National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Recently, MgB2 was discovered to be a superconductor with a surprisingly high critical temperature of about 39 K and with significant potential for applications. This material is usually prepared from a mixture of Mg and B in sealed tubes with excess Mg. As-prepared samples usually are very porous and mechanically weak. High density superconducting samples of MgB2 undoped and doped with SiC and B4C were produced by Field Assisted Sintering Technique (FAST) (T-c = 38.5 K). Samples are relatively large of 1.9 cm in diameter, apparently uniform, and can be easily extracted from the die. Processing times are short for easily attainable and relatively low temperatures. The effects of FAST consolidation on crystalline morphology revealed by microtomography and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and bulk density were investigated. Most samples have bulk density above 90% of the theoretical one. Despite such high bulk density, microtomography in combination with SEM revealed that in the samples there are some regions of low and high density. High density regions are not the consequence of FAST processing and they were observed in the raw material.

As recently shown, HgBa2Can-1CunOy (n >= 6) cuprate superconductors have a critical temperature of about 100 K independent of n. This remarkable property can be explained by the very imbalanced distribution of carriers among the inequivalent CuO2 planes in the unit cell. We discovered that these materials also have a common vortex melting line that resembles the theoretical melting lines of magnetically coupled pancake vortices. We suggest that there are two types of pancake pairs situated in the superconducting CuO2 outer planes: those separated by the thin charge reservoir layer are strongly (Josephson) coupled, while those separated by the thick block of (n-2) CuO2 nonsuperconducting inner planes are weakly (magnetically) coupled, forming magnetically coupled pancake vortex molecules.

Double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 type compounds show special properties, such as magnetoresistance response at relatively small-applied fields and at rather high temperatures (ca. 400 K). Perovskite precursors were obtained unconventionally, in liquid phase, using oxalic acid as complexing agent, in the presence of ethylene glycol as polymerization agent. Ordering control concerning the magnetic properties is predictable to be strongly influenced by the synthesis route. The thermal stability of the precursors and the phase transitions of the oxide samples were analyzed by thermal analysis method, IR spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction method and magnetic measurements. The experimental data for the perovskite compounds prepared by using oxalic acid as complexing agent revealed a double perovskite structure of analyzed samples, convenient magnetorezistive response (3.51 mu(B)/f.u), in good agreement with the Mossbauer spectra. Moreover, Mossbauer spectreoscopy allows the distinction between the ordered and the disordered phases of the perovskite structure and put in evidence the strong dependence of the structural and magnetic characteristics of the double perovskites on the synthesis route.

In the last years the ternary stabilized zirconia ceramics have attracted a considerable attention as a source of materials for structural ceramics. In present paper, the simultaneous influence of Eu3+ and Y3+ cations on zirconia powders (obtained by co-precipitation of aqueous salts solutions) on stabilization process in conjunction with the structural characteristics was investigated. A conventional sintering method (in electric furnace) at 1350 degrees C temperature range was applied. SEM+EDAX and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic) analysis were performed. The Eu3+ Mossbauer parameters: isomer shift and quadrupole splitting have been obtained for 21.6 keV radiation of Eu-151 are in good agreement with the XPS and XRD-obtained crystallographic data of the studied compositions.

Fe-Pt alloys have gained much interest for the occurrence of permanent magnetic features resulting from the L1(0) ordered face-centred-tetragonal FePt phase with very high magnetic crystalline anisotropy (7x10(6) J/m(3)). An amorphous melt spun ribbons of the composition Fe51Pt27Nb2B20 has been synthesized by the rapid solidification technique and its microstructure and magnetic properties were studied. After appropriate annealing, an ordered face-centred-tetragonal (f.c.t.) L1(0) phase is formed. X-ray analysis revealed a structural phase transformation from the body-centered-cubic Al to f.c.t. L1(0) phase and this produce magnetic hardening of the alloy, upon appropriate annealing conditions. Extremely performant magnetic properties, typical for exchange spring magnets, are obtained.

The catalytic effect of the addition of lanthanum oxide (La2O3), in the range 0.5-2.0 mol%, on the hydrogen storage properties of MgH2 prepared by ball milling has been studied. The addition of La2O3 reduces the formation during milling of the metastable orthorhombic gamma-MgH2 phase. The desorption rate of samples with 1 and 2 mol% La2O3 comes out to be about 0.010 wt% per second at 573 K under an hydrogen pressure of 0.3 bar, better than for sample with 0.5 mol% La2O3. The presence of LaH3 after hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycles has been observed in all samples. The sample with 1 mol% of La2O3 gives a lower hysteresis factor compared with sample with 2 mol%. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This work reports on recently investigated structural and magnetic properties of three FexOy-SiO2 nanocomposites prepared by the alkoxide route of the sol-gel method. Depending on the presence or absence of catalyst and on its nature (acidic or basic), important differences among the samples have been observed from the point of view of their structure and properties. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fundamental and third harmonic ac susceptibility measurements as a function of temperature T, ac magnetic field, and dc magnetic field have been performed on Bi(Pb)SrCaCuO/2223 bulk samples consisting of both Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+delta (2223) and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (2212) phases. Since the chi(1)''(T) peak corresponding to the losses in the weak links between the grains shifts rapidly to lower T and its amplitude is strongly suppressed with increasing the dc magnetic field H-dc, the other peaks related to the losses in the grains become visible. For the samples consisting of single phase 2223, these intragranular peaks are situated near 38 K, 58 K, and 80-88 K (depending on the sample), whereas for the samples consisting of single phase 2212, they are situated near 20 K, 43 K, and 77 K. For H-dc >= 1 kOe, the temperature positions of the intragranular peaks are weakly field dependent. This shows that the transition line determined from the loss peaks behaves like the melting line in two-dimensional (213) systems. Also, as the field increases, the amplitude of the loss peaks can decrease up to their disappearance, suggesting a layer decoupling process. In this way, we show that, above a crossover field of similar to 1 kOe, the vortex lattice in the superconducting grains of polycrystalline samples reproduces the behaviour of the vortex lattice in a quasi-2D object consisting of a set of separated "thin films" with one-, two-, and three-effective-layer thicknesses. For the samples consisting of both 2223 and 2212 phases, three additional peaks were observed, situated near 28 K, 50 K and 75-80 K (depending on the sample). These peaks were attributed to the regions in which the 2212 and 2223 layers alternate. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Scanning Hall probe microscopy has been used to demonstrate the manipulation of pancake vortices by rotating the Josephson vortex lattice in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) single crystals in the interacting crossing lattices regime. Creation of one-dimensional pancake vortex chains trapped on Josephson vortices, and the subsequent rotation of the chains were realized by independently controlling magnetic fields in three orthogonal directions. The anisotropy parameter determined from the in-plane distances between vortex chains in various in-plane fields is consistent with commonly accepted values.

Hg-based multi- and super-multi-layered cuprates HgBa2Can-1CunOy (Hg:12(n-1)(n)) (n >= 4) are composed of the charge reservoir layer (CRL) HgBa2Ox, and of CuO2 planes: outer planes (OP) with pyramidal oxygen coordination and inner planes (IP) with square oxygen coordination, with different charge distribution. This fact gives rise to very interesting phenomena, like coexistence of superconductivity (SC) in OPs with antiferromagnetism (AF) in IPs in Hg:1245. The dependence of T-c on the number n of CuO2 planes is also interesting: for n increasing from 4 to 5 and to 6, T-c decrease from 125 to 108 and then to about 103 K; further increase in n keeps T-c constant at about 103 K. In Hg:1245 we show that the AF ordering at T-N of 60 K has no influence on vortex dynamics, and there is a quite robust c-axis supercurrent. Vortex melting lines of various samples showed that Hg-based multi- layered cuprates (n = 4, 5) behaves in the usual way (increasing n resulted in decrease of Josephson coupling (JC) and a less sharp melting line) and are well described by the usual anisotropic GL-based theory. Samples with n >= 6 have all the same melting line, suggesting that, in this case, the short-range JC becomes much less important than the long-range magnetic coupling (MC). However, since the JC between two pancakes in OPs of adjacent unit cells (pancakes separated by the thin CRL) is large, we suggest that the vortex matter in Hg-based super-multilayered cuprates is composed of magnetically-coupled pancake-vortex-molecules.