Pressure dependence of the muon knight shift in antimony

The pressure dependence of the muon Knight shift in antimony has been measured at 30K using polycrystalline samples and at 10K using single crystals. A considerably stronger pressure dependence is observed with the field parallel to the c-axis than perpendicular. The deduced linear parts of the isotropic and axial pressure dependence are dK_iso/dP=−0.19(3)%/kbar and dK_ax/dP−0.24 (5)%/kbar. First principle molecular-cluster calculations show the origin, of the huge Knight shift and its pressure dependence.     

Anisotropic muon Knight shift in the HCP single crystals of Cd,Zn and Be

In single crystal samples of Zn, Cd and Be (hcp structure) stroboscopicSR measurements successfully revealed anisotropies in the muon Knight shift (K). An anisotropic K can provide information on the amount of non s-electrons screening the charge of the muon implanted in these metals as a light hydrogen isotope. In Cd, the anisotropic part depends strongly on the temperature and shows a change in sign at roughly 110 K. In Zn, the anisotropic part below 10 K turns out to comprise 4th order contributions in the direction cosines of the external field. This can be understood on the basis of an anisotropicg-factor of the conduction electrons or spin-orbit coupling, respectively.     

&mgr;(+) knight shift measurements in U0.965Th0.035Be13 single crystals

Muon spin rotation ( &mgr;SR) measurements of the temperature dependence of the &mgr;(+) Knight shift in single crystals of U0. 965Th0.035Be13 have been used to study the static spin susceptibility chi(s) below the transition temperatures T(c1) and T(c2). While an abrupt reduction of chi(s) with decreasing temperature is observed below T(c1), chi(s) does not change below T(c2) and remains at a value below the normal-state susceptibility chi(n). In the normal state we find an anomalous anisotropic temperature dependence of the transferred hyperfine coupling between the &mgr;(+) spin and the U 5f electrons.     

Muon spin relaxation in CeCu2Si2 and muon knight shift in various heavy-fermion systems

Positive muon spin precession has been observed in various heavy-fermion systems in the transverse external magnetic field. In the superconductor CeCu_2.1Si₂, the relaxation rate of muon spins increases rapidly with decreasing temperature below T_C. This is interpreted as the results of the inhomogeneous fields due to the imperfect penetration of the external field into the type-II superconducting state. The magnetic-field penetration depth λ is derived from the observed muon spin relaxation rate. λ is about 1200 ∢ at T∼0.5T_C, and the temperature dependence of λ is consistent with the relation expected for a BCS superconductor. We have also measured the muon Knight shift K_μ in the normal (or paramagnetic) state of various heavy-fermion systems. K_μ is large and negative (about −1000∼−3000 ppm at T=10 K) for CeCu₂Si₂, UPt₃ and CeAl₃, while more complicated signals are measured in CePb₃ and CeB₆. The negative muon Knight shift in the non-magnetic heavy-fermion systems is discussed in terms of the Kondo-coupling between the conduction- and f-electrons.     

Proton channeling in ionic and semiconducting single crystals

Measurements have been made of the energy distributions of protons passing through NaCl, KCl, Si, and Ge single crystals at various angles with respect to the {100} and {110} planes. The fraction of protons passing through lattice channels has been evaluated, and its dependences on the angle of incidence, the chemical composition of the sample, and the proton energy have been found.     

Giant muon knight shifts in antimony and antimony alloys

The Knight shift K_μ at the positive muon has been measured as a function of magnetic field, temperature, crystal orientation and alloyed impurity (bismuth or tin) in antimony. The anomalously large and anisotropic K_μ in pure Sb at low temperature has been confirmed and shown to be independent of magnetic field up to 9 kG; its anisotropic part is found to have the same strong temperature dependence as its isotropic component. The addition of 6.3 at.% Bi significantly reduces both K_μ and its anisotropy, but enhances their temperature dependence. The addition of 12.5 at.% Bi, or, more dramatically, as little as 0.3 at.% Sn to antimony is sufficient to reduce K_μ to a small value, effectively eliminating the anomalous behaviour.     

Pressure dependence of knight shift in lithium

A simple explanation of the recent experimental observation of Kushida and Hanabusa on the volume dependence of the average spin density P_F at the nucleus for lithium metal is given. It is argued that the increase in the direct contribution to P_F associated with the decrease in volume (increase in pressure) is substantially reduced by an increase in the negative core polarization contribution to P_F.     

Electrical conductivity of the semiconducting phase in vanadium dioxide single crystals

The electrical conductivity of the semiconducting phase of vanadium dioxide single crystals is studied over a wide range of temperatures. It is shown that the electrical conductivity varies with temperature as log σ ～ T in the range 340–170 K and as log σ ～ 1/T at temperatures below 120 K. The experimental results are described in the framework of the model in which the temperature dependence of the hopping conductivity of small-radius polarons is determined by the dependence of the resonance integral on the amplitude of thermal lattice vibrations.     

Theory of temperature-dependent knight shift in narrow-gap semiconductors

We derive a theory of the temperature-dependent Knight shift in narrow-gap semiconductors. As an example, we calculate the temperature variation of the Knight shift of ²⁰⁷Pb in p-PbTe, which agrees fairly well with experiment.     

Pressure dependence of the electric field gradient and knight shift tensors of single crystal gallium

Nuclear pure quadrupole resonance has been observed in single crystal gallium as a function of hydrostatic pressure up to 7 kbar at temperatures of 77, 198 and 273 K. The resonance frequency v_Q increases linearly with pressure and the slope ($\text{δv}{}_{\mathrm{O}}\text{δP}$)_T is 13.7, 15.5 and 16.3 Hz/bar at 77, 198 and 273 K respectively. The asymmetry parameter decreases nonlinearly with pressure. Using compressibility and thermal expansion data, the volume dependence of the major principle component of the electric field gradient was deduced. The principal components K_x, K_y and K_z of the Knight shift tensor have been measured as a function of pressure to 6 kbar at 77 K. The isotropic and anisotropic components of the Knight shift were deduced as a function of pressure, and K_iso is found to vary with volume as V^{4.95 ± 0.80}.     

Electrical and magnetic properties of semimetallic and semiconducting alloys of BiSb

Studies on electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power (t.e.p), Hall effect and diamagnetic susceptibility have been carried out on two inhomogeneous Bi-Sb alloys in the temperature range 100–300 K. Measurements have been confined to the plane perpendicular to the three-fold axis. Antimony impurity levels have been postulated to exist between the bands L_v and L_c. These levels together with the existing band structure of Bi-Sb alloys can explain the observed behaviour of both the alloys of which one is a semimetal and the other a semiconductor. The semiconductor-metal transitions induced by magnetic fields as observed earlier, could also be explained with the help of these antimony levels. The majority of the carriers in both the cases are holes. The different electronic parameters including density of carriers, mobility, nature of the charge carriers and effective masses for all the three bands have been calculated.     

DLTS studies of deep levels in semiconducting N-CdTe single crystals

Deep levels created by annealing of Al-doped n-CdTe single crystals have been studied by the Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) technique. Eight levels have been detected in the energy range from 0.04 to 0.07 eV below the conduction band edge. The thermal ionization energies and the capture cross sections for electrons in these levels have been obtained. The dependence of concentrations of the levels on the Cd vapor pressure during annealing and on the cooling process after annealing has been determined.     

Hall effect plateaus and giant Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in (BiSb)Telayered single crystals near the quantum limit

On bulk layered single crystals (Bi_0.25Sb_0.75)₂Te₃ with a hole concentration cm^-3 and a mobility cm²/Vs magnetoresistance and Hall effect investigations were performed in the temperature range T = 1.4 K ... 20 K in magnetic fields up to 18 T. For the magnetic field perpendicular to the layered structure giant Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are measured; the positions of the maxima are triplets in the reciprocally scaled magnetic field. From the damping of the amplitudes with increasing temperature the cyclotron mass m _c = 0.12m ₀ is evaluated. Correlated with the SdH oscillations doublets of Hall effect plateaus (or kinks in low fields) are found. The weak well known Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations from the generally accepted multivallied highest valence band can be detected as a modulation on the giant oscillation. The high anisotropy of the SdH oscillations and their triplet structure in connection with the layered crystal structure lead us to suggest that the effects are caused by hole carrier pairing (mediated by the bipolaron mechanism) in quasi 2D sheets parallel to the crystal layer stacks. The measured Hall plateau resistances coincide with the quantum Hall effect values considering the number of layer stacks and the valley degeneracy of the 3D hole carrier reservoir. The ratio of spin splitting to Landau (cyclotron) splitting is observed to be . Received: 12 September 1997 / Revised: 8 January 1998 / Accepted: 22 January 1998     

Interpretation of the knight shift in liquid and solid metals

It is suggested that the density of states in many solid metals is close to the free-electron value. This would explain the small change of the Knight shift on melting, and is supported by general theory and by some empirical evidence.     

Temperature dependence of the positive-muon knight shift in MnSi

The temperature dependence of the μ⁺ Knight shift in weakly-helimagnetic MnSi has been measured in the temperature range between 28 and 300 K. The observed shift is found to be directly proportional to the host susceptibility in the paramagnetic state with a hyperfine coupling constant of —4.8 kOe/_μB.     

Low temperature thermal conductivity of pure and doped single crystals of semiconducting SmS

We measured the thermal conductivity of pure SmS and of SmS doped with P, As and Se between 1.5 and 350 K. The lattice thermal conductivity of pure samples and of SmSSe obeys a T^{?$\text{3}\text{2}$} law for temperatures T greater than 150 K, and is very sensitive to point defects in the lattice. The highest values are measured on samples close to the stoichiometric composition. P and As dopants act as phonon scattering centers and considerably reduce the low temperature lattice conductivity.     

Positive muon Knight shift in graphite and Grafoil

Positive muon Knight shifts and relaxation rates were measured at room temperature in a graphite crystal and in a stack of Grafoil sheets. The Knight shift was 500 ppm in the single crystal and reduced by 0.702 in Grafoil. Both have the same (large) fractional anisotropy relative to the axis or to the normal to the Grafoil sheets, respectively. The (isotropic) relaxation rates were 0.024(4)s^–1 in the crystal and 0.194(6) ^–1 in the Grafoil. Apparently the ⁺ in Grafoil sees highly aligned bulk crystalline graphite, and does not reach the surfaces of the sheets.We are grateful to Greg Dash, the owner of the graphite crystal, for lending it to Tony Arrott; and to Tony for lending it in turn to us.