23 research outputs found
Magnetic anisotropy of spin tetramer system SeCuO studied by torque magnetometry and ESR spectroscopy
We present an experimental study of macroscopic and microscopic magnetic
anisotropy of a spin tetramer system SeCuO using torque magnetometry and
ESR spectroscopy. Large rotation of macroscopic magnetic axes with temperature
observed from torque magnetometry agrees reasonably well with the rotation of
the tensor above ~K. Below 50~K, the
tensor is temperature independent, while macroscopic magnetic axes continue to
rotate. Additionally, the susceptibility anisotropy has a temperature
dependence which cannot be reconciled with the isotropic Heisenberg model of
interactions between spins. ESR linewidth analysis shows that anisotropic
exchange interaction must be present in SeCuO. These findings strongly
support the presence of anisotropic exchange interactions in the Hamiltonian of
the studied system. Below ~K, the system enters a long - range
antiferromagnetically ordered state with easy axis along the
direction. Small but significant rotation of magnetic axes is also observed in
the antiferromagnetically ordered state suggesting strong spin-lattice coupling
in this system.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
Plasmonic resonances in copper island films
The optical properties of Cu island films, in particular their plasmonic behaviour, are investigated. The films are fabricated by electron beam evaporation using different deposition parameters (deposited mass thickness and substrate temperature). The optical response can be tuned from a metal-like behaviour to well-defined localized surface plasmon resonances and is well correlated with the structural and morphological properties of the samples. Significant changes of optical properties take place with sample aging, including quenching and non-monotonic frequency shift of the plasmon resonance. These changes are interpreted in terms of Cu oxidization process, that appears to strongly depend on the initial morphology of samples. Theoretical calculations in the framework of effective medium theories qualitatively explain the experimental observations. Overall, the results give a detailed insight on the morphology dependence and time evolution of the optical response of Cu island films that may provide useful guidelines for applying these nanostructures in plasmonic applications
Influence of RF excitation during pulsed laser deposition in oxygen atmosphere on the structural properties and luminescence of nanocrystalline ZnO:Al thin films
Thin ZnO:Al layers were deposited by pulsed laser deposition in vacuum and in oxygen atmosphere at gas pressures between 10 and 70 Pa and by applying radio-frequency (RF) plasma. Grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) data showed that an increase in the oxygen pressure leads to an increase in the roughness, a decrease in the sample density, and changes in the size distribution of nanovoids. The nanocrystal sizes estimated from GIXRD were around 20 nm, while the sizes of the nanovoids increased from 1 to 2 nm with the oxygen pressure. The RF plasma mainly influenced the nanostructural properties and point defects dynamics. The photoluminescence consisted of three contributions, ultraviolet (UV), blue emission due to Zn vacancies, and red emission, which are related to an excess of oxygen. The RF excitation lowered the defect level related to blue emission and narrowed the UV luminescence peak, which indicates an improvement of the structural ordering. The observed influence of the deposition conditions on the film properties is discussed as a consequence of two main effects: the variation of the energy transfer from the laser plume to the growing film and changes in the growth chemistry