On the hyperfine interaction in rare-earth Van Vleck paramagnets at high magnetic fields

An influence of high magnetic fields on hyperfine interaction in the rare-earth ions with non-magnetic ground state (Van Vleck ions) is theoretically investigated for the case of $Tm^{3+}$ ion in axial symmetrical crystal electric field (ethylsulphate crystal). It is shown that magnetic-field induced distortions of $4f$-electron shell lead to essential changes in hyperfine magnetic field at the nucleus. The proposed theoretical model is in agreement with recent experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, submitted to J. Phys. : Cond. Mat

EPR Evidence of Unusual Dopant Valency States in Nanocrystalline Er-doped CeO<inf>2</inf>

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Wien. The structure and oxidation state of the Er dopant cation in CeO2 single crystal and nanocrystals with size ranging from 22 to 300 nm are studied using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at X- and at Q-band near liquid-He temperatures. Besides the expected EPR line due to Er3+ in cubic sites in the lattice, unusual EPR lines with g values around 14 and 20 are observed in nanocrystalline CeO2. The appearance of these lines suggests the formation of non-Kramers Er2+, Er4+ ions, which becomes increasing favorable with decreasing nanoparticle size. Formation of rare earth ions with such unusual oxidation states in nanoparticles can be exploited in tuning their catalytic activity and optical properties

Identification of the La6F37 cubooctahedral clusters in mixed crystals (BaF2)1 - X (LaF3) x by the electron paramagnetic resonance method

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of mixed crystals (BaF2)1 - x (LaF3) x (x = 0, 0.001, 0.002, 0.005, 0.010, 0.020) doped with Ce3+ ions (0.1%) are investigated at a frequency v ≈ 9.5 GHz in magnetic fields up to 1.45 T at temperatures T = 10 and 15 K. The EPR spectrum of "pure" barium fluoride BaF2 (x = 0) is characterized by a single Ce 3+-F- center with tetragonal symmetry (i.e., the O center with g || = 2.601 and g ⊥ = 1.555). For a lanthanum trifluoride concentration x 0, the spectrum exhibits new lines due to the presence of the clusters containing Ce3+ and La3+ ions. The intensity of EPR signals from the O centers decreases rapidly as the lanthanum trifluoride concentration x increases. The lines attributed to a paramagnetic center with tetragonal symmetry and strongly anisotropic g factors (i.e., the K center with g || = 0.725 and g ⊥ = 2.52) are separated in the complex EPR spectrum with the use of the angular dependence of the EPR signal intensity measured for the samples with x > 0.002. This center is identified as a cubooctahedral cluster of the La 6F37 type in which one of the La3+ ions is replaced by the Ce3+ ion. © 2007 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Nature of size-dependent lattice distortions in doped CeO2

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy of Gd3+ probe ions is used to investigate the nature of size dependent lattice distortions in bulk and nanocrystalline CeO2 with crystallite sizes of 600 and 10 nm, respectively, and doped with 0.5 and 1 cation% Y. The Gd3+ ions in bulk CeO2 are primarily located in almost perfect cubic crystal field, and the presence of the nearest neighbor vacancies results in trigonal distortion of this crystal field. In contrast, for nanocrystalline ceria, although the long-range symmetry remains unchanged, decreasing size results in local distortion of the crystal-field that is significantly different than that induced by the presence of nearest-neighbor oxygen vacancies. Different types of distortions are observed for the cation sites in the core and the surface regions of the nanocrystallites. Such lattice distortions at short-range are fundamental to the nanocrystalline state, being related to the increased ratio of the surface:bulk energy at nanometer length scales and provides mechanistic understanding of previously reported lattice parameter changes and phase transitions in nanocrystalline oxides. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

Temperature dependence of the EPR linewidth of Yb3+ - ions in Y0.99Yb0.01Ba2Cu3OX compounds: Evidence for an anomaly near TC

Electron paramagnetic resonance experiments on doped Yb3+ ions in YBaCuO compounds with different oxygen contents have been made. We have observed the strong temperature dependence of the EPR linewidth in the all investigated samples caused by the Raman processes of spin-lattice relaxation. The spin-lattice relaxation rate anomaly revealed near TC in the superconducting species can be assigned to the phonon density spectrum changesComment: 10 pages, 4 figures Renewed versio

Pseudospherical surfaces on time scales: a geometric definition and the spectral approach

We define and discuss the notion of pseudospherical surfaces in asymptotic coordinates on time scales. Thus we extend well known notions of discrete pseudospherical surfaces and smooth pseudosperical surfaces on more exotic domains (e.g, the Cantor set). In particular, we present a new expression for the discrete Gaussian curvature which turns out to be valid for asymptotic nets on any time scale. We show that asymptotic Chebyshev nets on an arbitrary time scale have constant negative Gaussian curvature. We present also the quaternion-valued spectral problem (the Lax pair) and the Darboux-Backlund transformation for pseudospherical surfaces (in asymptotic coordinates) on arbitrary time scales.Comment: 20 page

EPR of Gd3+ ion in mixed CeO2-Y2O3 nanocrystals

This paper reports on the results of EPR studies of mixed CeO2-Y2O3 crystals (including nano-sized crystals) doped by gadolinium ions. It is revealed that the width of the line corresponding to the allowed transition 1/2 ↔ -1/2 between the Kramers-conjugated states {divides}±1/2〉 of the Gd3+ ion decreases with a decrease in the powder size from macrosizes to nanosizes. The observed dependence can be due to the increase in the unit cell size during grinding of the samples. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2009

Electron paramagnetic resonance in mixed crystals (BaF2) 1-x(LaF3)x Activated by Ce3+ Ions

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of mixed crystals (BaF2)1 - x - y(LaF3)x(CeF 3)y (y = 0.001 = 0.1%, x = 0-0.02) are investigated in a magnetic field H ∥ C4 at a frequency of 9.5 GHz. The angular dependence of the EPR spectrum is measured for the sample with x = 0.02. The lines attributed to Ce3+ impurity centers with tetragonal symmetry and g factors (g∥ = 0.75, g⊥ = 2.4) close to those measured for the KY3F10: Ce3+ compound are separated in the complex EPR spectrum. The assumption is made that the aforementioned impurity centers are cubooctahedral clusters of the La 6F37 type in which one of the La3+ ions is replaced by the Ce3+ ion. © 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc

Field dependence of spin-lattice relaxation of Nd3+ ions in y3Al5O12 crystals

Our studies involve measuring spin-lattice relaxation times for Nd3+ ions in yttrium-aluminum garnets over the temperature range 4-50 K at 9.25 and 36.4 GHz for different orientations of the external magnetic field in relation to the crystallographic axes. The temperature dependence of the relaxation rate is described by T1 -1=ATn + b exp(-ΔAT), where n varies from sample to sample, with n=1 for "perfect" samples (i.e., with the longest relaxation times). Here A is approximately 130 cm-1, which is the energy of the excited Kramers doublet of the neodymium ion closest to the ground state, and this makes it possible to interpret the second term in T1 -1 as the contribution of two-stage relaxation proceeding through the intermediate level Δ. A strong field dependence of these processes has been discovered: when the frequency was increased fourfold, the relaxation rate increased by a factor of 10. The effect is a specific manifestation of the degeneracy of the excited level, breaking of the symmetry of the crystalline field due to lattice defects, and the prevalence of deformations of a certain type in the spin-lattice interaction. ©1997 American Institute of Physics

Environmentally-acquired bacteria influence microbial diversity and natural innate immune responses at gut surfaces

Background: Early microbial colonization of the gut reduces the incidence of infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Recent population studies reveal that childhood hygiene is a significant risk factor for development of inflammatory bowel disease, thereby reinforcing the hygiene hypothesis and the potential importance of microbial colonization during early life. The extent to which early-life environment impacts on microbial diversity of the adult gut and subsequent immune processes has not been comprehensively investigated thus far. We addressed this important question using the pig as a model to evaluate the impact of early-life environment on microbe/host gut interactions during development. Results: Genetically-related piglets were housed in either indoor or outdoor environments or in experimental isolators. Analysis of over 3,000 16S rRNA sequences revealed major differences in mucosa-adherent microbial diversity in the ileum of adult pigs attributable to differences in early-life environment. Pigs housed in a natural outdoor environment showed a dominance of Firmicutes, in particular Lactobacillus, whereas animals housed in a hygienic indoor environment had reduced Lactobacillus and higher numbers of potentially pathogenic phylotypes. Our analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between the abundance of Firmicutes and pathogenic bacterial populations in the gut. These differences were exaggerated in animals housed in experimental isolators. Affymetrix microarray technology and Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction revealed significant gut-specific gene responses also related to early-life environment. Significantly, indoor-housed pigs displayed increased expression of Type 1 interferon genes, Major Histocompatibility Complex class I and several chemokines. Gene Ontology and pathway analysis further confirmed these results. Conclusion: Early-life environment significantly affects both microbial composition of the adult gut and mucosal innate immune function. We observed that a microbiota dominated by lactobacilli may function to maintain mucosal immune homeostasis and limit pathogen colonization