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Intrinsic defects in and electronic properties of θ-Al13Fe4: an ab initio DFT study
© 2019 The Author(s). θ-Al13Fe4 exhibits a rich variety of crystal physics. It contains twenty crystallographically different atomic species with a diversity of chemical coordination. An understanding of its structural and physical properties is a prerequisite for controlling its formation and its use. Here we investigate systematically the intrinsic defects in θ-Al13Fe4 using a first-principles density-functional theory method. The calculations reveal that among the various intrinsic defects it is energetically favourable for Fe substitution of Al but on just three of the fifteen Al sites. This results in a new structural model, Al68Fe24(Al, Fe)4IX(Al, Fe)2VII(Al, Fe)4V (the Roman numerals represent the Al sites) which updates the thermodynamic model, currently in use, which is associated with the formation of vacancies on some of the Al sites. The calculations demonstrate that the addition of Fe induces magnetism which gives rise to clustering. The calculations provide the dependence of the lattice parameters on Fe concentration and explain the experimental data in the literature. The information obtained here provides insight into the formation and properties of θ-Al13Fe4 and its role in the solidification of Al alloys, in determination of the microstructure and related mechanical properties of the products, and in catalysis for organic reactions.EPSRC (Grant EP/N007638/1)
Consistent model of magnetism in ferropnictides
The discovery of superconductivity in LaFeAsO introduced the ferropnictides
as a major new class of superconducting compounds with critical temperatures
second only to cuprates. The presence of magnetic iron makes ferropnictides
radically different from cuprates. Antiferromagnetism of the parent compounds
strongly suggests that superconductivity and magnetism are closely related.
However, the character of magnetic interactions and spin fluctuations in
ferropnictides, in spite of vigorous efforts, has until now resisted
understanding within any conventional model of magnetism. Here we show that the
most puzzling features can be naturally reconciled within a rather simple
effective spin model with biquadratic interactions, which is consistent with
electronic structure calculations. By going beyond the Heisenberg model, this
description explains numerous experimentally observed properties, including the
peculiarities of the spin wave spectrum, thin domain walls, crossover from
first to second order phase transition under doping in some compounds, and
offers new insight in the occurrence of the nematic phase above the
antiferromagnetic phase transition.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex
Quasi-radial growth of metal tube on si nanowires template
It is reported in this article that Si nanowires can be employed as a positive template for the controllable electrochemical deposition of noble metal tube. The deposited tube exhibits good crystallinity. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope characterizations are conducted to reveal the growth process of metal tube, showing that the metal tube grows quasi-radially on the wall of Si nanowire. The quasi-radial growth of metal enables the fabrication of thickness-defined metal tube via changing deposition time. Inner-diameter-defined metal tube is achieved by choosing Si nanowires with desired diameter as a template. Metal tubes with inner diameters ranging from 1 μm to sub-50 nm are fabricated
Structural and magnetic phase diagram of CeFeAsO1-xFx and its relationship to high-temperature superconductivity
We use neutron scattering to study the structural and magnetic phase
transitions in the iron pnictides CeFeAsO1-xFx as the system is tuned from a
semimetal to a high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductor through
Fluorine (F) doping x. In the undoped state, CeFeAsO develops a structural
lattice distortion followed by a stripe like commensurate antiferromagnetic
order with decreasing temperature. With increasing Fluorine doping, the
structural phase transition decreases gradually while the antiferromagnetic
order is suppressed before the appearance of superconductivity, resulting an
electronic phase diagram remarkably similar to that of the high-Tc copper
oxides. Comparison of the structural evolution of CeFeAsO1-xFx with other
Fe-based superconductors reveals that the effective electronic band width
decreases systematically for materials with higher Tc. The results suggest that
electron correlation effects are important for the mechanism of high-Tc
superconductivity in these Fe pnictides.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
Cascaded logic gates in nanophotonic plasmon networks
Optical computing has been pursued for decades as a potential strategy for advancing beyond the fundamental performance limitations of semiconductor-based electronic devices, but feasible on-chip integrated logic units and cascade devices have not been reported. Here we demonstrate that a plasmonic binary NOR gate, a 'universal logic gate', can be realized through cascaded OR and NOT gates in four-terminal plasmonic nanowire networks. This finding provides a path for the development of novel nanophotonic on-chip processor architectures for future optical computing technologies
Magnetism and its microscopic origin in iron-based high-temperature superconductors
High-temperature superconductivity in the iron-based materials emerges from,
or sometimes coexists with, their metallic or insulating parent compound
states. This is surprising since these undoped states display dramatically
different antiferromagnetic (AF) spin arrangements and Nel
temperatures. Although there is general consensus that magnetic interactions
are important for superconductivity, much is still unknown concerning the
microscopic origin of the magnetic states. In this review, progress in this
area is summarized, focusing on recent experimental and theoretical results and
discussing their microscopic implications. It is concluded that the parent
compounds are in a state that is more complex than implied by a simple Fermi
surface nesting scenario, and a dual description including both itinerant and
localized degrees of freedom is needed to properly describe these fascinating
materials.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Review article, accepted for publication in
Nature Physic
Identification of Autotoxic Compounds in Fibrous Roots of Rehmannia (Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch.)
Rehmannia is a medicinal plant in China. Autotoxicity has been reported to be one of the major problems hindering the consecutive monoculture of Rehmannia. However, potential autotoxins produced by the fibrous roots are less known. In this study, the autotoxicity of these fibrous roots was investigated. Four groups of autotoxic compounds from the aqueous extracts of the fibrous roots were isolated and characterized. The ethyl acetate extracts of these water-soluble compounds were further analyzed and separated into five fractions. Among them, the most autotoxic fraction (Fr 3) was subjected to GC/MS analysis, resulting in 32 identified compounds. Based on literature, nine compounds were selected for testing their autotoxic effects on radicle growth. Seven out of the nine compounds were phenolic, which significantly reduced radicle growth in a concentration-dependent manner. The other two were aliphatic compounds that showed a moderate inhibition effect at three concentrations. Concentration of these compounds in soil samples was determined by HPLC. Furthermore, the autotoxic compounds were also found in the top soil of the commercially cultivated Rehmannia fields. It appears that a close link exists between the autotoxic effects on the seedlings and the compounds extracted from fibrous roots of Rehmannia
Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay
The decay channel
is studied using a sample of events collected
by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is
observed in the invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit
with an -wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of
and a
narrow width that is at the 90% confidence level.
These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width
values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics
Search for CP violation in the decay B0->D*+-D-+
We report a search for CP-violating asymmetry in B0 -> D*+- D-+ decays. The
analysis employs two methods of B0 reconstruction: full and partial. In the
full reconstruction method all daughter particles of the B0 are required to be
detected; the partial reconstruction technique requires a fully reconstructed
D- and only a slow pion from the D*+ -> D0 pi_slow+ decay. From a fit to the
distribution of the time interval corresponding to the distance between two B
meson decay points we calculate the CP-violating parameters and find the
significance of nonzero CP asymmetry to be 2.7 standard deviations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Studies of the Decay B+- -> D_CP K+-
We report studies of the decay B+- -> D_CP K+-, where D_CP denotes neutral D
mesons that decay to CP eigenstates. The analysis is based on a 29.1/fb data
sample of collected at the \Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at
the KEKB asymmetric e+ e- storage ring. Ratios of branching fractions of
Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favored processes involving D_CP are determined
to be B(B- -> D_1 K-)/B(B- -> D_1 pi-)=0.125 +- 0.036 +- 0.010 and B(B- -> D_2
K-)/B(B- -> D_2 pi-)=0.119 +- 0.028 +- 0.006, where indices 1 and 2 represent
the CP=+1 and CP=-1 eigenstates of the D0 - anti D0 system, respectively. We
also extract the partial rate asymmetries for B+- -> D_CP K+-, finding A_1 =
0.29 +- 0.26 +- 0.05 and A_2 = -0.22 +- 0.24 +- 0.04.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
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