Superconductivity in tight-binding approximation

An interpretation of Barisic's relation for transition elements between the d-electron contribution to the cohesive energy and the local atomic parameter eta is presented. This relation is extended to a lattice with more than one atom per unit cell in the tight- binding approximation of rigid ions. It is conjectured that Barisic's relation is correct to first order approximation for transition metal alloys, provided the phonon induced d-d coupling is the dominant mechanism for superconductivity. (auth

Trend of superconductivity in amorphous superconducting transition metals and their alloys

A plausible interpretation for the trend of superconducting transition temperature T/sub c/ in amorphous transition metal TM alloys is presented from a chemical point of view. It is shown that the T/sub c/ behavior is not a reflection of the dependence of the atomic parameter eta on the number of electrons per atom, but rather due to two other effects. One is the changes in the density of states due to the mixing of antibonding and bonding states in the bcc amorphous metals. The other is an increase in the number of valence d electrons participating in the phonon-induced d-d coupling towards the mid series. (auth

Glass transition in metallic glasses: A microscopic model of topological fluctuations in the bonding network

Understanding of the structure and dynamics of liquids and glasses at an atomistic level lags well behind that of crystalline materials, even though they are important in many fields. Metallic liquids and glasses provide an opportunity to make significant advances because of its relative simplicity. We propose a microscopic model based on the concept of topological fluctuations in the bonding network. The predicted glass transition temperature, Tg, shows excellent agreement with experimental observations in metallic glasses. To our knowledge this is the first model to predict the glass transition temperature quantitatively from measurable macroscopic variables

NMR study of the electronic properties and crystal structure of the semiconducting compound Al2Ru

The nontetrahedral semiconductor Al2Ru has been studied by Al27 nuclear magnetic resonance from room temperature to 1200 K. An anomalously large Al27 chemical shift of 313 ppm was observed. The Al27 nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate is extremely slow at room temperature and significantly increases above 500 K. Analysis of these data is consistent with a very low residual density of states at the Fermi level and a narrow band gap. In addition, high-resolution magic-angle-spinning Al27 spectra show that there are two similar but distinguishable aluminum sites, indicating that the actual crystal structure differs slightly from the one determined by x-ray diffraction

The Eliashberg Function of Amorphous Metals

A connection is proposed between the anomalous thermal transport properties of amorphous solids and the low-frequency behavior of the Eliashberg function. By means of a model calculation we show that the size and frequency dependence of the phonon mean-free-path that has been extracted from measurements of the thermal conductivity in amorphous solids leads to a sizeable linear region in the Eliashberg function at small frequencies. Quantitative comparison with recent experiments gives very good agreement.Comment: 4pp., REVTeX, 1 uuencoded ps fig. Original posting had a corrupted raw ps fig appended. Published as PRB 51, 689 (1995

Relationship Between the Thermodynamic Parameters, Structure, and Anticorrosion Properties of Al-Zr-Ni-Fe-Y Alloys

The influence of the chemical composition on the crystallization process, amorphous phase formation, and the anticorrosion properties of Al-Zr-Ni-Fe-Y alloys are presented. To reduce the number of experiments, a thermodynamic approach was applied in which the entropy and Gibbs free energy of representative alloys were optimized. The low glass-forming ability of Al-Zr-Ni-Fe-Y alloy systems was related to the crystallization of the Al3Zr phase from the melt. The structural analysis showed that phases containing Ni and Fe, such as Al19Ni5Y3, Al10Fe2Y, and Al23Ni6Y4, played a key role in the formation of amorphous alloys. According to this, the simultaneous addition of Ni/Fe and Y is important to prevent the crystallization of Al-based alloys in the melt. The formation of an amorphous phase in Al80Zr5Ni5Fe5Y5 alloys and the complete amorphization of Al85Ni5Fe5Y5 alloys were responsible for the high corrosion resistance compared with fully crystalline alloys. Moreover, the addition of Y had a significant impact on the anticorrosion properties. The XPS results showed that the alloys tended to form a passive Al2O3 and Y2O3 layer on the surface

Photonic molecules and spectral engineering

This chapter reviews the fundamental optical properties and applications of pho-tonic molecules (PMs) - photonic structures formed by electromagnetic coupling of two or more optical microcavities (photonic atoms). Controllable interaction between light and matter in photonic atoms can be further modified and en-hanced by the manipulation of their mutual coupling. Mechanical and optical tunability of PMs not only adds new functionalities to microcavity-based optical components but also paves the way for their use as testbeds for the exploration of novel physical regimes in atomic physics and quantum optics. Theoretical studies carried on for over a decade yielded novel PM designs that make possible lowering thresholds of semiconductor microlasers, producing directional light emission, achieving optically-induced transparency, and enhancing sensitivity of microcavity-based bio-, stress- and rotation-sensors. Recent advances in material science and nano-fabrication techniques make possible the realization of optimally-tuned PMs for cavity quantum electrodynamic experiments, classical and quantum information processing, and sensing.Comment: A review book chapter: 29 pages, 19 figure

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is a second generation water Cherenkov detector designed to determine whether the currently observed solar neutrino deficit is a result of neutrino oscillations. The detector is unique in its use of D2O as a detection medium, permitting it to make a solar model-independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis by comparison of the charged- and neutral-current interaction rates. In this paper the physical properties, construction, and preliminary operation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are described. Data and predicted operating parameters are provided whenever possible.Comment: 58 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth. Uses elsart and epsf style files. For additional information about SNO see http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca . This version has some new reference