218 research outputs found
Valence modulations in CeRuSn
CeRuSn exhibits an extraordinary room temperature structure at 300~K with
coexistence of two types of Ce ions, namely trivalent Ce and
intermediate valent Ce, in a metallic environment. The ordered
arrangement of these two Ce types on specific crystallographic sites results in
a doubling of the unit cell along the -axis with respect to the basic
monoclinic CeCoAl-type structure. Below room temperature, structural modulation
transitions with very broad hysteresis have been reported from measurements of
various bulk properties. X-ray diffraction revealed that at low temperatures
the doubling of the CeCoAl type structure is replaced by a different modulated
ground state, approximating a near tripling of the basic CeCoAl cell. The
transition is accompanied by a significant contraction of the axis. We
present new x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy data at the Ce L
absorption edge, measured on a freshly cleaved surface of a CeRuSn single
crystal. In contrast to a previous report, the new data exhibit small but
significant variations as function of temperature that are consistent with a
transition of a fraction of Ce ions to the intermediate valence state,
analogous to the transition in elemental cerium,
when cooling through the structural transitions of CeRuSn. Such results in a
valence-modulated state
Field-induced commensurate long-range order in the Haldane-gap system NDMAZ
High-field neutron diffraction studies of the new quantum-disordered S=1
linear-chain antiferromagnet Ni(CHN)N(ClO) (NDMAZ)
are reported. At T=70 mK, at a critical field T applied along the
(013) direction, a phase transition to a commensurate N\'{e}el-like ordered
state is observed. The results are discussed in the context of existing
theories of quantum phase transitions in Haldane-gap antiferromagnets, and in
comparions with previous studies of the related system
Ni(CHN)N(PF)
Communication Subsystems for Emerging Wireless Technologies
The paper describes a multi-disciplinary design of modern communication systems. The design starts with the analysis of a system in order to define requirements on its individual components. The design exploits proper models of communication channels to adapt the systems to expected transmission conditions. Input filtering of signals both in the frequency domain and in the spatial domain is ensured by a properly designed antenna. Further signal processing (amplification and further filtering) is done by electronics circuits. Finally, signal processing techniques are applied to yield information about current properties of frequency spectrum and to distribute the transmission over free subcarrier channels
Current use pesticides in soil and air from two agricultural sites in South Africa: implications for environmental fate and human exposure
Concerns about the possible negative impacts of current use pesticides (CUPs) for both the environment and human health have increased worldwide. However, the knowledge on the occurrence of CUPs in soil and air and the related human exposure in Africa is limited. This study investigated the presence of 30 CUPs in soil and air at two distinct agricultural sites in South Africa and estimated the human exposure and related risks to rural residents via soil ingestion and inhalation (using hazard quotients, hazard index and relative potency factors). We collected 12 soil and 14 air samples over seven days during the main pesticide application season in 2018. All samples were extracted, purified and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. In soils, nine CUPs were found, with chlorpyrifos, carbaryl and tebuconazole having the highest concentrations (up to 63.6, 1.10 and 0.212 ng g(-1), respectively). In air, 16 CUPs were found, with carbaryl, tebuconazole and terbuthylazine having the highest levels (up to 25.0, 22.2 and 1.94 pg m(-3), respectively). Spatial differences were observed between the two sites for seven CUPs in air and two in soils. A large dominance towards the particulate phase was found for almost all CUPs, which could be related to mass transport kinetics limitations (non-equilibrium) following pesticide application. The estimated daily intake via soil ingestion and inhalation of individual pesticides ranged from 0.126 fg kg(-1) day(-1) (isoproturon) to 14.7 ng kg(-1) day(-1) (chlorpyrifos). Except for chlorpyrifos, soil ingestion generally represented a minor exposure pathway compared to inhalation (i.e. <5%). The pesticide environmental exposure largely differed between the residents of the two distinct agricultural sites in terms of levels and composition. The estimated human health risks due to soil ingestion and inhalation of pesticides were negligible although future studies should explore other relevant pathways
Coexistence of different magnetic moments in CeRuSn probed by polarized neutrons
We report on the spin densities in CeRuSn determined at elevated and at low
temperatures using polarized neutron diffraction. At 285 K, where the CeRuSn
crystal structure, commensurate with the CeCoAl type, contains two different
crystallographic Ce sites, we observe that one Ce site is clearly more
susceptible to the applied magnetic field whereas the other is hardly
polarizable. This finding clearly documents that distnictly different local
environment of the two Ce sites causes the Ce ions to split into magnetic Ce3+
and non-magnetic Ce(4-delta)+ valence states. With lowering the temperature,
the crystal structure transforms to a structure incommensurately modulated
along the c axis. This leads to new inequivalent crystallographic Ce sites
resulting in a re-distribution of spin densities. Our analysis using the
simplest structural approximant shows that in this metallic system Ce ions
co-exist in different valence states. Localized 4f states that fulfill the
third Hund's rule are found to be close to the ideal Ce3+ state (at sites with
the largest Ce-Ru interatomic distances) whereas Ce(4-delta)+ valence states
are found to be itinerant and situated at Ce sites with much shorter Ce-Ru
distances. The similarity to the famous alpha-gamma transition in elemental
cerium is discussed.Comment: 3 figures, 1 tabl
Growth of Vertically Aligned ZnO Nanowire Arrays Using Bilayered Metal Catalysts
Vertically aligned, high-density ZnO nanowires (NWs) were grown for the first time on c-plane sapphire using binary alloys of Ni/Au or Cu/Au as the catalyst. The growth was performed under argon gas flow and involved the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth process. We have investigated various ratios of catalyst components for the NWs growth and results indicate that very thin adhesion layers of Ni or Cu deposited prior to the Au layer are not deleterious to the ZnO NW array growth. Significant improvement of the Au adhesion on the substrate was noted, opening the potential for direct catalyst patterning of Au and subsequent NW array growth. Additionally, we found that an increase of in thickness of the Cu adhesion layer results in the simultaneous growth of NWs and nanoplates (NPs), indicating that in this case the growth involves both the VLS and vapor-solid (VS) growth mechanisms. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies were also performed to characterize the resulting ZnO NW arrays, indicating that the NWs grown using a thin adhesion layer of Ni or Cu under the Au show comparable SERS enhancement to those of the pure Au-catalyzed NWs
Lattice collapse and quenching of magnetism in CaFe2As2 under pressure: A single crystal neutron and x-ray diffraction investigation
Single crystal neutron and high-energy x-ray diffraction have identified the
phase lines corresponding to transitions between the ambient-pressure
tetragonal (T), the antiferromagnetic orthorhombic (O) and the non-magnetic
collapsed tetragonal (cT) phases of CaFe2As2. We find no evidence of additional
structures for pressures up to 2.5 GPa (at 300 K). Both the T-cT and O-cT
transitions exhibit significant hysteresis effects and we demonstrate that
coexistence of the O and cT phases can occur if a non-hydrostatic component of
pressure is present. Measurements of the magnetic diffraction peaks show no
change in the magnetic structure or ordered moment as a function of pressure in
the O phase and we find no evidence of magnetic ordering in the cT phase. Band
structure calculations show that the transition results in a strong decrease of
the iron 3d density of states at the Fermi energy, consistent with a loss of
the magnetic moment.Comment: List of authors in metadata and typos in labeling of inset in Fig.
1(a) corrected. One ref. added. No other change
Phase Decomposition and Chemical Inhomogeneity in Nd2-xCexCuO4
Extensive X-ray and neutron scattering experiments and additional
transmission electron microscopy results reveal the partial decomposition of
Nd2-xCexCuO4 (NCCO) in a low-oxygen-fugacity environment such as that typically
realized during the annealing process required to create a superconducting
state. Unlike a typical situation in which a disordered secondary phase results
in diffuse powder scattering, a serendipitous match between the in-plane
lattice constant of NCCO and the lattice constant of one of the decomposition
products, (Nd,Ce)2O3, causes the secondary phase to form an oriented,
quasi-two-dimensional epitaxial structure. Consequently, diffraction peaks from
the secondary phase appear at rational positions (H,K,0) in the reciprocal
space of NCCO. Additionally, because of neodymium paramagnetism, the
application of a magnetic field increases the low-temperature intensity
observed at these positions via neutron scattering. Such effects may mimic the
formation of a structural superlattice or the strengthening of
antiferromagnetic order of NCCO, but the intrinsic mechanism may be identified
through careful and systematic experimentation. For typical reduction
conditions, the (Nd,Ce)2O3 volume fraction is ~1%, and the secondary-phase
layers exhibit long-range order parallel to the NCCO CuO2 sheets and are 50-100
angstromsthick. The presence of the secondary phase should also be taken into
account in the analysis of other experiments on NCCO, such as transport
measurements.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dilatometry study of the ferromagnetic order in single-crystalline URhGe
Thermal expansion measurements have been carried out on single-crystalline
URhGe in the temperature range from 2 to 200 K. At the ferromagnetic transition
(Curie temperature T_C = 9.7 K), the coefficients of linear thermal expansion
along the three principal orthorhombic axes all exhibit pronounced positive
peaks. This implies that the uniaxial pressure dependencies of the Curie
temperature, determined by the Ehrenfest relation, are all positive.
Consequently, the calculated hydrostatic pressure dependence dT_C/dp is
positive and amounts to 0.12 K/kbar. In addition, the effective Gruneisen
parameter was determined. The low-temperature electronic Gruneisen parameter
\Gamma_{sf} = 14 indicates an enhanced volume dependence of the ferromagnetic
spin fluctuations at low temperatures. Moreover, the volume dependencies of the
energy scales for ferromagnetic order and ferromagnetic spin fluctuations were
found to be identical.Comment: 5 page
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