beta-Delayed proton decays in the rare-earth region near drip line

The history of experimental study on beta-delayed proton decays in the rare-earth region was simply reviewed. The physical results of the beta-delayed proton decays obtained at IMP, Lanzhou over the last 10 years were summarized, mainly including the first observation of 9 new beta-delayed proton precursors along the odd-Z proton drip line and the new data for 2 waiting-point nuclei in the rp-process. The results were compared and discussed with different nuclear model calculations. Finally, the perspective in near future was briefly introduced.

Infrared and Raman spectroscopic characterization of the carbonate mineral huanghoite - and in comparison with selected rare earth carbonates

Raman spectroscopy complimented with infrared spectroscopy has been used to study the rare earth based mineral huanghoite with possible formula given as BaCe(CO3)2F and compared with the Raman spectra of a series of selected natural halogenated carbonates from different origins including bastnasite, parisite and northupite. The Raman spectrum of huanghoite displays three bands are at 1072, 1084 and 1091 cm−1 attributed to the symmetric stretching vibration. The observation of three symmetric stretching vibrations is very unusual. The position of symmetric stretching vibration varies with mineral composition. Infrared spectroscopy of huanghoite show bands at 1319, 1382, 1422 and 1470 cm−1. No Raman bands of huanghoite were observed in these positions. Raman spectra of bastnasite, parisite and northupite show a single band at 1433, 1420 and 1554 cm−1 assigned to the ν3 (CO3)2− antisymmetric stretching mode. The observation of additional Raman bands for the ν3 modes for some halogenated carbonates is significant in that it shows distortion of the carbonate anion in the mineral structure. Four Raman bands for huanghoite are observed at 687, 704, 718 and 730 cm−1and assigned to the (CO3)2− ν2 bending modes. Raman bands are observed for huanghoite at around 627 cm−1 and are assigned to the (CO3)2− ν4 bending modes. Raman bands are observed for the carbonate ν4 in phase bending modes at 722 cm−1 for bastnasite, 736 and 684 cm−1 for parisite, 714 cm−1 for northupite. Raman bands for huanghoite observed at 3259, 3484 and 3589 cm−1 are attributed to water stretching bands. Multiple bands are observed in the OH stretching region for bastnasite and parisite indicating the presence of water and OH units in their mineral structure. Vibrational spectroscopy enables new information on the structure of huanghoite to be assessed.

Crystal growth, transport and magnetic properties of rare-earth manganite Pr1-xPbxMnO3

Crystal growth, electrical and magnetic properties are reported for mixed valence manganite Pr1-xPbxMnO3 (x = 0.2, 0.23, and 0.3). The crystals with x = 0.2 and 0.23 are ferromagnetic and insulating, whereas that with x = 0.3 is ferromagnetic below 200 K and shows an insulator-metal transition at 235 K. This composition shows a magnetoresistance of 90% in a field of 5 T. In the paramagnetic region, the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility of the crystals follows a Curie-Weiss behavior. The thermal evolution of magnetization in the ferromagnetic phase varies as T-3/2, in accordance with Bloch's law. The spin-stiffness constant D obtained from the Bloch constant is found to increase linearly with x. The magnetization does not reach complete saturation upto a field of 5 T. A possible contribution of the Pr spins to the total magnetic moment is discussed.

Correlation of Oxygen Storage Capacity and Structural Distortion in Transition-Metal-, Noble-Metal-, and Rare-Earth-Ion-Substituted CeO2 from First Principles Calculation

Oxygen storage/release (OSC) capacity is an important feature common to all three-way catalysts to combat harmful exhaust emissions. To understand the mechanism of improved OSC for doped CeO2, we undertook the structural investigation by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H-2-TPR (temperature-programmed hydrogen reduction) and density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations of transition-metal-, noble-metal-, and rare-earth (RE)-ion-substituted ceria. In this report, we present the relationship between the OSC and structural changes induced by the dopant ion in CeO2. Transition metal and noble metal ion substitution in ceria greatly enhances the reducibility of Ce1-xMxO2-delta (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Pd, Pt, Ru), whereas rare-earth-ion-substituted Ce(1-x)A(x)O(2-delta) (A = La, Y) have very little effect in improving the OSC. Our simulated optimized structure shows deviation in cation oxygen bond length from ideal bond length of 2.34 angstrom (for CeO2). For example, our theoretical calculation for Ce28Mn4O62 structure shows that Mn-O bonds are in 4 + 2 coordination with average bond lengths of 2.0 and 3.06 angstrom respectively. Although the four short Mn-O bond lengths spans the bond distance region of Mn2O3, the other two Mn-O bonds are moved to longer distances. The dopant transition and noble metal ions also affects Ce coordination shell and results in the formation of longer Ce-O bonds as well. Thus longer cation oxygen bonds for both dopant and host ions results in enhanced synergistic reduction of the solid solution. With Pd ion substitution in Ce1-xMxO2-delta (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) further enhancement in OSC is observed in H-2-TPR. This effect is reflected in our model calculations by the presence of still longer bonds compared to the model without Pd ion doping. The synergistic effect is therefore due to enhanced reducibility of both dopant and host ion induced due to structural distortion of fluorite lattice in presence of dopant ion. For RE ions (RE = Y, La), our calculations show very little deviation of bonds lengths from ideal fluorite structure. The absence of longer Y-O/La-O and Ce-O bonds make the structure much less susceptible to reduction.

Rare earth doped beta-diketone complexes as promising high-density optical recording materials for blue optoelectronics

Some kinds of rare earth beta-diketone complexes with blue-violet light absorption edge were synthesized using the ligands of thenoyltrifluoroacctone (HTTA), 2, 2'-dipyridyl (BIPY) and different metal ions (Gd3+, Sm3+ and La3+). Their contents, structures and optoelectronic parameters were monitored by elemental analysis, MS, IR and UV spectra. The solubility of rare earth beta-diketone complexes in 2, 2, 3, 3-tetrafluoro-1-propanol (TFP) and absorption properties of their films in the region 300-800 nm were measured. The influence on the difference of absorption maximum from rare earth beta-diketone complexes to beta-diketone ligand by different metal ions was studied. In addition, the thermal stability of rare earth beta-diketone complexes was also reported. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Raman spectroscopic investigation of pure and ytterbium-doped rare earth silicate crystals

Raman spectroscopy was used to study the molecular structure of a series of selected rare earth (RE) silicate crystals including Y2SiO5 (YSO), LU2SiO5 (LSO), (Lu0.5Y0.5)(2)SiO5 (LYSO) and their ytterbium-doped samples. Raman spectra show resolved bands below 500 cm(-1) region assigned to the modes of SiO4 and oxygen vibrations. Multiple bands indicate the nonequivalence of the RE-O bonds and the lifting of the degeneracy of the RE ion vibration. Low intensity bands below 500 cm(-1) are an indication of impurities. The (SiO4)(4-) tetrahedra are characterized by bands near 200 cm(-1) which show a separation of the components of nu(4) and nu(2), in the 500-700 cm(-1) region which are attributed to the distorting bending vibration and in the 880-1000 cm(-1) region which are attributed to the symmetric and antisymmetric stretching vibrational modes. The majority of the bands in the 300-610 cm(-1) region of Re2SiO5 were found to arise from vibrations involving both Si and RE ions, indicating that there is considerable mixing of Si displacements with Si-O bending modes and RE-0 stretching modes. The Raman spectra of RE silicate crystals were analyzed in terms of the molecular structure of the crystals, which enabled separation of the bands attributed to distinct vibrational units. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Luminescence properties of rare earth ions in cadmium metasilicate

The luminescence properties of CdSio(3):RE3+ phosphors doped with various rare earth ions are reported. The series of rare earth ions doped CdSiO3 phosphors are prepared by the conventional high-temperature solid-state method, and characterized by XRD and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The results of XRD measurement indicate that the products fired under 1050 degreesC for 3 h have a good crystallization without any detectable amount of impure phase. The PL spectra measurement results show that CdSiO3 is a novel self-activated luminescent matrix. When rare earth ions such as Y3+, La3+, Gds(3+), Lus(3+), Ce3+, Nd3+, Ho3+, Era(3+), Tm3+ and Yb3+ are introduced into the CdSi03 host, one broadband centered at about 420 nm resulted from traps can be observed. In the case of other earth ions which show emissions at the visible spectrum region, such as Pr3+, Sm3+, Eu3+, Tb3+ and Dy3+, the mixture of their characteristic line emissions with the similar to 420 nm strong broadband luminescence results in various emitting colors. As a consequence, different emitting colors can be attairied via introducing certain appropriate active ions into the CdSiO3 matrix. In additional, this kind of phosphors shows good long-lasting properties when excited by UV light. All the results show that CdSiO3 is a potential luminance matrix.

The optical spectroscopic properties of rare earth-activated barium orthophosphate in VUV-Vis range

The optical properties of rare earth ions-activated barium orthophosphate phosphors, Ba-3(PO4)(2):RE (RE = Ce3+, Sm3+, Eu3+, Eu2+, and Tb3+), were investigated in vacuum ultraviolet (VLTV)-Vis range. A band-band transition Of PO43- in Ba-3(PO4)(2) is observed in the region of 150-170 nm. The partial reduction of Eu3+ to Eu2+ was observed and confirmed by luminescent spectra under the VUV-UV excitation. It is proposed that the electronegative defects that formed by aliovalent substitution of Eu3+ on the Ba2+ site in the host are responsible for the reduction process.

VUV-UV photoluminescence spectra of strontium orthophosphate doped with rare earth ions

The measurements of VUV-UV photoluminescence emission (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra of rare earth ions activated strontium orthophosphate [Sr-3(PO4)(2):RE, RE = Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb] are performed. Whenever the samples are excited by VUV or UV light, the typical emission of Ce-3+,Ce- Sm3+, Eu3+, Eu2+ and Tb3+ ions can be observed in PL spectra, respectively. The charge transfer bands (CTBs) of Sm3+ and Eu3+ are found, respectively, peaking at 206 and 230nm. The absorption bands peaking in the region of 150-160 nm are assigned to the host lattice sensitization bands, i.e., the band-to-band transitions of PO43- grouping in Sr-3(PO4)(2). It is speculated that the first f-d transitions of Sm3+ (Eu3+), and the CTB of Tb3+ are, respectively, located around 165 (14 3) and 167 urn by means of VUV-UV PLE spectra and relational empirical formula, these f-d transitions or CT bands are included in the bands with the maxima at 150-160 nm, respectively. The valence change of europium from trivalent to divalent in strontium orthophosphate prepared in air is observe by VUV-UV PL and PLE spectra.

The preparation and property studies of transparent resins containing rare earth terbium(III) complex

The binary and ternary rare-earth terbium(m) complexes were introduced into the styrene/alpha -methylacrylic acid copolymerization system, and some optical resins that possess a high transparency in visible light region were obtained. The study of the optical property showed that they have good luminescent properties such as a high luminous intensity and a long luminous lifetime, In addition, we investigated the relationship among the transparency, the luminescent property of the copolymer, and the content of the components in the polymeric system. The results indicated that the optical resins can provide a relatively stable environment for composite rare earth complexes, which is good to exhibit the luminescent properties of rare earth complexes. At the same time, the rare earth complexes can offer the transparent resin a novel function.