312 research outputs found
Epitaxial growth and transport properties of Nb-doped SrTiO thin films
Nb-doped SrTiO epitaxial thin films have been prepared on (001)
SrTiO substrates using pulsed laser deposition. A high substrate
temperature () was found to be necessary to achieve
2-dimensional growth. Atomic force microscopy reveals atomically flat surfaces
with 3.9 \AA steps. The films show a metallic behavior, residual
resistivity ratios between 10 and 100, and low residual resistivity of the
order of 10cm. At 0.3 K, a sharp superconducting transition,
reaching zero resistance, is observed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Ion induced quark-gluon implosion
We investigate nuclear fragmentation in the central proton-nucleus and
nucleus - nucleus collisions at the energies of LHC. We argue that within the
semi-classical approximation because of fast increase with energy of cross
sections of soft and hard interactions each nucleon is stripped in the average
process off ``soft'' partons and fragments into a collection of leading quarks
and gluons with large . Valence quarks and gluons are streaming in the
opposite directions when viewed in the c.m. of the produced system. The
resulting pattern of the fragmentation of the colliding nuclei leads to an
implosion of the quark and gluon constituents of the nuclei. The matter density
produced at the initial stage in the nucleus fragmentation region is estimated
to be 50 GeV/fm at the LHC energies and probably 10
GeV/fm at RHIC.Comment: 5 pages, final version, discussion of the signals of the new phase is
expande
151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy and x-ray-diffraction studies on the Pb2Ba2EuCu3O8+[delta] system
Simultaneous replacement of Sr by Ba and Y by Eu in the Pb-2213 system was found to yield single-phase Pb2Ba2EuCu3O8+δ samples, suitable for Eu151 Mössbauer measurements. The samples were synthesized by a solid-state reaction of metal oxides and carbonates under an inert atmosphere. An oxygen-rich sample corresponding to δ=1.79 was obtained by annealing the as-synthesized material (δ=0.16) in oxygen. The oxygen annealing increased the size of the lattice constants and led to an orthorhombic-to-tetragonal phase transition of the structure. The samples were also oriented in an 11.7-T magnetic field. The x-ray-diffraction spectra showed that the c axes tended to orient perpendicular to the applied field. The measured Mössbauer spectra exhibited an electric quadrupole interaction typical of the Eu site in high-Tc cuprates. The average orientation angles obtained from fittings of the Mössbauer spectra were in accordance with the results from the x-ray-diffraction measurements.Peer reviewe
X-ray scattering from surfaces: discrete and continuous components of roughness
Incoherent surface scattering yields a statistical description of the
surface, due to the ensemble averaging over many independently sampled volumes.
Depending on the state of the surface and direction of the scattering vector
relative to the surface normal, the height distribution is discrete,
continuous, or a combination of the two. We present a treatment for the
influence of multimodal surface height distributions on Crystal Truncation Rod
scattering. The effects of a multimodal height distribution are especially
evident during in situ monitoring of layer-by-layer thin-film growth via Pulsed
Laser Deposition. We model the total height distribution as a convolution of
discrete and continuous components, resulting in a broadly applicable
parameterization of surface roughness which can be applied to other scattering
probes, such as electrons and neutrons. Convolution of such distributions could
potentially be applied to interface or chemical scattering. Here we find that
this analysis describes accurately our experimental studies of SrTiO3
annealing and homoepitaxial growth.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure
Precise determination of the hyperfine parameters of europium in multifluorite perovskites by 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy
The hyperfine interactions at the europium lattice sites in samples of the homologous (Fe,Cu)Sr2(Eu,Ce)nCu2O4+2n+z (n=2,3) series were studied by Eu151 Mössbauer spectroscopy. The work was motivated by the search for new superconducting phases. This homologous series is based on the YBa2Cu3O7−δ (1:2:3) structure. The samples used in the Mössbauer measurements consisted of crystallites with random orientation and grain oriented crystallites. The texture of oriented samples was analyzed by x-ray diffraction. The complete quadrupole Hamiltonian of the 21.5-keV γ-transition of Eu151 was successfully applied in the analyses of all the Mössbauer spectra. In samples having n≤2 the europium atoms occupy a single lattice site, whereas the spectra of the n=3 samples exhibit hyperfine interactions of the two different europium sites. Analyzing the hyperfine parameters of the latter samples was made possible by simultaneous fitting of three spectra, corresponding to three different crystal orientations of the same specimen. This fitting scheme also enables more precise determination of the hyperfine parameters in the n=2 samples. In these samples an electric field gradient (EFG), with a large negative-valued main component (Vzz) parallel with the crystal c axis, was found. In the n=3 samples, the two EFG’s of the europium sites were found to have Vzz components of opposite signs. The negative Vzz value was attributed to the rare-earth site adjacent to the CuO layer. This site, found in all samples of the series, corresponds to the rare-earth site of the 1:2:3 system.Peer reviewe
Europium substitution effects in superconducting YBa2Cu4O8 synthesized under one atmosphere oxygen pressure
Y1−xEuxBa2Cu4O8 powder samples, with x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0, were synthesized at ambient pressure using either an acetate-tartrate sol-gel method or a LiF flux process. The lattice parameters and purity of the samples were checked using X-ray diffraction. The superconducting transition was monitored by magnetic-susceptibility measurements. Replacing yttrium with europium increased the unit-cell volume, decreased the orthorhombicity (b/a) and the critical temperature. The hyperfine interactions at the europium site were studied by Eu151 Mössbauer spectroscopy. The complete quadrupole Hamiltonian of the 21.5-keV γ transition of Eu151 was successfully applied in the analyses of the Mössbauer spectra. The Mössbauer parameters obtained were found to resemble those measured for the EuBa2Cu3Cu3O7−δ (1:2:3) system. It was demonstrated that magnetic alignment of the crystallites could not be obtained with an 11.7-T field, contrary to the 1:2:3 and other high-Tc systems. The magnetic susceptibility for 1:2:4 single crystals appears to be isotropic.Peer reviewe
Europium-based high-temperature superconductors studied by x-ray diffraction and 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy
Isotropic powders and magnetically aligned crystallites of EuBa2Cu3O7−δ (1:2:3) and europium-doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (2:2:1:2) were studied by means of x-ray diffraction and Eu151 Mössbauer spectroscopy. The degree of crystallite orientation of the samples and the values of the lattice constants were determined by x-ray diffraction. The Mössbauer spectra were analyzed considering the full hyperfine Hamiltonian of the nuclear states of the 21.5-keV γ transition. The Mössbauer hyperfine parameters obtained from the superconducting and semiconducting phases are presented. A small change is seen in the Eu151 isomer shift when the oxygen deficiency δ of the 1:2:3 compound is varied. The shift can be explained by a decrease in the s-electron density due to lattice expansion. The changes in the oxidation state of the copper atoms with varying δ were determined from the Mössbauer data: The Cu(2) atoms retain their oxidation state, whereas the Cu(1) atoms adjust their valence according to the value of δ. In the 2:2:1:2 samples, the Eu concentration clearly affected the value of the electric-field gradient at the Eu nucleus. Using a standard procedure, magnetically aligned 2:2:1:2 samples were prepared. The preferred direction of the crystal c axis changed from parallel to perpendicular alignment with the external magnetic field, when the Eu concentration exceeded 20% of the Ca atoms.Peer reviewe
Coulomb induced diffraction of energetic hadrons into jets
The electromagnetic (e.m.) current conservation and renormalizability of QCD
are used to calculate the amplitude of energetic hadron(photon) diffraction
into several jets with large relative transverse momenta off the
nucleon(nucleus) Coulomb field. Numerical estimates of the ratio of e.m. and
strong amplitudes show that within the kinematic range where the leading twist
approximation for the strong amplitude is applicable, the e.m. contribution can
be neglected. In pA scattering at LHC and in the fragmentation of a photon into
two jets in ultraperipheral AA collisions in the black limit (which maybe
realistic at LHC) e.m. contribution may win.Comment: 10 page
Photoemission from buried interfaces in SrTiO3/LaTiO3 superlattices
We have measured photoemission spectra of SrTiO3/LaTiO3 superlattices with a
topmost SrTiO3 layer of variable thickness. Finite coherent spectral weight
with a clear Fermi cut-off was observed at chemically abrupt SrTiO3/LaTiO3
interfaces, indicating that an ``electronic reconstruction'' occurs at the
interface between the Mott insulator LaTiO3 and the band insulator SrTiO3. For
SrTiO3/LaTiO3 interfaces annealed at high temperatures (~ 1000 C), which leads
to Sr/La atomic interdiffusion and hence to the formation of La1-xSrxTiO3-like
material, the intensity of the incoherent part was found to be dramatically
reduced whereas the coherent part with a sharp Fermi cut-off is enhanced due to
the spread of charge. These important experimental features are well reproduced
by layer dynamical-mean-field-theory calculation
Ab-initio electronic and magnetic structure in La_0.66Sr_0.33MnO_3: strain and correlation effects
The effects of tetragonal strain on electronic and magnetic properties of
strontium-doped lanthanum manganite, La_{2/3}Sr_{1/3}MnO_3 (LSMO), are
investigated by means of density-functional methods. As far as the structural
properties are concerned, the comparison between theory and experiments for
LSMO strained on the most commonly used substrates, shows an overall good
agreement: the slight overestimate (at most of 1-1.5 %) for the equilibrium
out-of-plane lattice constants points to possible defects in real samples. The
inclusion of a Hubbard-like contribution on the Mn d states, according to the
so-called "LSDA+U" approach, is rather ineffective from the structural point of
view, but much more important from the electronic and magnetic point of view.
In particular, full half-metallicity, which is missed within a bare
density-functional approach, is recovered within LSDA+U, in agreement with
experiments. Moreover, the half-metallic behavior, particularly relevant for
spin-injection purposes, is independent on the chosen substrate and is achieved
for all the considered in-plane lattice constants. More generally, strain
effects are not seen to crucially affect the electronic structure: within the
considered tetragonalization range, the minority gap is only slightly (i.e. by
about 0.1-0.2 eV) affected by a tensile or compressive strain. Nevertheless, we
show that the growth on a smaller in-plane lattice constant can stabilize the
out-of-plane vs in-plane e_g orbital and significatively change their relative
occupancy. Since e_g orbitals are key quantities for the double-exchange
mechanism, strain effects are confirmed to be crucial for the resulting
magnetic coupling.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, to be published on J. Phys.: Condensed Matte
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