The suppression of superconductivity in MgCNi3 by Ni-site doping

The effects of partial substitution of Cu and Co for Ni in the intermetallic perovskite superconductor MgCNi3 are reported. Calculation of the expected electronic density of states suggests that electron (Cu) and hole (Co) doping should have different effects. For MgCNi3-xCux, solubility of Cu is limited to approximately 3% (x = 0.1), and Tc decreases systematically from 7K to 6K. For MgCNi3-xCox, solubility of Co is much more extensive, but bulk superconductivity disappears for Co doping of 1% (x = 0.03). No signature of long range magnetic ordering is observed in the magnetic susceptibility of the Co doped material.Comment: submitted, Solid State Communication

Absence of a structural transition up to 40 Gpa in MgB2 and the relevance of magnesium non-stoichiometry

We report measurements on MgB2 up to ~40GPa. Increasing pressure yields a monotonous decrease of the lattice parameters and of the c/a ratio, but no structural transition down to parameters smaller than those of AlB2. The transition superconducting temperature also decreases with temperature in a sample dependent way. The results are explained by an increase of the filling of the 2D pxy bands with pressure, the Mg stoichiometry determining the starting position of the Fermi level. Our measurements indicate that these hole bands are the relevant ones for superconductivity.Comment: submitted March 9th 2001, PRB accepte

Electric field control of multiferroic domains in Ni3_3V2_2O8_8 imaged by X-ray polarization enhanced topography

The magnetic structure of multiferroic Ni$_3$V$_2$O$_8$ has been investigated using non-resonant X-ray magnetic scattering. Incident circularly polarized X-rays combined with full polarization analysis of the scattered beam is shown to yield high sensitivity to the components of the cycloidal magnetic order, including their relative phases. New information on the magnetic structure in the ferroelectric phase is obtained, where it is found that the magnetic moments on the "cross-tie" sites are quenched relative to those on the "spine" sites. This implies that the onset of ferroelectricity is associated mainly with spine site magnetic order. We also demonstrate that our technique enables the imaging of multiferroic domains through polarization enhanced topography. This approach is used to image the domains as the sample is cycled by an electric field through its hysteresis loop, revealing the gradual switching of domains without nucleation.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

First principles investigation of the electronic structure of La2MnNiO6: A room-temperature insulating ferromagnet

Using first principles calculations within DFT based on the full potential APW+lo method, we calculated the electronic and magnetic structures for the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states of La2MnNiO6 and analyzed the site projected density of states and electronic band structures. Our calculations show that the ground state of La2MnNiO6 is ferromagnetic insulating with the magnetization in agreement with Hund's first rule and experimental findings.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Épocas de floração de cultivares de oliveira em Castelo Branco, Elvas e Santarém

Comunicação apresentada no III Simpósio Nacional de Olivicultura que decorreu em Castelo Branco, de 29 a 31 de Outubro, na Escola Superior Agrária do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.A época de floração da oliveira está determinada pelas características genéticas inerentes a cada cultivar e é influenciada por factores climatéricos, variáveis de ano para ano. Esta influência do clima pode provocar importantes modificações anuais nas épocas de floração, aspecto fundamental para a calendarização das técnicas culturais do olival. Para além desta influência, a caracterização das épocas de floração é, também, importante para o estudo e conhecimento da adaptação de diferentes cultivares a uma região e para os programas de melhoramento genético, entre outros. Neste trabalho caracteriza-se a época de floração de cinco cultivares de oliveira, nas regiões de Castelo Branco, Elvas e Santarém, durante os anos de 2000, 2001 e 2002. Os resultados obtidos revelaram a existência de diferenças nas datas de floração e na duração de floração, entre cultivares e regiões, mantendo-se constante a ordem de entrada das cultivares em floração. As condições climatéricas prevalecentes no período de Janeiro a Maio, nomeadamente as temperaturas, condicionaram o calendário da floração, exercendo uma marcada influência no momento de início da floração e na duração do período de floração

Magnetically driven ferroelectric order in Ni3_3V2_2O8_8

We show that for Ni$_3$V$_2$O$_8$ long-range ferroelectric and incommensurate magnetic order appear simultaneously in a single phase transition. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the spontaneous polarization show a strong coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric orders. We determine the magnetic symmetry of this system by constraining the data to be consistent with Landau theory for continuous phase transitions. This phenomenological theory explains our observation the spontaneous polarization is restricted to lie along the crystal b axis and predicts that the magnitude should be proportional to a magnetic order parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Coupled Negative magnetocapacitance and magnetic susceptibility in a Kagome staircase-like compound Co3V2O8

The dielectric constant of the Kagome staircase-like Co3V2O8 polycrystalline compound has been measured as function of temperature and magnetic field up to 14T. It is found that the application of an external magnetic field suppresses the anomaly for the dielectric constant beyond 6.1K. Furthermore, its magnetic field dependence reveals a negative magnetocapacitance which is proportional to the magnetic susceptibility, suggesting a common magnetostrictive origin for the magnetic field dependence of the two quantities. This result is very different from that obtained from the isostructural compound Ni3V2O8 that presents a peak in the dielectric constant at the incommensurate magnetic phase transition coupled to a sign change of the magnetocapacitance