National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses are performed to investigate Ge nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous SiO2 matrix. GeSiO thin films are prepared by two methods, sol-gel and radio frequency magnetron sputtering. After the deposition, the sol-gel films are annealed in either N-2 (at 1 atm and 800 A degrees C) or H-2 (at 2 atm and 500 A degrees C), and the sputtered films in H-2 (at 2 atm and 500 A degrees C), to allow Ge segregation. Amorphous Ge-rich nanoparticles (3-7 nm size) are observed in sol-gel films. Crystalline Ge nanoparticles in the high pressure tetragonal phase (10-50 nm size) are identified in the sputtered films. The size of the nanoparticles increases with Ge concentration in the volume of the film. At the film surface, the Ge concentration is much larger that in the volume for both sol-gel and sputtered films. At the same time, at the film surface, only oxidized Ge is observed.

Surfactant-free emulsion copolymerization was used to prepare methyl methacrylate-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (MMA-HEA) and methyl methacrylate-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (MMA-HPMA) latex particles. Also, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was grafted onto the surface of the preformed MMA-HPMA latex particles by seeded surfactant-free emulsion copolymerization. The copolymerization reactions were conducted at 75 A degrees C using a water-soluble initiator, potassium persulfate (KPS). The morphologies of copolymer latex particles were observed using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The influence of different reactions parameters (the MMA saturation concentration (Sr), the KPS concentration and the aqueous solubility of the comonomers (HEA or HPMA)) on the particles average diameter and particles size dispersity was investigated. The experimental results showed that the increase of initiator concentration induces in all investigated cases the increase of particles average diameter, while the presence of HEA or HPMA as comonomers in the copolymerization reaction of MMA (1,000% Sr) lead to a decrease of particles average diameter. At small KPS concentration the latex is monodisperse, the increase of the initiator concentration leading to the formation of polydisperse latex. In the case of grafting reaction of GMA onto the monodisperse preformed MMA-HEA latex particles, although the average diameter of the final particles doubles the latex remains quasi-monodisperse.

The electronic structure of metallofullerene Ce@C-82 is probed by resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy at the Ce L-3 absorption edge. We observed a satellite structure in x-ray absorption and resonant emission spectra for Ce@C-82, which, we show, corresponds to the charge transfer induced by the core-hole potential in the final state, similarly to Pr@C-82. This charge-transfer satellite may be a common feature in metallofullerenes. The temperature dependence of the electronic structure is also investigated.

This work is focused on spectral investigations of Tm3+ doped Sc2O3 transparent ceramic as potential material for diode-pumped solid-state laser emitting around 2 mu m. In the context of the Judd-Ofelt J-O) theory a series of spectroscopic parameters such as J-O intensity parameters, oscillator strengths, radiative transitions probabilities, and radiative lifetimes as well as branching ratios are evaluated. The gain cross-sections which lead to an estimation of the probable operating laser wavelength for the F-3(4) -> H-3(6) Tm3+ laser transition were also calculated. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We use a non-Markovian generalized master equation (GME) to describe the time-dependent charge transfer through a parabolically confined quantum wire of a finite length coupled to semi-infinite quasi-two-dimensional (2D) leads. The quantum wire and the leads are in a perpendicular external magnetic field. The contacts to the left and right leads depend on time and are kept out of phase to model a quantum turnstile of finite size. The effects of the driving period of the turnstile, the external magnetic field, the character of the contacts and the chemical potential bias on the effectiveness of the charge transfer of the turnstile are examined, in both the absence and the presence of the magnetic field. The interplay between the strength of the coupling and the strength of the magnetic field is also discussed. We observe how the edge states created in the presence of the magnetic field contribute to the pumped charge.

Transport of electrons through two-dimensional semiconductor structures on the nanoscale in the presence of perpendicular magnetic field depends on the interplay of geometry of the system the leads and the magnetic length We use a generalized master equation (GME) formalism to describe the transport through the system without resorting to the Markov approximation Coupling to the leads results in elastic and inelastic processes in the system that are described to a high order by the integro-differential equation of the GME formalism Geometrical details of systems and leads leave their fingerprints on the transport of electrons through them The GME formalism can be used to describe both the initial transient regime immediately after the coupling of the leads to the system and the steady state achieved after a longer time (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved

The Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) glass materials were sintered from a mixture of oxides powders, rapidly heated and melted at 1323 K and poured on the graphite plates heated at different temperatures. Their optical properties are compared with BGO single crystals being strongly dependent by the experimental conditions, which influence the further stability of the samples. The dielectric functions of the samples reveal a clear difference between the two phases (amorphous and crystalline). The refractive index of the amorphous phase has lower values which indicate that the density of the material is diminishes. Also, a sign of disorder is seen in optical absorption (extinction coefficient). From the optical band gap determinations of those two phases, it is confirmed the disorder structure and red-shifts of the band gap value compared with crystalline phase. The absorption spectra are in good agreement with the ellipsometric measurements, regarding the transparency and the edge of the band gap. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The relaxation of the irreversible magnetization of optimally doped YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) films and YBa2Cu3O7-delta /PrBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO/PrBCO) superlattices in a magnetic field H oriented along the c axis was investigated over a large temperature T interval. The observed behavior is dominated by the presence of a crossover elastic vortex creep at low T-plastic creep at high T generated by the T-dependent current density J of the macroscopic currents induced in the specimen during experiments. Magnetization relaxation in the flux-creep annealing regime indicates the reduction of the creep crossover temperature with decreasing J, which suggests that in static conditions the disordered vortex phase at high H behaves like a plastically pinned vortex assembly, rather than an elastic vortex glass. The often reported scaling of the electric field E-transport current density J characteristics in agreement with an elastic vortex glass-vortex fluid transition seems to originate from the creep crossover generated by an increasing J.

The attractive properties of ceria, particularly the conductivity and chemical stability, have led to vast research efforts to investigate, characterize and develop such materials. One of the main applications of this ceramic is in the solid oxides fuel cells for intermediate temperatures IT-SOFC. The aim of this work is the preparation and characterization of cubic ceria nanopowders doped with 10 mol % yttria or Scandia. A thermal treatment (calcinations) was applied on the obtained nanopowders, which were consequently investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected aria electron diffraction (SAED).

The combination of two methods: Ag substrate decoration and introduction of BZO nano-inclusions has been used in a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method to increase the critical density (J (c) ) of YBCO films. The films were deposited on single crystal SrTiO3 (STO) substrates decorated with various architecture of Ag nano-dots. We have studied the diameter and density of Ag nano-dots and their influence on J (c) of BZO-added YBCO films. We found that 15 laser pulses on the Ag target gives an optimum result in increasing J (c) in comparison with BZO-doped YBCO films of the same thickness in self-field and low applied magnetic fields. A higher number of laser pulses on the Ag target led to increasing critical current density in high applied magnetic fields only (above 2 T). We have studied films of the thickness from 0.4 mu m to 3.8 mu m and found that the highest J (c) at all applied fields investigated is achieved for a 1.2 mu m thick film. The transmission electron microscopy clearly shows BZO nano-rods that provide strong c-axis pinning centres in the films.