Publications

Those nanocrystalline materials which consist of ferromagnetic nanograins embedded in a ferromagnetic matrix were modelled as a cubic lattice composed of a central sphere with strongly coupled spins surrounded by weakly coupled spins. The magnetic behaviour was studied by Monte Carlo simulation, especially the low temperature spin ordering and features exhibited in the temperature range between the Curie temperatures of the two phases. The magnetization and magnetic susceptibility are calculated as a function of temperature for different values of the interfacial exchange interactions. It is shown that the exchange coupling between matrix and nanograin influences the magnetic properties of the nanograin, the matrix and the interfacial regions differently. The magnetic behaviour of different regions has been explained in terms of a polarization mechanism acting on the surface and in the core, leading to magnetic correlation between the spins. Such features are quite consistent with the experimental results obtained on nanocrystalline alloys.

Thermal analysis measurements were applied to study the behavior of composite systems containing a nematic liquid crystal (LC), 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) and aerosil particles. The silica density rho(s) (g of silica per 1 cm(3) of LC) was varied from 0.20 to 12 g/cm(3) in order to approach the monomolecular structure of the surface layer. Thus. thermogravimetric (TG) measurements were performed to get information on the LC content of the samples. Moreover, they allowed an unusual application, to characterize the interaction of 8CB molecules with aerosil surface because the corresponding curves show multistep processes the temperatures of which depend on the silica density. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) also indicates several processes. Some of them, mostly due to desorption, are endothermal. Other processes are exothermal, and these are assigned to chemical transformations. The sample with silica density of 12 g/cm(3) has no endothermal desorption peak at low temperatures, and has the highest shift for the DTA peaks. It was supposed that its surface layer has a monomolecular structure. For representative samples, TG-DTA Studies were supported by FTIR investigations. Thus conventional TG-DTA techniques have provided new tools to characterize the nanocomposites. Differential scanning calorimetry gives the behavior of the phase transitions. Samples with low silica density exhibit a depression of the phase transition temperatures characteristic for the bulk 8CB while those with high silica densities do not show any phase transitions. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The nanocrystallization of two soft magnetic amorphous Finemet-type ribbons of the nominal composition Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 and Fe73.5Cu1Gd1Nb2Si13.5B9 synthesized by a melt spinning technique is reported. The crystallization process was monitored by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) that allows identification of the primary crystallization temperature as well as the other exothermic events occurring during crystallization process. The resulting phase structure of the properly annealed samples is investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and is shown to consist of size-distributed body-centred cubic (bcc) alpha-Fe(Si) (rather than Fe3Si, DO3-type), nanograins, embedded into the amorphous Nb-rich residual matrix. The degree of dispersion of the nanograins in the amorphous matrix is estimated from the nanocrystalline volume fraction and the mean size of the nanograins obtained both from XRD data and TEM images. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic behavior of the isolated ferromagnetic bimetallic nanoparticles is investigated in relation with the competition between exchange interaction and surface and bulk anisotropies. Experimental results on AgCo bimetallic nanoparticles are presented and correlated with Monte Carlo simulation of low temperature spin ordering. The nature of spin disorder at the surface, responsible for the reduction of the overall saturation magnetization is briefly discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Antiferromagnetic FeSn2(001) thin films with different thicknesses and relatively low Neel temperatures were grown on InSb(001)(4x2) surfaces by molecular-beam epitaxy. The Neel temperature could be increased to above room temperature by subsequent thermal annealing. In situ structural characterization was performed by high- and low-energy electron diffraction. The degree of the structural (001) texture as a function of the preparation and annealing conditions was investigated by x-ray diffractometry. The local magnetic properties and the spin structure were studied using Fe-57 conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) at different temperatures. The epitaxial FeSn2(001) thin films exhibit in-plane Fe spin orientation and appear to be suitable antiferromagnets for studying the interfacial spin structure in exchange-biased bilayers by CEMS. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Metal nanoparticles embedded in KCl crystals exhibit different forms and distributions, depending on the type of metal. The nanoparticles can be efficiently studied by optical absorption on these structures, calculated from Mie theory and comparison with Transmission Electron Mmicroscopy (TEM) measurements. The TEM images provide the detailed characteristics of the structures under study. Metal crystalline particle obtained by thermal treatments of negative indiurn ions are spherical. The particle size distribution was determined, the standard deviation was found 1.46, and the main statistical characteristics were calculated.

The influence of oxygen and carbon impurities on the concentrations of defects in silicon for detector uses, in complex fields of radiation (proton cosmic field at low orbits around the Earth, at Large Hadron Collider and at the next generation of accelerators as Super-LHC) is investigated in the frame of the quantitative model developed previously by the authors. The generation rate of primary defects is calculated starting from the projectile - silicon interaction and from recoil energy redistribution in the lattice. The mechanisms of formation of complex defects are explicitly analysed. Vacancy-interstitial annihilation, interstitial and vacancy migration to sinks, divacancy, vacancy and interstitial impurity complex formation and decomposition are considered. Oxygen and carbon impurities present in silicon could monitor the concentration of all stable defects, due to their interaction with vacancies and interstitials. Their role in the mechanisms of formation and decomposition of the following stable defects: VP, VO, V-2, V2O, C-i, CiOi and CiCs is studied. The model predictions could be a useful clue in obtaining harder materials for detectors at the new generation of accelerators, for space missions or for industrial applications.

Electron spin resonance investigations on polyethyleneterephtalate irradiated with a YAG-Nd laser are reported. The dependence of electron spin resonance spectra on the incident laser beam intensity (power) is studied. It is noticed that the concentration of free radicals has a sigmoidal dependence on the crystal current, presenting saturation at high incident powers. The nature of free radicals induced by laser irradiation is discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Temperature dependent EPR measurements on copper doped Rb2ZnCl4 single crystals allowed us to evidence and study the P2(1)cn ClcI structural phase transition that takes place in this compound at 74.6 K. From the two types Of Cu2+ centers localized at different anionic sites, called Cu2+(I) and Cu2+(II), which are formed in this compound, only the Cu2+(II) centers exhibit observable changes in their EPR spectra, attributable to the symmetry lowering. The observed changes have been related to the soft-mode responsible for the structural phase transition. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Cu (3d-4s-->2p(3/2)) Lalpha X-ray emission band has been measured in Cu nanoclusters, present in a series of Cu/C-60 thin-film nanostructures. In comparison with bulk Cu, a negative shift and a narrowing of the Lalpha band have been noticed. These observations are mainly attributed to a size effect but charge transfer from metal to C-60 occurring at interfaces and causing a depletion of the Cu 3d band is also considered.