Theoretical study of metal-insulator transition in rhombohedral vanadium sesquioxide

The electronic structure and the metal-insulator transition (MIT) of V₂O₃ are investigated in the framework of density functional theory and GGA+U. It is found that, both the insulating and metallic phases can be realized in rhombohedral structure by varying the on-site Coulomb interaction, and the MIT in V₂O₃ can take place without any structure phase transition. Our calculated energy gap (0.63 eV) agrees with experimental result very well. The metallic phase exhibits high spin (S=1) character, but it becomes S=1/2 in insulating phase. According to our analysis, the Mott-Hubbard and the charge-transfer induce the MIT together, and it supports the mechanism postulated by Tanaka (2002) [11].     

Defect induced ferromagnetism in carbon-doped ZnO thin films

We report on room temperature ferromagnetism in C-doped ZnO thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation. Magnetization, Hall effect, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction studies have been conducted to investigate the source and nature of ferromagnetism in C-doped ZnO. The samples were observed to have n-type conduction with the carrier concentration increasing with C doping. XPS does not give any evidence for C substituted at the O site, and is more consistent with the formation of C-O bonds and with the presence of C primarily in the +4 state. It is suggested that the ferromagnetism originates in the development of Zn vacancies that are stabilized due to the incorporation of C in a high valence state (C⁴⁺).     

Spintronic properties of the Ti2CoB Heusler compound by density functional theory

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of the Ti₂CoB Heusler compound with a high-ordered CuHg₂Ti structure were investigated using the self-consistent full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method within the density functional theory (DFT). Spin-polarized calculations show that the Ti₂CoB compound is half-metallic ferromagnetic with a magnetic moment of 2 μ_B at the equilibrium lattice constant, a=5.74 Å. The Ti₂CoB Heusler compound is ferromagnetic below the equilibrium lattice constant and ferrimagnetic above the equilibrium lattice constant. A large peak in majority-spin DOS and an energy gap in minority-spin DOS are observed at the Fermi level, yielding a spin polarization of 100%. A spin polarization higher than 90% is achieved for a wide range of lattice constants between 5.6 and 6.0 Å.     

The effect of Fe doping on superconductivity in ZrRuP

This work reports the structure and superconducting properties of the superconductor ZrRuP doped with Fe; the ZrRu_1−xFe_xP solid solution was investigated by means of X-ray powder diffraction, SQUID magnetometry and Mößbauer spectroscopy. It is shown that the modification of the superconducting properties by doping with Fe is similar to the effect of chemical pressure and that the Fe doped compounds do not show any magnetic ordering.     

Auger process in CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots

Auger processes are investigated for CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots. Auger recombination (AR) lifetime and electron relaxation inside the core are computed. Using the effective-mass theory and by solving a three-dimension Schrödinger equation we predict the dependence of Auger relaxation on size of core-shell nanocrystals. We considered in this work different AR processes: the excited electron (EE), excited hole (EH), multiexciton AR type. Likewise, Auger multiexciton recombination rates are predicted for biexciton. Our results show that biexciton AR type is more efficient than the other AR process (excited electron (EE) and excited hole (EH)). We also found that electron Auger relaxation P→S is very efficient in core-shell nanostructures.     

Crystal and magnetic structures of Y2CrS4

Chromium(II) sulfide, Y₂CrS₄, prepared by a solid-state reaction of Y₂S₃ and CrS, showed an antiferromagnetic transition at 65 K. The neutron diffraction patterns at 10 and 90 K were both well refined with the space group Pca2₁. At 90 K, cell parameters were a=12.5518(13) Å, b=7.5245(8) Å, and c=12.4918(13) Å. At 10 K, magnetic peaks were observed, which could be indexed on the same unit cell. Magnetic moments of chromium ions were parallel to the b-axis and antiferromagnetically ordered in each set of the 4a sites.     

Spectroscopic and photoluminescence characteristics of Dy ions in lead containing sodium fluoroborate glasses for laser materials

Lead containing calcium zinc sodium fluoroborate (LCZSFB) glasses doped with different concentrations of trivalent dysprosium ions were prepared and investigated by the XRD, FTIR, optical absorption, photoluminescence and decay curve analysis. The experimentally determined oscillator strengths have been determined by measuring the areas under the absorption peaks and the Judd–Ofelt (J–O) intensity parameters were calculated using the least squares fit method. From the evaluated J–O parameters the radiative transition probability rates, radiative lifetimes and branching ratios were calculated for ⁴F_9/2 excited level. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra for different concentrations of Dy³⁺-doped LCZSFB glasses were obtained by exciting the glass samples at 386 nm. The intensity of Dy³⁺ emission spectra increases with increasing concentration of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mol% and beyond 1.0 mol% the concentration quenching is observed. The measuring branching ratios are reasonably high for transitions ⁴F_9/2→⁶H_15/2 and ⁶H_13/2, suggesting that the emission at 484 and 576 nm, respectively, can give rise to lasing action in the visible region. From the visible emission spectra, yellow–blue (Y/B) intensity ratios and chromaticity color coordinates were also estimated. The lifetimes of ⁴F_9/2 metastable state for the samples with different concentrations were also measured and discussed.     

Photoluminescence of CdGeP2 and (Cd,Mn)GeP2

Photoluminescence of CdGeP₂ (112) single crystal and CdGeP₂ epitaxial film grown on GaAs (001) substrate have been studied and their spectral similarity found. Spectral bands associated with donor/acceptor transitions peak at close energies for both substances and all are lower than the energy gap of the chalcopyrite crystal.On the other hand, the growth of (Cd,Mn)GeP₂ ferromagnetic layer on CdGeP₂ (112) single crystal was performed to make it possible observation of PL from both the ferromagnetic layer and substrate. The green laser excitation (514, 532 nm) produces a proper photoluminescence similar to that in the undoped CdGeP₂ crystal and film. An extra emission from the ferromagnetic-nonmagnetic heterojunction occurs to extend up to photon energies exceeding E_g of the host semiconductor. The short wavelength photoluminescence is to be due to (Cd,Mn)GeP₂ dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS). This fact states that Mn-doped II-IV-V₂ chalcopyrites are closer to II-VI DMS than to another group III-V DMS, where the heavy Mn-doping suppresses photoluminescence at all. Features of the observed short wavelength emission are discussing based on the temperature and spectral analyses.     

Effect of substrate texture on the growth of hematite nanowires

The effect of texture of iron foil substrate on the growth of hematite nanowires by annealing method has been investigated in detail. Three substrates of different textures were prepared from a [2 0 0] oriented iron foil by some simple processes. The hematite nanowires on these substrates were synthesized by annealing iron foil at 700 °C in moist oxygen. The growth pattern of nanowires on these substrates showed that the growth of hematite nanowires depends strongly on the iron substrate texture and [1 1 0] oriented iron grains are necessary for their growth. The samples were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Raman Spectroscopy. We have also tried to explain the various observations on the mechanism of growth. Mainly, the presence of water vapor significantly enhanced the formation of hematite nanowires which resulted in a very dense and aligned growth of nanowires on the substrate areas of favorable texture. Finally, the study proved the substrate texture to be a powerful tool to control growth of nanowires and can be used efficiently for patterning and large scale synthesis of the nanowires.     

Poincaré duality algebras mod two

We study Poincaré duality algebras over the field F₂ of two elements. After introducing a connected sum operation for such algebras we compute the corresponding Grothendieck group of surface algebras (i.e., Poincaré algebras of formal dimension 2). We show that the corresponding group for 3-folds (i.e., algebras of formal dimension 3) is not finitely generated, but does have a Krull-Schmidt property.We then examine the isomorphism classes of 3-folds with at most three generators of degree 3, provide a complete classification, settle which such occur as the cohomology of a smooth 3-manifold, and list separating invariants.The closing section and Appendix A provide several different means of constructing connected sum indecomposable 3-folds.