Thermal conductivity and specific heat of amorphous Zr0.67Ni0.33 after structural relaxation

Low-temperature measurements of the thermal conductivity (0.3KT5K) and of the specific heatC (0.07KT3.5K) of splat-cooled amorphous superconducting Zr_0.67Ni_0.33(T _c 2.7K) after different annealing stages are reported. increases progressively (up to 55%) after annealing. An analysis of with the help of normal-state measurements belowT _c in an overcritical field shows that the phonon-electron scattering remains unaltered after annealing. Hence the increase in must be entirely attributed to structure-induced (intrinsic) scattering, i.e. by two-level tunneling states (TLS) at low temperatures (T1K). The specific heat shows a small decrease aboveT _c (by 8%) which is attributed to a small diminution of the electronic density of states at the Fermi level and to a small increase in the Debye temperature. ForTT _c where TLS dominate, the specific heatC decreases less upon annealing than expected from the increase of in the standard tunneling model. This points to a change in the TLS relaxation time spectrum upon annealing, as observed previously for Zr _x Cu_1–x glasses.     

Pure multipoles from strong permanent magnets: analytic and experimental results

We present the construction of arbitrary multipole field configurations from strong permanent magnets for trapping charged or neutral particles. A general analytic method for the design of three-dimensional magnetic multipoles is discussed for an idealized continuously varying magnetisation taking advantage of the superposition principle. Simple recipes for constructing magnetic dipole and quadrupole fields are given with two types of elements, axially and radially magnetised rings. Cylindrical magnet components not only give free access to the experimental region of interest, but also allow for some tunability to reduce undesirable higher multipole orders. Measurements confirm theoretical predictions achieving useful magnetic fields of 1 T and steep gradients of 3 T/cm with high purity over several ccm.     

Field-induced phase transitions and reversible field-induced inversion of chirality in tilted smectic phases of bent-core mesogens

Three homologous achiral five-ring bent-core mesogens are presented where 4-chlororesorcinol is the central core and the aromatic rings are linked by ester groups. These compounds form smectic phases with a tilted arrangement of the molecules (tilt angle ≈ 45^°). On cooling the isotropic liquid this phase adopts a fan-like texture which shows for two homologues at relatively high electric fields ( 25-35V μm^-1) an antiferroelectric electro-optical response based on the collective rotation of the molecules around their long axes. At lower temperature the application of a sufficiently high electric field leads to a continuous transition into a non-birefringent texture which exhibits randomly distributed domains of opposite handedness. These domains can be reversibly switched into a state of opposite chirality by reversal of the field polarity. This switching is bistable and shows a current response typical for a ferroelectric ground state. The possible mechanism of the field-induced phase transition, of the ferroelectric switching and of the field-induced inversion of the chirality is discussed on the base of XRD, ¹³C- and ¹H-NMR investigations, dielectric and electro-optical measurements.     

Investigations of correlated ρ+ e− emission in heavy-ion collisions near the Coulomb barrier

We present the results obtained from a series of ^+–-coincidence measurements in heavy-ion collisions using the double-Orange-spectrometer at GSI. The collision systems U+U, U+Pb, and U+Ta were investigated at bombarding energies close to and slightly above (U+Ta) the Coulomb barrier. For all systems studied, very narrow (FWHM–20 keV) ^+– lines were observed in the sum-energy spectra, with kinetic energies ranging from 555 keV to 810 keV, superimposed on a continuous distribution mainly due to uncorrelated ^+– emission. Particularly in the U+Ta system, a pronounced sum-energy line appears at 634 keV, predominantly in deep-inelastic collisions. In some cases (e.g. U+Pb) the line characteristics is consistent with a two-body decay mode of an emitter which moves with the c.m. velocity of the colliding ions. However, other lines, and in particular the 634 keV line (U+Ta), exhibit a rather isotropical opening-angle distribution whereas their energy is unequally shared between positrons and electrons, thus being in clear disagreement with this scenario. In general, the data preclude an emission from the separated (moving) nuclei, and, in the latter cases, provide evidence that the e⁺e^–-pair decay occurs in the vicinity of the Coulomb field of a third heavy (positively charged) partner having only a small transverse velocity (|v|<>Dedicated to Prof. B. Povh on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Nanomechanical magnetization reversal

The dynamics of the ferromagnetic order parameter in thin magnetic films is strongly affected by the magnetomechanical coupling at certain resonance frequencies. By solving the equation of motion of the coupled mechanical and magnetic degrees of freedom we show that the magnetic field induced magnetization switching can be strongly accelerated by the lattice and illustrate the possibility of magnetization reversal by mechanical actuation.     

Positron spectra from internal pair conversion observed in 238U + 181Ta collisions

We present new results from measurements and simulations of positron spectra, originating from ²³⁸U + ¹⁸¹Ta collisions at beam energies close to the Coulomb barrier. The measurements were performed using an improved experimental setup at the double-Orange spectrometer of GSI. Particular emphasis is put on the signature of positrons from Internal-Pair-Conversion (IPC) processes in the measured e⁺-energy spectra, following the de-excitation of electromagnetic transitions in the moving Ta-like nucleus. It is shown by Monte Carlo simulations that, for the chosen current sweeping procedure used in the present experiments, positron emission from discrete IPC transitions can lead to rather narrow line structures in the measured energy spectra. The measured positron spectra do not show evidence for line structures within the statistical accuracy achieved, although expected from the intensities of the observed γ-transitions ( E _γ∼ 1250-1600 keV) and theoretical conversion coefficients. This is due to the reduced detection efficiency for IPC positrons, caused by the limited spatial and momentum acceptance of the spectrometer. A comparison with previous results, in which lines have been observed, is presented and the implications are discussed. Received: 27 April 2000 / Accepted: 14 September 2000