Early stages of interface formation of C60 on GaAs(1 0 0)

We present a detailed investigation of the electronic properties of C₆₀ grown on GaAs(1 0 0) substrates, as a function of the fullerene coverage, from the very early stages of interface formation up to the development of a bulk-like fullerene film. We monitor the chemical interactions and the energy levels alignment by means of X-rays, ultraviolet and inverse photoemission spectroscopies. The two latter techniques allow to investigate the electronic structure close to the Fermi level. Energy levels alignment at the interfaces of C₆₀ with p-doped and GaAs(1 0 0) are obtained and discussed.     

Size Effect on Local Magnetic Moments in Ferrimagnetic Molecular Complexes: An XMCD Investigation

Summary.  Molecular chemistry allows to synthesize new magnetic systems with controlled properties such as size, magnetization or anisotropy. The theoretical study of the magnetic properties of small molecules (from 2 to 10 metallic cations per molecule) predicts that the magnetization at saturation of each ion does not reach the expected value for uncoupled ions when the magnetic interaction is antiferromagnetic. The quantum origin of this effect is due to the linear combination of several spin states building the wave function of the ground state and clusters of finite size and of finite spin value exhibit this property. When single crystals are available, spin densities on each atom can be experimentally given by Polarized Neutron Diffraction (PND) experiments. In the case of bimetallic MnCu powdered samples, we will show that X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy can be used to follow the evolution of the spin distribution on the Mn^II and Cu^II sites when passing from a dinuclear MnCu unit to a one dimensional (MnCu) _n compound. Corresponding author. E-mail: Christophe.Cartier@lure.u-psud.fr Received September 4, 2002; accepted September 6, 2002     

Secondary electron yield enhancement by MgO capping layers

The yield of secondary electrons emitted from an epitaxial three monolayer (3 ML) NiO(1 0 0)/Ag(1 0 0) film excited by soft X-ray linearly polarized synchrotron radiation at the Ni L_2,3 absorption threshold has been measured for different values of the thickness of a MgO(1 0 0) capping layer. Compared with the as grown 3 ML NiO(1 0 0)/Ag(1 0 0) film, we observe a significant enhancement by about a factor 1.2 of the secondary electron emission for the capped 8 ML MgO(1 0 0)/3 ML NiO(1 0 0)/Ag(1 0 0) sample. A further substantial yield enhancement by a factor 1.6 with respect to the uncapped NiO sample is observed after deposition of an additional 8 ML MgO(1 0 0) film, for a total capping layer thickness of 16 ML. The observed secondary electron yield enhancement is discussed in terms of modified electronic structure, surface work function changes, and characteristic electron propagation lengths.     

Synthesis and photosynthetic inhibition activity of substituted 5-(bis-trifluoromethyl)methyl)-2-aminothiazoles

The reaction of 5,5,5-trifluoro-4-trifluoromethyl-pent-3-en-2-one with aminothiocarbonyls yielded aminothiourea precursors which readily cyclised to the corresponding thiazole derivatives, 5-(bis-trifluoromethyl)methyl)-2-aminothiazoles. The inhibitory potency of photosystem II activity of these thiazoles was evaluated using fluorescence measurement techniques. Two of the compounds showed a good activity in comparison with the reference compound DCMU, 3-(3,4-dichlorophenol)-1,1-dimethylurea. Calculation of lipophilicity according to Rekker and Frey, and a corresponding experimental determination are reported.     

Theory of oxides surfaces, interfaces and supported nano-clusters

Oxides surfaces and thin films are finding continuous new technological applications and represent an important class of systems in materials science. Today we assist to a considerable effort to characterize the surfaces and the interfaces of oxide materials at an atomistic level. The intense experimental activity in this field has stimulated a parallel computational activity based on high-quality first principle calculations. In this review we focus our attention on the properties of oxide surfaces, and we describe the main factors that contribute to determine their behaviour: (1) nature of the bonding and electronic structure of the oxide; (2) surface morphology and defectivity; (3) doping and functionalization; (4) redox properties; (5) nano-dimensionality (e.g. in ultra-thin films). We also show how each of these parameters can affect the properties of supported metal atoms and nano-particles.     

Covalency in the electronic structure of Fe3O4: An ultraviolet inverse photoemission investigation

The unoccupied electronic structure of an opend-shell transition metal oxide, namely Fe₃O₄, has been addressed by measuring ultraviolet angle-integrated inverse photoemission (IP) spectra acquired in the isochromat mode (hv=10.2-24 eV). Exploitation of photon energy dependence of symmetry-projected IP cross-sections and comparison with the O 1s X-ray absorption spectrum allow us to recognize a strong covalent admixture of Fe [3d; 4 (sp)]-and O (2p)-derived states in this compound.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of CoO/Fe(001) and Fe/CoO/Fe(001) layered structures

We report on the nanometer scale morphology of CoO thin films grown on top of Fe(001) substrates from the early stages of interface formation (few atomic layers), and on the surface topography of Fe/CoO/Fe(001) layered structures. The growth of the CoO films is dominated by formation of islands up to about 5 nominal atomic layers, then it proceeds in the layer-plus-island regime. The surface topography of thin Fe films grown on top of the CoO/Fe systems is strongly influenced by the morphology of the latter. Moreover, we observe a strong relationship between the growth mode and the chemical interactions at the CoO/Fe interface, since thick layers of iron oxides develop only below the CoO islands, as an effect of the proximity between Fe and Co atoms. We finally discuss possible implications of our observations on the magnetic properties of these layered magnetic structures.