Allophane: a natural gel in volcanic soils with interesting environmental properties

Volcanic (allophanic) soils are interesting in terms of the control of the greenhouse effect and the knowledge of the porous features is of importance to understand the mechanism of C and N sequestration. These soils contain a peculiar clay: allophane aggregates quite close to the synthetic mineral gels aggregates. These volcanic materials behave as gels during drying with a large irreversible shrinkage that can modify the soil physical properties. Consequently, as for silica gels, we use the CO₂ supercritical drying procedure (SD) to control the drying step and to preserve the structural and textural properties of the soils. The experimental results show that the N and C content in the soils is clearly dependent on the allophane content. We also show that the textural properties, such as specific surface area, are higher for the supercritically dried samples, compared to the classically dried samples, and SAXS results confirm the preserving effect of the SD. With these data, we propose possible effects of the specific surface area on the C and N content of the allophanic soils.     

Algebraic cycles and topology of real Enriques surfaces

For a real Enriques surface Y we prove that every homology class in H₁(Y (R), Z/2) can be represented by a real algebraic curve if and only if all connected components of Y(R) are orientable. Furthermore, we give a characterization of real Enriques surfaces which are Galois-Maximal and/or Z-Galois-Maximal and we determine the Brauer group of any real Enriques surface Y.     

Towards an universal classification of scale invariant processes

We consider fields which take random values over several decades. Starting from physical examples, we postulate that scale is not an absolute quantity. We then establish the equivalence between two existing approaches based on scale symmetry arguments as general as possible. This yields a classification of log-infinitely divisible laws, possibly universal. The physical significance of the parameters entering in the classification is discussed. Received: 7 November 1997 / Received in final form: 26 March 1998 / Accepted: 30 March 1998     

Mn-site doping induced CMR properties in calcium rich manganites Pr1‒xCaxMnO3(0.6 ≤ x ≤ 0.7)

Doping of Mn-site by chromium, cobalt and nickel has been investigated in the calcium rich manganites and . Whatever the nature of the doping element, a rapid disappearance of the charge ordered (CO) state is observed, decreasing as the doping rate increases. But the most important result concerns the Cr-doped compounds for which a re-entrant insulator to metal transition at 90-120 K is observed for x =0.10-0.12, in a zero magnetic field. The possibility to induce colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) properties for high (IV) contents ((IV)/) for x =0.07-0.12 is shown for the first time, the resistance ratios reaching at 30 K. This study also shows differently that the small size of the A-site cation (Pr, Ca) is not a redhibitory obstacle to the appearance of CMR properties in manganites, in contrast with previously established phase diagrams. Received: 18 June 1997 / Revised: 4 August 1997 / Accepted: 10 November 1997     

Collisions for the quantum Coulomb Hamiltonian

We study the propagation of phase space singularities for the time dependent Schrödinger equation with potential having Coulomb-type singularities in space dimension equal tothree. We prove that the singularities (frequency set) of the solution are reflected by a Coulomb center exactly as in the classical problem, i.e. the frequency set follows theregularized trajectories of Classical Mechanics after a collision.     

Unconventional antiferromagnetic correlations of the doped Haldane gapsystem Y 2 BaNi 1 - x Zn x O 5

We make a new proposal to describe the very low temperature susceptibility of the doped Haldane gap compound Y₂BaNi_1-xZn_xO₅. We propose a new mean field model relevant for this compound. The ground state of this mean field model is unconventional because antiferromagnetism coexists with random dimers. We present new susceptibility experiments at very low temperature. We obtain a Curie-Weiss susceptibility χ( T ) ∼ C /(Θ + T ) as expected for antiferromagnetic correlations but we do not obtain a direct signature of antiferromagnetic long range order. We explain how to obtain the “impurity” susceptibility ( T ) by subtracting the Haldane gap contribution to the total susceptibility. In the temperature range [1 K, 300 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = C _imp 1 + T _imp / T . In the temperature range [100 mK, 1 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = A ln( T / T _c ), where T _c increases with x. This fit suggests the existence of a finite Néel temperature which is however too small to be probed directly in our experiments. We also obtain a maximum in the temperature dependence of the ac-susceptibility ( T ) which suggests the existence of antiferromagnetic correlations at very low temperature. Received 17 July 2001     

Thickness dependence of the magnetic anisotropy of Fe layers separated by Al

Magnetic multilayers of ⁵⁷Fe with nominal thickness, T _nom, between 0.4 and 1.0 nm separated by 3.0 nm Al spacer layers were prepared by alternate deposition of the constituents in high vacuum. The samples were investigated at 4.2 K in external magnetic field. A fraction of Fe atoms corresponding to about 0.3 nm equivalent Fe-thickness was found to mix into the Al spacer. The extremely strong magnetic anisotropy observed for T _nom < 0.8 nm is attributed to Fe layers of approximately two atomic planes thick. The anisotropy decreases considerably after the building up of the third Fe atomic layer starts at T _nom = 0.8 nm, but full saturation was not achieved even for T _nom = 1 nm and 3 T magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the sample plane.     

Calibration of imaging laser-induced fluorescence measurements in highly absorbing flames

It has been described earlier that imaging measurements of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in flames can be calibrated to number densities with an integrated absorption measurement provided the integrated absorption is small. In this paper a method is presented that extends the technique to flames with substantial absorption, improves the number density determination and allows the experimental parameters to be chosen more freely. The method is based on an iterative computer procedure that reconstructs the 1-D spatially resolved absorption profile from laser measurements of the 1-D spatially resolved LIF and the integrated absorption of the laser beam. The technique is experimentally demonstrated by measurements of OH number densities in atmospheric flames. It is potentially a single-pulse method. Other applications of the iterative procedure are mentioned.