Photoinduced phase transition of coordinationally unsaturated d9 metal centers within the thermal hysteresis of the spin exchange interaction

Diffraction evidence is presented that the structure of one-dimensional arrays of strained, coordinationally unsaturated d9 pseudo-Jahn-Teller centers is affected by excitation of the LMCT bands within the hysteresis region of the low-temperature ferromagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic phase transition.     

On a Stochastic Theory of Ion Transfer at Intermediate Damping

The stochastic method, which was formulated earlier by Gurevich and Kharkats on the basis of a classic solution of the Fokker-Planck equation in a phase space of coordinates and momenta, is developed to extend it to the case of intermediate damping. In contradistinction to the Gurevich-Kharkats model, the new theory is based on the Fokker-Planck equation in the energy-action coordinates. Analytical expressions for the exchange current and conductance are derived. The expressions are valid in a broad damping regime. As compared with the Gurevich-Kharkats model, the expression for the exchange current contains an additional factor, which depends on the energy losses sustained by the ion upon its collision with the cage of a crystal lattice. An explanation for the isotope effect in the high-temperature protonic conductors is suggested. It is demonstrated that the friction coefficient for these solid electrolytes may correspond to the underdamped-to-intermediate-damping regime. This fact makes it possible to put forth an explanation for the existing contradictions between their properties and simple hopping models, which ignore the interaction of ions with the crystal lattice.     

Theoretical studies on the magnetic bistability of dinickel complex tuned by azide

The magnetic-structural correlation in magnetic switchable dinickel(II) complex [LNi2(N3)3] (L- is a pyrazolate-based compartmental ligand) has been investigated on the basis of various unrestricted density functional theory (UDFT) combined with the broken symmetry (BS) approach. The calculated exchange coupling constants were in good agreement with experimental result by using the PBE0 method with LANL2DZ basis set. The antiferromagnetic interaction between the Ni(II) ions is mainly due to the large energy difference of the singly occupied molecular orbitals (SOMOs), and the p orbital overlap for nitrogen atoms on azido and the pyrazolate bridge groups. The analysis of the spin density distribution reveals that both the spin polarization and spin delocalization contribute to the antiferromagnetic interaction. Furthermore, the bistable magnetic behavior for this system (strong antiferromagnetic interaction in low-temperature phase and the week antiferromagnetic in high-temperature phase) results from the change of the Ni-NNN-Ni dihedral angle (tau) in mu1,3-N3. The increase of tau is the key role in decreasing the SOMOs energy difference and weakening the antiferromagnetic interaction. Therefore, the abrupt modulation of the magnitude of M-NNN-M dihedral angle tau in the binuclear-azide complex by external perturbations provides new possibilities for the design of molecular magnetic switching devices.     

Raman spectra and phase transition of the phenothiazine crystal

Polarized Raman spectra of single crystals of phenothiazine which undergoes a phase transition around 250 K and is ferroelastic in the low-temperature phase were measured in the lattice-vibrational region for temperatures ranging from 89 to 300 K. The spectra of the high- and low-temperature phases obey the selection rules required for the orthorhombic and monoclinic structures, respectively. Anomalous temperature dependences are observed in the frequency, intensity and linewidth of a band appearing in the lowest-frequency region. This band is attributed mainly to a librational motion of the molecule, and is important in the evaluation of this phase transition. A gradual change of the molecular orientation is inferred to occur over a wide temperature interval in the low-temperature phase along the vibrational coordinate of the above libration. Another strong, low-frequency band, which is characteristic of the phenothiazine spectra, is suggested to arise from mixing between intramolecular and lattice vibrations. This mode is considered to play some role in the phase transition too. The interaction between the low-frequency optical modes and the acoustic modes is briefly discussed in connection with the ferroelasticity of the low-temperature phase. The transition temperature depends on the quality of the specimen; the correct transition temperature is found to be 248.8 K and slightly lower than the previously reported value.     

Structural Transitions from Triangular to Square Molecular Arrangements in the Quasi-One-Dimensional Molecular Conductors (DMEDO-TTF)(2)XF(6) (X = P, As, and Sb)

A series of quasi-one-dimensional molecular conductors (DMEDO-TTF)(2)XF(6) (X = P, As, and Sb), where DMEDO-TTF is dimethyl(ethylenedioxy)tetrathiafulvalene, undergo characteristic structural transitions in the range of 130-195 K for the PF(6) salt and 222-242 K for the AsF(6) salt. The dramatic structural transition is induced by the order of the ethylenedioxy moiety, and the resulting anion rotation leads to the reconstruction of the H···F interaction between the methyl groups and the anions. The unique hydrogen bonds play a crucial role in the transition. As a result, the molecular packing is rearranged entirely; the high-temperature molecular stacks with an ordinary quasi-triangular molecular network transforms to a quasi-square-like network, which has never been observed among organic conductors. Nonetheless, the low-temperature phase exhibits a good metallic conductivity as well, so the transition is a metal-metal (MM) transition. The resistivity measured along the perpendicular direction to the conducting ac-plane (ρ(⊥)) and the calculation of the Fermi surface demonstrate that the high-temperature metal phase is a one-dimensional metal, whereas the low-temperature metal phase has considerable interchain interaction. In the SbF(6) salt, a similar structural transition takes place around 370 K, so that the quasi-square-like lattice is realized even at room temperature. Despite the largely different MM transition temperatures, all these salts undergo metal-insulator (MI) transitions approximately at the same temperature of 50 K. The low-temperature insulator phase is nonmagnetic, and the reflectance spectra suggest the presence of charge disproportionation with small charge difference (0.14).     

Observation of the verwey transition in Fe3O4 by high-resolution electron microscopy

High resolution electron microscopy (HREM) of Fe₃O₄ has been carried out at temperatures near the Verwey transition (∼120 K) with a point resolution of 3 Å. Lattice fringes of both the high- and the low-temperature phases have been observed at these temperatures. The crystal symmetry of the low-temperature phase indicated by the lattice images is consistent with the result obtained by earlier diffraction studies. A series of lattice images showing the transition from the low-temperature phase (to the high-temperature phase) has been obtained. The transformation to the high-temperature phase occurs through the penetration of the high-temperature phase into areas of the low-temperature phase. A quick motion of domain boundaries in the low-temperature phase, which is consistent with almost instantaneous rearrangements of charge ordering, has been observed. The possibility of determining the ordered arrangement of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions directly by HREM is discussed.     

The condensation and ordering of models of empty liquids

We consider a simple model consisting of particles with four bonding sites ("patches"), two of type A and two of type B, on the square lattice, and investigate its global phase behavior by simulations and theory. We set the interaction between B patches to zero and calculate the phase diagram as the ratio between the AB and the AA interactions, ε(AB)*, varies. In line with previous work, on three-dimensional off-lattice models, we show that the liquid-vapor phase diagram exhibits a re-entrant or "pinched" shape for the same range of ε(AB)*, suggesting that the ratio of the energy scales--and the corresponding empty fluid regime--is independent of the dimensionality of the system and of the lattice structure. In addition, the model exhibits an order-disorder transition that is ferromagnetic in the re-entrant regime. The use of low-dimensional lattice models allows the simulation of sufficiently large systems to establish the nature of the liquid-vapor critical points and to describe the structure of the liquid phase in the empty fluid regime, where the size of the "voids" increases as the temperature decreases. We have found that the liquid-vapor critical point is in the 2D Ising universality class, with a scaling region that decreases rapidly as the temperature decreases. The results of simulations and theoretical analysis suggest that the line of order-disorder transitions intersects the condensation line at a multi-critical point at zero temperature and density, for patchy particle models with a re-entrant, empty fluid, regime.     

Polymer collapse, protein folding, and the percolation threshold

We study the transition of polymers in the dilute regime from a swollen shape at high temperatures to their low-temperature structures. The polymers are modeled by a single self-avoiding walk (SAW) on a lattice for which l of the monomers (the H monomers) are self-attracting, i.e., if two nonbonded H monomers become nearest neighbors on the lattice they gain energy of interaction (epsilon = -/epsilon/); the second type of monomers, denoted P, are neutral. This HP model was suggested by Lau and Dill (Macromolecules 1989, 22, 3986-3997) to study protein folding, where H and P are the hydrophobic and polar amino acid residues, respectively. The model is simulated on the square and simple cubic (SC) lattices using the scanning method. We show that the ground state and the sharpness of the transition depend on the lattice, the fraction g of the H monomers, as well as on their arrangement along the chain. In particular, if the H monomers are distributed at random and g is larger than the site percolation threshold of the lattice, a collapsed transition is very likely to occur. This conclusion, drawn for the lattice models, is also applicable to proteins where an effective lattice with coordination number between that of the SC lattice and the body centered cubic lattice is defined. Thus, the average fraction of hydrophobic amino acid residues in globular proteins is found to be close to the percolation threshold of the effective lattice.     

Brewster angle microscopic observations of the Langmuir films of amphiphilic spiropyran during compression and under UV illumination

The structure of the Langmuir film of an amphiphilic spiropyran, 1',3'-dihydro-3',3'-dimethyl-6-nitro-l'-octadecyl-8-(docosanoyloxyme thyl)spiro[2H-1-benzopyran-2,2'-(2H)-indole] (SP), is investigated using Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). The BAM observations show that the Langmuir film of SP can be roughly categorized into three regimes: a low-temperature regime at 7-13 degrees C; a medium-temperature regime at 23-30 degrees C; a high-temperature regime at 40 degrees C. The low-temperature regime is characterized both by the domains that are formed just after the spreading and by the onset of the surface pressure when the domains are merged together to form continuous trilayers. In the medium-temperature regime, a continuous monolayer film is formed after the solvent evaporation, followed by the growth of "embryos" with compression. Around the phase transition point, the "embryos" serve as the "nucleation sites" of the circular trilayer domains. The characteristic features of the high-temperature regime are similar to the ones of the medium-temperature regime except for the absence of a steep rise in surface pressure after the plateau region and the absence of the circular trilayer domains. UV illumination of the Langmuir films leads to the isomerization of SP into merocyanine (MC). However, J-aggregates of MC are formed only when the circular trilayer domains are present. On the basis of the above results, we present a phase diagram of the Langmuir film of SP. The structure and photoreaction depend strongly on the phase of the Langmuir film, indicating that the area/molecule is not the only decisive parameter.     

Banana-shaped liquid crystals with two oligosiloxane end-groups: field-induced switching of supramolecular chirality

The first bent core mesogen carrying branched oligosiloxane units at both ends was synthesized and investigated with polarized light microscopy, DSC, X-ray diffraction of well aligned samples, and electrooptical methods. Two different antiferroelectric switching liquid crystalline phases were found. Both can be regarded as modulated smectic phases in which the molecules have extremely large tilt angles. In both mesophases, the field-induced switching takes place by rotation around the molecular long axes. This field-induced reorientation switches the layer chirality. The transition between the two mesophases is associated with a change of the tilt direction from synclinic to anticlinic. The synclinic high-temperature phase is an obliquelike ribbon phase whereas the anticlinic low-temperature phase represents a sinusoidal undulated layer structure (SmCAPA). It is proposed that the phase transition from the ribbon phase to the undulated layer structure is mainly driven by the change of the interlayer correlation.     

Electron spin exchange processes in strongly coupled spin triads

The complexes of Cu2+ hexafluoroacetylacetonate with two pyrazol-substituted nitronyl nitroxides are the choice systems to study the spin dynamics of strongly exchange-coupled spin triads. The large values of exchange coupling (ca. 100 cm-1) and high-resolution electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) at Q- and W-bands (35 and 94 GHz) allowed us to observe and interpret specific characteristics of these systems. An electron spin exchange process has been found between different multiplets of the spin triad, which manifests itself as a significant shift of the EPR line position with temperature. We propose that the spin exchange process is caused by the modulation of exchange interaction between copper and nitroxides by lattice vibrations. The estimations of the rate of exchange process and model calculations essentially support the observed phenomena. The studied characteristics of strongly coupled spin triads explain previously obtained results, agree with literature, and should be accounted for in future investigations of similar spin systems.     

Molecular design of new magnetically active copper complexes with heteroaromatic schiff bases and azo compounds

Copper chelates with tridentate ligands containing pyridine or pyrazole ring at the azomethine or azo fragment were synthesized by chemical electrochemical methods, and their structure was characterized by the EXAFS spectra. Thermal magnetochemical analysis of the complexes revealed antiferromagnetic exchange interaction in all complexes. The exchange interaction parameter of the complex containing an N-tosylamino group in the ortho position with respect to the azomethine group is much lesser than that of the corresponding complex having an oxygen atom in the same position. The copper chelate derived from azopyrazole ligand shows low-temperature ferromagnetic phase transition.     

Analysis of the spin exchange interactions and the ordered magnetic structures of lithium transition metal phosphates LiMPO4 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) with the olivine structure

The olivine-type compounds LiMPO4 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) consist of MO4 layers made up of corner-sharing MO6 octahedra of high-spin M2+ ions. To gain insight into the magnetic properties of these phosphates, their spin exchange interactions were estimated by spin dimer analysis using tight binding calculations and by electronic band structure analysis using first principles density functional theory calculations. Three spin exchange interactions were found to be important for LiMPO4, namely, the intralayer superexchange J1, the intralayer super-superexchange Jb along the b-direction, and the interlayer super-superexchange J2 along the b-direction. The magnetic ground state of LiMPO4 was determined in terms of these spin exchange interactions by calculating the total spin exchange interaction energy under the classical spin approximation. In the spin lattice of LiMPO4, the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic planes defined by the spin exchange J1 are antiferromagnetically coupled by the spin exchange J2, in agreement with available experimental data.     

Metal–insulator transition in the Hubbard model on a triangular lattice with disorders: Renormalization group approach

A multistages block renormalization group approach to study the metal–insulator transition in the Hubbard model on a triangular lattice with hexagonal blocks is presented and implemented. A second‐order phase transition with a critical point at U/t = 12.5 is obtained (the coupling parameters U and t correspond to the repulsive charging energy and to the nearest‐neighbor exchange coupling terms, respectively). In the presence of disorder the phase diagram for the system exhibits a metallic phase, an insulating phase, and a domain‐localized phase that separates them in the Mott regime. The subtle influence of electron–electron interactions upon inverse participation rate in the Anderson regime is also investigated. The results are discussed in light of experimental evidence for arrays of metalic quantum dots and exact numerical diagonalization of the Hubbard Hamiltonian. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 93: 360–374, 2003     

Nematic liquid crystal mixtures dedicated to thermally tunable terahertz devices

Low-loss nematic liquid crystal mixtures with low temperatures of nematic-to-isotropic phase transition are tested at terahertz frequencies. Experimental results show that through control of ambient temperature, the thermally induced transmittance’s tunability of quartz transducers infiltrated with these mixtures can change of up to 4% for 0.9 THz. Thermally tunable devices based on soft matter may find applications in next-generation modulation and switching components operating in the terahertz regime.     

Monte Carlo simulations of the exchange kinetics of polymers adsorbed on a solid surface

The exchange kinetics of polymers adsorbing on a solid surface is extensively studied by dynamic Monte Carlo simulations. A model employed simulates a semidilute polymer solution placed in contact with a solid surface that attracts polymer segments by the adsorption interaction (χ_s). The exchange process of polymer chains, between the solution and the adsorbed polymer layer, is examined under various conditions. The exchange kinetics shows two characteristic regimes with increasing chain length. One is the diffusion‐controlled regime found with a small χ_s , and the other the detachment‐controlled regime with a large χ_s . These two regimes are well described by a kinetic theory. Various dynamic quantities show that the diffusion‐controlled regime is not due to sluggish dynamics near the surface, but rather to bulk diffusion of chains. The diffusion‐controlled regime found in this study is considered to appear at the high temperature limit.     

17O NMR in room temperature phase of La2Mo2O9 fast oxide ionic conductor

A room temperature (17)O NMR study of La(2)Mo(2)O(9), a fast oxide ionic conductor exhibiting a phase transition at 580 degrees C between a low-temperature alpha-phase and a high-temperature beta-phase, is presented. Four partly overlapping quasi-continuous distributions of oxygen sites are evidenced from 1D magic angle spinning (MAS) and 2D triple quantum MAS NMR experiments. They can be correlated with the three oxygen sites O1, O2 and O3 of the high-temperature crystal structure. The low-temperature phase is characterized by two distributed sites of type O1, which proves that the symmetry is lower than in the cubic high-temperature phase. Two-dimensional experiments show that there is no dynamic exchange process, on the NMR time-scale, between the different oxygen sites at room temperature, which agrees well with conductivity results.     

Dissipative quantum dynamics with the surrogate Hamiltonian approach. A comparison between spin and harmonic baths

The dissipative quantum dynamics of an anharmonic oscillator coupled to a bath is studied with the purpose of elucidating the differences between the relaxation to a spin bath and to a harmonic bath. Converged results are obtained for the spin bath by the surrogate Hamiltonian approach. This method is based on constructing a system-bath Hamiltonian, with a finite but large number of spin bath modes, that mimics exactly a bath with an infinite number of modes for a finite time interval. Convergence with respect to the number of simultaneous excitations of bath modes can be checked. The results are compared to calculations that include a finite number of harmonic modes carried out by using the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method of Nest and Meyer [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 24 (2003)]. In the weak coupling regime, at zero temperature and for small excitations of the primary system, both methods converge to the Markovian limit. When initially the primary system is significantly excited, the spin bath can saturate restricting the energy acceptance. An interaction term between bath modes that spreads the excitation eliminates the saturation. The loss of phase between two cat states has been analyzed and the results for the spin and harmonic baths are almost identical. For stronger couplings, the dynamics induced by the two types of baths deviate. The accumulation and degree of entanglement between the bath modes have been characterized. Only in the spin bath the dynamics generate entanglement between the bath modes.     

Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of palladium-cerium oxide catalysts for the low-temperature oxidation of carbon monoxide

The effect of CeO₂ preparation procedure on the electronic and structural states of the active component of Pd/CeO₂ catalysts and their activity in the low-temperature reaction of CO oxidation was studied. The following two nonequivalent states of palladium were detected in the catalysts having low-temperature activity using XPS and IR spectroscopy: Pd⁰(Pd^δ+) as the constituent of a palladium-reduced interaction phase and Pd²⁺ as the constituent of a palladium-oxidized interaction phase Pd _x CeO_{2 ?δ}. It was found that the procedure used for preparing a CeO₂ support considerably affected the formation of these phases and quantitative ratios between them. It was demonstrated that the palladium-oxidized interaction phase was responsible for low-temperature activity, whereas the palladium-reduced interaction phase was responsible for activity in the region of medium and high temperatures.     

Radical para-benzoic acid derivatives: transmission of ferromagnetic interactions through hydrogen bonds at long distances

Investigation of the transmission of magnetic interactions through hydrogen bonds has been carried out for two different benzoic acid derivatives which bear either a tert-butyl nitroxide (NOA) or a poly(chloro)triphenylmethyl (PTMA) radical moiety. In the solid state, both radical acids formed dimer aggregates by the complementary association of two carboxylic groups though hydrogen bonding. This association ensured that atoms with most spin density are separated from one another by more than 15 A. Thus, no competing through-space magnetic exchange interactions are expected in these dimers and, hence, they provide good models to investigate whether noncovalent hydrogen bonds play a role in the long-range transmission of magnetic interactions. The nature of the magnetic exchange interaction and their strengths within similar dimer aggregates in solution was assessed by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. In the case of radical NOA, low-temperature ESR experiments showed a weak ferromagnetic interaction between the two radicals in the dimer aggregates (which have the same geometry as in the solid state). In contrast, the corresponding solution ESR study performed with radical PTMA did not lead to any conclusive results, as aggregates were formed by noncovalent interactions other than hydrogen bonds. However, the bulkiness of the poly(chloro)triphenylmethyl radical prevented interdimer contacts in the solid state between regions of high spin density. Hence, solid-state measurements of the alpha phase of PTMA radical provided evidence of the intradimer interaction to confirm the transmission of a weak ferromagnetic interaction through the carboxylic acid bridges, as found for the NOA radical. Moreover, crystallization of the PTMA radical in presence of ethanol to form the beta phase of PTMA radical prevented the dimer formation; this resulted in the suppression of this interaction and provides further evidence of the magnetic exchange mechanism through noncovalent hydrogen bonds at long distances.