National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

This work is a comparative study of the structural and magneto-transport properties of La0.60Y0.07Ca0.33MnO3-delta (LYCMO) as bulk and thin film. The bulk samples were prepared by solid-state reaction between the corresponding metallic oxides mixed in stoichiometric ratios. The thin film was deposited by pulsed laser deposition on an MgO single crystal using an excimer laser. We show that the structure and stoichiometry of the bulk target are perfectly reproduced in the thin film. We measured the magnetoresistive effect on both the LYCMO pellet and the thin film by using the four-probe technique. The maximum of the MR effect is 680% on the polycrystalline thin film in a 2T magnetic field. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A Monte Carlo calculation is presented for the instrumental luminosity, instrumental peak profile and instrumental peak shift for a neutron powder diffractometer in focusing geometry with pneumatically bent monochromator crystal and thin plate sample. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The collapse of the magnetic hyperfine structure of barium hexaferrite as an effect of mechanochemical activation was investigated. The various inequivalent sites and phases present in the milled material were studied by transmission Mossbauer spectroscopy. Barium hexaferrite nanoparticles were obtained after only 2 h of milling time and were found to coexist with iron oxide particles for longer times of exposure to mechanochemical activation. The milled samples were then subjected to thermal annealing, in order to test the reversibility of the collapse of the hyperfine structure. The thermal annealing performed (700 degreesC, 1 h) was partly successful in restoring the magnetic hyperfine structure of milled hexaferrite. Complementary information was obtained using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction (ED).

The temperature dependence of the Mossbauer doublet linewidth of tetrahedrally coordinated Fe2+ ions, distorted by the Jahn-Teller effect, was analysed by means of a new mathematical approach. The idea was that the linewidth depends on a distribution of quadrupole splittings that are in turn dependent on temperature. The variation of the quadrupole splitting was supposed to be connected with the temperature dependent population of the ground state E-g orbitals, split by the local Jahn-Teller effect. The model was applied to three sets of experimental data. The barrier splitting Delta between the two E-g electronic states as well as their widths, delta Delta, were obtained.

We calculate the magnetization of the two-dimensional electron gas in a short-period lateral superlattice, with the Coulomb interaction included in Hartree and Hatree-Fock approximations. We compare the results for a finite, mesoscopic system modulated by a periodic potential, with the results for the infinite periodic system. In addition to the expected strong exchange effects, the size of the system, the type and the strength of the lateral modulation leave their fingerprints on the magnetization.

Sequential deposition of Mn on a polycrystalline Al layer at 523-573 K was found to result in an anomalous icosahedral (i) Al-Mn phase, characterized by alterations of intensity- and linewidth ratios. The anomalies suggest a non-equilibrium atom distribution, related to the limited diffusion of Al through the already-formed layer of i-AlMn. The activation energy of Al diffusion was inferred from X-ray diffraction (XRD) data taken for different deposition temperatures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Emission, absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra have been studied on Li(+)- and Pb(2+)-codoped KCl crystals. Two emission bands (one is the A(T)-like emission and the other the A(X)-like emission) have been observed at 350 and 453 nm at room temperature, respectively These emissions have been observed by excitation in the absorption bands with peaks at 270 and 281 nm. These emission bands are attributed to the Pb(2+)(Li) centre, where a Pb(2+) ion has a Li(+) ion at one of the six nearest neighbouring cation sites. Measurements have been also made on Na(+)- and Pb(2+)-codopcd KCl crystals. Unlike the Pb(2+)(Li) centre, only the A(T)-like emission band with a peak at 347 nm due to the Pb(2+)(Na) centre has been observed. It is suggested that such a difference is due to a difference in the position of the impurity alkali ion substituted for the K(+) ion.