Measurement of the trailing edge of cosmic-ray track signals from a round-tube drift chamber

The trailing edge of tube drift-chamber signals for charged particles is expected to provide information concerning the particle passage time. This information may be useful for separating meaningful signals from overlapping garbage at high-rate experiments, such as the future LHC experiments. We carried out a cosmic-ray test using a small tube chamber in order to investigate the feasibility of this idea. We achieved a trailing-edge time resolution of 12 ns in rms by applying simple pulse shaping to eliminate a signal tail. A comparison with a Monte Carlo simulation indicates the importance of well-optimized signal shaping to achieve good resolution. The resolution may be further improved with better shaping.Comment: 13 pages including 9 figure

Correlation between Local Structure Distortions and Martensitic Transformation in Ni-Mn-In alloys

The local structural distortions arising as a consequence of increasing Mn content in Ni_2Mn_1+xIn_1-x (x=0, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) and its effect on martensitic transformation have been studied using Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. Using the room temperature EXAFS at the Ni and Mn K-edges in the above compositions, the changes associated with respect to the local structure of these absorbing atoms are compared. It is seen that in the alloys exhibiting martensitic transformation ($x \ge 0.4$) there is a significant difference between the Ni-In and Ni-Mn bond lengths even in the austenitic phase indicating atomic volume to be the main factor in inducing martensitic transformation in Ni-Mn-In Heusler alloys.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Mechanism of magnetostructural transformation in multifunctional Mn3_3GaC

Mn$_3$GaC undergoes a ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic, volume discontinuous cubic-cubic phase transition as a function of temperature, pressure and magnetic field. Through a series of temperature dependent x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy experiments at the Mn K and Ga K edge, it is shown that the first order magnetic transformation in Mn$_3$GaC is entirely due to distortions in Mn sub-lattice and with a very little role for Mn-C interactions. The distortion in Mn sub-lattice results in long and short Mn-Mn bonds with the longer Mn-Mn bonds favoring ferromagnetic interactions and the shorter Mn-Mn bonds favoring antiferromagnetic interactions. At the first order transition, the shorter Mn-Mn bonds exhibit an abrupt decrease in their length resulting in an antiferromagnetic ground state and a strained lattice.Comment: Accepted in J. Appl. Phys. Please contact authors for supplementary informatio

Role of Ni-Mn hybridization in magnetism of martensitic state of Ni-Mn-In shape memory alloys

Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) studies on Ni$_{50}$Mn$_{25+x}$In$_{25-x}$ have been carried out at Ni and Mn K edge as a function of temperature. Thermal evolution of nearest neighbor Ni-Mn and Mn-Mn bond distances in the martensitic phase give a clear evidence of a close relation between structural and magnetic degrees of freedom in these alloys. In particular, the study highlights the role of Ni 3d - Mn 3d hybridization in the magnetism of martensitic phase of these alloys.Comment: Accepted for publication in EP

Structure and physical properties of Na4C60 under ambient and high pressures

The structure and physical properties of two-dimensional polymeric Na4C60 (body-centered monoclinic, space group I2/m) are studied in a wide temperature region from 12 to 300 K at 1 bar, and in a pressure region up to 53 kbar at 300 K. The temperature dependence of lattice constants suggests a structural anomaly below 100 K where the variation of spin susceptibility is observed from electron spin resonance. The thermal expansion of the unit-cell volume V is smaller than that of monomeric Rb3C60 and K3C60. The compressibility of c is larger than that of a and b, which can be well explained by the repulsion between Na ions. The compressibility of the center-to-center distance in the (10(1) over bar) plane is similar to1/3 times smaller that that in the (101) plane, which can be well explained by the formation of the polymer chains. Further, a possibility of a three-dimensional polymerization is discussed on the basis of the pressure dependence of C-60. . .C-60 distances.</p

Metal-insulator transition at 50 K in Na2C60

Temperature dependence of electron spin resonance in Na2C60 was studied in a temperature range from 2 to 350 K. It was shown that Na2C60 was metallic above 50 K and had a metal-insulator transition at 50 K. The center frequency for the Hg(2) Raman mode in Na2C60 at 298 K was close to those in the metallic Rb3C60, K3C60, and Cs3C60, while the linewidth was close to that in the metallic but nonsuperconducting Cs3C60. The Hg(2) mode showed a large blueshift and narrowing at 50 K. The center frequency and the linewidth in the low-temperature region from 50 K were almost the same as those in the insulating C-60 and Rb6C60, which showed the metal-insulator transition at 50 K in Na2C60. The origin of this metal-insulator transition was discussed in terms of the electron-phonon interaction (Jahn-Teller effect) and the electron-electron interaction (Mott-Hubbard picture). [S0163-1829(99)04123-5].</p