Publications

On a superconducting bi-layer with thickness much smaller than the penetration depth, lambda, a vortex molecule might form. A vortex molecule is composed of two fractional vortices and a soliton wall. The soliton wall can be regarded as a Josephson vortex missing magnetic flux (degenerate Josephson vortex) due to an incomplete shielding. The magnetic energy carried by fractional vortices is less than in the conventional vortex. This energy gain can pay a cost to form a degenerate Josephson vortex. The phase diagram of the vortex molecule is rich because of its rotational freedom. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this paper results concerning the changes of the electric characteristics of langasite resonators irradiated with electron and gamma rays are reported. For both electron and gamma irradiations the quality factor increases significantly, presumably due to the re-distribution of the point defects. Preliminary optical investigations in UV-VIS domain confirm the modification of defect structure.

Functionalization of PbI2 with polyaniline-emeraldine base (PANI-EB) or polyaniline-emeraldine salt (PANI-ES) is demonstrated by Raman spectroscopy. Two functionalization methods were used: electrochemical polymerization of aniline onto the PbI2 modified Pt electrode and the mechanico-chemical reaction between PANI and PbI2. The functionalization induces changes in the Raman spectrum of PbI2 that consist in the appearance of new Raman lines with the peaks at 80, 144 and 170 cm(-1) The first line is the signature of the "stacking faults" that disrupt the stacking sequence of layers I-Pb-I atomic layers along the c crystalline axis by the intercalation of polymer molecules The bands at 144 and 170 cm(-1) are attributed to a vibrational mode associated to the Pb-NHR"(2) (R" = C6H4) bond.

One of the most important trend in electronic devices manufacturing is miniaturisation. Among other techniques used to decrease the physical dimensions of microwave devices one is to employ materials with high permitivity [1], providing that the dimension of the device is proportional to the wavelength in the material, which is square effective permittivity times less than the wavelengths in free space. The paper shortly presents the manufacturing process to obtain a high permittivity ZST ((Zr-0.8, Sn-0.2)TiO4) material used to build a dielectric resonator oscillator, which is used as a proximity Doppler sensor. Computed and experimental results as well as the procedure to measure the parameters of the Doppler sensor are presented. The sensor described in the paper may be considered as a short range radar device.

The combination of the unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with conjugated polymers makes their combined composite materials interesting as multifunctional systems with great potential. Supercapacitors, lithium rechargeable batteries, sensors, photovoltaic cells and photodiodes, optical limiting devices, solar cells, high-resolution printable conductors, electromagnetic absorbers and advanced transistors are among the most promising applications. Knowledge of the molecular structure of such compounds is essential for a better use, and for that reason vibrational spectroscopies are fruitful techniques. Therefore, this feature article presents recent progress in the characterization of composites based on conjugated polymers and carbon nanotubes. The contribution of Raman scattering and FTIR spectroscopy to establish the type of interaction between the two constituents will be discussed for different cases, i.e. bi-layers of polymers and carbon nanotubes, doped conjugated polymers with carbon nanotubes and covalently functionalized carbon nanotubes with conjugated polymers. In addition, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has also proven to be a suitable technique for characterization by providing signal enhancements, allowing for instance the detection of reactions at interfaces or the exploitation of properties associated with nanostructures. As an example, an extra increase of the Raman signal of a polymer deposited on a carbon nanotube thin film demonstrates the generation of surface plasmons in metallic tubes.

In this communication, we study the production of defects by energetic ions in silicon and germanium, at very low temperatures, as dependencies of non-ionizing energy loss and number of displacements on the ion kinetic energy, and also the partition of the energy deposited between ionization, creation of defects and phonons, short time after the interaction.

This work is focusing oil the effect of a high concentration of nitrogen (N) introduced by ion implantation at the SiO2/4H-SiC interface in MOS capacitors. The N implanted sample (N-interface similar to 1 x 10(19) cm(-3)) is compared with a non-implanted one (N-interface similar to 1 x 10(16) cm(-3)) by means of the electron interface trap density (D-it). The Dit is determined via High-Low frequency C-V method and Thermal Dielectric Relaxation Current (TDRC) technique. It is shown that the TDRC method, mainly used so far for determination of near interface oxide charges, call be exploited to gain information about the D-it too. The determined value of D-it in the N-implanted sample is nearly one order of magnitude lower than that in the sample without N implantation. Good agreement between the TDRC results and those obtained from High-Low frequency C-V measurements is obtained. Furthermore, the TDRC method shows a high accuracy and resolution of D-it,evaluation in the region close to the majority carrier band edge and gives information about the traps located into the oxide.

We have investigated the behaviour of n- and p-doped GaAs(111) A electrodes in sulfuric acid solution by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and second harmonic generation (SHG) measurements. The potential dependence of the SHG response was found to be closely related to the changes in the surface state population, as revealed by analysis of the impedance data. The nature of the majority of carriers turned out to be a key factor in shaping the surface state- and field-effect on the second harmonic generation process.

Soft ferrites in the CuZnTi system, having the chemical composition Cu1-x-yZnxTiyFe2O4 with 0.5 <= x <= 0.7 and 0.00 <= y <= 0.05 were investigated as a function of composition, sintering temperature and cooling speed, in order to obtain materials with different Curie temperatures, between 30 and 180 degrees C and very high change rate of permeability with temperature around their Curie points. Such materials are well suited to use as high sensitive magnetic temperature sensors and transducers for temperature control. Zn and Ti additions to copper ferrite change the Curie temperature in a controllable manner, thus being possible to produce ferrite material with a fine control of the Curie point at any desired temperature. Most important was the behavior of magnetic permeability with temperature around the Curie point, where it may change with about 60 %/degrees C by a proper choice of the cooling speed of samples from the sintering temperature to room temperature. This makes such materials extremely attractive as magnetic temperature sensors of high sensitivity. Two applications Of Such materials as temperature sensors, namely an ultrathermostat and an on-off switch type relay were designed. Their functionality and performances are presented and discussed.

Efficient 1.34-mu m laser emission is realized in Nd-vanadates under pumping with diode lasers at 0.88 mu m. A Nd:YVO(4) crystal yielded 3.4-W output power for 9.3-W absorbed pump power, at a slope efficiency of 0.43. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America