Structural,Optical and Electrochromic Properties of WO_3 Thin Films Prepared by Chemical Spray Pyrolysis Versus Spin Coating Technique

In this study, Tungsten Oxide (WO₃) thin films were prepared by Chemical Spray Pyrolysis (CSP) and Spin Coating (SC) techniques and it was investigated effects of technique and parameter on the films. WO₃ thin films were deposited on ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) coated glasses. The structural, optical and electrochromic properties of the WO₃ thin films were characterized by XRD, SEM, UV, and CV measurements. The sharpest (200) peak was observed in the XRD spectra and optical band gaps were calculated around 2.6～3.1 eV via UV-Vis spectra for all of the samples. Micro fibrous reticulated surface (filamentous like) morphology for the films deposited by CSP technique and smooth surface morphology with high optical transmittance for the film deposited by SC Technique were obtained from SEM images. In addition to these results, it was revealed that all the samples exhibit good electrochromic performance.     

Perspectives of antiferromagnetic spintronics

Antiferromagnets are promising for future spintronic applications owing to their advantageous properties: They are magnetically ordered, but neighboring magnetic moments point in opposite directions, which results in zero net magnetization. This means antiferromagnets produce no stray fields and are insensitive to external magnetic field perturbations. Furthermore, they show intrinsic high frequency dynamics, exhibit considerable spin–orbit and magneto-transport effects. Over the past decade, it has been realized that antiferromagnets have more to offer than just being utilized as passive components in exchange bias applications. This development resulted in a paradigm shift, which opens the pathway to novel concepts using antiferromagnets for spin-based technologies and applications. This article gives a broad perspective on antiferromagnetic spintronics. In particular, the manipulation and detection of antiferromagnetic states by spintronics effects, as well as spin transport and dynamics in antiferromagnetic materials will be discussed. We will also outline current challenges and future research directions in this emerging field.     

A high-efficiency spin polarizer based on edge and surface disordered silicene nanoribbons

Using the tight-binding formalism, we explore the effect of weak disorder upon the conductance of zigzag edge silicene nanoribbons (SiNRs), in the limit of phase-coherent transport. We find that the fashion of the conductance varies with disorder, and depends strongly on the type of disorder. Conductance dips are observed at the Van Hove singularities, owing to quasilocalized states existing in surface disordered SiNRs. A conductance gap is observed around the Fermi energy for both edge and surface disordered SiNRs, because edge states are localized. The average conductance of the disordered SiNRs decreases exponentially with the increase of disorder, and finally tends to disappear. The near-perfect spin polarization can be realized in SiNRs with a weak edge or surface disorder, and also can be attained by both the local electric field and the exchange field.     

Comment on ‘Ab initio study: the potential energy curves and rovibrational spectrum of low-lying excited states of HCl+ cation’ (Molecular Physics, 114:19, 2817–2823)

In a recent article, Y. Liu, X. Cheng, H. Cheng, J. Cheng and X. Song [Mol. Phys., 114:19, 2817–2823] report on the calculation of potential energy curves and the derivation of spectroscopic constants and line intensities for the lowest energy electronic states of HCl⁺. There are several shortcomings in the article; the most notable being the incorrect ordering of the ²П_3/2 and ²П_1/2 state energies, erroneous selection rules, which lead to the absence of a Q-branch in their predicted spectra, incorrect Höln–London factors, and a missing appendix.     

波状膜层全角度偏振分束特性的分析

从能带结构和等频面两方面完整阐述了利用光子晶体实现全角度偏振分束的条件，分析等频面目的在于确保波矢的切向分量保持连续，采用时域有限差分(FDTD)方法模拟了高斯光束在波状膜层中的传播过程，通过对比TE模与TM模在0°—89°不同入射角情况下的振幅透射系数，理论上验证了波状膜层的全角度偏振分束效应. 关键词： 光子晶体 偏振分束 等频面     

Study of natural diamonds by dynamic nuclear polarization-enhanced C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The results of a study of two types of natural-diamond crystals by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)-enhanced high-resolution solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are reported. The home-built DNP magic-angle spinning (MAS) ¹³C NMR spectrometer operates at 54 GHz for electrons and 20.2 MHz for carbons. The power of the microwave source was about 30 W and the highest DNP enhancement factor came near to 10³. It was shown that in the MAS spectra the ¹³C NMR linewidths of the I_b-type diamond were broader than those of I_aB3-type diamond. From the hyperfine structure of the DNP enhancement as a function of frequency, four kinds of nitrogen-centred and one kind of carbon-centred free radicals could be identified in the I_b-type diamond. The hyperfine structures of the DNP enhancement curve that originated from the anisotropic hyperfine interaction between electron and nuclei could be partially averaged out by MAS. The ¹³C polarization time of DNP was rather long, i.e. 1500 s, and the spin—lattice relaxation time (without microwave irradiation) was about 300 s, which was somewhat shorter than anticipated. Discussions on these experimental results have been made in this report.     

Orthogonal-polarization compensation method for measuring unsteady vertical force of a bumblebee in a wind tunnel

It is important to measure the unsteady vertical force of an insect in a wind tunnel for studying the flight performance of insects. Optical method can measure it with high accuracy, but it is affected by air turbulence. An orthogonal-polarization compensation (OPC) method is developed for measuring the beating force of a bumblebee in a wind tunnel and compensating the error due to beam fluctuations induced by air turbulence. The applicability of the OPC method was confirmed by using a piezo translator to generate the tilt angle variation. The results show that by using the OPC method, the error in tilt angle measurement due to air turbulence can be decreased by about 80% compared with that using the conventional angle measurement method. The OPC method was then applied to measure the tilt angle variation caused by the beating motion of a bumblebee attached to one end of a sensor block in a wind tunnel for a wind velocity of 1.1 ms⁻¹. The results confirmed the effectiveness of this new method.     

Coherence and squeezing in superpositions of spin coherent states

We consider the superpositions of spin coherent states and study the coherence properties and spin squeezing in these states. The spin squeezing is examined using a new version of spectroscopic squeezing criteria. The results show that the antibuching effect can be enhanced and spin squeezing can be generated in the superpositions of two spin coherent states.     

Neutron diffraction study of the magnetic ordering in the series R 2 BaNiO 5 (R = Rare Earth)

A neutron diffraction study, as a function of temperature, of the title compounds is presented. The whole family (space group Immm, a ≈ 3.8?, b ≈ 5.8?, c ≈ 11.3?) is structurally characterised by the presence of flattened NiO₆ octahedra that form chains along the a-axis, giving rise to a strong Ni-O-Ni antiferromagnetic interaction. Whereas for Y-compound only strong 1D correlations exist above 1.5 K, presenting the Haldane gap characteristic of 1D AF chain with integer spin, 3D AF ordering is established simultaneously for both R and Ni sublattices at temperatures depending on the rare earth size and magnetic moment. The magnetic structures of R₂BaNiO₅ ( R = Nd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Tm) have been determined and refined as a function of temperature. The whole family orders with a magnetic structure characterised by the temperature-independent propagation vector = (1/2, 0, 1/2). At 1.5 K the directions of the magnetic moments differ because of the different anisotropy of the rare earth ions. Except for Tm and Yb (which does not order above 1.5 K), the magnetic moment of the R³⁺ cations are close to the free-ion value. The magnetic moment of Ni²⁺ is around 1.4 , the strong reduction with respect to the free-ion value is probably due to a combination of low-dimensional quantum effects and covalency. The thermal evolution of the magnetic structures from T _N down to 1.5 K is studied in detail. A smooth re-orientation, governed by the magnetic anisotropy of R³⁺, seems to occur below and very close to T _N in some of these compounds: the Ni moment rotates from nearly parallel to the a-axis toward the c-axis following the R moments. We demonstrate that for setting up the 3D magnetic ordering the R-R exchange interactions cannot be neglected. Received 19 July 2001