Magnetic Properties of the low dimensional spin system (VO)2_2P2_2O7_{7}: ESR and susceptibility

Experimental results on magnetic resonance (ESR) and magnetic susceptibility are given for single crystalline (VO)$_2$P$_2$O$_{7}$. The crystal growth procedure is briefly discussed. The susceptibility is interpreted numerically using a model with alternating spin chains. We determine $J$=51 K and $\delta$=0.2. Furthermore we find a spin gap of $\approx 6$meV from our ESR measurements. Using elastic constants no indication of a phase transition forcing the dimerization is seen below 300 K.Comment: 7 pages, REVTEX, 7 figure

Energy transfer processes in Er-doped SiO2 sensitized with Si nanocrystals

We present a high-resolution photoluminescence study of Er-doped SiO2 sensitized with Si nanocrystals (Si NCs). Emission bands originating from recombination of excitons confined in Si NCs and of internal transitions within the 4f-electron core of Er3+ ions, and a band centered at lambda = 1200nm have been identified. Their kinetics have been investigated in detail. Based on these measurements, we present a comprehensive model for energy transfer mechanisms responsible for light generation in this system. A unique picture of energy flow between subsystems of Er3+ and Si NCs is developed, yielding truly microscopic information on the sensitization effect and its limitations. In particular, we show that most of the Er3+ ions available in the system are participating in the energy exchange. The long standing problem of apparent loss of optical activity of majority of Er dopants upon sensitization with Si NCs is clarified and assigned to appearance of a very efficient energy exchange mechanism between Si NCs and Er3+ ions. Application potential of SiO2:Er sensitized by Si NCs is discussed in view of the newly acquired microscopic insight.Comment: 30 pages 13 figure

Dispersion and damping of zone-boundary magnons in the noncentrosymmetric superconductor CePt3Si

Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) is employed to study damped spin-wave excitations in the noncentrosymmetric heavy-fermion superconductor CePt3Si along the antiferromagnetic Brillouin-zone boundary in the low-temperature magnetically ordered state. Measurements along the (1/2 1/2 L) and (H H 1/2-H) reciprocal-space directions reveal deviations in the spin-wave dispersion from the previously reported model. Broad asymmetric shape of the peaks in energy signifies strong spin-wave damping by interactions with the particle-hole continuum. Their energy width exhibits no evident anomalies as a function of momentum along the (1/2 1/2 L) direction, which could be attributed to Fermi-surface nesting effects, implying the absence of pronounced commensurate nesting vectors at the magnetic zone boundary. In agreement with a previous study, we find no signatures of the superconducting transition in the magnetic excitation spectrum, such as a magnetic resonant mode or a superconducting spin gap, either at the magnetic ordering wavevector (0 0 1/2) or at the zone boundary. However, the low superconducting transition temperature in this material still leaves the possibility of such features being weak and therefore hidden below the incoherent background at energies ~0.1 meV, precluding their detection by INS

A double junction model of irradiated silicon pixel sensors for LHC

In this paper we discuss the measurement of charge collection in irradiated silicon pixel sensors and the comparison with a detailed simulation. The simulation implements a model of radiation damage by including two defect levels with opposite charge states and trapping of charge carriers. The modeling proves that a doubly peaked electric field generated by the two defect levels is necessary to describe the data and excludes a description based on acceptor defects uniformly distributed across the sensor bulk. In addition, the dependence of trap concentrations upon fluence is established by comparing the measured and simulated profiles at several fluences and bias voltages.Comment: Talk presented at the 10th European Symposium on Semiconductor Detectors, June 12-16 2005, Wildbad Kreuth, Germany. 9 pages, 4 figure

Ion counting efficiencies at the IGISOL facility

At the IGISOL-JYFLTRAP facility, fission mass yields can be studied at high precision. Fission fragments from a U target are passing through a Ni foil and entering a gas filled chamber. The collected fragments are guided through a mass separator to a Penning trap where their masses are identified. This simulation work focuses on how different fission fragment properties (mass, charge and energy) affect the stopping efficiency in the gas cell. In addition, different experimental parameters are varied (e. g. U and Ni thickness and He gas pressure) to study their impact on the stopping efficiency. The simulations were performed using the Geant4 package and the SRIM code. The main results suggest a small variation in the stopping efficiency as a function of mass, charge and kinetic energy. It is predicted that heavy fragments are stopped about 9% less efficiently than the light fragments. However it was found that the properties of the U, Ni and the He gas influences this behavior. Hence it could be possible to optimize the efficiency.Comment: 52 pages, 44 figure

Fluence Dependence of Charge Collection of irradiated Pixel Sensors

The barrel region of the CMS pixel detector will be equipped with ``n-in-n'' type silicon sensors. They are processed on DOFZ material, use the moderated p-spray technique and feature a bias grid. The latter leads to a small fraction of the pixel area to be less sensitive to particles. In order to quantify this inefficiency prototype pixel sensors irradiated to particle fluences between $4.7\times 10^{13}$ and 2.6\times 10^{15} \Neq have been bump bonded to un-irradiated readout chips and tested using high energy pions at the H2 beam line of the CERN SPS. The readout chip allows a non zero suppressed analogue readout and is therefore well suited to measure the charge collection properties of the sensors. In this paper we discuss the fluence dependence of the collected signal and the particle detection efficiency. Further the position dependence of the efficiency is investigated.Comment: 11 Pages, Presented at the 5th Int. Conf. on Radiation Effects on Semiconductor Materials Detectors and Devices, October 10-13, 2004 in Florence, Italy, v3: more typos corrected, minor changes required by the refere

Decreasing the chromatographic quantitation uncertainty using the external standard and standard addition methods with additional standards

Три из известных методов количественного газохроматографического анализа (внешнего стандарта, абсолютной градуировки и стандартной добавки) в наибольшей степени «чувствительны» к воспроизводимости дозирования проб. Неконтролируемые потери компонентов проб во время этой операции закономерно приводят к увеличению как случайных, так и систематических погрешностей определений. Охарактеризованы модификации методов внешнего стандарта и стандартной добавки, заключающиеся во введении дополнительных стандартов в анализируемые образцы. Важно, что на химическую природу таких стандартов нет никаких ограничений, так как они необходимы только для вычисления относительных площадей пиков. Все вычисления далее проводят не с абсолютными, а с относительными площадями хроматографических пиков. Специальными экспериментами показано, что относительные стандартные отклонения относительных площадей пиков в 6-38 раз меньше, чем значения аналогичных статистических характеристик абсолютных площадей. Это позволяет проводить количественные определения с приемлемой точностью даже в условиях низкой воспроизводимости дозирования. Для выявления потерь проб на стадии дозирования предложено использовать гистограммы распределения площадей хроматографических пиков. Для их построения число параллельных определений должно быть не менее 20. Приведены расчетные соотношения для модифицированных методов внешнего стандарта и стандартной добавки с использованием дополнительных стандартов, в том числе для получения оценок случайных составляющих погрешностей определений.There are three methods from the known methods of the quantitative chromatographic analysis (external standard, absolute calibration, and standard addition) that are most “sensitive” to the reproducibility of the sample injection. Non-controlled constituents losses of the injected samples lead to the increase of both random and systematic errors of the results. The modifications of external standard and standard addition methods with the use of additional standards were characterized. It is important to note that there are no restrictions on the chemical origin of such standards, so far as they are required for calculation of the relative peak areas only. All calculations were conducted not with absolute, but with relative peak areas. Relative standard deviations of the relative peak areas were 6-38 times less than those of absolute peak areas, which was established in the result of special experiments. This allowed quantitation with the appropriate precision even at the low reproducibility of the injection. The use of histograms for the peak areas was recommended for revealing the losses of samples during injection. However, their application required at least 20 parallel experiments. The equations for calculations, including those for evaluations of values of possible errors, were presented for modified methods of external standard and standard addition supported with additional standards

Momentum-space structure of quasielastic spin fluctuations in Ce3Pd20Si6

Among heavy-fermion metals, Ce$_3$Pd$_{20}$Si$_6$ is one of the heaviest-electron systems known to date. Here we used high-resolution neutron spectroscopy to observe low-energy magnetic scattering from a single crystal of this compound in the paramagnetic state. We investigated its temperature dependence and distribution in momentum space, which was not accessible in earlier measurements on polycrystalline samples. At low temperatures, a quasielastic magnetic response with a half-width {\Gamma}=0.1 meV persists with varying intensity all over the Brillouin zone. It forms a broad hump centered at the (111) scattering vector, surrounded by minima of intensity at (002), (220) and equivalent wave vectors. The momentum-space structure distinguishes this signal from a simple crystal-field excitation at 0.31 meV, suggested previously, and rather lets us ascribe it to short-range dynamical correlations between the neighboring Ce ions, mediated by the itinerant heavy f-electrons via the RKKY mechanism. With increasing temperature, the energy width of the signal follows the conventional T$\scriptstyle^{1/2}$ law, {\Gamma}(T) = {\Gamma}$_0$ + A*T$\scriptstyle^{1/2}$. The momentum-space symmetry of the quasielastic response suggests that it stems from the simple-cubic Ce sublattice occupying the 8c Wyckoff site, whereas the crystallographically inequivalent 4a site remains magnetically silent in this material.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

CeRu4_4Sn6_6: a strongly correlated material with nontrivial topology

Topological insulators form a novel state of matter that provides new opportunities to create unique quantum phenomena. While the materials used so far are based on semiconductors, recent theoretical studies predict that also strongly correlated systems can show non-trivial topological properties, thereby allowing even the emergence of surface phenomena that are not possible with topological band insulators. From a practical point of view, it is also expected that strong correlations will reduce the disturbing impact of defects or impurities, and at the same increase the Fermi velocities of the topological surface states. The challenge is now to discover such correlated materials. Here, using advanced x-ray spectroscopies in combination with band structure calculations, we infer that CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ is a strongly correlated material with non-trivial topology.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Scientific Report