522 research outputs found

    Fe-implanted ZnO: Magnetic precipitates versus dilution

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    Nowadays ferromagnetism is often found in potential diluted magnetic semiconductor systems. However, many authors argue that the observed ferromagnetism stems from ferromagnetic precipitates or spinodal decomposition rather than from carrier mediated magnetic impurities, as required for a diluted magnetic semiconductor. In the present paper we answer this question for Fe-implanted ZnO single crystals comprehensively. Different implantation fluences and temperatures and post-implantation annealing temperatures have been chosen in order to evaluate the structural and magnetic properties over a wide range of parameters. Three different regimes with respect to the Fe concentration and the process temperature are found: 1) Disperse Fe2+^{2+} and Fe3+^{3+} at low Fe concentrations and low processing temperatures, 2) FeZn2_2O4_4 at very high processing temperatures and 3) an intermediate regime with a co-existence of metallic Fe (Fe0^0) and ionic Fe (Fe2+^{2+} and Fe3+^{3+}). Ferromagnetism is only observed in the latter two cases, where inverted ZnFe2_2O4_4 and α\alpha-Fe nanocrystals are the origin of the observed ferromagnetic behavior, respectively. The ionic Fe in the last case could contribute to a carrier mediated coupling. However, their separation is too large to couple ferromagnetically due to the lack of p-type carrier. For comparison investigations of Fe-implanted epitaxial ZnO thin films are presented.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figure

    Crystallographically oriented magnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles synthesized by Fe implantation into ZnO

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    In this paper, a correlation between structural and magnetic properties of Fe implanted ZnO is presented. High fluence Fe^+ implantation into ZnO leads to the formation of superparamagnetic alpha-Fe nanoparticles. High vacuum annealing at 823 K results in the growth of alpha-Fe particles, but the annealing at 1073 K oxidized the majority of the Fe nanoparticles. After a long term annealing at 1073 K, crystallographically oriented ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were formed inside ZnO with the orientation relationship of ZnFe2O4(111)[110]//ZnO(0001)[1120]. These ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles show a hysteretic behavior upon magnetization reversal at 5 K.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, accepted by J. Phys. D: Appl. Phy

    Discrete exterior calculus (DEC) for the surface Navier-Stokes equation

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    We consider a numerical approach for the incompressible surface Navier-Stokes equation. The approach is based on the covariant form and uses discrete exterior calculus (DEC) in space and a semi-implicit discretization in time. The discretization is described in detail and related to finite difference schemes on staggered grids in flat space for which we demonstrate second order convergence. We compare computational results with a vorticity-stream function approach for surfaces with genus 0 and demonstrate the interplay between topology, geometry and flow properties. Our discretization also allows to handle harmonic vector fields, which we demonstrate on a torus.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

    Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Profiles of Sequentially Sampled Modern Bison (Bison bison bison) Teeth from Interior Alaska as Proxies of Seasonal Mobility

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    Studies addressing prehistoric mobility in animals typically use isotopic analyses of sequentially formed tissues, such as the growth layers in teeth, to infer physical movement on the landscape. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr values), which vary geographically, are particularly useful for this purpose, especially when paired with stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O), which vary seasonally. Together, these two isotope systems can provide information about past animal movement patterns on a seasonal scale. However, while many studies have used 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O values from analyses of sequentially formed tissues for this purpose, there have been limited analyses on modern animals of known movement patterns across high-latitude regions. In this pilot study, we sequentially sampled and analyzed one second molar (M2) and two third molars (M3) from two bison (Bison bison bison) from the Delta bison herd, which resides in interior Alaska and has known and documented seasonal mobility patterns. The resulting 87Sr/86Sr values from the teeth were compared to a high-resolution 87Sr/86Sr isoscape for the region and were paired with δ18O analyses to determine whether the seasonal 87Sr/86Sr values matched the predicted values for each of the seasonal bison habitat areas. The results indicate that the 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O values reliably reflected the known seasonal mobility patterns of bison and suggest that this approach could be used to investigate the mobility patterns of prehistoric bison in Alaska and surrounding high-latitude regions.En général, les études qui portent sur la mobilité des animaux préhistoriques se servent d’analyses isotopiques des tissus séquentiellement formés, y compris les couches de développement des dents, afin d’en déduire les mouvements physiques dans l’environnement. Les rapports isotopiques du strontium (87Sr/86Sr) sont particulièrement utiles à cette fin, car ils varient géographiquement, surtout lorsqu’ils sont jumelés avec les rapports isotopiques stables de l’oxygène (δ18O), dont la variabilité est saisonnière. Ensemble, ces deux isotopes peuvent fournir des informations sur les habitudes de déplacement des animaux dans un paysage en fonction des saisons. Cependant, même si plusieurs études ont utilisé les valeurs 87Sr/86Sr et δ18O découlant des analyses des tissus séquentiellement formés à cette fin, peu d’analyses ont été effectuées chez les animaux modernes dont les habitudes de déplacement sont connues dans les régions de haute latitude. Dans cette étude pilote, nous avons séquentiellement échantillonné et analysé une deuxième molaire (M2) et deux troisièmes molaires (M3) de deux bisons (Bison bison bison) du troupeau de bisons du delta, troupeau qui réside dans l’intérieur de l’Alaska et dont les modèles de mobilité saisonnière sont connus et documentés. Les valeurs 87Sr/86Sr obtenues à partir des dents ont été comparées à un paysage isotopique de haute résolution 87Sr/86Sr pour la région et ont été jumelées aux analyses δ18O pour déterminer si les valeurs 87Sr/86Sr saisonnières correspondaient aux valeurs prévues pour les zones d’habitat saisonnières du bison. Les résultats indiquent que les valeurs 87Sr/86Sr et δ18O reflètent fidèlement les modèles connus de mobilité saisonnière du bison, et suggèrent que cette méthode pourrait servir à étudier les modèles de mobilité des bisons préhistoriques en Alaska et dans les régions de haute latitude environnantes

    Late-Glacial Paleoecology of the Middle Susitna Valley, Alaska: Environmental Context for Human Dispersal

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    We present here the results of multi-proxy analyses (sediment geochemistry, diatoms, and pollen) from sediment cores collected at four lakes in the middle Susitna Valley, Alaska. These lakes form a transect from the tundra to the boreal forest. The retrieved cores span from ∼12,000 cal yr BP to the present, with age control provided by radiometric dates and tephra deposits, some of which are newly identified. Results indicate that deglaciation occurred before 12,000 cal yr BP and that by that time, the lakes were deep, productive, and surrounded by shrub tundra. The lake with the highest sampling resolution indicates a brief climatic reversal ∼11,500 cal yr BP with decreased diatom-inferred lake level and lowered lake productivity, and reduced shrub presence. During the early to middle Holocene, all of the sedimentary records provide evidence of climatic amelioration with tree expansion and productive lakes. A middle to late Holocene climatic deterioration with reduced trees and a shallower, less productive lake is also indicated. In addition, the prominent Watana tephra at ∼4,000 cal yr BP likely reduced lake productivity and affected the vegetation. Even though the region was relatively productive soon after deglaciation, people did not occupy the region until ∼11,000 cal yr BP, about 1000 years later, and then only sparsely. By the middle and late Holocene, the region was more densely populated and this shift in human occupancy presumably reflects changes in resource abundance, especially caribou. Whether the Watana ashfall influenced caribou abundance and thus people, is still under investigation, but given the tephra’s effect on vegetation and lake productivity, it seems likely

    Anisotropic susceptibilities in the honeycomb Kitaev system α−RuCl3

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    The magnetic insulator α−RuCl3 is a promising candidate to realize Kitaev interactions on a quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. We perform extensive susceptibility measurements on single crystals of α−RuCl3, including angle dependence of the in-plane longitudinal and transverse susceptibilities, which reveal a unidirectional anisotropy within the honeycomb plane. By comparing the experimental results to a high-temperature expansion of a Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ spin Hamiltonian with bond anisotropy, we find excellent agreement with the observed phase shift and periodicity of the angle-resolved susceptibilities. Within this model, we show that the pronounced difference between in-plane and out-of-plane susceptibilities as well as the finite transverse susceptibility are rooted in strong symmetric off-diagonal Γ spin exchange. The Γ couplings and relationships between other terms in the model Hamiltonian are quantified by extracting relevant Curie-Weiss intercepts from the experimental data

    Fermionic response from fractionalization in an insulating two-dimensional magnet

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    Conventionally ordered magnets possess bosonic elementary excitations, called magnons. By contrast, no magnetic insulators in more than one dimension are known whose excitations are not bosons but fermions. Theoretically, some quantum spin liquids (QSLs) -- new topological phases which can occur when quantum fluctuations preclude an ordered state -- are known to exhibit Majorana fermions as quasiparticles arising from fractionalization of spins. Alas, despite much searching, their experimental observation remains elusive. Here, we show that fermionic excitations are remarkably directly evident in experimental Raman scattering data across a broad energy and temperature range in the two-dimensional material α\alpha-RuCl3_3. This shows the importance of magnetic materials as hosts of Majorana fermions. In turn, this first systematic evaluation of the dynamics of a QSL at finite temperature emphasizes the role of excited states for detecting such exotic properties associated with otherwise hard-to-identify topological QSLs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

    New insights into Eastern Beringian mortuary behavior: A terminal Pleistocene double infant burial at Upward Sun River

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    Here we report on the discovery of two infant burials dating to 11,500 calibrated years (cal) B.P. at the Upward Sun River site in central Alaska. The infants were interred in a pit feature with associated organic and lithic grave goods, including the earliest known North American hafted bifaces with decorated antler foreshafts. Skeletal and dental analyses indicate that Individual 1 died shortly after birth and Individual 2 was a late-term fetus, making these the youngest-aged late Pleistocene individuals known for the Americas and the only known prenate, offering, to our knowledge, the first opportunity to explore mortuary treatment of the youngest members of a terminal Pleistocene North American population. This burial was situated 40 cm directly below a cremated 3-y-old child previously discovered in association with a central hearth of a residential feature. The burial and cremation are contemporaneous, and differences in body orientation, treatment, and associated grave goods within a single feature and evidence for residential occupation between burial episodes indicate novel mortuary behaviors. The human remains, grave goods, and associated fauna provide rare direct data on organic technology, economy, seasonality of residential occupations, and infant/child mortality of terminal Pleistocene Beringians
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