Changes in functional behavior of 93 % Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-7 % PbTiO3 thin films induced by ac electric fields

The dielectric properties of Au/[93%Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-7%PbTiO3] (PMN-PT)/(La0.5Sr0.5)CoO3/MgO thin-film capacitor heterostructures, made using pulsed laser deposition, have been investigated, with particular emphasis on the changes in response associated with increasing the magnitude of the ac measuring field. It was found that increasing the ac field caused a change in the frequency spectrum of relaxators, increasing the speed of response of "slow" relaxators, with an associated decrease in the freezing temperature (T-f) of the relaxor system; in addition, other characteristic parameters relating to polar relaxation (activation energy E-a and attempt frequency 1/tau(0)), described by fitting of the dielectric response to a Vogel-Fulcher expression, were found to change continuously as ac field levels were increased.

C-60 as a Faraday cage

Endohedral fullerenes have been proposed for a number of technological uses, for example, as a nanoscale switch, memory bit and as qubits for quantum computation. For these technology applications, it is important to know the ease with which the endohedral atom can be manipulated using an applied electric field. We find that the Buckminsterfullerene (C-60) acts effectively as a small Faraday cage, with only 25% of the field penetrating the interior of the molecule. Thus influencing the atom is difficult, but as a qubit the endohedral atom should be well shielded from environmental electrical noise. We also predict how the field penetration should increase with the fullerene radius. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Dynamics of electric fields driving the laser acceleration of multi-MeV protons

The acceleration of multi-MeV protons from the rear surface of thin solid foils irradiated by an intense (similar to 10(18) W/cm(2)) and short (similar to 1.5 ps) laser pulse has been investigated using transverse proton probing. The structure of the electric field driving the expansion of the proton beam has been resolved with high spatial and temporal resolution. The main features of the experimental observations, namely, an initial intense sheath field and a late time field peaking at the beam front, are consistent with the results from particle-in-cell and fluid simulations of thin plasma expansion into a vacuum.