Multiferroic TbMnO3 nanoparticles

We report on the synthesis of TbMnO₃ nanoparticles by chemical co-precipitation route and their structural, chemical bonding, magnetic and dielectric properties. It is shown that the interesting multiferroic properties of this system as reflected by the concurrent occurrence of magnetic and dielectric transitions are retained in the nanoparticles (size∼40 nm). However, the nanoparticle constitution and properties are seen to depend significantly on the calcination temperature. While the nanoparticles obtained by calcination at 800 °C correspond very well with the reported properties of single phase TbMnO₃ (all the key magnetic and dielectric features near 7, 27 and 41 K, albeit with reduced dielectric constant) the nanoparticles obtained by calcination at 900 °C develop a Tb deficient skin which softens the transitions, reducing the dielectric constant further.     

Formation and magnetic properties of Co–Fe-based bulk metallic glasses with supercooled liquid region

A new Co–Fe-based ferromagnetic bulk metallic glass (BMG) was synthesized by copper mould casting method. The thermal stability and crystallization processes were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The soft magnetic behavior was studied by DC magnetic measurements. The high glass formation ability was interpreted in terms of the effective suppression of nucleation and growth of the intermetallic compounds which appear in the multicomponent system during solidification. The high thermal stability indicates that the new Co–Fe-based BMG could be used as high-temperature magnetic material. The low coercivity which was as low as 8 A/m for the as-cast sample was found in the Co–Fe-based metallic glass cylinder with a diameter of 1.5 mm.     

Enhanced transmission of electromagnetic waves through metamaterials

This paper reviews our recent experimental and simulation results regarding the electromagnetic wave transmission through three configurations of sandwiching structures of metamaterials: a metallic mesh sandwiched between two identical layers composed of split rings, metallic fractals, and fractal slits, respectively. We observed the enhanced transmission of the waves through these three types of sandwiching composites with respect to the opaque metallic mesh. The locations of the transmission peaks in the spectrum are associated closely with the band characteristics of the sandwiching layer by appearing either on the left- or the right-hand side of its band. PACS 41.20.Jb; 42.70.Qs; 78.20.-e; 42.25.Bs; 47.53.+n     

Radiation induced decomposition of halogenated organic compounds in water

Decomposition by ionizing radiations of p-chlorophenol and tetrachloroethylene in synthetic water samples at about 2 mg Cl L⁻¹, has been studied on laboratory-scale experiments. Bicarbonate/carbonate and nitrate ions, at two concentration levels (20 and 200 mg HCO₃⁻¹ and 1 and 50 mg NO₃⁻L⁻) were added to synthetic samples in order to evaluate their influence on decomposition yield. At 5 kGy γ dose level, a quantitative degradation of p-chlorophenol is obtained whereas only qualitative consideration can be drawn on tetracholoroethylene. Comparative study with respect to degradation of p-cholophenol solutions (about 2 mg Cl L⁻¹) by γ-rays and electron beam irradiation treatment at 0.5 kGy dose level, are in progress; preliminary results indicate that irradiation with γ-rays seems to be more efficient in terms of removal efficiency respect to electron beams source.     

Radiation-induced fermion resonance

The Dirac equation is solved for two novel terms which describe the interaction energy between the half-integral spin of a fermion and the classical, circularly polarized, electromagnetic field. A simple experiment is suggested to test the new terms and the existence of radiation-induced fermion resonance.     

Excitation energy transfer between Er3+ and Tm3+ in LiNbO3

Conclusions Nonradiative energy transfer between similar and different rare-earth ions in LiNbO₃ has been evidenced for the first time. The contribution of nonradiative energy transfer to the decay of the¹G₄ and³H₄ levels of thulium and the⁴S_3/2 and⁴I_13/2 levels of erbium is significant for activator concentrations of the order of several thousand ppm in LiNbO₃. The excitation of higher-lying levels of both activators is transferred faster in codoped crystal to the lowest luminescent levels, from which the luminescence in the 1–2-μm spectral region occurs. This accelerated relaxation is advantageous for broadband optical pumping since the contribution of radiative transitions competing with the³F₄−³H₆ laser transition of thulium is reduced. On the other hand, it appears that erbium ions will influence adversely the efficiency of a laser-diode-pumped LiNbO₃∶Er, Tm laser operating near 1.8 μm since the part of the³H₄ excitation transferred to erbium ions is emitted from the long-lived⁴I_11/2 level of Er³⁺. Furthermore, the⁴I_13/2 excitation is not transferred fully to thulium ions and is lost in⁴I_13/2−⁴I_15/2 emission. Lithium niobate singly doped with thulium is more promising since the cross-relaxation process that transfers the excitation from the³H₄ level to the³F₄ level appears to be efficient in this host. Published in Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 62, No. 5, pp. 125–133, September–October, 1995.     

QCD corrections to the forward-backward asymmetries of c and b quarks at the Z pole

Measurements of the forward-backward production asymmetry of heavy quarks in Z decays provide a precise determination of . The asymmetries are sensitive to QCD effects, in particular hard gluon radiation. In this paper QCD corrections for and are discussed. The interplay between the experimental techniques used to measure the asymmetries and the QCD effects is investigated using simulated events. A procedure to estimate the correction needed for experimental measurements is proposed, and some specific examples are given. Received: 26 February 1998 / Published online: 2 June 1998