Magnetic and transport properties of (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2

Single crystals of (Bal - xKx)Fe2As2 were prepared using the Sn flux method. Two heating methods were used to prepare the single crystals: the slow heating and rapid heating methods. It was found that the single crystals grown using the slow heating method were not superconducting due to a significant loss of potassium. When the rapid heating method was used, the single crystals were observed to be superconducting with the desired potassium concentration. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis indicated the presence of multiple phases in the single crystals. Using single crystal X-ray diffraction, the crystal structure of the single crystals was found to be 14/mmm tetragonal at room temperature. The magnetic measurements on the single crystals indicated the presence of multiple phases and magnetic impurities.

Large Changes of Static Electric Properties Induced by Hydrogen Bonding: An ab Initio Study of Linear HCN Oligomers

We report the partitioning of the interaction-induced static electronic dipole (hyper)polarizabilities for linear hydrogen cyanide complexes into contributions arising from various interaction energy terms. We analyzed the nonadditivities of the studied properties and used these data to predict the electric properties of an infinite chain. The interaction-induced static electric dipole properties and their nonadditivities were analyzed using an approach based on numerical differentiation of the interaction energy components estimated in an external electric field. These were obtained using the hybrid variational-perturbational interaction energy decomposition scheme, augmented with coupled-cluster calculations, with singles, doubles, and noniterative triples. Our results indicate that the interaction-induced dipole moments and polarizabilities are primarily electrostatic in nature; however, the composition of the interaction hyperpolarizabilities is much more complex. The overlap effects substantially quench the contributions due to electrostatic interactions, and therefore, the major components are due to the induction and exchange induction terms, as well as the intramolecular electron-correlation corrections. A particularly intriguing observation is that the interaction first hyperpolarizability in the studied systems not only is much larger than the corresponding sum of monomer properties, but also has the opposite sign. We show that this effect can be viewed as a direct consequence of hydrogen-bonding interactions that lead to a decrease of the hyperpolarizability of the proton acceptor and an increase of the hyperpolarizability of the proton donor. In the case of the first hyperpolarizability, we also observed the largest nonadditivity of interaction properties (nearly 17%) which further enhances the effects of pairwise interactions.

Microstructural and electric properties of bismuth-layered structured ceramics - SrBi2(Ta1-xNbx)O-9

Ceramic samples of SrBi2(Nb1-xTax)O-9 (0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1) were prepared by the solid state reaction method in order to investigate their structural and electrical features as well as obtain useful information to improve the properties of SrBi2(Nb1-xTax)O-9 as a thin film. The X-ray diffraction patterns and the scanning electronic microscopy photomicrographs show no secondary phases but the formation of a solid-state solution for all the composition. The ac conductivity of the samples, measured at 25 degreesC and 100 kHz frequency, decreases with the increase of Ta content. Such results were explained by intrinsic conductivity of pure components.

Microstructure and electric properties of a SnO2 based varistor

High non-linear J x E electrical characteristic (alpha=41) were obtained in the Nb2O5 and Cr2O3 doped CoO highly densified SnO2 ceramics. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that these ceramics are apparently single phase. Electrical properties and microstructure are highly dependent on the Cr2O3 concentration and on the sintering temperature. Excess of Cr2O3 leads to porous ceramics destroying the material's electrical characteristics probably due to precipitation of second phase of CoCr2O4 Dopant segregation and/or solid solution formation at the grain boundaries can be responsible for the formation of the electrical barriers which originate the varistor behaviour. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. Limited and Techna S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Effect of La2O3 addition and O-2 atmosphere on the electric properties of SnO2TiO2

The electric properties of (Sn, Ti)O-2 doped with 1.00 mol% CoO, 0.05 mol% Nb2O5 and xmol% La2O3 (0.25 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1.00) have been studied. Sn0.25Ti0.75Co0.01Nb0.005 doped with 0.50 mol% La2O3 has a nonlinearity coefficient of 6. An increase in the concentration of La2O3 raised its resistivity, thereby altering the electric properties of the material. A thermal treatment in oxygen atmosphere increased the nonlinearity coefficient to a value of 9. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Monofilamentary Ag/Bi:2212 tapes - Effects of silver powder addition

The Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system has been one of the most studied superconducting ceramic materials for industry applications. The most of the studies with this aim are on silver/ceramic composites, due to the benefits and great compatibility of this metal with the oxide. Tapes made by the powder in tube (PIT) method have been successfully tested in pilot power plants in many countries but in Brazil. In this paper, 5, 10, and 20-wt% silver powders are introduced to compose the core of the tape along with the Bi:2212 ceramic powder. The results of electrical experiments are compared with those made with no silver addition Ag tapes. The best current density, at 60 K and no applied magnetic field, was found for the 10-wt% silver proportion, doubling the value obtained for the tape with no silver in the core.

Experimental and theoretical study of transport properties in uniaxially pressed (Bi, Pb)(2)Sr(2)Ca(2)Cu(3)O(10+delta) ceramic samples

Experimental and theoretical studies on the magnetic field dependence of the electrical resistance R(B(a)) and the transport noise (TN) in polycrystalline high-T(c) superconductors subjected to different uniaxial compacting pressures were conducted. X-ray diffraction rocking curves were performed in different surfaces of the samples in order to investigated the degree of texture The results indicated an improvement of the degree of texture with increasing the uniaxial compacting pressure In theoretical simulations of the data, the polycrystalline superconductors were described as a series-parallel array of Josephson devices The intergranular magnetic field is described within the framework of the intragranular flux-trapping model and the distribution of the grain-boundary angles is assumed to follow the Rayleigh statistical function The proposed model describes well the experimental magnetoresistance R(B(a)) data We have found that the behavior of the R(B(a)) curves changes appreciably when different uniaxially compacting pressures are applied to the sample and such a changes are reproduced by the model when different grain-boundary angles distributions are used In addition, changes in the R(B(a)) dependence have their counterparts in the experimental transport noise signals (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Systematic study of the static electrical properties of the CO molecule: influence of the basis set size and correlation energy

The influence of the basis set size and the correlation energy in the static electrical properties of the CO molecule is assessed. In particular, we have studied both the nuclear relaxation and the vibrational contributions to the static molecular electrical properties, the vibrational Stark effect (VSE) and the vibrational intensity effect (VIE). From a mathematical point of view, when a static and uniform electric field is applied to a molecule, the energy of this system can be expressed in terms of a double power series with respect to the bond length and to the field strength. From the power series expansion of the potential energy, field-dependent expressions for the equilibrium geometry, for the potential energy and for the force constant are obtained. The nuclear relaxation and vibrational contributions to the molecular electrical properties are analyzed in terms of the derivatives of the electronic molecular properties. In general, the results presented show that accurate inclusion of the correlation energy and large basis sets are needed to calculate the molecular electrical properties and their derivatives with respect to either nuclear displacements or/and field strength. With respect to experimental data, the calculated power series coefficients are overestimated by the SCF, CISD, and QCISD methods. On the contrary, perturbation methods (MP2 and MP4) tend to underestimate them. In average and using the 6-311 + G(3df) basis set and for the CO molecule, the nuclear relaxation and the vibrational contributions to the molecular electrical properties amount to 11.7%, 3.3%, and 69.7% of the purely electronic μ, α, and β values, respectively

Transport properties across the La2/3Ca1/3MnO3/SrTiO3 heterointerface

The transport properties across La2/3Ca1/3MnO3/SrTiO3 (LCMO/STO) heterostructures with different thicknesses of the STO insulating barrier have been studied by using atomic force microscopy measurements in the current sensing (CS) mode. To avoid intrinsic problems of the CS method we have developed a nanostructured contact geometry of Au dots. The conduction process across the LCMO/STO interface exhibits the typical features of a tunneling process.

Systematics of properties of the electron gas in deep-etched quantum wires

An efficient method is developed for an iterative solution of the Poisson and Schro¿dinger equations, which allows systematic studies of the properties of the electron gas in linear deep-etched quantum wires. A much simpler two-dimensional (2D) approximation is developed that accurately reproduces the results of the 3D calculations. A 2D Thomas-Fermi approximation is then derived, and shown to give a good account of average properties. Further, we prove that an analytic form due to Shikin et al. is a good approximation to the electron density given by the self-consistent methods.

Substrate influence on the properties of doped thin silicon layers grown by Cat-CVD

We present structural and electrical properties for p- and n-type layers grown close to the transition between a-Si:H and nc-Si:H onto different substrates: Corning 1737 glass, ZnO:Al-coated glass and stainless steel. Structural properties were observed to depend on the substrate properties for samples grown under the same deposition conditions. Different behaviour was observed for n- and p-type material. Stainless steel seemed to enhance crystallinity when dealing with n-type layers, whereas an increased crystalline fraction was obtained on glass for p-type samples. Electrical conduction in the direction perpendicular to the substrate seemed to be mainly determined by the interfaces or by the existence of an amorphous incubation layer that might determine the electrical behaviour. In the direction perpendicular to the substrate, n-type layers exhibited a lower resistance value than p-type ones, showing better contact properties between the layer and the substrate.

Correlation between charge transport and electroluminescence properties of Si-rich oxide/nitride/oxide-based light emitting capacitors.

The electrical and electroluminescence (EL) properties at room and high temperatures of oxide/ nitride/oxide (ONO)-based light emitting capacitors are studied. The ONO multidielectric layer is enriched with silicon by means of ion implantation. The exceeding silicon distribution follows a Gaussian profile with a maximum of 19%, centered close to the lower oxide/nitride interface. The electrical measurements performed at room and high temperatures allowed to unambiguously identify variable range hopping (VRH) as the dominant electrical conduction mechanism at low voltages, whereas at moderate and high voltages, a hybrid conduction formed by means of variable range hopping and space charge-limited current enhanced by Poole-Frenkel effect predominates. The EL spectra at different temperatures are also recorded, and the correlation between charge transport mechanisms and EL properties is discussed.

Optical properties of organic superconductor K-(BETS)2FeBr4 /

/c-(BETS)2FeBr4 is the first antiferromagnetic organic superconductor with successive antiferromagnetic and superconducting transitions at Ta^=2.5K and Tc=l.lK respectively at ambient pressure. Polarized reflectance measurements were performed on three single crystalsamples of this material using a Briiker IFS66V/S Interferometer, and a Bolometer detector or an MCT detector, at seven temperatures between 4K and 300K, in both the far-infrared and mid-infrared frequency range. After the reflectance results were obtained, the Kramers-Kronig dispersion relation was apphed to determine the optical conductivity of /c-(BETS)2FeBr4 at these seven temperatures. Additionally, the optical conductivity spectra were fitted with a Drude/Lorentz Oscillator model in order to study the evolution of the optical conductivity with temperature along the a-axis and c-axis. The resistivities calculated from the Drude model parameters along the a-axis and c-axis agreed reasonably with previous transport measurements.

Optical properties of organic superconductor K-(BETS)2FeBr4 /

K-(BETS)2FeBr4 is a quasi-2D charge transfer organic metal with interesting electronic and magnetic properties. It undergoes a transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) state at ambient pressure at the Neel temperature (T^^) = 2.5 K, as well as to a superconducting (SC) state at 1.1 K [1]. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity shows a small decrease at T;v indicating the resistivity drops as a result of the onset of the ordering of Fe'*''" spins. A sharp drop in the resistivity at 1.1 K is due to its superconducting transition. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility indicates an antiferromagnetic spin structure with the easy axis parallel to the a-axis. The specific heat at zero-field shows a large peak at about 2.4 K, which corresponds to the antiferromagnetic transition temperature (Tat) and no anomaly is observed around the superconducting transition temperature (1.1 K) demonstrating that the magnetically ordered state is not destroyed by the appearance of another phase transition (the superconducting transition) in the 7r-electron layers [1], [2]. This work presents an investigation of how the low frequency electromagnetic response is affected by the antiferromagnetic and superconducting states, as well as the onset of strong correlation. The location of the easy axis of three samples was determined and polarized thermal reflectance measurements of these «-(BETS)2FeBr4 samples oriented with their vertical axis along the a- and c axes were then carried out using a *He refrigerator cryostat and a Martin-Puplett type polarizing interferometer at various temperatures (T = 0.5 K, 1.4 K. 1.9 K, 2.8 K) above and below the superconducting state and/or antiferromagnetic state. Comparison of the SC state to the normal state along the o- and c-axes indicates a rising thermal reflectance at low frequencies (below 10 cm"' ) which may be a manifestation of the superconducting energy gap. A dip-Hke feature is detected at low frequencies (below 15 cm"') in the thermal reflectance plots which probe the antiferromagnetic state along the two axes, and may be due to the opening of a gap in the excitation spectrum as a result of the antiferromagnetism. In another set of experiments, thermal reflectance measurements carried out along the a- and c-axes at higher temperatures (10 K-80 K) show that the reflectivity decreases with increasing temperature to 60 K (the coherence temperature) above which it increases again. Comparison of the thermal reflectance plots along the a- and c-axes at higher temperatures reveals an anisotropy between these two axes. The Hagen-Rubens thermal reflectance plots corresponding to an average over the ac-plane were calculated using experimental hterature resistivity values. Comparison of the Hagen-Rubens plots with the experimental thermal reflectance along the a- and c-axes indicates that both exhibit the general trend of a decrease in thermal reflectance with increasing frequency, however the calculated Hagen-Rubens thermal reflectance at different temperatures is much lower than the experimental curves.