Advantageous use of metallic cobalt in the target for Pulsed Laser Deposition of cobalt-doped ZnO films

We investigate the magnetic properties of ZnCoO thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from targets made containing metallic Co or CoO precursors instead of the usual Co3O4. We find that the films grown from metallic Co precursors in an oxygen rich environment contain negligible amounts of Co metal, and have a large magnetization at room temperature. Structural analysis by X-ray diffraction and magneto-optical measurements indicate that the enhanced magnetism is due, in part, from Zn vacancies that partially compensate the naturally occurring n-type defects. We conclude that strongly magnetic films of Zn0.95Co0.05O that do not contain metallic cobalt can be grown by PLD from Co-metal-precursor targets if the films are grown in an oxygen atmosphere

Non-cubic layered structure of Ba(1-x)K(x)BiO3 superconductor

Bismuthate superconductor Ba(1-x)K(x)BiO3 (x=0.27-0.49, Tc=25-32K) grown by an electrolysis technique was studied by electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. The crystalline structure thereof has been found to be non-cubic, of the layered nature, and non-centrosymmetric, with the lattice parameters a ~ ap, c ~ 2ap (ap is a simple cubic perovskite cell parameter) containing an ordered arrangement of barium and potassium. The evidence for the layered nature of the bismuthate superconductor removes the principal crystallographic contradiction between bismuthate and cuprate high-Tc superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Physical Review B as a Rapid Communicatio

Relevance of the preparation of the target for PLD on the magnetic properties of films of iron-doped indium oxide

This paper concerns the importance of the preparation of the targets that may be used for pulsed laser deposition of iron-doped indium oxide films. Targets with a fixed concentration of iron are fabricated from indium oxide and iron metal or one of the oxides of iron, FeO, Fe3O4 and Fe2O3. Films from each target were ablated onto sapphire substrates at the same temperature under different oxygen pressures such that the thickness of the films was kept approximately constant. The films were studied using X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption (both XANES and EXAFS), optical absorption and magnetic circular dichroism. The magnetic properties were measured with a SQUID magnetometer. At the lowest oxygen pressure, there was evidence that some of the iron ions in the films were in the state Fe2+, rather than Fe3+, and there was also a little metallic iron; these properties were accompanied by a substantial magnetisation. As the amount of the oxygen was increased, the number of defect phases and the saturation magnetisation was reduced and the band gap increased. In each case, we found that the amount of the oxygen that had been included in the target from the precursor added to the effect of adding oxygen in the deposition chamber. It was concluded that the amount of oxygen in the target due to the precursor was an important consideration but not a defining factor in the quality of the films

Phase diagram of the one-dimensional extended attractive Hubbard model for large nearest-neighbor repulsion

We consider the extended Hubbard model with attractive on-site interaction U and nearest-neighbor repulsions V. We construct an effective Hamiltonian H_{eff} for hopping t<<V and arbitrary U<0. Retaining the most important terms, H_{eff} can be mapped onto two XXZ models, solved by the Bethe ansatz. The quantum phase diagram shows two Luttinger liquid phases and a region of phase separation between them. For density n<0.422 and U<-4, singlet superconducting correlations dominate at large distances. For some parameters, the results are in qualitative agreement with experiments in BaKBiO.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

X-ray standing wave and reflectometric characterization of multilayer structures

Microstructural characterization of synthetic periodic multilayers by x-ray standing waves have been presented. It has been shown that the analysis of multilayers by combined x-ray reflectometry (XRR) and x-ray standing wave (XSW) techniques can overcome the deficiencies of the individual techniques in microstructural analysis. While interface roughnesses are more accurately determined by the XRR technique, layer composition is more accurately determined by the XSW technique where an element is directly identified by its characteristic emission. These aspects have been explained with an example of a 20 period Pt/C multilayer. The composition of the C-layers due to Pt dissolution in the C-layers, Pt$_{x}$C$_{1-x}$, has been determined by the XSW technique. In the XSW analysis when the whole amount of Pt present in the C-layers is assumed to be within the broadened interface, it l eads to larger interface roughness values, inconsistent with those determined by the XRR technique. Constraining the interface roughness values to those determined by the XRR technique, requires an additional amount of dissolved Pt in the C-layers to expl ain the Pt fluorescence yield excited by the standing wave field. This analysis provides the average composition Pt$_{x}$C$_{1-x}$ of the C-layers .Comment: 12 pages RevTex, 10 eps figures embedde

Maritime aerosol network as a component of AERONET - First results and comparison with global aerosol models and satellite retrievals

The Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) has been collecting data over the oceans since November 2006. Over 80 cruises were completed through early 2010 with deployments continuing. Measurement areas included various parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Northern and Southern Pacific Ocean, the South Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and inland seas. MAN deploys Microtops hand-held sunphotometers and utilizes a calibration procedure and data processing traceable to AERONET. Data collection included areas that previously had no aerosol optical depth (AOD) coverage at all, particularly vast areas of the Southern Ocean. The MAN data archive provides a valuable resource for aerosol studies in maritime environments. In the current paper we present results of AOD measurements over the oceans, and make a comparison with satellite AOD retrievals and model simulations

Local Oxygen Octahedra Rotations in Ba1-xKxBiO3

We report XAFS analyses results of Ba0.6K0.4BiO3 in the temperature range from 10K to 300K extending out to fourth nearest neighbors. The results show that the local structure differs substantially from the average structure determined by neutron diffraction measurements. The results in superconducting Ba0.6K0.4BiO3, are consistent with oxygen octahedra rotations either around [111] or [110] type axes. The rotation angles are 4.5° up to at least T = 220K if the rotation is assumed to be about [111] type axes. This local rotation exists in spite of the fact that the crystal is on the average cubic at all temperatures. The existence of these local rotations suggests that the charge carrier pairing mechanism may be enhanced through the interaction with the bistable states of the oxygen octahedra as proposed by Plakida [4] and Hardy and Flocken [5]

INTERFACE EXAFS USING GLANCING ANGLES

The use of glancing angles to obtain EXAFS signals from thin interfacial regions is described. The technique is applicable to the case of a light overlayer on a heavy substrate for which total external reflection can be caused to occur at the interface. In this case the penetration into the substrate is very small (~20-30 A in many cases). Data have been obtained on two systems : Al on Cu and Ag on Au. The Al on Cu samples had 1000 A of Al on Cu and measurements were made on the interface structure as a function of annealing temperature. For anneals above 140°C clear indication of the growth of CuAl2 at the interface is observed. The interface sensitivity was then verified by varying the glancing angle to determine the CuAl2 layer thickness. Even for CuAl2 layers as thin as 100 A, the EXAFS signal is essentially pure CuAl2 with little contamination from the underlying Cu. For Ag on Au there is no compound formation and these techniques were used to look at interdiffusion as a function of annealing. In particular the Au environment in Ag grain boundaries could be detected