β = 0. The spinor approach of Witten [4], Nester [3] and Moreschi and Sparling [5] is used to show that the conserved five dimensional energymomentum vector P = ifΓ_β = 0 then V₅ must admit a time-like Killing vector. Lichnerowicz's results [1] then imply that V₅ must be flat. A lower bound for P⁴ (the mass) similar to that found by Gibbons and Hull [6] is obtained.     

Field-induced parameters of re-entrant magnets and concentrated spin glasses

We have used electron spin resonance measurements to derive the temperature and frequency dependences of the field-induced magnetization [M(T, f)] and anisotropy field [H_an (T)] in a number of amorphous alloys belonging to the series (Fe_pNi_1−p)₇₅P₁₆B₆Al₃. In re-entrant (p > p_c, the critical concentration for ferromagnetism) alloys at hi gh frequencies (f = 35 GHz, field ≈ 12 kOe) M reduces as T^3/2 at high T and as T below ≈ 40 K, the deviation from T^3/2 becoming more marked as p → p⁺_c. For p close to p_c, lowering the frequency first causes the T term to increase and ultimately ( ≈ 4 GHz) changes the variation of M with T to that discovered previously for concentrated spin glasses, namely M is constant at low T and drops linearly at high temperatures. For the re-entrants, the results are interpreted on the basis of a model which invokes an energy gap in the spin-wave spectrum, introduces a non-zero density of states of the gap energy and takes into consideration a low-q cut-off in the spin-wave integral in thelow-T (T) regime.In the concentrated spin glasses [M (0) - M (T)]/ M (0) is well represented by the function [exp (Δ / T) - 1]^-1, where Δ has values close to the corresponding Curie-Weiss temperatures θ_p but much larger than the respective spin glass transition temperatures T_SG. The temperature dependence of H_an is largely given by the function (1 - T/T^*), where T^* is equal to the zero-field freezing temperature for the re-entrants and T_SG for the spin glasses, respectively.     

Muonic Au: A test of the weak-coupling model

We report the measurement of the energies of various muonic atomic transitions above 500 keV in ¹⁹⁷Au. We have used the weak-coupling model in order to analyze the hyperfine structure of ¹⁹⁷Au. Using transitions to and from the 1s, 2s 2p and 3p levels as well as the fine structure of the 2p states and hyperfine splittings of the 2p, 3p and 3d states we have fitted our data to two deformed Fermi distributions: one with a constant skin thickness, the other with a skin thickness which varies. Both yield equally good fits. We have determined the quadrupole moment of ¹⁹⁷Au to be 0.547±0.016 b. The model dependence of our results is discussed. The weak coupling parameters of de-Shalit Ω_p, Ω₂₂, Ω₂₀ and A² have been determined and are in fair agreement with Coulomb excitation results. There is also good agreement between our results and those of electron scattering.     

Self-assembly of β-Ga2O3 nanobelts

Self-assembly of β-Ga₂O₃ (beta-gallium oxide) nanobelts with diameters of 50–100 nm and lengths of tens to hundreds of microns have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Under appropriate conditions such as nanobelts concentration, controlled solvent evaporation, β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts assemble into a fan-like structure on the substrate. A tendency of these nanobelts to align parallel to each other was also observed. The mechanism behind the formation of self-assembly of β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts has been proposed on the basis of lateral capillary forces.     

Electrical transport properties of dense bulk YBa2Cu4O8 produced by hot isostatic pressing

Highly dense sintered YBa₂Cu₄O₈ has been produced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP). The electrical resistivity of this material has been measured as a function of temperature T and pressure in the range 40–650 K and 0–0.7 GPa. Both the temperature dependence and the pressure dependence of are found to be well described by a model based on the standard Bloch-Grüneisen theory. It is pointed out that is liner in T only under isobaric conditions, while is strongly nonlinear in all high-T_c superconductors under isochoric (constant volume) conditions. The critical current density of the material is 900 A/cm² at 4 K, while the resistivity is 630 μΩ cm at 294 K.