183 research outputs found
A precursory ULF signature for the Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan
ULF emission data at Lunping (epicentral distance, 120 km) have been analysed for the Chi-Chi earthquake (with magnitude 7.6 and depth of 11 km) in Taiwan which occurred on 21 September 1999. Simple intensity analyses have not yielded any significant results but we have found, based on the analysis of polarization (the ratio of vertical magnetic field component <i>Z</i> to the horizontal component <i>G</i>), that the polarization (<i>Z</i>/<i>G</i>) showed a significant enhancement for two months before the earthquake. This kind of temporal evolution of polarization seems to be very similar to previous results, so that it is highly likely that this phenomenon may be associated with the Chi-Chi earthquake. Also, the comparison of the results of polarization analyses, by changing the signal threshold, has given us an approximate intensity of the seismogenic emission of the order of the monthly mean value
First principles theoretical studies of half-metallic ferromagnetism in CrTe
Using full-potential linear augmented plane wave method (FP-LAPW) and the
density functional theory, we have carried out a systematic investigation of
the electronic, magnetic, and cohesive properties of the chalcogenide CrTe in
three competing structures: rock-salt (RS), zinc blende (ZB) and the NiAs-type
(NA) hexagonal. Although the ground state is of NA structure, RS and ZB are
interesting in that these fcc-based structures, which can possibly be grown on
many semiconductor substrates, exhibit half-metallic phases above some critical
values of the lattice parameter. We find that the NA structure is not
half-metallic at its equilibrium volume, while both ZB and RS structures are.
The RS structure is more stable than the ZB, with an energy that is lower by
0.25 eV/atom. While confirming previous results on the half-metallic phase in
ZB structure, we provide hitherto unreported results on the half-metallic RS
phase, with a gap in the minority channel and a magnetic moment of 4.0
per formula unit. A comparison of total energies for the
ferromagnetic (FM), non-magnetic (NM), and antiferromagnetic (AFM)
configurations shows the lowest energy configuration to be FM for CrTe in all
the three structures. The FP-LAPW calculations are supplemented by linear
muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) calculations using both local density approximation
(LDA) and LDA+U method. The exchange interactions and the Curie temperatures
calculated via the linear response method in ZB and RS CrTe are compared over a
wide range of the lattice parameter. The calculated Curie temperatures for the
RS phase are consistently higher than those for the ZB phase.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
Nonpolar resistance switching of metal/binary-transition-metal oxides/metal sandwiches: homogeneous/inhomogeneous transition of current distribution
Exotic features of a metal/oxide/metal (MOM) sandwich, which will be the
basis for a drastically innovative nonvolatile memory device, is brought to
light from a physical point of view. Here the insulator is one of the
ubiquitous and classic binary-transition-metal oxides (TMO), such as Fe2O3,
NiO, and CoO. The sandwich exhibits a resistance that reversibly switches
between two states: one is a highly resistive off-state and the other is a
conductive on-state. Several distinct features were universally observed in
these binary TMO sandwiches: namely, nonpolar switching, non-volatile threshold
switching, and current--voltage duality. From the systematic sample-size
dependence of the resistance in on- and off-states, we conclude that the
resistance switching is due to the homogeneous/inhomogeneous transition of the
current distribution at the interface.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, REVTeX4, submitted to Phys. Rev. B (Feb. 23,
2007). If you can't download a PDF file of this manscript, an alternative one
can be found on the author's website: http://staff.aist.go.jp/i.inoue
Spin and orbital magnetic moments of molecular beam epitaxy γ′-Fe4N films on LaAlO3(001) and MgO(001) substrates by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
10-nm-thick γ′-Fe4N films were grown epitaxially on LaAlO3(001) and MgO(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using solid Fe and a radio-frequency NH3 plasma. The lattice mismatch of these substrates to γ′-Fe4N is 0% and 11%, respectively. Spin and orbital magnetic moments of these γ′-Fe4N epitaxial films were deduced by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements at 300 K. The total magnetic moments are almost the same for the two substrates, that is, 2.44±0.06 μB and 2.47±0.06 μB, respectively. These values are very close to those predicted theoretically, and distinctively larger than that for α-Fe
Surface Half-Metallicity of CrAs in the Zinc-Blende Structure
The development of new techniques such as the molecular beam epitaxy have
enabled the growth of thin films of materials presenting novel properties.
Recently it was made possible to grow a CrAs thin-film in the zinc-blende
structure. In this contribution, the full-potential screened KKR method is used
to study the electronic and magnetic properties of bulk CrAs in this novel
phase as well as the Cr and As terminated (001) surfaces. Bulk CrAs is found to
be half-ferromagnetic for all three GaAs, AlAs and InAs experimental lattice
constants with a total spin magnetic moment of 3 . The Cr-terminated
surface retains the half-ferromagnetic character of the bulk, while in the case
of the As-termination the surface states destroy the gap in the minority-spin
band.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, new text, new titl
Appearance of Half-Metallicity in the Quaternary Heusler Alloys
I report systematic first-principle calculations of the quaternary Heusler
alloys like Co[CrMn]Al, CoMn[AlSn] and
[FeCo]MnAl. I show that when the two limiting cases (x=0 or 1)
correspond to a half-metallic compound, so do the intermediate cases. Moreover
the total spin moment in scales linearly with the total number of
valence electrons (and thus with the concentration ) following the
relation , independently of the origin of the extra valence
electrons, confirming the Slater-Pauling behavior of the normal Heusler alloys.
Finally I discuss in all cases the trends in the atomic projected DOSs and in
the atomic spin moments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 Table
Towards New Half-Metallic Systems: Zinc-Blende Compounds of Transition Elements with N, P, As, Sb, S, Se, and Te
We report systematic first-principles calculations for ordered zinc-blende
compounds of the transition metal elements V, Cr, Mn with the sp elements N, P,
As, Sb, S, Se, Te, motivated by recent fabrication of zinc-blende CrAs, CrSb,
and MnAs. They show ferromagnetic half-metallic behavior for a wide range of
lattice constants. We discuss the origin and trends of half-metallicity,
present the calculated equilibrium lattice constants, and examine the
half-metallic behavior of their transition element terminated (001) surfaces.Comment: 2nd Version: lattice constants calculations added, text revise
Carrier-mediated ferromagnetic ordering in Mn ion-implanted p+GaAs:C
Highly p-type GaAs:C was ion-implanted with Mn at differing doses to produce
Mn concentrations in the 1 - 5 at.% range. In comparison to LT-GaAs and
n+GaAs:Si samples implanted under the same conditions, transport and magnetic
properties show marked differences. Transport measurements show anomalies,
consistent with observed magnetic properties and with epi- LT-(Ga,Mn)As, as
well as the extraordinary Hall Effect up to the observed magnetic ordering
temperature (T_C). Mn ion-implanted p+GaAs:C with as-grown carrier
concentrations > 10^20 cm^-3 show remanent magnetization up to 280 K
Magnetic Interactions and Transport in (Ga,Cr)As
The magnetic, transport, and structural properties of (Ga,Cr)As are reported.
Zincblende GaCrAs was grown by low-temperature molecular beam
epitaxy (MBE). At low concentrations, x0.1, the materials exhibit unusual
magnetic properties associated with the random magnetism of the alloy. At low
temperatures the magnetization M(B) increases rapidly with increasing field due
to the alignment of ferromagnetic units (polarons or clusters) having large
dipole moments of order 10-10. A standard model of
superparamagnetism is inadequate for describing both the field and temperature
dependence of the magnetization M(B,T). In order to explain M(B) at low
temperatures we employ a distributed magnetic moment (DMM) model in which
polarons or clusters of ions have a distribution of moments. It is also found
that the magnetic susceptibility increases for decreasing temperature but
saturates below T=4 K. The inverse susceptibility follows a linear-T
Curie-Weiss law and extrapolates to a magnetic transition temperature
=10 K. In magnetotransport measurements, a room temperature resistivity
of =0.1 cm and a hole concentration of cm
are found, indicating that Cr can also act as a acceptor similar to Mn. The
resistivity increases rapidly for decreasing temperature below room
temperature, and becomes strongly insulating at low temperatures. The
conductivity follows exp[-(T/T)] over a large range of
conductivity, possible evidence of tunneling between polarons or clusters.Comment: To appear in PRB 15 Mar 200
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