71 research outputs found
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In situ investigation of working battery electrodes using synchrotron x-ray diffraction
The results of an in situ investigation of the structural changes that occur during the operation of working battery electrodes using synchrotron radiation are presented. Two types of electrodes were investigated: an AB{sub 2}-type Laves phase alloy anode with the composition Zr{sub x}Ti{sub 1-x}M{sub 2} and a proprietary cell based on a Li{sub x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel compound cathode made by Gould electronics. For the Laves phase alloy compositions with x=0.25 and 0.5 and M=V{sub 0.5}N{sub 1.1}Mn{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 0.2} were examined. Cells made from two different batches of Li{sub x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 4} material were investigated. The relationships between battery performance and structural changes will be discussed. In the later case, we also discuss the role of over-discharging on the Li{sub x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 4} structure and on battery operation
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Texture determinations in rare-earth-based permanent magnets
Quantifying the relationship between crystallographic texture and magnetic properties is highly desirable for the engineering high (BH){sub max} magnets. Existing techniques for the evaluation of texture in permanent magnets often rely upon magnetic remanence measurements. However, such determinations are strictly applicable only to assemblies of non-interacting particles, which nullifies the use of the Stoner-Wohlfarth criteria in texture determinations of ``exchange-spring`` magnets. New techniques in the determination of texture of bulk permanent magnets are being developed to overcome these inherent experimental difficulties. Crystallographic alignment studied by transmission synchrotron x-ray diffraction as a function of position within the sample reveals insights into the development of texture with deformation level in thermomechanically-processed magnets. Information concerning texture may also be obtained by a different method based on paramagnetic susceptibility measurements. Such measurements also provide Curie temperature data, which is sensitive to chemical changes that may have occurred in the magnetic phase during processing
Universality Class of Thermally Diluted Ising Systems at Criticality
The universality class of thermally diluted Ising systems, in which the
realization of the disposition of magnetic atoms and vacancies is taken from
the local distribution of spins in the pure original Ising model at
criticality, is investigated by finite size scaling techniques using the Monte
Carlo method. We find that the critical temperature, the critical exponents and
therefore the universality class of these thermally diluted Ising systems
depart markedly from the ones of short range correlated disordered systems. Our
results agree fairly well with theoretical predictions previously made by
Weinrib and Halperin for systems with long range correlated disorder.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, RevTe
Relationship between incommensurability and superconductivity in Peierls distorted charge-density-wave systems
We study the pairing potential induced by fluctuations around a
charge-density wave (CDW) with scattering vector Q by means of the Froehlich
transformation. For general commensurability M, defined as |k+M*Q>=|k>, we find
that the intraband pair scattering within the M subbands scales with M whereas
the interband pair scattering becomes suppressed with increasing CDW order
parameter. As a consequence superconductivity is suppressed when the Fermi
energy is located between the subbands as it is usually the case for nesting
induced CDW's, but due to the vertex renormalization it can be substantially
enhanced when the chemical potential is shifted sufficiently inside one of the
subbands. The model can help to understand the experimentally observed
dependence of the superconducting transition temperature from the stripe phase
incommensurability in the lanthanum cuprates.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Structural Ordering and Symmetry Breaking in Cd_2Re_2O_7
Single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements have been carried out on
Cd_2Re_2O_7 near and below the phase transition it exhibits at Tc' ~195 K.
Cd_2Re_2O_7 was recently discovered as the first, and to date only,
superconductor with the cubic pyrochlore structure. Superlattice Bragg peaks
show an apparently continuous structural transition at Tc', however the order
parameter displays anomalously slow growth to ~Tc'/10, and resolution limited
critical-like scattering is seen above Tc'. High resolution measurements show
the high temperature cubic Bragg peaks to split on entering the low temperature
phase, indicating a (likely tetragonal) lowering of symmetry below Tc'.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Nonperturbative renormalization group approach to frustrated magnets
This article is devoted to the study of the critical properties of classical
XY and Heisenberg frustrated magnets in three dimensions. We first analyze the
experimental and numerical situations. We show that the unusual behaviors
encountered in these systems, typically nonuniversal scaling, are hardly
compatible with the hypothesis of a second order phase transition. We then
review the various perturbative and early nonperturbative approaches used to
investigate these systems. We argue that none of them provides a completely
satisfactory description of the three-dimensional critical behavior. We then
recall the principles of the nonperturbative approach - the effective average
action method - that we have used to investigate the physics of frustrated
magnets. First, we recall the treatment of the unfrustrated - O(N) - case with
this method. This allows to introduce its technical aspects. Then, we show how
this method unables to clarify most of the problems encountered in the previous
theoretical descriptions of frustrated magnets. Firstly, we get an explanation
of the long-standing mismatch between different perturbative approaches which
consists in a nonperturbative mechanism of annihilation of fixed points between
two and three dimensions. Secondly, we get a coherent picture of the physics of
frustrated magnets in qualitative and (semi-) quantitative agreement with the
numerical and experimental results. The central feature that emerges from our
approach is the existence of scaling behaviors without fixed or pseudo-fixed
point and that relies on a slowing-down of the renormalization group flow in a
whole region in the coupling constants space. This phenomenon allows to explain
the occurence of generic weak first order behaviors and to understand the
absence of universality in the critical behavior of frustrated magnets.Comment: 58 pages, 15 PS figure
Influence of next-nearest-neighbor electron hopping on the static and dynamical properties of the 2D Hubbard model
Comparing experimental data for high temperature cuprate superconductors with
numerical results for electronic models, it is becoming apparent that a hopping
along the plaquette diagonals has to be included to obtain a quantitative
agreement. According to recent estimations the value of the diagonal hopping
appears to be material dependent. However, the values for discussed
in the literature were obtained comparing theoretical results in the weak
coupling limit with experimental photoemission data and band structure
calculations. The goal of this paper is to study how gets renormalized as
the interaction between electrons, , increases. For this purpose, the effect
of adding a bare diagonal hopping to the fully interacting two dimensional
Hubbard model Hamiltonian is investigated using numerical techniques. Positive
and negative values of are analyzed. Spin-spin correlations, ,
vs , and local magnetic moments are studied for values
of ranging from 0 to 6, and as a function of the electronic density. The
influence of the diagonal hopping in the spectral function
is also discussed, and the changes in the gap present in the density of states
at half-filling are studied. We introduce a new criterion to determine probable
locations of Fermi surfaces at zero temperature from data obtained
at finite temperature. It appears that hole pockets at
may be induced for negative while a positive produces similar
features at and . Comparisons with the standard 2D
Hubbard () model indicate that a negative hopping amplitude appears
to be dynamically generated. In general, we conclude that it is very dangerous
to extract a bare parameter of the Hamiltonian from PES data whereComment: 9 pages (RevTex 3.0), 12 figures (postscript), files packed with
uufile
Direct Observation of a One Dimensional Static Spin Modulation in Insulating La1.95Sr0.05CuO4
We report the results of an extensive elastic neutron scattering study of the
incommensurate (IC) static spin correlations in La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 which is an
insulating spin glass at low temperatures. The present neutron scattering
experiments on the same x=0.05 crystal employ a narrower instrumental
Q-resolution and thereby have revealed that the crystal has only two
orthorhombic twins at low temperatures with relative populations of 2:1. We
find that, in a single twin, only two satellites are observed at (1, +/-0.064,
L)(ortho) and (0, 1+/-0.064, L)(ortho), that is, the modulation vector is only
along the orthorhombic b*-axis. This demonstrates unambiguously that
La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 has a one-dimensional static diagonal spin modulation at low
temperatures, consistent with certain stripe models. We have also reexamined
the x=0.04 crystal that previously was reported to show a single commensurate
peak. By mounting the sample in the (H, K, 0) zone, we have discovered that the
x=0.04 sample in fact has the same IC structure as the sample. The
incommensurability parameter d for x=0.04 and 0.05, where d is the distance
from (1/2, 1/2) in tetragonal reciprocal lattice units, follows the linear
relation d=x. These results demonstrate that the insulator to superconductor
transition in the under doped regime (0.05 </= x </= 0.06) in La2-xSrxCuO4 is
coincident with a transition from diagonal to collinear static stripes at low
temperatures thereby evincing the intimate coupling between the one dimensional
spin density modulation and the superconductivity.Comment: 9 pages 8 figure
An Exact Diagonalization Demonstration of Incommensurability and Rigid Band Filling for N Holes in the t-J Model
We have calculated S(q) and the single particle distribution function
for N holes in the t - J model on a non--square sqrt{8} X sqrt{32} 16--site
lattice with periodic boundary conditions; we justify the use of this lattice
in compariosn to those of having the full square symmetry of the bulk. This new
cluster has a high density of vec k points along the diagonal of reciprocal
space, viz. along k = (k,k). The results clearly demonstrate that when the
single hole problem has a ground state with a system momentum of vec k =
(pi/2,pi/2), the resulting ground state for N holes involves a shift of the
peak of the system's structure factor away from the antiferromagnetic state.
This shift effectively increases continuously with N. When the single hole
problem has a ground state with a momentum that is not equal to k =
(pi/2,pi/2), then the above--mentioned incommensurability for N holes is not
found. The results for the incommensurate ground states can be understood in
terms of rigid--band filling: the effective occupation of the single hole k =
(pi/2,pi/2) states is demonstrated by the evaluation of the single particle
momentum distribution function . Unlike many previous studies, we show
that for the many hole ground state the occupied momentum states are indeed k =
(+/- pi/2,+/- pi/2) states.Comment: Revtex 3.0; 23 pages, 1 table, and 13 figures, all include
Effect of a magnetic field on the spin- and charge-density wave order in La1.45Nd0.4Sr0.15CuO4
The spin-density wave (SDW) and charge-density wave (CDW) order in
superconducting La1.45Nd0.4Sr0.15CuO4 were studied under an applied magnetic
field using neutron and X-ray diffraction techniques. In zero field,
incommensurate (IC) SDW order appears below ~ 40 K, which is characterized by
neutron diffraction peaks at (1/2 +/- 0.134, 1/2 +/- 0.134, 0). The intensity
of these IC peaks increases rapidly below T_Nd ~ 8 K due to an ordering of the
Nd^3+ spins. The application of a 1 T magnetic field parallel to the c-axis
markedly diminishes the intensity below T_Nd, while only a slight decrease in
intensity is observed at higher temperatures for fields up to 7 T. Our
interpretation is that the c-axis field suppresses the parasitic Nd^3+ spin
order at the incommensurate wave vector without disturbing the stripe order of
Cu^2+ spins. Consistent with this picture, the CDW order, which appears below
60 K, shows no change for magnetic fields up to 4 T. These results stand in
contrast to the significant field-induced enhancement of the SDW order observed
in superconducting La2-xSrxCuO4 with x ~ 0.12 and stage-4 La2CuO4+y. The
differences can be understood in terms of the relative volume fraction
exhibiting stripe order in zero field, and the collective results are
consistent with the idea that suppression of superconductivity by vortices
nucleates local patches of stripe order.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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