Random crystal field effects on the integer and half-integer mixed-spin system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yigit, Ali; Albayrak, Erhan

2018-05-01

In this work, we have focused on the random crystal field effects on the phase diagrams of the mixed spin-1 and spin-5/2 Ising system obtained by utilizing the exact recursion relations (ERR) on the Bethe lattice (BL). The distribution function P(Di) = pδ [Di - D(1 + α) ] +(1 - p) δ [Di - D(1 - α) ] is used to randomize the crystal field.The phase diagrams are found to exhibit second- and first-order phase transitions depending on the values of α, D and p. It is also observed that the model displays tricritical point, isolated point, critical end point and three compensation temperatures for suitable values of the system parameters.

Crystal-field effects in the kagome antiferromagnet Ho3Ru4Al12

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorbunov, D. I.; Nomura, T.; Ishii, I.; Henriques, M. S.; Andreev, A. V.; Doerr, M.; Stöter, T.; Suzuki, T.; Zherlitsyn, S.; Wosnitza, J.

2018-05-01

In Ho3Ru4Al12 , the Ho atoms form a distorted kagome lattice. We performed magnetization, magnetic-susceptibility, specific-heat, and ultrasound measurements on a single crystal. We find that the magnetic and magnetoelastic properties of Ho3Ru4Al12 result from an interplay between geometric frustration and crystal-electric-field (CEF) effects. The Ho atoms order antiferromagnetically at TN=4.5 K with reduced magnetic moments. In applied field, the magnetization shows anomalies that can be explained by CEF level crossings. We propose a CEF level scheme for which the ground-state doublet and the first two excited singlets at about 2.7 K form a quasiquartet. Indirect interlevel transitions allow for a quadrupolar interaction. This interaction explains well changes in the elastic shear modulus C44 as a function of temperature and magnetic field.

Random crystal field effect on the magnetic and hysteresis behaviors of a spin-1 cylindrical nanowire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaim, N.; Zaim, A.; Kerouad, M.

2017-02-01

In this work, the magnetic behavior of the cylindrical nanowire, consisting of a ferromagnetic core of spin-1 atoms surrounded by a ferromagnetic shell of spin-1 atoms is studied in the presence of a random crystal field interaction. Based on Metropolis algorithm, the Monte Carlo simulation has been used to investigate the effects of the concentration of the random crystal field p, the crystal field D and the shell exchange interaction Js on the phase diagrams and the hysteresis behavior of the system. Some characteristic behaviors have been found, such as the first and second-order phase transitions joined by tricritical point for appropriate values of the system parameters, triple and isolated critical points can be also found. Depending on the Hamiltonian parameters, single, double and para hysteresis regions are explicitly determined.

Using Magnetic Fields to Control Convection during Protein Crystallization: Analysis and Validation Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N.; Leslie, F. W.

2004-01-01

The effect of convection during the crystallization of proteins is not very well understood. In a gravitational field, convection is caused by crystal sedimentation and by solutal buoyancy induced flow and these can lead to crystal imperfections. While crystallization in microgravity can approach diffusion limited growth conditions (no convection), terrestrially strong magnetic fields can be used to control fluid flow and sedimentation effects. In this work, we develop the analysis for magnetic flow control and test the predictions using analog experiments. Specifically, experiments on solutal convection in a paramagnetic fluid were conducted in a strong magnetic field gradient using a dilute solution of Manganese Chloride. The observed flows indicate that the magnetic field can completely counter the settling effects of gravity locally and are consistent with the theoretical predictions presented. This phenomenon suggests that magnetic fields may be useful in mimicking the microgravity environment of space for some crystal growth ana biological applications where fluid convection is undesirable.

Effects of a High Magnetic Field on the Microstructure of Ni-Based Single-Crystal Superalloys During Directional Solidification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xuan, Weidong; Lan, Jian; Liu, Huan; Li, Chuanjun; Wang, Jiang; Ren, Weili; Zhong, Yunbo; Li, Xi; Ren, Zhongming

2017-08-01

High magnetic fields are widely used to improve the microstructure and properties of materials during the solidification process. During the preparation of single-crystal turbine blades, the microstructure of the superalloy is the main factor that determines its mechanical properties. In this work, the effects of a high magnetic field on the microstructure of Ni-based single-crystal superalloys PWA1483 and CMSX-4 during directional solidification were investigated experimentally. The results showed that the magnetic field modified the primary dendrite arm spacing, γ' phase size, and microsegregation of the superalloys. In addition, the size and volume fractions of γ/ γ' eutectic and the microporosity were decreased in a high magnetic field. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the effect of a high magnetic field on the microstructure during directional solidification was significant ( p < 0.05). Based on both experimental results and theoretical analysis, the modification of microstructure was attributed to thermoelectric magnetic convection occurring in the interdendritic regions under a high magnetic field. The present work provides a new method to optimize the microstructure of Ni-based single-crystal superalloy blades by applying a high magnetic field.

Phase-field-crystal model for ordered crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alster, Eli; Elder, K. R.; Hoyt, Jeffrey J.; Voorhees, Peter W.

2017-02-01

We describe a general method to model multicomponent ordered crystals using the phase-field-crystal (PFC) formalism. As a test case, a generic B2 compound is investigated. We are able to produce a line of either first-order or second-order order-disorder phase transitions, features that have not been incorporated in existing PFC approaches. Further, it is found that the only elastic constant for B2 that depends on ordering is C11. This B2 model is then used to study antiphase boundaries (APBs). The APBs are shown to reproduce classical mean-field results. Dynamical simulations of ordering across small-angle grain boundaries predict that dislocation cores pin the evolution of APBs.

Self-Aligned Growth of Organic Semiconductor Single Crystals by Electric Field.

PubMed

Kotsuki, Kenji; Obata, Seiji; Saiki, Koichiro

2016-01-19

We proposed a novel but facile method for growing organic semiconductor single-crystals via solvent vapor annealing (SVA) under electric field. In the conventional SVA growth process, nuclei of crystals appeared anywhere on the substrate and their crystallographic axes were randomly distributed. We applied electric field during the SVA growth of 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) on the SiO2/Si substrate on which a pair of electrodes had been deposited beforehand. Real-time observation of the SVA process revealed that rodlike single crystals grew with their long axes parallel to the electric field and bridged the prepatterned electrodes. As a result, C8-BTBT crystals automatically formed a field effect transistor (FET) structure and the mobility reached 1.9 cm(2)/(V s). Electric-field-assisted SVA proved a promising method for constructing high-mobility single-crystal FETs at the desired position by a low-cost solution process.

Global mean-field phase diagram of the spin-1 Ising ferromagnet in a random crystal field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borelli, M. E. S.; Carneiro, C. E. I.

1996-02-01

We study the phase diagram of the mean-field spin-1 Ising ferromagnet in a uniform magnetic field H and a random crystal field Δi, with probability distribution P( Δi) = pδ( Δi - Δ) + (1 - p) δ( Δi). We analyse the effects of randomness on the first-order surfaces of the Δ- T- H phase diagram for different values of the concentration p and show how these surfaces are affected by the dilution of the crystal field.

Effect of Magnetic Fields on g-jitter Induced Convection and Solute Striation During Space Processing of Single Crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

deGroh, H. C.; Li, K.; Li, B. Q.

2002-01-01

A 2-D finite element model is presented for the melt growth of single crystals in a microgravity environment with a superimposed DC magnetic field. The model is developed based on the deforming finite element methodology and is capable of predicting the phenomena of the steady and transient convective flows, heat transfer, solute distribution, and solid-liquid interface morphology associated with the melt growth of single crystals in microgravity with and without an applied magnetic field. Numerical simulations were carried out for a wide range of parameters including idealized microgravity conditions, the synthesized g-jitter and the real g-jitter data taken by on-board accelerometers during space flights. The results reveal that the time varying g-jitter disturbances, although small in magnitude, cause an appreciable convective flow in the liquid pool, which in turn produces detrimental effects during the space processing of single crystal growth. An applied magnetic field of appropriate strength, superimposed on microgravity, can be very effective in suppressing the deleterious effects resulting from the g-jitter disturbances.

Crystal-field analysis of U3+ ions in K2LaX5 (X=Cl, Br or I) single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karbowiak, M.; Edelstein, N.; Gajek, Z.; Drożdżyński, J.

1998-11-01

An analysis of low temperature absorption spectra of U3+ ions doped in K2LaX5 (X=Cl, Br or I) single crystals is reported. The energy levels of the U3+ ion in the single crystals were assigned and fitted to a semiempirical Hamiltonian representing the combined atomic and crystal-field interactions at the Cs symmetry site. An analysis of the nephelauxetic effect and crystal-field splittings in the series of compounds is also reported.

Study of Fluid Flow Control in Protein Crystallization using Strong Magnetic Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramachandran, Narayanan; Leslie, Fred; Ciszak, Ewa

2002-11-01

positioning the crystal growth cell so that the magnetic susceptibility force counteracts terrestrial gravity. The general objective is to test the hypothesis of convective control using a strong magnetic field and magnetic field gradient and to understand the nature of the various forces that come into play. Specifically we aim to delineate causative factors and to quantify them through experiments, analysis and numerical modeling. Once the basic understanding is obtained, the study will focus on testing the hypothesis on proteins of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), proteins E1 and E3. Obtaining high crystal quality of these proteins is of great importance to structural biologists since their structures need to be determined. Specific goals for the investigation are: 1. To develop an understanding of convection control in diamagnetic fluids with concentration gradients through experimentation and numerical modeling. Specifically solutal buoyancy driven convection due to crystal growth will be considered. 2. To develop predictive measures for successful crystallization in a magnetic field using analyses and numerical modeling for use in future protein crystal growth experiments. This will establish criteria that can be used to estimate the efficacy of magnetic field flow damping on crystallization of candidate proteins. 3. To demonstrate the understanding of convection damping by high magnetic fields to a class of proteins that is of interest and whose structure is as yet not determined. 4. To compare quantitatively, the quality of the grown crystals with and without a magnetic field. X-ray diffraction techniques will be used for the comparative studies. In a preliminary set of experiments, we studied crystal dissolution effects in a 5 Tesla magnet available at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Using a Schlieren setup, a 1mm crystal of Alum (Aluminum-Potassium Sulfate) was introduced in a 75% saturated solution and the resulting dissolution plume was observed

Study of Fluid Flow Control in Protein Crystallization using Strong Magnetic Fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Narayanan; Leslie, Fred; Ciszak, Ewa

2002-01-01

positioning the crystal growth cell so that the magnetic susceptibility force counteracts terrestrial gravity. The general objective is to test the hypothesis of convective control using a strong magnetic field and magnetic field gradient and to understand the nature of the various forces that come into play. Specifically we aim to delineate causative factors and to quantify them through experiments, analysis and numerical modeling. Once the basic understanding is obtained, the study will focus on testing the hypothesis on proteins of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), proteins E1 and E3. Obtaining high crystal quality of these proteins is of great importance to structural biologists since their structures need to be determined. Specific goals for the investigation are: 1. To develop an understanding of convection control in diamagnetic fluids with concentration gradients through experimentation and numerical modeling. Specifically solutal buoyancy driven convection due to crystal growth will be considered. 2. To develop predictive measures for successful crystallization in a magnetic field using analyses and numerical modeling for use in future protein crystal growth experiments. This will establish criteria that can be used to estimate the efficacy of magnetic field flow damping on crystallization of candidate proteins. 3. To demonstrate the understanding of convection damping by high magnetic fields to a class of proteins that is of interest and whose structure is as yet not determined. 4. To compare quantitatively, the quality of the grown crystals with and without a magnetic field. X-ray diffraction techniques will be used for the comparative studies. In a preliminary set of experiments, we studied crystal dissolution effects in a 5 Tesla magnet available at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Using a Schlieren setup, a 1mm crystal of Alum (Aluminum-Potassium Sulfate) was introduced in a 75% saturated solution and the resulting dissolution plume was observed

Exchange field effect in the crystal-field ground state of Ce M Al 4 Si 2

DOE PAGES

Chen, K.; Strigari, F.; Sundermann, M.; ...

2016-09-06

The crystal-field ground-state wave functions of the tetragonal, magnetically ordering Kondo lattice materials CeMAl 4Si 2 (M = Rh, Ir, and Pt) are determined in this paper with low-temperature linearly polarized soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and estimates for the crystal-field splittings are given from the temperature evolution of the linear dichroism. Values for the dominant exchange field in the magnetically ordered phases can be obtained from fitting the influence of magnetic order on the linear dichroism. The direction of the required exchange field is || c for the antiferromagnetic Rh and Ir compounds, with the corresponding strength of the order ofmore » λ ex ≈ 6 meV (65 K). Finally and furthermore, the presence of Kondo screening in the Rh and Ir compound is demonstrated on the basis of the absorption due to f 0 in the initial state.« less

Broken symmetry phase transition in solid p-H 2, o-D 2 and HD: crystal field effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freiman, Yu. A.; Hemley, R. J.; Jezowski, A.; Tretyak, S. M.

1999-04-01

We report the effect of the crystal field (CF) on the broken symmetry phase transition (BSP) in solid parahydrogen, orthodeuterium, and hydrogen deuteride. The CF was calculated taking into account a distortion from the ideal HCP structure. We find that, in addition to the molecular field generated by the coupling terms in the intermolecular potential, the Hamiltonian of the system contains a crystal-field term, originating from single-molecular terms in the intermolecular potential. Ignoring the CF is the main cause of the systematic underestimation of the transition pressure, characteristic of published theories of the BSP transition. The distortion of the lattice that gives rise to the negative CF in response to the applied pressure is in accord with the general Le Chatelier-Braun principle.

Ab Initio Crystal Field for Lanthanides.

PubMed

Ungur, Liviu; Chibotaru, Liviu F

2017-03-13

An ab initio methodology for the first-principle derivation of crystal-field (CF) parameters for lanthanides is described. The methodology is applied to the analysis of CF parameters in [Tb(Pc) 2 ] - (Pc=phthalocyanine) and Dy 4 K 2 ([Dy 4 K 2 O(OtBu) 12 ]) complexes, and compared with often used approximate and model descriptions. It is found that the application of geometry symmetrization, and the use of electrostatic point-charge and phenomenological CF models, lead to unacceptably large deviations from predictions based on ab initio calculations for experimental geometry. It is shown how the predictions of standard CASSCF (Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field) calculations (with 4f orbitals in the active space) can be systematically improved by including effects of dynamical electronic correlation (CASPT2 step) and by admixing electronic configurations of the 5d shell. This is exemplified for the well-studied Er-trensal complex (H 3 trensal=2,2',2"-tris(salicylideneimido)trimethylamine). The electrostatic contributions to CF parameters in this complex, calculated with true charge distributions in the ligands, yield less than half of the total CF splitting, thus pointing to the dominant role of covalent effects. This analysis allows the conclusion that ab initio crystal field is an essential tool for the decent description of lanthanides. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Crystal field parameters and energy levels scheme of trivalent chromium doped BSO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petkova, P.; Andreici, E.-L.; Avram, N. M.

2014-11-01

The aim of this paper is to give an analysis of crystal field parameters and energy levels schemes for the above doped material, in order to give a reliable explanation for experimental data. The crystal field parameters have been modeled in the frame of Exchange Charge Model (ECM) of the crystal field theory, taken into account the geometry of systems, with actually site symmetry of the impurity ions. The effect of the charges of the ligands and covalence bonding between chromium cation and oxygen anions, in the cluster approach, also were taken into account. With the obtained values of the crystal field parameters we simulated the scheme of energy levels of chromium ions by diagonalizing the matrix of the Hamiltonian of the doped crystal. The obtained energy levels and estimated Racah parameters B and C were compared with the experimental spectroscopic data and discussed. Comparison with experiment shows that the results are quite satisfactory which justify the model and simulation scheme used for the title system.

A new effective correlation mean-field theory for the ferromagnetic spin-1 Blume-Capel model in a transverse crystal field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberto Viana, J.; Rodriguez Salmon, Octavio D.; Neto, Minos A.; Carvalho, Diego C.

2018-02-01

A new approximation technique is developed so as to study the quantum ferromagnetic spin-1 Blume-Capel model in the presence of a transverse crystal field in the square lattice. Our proposal consists of approaching the spin system by considering islands of finite clusters whose frontiers are surrounded by noninteracting spins that are treated by the effective-field theory. The resulting phase diagram is qualitatively correct, in contrast to most effective-field treatments, in which the first-order line exhibits spurious behavior by not being perpendicular to the anisotropy axis at low-temperatures. The effect of the transverse anisotropy is also verified by the presence of quantum phase transitions. The possibility of using larger sizes constitutes an advantage to other approaches where the implementation of larger sizes is computationally costly.

Magnetic field-induced strain and magnetoelectric effects in sandwich composite of ferromagnetic shape memory Ni-Mn-Ga crystal and piezoelectric PVDF polymer.

PubMed

Zeng, Min; Or, Siu Wing; Chan, Helen Lai Wa

2010-10-01

A sandwich composite consisting of one layer of ferromagnetic shape memory Ni-Mn-Ga crystal plate bonded between two layers of piezoelectric PVDF polymer film was fabricated, and its magnetic field-induced strain (MFIS) and magnetoelectric (ME) effects were investigated, together with a monolithic Ni-Mn-Ga crystal, as functions of magnetic fields and mechanical load. The load-free dc- and ac-MFISs were 0.35 and 0.05% in the composite, and 5.6 and 0.3% in the monolithic crystal, respectively. The relatively smaller load-free MFISs in the composite than the monolithic crystal resulted from the clamping of martensitic twin-boundary motion in the Ni-Mn-Ga plate by the PVDF films. The largest ME coefficient (α(E)) was 0.58 V/cm·Oe at a magnetic bias field (H(Bias)) of 8.35 kOe under load-free condition. The mechanism of the ME effect originated from the mechanically mediated MFIS effect in the Ni-Mn-Ga plate and piezoelectric effect in the PVDF films. The measured α(E)-H(Bias) responses under different loads showed good agreement with the model prediction.

Crystal field parameters and energy levels scheme of trivalent chromium doped BSO

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petkova, P.; Andreici, E.-L.; Avram, N. M., E-mail: n1m2marva@yahoo.com

The aim of this paper is to give an analysis of crystal field parameters and energy levels schemes for the above doped material, in order to give a reliable explanation for experimental data. The crystal field parameters have been modeled in the frame of Exchange Charge Model (ECM) of the crystal field theory, taken into account the geometry of systems, with actually site symmetry of the impurity ions. The effect of the charges of the ligands and covalence bonding between chromium cation and oxygen anions, in the cluster approach, also were taken into account. With the obtained values of themore » crystal field parameters we simulated the scheme of energy levels of chromium ions by diagonalizing the matrix of the Hamiltonian of the doped crystal. The obtained energy levels and estimated Racah parameters B and C were compared with the experimental spectroscopic data and discussed. Comparison with experiment shows that the results are quite satisfactory which justify the model and simulation scheme used for the title system.« less

Effects of electric fields on the photonic crystal formation from block copolymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Taekun; Ju, Jin-wook; Ryoo, Won

2012-03-01

Effects of electric fields on the self-assembly of block copolymers have been investigated for thin films of polystyrene-bpoly( 2-vinyl pyridine); PS-b-P2VP, 52 kg/mol-b-57 kg/mol and 133 kg/mol-b-132 kg/mol. Block copolymers of polystyrene and poly(2-vinyl pyridine) have been demonstrated to form photonic crystals of 1D lamellar structure with optical band gaps that correspond to UV-to-visible light. The formation of lamellar structure toward minimum freeenergy state needs increasing polymer chain mobility, and the self-assembly process is accelerated usually by annealing, that is exposing the thin film to solvent vapor such as chloroform and dichloromethane. In this study, thin films of block copolymers were spin-coated on substrates and placed between electrode arrays of various patterns including pin-points, crossing and parallel lines. As direct or alternating currents were applied to electrode arrays during annealing process, the final structure of thin films was altered from the typical 1D lamellae in the absence of electric fields. The formation of lamellar structure was spatially controlled depending on the shape of electrode arrays, and the photonic band gap also could be modulated by electric field strength. The spatial formation of lamellar structure was examined with simulated distribution of electrical potentials by finite difference method (FDM). P2VP layers in self-assembled film were quaternized with methyl iodide vapor, and the remaining lamellar structure was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The result of this work is expected to provide ways of fabricating functional structures for display devices utilizing photonic crystal array.

Semiconductor Crystal Growth in Static and Rotating Magnetic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volz, Martin

2004-01-01

Magnetic fields have been applied during the growth of bulk semiconductor crystals to control the convective flow behavior of the melt. A static magnetic field established Lorentz forces which tend to reduce the convective intensity in the melt. At sufficiently high magnetic field strengths, a boundary layer is established ahead of the solid-liquid interface where mass transport is dominated by diffusion. This can have a significant effect on segregation behavior and can eliminate striations in grown crystals resulting from convective instabilities. Experiments on dilute (Ge:Ga) and solid solution (Ge-Si) semiconductor systems show a transition from a completely mixed convective state to a diffusion-controlled state between 0 and 5 Tesla. In HgCdTe, radial segregation approached the diffusion limited regime and the curvature of the solid-liquid interface was reduced by a factor of 3 during growth in magnetic fields in excess of 0.5 Tesla. Convection can also be controlled during growth at reduced gravitational levels. However, the direction of the residual steady-state acceleration vector can compromise this effect if it cannot be controlled. A magnetic field in reduced gravity can suppress disturbances caused by residual transverse accelerations and by random non-steady accelerations. Indeed, a joint program between NASA and the NHMFL resulted in the construction of a prototype spaceflight magnet for crystal growth applications. An alternative to the suppression of convection by static magnetic fields and reduced gravity is the imposition of controlled steady flow generated by rotating magnetic fields (RMF)'s. The potential benefits of an RMF include homogenization of the melt temperature and concentration distribution, and control of the solid-liquid interface shape. Adjusting the strength and frequency of the applied magnetic field allows tailoring of the resultant flow field. A limitation of RMF's is that they introduce deleterious instabilities above a

Analysis of the effect of symmetric/asymmetric CUSP magnetic fields on melt/crystal interface during Czochralski silicon growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daggolu, Parthiv; Ryu, Jae Woo; Galyukov, Alex; Kondratyev, Alexey

2016-10-01

With the use of 300 mm silicon wafers for industrial semiconductor device manufacturing, the Czochralski (Cz) crystal growth process has to be optimized to achieve higher quality and productivity. Numerical studies based on 2D global thermal models combined with 3D simulation of melt convection are widely used today to save time and money in the process development. Melt convection in large scale Cz Si growth is controlled by a CUSP or transversal magnetic field (MF) to suppress the melt turbulence. MF can be optimized to meet necessary characteristics of the growing crystal, in terms of point defects, as MF affects the melt/crystal interface geometry and allows adjustment of the pulling rate. Among the different knobs associated with the CUSP magnetic field, the nature of its configuration, going from symmetric to asymmetric, is also reported to be an important tool for the control of crystallization front. Using a 3D unsteady model of the CGSim software, we have studied these effects and compared with several experimental results. In addition, physical mechanisms behind these observations are explored through a detailed modeling analysis of the effect of an asymmetric CUSP MF on convection features governing the heat transport in the silicon melt.

Uniaxial Pressure and High-Field Effects on Superconducting Single-Crystal CeCoIn5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Scooter David

We have measured the a.c. susceptibility response of single-crystal CeCoIn 5 under uniaxial pressure up to 4.07 kbar and in d.c. field parallel to the c axis up to 5 T. From these measurements we report on several pressure and field characteristics of the superconducting state. The results are divided into 3 chapters: (1) We find a non-linear dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc on pressure, with a maximum close to 2 kbar. The transition also broadens significantly as pressure increases. We model the broadening as a product of non-uniform pressure and discuss its implications for the pressure dependence of the transition temperature. We relate our measurements to previous theoretical work. (2) We provided evidence and pressure dependence for the FFLO phase with field and pressure along the c axis. The FFLO phase boundary is temperature independent and tracks with the suppression to lower fields of the upper critical field with pressure. We also report the strengthening of the Pauli-limited field in this orientation by calculating the increase of the orbitally-limited field with uniaxial pressure. (3) We extract the critical current using the Bean critical state model and compare it to the expected Ginzberg-Landau behavior. We find that the exponent of the critical current depends on uniaxial pressure and d.c. field. Within a d.c. field the pressure dependence of the exponent may be obscured by the field effect. We have also measured resistivity, susceptibility, and specific heat of high-quality single-crystal YIn3 below 1 K and present a refinement of Tc from previous measurements. We make suggestions for experimental comparisons to the heavy fermion family CeXIn5, (X = Rh, Ir, Co) and the parent compound CeIn3.

Recent Advances in the Understanding of the Influence of Electric and Magnetic Fields on Protein Crystal Growth

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pareja-Rivera, Carina; Cuéllar-Cruz, Mayra; Esturau-Escofet, Nuria

Here, in this contribution we use nonconventional methods that help to increase the success rate of a protein crystal growth, and consequently of structural projects using X-ray diffraction techniques. In order to achieve this purpose, this contribution presents new approaches involving more sophisticated techniques of protein crystallization, not just for growing protein crystals of different sizes by using electric fields, but also for controlling crystal size and orientation. Also, this latter was possible through the use of magnetic fields that allow to obtain protein crystals suitable for both high-resolution X-ray and neutron diffraction crystallography where big crystals are required. Thismore » contribution discusses some pros, cons and realities of the role of electromagnetic fields in protein crystallization research, and their effect on protein crystal contacts. Additionally, we discuss the importance of room and low temperatures during data collection. Finally, we also discuss the effect of applying a rather strong magnetic field of 16.5 T, for shorts and long periods of time, on protein crystal growth, and on the 3D structure of two model proteins.« less

Recent Advances in the Understanding of the Influence of Electric and Magnetic Fields on Protein Crystal Growth

DOE PAGES

Pareja-Rivera, Carina; Cuéllar-Cruz, Mayra; Esturau-Escofet, Nuria; ...

2016-12-05

Here, in this contribution we use nonconventional methods that help to increase the success rate of a protein crystal growth, and consequently of structural projects using X-ray diffraction techniques. In order to achieve this purpose, this contribution presents new approaches involving more sophisticated techniques of protein crystallization, not just for growing protein crystals of different sizes by using electric fields, but also for controlling crystal size and orientation. Also, this latter was possible through the use of magnetic fields that allow to obtain protein crystals suitable for both high-resolution X-ray and neutron diffraction crystallography where big crystals are required. Thismore » contribution discusses some pros, cons and realities of the role of electromagnetic fields in protein crystallization research, and their effect on protein crystal contacts. Additionally, we discuss the importance of room and low temperatures during data collection. Finally, we also discuss the effect of applying a rather strong magnetic field of 16.5 T, for shorts and long periods of time, on protein crystal growth, and on the 3D structure of two model proteins.« less

A new real-time non-coherent to coherent light image converter - The hybrid field effect liquid crystal light valve

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grinberg, J.; Jacobson, A.; Bleha, W.; Miller, L.; Fraas, L.; Boswell, D.; Myer, G.

1975-01-01

A new, high-performance device has been developed for application to real-time coherent optical data processing. The new device embodies a CdS photoconductor, a CdTe light-absorbing layer, a dielectric mirror, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between indium-tin-oxide transparent electrodes deposited on optical quality glass flats. The noncoherent image is directed onto the photoconductor; this reduces the impedance of the photoconductor, thereby switching the ac voltage that is impressed across the electrodes onto the liquid crystal to activate the device. The liquid crystal is operated in a hybrid field effect mode. It utilizes the twisted nematic effect to create a dark off-state and the optical birefringence effect to create the bright on-state. The liquid crystal modulates the polarization of the coherent read-out light so an analyzer must be used to create an intensity modulated output beam.

Waveguide modes of 1D photonic crystals in a transverse magnetic field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sylgacheva, D. A., E-mail: sylgacheva.darjja@physics.msu.ru; Khokhlov, N. E.; Kalish, A. N.

2016-11-15

We analyze waveguide modes in 1D photonic crystals containing layers magnetized in the plane. It is shown that the magnetooptical nonreciprocity effect emerges in such structures during the propagation of waveguide modes along the layers and perpendicularly to the magnetization. This effect involves a change in the phase velocity of the mode upon reversal of the direction of magnetization. Comparison of the effects in a nonmagnetic photonic crystal with an additional magnetic layer and in a photonic crystal with magnetic layers shows that the magnitude of this effect is several times larger in the former case in spite of themore » fact that the electromagnetic field of the modes in the latter case is localized in magnetic regions more strongly. This is associated with asymmetry of the dielectric layers contacting with the magnetic layer in the former case. This effect is important for controlling waveguide structure modes with the help of an external magnetic field.« less

Field induced heliconical structure of cholesteric liquid crystal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lavrentovich, Oleg D.; Shiyanovsii, Sergij V.; Xiang, Jie

A diffraction grating comprises a liquid crystal (LC) cell configured to apply an electric field through a cholesteric LC material that induces the cholesteric LC material into a heliconical state with an oblique helicoid director. The applied electric field produces diffracted light from the cholesteric LC material within the visible, infrared or ultraviolet. The axis of the heliconical state is in the plane of the liquid crystal cell or perpendicular to the plane, depending on the application. A color tuning device operates with a similar heliconical state liquid crystal material but with the heliconical director axis oriented perpendicular to themore » plane of the cell. A power generator varies the strength of the applied electric field to adjust the wavelength of light reflected from the cholesteric liquid crystal material within the visible, infrared or ultraviolet.« less

AOM reconciling of crystal field parameters for UCl 3, UBr 3, UI 3 series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajek, Z.; Mulak, J.

1990-07-01

Available inelastic neutron scattering interpretations of crystal field effect in the uranium trihalides have been verified in terms of Angular Overlap Model. For UCl 3 a good reconciling of both INS and optical interpretations of crystal field effect has been obtained. On the contrary, the parameterizations for UBr 3 and UI 3 were found to be highly artificial and suggestion is given to experimentalists to reinterpret their INS spectra.

Ferromagnetic Switching of Knotted Vector Fields in Liquid Crystal Colloids.

PubMed

Zhang, Qiaoxuan; Ackerman, Paul J; Liu, Qingkun; Smalyukh, Ivan I

2015-08-28

We experimentally realize polydomain and monodomain chiral ferromagnetic liquid crystal colloids that exhibit solitonic and knotted vector field configurations. Formed by dispersions of ferromagnetic nanoplatelets in chiral nematic liquid crystals, these colloidal ferromagnets exhibit spontaneous long-range alignment of magnetic dipole moments of individual platelets, giving rise to a continuum of the magnetization field M(r). Competing effects of surface confinement and chirality prompt spontaneous formation and enable the optical generation of localized twisted solitonic structures with double-twist tubes and torus knots of M(r), which exhibit a strong sensitivity to the direction of weak magnetic fields ∼1  mT. Numerical modeling, implemented through free energy minimization to arrive at a field-dependent three-dimensional M(r), shows a good agreement with experiments and provides insights into the torus knot topology of observed field configurations and the corresponding physical underpinnings.

Fluorination of Metal Phthalocyanines: Single-Crystal Growth, Efficient N-Channel Organic Field-Effect Transistors, and Structure-Property Relationships

PubMed Central

Jiang, Hui; Ye, Jun; Hu, Peng; Wei, Fengxia; Du, Kezhao; Wang, Ning; Ba, Te; Feng, Shuanglong; Kloc, Christian

2014-01-01

The fluorination of p-type metal phthalocyanines produces n-type semiconductors, allowing the design of organic electronic circuits that contain inexpensive heterojunctions made from chemically and thermally stable p- and n-type organic semiconductors. For the evaluation of close to intrinsic transport properties, high-quality centimeter-sized single crystals of F16CuPc, F16CoPc and F16ZnPc have been grown. New crystal structures of F16CuPc, F16CoPc and F16ZnPc have been determined. Organic single-crystal field-effect transistors have been fabricated to study the effects of the central metal atom on their charge transport properties. The F16ZnPc has the highest electron mobility (~1.1 cm2 V−1 s−1). Theoretical calculations indicate that the crystal structure and electronic structure of the central metal atom determine the transport properties of fluorinated metal phthalocyanines. PMID:25524460

Crystal field parameters in UCI 4: Experiment versus theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolnierek, Z.; Gajek, Z.; Malek, Ch. Khan

1984-08-01

Crystal field effect on U 4+ ion with the 3H 4 ground term in tetragonal ligand field of UCl 4 has been studied in detail. Crystal field parameters determined experimentally from optical spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility are in good agreement with CFP sets derived from the modified point charge model and the ab initio method. Theoretical calculations lead to overestimating the A44< r4> and lowering the A02< r2> values in comparison to those found in the experiments. The discrepancies are, however, within an accuracy of calculations. A large reduction of expectation values of the magnetic moment operator for the eigenvectors of lowest CF levels (17.8%), determined from magnetic susceptibility, cannot be attributed to the overlap and covalency effects only. The detailed calculations have shown that the latter effects provide about 4.6% reduction of respective matrix elements, and the applied J-J mixing procedure increases this factor up to 6.5%. Since similar, as in UCl 4, reduction factor(≈15%) has already been observed in a number of different uranium compounds, it seems likely that this feature is involved in the intrinsic properties of the U 4+ ion. We endeavor to explain this effect in terms of configuration interaction mechanisms.

Tailor-made force fields for crystal-structure prediction.

PubMed

Neumann, Marcus A

2008-08-14

A general procedure is presented to derive a complete set of force-field parameters for flexible molecules in the crystalline state on a case-by-case basis. The force-field parameters are fitted to the electrostatic potential as well as to accurate energies and forces generated by means of a hybrid method that combines solid-state density functional theory (DFT) calculations with an empirical van der Waals correction. All DFT calculations are carried out with the VASP program. The mathematical structure of the force field, the generation of reference data, the choice of the figure of merit, the optimization algorithm, and the parameter-refinement strategy are discussed in detail. The approach is applied to cyclohexane-1,4-dione, a small flexible ring. The tailor-made force field obtained for cyclohexane-1,4-dione is used to search for low-energy crystal packings in all 230 space groups with one molecule per asymmetric unit, and the most stable crystal structures are reoptimized in a second step with the hybrid method. The experimental crystal structure is found as the most stable predicted crystal structure both with the tailor-made force field and the hybrid method. The same methodology has also been applied successfully to the four compounds of the fourth CCDC blind test on crystal-structure prediction. For the five aforementioned compounds, the root-mean-square deviations between lattice energies calculated with the tailor-made force fields and the hybrid method range from 0.024 to 0.053 kcal/mol per atom around an average value of 0.034 kcal/mol per atom.

Study on the temperature field of large-sized sapphire single crystal furnace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, J. P.; Jiang, J. W.; Liu, K. G.; Peng, X. B.; Jian, D. L.; Li, I. L.

2018-01-01

In this paper, the temperature field of large-sized (120kg, 200kg and 300kg grade) sapphire single crystal furnace was simulated. By keeping the crucible diameter ratio and the insulation system unchanged, the power consumption, axial and radial temperature gradient, solid-liquid surface shape, stress distribution and melt flow were studied. The simulation results showed that with the increase of the single crystal furnace size, the power consumption increased, the temperature field insulation effect became worse, the growth stress value increased and the stress concentration phenomenon occurred. To solve these problems, the middle and bottom insulation system should be enhanced during designing the large-sized sapphire single crystal furnace. The appropriate radial and axial temperature gradient was favorable to reduce the crystal stress and prevent the occurrence of cracking. Expanding the interface between the seed and crystal was propitious to avoid the stress accumulation phenomenon.

An Overview of Hardware for Protein Crystallization in a Magnetic Field.

PubMed

Yan, Er-Kai; Zhang, Chen-Yan; He, Jin; Yin, Da-Chuan

2016-11-16

Protein crystallization under a magnetic field is an interesting research topic because a magnetic field may provide a special environment to acquire improved quality protein crystals. Because high-quality protein crystals are very useful in high-resolution structure determination using diffraction techniques (X-ray, neutron, and electron diffraction), research using magnetic fields in protein crystallization has attracted substantial interest; some studies have been performed in the past two decades. In this research field, the hardware is especially essential for successful studies because the environment is special and the design and utilization of the research apparatus in such an environment requires special considerations related to the magnetic field. This paper reviews the hardware for protein crystallization (including the magnet systems and the apparatus designed for use in a magnetic field) and progress in this area. Future prospects in this field will also be discussed.

Highly Sensitive Ammonia Gas Sensor Based on Single-Crystal Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) Organic Field Effect Transistor.

PubMed

Mun, Seohyun; Park, Yoonkyung; Lee, Yong-Eun Koo; Sung, Myung Mo

2017-11-28

A highly sensitive organic field-effect transistor (OFET)-based sensor for ammonia in the range of 0.01 to 25 ppm was developed. The sensor was fabricated by employing an array of single-crystal poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanowires as the organic semiconductor (OSC) layer of an OFET with a top-contact geometry. The electrical characteristics (field-effect mobility, on/off current ratio) of the single-crystal P3HT nanowire OFET were about 2 orders of magnitude larger than those of the P3HT thin film OFET with the same geometry. The P3HT nanowire OFET showed excellent sensitivity to ammonia, about 3 times higher than that of the P3HT thin film OFET at 25 ppm ammonia. The ammonia response of the OFET was reversible and was not affected by changes in relative humidity from 45 to 100%. The high ammonia sensitivity of the P3HT nanowire OFET is believed to result from the single crystal nature and high surface/volume ratio of the P3HT nanowire used in the OSC layer.

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in three dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai; Zaanen, Jan

2017-10-01

The dislocation-mediated quantum melting of solids into quantum liquid crystals is extended from two to three spatial dimensions, using a generalization of boson-vortex or Abelian-Higgs duality. Dislocations are now Burgers-vector-valued strings that trace out worldsheets in space-time while the phonons of the solid dualize into two-form (Kalb-Ramond) gauge fields. We propose an effective dual Higgs potential that allows for restoring translational symmetry in either one, two, or three directions, leading to the quantum analogues of columnar, smectic, or nematic liquid crystals. In these phases, transverse phonons turn into gapped, propagating modes, while compressional stress remains massless. Rotational Goldstone modes emerge whenever translational symmetry is restored. We also consider the effective electromagnetic response of electrically charged quantum liquid crystals, and find among other things that as a hard principle only two out of the possible three rotational Goldstone modes are observable using propagating electromagnetic fields.

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in three dimensions

DOE PAGES

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai; ...

2017-10-09

The dislocation-mediated quantum melting of solids into quantum liquid crystals is extended from two to three spatial dimensions, using a generalization of boson-vortex or Abelian-Higgs duality. Dislocations are now Burgers-vector-valued strings that trace out worldsheets in space-time while the phonons of the solid dualize into two-form (Kalb-Ramond) gauge fields. We propose an effective dual Higgs potential that allows for restoring translational symmetry in either one, two, or three directions, leading to the quantum analogues of columnar, smectic, or nematic liquid crystals. In these phases, transverse phonons turn into gapped, propagating modes, while compressional stress remains massless. Rotational Goldstone modes emergemore » whenever translational symmetry is restored. Lastly, we also consider the effective electromagnetic response of electrically charged quantum liquid crystals, and find among other things that as a hard principle only two out of the possible three rotational Goldstone modes are observable using propagating electromagnetic fields.« less

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in three dimensions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai

The dislocation-mediated quantum melting of solids into quantum liquid crystals is extended from two to three spatial dimensions, using a generalization of boson-vortex or Abelian-Higgs duality. Dislocations are now Burgers-vector-valued strings that trace out worldsheets in space-time while the phonons of the solid dualize into two-form (Kalb-Ramond) gauge fields. We propose an effective dual Higgs potential that allows for restoring translational symmetry in either one, two, or three directions, leading to the quantum analogues of columnar, smectic, or nematic liquid crystals. In these phases, transverse phonons turn into gapped, propagating modes, while compressional stress remains massless. Rotational Goldstone modes emergemore » whenever translational symmetry is restored. Lastly, we also consider the effective electromagnetic response of electrically charged quantum liquid crystals, and find among other things that as a hard principle only two out of the possible three rotational Goldstone modes are observable using propagating electromagnetic fields.« less

An Overview of Hardware for Protein Crystallization in a Magnetic Field

PubMed Central

Yan, Er-Kai; Zhang, Chen-Yan; He, Jin; Yin, Da-Chuan

2016-01-01

Protein crystallization under a magnetic field is an interesting research topic because a magnetic field may provide a special environment to acquire improved quality protein crystals. Because high-quality protein crystals are very useful in high-resolution structure determination using diffraction techniques (X-ray, neutron, and electron diffraction), research using magnetic fields in protein crystallization has attracted substantial interest; some studies have been performed in the past two decades. In this research field, the hardware is especially essential for successful studies because the environment is special and the design and utilization of the research apparatus in such an environment requires special considerations related to the magnetic field. This paper reviews the hardware for protein crystallization (including the magnet systems and the apparatus designed for use in a magnetic field) and progress in this area. Future prospects in this field will also be discussed. PMID:27854318

Amplified Emission and Field-Effect Transistor Characteristics of One-Dimensionally Structured 2,5-Bis(4-biphenylyl)thiophene Crystals.

PubMed

Hashimoto, Kazumasa; Sasaki, Fumio; Hotta, Shu; Yanagi, Hisao

2016-04-01

One-dimensional (1D) structures of 2,5-bis(4-biphenylyl)thiophene (BP1T) crystals are fabricated for light amplification and field-effect transistor (FET) measurements. A strip-shaped 1D structure (10 µm width) made by photolitography of a vapor-deposited polycrystalline film shows amplified spontaneous emission and lasing oscillations under optical pumping. An FET fabricated with this 1D structure exhibits hole-conduction with a mobility of µh = 8.0 x 10(-3) cm2/Vs. Another 1 D-structured FET is fabricated with epitaxially grown needle-like crystals of BP1T. This needle-crystal FET exhibits higher mobility of µh = 0.34 cm2/Vs. This improved hole mobility is attributed to the single-crystal channel of epitaxial needles while the grain boudaries in the polycrystalline 1 D-structure decrease the carrier transport.

Crystal field effect in light actinide dioxides and oxychalcogenides-a unified phenomenological description

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajek, Z.

2004-05-01

The electronic properties of the actinide ions in the series of semi-conducting, antiferromagnetic compounds: dioxides, AnO2 and oxychalcogenides, AnOY, where An=U, Np and Y=S, Se, are re-examined from the point of view of the consistency of the crystal field (CF) model. The discussion is based on the supposition that the effective metal-ligand interaction solely determines the net CF effect in non-metallic compounds. The main question we address here is, whether a reliable, consistent description of the CF effect in terms of the intrinsic parameters can be achieved for this particular family of compounds. Encouraging calculations reported previously for the AnO2 and UOY series serve as a reference data in the present estimation of electronic structure parameters for neptunium oxychalcogenides.

Dislocation dynamics and crystal plasticity in the phase-field crystal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skaugen, Audun; Angheluta, Luiza; Viñals, Jorge

2018-02-01

A phase-field model of a crystalline material is introduced to develop the necessary theoretical framework to study plastic flow due to dislocation motion. We first obtain the elastic stress from the phase-field crystal free energy under weak distortion and show that it obeys the stress-strain relation of linear elasticity. We focus next on dislocations in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. They are composite topological defects in the weakly nonlinear amplitude equation expansion of the phase field, with topological charges given by the standard Burgers vector. This allows us to introduce a formal relation between the dislocation velocity and the evolution of the slowly varying amplitudes of the phase field. Standard dissipative dynamics of the phase-field crystal model is shown to determine the velocity of the dislocations. When the amplitude expansion is valid and under additional simplifications, we find that the dislocation velocity is determined by the Peach-Koehler force. As an application, we compute the defect velocity for a dislocation dipole in two setups, pure glide and pure climb, and compare it with the analytical predictions.

Enhancement of crystal homogeneity of protein crystals under application of an external alternating current electric field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koizumi, H.; Uda, S.; Fujiwara, K.

X-ray diffraction rocking-curve measurements were performed on tetragonal hen egg white (HEW) lysozyme crystals grown with and without the application of an external alternating current (AC) electric field. The crystal quality was assessed by the full width at half maximum (FWHM) value for each rocking curve. For two-dimensional maps of the FWHMs measured on the 440 and the 12 12 0 reflection, the crystal homogeneity was improved under application of an external electric field at 1 MHz, compared with that without. In particular, the significant improvement of the crystal homogeneity was observed for the 12 12 0 reflection.

Effect of electrode design on crosstalk between neighboring organic field-effect transistors based on one single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Mengjie; Tang, Qingxin; Tong, Yanhong; Zhao, Xiaoli; Zhou, Shujun; Liu, Yichun

2018-03-01

The design of high-integration organic circuits must be such that the interference between neighboring devices is eliminated. Here, rubrene crystals were used to study the effect of the electrode design on crosstalk between neighboring organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Results show that a decreased source/drain interval and gate electrode width can decrease the diffraction distance of the current, and therefore can weaken the crosstalk. In addition, the inherent low carrier concentration in organic semiconductors can create a high-resistance barrier at the space between gate electrodes of neighboring devices, limiting or even eliminating the crosstalk as a result of the gate electrode width being smaller than the source/drain electrode width.

Far-field coupling in nanobeam photonic crystal cavities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rousseau, Ian, E-mail: ian.rousseau@epfl.ch; Sánchez-Arribas, Irene; Carlin, Jean-François

2016-05-16

We optimized the far-field emission pattern of one-dimensional photonic crystal nanobeams by modulating the nanobeam width, forming a sidewall Bragg cross-grating far-field coupler. By setting the period of the cross-grating to twice the photonic crystal period, we showed using three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations that the intensity extracted to the far-field could be improved by more than three orders of magnitude compared to the unmodified ideal cavity geometry. We then experimentally studied the evolution of the quality factor and far-field intensity as a function of cross-grating coupler amplitude. High quality factor (>4000) blue (λ = 455 nm) nanobeam photonic crystals were fabricated out ofmore » GaN thin films on silicon incorporating a single InGaN quantum well gain medium. Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy of sets of twelve identical nanobeams revealed a nine-fold average increase in integrated far-field emission intensity and no change in average quality factor for the optimized structure compared to the unmodulated reference. These results are useful for research environments and future nanophotonic light-emitting applications where vertical in- and out-coupling of light to nanocavities is required.« less

Unusual Kondo-hole effect and crystal-field frustration in Nd-doped CeRhIn 5

DOE PAGES

Rosa, Priscila Ferrari Silveira; Oostra, Aaron; Thompson, Joe David; ...

2016-07-05

In this research, we investigate single crystals of Ce 1₋xNd xRhIn 5 by means of x-ray-diffraction, microprobe, magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and electrical resistivity measurements. Our data reveal that the antiferromagnetic transition of CeRhIn 5, at Tmore » $$Ce\\atop{N}$$=3.8 K, is linearly suppressed with x Nd. We associate this effect with the presence of a “Kondo hole” created by Nd substitution. The extrapolation of T$$Ce\\atop{N}$$ to zero temperature, however, occurs at x c~0.3, which is below the two-dimensional percolation limit found in Ce 1₋xLa xRhIn 5. This result strongly suggests the presence of a crystal-field induced magnetic frustration. Near x Nd~0.2, the Ising antiferromagnetic order from Nd 3+ ions is stabilized and T$$Nd\\atop{N}$$ increases up to 11 K in NdRhIn 5. Finally, our results shed light on the effects of magnetic doping in heavy-fermion antiferromagnets and stimulate the study of such systems under applied pressure.« less

Effects of polymers on the rotational viscosities of nematic liquid crystals and dynamics of field alignment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, D.

Many of the important physical phenomena exhibited by the nematic phase, such as its unusual flow properties and its responses to the electric and the magnetic fields, can be discussed regarding it as a continous medium. The Leslie-Erickson dynamic theory has the six dissipative coefficients from continuum model of liquid crystal. Parodi showed that only five of them are independent, when Onsagar`s reciprocal relations are used. One of these, which has no counterpart in the isotropic liquids, is the rotational viscosity co-efficient, {gamma}{sub 1}. The main objective of this project is to study the rotational viscosities of selected micellar nematicmore » systems and the effect of dissolved polymers in micellar and thermotropic liqud crystals. We used rotating magnetic field method which allows one to determine {gamma}{sub 1} and the anisotropic magnetic susceptibility, {chi}{sub a}. For the ionic surfactant liquid crystals of SDS and KL systems used in this study, the rotational viscosity exhibited an extraordinary drop after reaching the highest values {gamma}{sub 1} as the temperature was lowered. This behavior is not observed in normal liquid crystals. But this phenomena can be attributed to the existence of nematic biaxial phase below the rod-like nematic N{sub c} phase. The pretransitional increase in {gamma}{sub 1} near the disk-like nematic to smectic-A phase transition of the pure CsPFO/H{sub 2}O systems are better understood with the help of mean-field models of W.L. McMillan. He predicted a critical exponent {nu} = {1/2} for the divergence of {gamma}{sub 1}. The polymer (PEO, molecular weight = 10{sup 5}) dissolved in CsPFO/H{sub 2}O system (which has 0.6% critical polymer concentration), suppressed the nematic to lamellar smectic phase transition in concentrated polymer solutions (0.75% and higher). In dilute polymer solutions with lower than 0.3% polyethylene-oxide, a linear increase of {gamma}{sub 1} is observed, which agrees with Brochard theory.« less

NonLinear Effects in Photorefractive Crystals

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

effect (a non - reciprocal rotation of the polarisation axis in a crystal subjected to a magnetic field) in 1845 [331 but failed to find a comparable...the transmission geometry for the crystal orientation in Fig 5. Take the two incident beams polarised in the y direction to maximize the electrooptic... beams polarised in z. There will be little or no coupling in these regions and therefore the overall gain is reduced. John Heaton’s D.Phil. thesis

Control of effect on the nucleation rate for hen egg white lysozyme crystals under application of an external ac electric field.

PubMed

Koizumi, H; Uda, S; Fujiwara, K; Nozawa, J

2011-07-05

The effect of an external ac electric field on the nucleation rate of hen egg white lysozyme crystals increased with an increase in the concentration of the precipitant used, which enabled the design of an electric double layer (EDL) formed at the inner surface of the drop in the oil. This is attributed to the thickness of the EDL controlled by the ionic strength of the precipitant used. Control of the EDL formed at the interface between the two phases is important to establishing this novel technique for the crystallization of proteins under the application of an external ac electric field. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Study of crystal-field interaction in magnetic frustrated lead pyrochlore Gd2Pb2O7

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swarnakar, D.; Jana, Y. M.

2018-05-01

A fine tuning between the crystal field and the molecular field to adopt unique ground state in frustrated magnetic R2M2O7 pyrochlores structures is made by the variation of chemical pressure at R-site caused by substitution of nonmagnetic cation of M-site. Existence of larger cation at M-site increases the lattice parameter or nearest-neighbor bond distance between magnetic R-spins, and causes subtle changes to the local oxygen environment surrounding each R-ion, thereby reduces the chemical pressure at R-site which leads to a dramatic change in the crystal-field and molecular field. To investigate the effect of chemical pressure, the experimental results of powder magnetic susceptibility and isothermal magnetization of the frustrated compound Gd2Pb2O7 containing largest cation, e.g. lead (Pb), at M4+-sites were simulated and analyzed employing a D3d crystal-field (CF) and anisotropic molecular field at R-sites in the self- consistent mean-field approach. The second-ordered axial parameter B20 and total CF splitting of the ground multiplet Gd-ion in Gd2Pb2O7 are 477 cm-1 and 4.8 cm-1 respectively which are the lowest among their isomorphous counterparts, implying reduced effect of the crystal-field at Gd site in Gd2Pb2O7.

Electric-field-induced motion of colloid particles in smectic liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakli, Antal

2005-03-01

We present the first observations of DC electric-field-induced rotational and translational motion of finite particles in liquid crystals. The electro-rotation is basically identical to the well known Quincke rotation, which triggers the translational motion at higher fields. From the electric field dependence of the angular velocity of the rotation we obtain the viscosity of the liquid crystals. The analysis of the translational motion in smectic liquid crystals indicates elastic responses near the threshold for translation. At increasing fields the speed of the particles is increasing and at sufficiently high speeds the flow of the smectic A and smectic C liquid crystal around the beads become purely viscous. Colloid particles in smectic materials maybe considered as model systems for understanding motion of proteins in cell membranes.

Field-Induced Transient Periodic Structures in Nematic Liquid Crystals: The Twist-Fréedericksz Transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lonberg, Franklin; Fraden, Seth; Hurd, Alan J.; Meyer, Robert E.

1984-05-01

Field-induced reorientations of liquid crystals, far from equilibrium, produce spatially periodic responses. The wavelength selected maximizes response speed. A detailed analysis of the effect in a novel geometry is presented, along with a discussion of its general importance in polymerlike liquid crystals.

Phase-field-crystal study of solute trapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Humadi, Harith; Hoyt, Jeffrey J.; Provatas, Nikolas

2013-02-01

In this study we have incorporated two time scales into the phase-field-crystal model of a binary alloy to explore different solute trapping properties as a function of crystal-melt interface velocity. With only diffusive dynamics, we demonstrate that the segregation coefficient, K as a function of velocity for a binary alloy is consistent with the model of Kaplan and Aziz where K approaches unity in the limit of infinite velocity. However, with the introduction of wavelike dynamics in both the density and concentration fields, the trapping follows the kinetics proposed by Sobolev [Phys. Lett. A10.1016/0375-9601(95)00084-G 199, 383 (1995)], where complete trapping occurs at a finite velocity.

Strong anisotropy of electric field effects on uniaxial relaxor ferroelectric Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 crystals proved by acoustic emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dul'kin, E.; Kojima, S.; Roth, M.

2018-01-01

[001] oriented Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 uniaxial relaxor ferroelectric crystals have been studied by acoustic emission in the temperature range of 20÷200 °C and under an external electric field up to 1 kV/cm. Under the application of an electric field the temperature of a dielectric maximum exhibits a nontrivial behavior: it remains constant at first, secondly steep decreases down to some threshold field, and thirdly starts to increase as a field enhances, whereas the same temperature of a dielectric maximum under a bias electric field to [100] oriented Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 crystals exhibits a smoothed minimum before the start to increase as a field enhances (E. Dul'kin et al., J. Appl. Phys. 110, 044106 (2011)). Such a difference of electric field effects in c- and a-cut crystals is discussed from the viewpoint of random-bond-random-field model of relaxor ferroelectrics. By the comparison between experimental and theoretical data, a dipole moment of the PNR was estimated to be 0.1 (C cm).

Effect of a High Magnetic Field on γ' Phase for Ni-Based Single Crystal Superalloy During Directional Solidification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xuan, Weidong; Lan, Jian; Zhao, Dengke; Li, Chuanjun; Shang, Xingfu; Zhong, Yunbo; Li, Xi; Ren, Zhongming

2018-05-01

The effect of a high magnetic field on the γ' phase of Ni-based single crystal superalloy during directional solidification is investigated experimentally. The results clearly indicate that the magnetic field significantly reduces the γ' phase size. Further, the quenching experiment is carried out, and the results found that the length of mushy zone is obviously decreased under a high magnetic field. Based on both experimental results and nucleation mechanism, it is found that the decrease of γ' phase size should be attributed to the fact that a high magnetic field causes the increase of temperature gradient in front of solid/liquid interface and leads to the increase of undercooling of γ' phase.

Angular overlap model analysis of the D 2d crystal field effect in uranium (4+) compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajek, Z.; Hubert, S.; Krupa, J. C.

1988-12-01

Recent interpretations of the D 2d crystal field of U 4+ in β-ThCl 4, α, β-ThBr 4, ThSiO 4 and UCl 4 are discussed in terms of the simplified one-, two- and three-parameter versions of the Angular Overlap Model which are shown to be a handy tool in a trial interpretation of the effect. The variation of the CF parameters with a small D 2 distortion of the coordination is well reproduced by the model.

Field-controlled structures in ferromagnetic cholesteric liquid crystals.

PubMed

Medle Rupnik, Peter; Lisjak, Darja; Čopič, Martin; Čopar, Simon; Mertelj, Alenka

2017-10-01

One of the advantages of anisotropic soft materials is that their structures and, consequently, their properties can be controlled by moderate external fields. Whereas the control of materials with uniform orientational order is straightforward, manipulation of systems with complex orientational order is challenging. We show that a variety of structures of an interesting liquid material, which combine chiral orientational order with ferromagnetic one, can be controlled by a combination of small magnetic and electric fields. In the suspensions of magnetic nanoplatelets in chiral nematic liquid crystals, the platelet's magnetic moments orient along the orientation of the liquid crystal and, consequently, the material exhibits linear response to small magnetic fields. In the absence of external fields, orientations of the liquid crystal and magnetization have wound structure, which can be either homogeneously helical, disordered, or ordered in complex patterns, depending on the boundary condition at the surfaces and the history of the sample. We demonstrate that by using different combinations of small magnetic and electric fields, it is possible to control reversibly the formation of the structures in a layer of the material. In such a way, different periodic structures can be explored and some of them may be suitable for photonic applications. The material is also a convenient model system to study chiral magnetic structures, because it is a unique liquid analog of a solid helimagnet.

Influence of computational domain size on the pattern formation of the phase field crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starodumov, Ilya; Galenko, Peter; Alexandrov, Dmitri; Kropotin, Nikolai

2017-04-01

Modeling of crystallization process by the phase field crystal method (PFC) represents one of the important directions of modern computational materials science. This method makes it possible to research the formation of stable or metastable crystal structures. In this paper, we study the effect of computational domain size on the crystal pattern formation obtained as a result of computer simulation by the PFC method. In the current report, we show that if the size of a computational domain is changed, the result of modeling may be a structure in metastable phase instead of pure stable state. The authors present a possible theoretical justification for the observed effect and provide explanations on the possible modification of the PFC method to account for this phenomenon.

Crystal Field in Rare-Earth Complexes: From Electrostatics to Bonding.

PubMed

Alessandri, Riccardo; Zulfikri, Habiburrahman; Autschbach, Jochen; Bolvin, Hélène

2018-04-11

The flexibility of first-principles (ab initio) calculations with the SO-CASSCF (complete active space self-consistent field theory with a treatment of the spin-orbit (SO) coupling by state interaction) method is used to quantify the electrostatic and covalent contributions to crystal field parameters. Two types of systems are chosen for illustration: 1) The ionic and experimentally well-characterized PrCl 3 crystal; this study permits a revisitation of the partition of contributions proposed in the early days of crystal field theory; and 2) a series of sandwich molecules [Ln(η n -C n H n ) 2 ] q , with Ln=Dy, Ho, Er, and Tm and n=5, 6, and 8, in which the interaction between Ln III and the aromatic ligands is more difficult to describe within an electrostatic approach. It is shown that a model with three layers of charges reproduces the electrostatic field generated by the ligands and that the covalency plays a qualitative role. The one-electron character of crystal field theory is discussed and shown to be valuable, although it is not completely quantitative. This permits a reduction of the many-electron problem to a discussion of the energy of the seven 4f orbitals. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effect of elastic deformation and the magnetic field on the electrical conductivity of p-Si crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lys, R.; Pavlyk, B.; Didyk, R.; Shykorjak, J.; Karbovnyk, I.

2018-03-01

It is shown that at a deformation rate of 0.41 kg/min, the characteristic feature of the dependence of the surface resistance of the p-Si sample on the magnitude of its elastic deformation (R(σ)) is the reduction of the resistance during compression and unclamping. With the increase in the number of "compression-unclamping" cycles, the difference between the positions of the compression and unclamping curves decreases. The transformation of two types of magnetically sensitive defects occurs under the impact of a magnetic field on p-Si crystals. The defects are interrelated with two factors that cause the mutually opposite influence on the conductivity of the crystal. The first factor is that the action of the magnetic field decreases the activation energy of the dislocation holders, which leads to an increase in the electrical conductivity of the sample. The second factor is that due to the decay of molecules of oxygen-containing impurities in the magnetic field, the stable chemisorption bonds appear in the crystal that leads to a decrease in its conductivity. If the sample stays in the magnetic field for a long time, the one or the other mechanism predominates, causing a slow growth or decrease in resistance around a certain (averaged) value. Moreover, the frequency of such changes is greater in the deformed sample. The value of the surface resistance of p-Si samples does not change for a long time without the influence of the magnetic field.

Phase-field crystal modeling of compositional domain formation in ultrathin films.

PubMed

Muralidharan, Srevatsan; Haataja, Mikko

2010-09-17

Bulk-immiscible binary systems often form stress-induced miscible alloy phases when deposited on a substrate. Both alloying and surface dislocation formation lead to the decrease of the elastic strain energy, and the competition between these two strain-relaxation mechanisms gives rise to the emergence of pseudomorphic compositional nanoscale domains, often coexisting with a partially coherent single phase. In this work, we develop a phase-field crystal model for compositional patterning in monolayer aggregates of binary metallic systems. We first demonstrate that the model naturally incorporates the competition between alloying and misfit dislocations, and quantify the effects of misfit and line tension on equilibrium domain size. Then, we quantitatively relate the parameters of the phase-field crystal model to a specific system, CoAg/Ru(0001), and demonstrate that the simulations capture experimentally observed morphologies.

A Navier-Stokes phase-field crystal model for colloidal suspensions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Praetorius, Simon, E-mail: simon.praetorius@tu-dresden.de; Voigt, Axel, E-mail: axel.voigt@tu-dresden.de

2015-04-21

We develop a fully continuous model for colloidal suspensions with hydrodynamic interactions. The Navier-Stokes Phase-Field Crystal model combines ideas of dynamic density functional theory with particulate flow approaches and is derived in detail and related to other dynamic density functional theory approaches with hydrodynamic interactions. The derived system is numerically solved using adaptive finite elements and is used to analyze colloidal crystallization in flowing environments demonstrating a strong coupling in both directions between the crystal shape and the flow field. We further validate the model against other computational approaches for particulate flow systems for various colloidal sedimentation problems.

A Navier-Stokes phase-field crystal model for colloidal suspensions.

PubMed

Praetorius, Simon; Voigt, Axel

2015-04-21

We develop a fully continuous model for colloidal suspensions with hydrodynamic interactions. The Navier-Stokes Phase-Field Crystal model combines ideas of dynamic density functional theory with particulate flow approaches and is derived in detail and related to other dynamic density functional theory approaches with hydrodynamic interactions. The derived system is numerically solved using adaptive finite elements and is used to analyze colloidal crystallization in flowing environments demonstrating a strong coupling in both directions between the crystal shape and the flow field. We further validate the model against other computational approaches for particulate flow systems for various colloidal sedimentation problems.

Magnetic Field Measurements Based on Terfenol Coated Photonic Crystal Fibers

PubMed Central

Quintero, Sully M. M.; Martelli, Cicero; Braga, Arthur M. B.; Valente, Luiz C. G.; Kato, Carla C.

2011-01-01

A magnetic field sensor based on the integration of a high birefringence photonic crystal fiber and a composite material made of Terfenol particles and an epoxy resin is proposed. An in-fiber modal interferometer is assembled by evenly exciting both eigenemodes of the HiBi fiber. Changes in the cavity length as well as the effective refractive index are induced by exposing the sensor head to magnetic fields. The magnetic field sensor has a sensitivity of 0.006 (nm/mT) over a range from 0 to 300 mT with a resolution about ±1 mT. A fiber Bragg grating magnetic field sensor is also fabricated and employed to characterize the response of Terfenol composite to the magnetic field. PMID:22247655

Electric field induced structural colour tuning of a silver/titanium dioxide nanoparticle one-dimensional photonic crystal

PubMed Central

Aluicio-Sarduy, Eduardo; Callegari, Simone; Figueroa del Valle, Diana Gisell; Desii, Andrea; Kriegel, Ilka

2016-01-01

Summary An electric field is employed for the active tuning of the structural colour in photonic crystals, which acts as an effective external stimulus with an impact on light transmission manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate structural colour in a photonic crystal device comprised of alternating layers of silver nanoparticles and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, exhibiting spectral shifts of around 10 nm for an applied voltage of only 10 V. The accumulation of charge at the metal/dielectric interface with an applied electric field leads to an effective increase of the charges contributing to the plasma frequency in silver. This initiates a blue shift of the silver plasmon band with a simultaneous blue shift of the photonic band gap as a result of the change in the silver dielectric function (i.e. decrease of the effective refractive index). These results are the first demonstration of active colour tuning in silver/titanium dioxide nanoparticle-based photonic crystals and open the route to metal/dielectric-based photonic crystals as electro-optic switches. PMID:27826514

Electric field induced structural colour tuning of a silver/titanium dioxide nanoparticle one-dimensional photonic crystal.

PubMed

Aluicio-Sarduy, Eduardo; Callegari, Simone; Figueroa Del Valle, Diana Gisell; Desii, Andrea; Kriegel, Ilka; Scotognella, Francesco

2016-01-01

An electric field is employed for the active tuning of the structural colour in photonic crystals, which acts as an effective external stimulus with an impact on light transmission manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate structural colour in a photonic crystal device comprised of alternating layers of silver nanoparticles and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, exhibiting spectral shifts of around 10 nm for an applied voltage of only 10 V. The accumulation of charge at the metal/dielectric interface with an applied electric field leads to an effective increase of the charges contributing to the plasma frequency in silver. This initiates a blue shift of the silver plasmon band with a simultaneous blue shift of the photonic band gap as a result of the change in the silver dielectric function (i.e. decrease of the effective refractive index). These results are the first demonstration of active colour tuning in silver/titanium dioxide nanoparticle-based photonic crystals and open the route to metal/dielectric-based photonic crystals as electro-optic switches.

Emergence of periodic order in electric-field-driven planar nematic liquid crystals: An exclusive ac effect absent in static fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnamurthy, K. S.; Kumar, Pramoda

2007-11-01

We report, for a nematic liquid crystal with a low conductivity anisotropy, an ac field generated transition from a uniformly planar to a periodically modulated director configuration with the wave vector parallel to the initial director. Significantly, with unblocked electrodes, this instability is not excited by dc fields. Additionally, in very low frequency square wave fields, it occurs transiently after each polarity reversal, vanishing completely during field constancy. The time of occurrence of maximum distortion after polarity reversal decreases exponentially with voltage. The time dependence of optical phase change during transient distortion is nearly Gaussian. The pattern threshold Vc is linear in f , f denoting the frequency; the critical wave number qc of the modulation scales nearly linearly as f to a peak at ˜50Hz before falling slightly thereafter. The observed Vc(f) and qc(f) characteristics differ from the predictions of the standard model (SM). The instability may be interpreted as a special case of the Carr-Helfrich distortion suppressed in static fields due to weak charge focusing and strong charge injection. Its transient nature in the low frequency regime is suggestive of the possible role of gradient flexoelectric effect in its occurrence. The study includes measurement of certain elastic and viscosity parameters relevant to the application of the SM.

Probing periodic potential of crystals via strong-field re-scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

You, Yong Sing; Cunningham, Eric; Reis, David A.; Ghimire, Shambhu

2018-06-01

Strong-field ionization and re-scattering phenomena have been used to image angstrom-scale structures of isolated molecules in the gas phase. These methods typically make use of the anisotropic response of the participating molecular orbital. Recently, an anisotropic strong-field response has also been observed in high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from bulk crystals (2016 Nat. Phys. 13 345). In a (100) cut magnesium oxide crystal, extreme ultraviolet high-harmonics are found to depend strongly on the crystal structure and inter-atomic bonding. Here, we extend these measurements to other two important crystal orientations: (111) and (110). We find that HHG from these orientations is also strongly anisotropic. The underlying dynamics is understood using a real-space picture, where high-harmonics are produced via coherent collision of strong-field driven electrons from the atomic sites, including from the nearest neighbor atoms. We find that harmonic efficiency is enhanced when semi-classical electron trajectories connect to the concentrated valence charge distribution regions around the atomic cores. Similarly, the efficiency is suppressed when the trajectories miss the atomic cores. These results further support the real-space picture of HHG with implications for retrieving the periodic potential of the crystal, if not the wavefunctions in three-dimensions.

The Fano-type transmission and field enhancement in heterostructures composed of epsilon-near-zero materials and truncated photonic crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Zhi-fang; Jiang, Hai-tao, E-mail: davies2000@163.com, E-mail: jiang-haitao@tongji.edu.cn; Li, Yun-hui

2013-11-11

The Fano-type interference effect is studied in the heterostructure composed of an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) material and a truncated photonic crystal for transverse magnetic polarized light. In the Fano-type interference effect, the ENZ material provides narrow reflection pathway and the photonic crystal provides broadband reflection pathway. The boundary condition across the ENZ interface and the confinement effect provided by the photonic crystal can enhance the electric fields in the ENZ material greatly. The field enhancements, together with the asymmetric property of Fano-type spectrum, possess potential applications for significantly lowering the threshold of nonlinear processes such as optical switching and bistability.

Crystal field effects in the intermetallic R Ni3Ga9 (R =Tb , Dy, Ho, and Er) compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, L. S.; Mercena, S. G.; Garcia, D. J.; Bittar, E. M.; Jesus, C. B. R.; Pagliuso, P. G.; Lora-Serrano, R.; Meneses, C. T.; Duque, J. G. S.

2017-04-01

In this paper, we report temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, and heat-capacity experiments in the family of intermetallic compounds R Ni3Ga9 (R = Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er). Single-crystalline samples were grown using Ga self-flux method. These materials crystallize in a trigonal ErNi3Al9 -type structure with space group R 32 . They all order antiferromagnetically with TN<20 K . The anisotropic magnetic susceptibility presents large values of the ratio χeasy/χhard indicating strong crystalline electric-field (CEF) effects. The evolution of the crystal-field scheme for each R was analyzed in detail by using a spin model including anisotropic nearest-neighbor Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction and the trigonal CEF Hamiltonian. Our analysis allows one to understand the distinct direction of the ordered moments along the series—the Tb-, Dy-, and Ho-based compounds have the ordered magnetic moments in the easy ab plane and the Er sample magnetization easy axis is along the c ̂ direction.

The influence of a magnetic field on the microhardness of K, Rb, Cs, NH{sub 4}, and Tl acid phthalate crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koldaeva, M. V., E-mail: mkoldaeva@ns.crys.ras.ru; Turskaya, T. N.; Zakalyukin, R. M.

2009-11-15

The influence of a magnetic field on the microhardness of potassium acid phthalate has been studied for different magnetic inductions, exposure times, sample orientations in a magnetic field, and impurity compositions of the crystals. It was shown that the magnetic field effect is multiply repeated on the (010) face after relaxation. The influence of magnetic treatment on ammonium, rubidium, thallium, and cesium acid phthalate crystals is analyzed. The reasons for the observed changes in the crystal microhardness in the magnetic field are discussed.

Spectroscopic and crystal-field analysis of new Yb-doped laser materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haumesser, Paul-Henri; Gaumé, Romain; Viana, Bruno; Antic-Fidancev, Elisabeth; Vivien, Daniel

2001-06-01

Crystal-field effects are very important as far as laser performances of Yb-doped materials are concerned. In order to simplify the interpretation of low-temperature spectra, two tools derived from a careful examination of crystal-field interaction are presented. Both approaches are successfully applied in the case of new Yb-doped materials, namely Ca3Y2(BO3)4 (CYB), Ca3Gd2(BO3)4 (CaGB), Sr3Y(BO3)3 (SrYBO), Ba3Lu(BO3)3 (BLuB), Y2SiO5 (YSO), Ca2Al2SiO7 (CAS) and SrY4(SiO4)3O (SYS). The 2F7/2 splitting is particularly large in these materials and favourable to a quasi-three-level laser operating scheme. Calculations performed using the point charge electrostatic model for these compounds and using a consistent set of effective atomic charges confirm the experimental results. This should permit to use this model in a predictive approach.

Switching plastic crystals of colloidal rods with electric fields

PubMed Central

Liu, Bing; Besseling, Thijs H.; Hermes, Michiel; Demirörs, Ahmet F.; Imhof, Arnout; van Blaaderen, Alfons

2014-01-01

When a crystal melts into a liquid both long-ranged positional and orientational order are lost, and long-time translational and rotational self-diffusion appear. Sometimes, these properties do not change at once, but in stages, allowing states of matter such as liquid crystals or plastic crystals with unique combinations of properties. Plastic crystals/glasses are characterized by long-ranged positional order/frozen-in-disorder but short-ranged orientational order, which is dynamic. Here we show by quantitative three-dimensional studies that charged rod-like colloidal particles form three-dimensional plastic crystals and glasses if their repulsions extend significantly beyond their length. These plastic phases can be reversibly switched to full crystals by an electric field. These new phases provide insight into the role of rotations in phase behaviour and could be useful for photonic applications. PMID:24446033

Switching plastic crystals of colloidal rods with electric fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bing; Besseling, Thijs H.; Hermes, Michiel; Demirörs, Ahmet F.; Imhof, Arnout; van Blaaderen, Alfons

2014-01-01

When a crystal melts into a liquid both long-ranged positional and orientational order are lost, and long-time translational and rotational self-diffusion appear. Sometimes, these properties do not change at once, but in stages, allowing states of matter such as liquid crystals or plastic crystals with unique combinations of properties. Plastic crystals/glasses are characterized by long-ranged positional order/frozen-in-disorder but short-ranged orientational order, which is dynamic. Here we show by quantitative three-dimensional studies that charged rod-like colloidal particles form three-dimensional plastic crystals and glasses if their repulsions extend significantly beyond their length. These plastic phases can be reversibly switched to full crystals by an electric field. These new phases provide insight into the role of rotations in phase behaviour and could be useful for photonic applications.

Large piezoelectricity in electric-field modified single crystals of SrTiO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanbabaee, B.; Mehner, E.; Richter, C.; Hanzig, J.; Zschornak, M.; Pietsch, U.; Stöcker, H.; Leisegang, T.; Meyer, D. C.; Gorfman, S.

2016-11-01

Defect engineering is an effective and powerful tool to control the existing material properties and produce completely new ones, which are symmetry-forbidden in a defect-free crystal. For example, the application of a static electric field to a single crystal of SrTiO3 forms a strained near-surface layer through the migration of oxygen vacancies out of the area beneath the positively charged electrode. While it was previously shown that this near-surface phase holds pyroelectric properties, which are symmetry-forbidden in centrosymmetric bulk SrTiO3, this paper reports that the same phase is strongly piezoelectric. We demonstrate the piezoelectricity of this phase through stroboscopic time-resolved X-ray diffraction under alternating electric field and show that the effective piezoelectric coefficient d33 ranges between 60 and 100 pC/N. The possible atomistic origins of the piezoelectric activity are discussed as a coupling between the electrostrictive effect and spontaneous polarization of this near-surface phase.

Electronegativity, charge transfer, crystal field strength, and the point charge model revisited.

PubMed

Tanner, Peter A; Ning, Lixin

2013-02-21

Although the optical spectra of LnCl(6)(3-) systems are complex, only two crystal field parameters, B(40) and B(60), are required to model the J-multiplet crystal field splittings in octahedral symmetry. It is found that these parameters exhibit R(-5) and R(-7) dependence, respectively, upon the ionic radius Ln(3+)(VI), but not upon the Ln-Cl distance. More generally, the crystal field strengths of LnX(6) systems (X = Br, Cl, F, O) exhibit linear relationships with ligand electronegativity, charge transfer energy, and fractional ionic character of the Ln-X bond.

Method of bonding single crystal quartz by field-assisted bonding

DOEpatents

Curlee, Richard M.; Tuthill, Clinton D.; Watkins, Randall D.

1991-01-01

The method of producing a hermetic stable structural bond between quartz crystals includes providing first and second quartz crystals and depositing thin films of borosilicate glass and silicon on portions of the first and second crystals, respectively. The portions of the first and second crystals are then juxtaposed in a surface contact relationship and heated to a temperature for a period sufficient to cause the glass and silicon films to become electrically conductive. An electrical potential is then applied across the first and second crystals for creating an electrostatic field between the adjoining surfaces and causing the juxtaposed portions to be attracted into an intimate contact and form a bond for joining the adjoining surfaces of the crystals.

Physical modelling of Czochralski crystal growth in horizontal magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grants, Ilmārs; Pal, Josef; Gerbeth, Gunter

2017-07-01

This study addresses experimentally the heat transfer, the temperature azimuthal non-uniformity and the onset of oscillations in a low temperature physical model of a medium-sized Czochralski crystal growth process with a strong horizontal magnetic field (HMF). It is observed that under certain conditions the integral heat flux may decrease with increasing magnetic field strength at the same time as the flow velocity increases. The azimuthal non-uniformity of the temperature field in the melt near the crystal model rim is only little influenced by its rotation rate outside of a narrow range where the centrifugal force balances the buoyant one. The flow oscillation onset has been observed for two values of the HMF strength. Conditions of this onset are little influenced by the crystal rotation. The critical temperature difference of the oscillation onset considerably exceeds that of the Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) cell in a strong HMF.

Crystallization of Calcium Carbonate in a Large Scale Field Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueckert, Martina; Wismeth, Carina; Baumann, Thomas

2017-04-01

The long term efficiency of geothermal facilities and aquifer thermal energy storage in the carbonaceous Malm aquifer in the Bavarian Molasse Basin is seriously affected by precipitations of carbonates. This is mainly caused by pressure and temperature changes leading to oversaturation during production. Crystallization starts with polymorphic nuclei of calcium carbonate and is often described as diffusion-reaction controlled. Here, calcite crystallization is favoured by high concentration gradients while aragonite crystallization is occurring at high reaction rates. The factors affecting the crystallization processes have been described for simplified, well controlled laboratory experiments, the knowledge about the behaviour in more complex natural systems is still limited. The crystallization process of the polymorphic forms of calcium carbonate were investigated during a heat storage test at our test site in the eastern part of the Bavarian Molasse Basin. Complementary laboratory experiments in an autoclave were run. Both, field and laboratory experiments were conducted with carbonaceous tap water. Within the laboratory experiments additionally ultra pure water was used. To avoid precipitations of the tap water, a calculated amount of {CO_2} was added prior to heating the water from 45 - 110°C (laboratory) resp. 65 - 110°C (field). A total water volume of 0.5 L (laboratory) resp. 1 L (field) was immediately sampled and filtrated through 10 - 0.1

Wide-field imaging of birefringent synovial fluid crystals using lens-free polarized microscopy for gout diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yibo; Lee, Seung Yoon Celine; Zhang, Yun; Furst, Daniel; Fitzgerald, John; Ozcan, Aydogan

2016-06-01

Gout is a form of crystal arthropathy where monosodium urate (MSU) crystals deposit and elicit inflammation in a joint. Diagnosis of gout relies on identification of MSU crystals under a compensated polarized light microscope (CPLM) in synovial fluid aspirated from the patient’s joint. The detection of MSU crystals by optical microscopy is enhanced by their birefringent properties. However, CPLM partially suffers from the high-cost and bulkiness of conventional lens-based microscopy, and its relatively small field-of-view (FOV) limits the efficiency and accuracy of gout diagnosis. Here we present a lens-free polarized microscope which adopts a novel differential and angle-mismatched polarizing optical design achieving wide-field and high-resolution holographic imaging of birefringent objects with a color contrast similar to that of a standard CPLM. The performance of this computational polarization microscope is validated by imaging MSU crystals made from a gout patient’s tophus and steroid crystals used as negative control. This lens-free polarized microscope, with its wide FOV (>20 mm2), cost-effectiveness and field-portability, can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of gout diagnosis, reduce costs, and can be deployed even at the point-of-care and in resource-limited clinical settings.

Wide-field imaging of birefringent synovial fluid crystals using lens-free polarized microscopy for gout diagnosis

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yibo; Lee, Seung Yoon Celine; Zhang, Yun; Furst, Daniel; Fitzgerald, John; Ozcan, Aydogan

2016-01-01

Gout is a form of crystal arthropathy where monosodium urate (MSU) crystals deposit and elicit inflammation in a joint. Diagnosis of gout relies on identification of MSU crystals under a compensated polarized light microscope (CPLM) in synovial fluid aspirated from the patient’s joint. The detection of MSU crystals by optical microscopy is enhanced by their birefringent properties. However, CPLM partially suffers from the high-cost and bulkiness of conventional lens-based microscopy, and its relatively small field-of-view (FOV) limits the efficiency and accuracy of gout diagnosis. Here we present a lens-free polarized microscope which adopts a novel differential and angle-mismatched polarizing optical design achieving wide-field and high-resolution holographic imaging of birefringent objects with a color contrast similar to that of a standard CPLM. The performance of this computational polarization microscope is validated by imaging MSU crystals made from a gout patient’s tophus and steroid crystals used as negative control. This lens-free polarized microscope, with its wide FOV (>20 mm2), cost-effectiveness and field-portability, can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of gout diagnosis, reduce costs, and can be deployed even at the point-of-care and in resource-limited clinical settings. PMID:27356625

Study of Fluid Flow Control In Protein Crystallization Using Strong Magnetic Fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N.; Leslie, F.; Ciszak, E.; Curreri, Peter A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

An important component in biotechnology, particularly in the area of protein engineering and rational drug design is the knowledge of the precise three-dimensional molecular structure of proteins. The quality of structural information obtained from X-ray diffraction methods is directly dependent on the degree of perfection of the protein crystals. As a consequence, the growth of high quality macromolecular crystals for diffraction analyses has been the central focus for biochemists, biologists, and bioengineers. Macromolecular crystals are obtained from solutions that contain the crystallizing species in equilibrium with higher aggregates, ions, precipitants, other possible phases of the protein, foreign particles, the walls of the container, and a likely host of other impurities. By changing transport modes in general, i.e., reduction of convection and sedimentation, as is achieved in 'microgravity', researchers have been able to dramatically affect the movement and distribution of macromolecules in the fluid, and thus their transport, formation of crystal nuclei, and adsorption to the crystal surface. While a limited number of high quality crystals from space flights have been obtained, as the recent National Research Council (NRC) review of the NASA microgravity crystallization program pointed out, the scientific approach and research in crystallization of proteins has been mainly empirical yielding inconclusive results. We postulate that we can reduce convection in ground-based experiments and we can understand the different aspects of convection control through the use of strong magnetic fields and field gradients. Whether this limited convection in a magnetic field will provide the environment for the growth of high quality crystals is still a matter of conjecture that our research will address. The approach exploits the variation of fluid magnetic susceptibility with concentration for this purpose and the convective damping is realized by appropriately

Characterization of depolarizing fringing fields of a liquid crystal spatial light modulator for laser beam steering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haellstig, Emil J.; Martin, Torleif; Stigwall, Johan; Sjoqvist, Lars; Lindgren, Mikael

2004-02-01

A commercial linear one-dimensional, 1x4096 pixels, zero-twist nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM), giving more than 2π phase modulation at λ = 850 nm, was evaluated for beam steering applications. The large ratio (7:1) between the liquid crystal layer thickness and pixel width gives rise to voltage leakage and fringing fields between pixels. Due to the fringing fields the ideal calculated phase patterns cannot be perfectly realized by the device. Losses in high frequency components in the phase patterns were found to limit the maximum deflection angle. The inhomogeneous optical anisotropy of the SLM was determined by modelling of the liquid crystal director distribution within the electrode-pixel structure. The effects of the fringing fields on the amplitude and phase modulation were studied by full vector finite-difference time-domain simulations. It was found that the fringing fields also resulted in coupling into an unwanted polarization mode. Measurements of how this mode coupling affects the beam steering quality were carried out and the results compared with calculated results. A method to compensate for the fringing field effects is discussed and it is shown how the usable steering range of the SLM can be extended to +/- 2 degrees.

Method of bonding single crystal quartz by field-assisted bonding

DOEpatents

Curlee, R.M.; Tuthill, C.D.; Watkins, R.D.

1991-04-23

The method of producing a hermetic stable structural bond between quartz crystals includes providing first and second quartz crystals and depositing thin films of borosilicate glass and silicon on portions of the first and second crystals, respectively. The portions of the first and second crystals are then juxtaposed in a surface contact relationship and heated to a temperature for a period sufficient to cause the glass and silicon films to become electrically conductive. An electrical potential is then applied across the first and second crystals for creating an electrostatic field between the adjoining surfaces and causing the juxtaposed portions to be attracted into an intimate contact and form a bond for joining the adjoining surfaces of the crystals. 2 figures.

Crystal-field splittings in rare-earth-based hard magnets: An ab initio approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delange, Pascal; Biermann, Silke; Miyake, Takashi; Pourovskii, Leonid

2017-10-01

We apply the first-principles density functional theory + dynamical mean-field theory framework to evaluate the crystal-field splitting on rare-earth sites in hard magnetic intermetallics. An atomic (Hubbard-I) approximation is employed for local correlations on the rare-earth 4 f shell and self-consistency in the charge density is implemented. We reduce the density functional theory self-interaction contribution to the crystal-field splitting by properly averaging the 4 f charge density before recalculating the one-electron Kohn-Sham potential. Our approach is shown to reproduce the experimental crystal-field splitting in the prototypical rare-earth hard magnet SmCo5. Applying it to R Fe12 and R Fe12X hard magnets (R =Nd , Sm and X =N , Li), we obtain in particular a large positive value of the crystal-field parameter A20〈r2〉 in NdFe12N resulting in a strong out-of-plane anisotropy observed experimentally. The sign of A20〈r2〉 is predicted to be reversed by substituting N with Li, leading to a strong out-of-plane anisotropy in SmFe12Li . We discuss the origin of this strong impact of N and Li interstitials on the crystal-field splitting on rare-earth sites.

Fluid flow analysis and vertical gradient freeze crystal growth in a travelling magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lantzsch, R.; Grants, I.; Galindo, V.; Patzold, O.; Gerbeth, G.; Stelter, M.; Croll, A.

2006-12-01

In bulk crystal growth of semiconductors the concept of remote flow control by means of alternating magnetic fields has attracted considerable interest (see, e.g., te{1,2,3,4,5,6}). In this way the melt flow can be tailored for growth under optimised conditions to improve the crystal properties and/or the growth yield. A promising option is to apply an axially travelling magnetic wave to the melt (Travelling Magnetic Field - TMF). It introduces a mainly axial Lorentz force, which leads to meridional flow patterns. In recent numerical studies te{3}, te{6} the TMF has been recognised to be a versatile and efficient tool to control the heat and mass transport in the melt. For the Vertical Bridgman/Vertical Gradient Freeze (VB/VGF) growth, the beneficial effect of an adequately adjusted TMF-induced flow was clearly demonstrated in te{6} in terms of the reduction of thermal shear stress at the solid-liquid interface. In this paper, we present experimental and numerical results on the TMF driven convection in an isothermal model fluid as well as first VGF-TMF crystal growth experiments. The model investigations are focused on the transition from laminar to instationary flow conditions that should be avoided in crystal growth applications. The VGF experiments were aimed at growing Ga doped germanium single crystals under the influence of the travelling field in a newly developed VGF-TMF equipment. Figs 4, Refs 10.

Field-induced phase transitions in chiral smectic liquid crystals studied by the constant current method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

H, Dhaouadi; R, Zgueb; O, Riahi; F, Trabelsi; T, Othman

2016-05-01

In ferroelectric liquid crystals, phase transitions can be induced by an electric field. The current constant method allows these transition to be quickly localized and thus the (E,T) phase diagram of the studied product can be obtained. In this work, we make a slight modification to the measurement principles based on this method. This modification allows the characteristic parameters of ferroelectric liquid crystal to be quantitatively measured. The use of a current square signal highlights a phenomenon of ferroelectric hysteresis with remnant polarization at null field, which points out an effect of memory in this compound.

Dependence of Internal Crystal Structures of InAs Nanowires on Electrical Characteristics of Field Effect Transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Sangmoon; Choi, Ilgyu; Lee, Kwanjae; Lee, Cheul-Ro; Lee, Seoung-Ki; Hwang, Jeongwoo; Chung, Dong Chul; Kim, Jin Soo

2018-02-01

We report on the dependence of internal crystal structures on the electrical properties of a catalyst-free and undoped InAs nanowire (NW) formed on a Si(111) substrate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images, obtained from four different positions of a single InAs NW, indicated that the wurtzite (WZ) structure with stacking faults was observed mostly in the bottom region of the NW. Vertically along the InAs NW, the amount of stacking faults decreased and a zinc-blende (ZB) structure was observed. At the top of the NW, the ZB structure was prominently observed. The resistance and resistivity of the top region of the undoped InAs NW with the ZB structure were measured to be 121.5 kΩ and 0.19 Ω cm, respectively, which are smaller than those of the bottom region with the WZ structure, i.e., 251.8 kΩ and 0.39 Ω cm, respectively. The reduction in the resistance of the top region of the NW is attributed to the improvement in the crystal quality and the change in the ZB crystal structure. For a field effect transistor with an undoped InAs NW channel, the drain current versus drain-source voltage characteristic curves under various negative gate-source voltages were successfully observed at room temperature.

Bridgman Growth of Germanium Crystals in a Rotating Magnetic Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volz, M. P.; Schweizer, M.; Cobb, S. D.; Walker, J. S.; Szofran, F. R.; Curreri, Peter A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A series of (100)-oriented gallium-doped germanium crystals have been grown by the Bridgman method and under the influence of a rotating magnetic field (RMF). The RMF has a marked affect on the interface shape, changing it from concave to nearly flat. The onset of time-dependent flow instabilities occurs when the critical magnetic Taylor number is exceeded, and this can be observed by noting the appearance of striations in the grown crystals. The critical magnetic Taylor number is a sensitive function of the aspect ratio and, as the crystal grows under a constant applied magnetic field, the induced striations change from nonperiodic to periodic, undergo a period-doubling transition, and then cease to exist. Also, by pulsing the RMF on and off, it is shown that intentional interface demarcations can be introduced.

Low-Voltage Organic Single-Crystal Field-Effect Transistor with Steep Subthreshold Slope.

PubMed

Yang, Fangxu; Sun, Lingjie; Han, Jiangli; Li, Baili; Yu, Xi; Zhang, Xiaotao; Ren, Xiaochen; Hu, Wenping

2018-03-06

Anodization is a promising technique to form high- k dielectrics for low-power organic field-effect transistor (OFET) applications. However, the surface quality of the dielectric, which is mainly inherited from the metal electrode, can be improved further than other fabrication techniques, such as sol-gel. In this study, we applied the template stripping method to fabricate a low-power single-crystalline OFET based on the anodized AlO x dielectric. We found that the template stripping method largely improves the surface roughness of the deposited Al and allows for the formation of a high-quality AlO x high- k dielectric by anodization. The ultraflat AlO x /SAM dielectric combined with a single-crystal 2,6-diphenylanthracene (DPA) semiconductor produced a nearly defect-free interface with a steep subthreshold swing (SS) of 66 mV/decade. The current device is a promising candidate for future ultralow-power applications. Other than metal deposition, template stripping could provide a general approach to improve thin-film quality for many other types of materials and processes.

Atomic density functional and diagram of structures in the phase field crystal model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ankudinov, V. E., E-mail: vladimir@ankudinov.org; Galenko, P. K.; Kropotin, N. V.

2016-02-15

The phase field crystal model provides a continual description of the atomic density over the diffusion time of reactions. We consider a homogeneous structure (liquid) and a perfect periodic crystal, which are constructed from the one-mode approximation of the phase field crystal model. A diagram of 2D structures is constructed from the analytic solutions of the model using atomic density functionals. The diagram predicts equilibrium atomic configurations for transitions from the metastable state and includes the domains of existence of homogeneous, triangular, and striped structures corresponding to a liquid, a body-centered cubic crystal, and a longitudinal cross section of cylindricalmore » tubes. The method developed here is employed for constructing the diagram for the homogeneous liquid phase and the body-centered iron lattice. The expression for the free energy is derived analytically from density functional theory. The specific features of approximating the phase field crystal model are compared with the approximations and conclusions of the weak crystallization and 2D melting theories.« less

Slave boson theory of orbital differentiation with crystal field effects: Application to UO 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lanatà, Nicola; Yao, Yongxin; Deng, Xiaoyu

We derive an exact operatorial reformulation of the rotational invariant slave boson method, and we apply it to describe the orbital differentiation in strongly correlated electron systems starting from first principles. The approach enables us to treat strong electron correlations, spin-orbit coupling, and crystal field splittings on the same footing by exploiting the gauge invariance of the mean-field equations. Furthermore, we apply our theory to the archetypical nuclear fuel UO 2 and show that the ground state of this system displays a pronounced orbital differentiation within the 5f manifold, with Mott-localized Γ 8 and extended Γ 7 electrons.

Slave boson theory of orbital differentiation with crystal field effects: Application to UO 2

DOE PAGES

Lanatà, Nicola; Yao, Yongxin; Deng, Xiaoyu; ...

2017-03-23

We derive an exact operatorial reformulation of the rotational invariant slave boson method, and we apply it to describe the orbital differentiation in strongly correlated electron systems starting from first principles. The approach enables us to treat strong electron correlations, spin-orbit coupling, and crystal field splittings on the same footing by exploiting the gauge invariance of the mean-field equations. Furthermore, we apply our theory to the archetypical nuclear fuel UO 2 and show that the ground state of this system displays a pronounced orbital differentiation within the 5f manifold, with Mott-localized Γ 8 and extended Γ 7 electrons.

Slave Boson Theory of Orbital Differentiation with Crystal Field Effects: Application to UO_{2}.

PubMed

Lanatà, Nicola; Yao, Yongxin; Deng, Xiaoyu; Dobrosavljević, Vladimir; Kotliar, Gabriel

2017-03-24

We derive an exact operatorial reformulation of the rotational invariant slave boson method, and we apply it to describe the orbital differentiation in strongly correlated electron systems starting from first principles. The approach enables us to treat strong electron correlations, spin-orbit coupling, and crystal field splittings on the same footing by exploiting the gauge invariance of the mean-field equations. We apply our theory to the archetypical nuclear fuel UO_{2} and show that the ground state of this system displays a pronounced orbital differentiation within the 5f manifold, with Mott-localized Γ_{8} and extended Γ_{7} electrons.

The dynamic Casimir effect within a vibrating metal photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueta, Tsuyoshi

2014-09-01

The lattice-vibrating metal photonic crystal is exactly a system of dynamical Casimir effect connected in series, and so we can expect that a dynamical Casimir effect is enhanced by the photonic band effect. In the present study, when an electromagnetic field between metal plates is in the ground state in a one-dimensional metal photonic crystal, the radiation of electromagnetic wave in excited states has been investigated by artificially introducing lattice vibration to the photonic crystal. In this case as well as a dynamical Casimir effect, it has been shown that the harmonics of a ground state are generated just by vibrating a photonic crystal even without an incident wave. The dependencies of the radiating power on the number of layers and on the wavenumber of the lattice vibration are remarkable. It has been found that the radiation amplitude on lower excited states is not necessarily large and radiation on specific excited levels is large.

Investigation of the linear and second-order nonlinear optical properties of molecular crystals within the local field theory.

PubMed

Seidler, Tomasz; Stadnicka, Katarzyna; Champagne, Benoît

2013-09-21

In this paper it is shown that modest calculations combining first principles evaluations of the molecular properties with electrostatic interaction schemes to account for the crystal environment effects are reliable for predicting and interpreting the experimentally measured electric linear and second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of molecular crystals within the experimental error bars. This is illustrated by considering two molecular crystals, namely: 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline and 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)-3-acetamidonitrobenzene. Three types of surrounding effects should be accounted for (i) the polarization due to the surrounding molecules, described here by static electric fields originating from their electric dipoles or charge distributions, (ii) the intermolecular interactions, which affect the geometry and particularly the molecular conformation, and (iii) the screening of the external electric field by the constitutive molecules. This study further highlights the role of electron correlation on the linear and nonlinear responses of molecular crystals and the challenge of describing frequency dispersion.

Experimental study of strong nonlinear-optics effects in liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darbin, S. D.; Arakelyan, S. M.; Cheung, M. M.; Shen, Y. R.

1984-07-01

Nonlinear optical effects that arise in nematic liquid crystals as a result of a change in the index of refraction induced by a laser field are considered. Since the resultant nonlinearity is extremely high, the approximation of perturbation theory cannot be used in calculations. However, the change in refractive index results mainly in phase advance as waves propagate through a thin film of liquid crystal, while the change of intensity is significant. Moreover, if there is no change in polarization of the pumping field, calculations are relatively simple. An investigation is made of the propagation of a cross sectionally bounded laser beam through a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal, giving rise to spatial phase modulation of emission. When the intensity of the laser beam exceeds a certain value, a system of aberation rings is observed in the output radiation. Effects of dynamic self-diffraction accompanying degenerate four-wave mixing when a change in refractive index is induced in a homeotropic liquid crystal film, and optical bistability in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot optical cavity, as well as generation of a self-oscillatory state in such a resonator are discussed.

Enhanced electrocaloric cooling in ferroelectric single crystals by electric field reversal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yang-Bin; Novak, Nikola; Koruza, Jurij; Yang, Tongqing; Albe, Karsten; Xu, Bai-Xiang

2016-09-01

An improved thermodynamic cycle is validated in ferroelectric single crystals, where the cooling effect of an electrocaloric refrigerant is enhanced by applying a reversed electric field. In contrast to the conventional adiabatic heating or cooling by on-off cycles of the external electric field, applying a reversed field is significantly improving the cooling efficiency, since the variation in configurational entropy is increased. By comparing results from computer simulations using Monte Carlo algorithms and experiments using direct electrocaloric measurements, we show that the electrocaloric cooling efficiency can be enhanced by more than 20% in standard ferroelectrics and also relaxor ferroelectrics, like Pb (Mg1 /3 /Nb2 /3)0.71Ti0.29O3 .

Controlling Chain Conformations of High-k Fluoropolymer Dielectrics to Enhance Charge Mobilities in Rubrene Single-Crystal Field-Effect Transistors.

PubMed

Adhikari, Jwala M; Gadinski, Matthew R; Li, Qi; Sun, Kaige G; Reyes-Martinez, Marcos A; Iagodkine, Elissei; Briseno, Alejandro L; Jackson, Thomas N; Wang, Qing; Gomez, Enrique D

2016-12-01

A novel photopatternable high-k fluoropolymer, poly(vinylidene fluoride-bromotrifluoroethylene) P(VDF-BTFE), with a dielectric constant (k) between 8 and 11 is demonstrated in thin-film transistors. Crosslinking P(VDF-BTFE) reduces energetic disorder at the dielectric-semiconductor interface by controlling the chain conformations of P(VDF-BTFE), thereby leading to approximately a threefold enhancement in the charge mobility of rubrene single-crystal field-effect transistors. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Field-induced phase transitions and enhanced double negative electrocaloric effects in (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 antiferroelectric single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuo, Fangping; Li, Qiang; Qiao, Huimin; Yan, Qingfeng; Zhang, Yiling; Xi, Xiaoqing; Chu, Xiangcheng; Long, Xifa; Cao, Wenwu

2018-03-01

Field-induced phase transitions and electrocaloric effect have been studied in (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 (PLZST) antiferroelectric single crystal. Temperature dependent dielectric, Raman spectra, as well as in situ domain evolution demonstrated that the order of phase transitions during heating is in the sequence of orthorhombic antiferroelectric → tetragonal antiferroelectric → cubic paraelectric. Enhanced negative electrocaloric effect value of -3.6 °C and electrocaloric strength of 0.3 K mm/kV at 125 °C have been achieved. Double negative effects (-0.7 °C at 45 °C and -3.6 °C at 125 °C) and a relatively large positive effect (1 °C) near Curie temperature (190 °C) have been found in the PLZST single crystal. Moreover, microscopic dipoles and a phenomenological Landau-type model were employed to understand these unusual electrocaloric effects. Enhanced negative effect and the coexistence of both negative and positive effects in one material are promising for us to develop practical solid-state cooling devices with high efficiency.

Effects of Ultrasonic Parameters on the Crystallization Behavior of Virgin Coconut Oil.

PubMed

Wu, Linhe; Cao, Jun; Bai, Xinpeng; Chen, Haiming; Zhang, Yuxiang; Wu, Qian

2016-12-01

Crystallization behavior of virgin coconut oil (VCO) in the absence and presence of ultrasonic treatment under a temperature gradient field was investigated. The effects of ultrasonic parameters on the crystallization behavior of VCO were studied by differential scanning calorimetry, ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometry and polarized light microscopy. The thermal effect of the ultrasonic treatment was also increased at higher power levels. Therefore, the optimal power level was determined at approximately 36 W. Induction time reduced evidently and the crystallization rate was accelerated under ultrasonic treatment at crystallization temperature (T c ) above 15°C. However, no significant difference in induction time was noted at 13°C. The result of morphological studies showed that the growth mechanism of crystals was significantly changed. Meanwhile, smaller and uniform crystals were produced by the ultrasonic treatment. This study shows a novel technique to accelerate the crystallization rate and alter the growth mechanism of VCO crystals.

Improving the Quality of Protein Crystals Using Stirring Crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adachi, Hiroaki; Matsumura, Hiroyoshi; Niino, Ai; Takano, Kazufumi; Kinoshita, Takayoshi; Warizaya, Masaichi; Inoue, Tsuyoshi; Mori, Yusuke; Sasaki, Takatomo

2004-04-01

Recent reports state that a high magnetic field improves the crystal quality of bovine adenosine deaminase (ADA) with an inhibitor [Kinoshita et al.: Acta Cryst. D59 (2003) 1333]. In this paper, we examine the effect of stirring solution on ADA crystallization using a vapor-diffusion technique with rotary and figure-eight motion shakers. The probability of obtaining high-quality crystals is increased with stirring in a figure-eight pattern. Furthermore, rotary stirring greatly increased the probability of obtaining high-quality crystals, however, nucleation time was also increased. The crystal structure with the inhibitor was determined at a high resolution using a crystal obtained from a stirred solution. These results indicate that stirring with simple equipment is as useful as the high magnetic field technique for protein crystallization.

Phase-field modeling of two-dimensional crystal growth with anisotropic diffusion.

PubMed

Meca, Esteban; Shenoy, Vivek B; Lowengrub, John

2013-11-01

In the present article, we introduce a phase-field model for thin-film growth with anisotropic step energy, attachment kinetics, and diffusion, with second-order (thin-interface) corrections. We are mainly interested in the limit in which kinetic anisotropy dominates, and hence we study how the expected shape of a crystallite, which in the long-time limit is the kinetic Wulff shape, is modified by anisotropic diffusion. We present results that prove that anisotropic diffusion plays an important, counterintuitive role in the evolving crystal shape, and we add second-order corrections to the model that provide a significant increase in accuracy for small supersaturations. We also study the effect of different crystal symmetries and discuss the influence of the deposition rate.

Static magnetic susceptibility, crystal field and exchange interactions in rare earth titanate pyrochlores.

PubMed

Malkin, B Z; Lummen, T T A; van Loosdrecht, P H M; Dhalenne, G; Zakirov, A R

2010-07-14

The experimental temperature dependence (T = 2-300 K) of single crystal bulk and site susceptibilities of rare earth titanate pyrochlores R(2)Ti(2)O(7) (R = Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb) is analyzed in the framework of crystal field theory and a mean field approximation. Analytical expressions for the site and bulk susceptibilities of the pyrochlore lattice are derived taking into account long range dipole-dipole interactions and anisotropic exchange interactions between the nearest neighbor rare earth ions. The sets of crystal field parameters and anisotropic exchange coupling constants have been determined and their variations along the lanthanide series are discussed.

On standardization of low symmetry crystal fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajek, Zbigniew

2015-07-01

Standardization methods of low symmetry - orthorhombic, monoclinic and triclinic - crystal fields are formulated and discussed. Two alternative approaches are presented, the conventional one, based on the second-rank parameters and the standardization based on the fourth-rank parameters. Mainly f-electron systems are considered but some guidelines for d-electron systems and the spin Hamiltonian describing the zero-field splitting are given. The discussion focuses on premises for choosing the most suitable method, in particular on inadequacy of the conventional one. Few examples from the literature illustrate this situation.

Glassy phases and driven response of the phase-field-crystal model with random pinning.

PubMed

Granato, E; Ramos, J A P; Achim, C V; Lehikoinen, J; Ying, S C; Ala-Nissila, T; Elder, K R

2011-09-01

We study the structural correlations and the nonlinear response to a driving force of a two-dimensional phase-field-crystal model with random pinning. The model provides an effective continuous description of lattice systems in the presence of disordered external pinning centers, allowing for both elastic and plastic deformations. We find that the phase-field crystal with disorder assumes an amorphous glassy ground state, with only short-ranged positional and orientational correlations, even in the limit of weak disorder. Under increasing driving force, the pinned amorphous-glass phase evolves into a moving plastic-flow phase and then, finally, a moving smectic phase. The transverse response of the moving smectic phase shows a vanishing transverse critical force for increasing system sizes.

Electromagnetic-field amplification in finite one-dimensional photonic crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gorelik, V. S.; Kapaev, V. V., E-mail: kapaev@sci.lebedev.ru

2016-09-15

The electromagnetic-field distribution in a finite one-dimensional photonic crystal is studied using the numerical solution of Maxwell’s equations by the transfer-matrix method. The dependence of the transmission coefficient T on the period d (or the wavelength λ) has the characteristic form with M–1 (M is the number of periods in the structure) maxima with T = 1 in the allowed band of an infinite crystal and zero values in the forbidden band. The field-modulus distribution E(x) in the structure for parameters that correspond to the transmission maxima closest to the boundaries of forbidden bands has maxima at the center ofmore » the structure; the value at the maximum considerably exceeds the incident-field strength. For the number of periods M ~ 50, more than an order of magnitude increase in the field amplification is observed. The numerical results are interpreted with an analytic theory constructed by representing the solution in the form of a linear combination of counterpropagating Floquet modes in a periodic structure.« less

Giant photonic Hall effect in magnetophotonic crystals.

PubMed

Merzlikin, A M; Vinogradov, A P; Inoue, M; Granovsky, A B

2005-10-01

We have considered a simple, square, two-dimensional (2D) PC built of a magneto-optic matrix with square holes. It is shown that using such a magnetophotonic crystal it is possible to deflect a light beam at very large angles by applying a nonzero external magnetic field. The effect is called the giant photonic Hall effect (GPHE) or the magnetic superprism effect. The GPHE is based on magneto-optical properties, as is the photonic Hall effect [B. A. van Tiggelen and G. L. J. A. Rikken, in, edited by V. M. Shalaev (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2002), p. 275]; however GPHE is not caused by asymmetrical light scattering but rather by the influence of an external magnetic field on the photonic band structure.

Magnetic Field Applications in Semiconductor Crystal Growth and Metallurgy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mazuruk, Konstantin; Ramachandran, Narayanan; Grugel, Richard; Curreri, Peter A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Traveling Magnetic Field (TMF) technique, recently proposed to control meridional flow in electrically conducting melts, is reviewed. In particular, the natural convection damping capability of this technique has been numerically demonstrated with the implication of significantly improving crystal quality. Advantages of the traveling magnetic field, in comparison to the more mature rotating magnetic field method, are discussed. Finally, results of experiments with mixing metallic alloys in long ampoules using TMF is presented

Subsurface Stress Fields in FCC Single Crystal Anisotropic Contacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arakere, Nagaraj K.; Knudsen, Erik; Swanson, Gregory R.; Duke, Gregory; Ham-Battista, Gilda

2004-01-01

Single crystal superalloy turbine blades used in high pressure turbomachinery are subject to conditions of high temperature, triaxial steady and alternating stresses, fretting stresses in the blade attachment and damper contact locations, and exposure to high-pressure hydrogen. The blades are also subjected to extreme variations in temperature during start-up and shutdown transients. The most prevalent high cycle fatigue (HCF) failure modes observed in these blades during operation include crystallographic crack initiation/propagation on octahedral planes, and non-crystallographic initiation with crystallographic growth. Numerous cases of crack initiation and crack propagation at the blade leading edge tip, blade attachment regions, and damper contact locations have been documented. Understanding crack initiation/propagation under mixed-mode loading conditions is critical for establishing a systematic procedure for evaluating HCF life of single crystal turbine blades. This paper presents analytical and numerical techniques for evaluating two and three dimensional subsurface stress fields in anisotropic contacts. The subsurface stress results are required for evaluating contact fatigue life at damper contacts and dovetail attachment regions in single crystal nickel-base superalloy turbine blades. An analytical procedure is presented for evaluating the subsurface stresses in the elastic half-space, based on the adaptation of a stress function method outlined by Lekhnitskii. Numerical results are presented for cylindrical and spherical anisotropic contacts, using finite element analysis (FEA). Effects of crystal orientation on stress response and fatigue life are examined. Obtaining accurate subsurface stress results for anisotropic single crystal contact problems require extremely refined three-dimensional (3-D) finite element grids, especially in the edge of contact region. Obtaining resolved shear stresses (RSS) on the principal slip planes also involves

Effects of flow on the dynamics of a ferromagnetic nematic liquid crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potisk, Tilen; Pleiner, Harald; Svenšek, Daniel; Brand, Helmut R.

2018-04-01

We investigate the effects of flow on the dynamics of ferromagnetic nematic liquid crystals. As a model, we study the coupled dynamics of the magnetization, M , the director field, n , associated with the liquid crystalline orientational order, and the velocity field, v . We evaluate how simple shear flow in a ferromagnetic nematic is modified in the presence of small external magnetic fields, and we make experimentally testable predictions for the resulting effective shear viscosity: an increase by a factor of 2 in a magnetic field of about 20 mT. Flow alignment, a characteristic feature of classical uniaxial nematic liquid crystals, is analyzed for ferromagnetic nematics for the two cases of magnetization in or perpendicular to the shear plane. In the former case, we find that small in-plane magnetic fields are sufficient to suppress tumbling and thus that the boundary between flow alignment and tumbling can be controlled easily. In the latter case, we furthermore find a possibility of flow alignment in a regime for which one obtains tumbling for the pure nematic component. We derive the analogs of the three Miesowicz viscosities well-known from usual nematic liquid crystals, corresponding to nine different configurations. Combinations of these can be used to determine several dynamic coefficients experimentally.

Effects of thermal expansion of the crystal lattice on x-ray crystal spectrometers used for fusion research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delgado-Aparicio, L.; Bitter, M.; Podpaly, Y.; Rice, J.; Burke, W.; Sanchez del Rio, M.; Beiersdorfer, P.; Bell, R.; Feder, R.; Gao, C.; Hill, K.; Johnson, D.; Lee, S. G.; Marmar, E.; Pablant, N.; Reinke, M. L.; Scott, S.; Wilson, R.

2013-12-01

X-ray imaging crystal spectrometers with high spectral and spatial resolution are currently being used on magnetically confined fusion devices to infer the time history profiles of ion and electron temperatures as well as plasma flow velocities. The absolute measurement of flow velocities is important for optimizing various discharge scenarios and evaluating the radial electric field in tokamak and stellarator plasmas. Recent studies indicate that the crystal temperature must be kept constant to within a fraction of a degree to avoid changes of the interplanar 2d-spacing by thermal expansion that cause changes in the Bragg angle, which could be misinterpreted as Doppler shifts. For the instrumental parameters of the x-ray crystal spectrometer on Alcator C-Mod, where those thermal effects were investigated, a change of the crystal temperature by 1 °C causes a change of the lattice spacing of the order of Δd = 1 × 10-5 Å introducing a fictitious velocity drift of the order of ˜3 km s-1. This effect must be considered for x-ray imaging crystals spectrometers installed on LHD, KSTAR, EAST, J-TEXT, NSTX and, in the future, W7-X and ITER.

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in two dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai; Liu, Ke; Slager, Robert-Jan; Nussinov, Zohar; Cvetkovic, Vladimir; Zaanen, Jan

2017-04-01

We present a self-contained review of the theory of dislocation-mediated quantum melting at zero temperature in two spatial dimensions. The theory describes the liquid-crystalline phases with spatial symmetries in between a quantum crystalline solid and an isotropic superfluid: quantum nematics and smectics. It is based on an Abelian-Higgs-type duality mapping of phonons onto gauge bosons (;stress photons;), which encode for the capacity of the crystal to propagate stresses. Dislocations and disclinations, the topological defects of the crystal, are sources for the gauge fields and the melting of the crystal can be understood as the proliferation (condensation) of these defects, giving rise to the Anderson-Higgs mechanism on the dual side. For the liquid crystal phases, the shear sector of the gauge bosons becomes massive signaling that shear rigidity is lost. After providing the necessary background knowledge, including the order parameter theory of two-dimensional quantum liquid crystals and the dual theory of stress gauge bosons in bosonic crystals, the theory of melting is developed step-by-step via the disorder theory of dislocation-mediated melting. Resting on symmetry principles, we derive the phenomenological imaginary time actions of quantum nematics and smectics and analyze the full spectrum of collective modes. The quantum nematic is a superfluid having a true rotational Goldstone mode due to rotational symmetry breaking, and the origin of this 'deconfined' mode is traced back to the crystalline phase. The two-dimensional quantum smectic turns out to be a dizzyingly anisotropic phase with the collective modes interpolating between the solid and nematic in a non-trivial way. We also consider electrically charged bosonic crystals and liquid crystals, and carefully analyze the electromagnetic response of the quantum liquid crystal phases. In particular, the quantum nematic is a real superconductor and shows the Meissner effect. Their special properties

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in two dimensions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai

We present a self-contained review of the theory of dislocation-mediated quantum melting at zero temperature in two spatial dimensions. The theory describes the liquid-crystalline phases with spatial symmetries in between a quantum crystalline solid and an isotropic superfluid: quantum nematics and smectics. It is based on an Abelian-Higgs-type duality mapping of phonons onto gauge bosons (“stress photons”), which encode for the capacity of the crystal to propagate stresses. Dislocations and disclinations, the topological defects of the crystal, are sources for the gauge fields and the melting of the crystal can be understood as the proliferation (condensation) of these defects, givingmore » rise to the Anderson–Higgs mechanism on the dual side. For the liquid crystal phases, the shear sector of the gauge bosons becomes massive signaling that shear rigidity is lost. After providing the necessary background knowledge, including the order parameter theory of two-dimensional quantum liquid crystals and the dual theory of stress gauge bosons in bosonic crystals, the theory of melting is developed step-by-step via the disorder theory of dislocation-mediated melting. Resting on symmetry principles, we derive the phenomenological imaginary time actions of quantum nematics and smectics and analyze the full spectrum of collective modes. The quantum nematic is a superfluid having a true rotational Goldstone mode due to rotational symmetry breaking, and the origin of this ‘deconfined’ mode is traced back to the crystalline phase. The two-dimensional quantum smectic turns out to be a dizzyingly anisotropic phase with the collective modes interpolating between the solid and nematic in a non-trivial way. We also consider electrically charged bosonic crystals and liquid crystals, and carefully analyze the electromagnetic response of the quantum liquid crystal phases. In particular, the quantum nematic is a real superconductor and shows the Meissner effect. Furthermore

Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in two dimensions

DOE PAGES

Beekman, Aron J.; Nissinen, Jaakko; Wu, Kai; ...

2017-04-18

We present a self-contained review of the theory of dislocation-mediated quantum melting at zero temperature in two spatial dimensions. The theory describes the liquid-crystalline phases with spatial symmetries in between a quantum crystalline solid and an isotropic superfluid: quantum nematics and smectics. It is based on an Abelian-Higgs-type duality mapping of phonons onto gauge bosons (“stress photons”), which encode for the capacity of the crystal to propagate stresses. Dislocations and disclinations, the topological defects of the crystal, are sources for the gauge fields and the melting of the crystal can be understood as the proliferation (condensation) of these defects, givingmore » rise to the Anderson–Higgs mechanism on the dual side. For the liquid crystal phases, the shear sector of the gauge bosons becomes massive signaling that shear rigidity is lost. After providing the necessary background knowledge, including the order parameter theory of two-dimensional quantum liquid crystals and the dual theory of stress gauge bosons in bosonic crystals, the theory of melting is developed step-by-step via the disorder theory of dislocation-mediated melting. Resting on symmetry principles, we derive the phenomenological imaginary time actions of quantum nematics and smectics and analyze the full spectrum of collective modes. The quantum nematic is a superfluid having a true rotational Goldstone mode due to rotational symmetry breaking, and the origin of this ‘deconfined’ mode is traced back to the crystalline phase. The two-dimensional quantum smectic turns out to be a dizzyingly anisotropic phase with the collective modes interpolating between the solid and nematic in a non-trivial way. We also consider electrically charged bosonic crystals and liquid crystals, and carefully analyze the electromagnetic response of the quantum liquid crystal phases. In particular, the quantum nematic is a real superconductor and shows the Meissner effect. Furthermore

Spin-orbit qubits of rare-earth-metal ions in axially symmetric crystal fields.

PubMed

Bertaina, S; Shim, J H; Gambarelli, S; Malkin, B Z; Barbara, B

2009-11-27

Contrary to the well-known spin qubits, rare-earth-metal qubits are characterized by a strong influence of crystal field due to large spin-orbit coupling. At low temperature and in the presence of resonance microwaves, it is the magnetic moment of the crystal-field ground state which nutates (for several micros) and the Rabi frequency Omega(R) is anisotropic. Here, we present a study of the variations of Omega(R)(H(0)) with the magnitude and direction of the static magnetic field H(0) for the odd 167Er isotope in a single crystal CaWO(4):Er(3+). The hyperfine interactions split the Omega(R)(H(0)) curve into eight different curves which are fitted numerically and described analytically. These "spin-orbit qubits" should allow detailed studies of decoherence mechanisms which become relevant at high temperature and open new ways for qubit addressing using properly oriented magnetic fields.

The use of magnetic fields in vertical Bridgman/Gradient Freeze-type crystal growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pätzold, Olf; Niemietz, Kathrin; Lantzsch, Ronny; Galindo, Vladimir; Grants, Ilmars; Bellmann, Martin; Gerbeth, Gunter

2013-03-01

This paper outlines advanced vertical Bridgman/Gradient Freeze techniques with flow control using magnetic fields developed for the growth of semiconductor crystals. Low-temperature flow modelling, as well as laboratory-scaled crystal growth under the influence of rotating, travelling, and static magnetic fields are presented. Experimental and numerical flow modelling demonstrate the potential of the magnetic fields to establish a well-defined flow for tailoring heat and mass transfer in the melt during growth. The results of the growth experiments are discussed with a focus on the influence of a rotating field on the segregation of dopants, the influence of a travelling field on the temperature field and thermal stresses, and the potential of rotating and static fields for a stabilization of the melt flow.

Inhomogeneous field induced magnetoelectric effect in Mott insulators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boulaevskii, Lev N; Batista, Cristian D

2008-01-01

We consider a Mott insulator like HoMnO{sub 3} whose magnetic lattice is geometrically frustrated and comprises a 3D array of triangular layers with magnetic moments ordered in a 120{sup o} structure. We show that the effect of a uniform magnetic field gradient, {gradient}H, is to redistribute the electronic charge of the magnetically ordered phase leading to a unfirom electric field gradient. The resulting voltage difference between the crystal edges is proportional to the square of the crystal thickness, or inter-edge distance, L. It can reach values of several volts for |{gradient}H| {approx} 0.01 T/cm and L {approx_equal} 1mm, as longmore » as the crystal is free of antiferromagnetic domain walls.« less

Modeling nuclear field shift isotope fractionation in crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schauble, E. A.

2013-12-01

In this study nuclear field shift fractionations in solids (and chemically similar liquids) are estimated using calibrated density functional theory calculations. The nuclear field shift effect is a potential driver of mass independent isotope fractionation(1,2), especially for elements with high atomic number such as Hg, Tl and U. This effect is caused by the different shapes and volumes of isotopic nuclei, and their interactions with electronic structures and energies. Nuclear field shift isotope fractionations can be estimated with first principles methods, but the calculations are computationally difficult, limiting most theoretical studies so far to small gas-phase molecules and molecular clusters. Many natural materials of interest are more complex, and it is important to develop ways to estimate field shift effects that can be applied to minerals, solutions, in biomolecules, and at mineral-solution interfaces. Plane-wave density functional theory, in combination with the projector augmented wave method (DFT-PAW), is much more readily adapted to complex materials than the relativistic all-electron calculations that have been the focus of most previous studies. DFT-PAW is a particularly effective tool for studying crystals with periodic boundary conditions, and may also be incorporated into molecular dynamics simulations of solutions and other disordered phases. Initial calibrations of DFT-PAW calculations against high-level all-electron models of field shift fractionation suggest that there may be broad applicability of this method to a variety of elements and types of materials. In addition, the close relationship between the isomer shift of Mössbauer spectroscopy and the nuclear field shift isotope effect makes it possible, at least in principle, to estimate the volume component of field shift fractionations in some species that are too complex even for DFT-PAW models, so long as there is a Mössbauer isotope for the element of interest. Initial results

Spin-Orbit Qubits of Rare-Earth-Metal Ions in Axially Symmetric Crystal Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertaina, S.; Shim, J. H.; Gambarelli, S.; Malkin, B. Z.; Barbara, B.

2009-11-01

Contrary to the well-known spin qubits, rare-earth-metal qubits are characterized by a strong influence of crystal field due to large spin-orbit coupling. At low temperature and in the presence of resonance microwaves, it is the magnetic moment of the crystal-field ground state which nutates (for several μs) and the Rabi frequency ΩR is anisotropic. Here, we present a study of the variations of ΩR(H→0) with the magnitude and direction of the static magnetic field H→0 for the odd Er167 isotope in a single crystal CaWO4:Er3+. The hyperfine interactions split the ΩR(H→0) curve into eight different curves which are fitted numerically and described analytically. These “spin-orbit qubits” should allow detailed studies of decoherence mechanisms which become relevant at high temperature and open new ways for qubit addressing using properly oriented magnetic fields.

Semiconductor crystal growth in crossed electric and magnetic fields: Center Director's Discretionary Fund

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mazuruk, K.; Volz, M. P.

1996-01-01

A unique growth cell was designed in which crossed electric and magnetic fields could be separately or simultaneously applied during semiconductor crystal growth. A thermocouple was inserted into an InSb melt inside the growth cell to examine the temperature response of the fluid to applied electromagnetic fields. A static magnetic field suppressed time-dependent convection when a destabilizing thermal field was applied. The simultaneous application of electric and magnetic fields resulted in forced convection in the melt. The InSb ingots grown in the cell were polycrystalline. An InGaSb crystal, 0.5 cm in diameter and 23-cm long, was grown without electromagnetic fields applied. The axial composition results indicated that complete mixing in the melt occurred for this large aspect ratio.

Elimination of image flicker in a fringe-field switching liquid crystal display by applying a bipolar voltage wave.

PubMed

Oh, Seung-Won; Park, Jun-Hee; Lee, Ji-Hoon; Yoon, Tae-Hoon

2015-09-07

Recently, low-frequency driving of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels to minimize power consumption has drawn much attention. In the case in which an LCD panel is driven by a fringe-field at a low frequency, the image flickering phenomenon occurs when the sign of the applied electric field is reversed. We investigated image flickering induced by the flexoelectric effect in a fringe-field switching (FFS) liquid crystal cell in terms of the transmittance difference between frames and the ripple phenomenon. Experimental results show that image flicker due to transmittance difference can be eliminated completely and that the ripple phenomena can be reduced significantly by applying a bipolar voltage wave to the FFS cell.

Study of light-absorbing crystal birefringence and electrical modulation mechanisms for coupled thermal-optical effects.

PubMed

Zhou, Ji; He, Zhihong; Ma, Yu; Dong, Shikui

2014-09-20

This paper discusses Gaussian laser transmission in double-refraction crystal whose incident light wavelength is within its absorption wave band. Two scenarios for coupled radiation and heat conduction are considered: one is provided with an applied external electric field, the other is not. A circular heat source with a Gaussian energy distribution is introduced to present the crystal's light-absorption process. The electromagnetic field frequency domain analysis equation and energy equation are solved to simulate the phenomenon by using the finite element method. It focuses on the influence of different values such as wavelength, incident light intensity, heat transfer coefficient, ambient temperature, crystal thickness, and applied electric field strength. The results show that the refraction index of polarized light increases with the increase of crystal temperature. It decreases as the strength of the applied electric field increases if it is positive. The mechanism of electrical modulation for the thermo-optical effect is used to keep the polarized light's index of refraction constant in our simulation. The quantitative relation between thermal boundary condition and strength of applied electric field during electrical modulation is determined. Numerical results indicate a possible approach to removing adverse thermal effects such as depolarization and wavefront distortion, which are caused by thermal deposition during linear laser absorption.

Models of Mass Transport During Microgravity Crystal Growth of Alloyed Semiconductors in a Magnetic Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, Nancy

2003-01-01

Alloyed semiconductor crystals, such as germanium-silicon (GeSi) and various II-VI alloyed crystals, are extremely important for optoelectronic devices. Currently, high-quality crystals of GeSi and of II-VI alloys can be grown by epitaxial processes, but the time required to grow a certain amount of single crystal is roughly 1,000 times longer than the time required for Bridgman growth from a melt. Recent rapid advances in optoelectronics have led to a great demand for more and larger crystals with fewer dislocations and other microdefects and with more uniform and controllable compositions. Currently, alloyed crystals grown by bulk methods have unacceptable levels of segregation in the composition of the crystal. Alloyed crystals are being grown by the Bridgman process in space in order to develop successful bulk-growth methods, with the hope that the technology will be equally successful on earth. Unfortunately some crystals grown in space still have unacceptable segregation, for example, due to residual accelerations. The application of a weak magnetic field during crystal growth in space may eliminate the undesirable segregation. Understanding and improving the bulk growth of alloyed semiconductors in microgravity is critically important. The purpose of this grant to to develop models of the unsteady species transport during the bulk growth of alloyed semiconductor crystals in the presence of a magnetic field in microgravity. The research supports experiments being conducted in the High Magnetic Field Solidification Facility at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and future experiments on the International Space Station.

Solution-processed, Self-organized Organic Single Crystal Arrays with Controlled Crystal Orientation

PubMed Central

Kumatani, Akichika; Liu, Chuan; Li, Yun; Darmawan, Peter; Takimiya, Kazuo; Minari, Takeo; Tsukagoshi, Kazuhito

2012-01-01

A facile solution process for the fabrication of organic single crystal semiconductor devices which meets the demand for low-cost and large-area fabrication of high performance electronic devices is demonstrated. In this paper, we develop a bottom-up method which enables direct formation of organic semiconductor single crystals at selected locations with desired orientations. Here oriented growth of one-dimensional organic crystals is achieved by using self-assembly of organic molecules as the driving force to align these crystals in patterned regions. Based upon the self-organized organic single crystals, we fabricate organic field effect transistor arrays which exhibit an average field-effect mobility of 1.1 cm2V−1s−1. This method can be carried out under ambient atmosphere at room temperature, thus particularly promising for production of future plastic electronics. PMID:22563523

Effect of anisotropy on defect mode peculiarities in chiral liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gevorgyan, A. H.; Oganesyan, K. B.

2018-01-01

The effect of anisotropy on defect mode peculiarities in cholesteric liquid crystals is investigated. The light transmission through the cholesteric liquid crystal layer with an anisotropic layer defect inside is solved by Ambartsumian’s layer addition modified method. Two cases are considered. In the first case, it is assumed that the defect layer is non-absorbing, and the effect of refraction anisotropy on the reflection, relative photonic density of states and the total field intensity produced in the defect layer are studied. In the second case, the defect layer is assumed to be isotropic for refraction and anisotropic for absorption, and the influence of defect layer absorption anisotropy on reflection, absorption, relative photonic density of states and the total field intensity produced in the defect layer are investigated.

In situ TEM near-field optical probing of nanoscale silicon crystallization.

PubMed

Xiang, Bin; Hwang, David J; In, Jung Bin; Ryu, Sang-Gil; Yoo, Jae-Hyuck; Dubon, Oscar; Minor, Andrew M; Grigoropoulos, Costas P

2012-05-09

Laser-based processing enables a wide variety of device configurations comprising thin films and nanostructures on sensitive, flexible substrates that are not possible with more traditional thermal annealing schemes. In near-field optical probing, only small regions of a sample are illuminated by the laser beam at any given time. Here we report a new technique that couples the optical near-field of the laser illumination into a transmission electron microscope (TEM) for real-time observations of the laser-materials interactions. We apply this technique to observe the transformation of an amorphous confined Si volume to a single crystal of Si using laser melting. By confinement of the material volume to nanometric dimensions, the entire amorphous precursor is within the laser spot size and transformed into a single crystal. This observation provides a path for laser processing of single-crystal seeds from amorphous precursors, a potentially transformative technique for the fabrication of solar cells and other nanoelectronic devices.

The effect of an electric field on the morphological stability of the crystal-melt interface of a binary alloy. III - Weakly nonlinear theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wheeler, A. A.; Mcfadden, G. B.; Coriell, S. R.; Hurle, D. T. J.

1990-01-01

The effect of a constant electric current on the crystal-melt interface morphology during directional solidification at constant velocity of a binary alloy is considered. A linear temperature field is assumed, and thermoelectric effects and Joule heating are neglected; electromigration and differing electrical conductivities of crystal and melt are taken into account. A two-dimensional weakly nonlinear analysis is carried out to third order in the interface amplitude, resulting in a cubic amplitude equation that describes whether the bifurcation from the planar state is supercritical or subcritical. For wavelengths corresponding to the most dangerous mode of linear theory, the demarcation between supercritical and subcritical behavior is calculated as a function of processing conditions and material parameters. The bifurcation behavior is a sensitive function of the magnitude and direction of the electric current and of the electrical conductivity ratio.

Low- and high-spin iron (II) complexes studied by effective crystal field method combined with molecular mechanics.

PubMed

Darkhovskii, M B; Pletnev, I V; Tchougréeff, A L

2003-11-15

A computational method targeted to Werner-type complexes is developed on the basis of quantum mechanical effective Hamiltonian crystal field (EHCF) methodology (previously proposed for describing electronic structure of transition metal complexes) combined with the Gillespie-Kepert version of molecular mechanics (MM). It is a special version of the hybrid quantum/MM approach. The MM part is responsible for representing the whole molecule, including ligand atoms and metal ion coordination sphere, but leaving out the effects of the d-shell. The quantum mechanical EHCF part is limited to the metal ion d-shell. The method reproduces with reasonable accuracy geometry and spin states of the Fe(II) complexes with monodentate and polydentate aromatic ligands with nitrogen donor atoms. In this setting a single set of MM parameters set is shown to be sufficient for handling all spin states of the complexes under consideration. Copyright 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Phenomenological crystal-field model of the magnetic and thermal properties of the Kondo-like system UCu2Si2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troć, R.; Gajek, Z.; Pikul, A.; Misiorek, H.; Colineau, E.; Wastin, F.

2013-07-01

The transport properties described previously [Troć , Phys. Rev. BPRBMDO1098-012110.1103/PhysRevB.85.224434 85, 224434 (2012)] as well as the magnetic and thermal properties presented in this paper, observed for single-crystalline UCu2Si2, are discussed by assuming a dual (localized-itinerant) scenario. The electronic states of the localized 5f electrons in UCu2Si2 are constructed using the effective Hamiltonian known for ionic systems, allowing us to treat the Coulomb, spin-orbital, and crystal-field interactions on equal footing. The space of parameters has been restricted in the initial steps with the aid of the angular overlap model approximation. The final crystal-field parameters, obtained from the refined steps of calculations, are relatively large (in absolute values), which we attribute to the hybridization characteristic of the metallic systems on the verge of localization. The proposed crystal-field model reproduces correctly with satisfactory accuracy the magnetic and thermal properties of UCu2Si2 in agreement also with the transport properties reported previously. Considerable crystal-field splitting of the ground multiplet of 2760 K is responsible for a large anisotropy in the magnetic behavior, observed in the whole temperature range explored.

Asymptotic Analysis of Melt Growth for Antimonide-Based Compound Semiconductor Crystals in Magnetic and Electric Fields

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-01

F. Bliss, Gerald W. Iseler and Piotr Becla, "Combining static and rotating magnetic fields during modified vertical Bridgman crystal growth ," AIAA...Wang and Nancy Ma, "Semiconductor crystal growth by the vertical Bridgman process with rotating magnetic fields," ASME Journal of Heat Transfer...2005. 15. Stephen J. LaPointe, Nancy Ma and Donald W. Mueller, Jr., " Growth of binary alloyed semiconductor crystals by the vertical Bridgman

New theoretical results for the Lehmann effect in cholesteric liquid crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brand, Helmut R.; Pleiner, Harald

1988-01-01

The Lehmann effect arising in a cholesteric liquid crystal drop when a temperature gradient is applied parallel to its helical axis is investigated theoretically using a local approach. A pseudoscalar quantity is introduced to allow for cross couplings which are absent in nematic liquid crystals, and the statics and dissipative dynamics are analyzed in detail. It is shown that the Lehmann effect is purely dynamic for the case of an external electric field and purely static for an external density gradient, but includes both dynamic and static coupling contributions for the cases of external temperature or concentration gradients.

New grafted ferrite particles/liquid crystal composite under magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manaila Maximean, D.

2018-04-01

A new colloidal composite formed by specially synthesized dimethylphenyl ferrite particles and a nematic liquid crystal (LC) is presented. By applying a small magnetic field during polarizing optical microscopy observations, it was found that the magnetic moment of the synthesized ferrite is perpendicular to the director of the LC. The optical transmission of laser light across the ferronematic was investigated under magnetic field. The critical magnetic field corresponding to the Freedericksz transition was obtained and discussed according to the Burylov and Raikher theory.

The Morse code effect: A crystal-crystal transformation observed in gel-grown lead (II) oxalate crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lisgarten, J. N.; Marks, J. A.

2018-05-01

This paper reports on an unusual crystal-crystal transformation phenomenon, which we have called the Morse Code Effect, based on the change in appearance of lead(II) oxalate crystals grown in agarose gels.

Solitons induced by alternating electric fields in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeżewski, W.; Kuczyński, W.; Hoffmann, J.

2011-04-01

Propagation of solitary waves activated in thin ferroelectric liquid crystal cells under external, sinusoidally alternating electric fields is investigated using the electro-optic technique. It is shown that solitons give contributions only to the loss component of the response spectrum, within rather narrow ranges of frequencies and in sufficiently strong fields. The limit frequency, at which the amplitude of the velocity of the solitary waves is greatest, is found to be related to material constants of liquid crystals. Measuring this threshold frequency provides the capability to determine the elastic constant of surface stabilized liquid crystalline materials in the bookshelf or chevron layer geometries.

Dynamically controlled crystallization method and apparatus and crystals obtained thereby

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arnowitz, Leonard (Inventor); Steinberg, Emanuel (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A method and apparatus for dynamically controlling the crystallization of molecules including a crystallization chamber (14) or chambers for holding molecules in a precipitant solution, one or more precipitant solution reservoirs (16, 18), communication passages (17, 19) respectively coupling the crystallization chamber(s) with each of the precipitant solution reservoirs, and transfer mechanisms (20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28) configured to respectively transfer precipitant solution between each of the precipitant solution reservoirs and the crystallization chamber(s). The transfer mechanisms are interlocked to maintain a constant volume of precipitant solution in the crystallization chamber(s). Precipitant solutions of different concentrations are transferred into and out of the crystallization chamber(s) to adjust the concentration of precipitant in the crystallization chamber(s) to achieve precise control of the crystallization process. The method and apparatus can be used effectively to grow crystals under reduced gravity conditions such as microgravity conditions of space, and under conditions of reduced or enhanced effective gravity as induced by a powerful magnetic field.

Dynamic control of mode field diameter and effective area by germanium doping of hexagonal photonic crystal fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyagi, Kazuya; Namihira, Yoshinori; Kasamatsu, Yuho; Hossain, Md. Anwar

2013-07-01

We demonstrate dynamic control of the effective area ( A eff) of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) in the range of 18.1-8.22 μm2 and the mode field diameter in the range of 4.78-3.42 μm. This control was realized by altering their structural properties and varying the germanium (Ge) doping rate, which changed the refractive index difference (Δ n Ge) between 1.0 and 3.0% relative to the refractive index of the silica cladding. This was achieved by adjusting the Ge doping rate in the core and changing the radius ( d core) of the doped region, i.e., by changing the equivalent refractive index, using numerical calculations. Numerical results were verified by comparison with experimental results for a fabricated Gedoped PCF obtained by far-field scanning based on the ITU-T Petermann II definition. The proposed approach will simultaneously decrease Aeff and achieves high light confinement and high nonlinearity in PCFs. It enables architectonics/controllability of highly nonlinear PCFs with passive optical devices in photonic networks and life science applications.

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect of a trigonal Te-rich Cr5Te8 single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Xiao-Hua; Ren, Wei-Jun; Zhang, Zhi-Dong

2018-01-01

A trigonal Te-rich Cr5Te8 single crystal was grown by the Te-flux method. The usual and rotating magnetocaloric effects have been investigated by measuring isothermal magnetization curves on both a single crystal and polycrystalline powder. The Curie temperature and the magnetic moment of trigonal Te-rich Cr5Te8 were determined to be 250 K and 2.03 μB/Cr, respectively. The difference from the usual magnetocaloric effect, the rotating magnetocaloric effect has saturation tendency when the applied field is above the anisotropy field. The temperature, where the rotating entropy change has its maximum, decreases with increasing the magnetic field. The temperature dependence of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy is the determining factor for the rotating magnetocaloric effect.

A sensor for vector electric field measurements through a nonlinear anisotropic optical crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbieri, Luca; Gondola, Marco; Potenza, Marco; Villa, Andrea; Malgesini, Roberto

2017-11-01

Electrical applications require the development of electric field sensors that can reproduce vector electric field waveforms with a very large spectral width ranging from 50 Hz to at least 70 MHz. This makes it possible to measure both the normal operation modes of electrical components and abnormal behaviors such as the corona emission and partial discharges. In this work, we aim to develop a fully dielectric sensor capable of measuring two components of the electric field using a wide class of optical crystals including anisotropic ones, whereas most of the efforts in this field have been devoted to isotropic crystals. We report the results of the measurements performed at 50 Hz and with a lightning impulse, to validate the sensor.

N-Type 2D Organic Single Crystals for High-Performance Organic Field-Effect Transistors and Near-Infrared Phototransistors.

PubMed

Wang, Cong; Ren, Xiaochen; Xu, Chunhui; Fu, Beibei; Wang, Ruihao; Zhang, Xiaotao; Li, Rongjin; Li, Hongxiang; Dong, Huanli; Zhen, Yonggang; Lei, Shengbin; Jiang, Lang; Hu, Wenping

2018-04-01

Organic field-effect transistors and near-infrared (NIR) organic phototransistors (OPTs) have attracted world's attention in many fields in the past decades. In general, the sensitivity, distinguishing the signal from noise, is the key parameter to evaluate the performance of NIR OPTs, which is decided by responsivity and dark current. 2D single crystal films of organic semiconductors (2DCOS) are promising functional materials due to their long-range order in spite of only few molecular layers. Herein, for the first time, air-stable 2DCOS of n-type organic semiconductors (a furan-thiophene quinoidal compound, TFT-CN) with strong absorbance around 830 nm, by the facile drop-casting method on the surface of water are successfully prepared. Almost millimeter-sized TFT-CN 2DCOS are obtained and their thickness is below 5 nm. A competitive field-effect electron mobility (1.36 cm 2 V -1 s -1 ) and high on/off ratio (up to 10 8 ) are obtained in air. Impressively, the ultrasensitive NIR phototransistors operating at the off-state exhibit a very low dark current of ≈0.3 pA and an ultrahigh detectivity (D*) exceeding 6 × 10 14 Jones because the devices can operate in full depletion at the off-state, superior to the majority of the reported organic-based NIR phototransistors. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Light scattering from liquid crystal director fluctuations in steady magnetic fields up to 25 tesla.

PubMed

Challa, Pavan K; Curtiss, O; Williams, J C; Twieg, R; Toth, J; McGill, S; Jákli, A; Gleeson, J T; Sprunt, S N

2012-07-01

We report on homodyne dynamic light scattering measurements of orientational fluctuation modes in both calamitic and bent-core nematic liquid crystals, carried out in the new split-helix resistive magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. The relaxation rate and inverse scattered intensity of director fluctuations exhibit a linear dependence on field-squared up to 25 tesla, which is consistent with strictly lowest order coupling of the tensor order parameter Q to field (Q(αβ)B(α)B(β)) in the nematic free energy. However, we also observe evidence of field dependence of certain nematic material parameters, an effect which may be expected from the mean field scaling of these quantities with the magnitude of Q and the predicted variation of Q with field.

A Cosserat crystal plasticity and phase field theory for grain boundary migration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ask, Anna; Forest, Samuel; Appolaire, Benoit; Ammar, Kais; Salman, Oguz Umut

2018-06-01

The microstructure evolution due to thermomechanical treatment of metals can largely be described by viscoplastic deformation, nucleation and grain growth. These processes take place over different length and time scales which present significant challenges when formulating simulation models. In particular, no overall unified field framework exists to model concurrent viscoplastic deformation and recrystallization and grain growth in metal polycrystals. In this work a thermodynamically consistent diffuse interface framework incorporating crystal viscoplasticity and grain boundary migration is elaborated. The Kobayashi-Warren-Carter (KWC) phase field model is extended to incorporate the full mechanical coupling with material and lattice rotations and evolution of dislocation densities. The Cosserat crystal plasticity theory is shown to be the appropriate framework to formulate the coupling between phase field and mechanics with proper distinction between bulk and grain boundary behaviour.

Electronic structure of ytterbium-implanted GaN at ambient and high pressure: experimental and crystal field studies.

PubMed

Kaminska, A; Ma, C-G; Brik, M G; Kozanecki, A; Boćkowski, M; Alves, E; Suchocki, A

2012-03-07

The results of high-pressure low-temperature optical measurements in a diamond-anvil cell of bulk gallium nitride crystals implanted with ytterbium are reported in combination with crystal field calculations of the Yb(3+) energy levels. Crystal field analysis of splitting of the (2)F(7/2) and (2)F(5/2) states has been performed, with the aim of assigning all features of the experimental luminescence spectra. A thorough analysis of the pressure behavior of the Yb(3+) luminescence lines in GaN allowed the determination of the ambient-pressure positions and pressure dependence of the Yb(3+) energy levels in the trigonal crystal field as well as the pressure-induced changes of the spin-orbit coupling coefficient.

Large field-induced-strain at high temperature in ternary ferroelectric crystals

PubMed Central

Wang, Yaojin; Chen, Lijun; Yuan, Guoliang; Luo, Haosu; Li, Jiefang; Viehland, D.

2016-01-01

The new generation of ternary Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ferroelectric single crystals have potential applications in high power devices due to their surperior operational stability relative to the binary system. In this work, a reversible, large electric field induced strain of over 0.9% at room temperature, and in particular over 0.6% above 380 K was obtained. The polarization rotation path and the phase transition sequence of different compositions in these ternary systems have been determined with increasing electric field applied along [001] direction based on x-ray diffraction data. Thereafter, composition dependence of field-temperature phase diagrams were constructed, which provide compositional and thermal prospectus for the electromechanical properties. It was found the structural origin of the large stain, especially at higher temperature is the lattice parameters modulated by dual independent variables in composition of these ternary solid solution crystals. PMID:27734908

Phase-field crystal modeling of heteroepitaxy and exotic modes of crystal nucleation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podmaniczky, Frigyes; Tóth, Gyula I.; Tegze, György; Pusztai, Tamás; Gránásy, László

2017-01-01

We review recent advances made in modeling heteroepitaxy, two-step nucleation, and nucleation at the growth front within the framework of a simple dynamical density functional theory, the Phase-Field Crystal (PFC) model. The crystalline substrate is represented by spatially confined periodic potentials. We investigate the misfit dependence of the critical thickness in the StranskiKrastanov growth mode in isothermal studies. Apparently, the simulation results for stress release via the misfit dislocations fit better to the PeopleBean model than to the one by Matthews and Blakeslee. Next, we investigate structural aspects of two-step crystal nucleation at high undercoolings, where an amorphous precursor forms in the first stage. Finally, we present results for the formation of new grains at the solid-liquid interface at high supersaturations/supercoolings, a phenomenon termed Growth Front Nucleation (GFN). Results obtained with diffusive dynamics (applicable to colloids) and with a hydrodynamic extension of the PFC theory (HPFC, developed for simple liquids) will be compared. The HPFC simulations indicate two possible mechanisms for GFN.

Phase-field-crystal model for magnetocrystalline interactions in isotropic ferromagnetic solids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faghihi, Niloufar; Provatas, Nikolas; Elder, K. R.; Grant, Martin; Karttunen, Mikko

2013-09-01

An isotropic magnetoelastic phase-field-crystal model to study the relation between morphological structure and magnetic properties of pure ferromagnetic solids is introduced. Analytic calculations in two dimensions were used to determine the phase diagram and obtain the relationship between elastic strains and magnetization. Time-dependent numerical simulations in two dimensions were used to demonstrate the effect of grain boundaries on the formation of magnetic domains. It was shown that the grain boundaries act as nucleating sites for domains of reverse magnetization. Finally, we derive a relation for coercivity versus grain misorientation in the isotropic limit.

A coupled ductile fracture phase-field model for crystal plasticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez Padilla, Carlos Alberto; Markert, Bernd

2017-07-01

Nowadays crack initiation and evolution play a key role in the design of mechanical components. In the past few decades, several numerical approaches have been developed with the objective to predict these phenomena. The objective of this work is to present a simplified, nonetheless representative phenomenological model to predict the crack evolution of ductile fracture in single crystals. The proposed numerical approach is carried out by merging a conventional elasto-plastic crystal plasticity model and a phase-field model modified to predict ductile fracture. A two-dimensional initial boundary value problem of ductile fracture is introduced considering a single-crystal setup and Nickel-base superalloy material properties. The model is implemented into the finite element context subjected to a quasi-static uniaxial tension test. The results are then qualitatively analyzed and briefly compared to current benchmark results in the literature.

Nanomechanical control of optical field and quality factor in photonic crystal structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cotrufo, Michele; Midolo, Leonardo; Zobenica, Žarko; Petruzzella, Maurangelo; van Otten, Frank W. M.; Fiore, Andrea

2018-03-01

Actively controlling the properties of localized optical modes is crucial for cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments. While several methods to tune the optical frequency have been demonstrated, the possibility of controlling the shape of the modes has scarcely been investigated. Yet an active manipulation of the mode pattern would allow direct control of the mode volume and the quality factor and therefore of the radiative processes. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a nano-optoelectromechanical device in which a mechanical displacement affects the spatial pattern of the electromagnetic field. The device is based on a double-membrane photonic crystal waveguide which, upon bending, creates a spatial modulation of the effective refractive index, resulting in an effective potential well or antiwell for the optical modes. The change in the field pattern drastically affects the optical losses: large modulations of the quality factors and dissipative coupling rates larger than 1 GHz/nm are predicted by calculations and confirmed by experiments. This concept opens new avenues in solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics in which the field, instead of the frequency, is coupled to the mechanical motion.

Effects of impurities on crystal growth in fructose crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Y. D.; Shiau, L. D.; Berglund, K. A.

1989-10-01

The influence of impurities on the crystallization of anhydrous fructose from aqueous solution was studied. The growth kinetics of fructose crystals in the fructose-water-glucose and fructose-water-difructose dianhydrides systems were investigated using photomicroscopic contact nucleation techniques. Glucose is the major impurity likely to be present in fructose syrup formed during corn wet milling, while several difructose dianhydrides are formed in situ under crystallization conditions and have been proposed as a cause in the decrease of overall yields. Both sets of impurities were found to cause inhibition of crystal growth, but the mechanisms responsible in each case are different. It was found that the presence of glucose increases the solubility of fructose in water and thus lowers the supersaturation of the solution. This is probably the main effect responsible for the decrease of crystal growth. Since the molecular structures of difructose dianhydrides are similar to that of fructose, they are probably "tailor-made" impurities. The decrease of crystal growth is probably caused by the incorporation of these impurities into or adsorption to the crystal surface which would accept fructose molecules in the orientation that existed in the difructose dianhydride.

Coupling crystal plasticity and phase-field damage to simulate β-HMX-based polymer-bonded explosive under shock load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grilli, Nicolo; Dandekar, Akshay; Koslowski, Marisol

2017-06-01

The development of high explosive materials requires constitutive models that are able to predict the influence of microstructure and loading conditions on shock sensitivity. In this work a model at the continuum-scale for the polymer-bonded explosive constituted of β-HMX particles embedded in a Sylgard matrix is developed. It includes a Murnaghan equation of state, a crystal plasticity model, based on power-law slip rate and hardening, and a phase field damage model based on crack regularization. The temperature increase due to chemical reactions is introduced by a heat source term, which is validated using results from reactive molecular dynamics simulations. An initial damage field representing pre-existing voids and cracks is used in the simulations to understand the effect of these inhomogeneities on the damage propagation and shock sensitivity. We show the predictions of the crystal plasticity model and the effect of the HMX crystal orientation on the shock initiation and on the dissipated plastic work and damage propagation. The simulation results are validated with ultra-fast dynamic transmission electron microscopy experiments and x-ray experiments carried out at Purdue University. Membership Pending.

Magnetic field effects on ultrafast lattice compression dynamics of Si(111) crystal when excited by linearly-polarized femtosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatanaka, Koji; Odaka, Hideho; Ono, Kimitoshi; Fukumura, Hiroshi

2007-03-01

Time-resolved X-ray diffraction measurements of Si (111) single crystal are performed when excited by linearly-polarized femtosecond laser pulses (780 nm, 260 fs, negatively-chirped, 1 kHz) under a magnetic field (0.47 T). Laser fluence on the sample surface is 40 mJ/cm^2, which is enough lower than the ablation threshold at 200 mJ/cm^2. Probing X-ray pulses of iron characteristic X-ray lines at 0.193604 and 0.193998 nm are generated by focusing femtosecond laser pulses onto audio-cassette tapes in air. Linearly-polarized femtosecond laser pulse irradiation onto Si(111) crystal surface induces transient lattice compression in the picosecond time range, which is confirmed by transient angle shift of X-ray diffraction to higher angles. Little difference of compression dynamics is observed when the laser polarization is changed from p to s-pol. without a magnetic field. On the other hand, under a magnetic field, the lattice compression dynamics changes when the laser is p-polarized which is vertical to the magnetic field vector. These results may be assigned to photo-carrier formation and energy-band distortion.

Crystal-melt interface mobility in bcc Fe: Linking molecular dynamics to phase-field and phase-field crystal modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerdane, M.; Berghoff, M.

2018-04-01

By combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with phase-field (PF) and phase-field crystal (PFC) modeling we study collision-controlled growth kinetics from the melt for pure Fe. The MD/PF comparison shows, on the one hand, that the PF model can be properly designed to reproduce quantitatively different aspects of the growth kinetics and anisotropy of planar and curved solid-liquid interfaces. On the other hand, this comparison demonstrates the ability of classical MD simulations to predict morphology and dynamics of moving curved interfaces up to a length scale of about 0.15 μ m . After mapping the MD model to the PF one, the latter permits to analyze the separate contribution of different anisotropies to the interface morphology. The MD/PFC agreement regarding the growth anisotropy and morphology extends the trend already observed for the here used PFC model in describing structural and elastic properties of bcc Fe.

X-ray plane-wave diffraction effects in a crystal with third-order nonlinearity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Balyan, M. K., E-mail: mbalyan@ysu.am

The two-wave dynamical diffraction in the Laue geometry has been theoretically considered for a plane X-ray wave in a crystal with a third-order nonlinear response to the external field. An analytical solution to the problem stated is found for certain diffraction conditions. A nonlinear pendulum effect is analyzed. The nonlinear extinction length is found to depend on the incident-wave intensity. A pendulum effect of a new type is revealed: the intensities of the transmitted and diffracted waves periodically depend on the incidentwave intensity at a fixed crystal thickness. The rocking curves and Borrmann nonlinear effect are numerically calculated.

Field alignment of bent-core smectic liquid crystals for analog optical phase modulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Y.; Goodhew, L.; Shao, R.; Moran, M.; Korblova, E.; Walba, D. M.; Clark, N. A.; Maclennan, J. E.; Rudquist, P.

2015-05-01

A general method for aligning bent-core smectic liquid crystal materials is described. Alternating electric fields between interdigitated electrodes patterned on one cell surface create torques on the liquid crystal that result in uniform "bookshelf" orientation of the smectic layers. The aligned cell can then be driven in the conventional way by applying an electric field between all of the stripe electrodes connected together and a monolithic electrode on the other cell surface. Fast, analog, optical phase-only modulation is demonstrated in a device containing a polar, bent-core SmAPF material aligned using this technique.

Phase field modeling of rapid crystallization in the phase-change material AIST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabatabaei, Fatemeh; Boussinot, Guillaume; Spatschek, Robert; Brener, Efim A.; Apel, Markus

2017-07-01

We carry out phase field modeling as a continuum simulation technique in order to study rapid crystallization processes in the phase-change material AIST (Ag4In3Sb67Te26). In particular, we simulate the spatio-temporal evolution of the crystallization of a molten area of the phase-change material embedded in a layer stack. The simulation model is adapted to the experimental conditions used for recent measurements of crystallization rates by a laser pulse technique. Simulations are performed for substrate temperatures close to the melting temperature of AIST down to low temperatures when an amorphous state is involved. The design of the phase field model using the thin interface limit allows us to retrieve the two limiting regimes of interface controlled (low temperatures) and thermal transport controlled (high temperatures) dynamics. Our simulations show that, generically, the crystallization velocity presents a maximum in the intermediate regime where both the interface mobility and the thermal transport, through the molten area as well as through the layer stack, are important. Simulations reveal the complex interplay of all different contributions. This suggests that the maximum switching velocity depends not only on material properties but also on the precise design of the thin film structure into which the phase-change material is embedded.

High-field Transport in Low Symmetry β-Ga2O3 Crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Krishnendu; Singisetti, Uttam

High-field carrier transport plays an important role in many disciplines of electronics. Conventional transport theories work well on high-symmetry materials but lacks insight as the crystal symmetry goes down. Newly emerging materials, many of which possess low symmetry, demand more rigorous treatment of charge transport. We will present a comprehensive study of high-field transport using ab initio electron-phonon interaction (EPI) elements in a full-band Monte Carlo (FBMC) algorithm. We use monoclinic β-Ga2O3 as a benchmark low-symmetry material which is also an emerging wide-bandgap semiconductor. β-Ga2O3 has a C2m space group and a 10 atom primitive cell. In this work the EPIs are calculated under density-functional perturbation theory framework. We will focus on the computational challenges arising from many phonon modes and low crystal symmetry. Significant insights will be presented on the details of energy relaxation by the hot electrons mediated by different phonon modes. We will also show the velocity-field curves of electrons in different crystal directions. The authors acknowledge the support from the National Science Foundation Grant (ECCS 1607833). The authors also acknowledge the computing support provided by the Center for Computational Research at the University at Buffalo.

Field-induced refractive index variation in the dark conglomerate phase for polarization-independent switchable liquid crystal lenses.

PubMed

Milton, H E; Nagaraj, M; Kaur, S; Jones, J C; Morgan, P B; Gleeson, H F

2014-11-01

Liquid crystal lenses are an emerging technology that can provide variable focal power in response to applied voltage. Many designs for liquid-crystal-based lenses are polarization dependent, so that 50% of light is not focused as required, making polarization-independent technologies very attractive. Recently, the dark conglomerate (DC) phase, which is an optically isotropic liquid crystalline state, has been shown to exhibit a large change in refractive index in response to an applied electric field (Δn=0.04). This paper describes computational modeling of the electrostatic solutions for two different types of 100 μm diameter liquid crystal lenses, which include the DC phase, demonstrating that it shows great potential for efficient isotropic optical switching in lenses. A feature of the field dependence of the refractive index change in the DC phase is that it is approximately linear in a certain range, leading to the prediction of excellent optical quality for driving fields in this regime. Interestingly, a simulated microlens is shown to exhibit two modes of operation: a positive lens based upon a uniform bulk change in refractive index at high voltages, and a negative lens resulting from the induction of a gradient index effect at intermediate voltages.

Magnetic field controlled single crystal growth and surface modification of titanium alloys exposed for biocompatibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermann, Regina; Uhlemann, Margitta; Wendrock, Horst; Gerbeth, Gunter; Büchner, Bernd

2011-03-01

The aim of this work is growth and characterisation of Ti55Nb45 (wt%) single crystals by floating-zone single crystal growth of intermetallic compounds using two-phase radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic heating. Thereby, the process and, in particular, the flow field in the molten zone is influenced by additional magnetic fields. The growth of massive intermetallic single crystals is very often unsuccessful due to an unfavourable solid-liquid interface geometry enclosing concave fringes. It is generally known that the crystallization process stability is enhanced if the crystallization interface is convex. For this, a tailored magnetic two-phase stirrer system has been developed, which enables a controlled influence on the melt ranging from intensive inwards to outwards flows. Since Ti is favourably light, strong and biocompatible, it is one of the few materials that naturally match the requirements for implantation in the human body. Therefore, the magnetic system was applied to crystal growth of Ti alloys. The grown crystals were oriented and cut to cubes with the desired crystallographic orientations [1 0 0] and [1 0 1] normally on a plane. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique was applied to clearly determine crystal orientation and to localize grain boundaries. The formation of oxidic nanotubes on Ti surfaces in dependence of the grain orientation was investigated, performed electrochemically by anodic oxidation from fluoride containing electrolyte.

Multistable orientation in a nematic liquid crystal cell induced by external field and interfacial interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ong, Hiap Liew; Meyer, Robert B.; Hurd, Alan J.

1984-04-01

The effects of a short-range, arbitrary strength interfacial potential on the magnetic field, electric field, and optical field induced Freedericksz transition in a nematic liquid crystal cell are examined and the exact solution is obtained. By generalizing the criterion for the existence of a first-order optical field induced Freedericksz transition that was obtained previously [H. L. Ong, Phys. Rev. A 28, 2393 (1983)], the general criterion for the transition to be first order is obtained. Based on the existing experimental results, the possibility of surface induced first-order transitions is discussed and three simple empirical approaches are suggested for observing multistable orientation. The early results on the magnetic and electric fields induced Freedericksz transition and the inadequacy of the usual experimental observation methods (phase shift and capacitance measurements) are also discussed.

A portable extruder for in situ wide angle x-ray scattering study on multi-dimensional flow field induced crystallization of polymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Jiarui; Wang, Zhen; Tang, Xiaoliang; Tian, Fucheng; Ye, Ke; Li, Liangbin

2018-02-01

We have designed and constructed a portable extruder with a rotatable mandrel, which can be employed to study the multi-dimensional flow field (MDFF) induced crystallization of polymer combined with in situ wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS). With the piston driving the melt sample to flow along the channel, a direct axial shear field is achieved. At the same time, the central mandrel keeps rotating under a stable speed, providing the sample with an additional circumferential shear field. By presetting different proportions of the two shear fields, namely, axial and circumferential, various flow states of the sample can be obtained, which makes it capable of investigating the effects of MDFF on polymer crystallization. We have performed an in situ WAXS experiment of MDFF induced crystallization of isotactic polypropylene based on the portable extruder at the beam line BL16B in Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The rheological and structural information is collected simultaneously, which manifests the viability of the portable extruder on regulating MDFF and can provide guidance for polymer processing.

Two Beam Energy Exchange in Hybrid Liquid Crystal Cells with Photorefractive Field Controlled Boundary Conditions (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-12

AFRL-RX-WP-JA-2017-0209 TWO BEAM ENERGY EXCHANGE IN HYBRID LIQUID CRYSTAL CELLS WITH PHOTOREFRACTIVE FIELD CONTROLLED BOUNDARY...estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the... CRYSTAL CELLS WITH PHOTOREFRACTIVE FIELD CONTROLLED BOUNDARY CONDITIONS (POSTPRINT) 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER FA8650-16-D-5402-0001 5b. GRANT

Influence of initial seed distribution on the pattern formation of the phase field crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starodumov, Ilya; Galenko, Peter; Kropotin, Nikolai; Alexandrov, Dmitri V.

2017-11-01

The process of crystal growth can be expressed as a transition of atomic structure to a finally stable state or to a metastable state. In the Phase Field Crystal Model (PFC-model) these states are described by regular distributions of the atomic density. Getting the system into any metastable condition may be caused by the peculiarities of the computational domain, initial and boundary conditions. However, an important factor in the formation of the crystal structure can be the initial disturbance. In the report we show how different types of initial disturbance can change the finally stable state of crystal structure in equilibrium.

Effect of an electric field on the orientation of a liquid crystal in a cell with a nonuniform director distribution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aksenova, E. V., E-mail: e.aksenova@spbu.ru; Karetnikov, A. A.; Karetnikov, N. A.

2016-05-15

The electric field-induced reorientation of a nematic liquid crystal in cells with a planar helicoidal or a homeoplanar structure of a director field is studied theoretically and experimentally. The dependences of the capacitances of these systems on the voltage in an applied electric field below and above the Fréedericksz threshold are experimentally obtained and numerically calculated. The calculations use the director distribution in volume that is obtained by direct minimization of free energy at various voltages. The inhomogeneity of the electric field inside a cell is taken into account. The calculation results are shown to agree with the experimental data.

Liquid crystal-on-organic field-effect transistor sensory devices for perceptive sensing of ultralow intensity gas flow touch.

PubMed

Seo, Jooyeok; Park, Soohyeong; Nam, Sungho; Kim, Hwajeong; Kim, Youngkyoo

2013-01-01

We demonstrate liquid crystal-on-organic field-effect transistor (LC-on-OFET) sensory devices that can perceptively sense ultralow level gas flows. The LC-on-OFET devices were fabricated by mounting LC molecules (4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl - 5CB) on the polymer channel layer of OFET. Results showed that the presence of LC molecules on the channel layer resulted in enhanced drain currents due to a strong dipole effect of LC molecules. Upon applying low intensity nitrogen gas flows, the drain current was sensitively increased depending on the intensity and time of nitrogen flows. The present LC-on-OFET devices could detect extremely low level nitrogen flows (0.7 sccm-11 μl/s), which could not be felt by human skins, thanks to a synergy effect between collective behavior of LC molecules and charge-sensitive channel layer of OFET. The similar sensation was also achieved using the LC-on-OFET devices with a polymer film skin, suggesting viable practical applications of the present LC-on-OFET sensory devices.

Actual and Idealized Crystal Field Parameterizations for the Uranium Ions in UF 4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajek, Z.; Mulak, J.; Krupa, J. C.

1993-12-01

The crystal field parameters for the actual coordination symmetries of the uranium ions in UF 4, C2 and C1, and for their idealizations to D2, C2 v , D4, D4 d , and the Archimedean antiprism point symmetries are given. They have been calculated by means of both the perturbative ab initio model and the angular overlap model and are referenced to the recent results fitted by Carnall's group. The equivalency of some different sets of parameters has been verified with the standardization procedure. The adequacy of several idealized approaches has been tested by comparison of the corresponding splitting patterns of the 3H 4 ground state. Our results support the parameterization given by Carnall. Furthermore, the parameterization of the crystal field potential and the splitting diagram for the symmetryless uranium ion U( C1) are given. Having at our disposal the crystal field splittings for the two kinds of uranium ions in UF 4, U( C2) and U( C1), we calculate the model plots of the paramagnetic susceptibility χ( T) and the magnetic entropy associated with the Schottky anomaly Δ S( T) for UF 4.

Flexoelectric effect in an in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal cell for low-power consumption display devices.

PubMed

Kim, Min Su; Bos, Philip J; Kim, Dong-Woo; Yang, Deng-Ke; Lee, Joong Hee; Lee, Seung Hee

2016-10-12

Technology of displaying static images in portable displays, advertising panels and price tags pursues significant reduction in power consumption and in product cost. Driving at a low-frequency electric field in fringe-field switching (FFS) mode can be one of the efficient ways to save powers of the recent portable devices, but a serious drop of image-quality, so-called image-flickering, has been found in terms of the coupling of elastic deformation to not only quadratic dielectric effect but linear flexoelectric effect. Despite of the urgent requirement of solving the issue, understanding of such a phenomenon is yet vague. Here, we thoroughly analyze and firstly report the flexoelectric effect in in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal cell. The effect takes place on the area above electrodes due to splay and bend deformations of nematic liquid crystal along oblique electric fields, so that the obvious spatial shift of the optical transmittance is experimentally observed and is clearly demonstrated based on the relation between direction of flexoelectric polarization and electric field polarity. In addition, we report that the IPS mode has inherent characteristics to solve the image-flickering issue in the low-power consumption display in terms of the physical property of liquid crystal material and the electrode structure.

Flexoelectric effect in an in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal cell for low-power consumption display devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Min Su; Bos, Philip J.; Kim, Dong-Woo; Yang, Deng-Ke; Lee, Joong Hee; Lee, Seung Hee

2016-10-01

Technology of displaying static images in portable displays, advertising panels and price tags pursues significant reduction in power consumption and in product cost. Driving at a low-frequency electric field in fringe-field switching (FFS) mode can be one of the efficient ways to save powers of the recent portable devices, but a serious drop of image-quality, so-called image-flickering, has been found in terms of the coupling of elastic deformation to not only quadratic dielectric effect but linear flexoelectric effect. Despite of the urgent requirement of solving the issue, understanding of such a phenomenon is yet vague. Here, we thoroughly analyze and firstly report the flexoelectric effect in in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal cell. The effect takes place on the area above electrodes due to splay and bend deformations of nematic liquid crystal along oblique electric fields, so that the obvious spatial shift of the optical transmittance is experimentally observed and is clearly demonstrated based on the relation between direction of flexoelectric polarization and electric field polarity. In addition, we report that the IPS mode has inherent characteristics to solve the image-flickering issue in the low-power consumption display in terms of the physical property of liquid crystal material and the electrode structure.

The diagram of phase-field crystal structures: an influence of model parameters in a two-mode approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ankudinov, V.; Galenko, P. K.

2017-04-01

Effect of phase-field crystal model (PFC-model) parameters on the structure diagram is analyzed. The PFC-model is taken in a two-mode approximation and the construction of structure diagram follows from the free energy minimization and Maxwell thermodynamic rule. The diagram of structure’s coexistence for three dimensional crystal structures [Body-Centered-Cubic (BCC), Face-Centered-Cubic (FCC) and homogeneous structures] are constructed. An influence of the model parameters, including the stability parameters, are discussed. A question about the structure diagram construction using the two-mode PFC-model with the application to real materials is established.

Magnetic field controlled floating-zone single crystal growth of intermetallic compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermann, R.; Gerbeth, G.; Priede, J.

2013-03-01

Radio-frequency (RF) floating zone single crystal growth is an important technique for the preparation of single bulk crystals. The advantage of the floating-zone method is the crucible-free growth of single crystals of reactive materials with high melting points. The strong heat diffusion on the surface, as well as the melt convection in the molten zone due to induction heating, often leads to an undesired solid-liquid interface geometry with a concave (towards the solid phase) outer rim. These concave parts aggravate the single crystal growth over the full cross-section. A two-phase stirrer was developed at IFW Dresden in order to avoid the problems connected with these concave parts. It acts as a magnetic field pump and changes the typical double vortex structure to a single roll structure, thus pushing hot melt into the regions where the concave parts may arise. The current in the secondary coil is induced by the primary coil, and the capacitor and the resistance of the secondary circuit are adjusted to get a stable 90 degree phase-shift between the coil currents. Single crystal growth of industrial relevant RuAl and TiAl intermetallic compounds was performed based on the material parameters and using the adjusted two-phase stirrer. Very recently, the magnetic system was applied to the crystal growth of biocompatible TiNb alloys and antiferromagnetic Heusler MnSi compounds.

Effects of electric field on thermodynamics and ordering of a dipolar liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johari, G. P.

2016-10-01

We propose that an electric field's role in changing the structural disorder may be investigated by comparing the field-induced entropy decrease, ΔES, against the pressure-induced and cooling-induced entropy decreases, ΔpS and ΔTS, respectively, for the same increase in the dielectric α-relaxation time, Δτα, or in the viscosity. If these three quantities are found to be the same, the change in the number of microstates, Δln Ω = ΔS/R, would be the same whether there is an electric field-induced dipole vector alignment, or not. The available data [S. Samanta and R. Richert, J. Chem. Phys. 142, 044504 (2015)] show that ΔES ≅ ΔpS, and ΔES ≅ ΔTS. We further argue that in the case of conformational disorder without hydrodynamics, as for a flexible molecule's orientationally disordered or plastic crystal, ΔTS would be more negative than ΔES for the same increase in Δτα. For cyclo-octanol plastic crystal, whose octyl-ring would lose some of its dielectrically inactive conformational degrees of freedom on cooling, ΔTS is five-times ΔES. Hence the entropy of such crystals may not be related to their τα, an aspect relevant to certain biopolymer crystals. We also mention other effects of E. The findings are relevant to a number of recent studies on the analysis of the effect of electric field on a liquid's properties. The method can be used to study the role of other entropy-altering variables in liquid crystals and ferromagnetic liquids.

Effect of magnetic field on the phase transition in dusty plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaiswal, Surabhi; Thomas, Edward; Mukherjee, Rupak

2017-10-01

The formation of self-consistent crystalline structure is a well-known phenomenon in complex plasmas. In most experiments the pressure and rf power are the main controlling parameter in determining the phase of the system. We have studied the effect of externally applied magnetic field on the configuration of plasma crystals, suspended in the sheath of a radio-frequency discharge using the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX) device. Experiments are performed at a fixed pressure and rf power where a crystalline structure formed within the confining ring, but ramping the magnetic field up to 1.28 T. We report on the breakdown of the crystalline structure with increasing magnetic field. The magnetic field affects the dynamics of the plasma particles and first leads to a rotation of the crystal. At higher magnetic field, there is a radial variation (shear) in the angular velocity of the moving particles which we believe leads to the melting of the crystal. This melting is confirmed by evaluating the variation of the pair correlation function as a function of magnetic field. This work was supported by the US Dept. of Energy, DE - SC0010485.

Convection effects in protein crystal growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, Glyn O.

1988-01-01

Protein crystals for X-ray diffraction study are usually grown resting on the bottom of a hanging drop of a saturated protein solution, with slow evaporation to the air in a small enclosed cell. The evaporation rate is controlled by hanging the drop above a reservoir of water, with its saturation vapor pressure decreased by a low concentration of a passive solute. The drop has a lower solute concentration, and its volume shrinks by evaporation until the molecular concentrations match. Protein crystals can also be grown from a seed crystal suspended or supported in the interior of a supersaturated solution. The main analysis of this report concerns this case because it is less complicated than hanging-drop growth. Convection effects have been suggested as the reason for the apparent cessation of growth at a certain rather small crystal size. It seeems that as the crystal grows, the number of dislocations increases to a point where further growth is hindered. Growth in the microgravity environment of an orbiting space vehicle has been proposed as a method for obtaining larger crystals. Experimental observations of convection effects during the growth of protein crystals have been reported.

Bridgman Growth of Germanium Crystals in a Rotating Magnetic Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volz, M. P.; Szofran, F. R.; Cobb, S. D.; Schweizer, M.; Walker, J. S.

2005-01-01

A series of (100)-oriented gallium-doped germanium crystals has been grown by the vertical Bridgman method and under the influence of a rotating magnetic field (RMF). Time-dependent flow instabilities occur when the critical magnetic Taylor number (Tm(sup c)) is exceeded, and this can be observed by noting the appearance of striations in the grown crystals. Tm(sup c) decreases as the aspect ratio of the melt increases, and approaches the theoretical limit expected for an infinite cylinder. Intentional interface demarcations are introduced by pulsing the RMF on and off The RMF has a marked affect on the interface shape, changing it from concave to nearly flat as the RMF strength is increased.

Space-time crystals of trapped ions.

PubMed

Li, Tongcang; Gong, Zhe-Xuan; Yin, Zhang-Qi; Quan, H T; Yin, Xiaobo; Zhang, Peng; Duan, L-M; Zhang, Xiang

2012-10-19

Spontaneous symmetry breaking can lead to the formation of time crystals, as well as spatial crystals. Here we propose a space-time crystal of trapped ions and a method to realize it experimentally by confining ions in a ring-shaped trapping potential with a static magnetic field. The ions spontaneously form a spatial ring crystal due to Coulomb repulsion. This ion crystal can rotate persistently at the lowest quantum energy state in magnetic fields with fractional fluxes. The persistent rotation of trapped ions produces the temporal order, leading to the formation of a space-time crystal. We show that these space-time crystals are robust for direct experimental observation. We also study the effects of finite temperatures on the persistent rotation. The proposed space-time crystals of trapped ions provide a new dimension for exploring many-body physics and emerging properties of matter.

Effect of magnetic field on the phase transition in a dusty plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaiswal, S.; Hall, T.; LeBlanc, S.; Mukherjee, R.; Thomas, E.

2017-11-01

The formation of a self-consistent crystalline structure is a well-known phenomenon in complex plasmas. In most experiments, the pressure and rf power are the main controlling parameters in determining the phase of the system. We have studied the effect of the externally applied magnetic field on the configuration of plasma crystals, suspended in the sheath of a radio-frequency discharge using the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment device. Experiments are performed at a fixed pressure and rf power where a crystalline structure is formed within a confining ring. The magnetic field is then increased from 0 to 1.28 T. We report on the breakdown of the crystalline structure with the increasing magnetic field. The magnetic field affects the dynamics of the plasma particles and first leads to a rotation of the crystal. At a higher magnetic field, there is a radial variation (shear) in the angular velocity of the moving particles which we believe to lead to the melting of the crystal. This melting is confirmed by evaluating the variation of the pair correlation function as a function of magnetic field.

Dependence of image flicker on dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystal in a fringe field switching liquid crystal cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Seung-Won; Baek, Jong-Min; Kim, Jung-Wook; Yoon, Tae-Hoon

2016-09-01

Two types of image flicker, which are caused by the flexoelectric effect of liquid crystals (LCs), are observed when a fringe-field switching (FFS) LC cell is driven by a low frequency electric field. Static image flicker, observed because of the transmittance difference between neighboring frames, has been reported previously. On the other hand, research on dynamic image flicker has been minimal until now. Dynamic image flicker is noticeable because of the brief transmittance drop when the sign of the applied voltage is reversed. We investigated the dependence of the image flicker in an FFS LC cell on dielectric anisotropy of the LCs in terms of both the static and dynamic flicker. Experimental results show that small dielectric anisotropy of the LC can help suppress not only the static but also dynamic flicker for positive LCs. We found that both the static and dynamic flicker in negative LCs is less evident than in positive LCs.

Coherent infrared emission from myoglobin crystals: An electric field measurement

PubMed Central

Groot, Marie-Louise; Vos, Marten H.; Schlichting, Ilme; van Mourik, Frank; Joffre, Manuel; Lambry, Jean-Christophe; Martin, Jean-Louis

2002-01-01

We introduce coherent infrared emission interferometry as a χ(2) vibrational spectroscopy technique and apply it to studying the initial dynamics upon photoactivation of myoglobin (Mb). By impulsive excitation (using 11-fs pulses) of a Mb crystal, vibrations that couple to the optical excitation are set in motion coherently. Because of the order in the crystal lattice the coherent oscillations of the different proteins in the crystal that are associated with charge motions give rise to a macroscopic burst of directional multi-teraHertz radiation. This radiation can be detected in a phase-sensitive way by heterodyning with a broad-band reference field. In this way both amplitude and phase of the different vibrations can be obtained. We detected radiation in the 1,000–1,500 cm−1 frequency region, which contains modes sensitive to the structure of the heme macrocycle, as well as peripheral protein modes. Both in carbonmonoxy-Mb and aquomet-Mb we observed emission from six modes, which were assigned to heme vibrations. The phase factors of the modes contributing to the protein electric field show a remarkable consistency, taking on values that indicate that the dipoles are created “emitting” at t = 0, as one would expect for impulsively activated modes. The few deviations from this behavior in Mb-CO we propose are the result of these modes being sensitive to the photodissociation process and severely disrupted by it. PMID:11818575

Evaluation of the exchange interaction and crystal fields in a prototype Dy2 SMM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qing; Sarachik, Myriam; Baker, Michael; Chen, Yizhang; Kent, Andrew; Pineda, Eufemio; McInnes, Eric

In order to gain an understanding of the INS and magnetization data obtained for Dy2, the simplest member of a newly synthesized family of dysprosium-based molecular magnets, we report on calculations of the magnetic behavior of a Dy2 cluster with the formula [hqH2][Dy2(hq)4(NO3)3].MeOH. The molecular complex contains one high symmetry Dy(III) ion and one low symmetry Dy(III) ion. Our calculations suggest that exchange coupling between the two ions controls the behavior of the magnetization at low temperature, while the crystal field of the low symmetry Dy(III) ion controls the behavior at higher temperature. A point charge electrostatic model, based on crystallographic coordinates, provides a starting point for the determination of the crystal field. Parameters in these calculations are adjusted to provide best fits to inelastic neutron scattering data (INS) and low temperature magnetometry: the INS measurements access crystal field energies and low temperature magnetization probes the Dy-Dy exchange interaction. Work supported by ARO W911NF-13-1-1025 (CCNY) and NSF-DMR-1309202 (NYU).

Temperature dependence of Fe/++/ crystal field spectra - Implications to mineralogical mapping of planetary surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sung, C.-M.; Singer, R. B.; Parkin, K. M.; Burns, R. G.; Osborne, M.

1977-01-01

Results are reported of Fe(++) crystal field spectral measurements for olivines and pyroxenes up to 400 C. The results are correlated with crystal structure data at elevated temperatures, and the validity of remote-sensed identifications of minerals on hot surfaces of the moon and Mercury is assessed. Two techniques were used to obtain spectra of minerals at elevated temperatures using a spectrophotometer. One employed a diamond cell assembly or a specially designed sample holder to measure polarized absorption spectra of heated single crystals. For the other technique, a sample holder was designed to attach to a diffuse reflectance accessory to produce reflectance spectra of heated powdered samples. Polarized absorption spectra of forsterite at 20-400 C are shown in a graph. Other graphs show the temperature dependence of Fe(++) crystal field bands in olivines, the diffuse reflectance spectra of olivine at 40-400 C, the polarization absorption spectra of orthopyroxene at 30-400 C, the diffuse reflectance spectra of pigeonite at 40-400 C, and unpolarized absorption spectra of lunar pyroxene from Apollo 15 rock 15058.

Phase field model of the nanoscale evolution during the explosive crystallization phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lombardo, S. F.; Boninelli, S.; Cristiano, F.; Deretzis, I.; Grimaldi, M. G.; Huet, K.; Napolitani, E.; La Magna, A.

2018-03-01

Explosive crystallization is a well known phenomenon occurring due to the thermodynamic instability of strongly under-cooled liquids, which is particularly relevant in pulsed laser annealing processes of amorphous semiconductor materials due to the globally exothermic amorphous-to-liquid-to-crystal transition pathway. In spite of the assessed understanding of this phenomenon, quantitative predictions of the material kinetics promoted by explosive crystallization are hardly achieved due to the lack of a consistent model able to simulate the concurrent kinetics of the amorphous-liquid and liquid-crystal interfaces. Here, we propose a multi-well phase-field model specifically suited for the simulation of explosive crystallization induced by pulsed laser irradiation in the nanosecond time scale. The numerical implementation of the model is robust despite the discontinuous jumps of the interface speed induced by the phenomenon. The predictive potential of the simulations is demonstrated by means of comparisons of the modelling predictions with experimental data in terms of in situ reflectivity measurements and ex-situ micro-structural and chemical characterization.

Creating physically-based three-dimensional microstructures: Bridging phase-field and crystal plasticity models.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, Hojun; Owen, Steven J.; Abdeljawad, Fadi F.

In order to better incorporate microstructures in continuum scale models, we use a novel finite element (FE) meshing technique to generate three-dimensional polycrystalline aggregates from a phase field grain growth model of grain microstructures. The proposed meshing technique creates hexahedral FE meshes that capture smooth interfaces between adjacent grains. Three dimensional realizations of grain microstructures from the phase field model are used in crystal plasticity-finite element (CP-FE) simulations of polycrystalline a -iron. We show that the interface conformal meshes significantly reduce artificial stress localizations in voxelated meshes that exhibit the so-called "wedding cake" interfaces. This framework provides a direct linkmore » between two mesoscale models - phase field and crystal plasticity - and for the first time allows mechanics simulations of polycrystalline materials using three-dimensional hexahedral finite element meshes with realistic topological features.« less

Ni-Mn-Ga Single Crystal Exhibiting Multiple Magnetic Shape Memory Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heczko, Oleg; Veřtát, Petr; Vronka, Marek; Kopecky, Vít; Perevertov, Oleksiy

2016-09-01

Both magnetically induced phase transformation and magnetically induced reorientation (MIR) effects were observed in one Ni50Mn28Ga22 single crystal sample by direct measurement of the magnetic field-induced strain. We investigated various twinning microstructures ranged from single twin interface to fine twinning and crossing twins to evaluate what controls the apparent twinning stress crucial for MIR. The main challenges for the applications of these effects are outlined.

Application of Terahertz Field Enhancement Effect in Metal Microstructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakajima, M.; Kurihara, T.; Tadokoro, Y.; Kang, B.; Takano, K.; Yamaguchi, K.; Watanabe, H.; Oto, K.; Suemoto, T.; Hangyo, M.

2016-12-01

Applications of high-field terahertz pulses are attractive in physics and terahertz technology. In this study, two applications related to high-intensity terahertz pulses are demonstrated. The field enhancement effect by subwavelength metallic microstructures is utilized for terahertz excitation measurement. The spin precession dynamics in magnetic materials was induced by a terahertz magnetic field. Spin precession was amplified by one order of magnitude in amplitude by the enhanced magnetic terahertz field in orthoferrite ErFeO3 with metal microstructures. The induced spin dynamics was analyzed and explained by LLG-LCR model. Moreover, a detection method for terahertz pulses was developed using a cholesteric liquid crystal at room temperature without any electronic devices. The beam profile of terahertz pulses was visualized and compared to other methods such as the knife edge method using pyroelectric detector and micro-bolometer array. The liquid crystal terahertz imager is very simple and has good applicability as a portable terahertz-sensing card.

Electric-field-induced domain intersection in BaTiO3 single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ming; Wang, Mengxia; Zhang, Zhihua

2017-03-01

Large-angle convergent beam electron diffraction was used to determine the directions of polarization vectors in a BaTiO3 single crystal. Domain intersections driven by an electric field were investigated by in situ transmission electron microscopy. The dark triangles observed in the domain intersection region can be accounted for by dislocations and the strain field. Domains nucleate at the domain tip depending on the dislocations and strain field to relieve the accumulated stress. Schematic representations of the intersecting domains and the microscopic structure are given, clarifying the special electric-field-induced domain structure.

Electrically tunable zero dispersion wavelengths in photonic crystal fibers filled with a dual frequency addressable liquid crystal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wahle, Markus, E-mail: markus.wahle@uni-paderborn.de; Kitzerow, Heinz-Siegfried

2015-11-16

We present a liquid crystal (LC) infiltrated photonic crystal fiber, which enables the electrical tuning of the position of zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs). A dual frequency addressable liquid crystal is aligned perpendicular on the inclusion walls of a photonic crystal fiber, which results in an escaped radial director field. The orientation of the LC is controlled by applying an external electric field. Due to the high index of the liquid crystal the fiber guides light by the photonic band gap effect. Multiple ZDWs exist in the visible and near infrared. The positions of the ZDWs can be either blue ormore » red shifted depending on the frequency of the applied voltage.« less

40-Tesla pulsed-field cryomagnet for single crystal neutron diffraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duc, F.; Tonon, X.; Billette, J.; Rollet, B.; Knafo, W.; Bourdarot, F.; Béard, J.; Mantegazza, F.; Longuet, B.; Lorenzo, J. E.; Lelièvre-Berna, E.; Frings, P.; Regnault, L.-P.

2018-05-01

We present the first long-duration and high duty cycle 40-T pulsed-field cryomagnet addressed to single crystal neutron diffraction experiments at temperatures down to 2 K. The magnet produces a horizontal field in a bi-conical geometry, ±15° and ±30° upstream and downstream of the sample, respectively. Using a 1.15 MJ mobile generator, magnetic field pulses of 100 ms length are generated in the magnet, with a rise time of 23 ms and a repetition rate of 6-7 pulses per hour at 40 T. The setup was validated for neutron diffraction on the CEA-CRG three-axis spectrometer IN22 at the Institut Laue Langevin.

Field emission investigations of single crystal LaB6 FEA fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hongliang; Zhang, Xin; Li, Yuancheng; Xiao, Yixin; Zhang, Wei; Zhang, Jiu-Xing

2018-04-01

The femtosecond laser direct writing method has been used to fabricate the single crystal lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) field-emission tip arrays (FEAs). The morphologies, structure phase, and field emission of the single crystal LaB6 FEAs are systematically studied. The nanostructures on the surface of tips with the LaB6 phase were formed, resulting in favor of improving field emission, particularly for samples with the nanohill shaped bulges having the size of about 100 nm. The produced single crystal LaB6 FEAs have a uniform structure and a controllable curvature radius of about 0.5-3.0 μm. The FEAs with a curvature radius of about 0.5 μm as field emitters have the best field emission performance, which the field emission turns on and the threshold electric fields are as low as 2.2 and 3.8 V/μm with an emission current of 1.0 A/cm2 at 8.0 V/μm, and the emission current exhibits high stability. These indicate that the processed LaB6 FEAs have a good prospect applied in vacuum microelectronic devices and the simple femtosecond laser direct writing method could lead to an approach for the development of electron sources.

On beam shaping of the field radiated by a line source coupled to finite or infinite photonic crystals.

PubMed

Ceccuzzi, Silvio; Jandieri, Vakhtang; Baccarelli, Paolo; Ponti, Cristina; Schettini, Giuseppe

2016-04-01

Comparison of the beam-shaping effect of a field radiated by a line source, when an ideal infinite structure constituted by two photonic crystals and an actual finite one are considered, has been carried out by means of two different methods. The lattice sums technique combined with the generalized reflection matrix method is used to rigorously investigate the radiation from the infinite photonic crystals, whereas radiation from crystals composed of a finite number of rods along the layers is analyzed using the cylindrical-wave approach. A directive radiation is observed with the line source embedded in the structure. With an increased separation distance between the crystals, a significant edge diffraction appears that provides the main radiation mechanism in the finite layout. Suitable absorbers are implemented to reduce the above-mentioned diffraction and the reflections at the boundaries, thus obtaining good agreement between radiation patterns of a localized line source coupled to finite and infinite photonic crystals, when the number of periods of the finite structure is properly chosen.

Effects of Convective Transport of Solute and Impurities on Defect-Causing Kinetics Instabilities in Protein Crystallization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vekilov, Peter G.

2003-01-01

Insight into the crystallization processes of biological macromolecules into crystals or aggregates can provide valuable guidelines in many fundamental and applied fields. Such insight will prompt new means to regulate protein phase transitions in-vivo, e.g., polymerization of hemoglobin S in the red cells, crystallization of crystallins in the eye lens, etc. Understanding of protein crystal nucleation will help achieve narrow crystallite size distributions, needed for sustained release of pharmaceutical protein preparations such as insulin or interferon. Traditionally, protein crystallization studies have been related to the pursuit of crystal perfection needed to improve the structure details provided by x-ray, electron or neutron diffraction methods. Crystallization trials for the purposes of structural biology carried out in space have posed an intriguing question related to the inconsistency of the effects of the microgravity growth on the quality of the crystals.

Anisotropic physical properties of single-crystal U2Rh2Sn in high magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokeš, K.; Gorbunov, D. I.; Reehuis, M.; Klemke, B.; Gukasov, A.; Uhlířová, K.; Fabrèges, X.; Skourski, Y.; Yokaichiya, F.; Hartwig, S.; Andreev, A. V.

2017-05-01

We report on the crystal and magnetic structures, magnetic, transport, and thermal properties of U2Rh2Sn single crystals studied in part in high magnetic fields up to 58 T. The material adopts a U3Si2 -related tetragonal crystal structure and orders antiferromagnetically below TN=25 K. The antiferromagnetic structure is characterized by a propagation vector k =(00 1/2 ) . The magnetism in U2Rh2Sn is found to be associated mainly with 5 f states. However, both unpolarized and polarized neutron experiments reveal at low temperatures in zero field non-negligible magnetic moments also on Rh sites. U moments of 0.50(2) μB are directed along the tetragonal axis while Rh moments of 0.06(4) μB form a noncollinear arrangement confined to the basal plane. The response to applied magnetic field is highly anisotropic. Above ˜15 K the easy magnetization direction is along the tetragonal axis. At lower temperatures, however, a stronger response is found perpendicular to the c axis. While for the a axis no magnetic phase transition is observed up to 58 T, for the field applied at 1.8 K along the tetragonal axis we observe above 22.5 T a field-polarized state. A magnetic phase diagram for the field applied along the c axis is presented.

Phase boundaries, nucleation rates and speed of crystal growth of the water-to-ice transition under an electric field: a simulation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaragoza, Alberto; Espinosa, Jorge R.; Ramos, Regina; Cobos, José Antonio; Aragones, Juan Luis; Vega, Carlos; Sanz, Eduardo; Ramírez, Jorge; Valeriani, Chantal

2018-05-01

We investigate with computer simulations the effect of applying an electric field on the water-to-ice transition. We use a combination of state-of-the-art simulation techniques to obtain phase boundaries and crystal growth rates (direct coexistence), nucleation rates (seeding) and interfacial free energies (seeding and mold integration). First, we consider ice Ih, the most stable polymorph in the absence of a field. Its normal melting temperature, speed of crystal growth and nucleation rate (for a given supercooling) diminish as the intensity of the field goes up. Then, we study polarised cubic ice, or ice Icf, the most stable solid phase under a strong electric field. Its normal melting point goes up with the field and, for a given supercooling, under the studied field (0.3 V nm‑1) ice Icf nucleates and grows at a similar rate as Ih with no field. The net effect of the field would then be that ice nucleates at warmer temperatures, but in the form of ice Icf. The main conclusion of this work is that reasonable electric fields (not strong enough to break water molecules apart) are not relevant in the context of homogeneous ice nucleation at 1 bar.

Phase boundaries, nucleation rates and speed of crystal growth of the water-to-ice transition under an electric field: a simulation study.

PubMed

Zaragoza, Alberto; Espinosa, Jorge R; Ramos, Regina; Antonio Cobos, José; Luis Aragones, Juan; Vega, Carlos; Sanz, Eduardo; Ramírez, Jorge; Valeriani, Chantal

2018-05-02

We investigate with computer simulations the effect of applying an electric field on the water-to-ice transition. We use a combination of state-of-the-art simulation techniques to obtain phase boundaries and crystal growth rates (direct coexistence), nucleation rates (seeding) and interfacial free energies (seeding and mold integration). First, we consider ice Ih, the most stable polymorph in the absence of a field. Its normal melting temperature, speed of crystal growth and nucleation rate (for a given supercooling) diminish as the intensity of the field goes up. Then, we study polarised cubic ice, or ice Icf, the most stable solid phase under a strong electric field. Its normal melting point goes up with the field and, for a given supercooling, under the studied field (0.3 V nm -1 ) ice Icf nucleates and grows at a similar rate as Ih with no field. The net effect of the field would then be that ice nucleates at warmer temperatures, but in the form of ice Icf. The main conclusion of this work is that reasonable electric fields (not strong enough to break water molecules apart) are not relevant in the context of homogeneous ice nucleation at 1 bar.

The effects of Peltier marking on semiconductor growth in a magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sellers, Cheryl Casper

This research represents a model for three dimensional semiconductor growth in a vertical Bridgman process within an externally applied magnetic field with the additional effects of Peltier marking. The magnetic field is strong enough that inertial effects can be neglected and that viscous effects are confined to boundary layers. The objective of this research is a first step in the development of a method to accurately predict the distribution of dopants and species in the melt after a current pulse with a given duration and strength, with a given magnetic field and with a given crystal-melt interface shape. The first model involves an asymptotic solution to provide physical clarification of the flow. In both models the crystal/melt interface is modeled as fr=3r2 where 3≪1 . The first model incorporates a variable, a which ranges from 0.25 to 1.0. The second model involves an analytical solution with an arbitrary Ha and a≪1 . These models show the how the azimuthal velocity varies with increasing Ha and how the stream function varies in the meridional problem. This gives insight into how the dopant is mixed during the crystal growth process. The results demonstrate that current pulses with relatively weak magnetic fields and modest interface curvature can lead to very strong mixing in the melt.

Protein crystal nucleation in pores.

PubMed

Nanev, Christo N; Saridakis, Emmanuel; Chayen, Naomi E

2017-01-16

The most powerful method for protein structure determination is X-ray crystallography which relies on the availability of high quality crystals. Obtaining protein crystals is a major bottleneck, and inducing their nucleation is of crucial importance in this field. An effective method to form crystals is to introduce nucleation-inducing heterologous materials into the crystallization solution. Porous materials are exceptionally effective at inducing nucleation. It is shown here that a combined diffusion-adsorption effect can increase protein concentration inside pores, which enables crystal nucleation even under conditions where heterogeneous nucleation on flat surfaces is absent. Provided the pore is sufficiently narrow, protein molecules approach its walls and adsorb more frequently than they can escape. The decrease in the nucleation energy barrier is calculated, exhibiting its quantitative dependence on the confinement space and the energy of interaction with the pore walls. These results provide a detailed explanation of the effectiveness of porous materials for nucleation of protein crystals, and will be useful for optimal design of such materials.

Upper critical fields in Ba2Ti2Fe2As4O single crystals: Evidence for dominant Pauli paramagnetic effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdel-Hafiez, M.; Brisbois, J.; Zhu, Z.; Adamski, A.; Hassen, A.; Vasiliev, A. N.; Silhanek, A. V.; Krellner, C.

2018-03-01

We report on magneto-optical imaging and the temperature dependency of the upper critical fields Hc2 c(T ) parallel to the c axis and Hc2 a b(T ) parallel to the a b plane in Ba2Ti2Fe2As4O single crystals. These data were inferred from the measurements of the temperature-dependent resistance in static magnetic fields up to 14 T and magnetoresistance in pulsed fields up to 60 T. Hc 2 values are found to be 52 and 50 T for H ∥a b and H ∥c , respectively. These values are 1.2-1.35 times larger than the weak-coupling Pauli paramagnetic limit (Hp˜1.84 Tc ), indicating that enhanced paramagnetic limiting is essential and this superconductor is unconventional. Our observations of strong bending in the Hc2 a b(T ) curves and a nearly isotropic maximum upper critical field Hc2 a b(0 ) ≈Hc2 c(0 ) support the presence of a strong Pauli paramagnetic effect. We show that the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) formula that includes the spin-orbit scattering can effectively describe the Hc2 a b(T ) curve, whereas Hc 2 deviates from the conventional WHH theoretical model without considering the spin paramagnetic effect for the H ∥c and H ∥a b directions. For H ∥c , a two-band model is required to fully reproduce the behavior of Hc 2, while for H ∥a b the spin paramagnetic effect is responsible for the behavior of Hc 2. The anisotropy of Hc 2 is close to 3 near Tc and decreases rapidly at lower temperatures.

Transition of vertically aligned liquid crystal driven by fan-shaped electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsung, J. W.; Ting, T. L.; Chen, C. Y.; Liang, W. L.; Lai, C. W.; Lin, T. H.; Hsu, W. H.

2017-09-01

Interdigital electrodes are implemented in many commercial and novel liquid crystal devices to align molecules. Although many empirical principles and patents apply to electrode design, only a few numerical simulations of alignment have been conducted. Why and how the molecules align in an ordered manner has never been adequately explained. Hence, this investigation addresses the Fréedericksz transition of vertically aligned liquid crystal that is driven by fishbone electrodes, and thereafter identifies the mechanism of liquid crystal alignment. Theoretical calculations suggest that the periodic deformation that is caused by the fan-shaped fringe field minimizes the free energy in the liquid crystal cell, and the optimal alignment can be obtained when the cell parameters satisfy the relation p /2 d =√{k11/k33 } , where p is the spatial period of the strips of the electrode; d denotes the cell gap; and k11 and k33 are the splay and bend elastic constants of the liquid crystal, respectively. Polymer-stabilized vertical alignment test cells with various p values and spacings between the electrodes were fabricated, and the process of liquid crystal alignment was observed under an optical microscope. The degree of alignment was evaluated by measuring the transmittance of the test cell. The experimental results were consistent with the theoretical predictions. The principle of design, p /2 d =√{k11/k33 } , greatly improves the uniformity and stability of the aligned liquid crystal. The methods that are presented here can be further applied to cholesteric liquid crystal and other self-assembled soft materials.

Transverse magnetic field impact on waveguide modes of photonic crystals.

PubMed

Sylgacheva, Daria; Khokhlov, Nikolai; Kalish, Andrey; Dagesyan, Sarkis; Prokopov, Anatoly; Shaposhnikov, Alexandr; Berzhansky, Vladimir; Nur-E-Alam, Mohammad; Vasiliev, Mikhail; Alameh, Kamal; Belotelov, Vladimir

2016-08-15

This Letter presents a theoretical and experimental study of waveguide modes of one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals magnetized in the in-plane direction. It is shown that the propagation constants of the TM waveguide modes are sensitive to the transverse magnetization and the spectrum of the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect has resonant features at mode excitation frequencies. Two types of structures are considered: a non-magnetic photonic crystal with an additional magnetic layer on top and a magneto-photonic crystal with a magnetic layer within each period. We found that the magneto-optical non-reciprocity effect is greater in the first case: it has a magnitude of δ∼10^-4, while the second structure type demonstrates δ∼10^-5 only, due to the higher asymmetry of the claddings of the magnetic layer. Experimental observations show resonant features in the optical and magneto-optical Kerr effect spectra. The measured dispersion properties are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. An amplitude of light intensity modulation of up to 2.5% was observed for waveguide mode excitation within the magnetic top layer of the non-magnetic photonic crystal structure. The presented theoretical approach may be utilized for the design of magneto-optical sensors and modulators requiring pre-determined spectral features.

Stability of Magnetically-Suppressed Solutal Convection In Protein Crystal Growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leslie, F. W.; Ramachandran, N.

2005-01-01

The effect of convection during the crystallization of proteins is not very well understood. In a gravitational field, convection is caused by crystal sedimentation and by solutal buoyancy induced flow and these can lead to crystal imperfections. While crystallization in microgravity can approach diffusion limited growth conditions (no convection), terrestrially strong magnetic fields can be used to control fluid flow and sedimentation effects. In this work, a theory is presented on the stability of solutal convection of a magnetized fluid in the presence of a magnetic field. The requirements for stability are developed and compared to experiments performed within the bore of a superconducting magnet. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experiments and show solutal convection can be stabilized if the surrounding fluid has larger magnetic susceptibility and the magnetic field has a specific structure. Discussion on the application of the technique to protein crystallization is also provided.

Rheology of Pure Glasses and Crystal Bearing Melts: from the Newtonian Field to the Brittle Onset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordonnier, B.; Caricchi, L.; Pistone, M.; Castro, J. M.; Hess, K.; Dingwell, D. B.

2010-12-01

The brittle-ductile transition remains a central question of modern geology. If rocks can be perceived as a granular flow on geological time-scale, their behavior is brittle in dynamic areas. Understanding rock failure conditions is the main parameter in mitigating geological risks, more specifically the eruptive style transitions from effusive to explosive. If numerical simulations are the only way to fully understanding the physical processes involved, we are in a strong need of an experimental validation of the proposed models. here we present results obtained under torsion and uni-axial compression on both pure glasses and crystal bearing melts. We characterized the brittle onset of two phases magmas from 0 to 65% crystals. The strain-rates span a 5 orders magnitude range, from the Newtonian flow to the Brittle field (10-5 - 100 s-1). We particularly emphasize the time dependency of the measured rheology. The materials tested are a borosilicate glass from the National Bureau of Standards, a natural sample from Mt Unzen volcano and a synthetic sample. The lattest is an HPG8 melt with 7% sodium mole excess. The particles are quasi-isometric corundum crystalschosen for their shape and integrity under the stress range investigated. The crystal fraction ranges from 0 to 0.65. Concerning pure magmas, we recently demonstrated that the material passes from a Newtonian to a non-Nemtonian behavior with increasing strain-rate. This onset can mostly be explained by viscous-heating effects. However, for even greater strain-rates, the material cracks and finally fail. The brittle onset is here explained with the visco-elastic theory and corresponds to a Deborah number greater than 10-2. Concerning crystal bearing melts the departure from the Newtonian state is characterized by two effects: a shear-thinning and a time weakening effect. The first one is instantaneous and loading-unloading cyclic tests suggest an elastic contribution of the crystal network. The second one

Effect of chemical pressure on the crystal electric field states of erbium pyrochlore magnets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gaudet, J; Hallas, A. A.; Kolesnikov, Alexander I.

We have carried out a systematic study of the crystal electric field excitations in the family of cubic pyrochlores Er 2B 2O 7 with B=Ge, Ti, Pt, and Sn, using neutron spectroscopy. All members of this family are magnetic insulators based on 4f 11Er 3+ and nonmagnetic B 4+. At sufficiently low temperatures, long-range antiferromagnetic order is observed in each of these Er 2B 2O 7 pyrochlores. The different ionic sizes associated with different nonmagnetic B 4+ cations correspond to positive or negative chemical pressure, depending on the relative contraction or expansion of the crystal lattice, which gives rise tomore » different local environments at the Er 3+ site. Our results show that the g-tensor components are XY-like for all four members of the Er 2B 2O 7 series. However, the XY anisotropy is much stronger for Er 2Pt 2O 7 and Er 2Sn 2O 7(g⊥/gz>25) than for Er 2Ge 2O 7 and Er 2Ti 2O 7(g⊥/gz<4). The variation in the nature of the XY anisotropy in these systems correlates strongly with their ground states as Er 2Ge 2O 7 and Er 2Ti 2O 7 order into Γ 5 magnetic structures, whereas Er 2Pt 2O 7 and Er 2Sn 2O 7 order in the Γ 7 Palmer-Chalker structure.« less

Effect of chemical pressure on the crystal electric field states of erbium pyrochlore magnets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudet, J.; Hallas, A. M.; Kolesnikov, A. I.; Gaulin, B. D.

2018-01-01

We have carried out a systematic study of the crystal electric field excitations in the family of cubic pyrochlores Er2B2O7 with B =Ge , Ti, Pt, and Sn, using neutron spectroscopy. All members of this family are magnetic insulators based on 4 f11Er3 + and nonmagnetic B4 +. At sufficiently low temperatures, long-range antiferromagnetic order is observed in each of these Er2B2O7 pyrochlores. The different ionic sizes associated with different nonmagnetic B4 + cations correspond to positive or negative chemical pressure, depending on the relative contraction or expansion of the crystal lattice, which gives rise to different local environments at the Er3 + site. Our results show that the g -tensor components are X Y -like for all four members of the Er2B2O7 series. However, the X Y anisotropy is much stronger for Er2Pt2O7 and Er2Sn2O7(g⊥/gz>25 ) than for Er2Ge2O7 and Er2Ti2O7(g⊥/gz<4 ) . The variation in the nature of the X Y anisotropy in these systems correlates strongly with their ground states as Er2Ge2O7 and Er2Ti2O7 order into Γ5 magnetic structures, whereas Er2Pt2O7 and Er2Sn2O7 order in the Γ7 Palmer-Chalker structure.

Effect of chemical pressure on the crystal electric field states of erbium pyrochlore magnets

DOE PAGES

Gaudet, J; Hallas, A. A.; Kolesnikov, Alexander I.; ...

2018-01-17

We have carried out a systematic study of the crystal electric field excitations in the family of cubic pyrochlores Er 2B 2O 7 with B=Ge, Ti, Pt, and Sn, using neutron spectroscopy. All members of this family are magnetic insulators based on 4f 11Er 3+ and nonmagnetic B 4+. At sufficiently low temperatures, long-range antiferromagnetic order is observed in each of these Er 2B 2O 7 pyrochlores. The different ionic sizes associated with different nonmagnetic B 4+ cations correspond to positive or negative chemical pressure, depending on the relative contraction or expansion of the crystal lattice, which gives rise tomore » different local environments at the Er 3+ site. Our results show that the g-tensor components are XY-like for all four members of the Er 2B 2O 7 series. However, the XY anisotropy is much stronger for Er 2Pt 2O 7 and Er 2Sn 2O 7(g⊥/gz>25) than for Er 2Ge 2O 7 and Er 2Ti 2O 7(g⊥/gz<4). The variation in the nature of the XY anisotropy in these systems correlates strongly with their ground states as Er 2Ge 2O 7 and Er 2Ti 2O 7 order into Γ 5 magnetic structures, whereas Er 2Pt 2O 7 and Er 2Sn 2O 7 order in the Γ 7 Palmer-Chalker structure.« less

Macromolecular crystallization in microgravity generated by a superconducting magnet.

PubMed

Wakayama, N I; Yin, D C; Harata, K; Kiyoshi, T; Fujiwara, M; Tanimoto, Y

2006-09-01

About 30% of the protein crystals grown in space yield better X-ray diffraction data than the best crystals grown on the earth. The microgravity environments provided by the application of an upward magnetic force constitute excellent candidates for simulating the microgravity conditions in space. Here, we describe a method to control effective gravity and formation of protein crystals in various levels of effective gravity. Since 2002, the stable and long-time durable microgravity generated by a convenient type of superconducting magnet has been available for protein crystal growth. For the first time, protein crystals, orthorhombic lysozyme, were grown at microgravity on the earth, and it was proved that this microgravity improved the crystal quality effectively and reproducibly. The present method always accompanies a strong magnetic field, and the magnetic field itself seems to improve crystal quality. Microgravity is not always effective for improving crystal quality. When we applied this microgravity to the formation of cubic porcine insulin and tetragonal lysozyme crystals, we observed no dependence of effective gravity on crystal quality. Thus, this kind of test will be useful for selecting promising proteins prior to the space experiments. Finally, the microgravity generated by the magnet is compared with that in space, considering the cost, the quality of microgravity, experimental convenience, etc., and the future use of this microgravity for macromolecular crystal growth is discussed.

Bridgman crystal growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlson, Frederick

1990-01-01

The objective of this theoretical research effort was to improve the understanding of the growth of Pb(x)Sn(1-x)Te and especially how crystal quality could be improved utilizing the microgravity environment of space. All theoretical growths are done using the vertical Bridgman method. It is believed that improved single crystal yields can be achieved by systematically identifying and studying system parameters both theoretically and experimentally. A computational model was developed to study and eventually optimize the growth process. The model is primarily concerned with the prediction of the thermal field, although mass transfer in the melt and the state of stress in the crystal were of considerable interest. The evolution is presented of the computer simulation and some of the important results obtained. Diffusion controlled growth was first studied since it represented a relatively simple, but nontheless realistic situation. In fact, results from this analysis prompted a study of the triple junction region where the melt, crystal, and ampoule wall meet. Since microgravity applications were sought because of the low level of fluid movement, the effect of gravitational field strength on the thermal and concentration field was also of interest. A study of the strength of coriolis acceleration on the growth process during space flight was deemed necessary since it would surely produce asymmetries in the flow field if strong enough. Finally, thermosolutal convection in a steady microgravity field for thermally stable conditions and both stable and unstable solutal conditions was simulated.

Bridgman Growth of Germanium Crystals in a Rotating Magnetic Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volz, M. P.; Walker, J. S.; Schweizer, M.; Cobb, S. D.; Szofran, F. R.

2004-01-01

A series of (100)-oriented gallium-doped germanium crystals have been grown by the Bridgman method and under the influence of a rotating magnetic field (RMF). Time-dependent flow instabilities occur when the critical magnetic Taylor number (Tm(sup c) is exceeded, and this can be observed by noting the appearance of striations in the grown crystals. The experimental data indicate that Tm(sup c) increases as the aspect ratio of the melt decreases. Modeling calculations predicting Tm(sup c) as a function of aspect ratio are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The RMF has a marked affect on the interface shape, changing it from concave to nearly flat as the RMF strength is increased. Also, by pulsing the RMF on and off, it is shown that intentional interface demarcations can be introduced.

The crystal acceleration effect for cold neutrons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Braginetz, Yu. P., E-mail: aiver@pnpi.spb.ru; Berdnikov, Ya. A.; Fedorov, V. V., E-mail: vfedorov@pnpi.spb.ru

A new mechanism of neutron acceleration is discussed and studied experimentally in detail for cold neutrons passing through the accelerated perfect crystal with the energies close to the Bragg one. The effect arises due to the following reason. The crystal refraction index (neutron-crystal interaction potential) for neutron in the vicinity of the Bragg resonance sharply depends on the parameter of deviation from the exact Bragg condition, i.e. on the crystal-neutron relative velocity. Therefore the neutrons enter into accelerated crystal with one neutron-crystal interaction potential and exit with the other. Neutron kinetic energy cannot vary inside the crystal due to itsmore » homogeneity. So after passage through such a crystal neutrons will be accelerated or decelerated because of the different energy change at the entrance and exit crystal boundaries.« less

Field-induced charge transport at the surface of pentacene single crystals: A method to study charge dynamics of two-dimensional electron systems in organic crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeya, J.; Goldmann, C.; Haas, S.; Pernstich, K. P.; Ketterer, B.; Batlogg, B.

2003-11-01

A method has been developed to inject mobile charges at the surface of organic molecular crystals, and the dc transport of field-induced holes has been measured at the surface of pentacene single crystals. To minimize damage to the soft and fragile surface, the crystals are attached to a prefabricated substrate which incorporates a gate dielectric (SiO2) and four probe pads. The surface mobility of the pentacene crystals ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 cm2/V s and is nearly temperature independent above ˜150 K, while it becomes thermally activated at lower temperatures when the induced charges become localized. Ruling out the influence of electric contacts and crystal grain boundaries, the results contribute to the microscopic understanding of trapping and detrapping mechanisms in organic molecular crystals.

Dark-field transmission electron microscopy of cortical bone reveals details of extrafibrillar crystals.

PubMed

Schwarcz, Henry P; McNally, Elizabeth A; Botton, Gianluigi A

2014-12-01

In a previous study we showed that most of the mineral in bone is present in the form of "mineral structures", 5-6nm-thick, elongated plates which surround and are oriented parallel to collagen fibrils. Using dark-field transmission electron microscopy, we viewed mineral structures in ion-milled sections of cortical human bone cut parallel to the collagen fibrils. Within the mineral structures we observe single crystals of apatite averaging 5.8±2.7nm in width and 28±19nm in length, their long axes oriented parallel to the fibril axis. Some appear to be composite, co-aligned crystals as thin as 2nm. From their similarity to TEM images of crystals liberated from deproteinated bone we infer that we are viewing sections through platy crystals of apatite that are assembled together to form the mineral structures. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optical studies of blue phase III, twist-bend and bent-core nematic liquid crystals in high magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Challa, Pavan Kumar

This dissertation is mainly divided into three parts. First, the dynamic light scattering measurements on both calamitic and bent-core nematic liquid crystals, carried out in the new split-helix resistive magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee is discussed. In a nematic liquid crystal the molecules tend to be aligned along a constant direction, labeled by a unit vector (or "director") n. However, there are fluctuations from this average configuration. These fluctuations are very large for long wavelengths and give rise to a strong scattering of light. The magnetic field reduces the fluctuations of liquid crystal director n. Scattered light was detected at each scattering angle ranging from 0° to 40°. The relaxation rate and inverse scattered intensity of director fluctuations exhibit a linear dependence on field-squared up to 25 Tesla. We also observe evidence of field dependence of certain nematic material parameters. In the second part of the dissertation, magneto-optical measurements on two liquid crystals that exhibit a wide temperature-range amorphous blue phase (BPIII) are discussed. Blue phase III is one of the phases that occur between chiral nematic and isotropic liquid phases. Samples were illuminated with light from blue laser; the incident polarization direction of the light was parallel to the magnetic field. The transmitted light was passed through another polarizer oriented at 90° with respect to the first polarizer and was detected by a photo-detector. Magnetic fields up to 25Tesla are found to suppress the onset of BPIII in both materials by almost 1 degree celcius. This effect appears to increase non-linearly with the field strength. The effect of high fields on established BPIII's is also discussed, in which we find significant hysteresis and very slow dynamics. Possible explanations of these results are discussed. In the third part of the dissertation, magneto-optic measurements on two odd-numbered dimer molecules

Dislocation Mobility and Anomalous Shear Modulus Effect in ^4He Crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malmi-Kakkada, Abdul N.; Valls, Oriol T.; Dasgupta, Chandan

2017-02-01

We calculate the dislocation glide mobility in solid ^4He within a model that assumes the existence of a superfluid field associated with dislocation lines. Prompted by the results of this mobility calculation, we study within this model the role that such a superfluid field may play in the motion of the dislocation line when a stress is applied to the crystal. To do this, we relate the damping of dislocation motion, calculated in the presence of the assumed superfluid field, to the shear modulus of the crystal. As the temperature increases, we find that a sharp drop in the shear modulus will occur at the temperature where the superfluid field disappears. We compare the drop in shear modulus of the crystal arising from the temperature dependence of the damping contribution due to the superfluid field, to the experimental observation of the same phenomena in solid ^4He and find quantitative agreement. Our results indicate that such a superfluid field plays an important role in dislocation pinning in a clean solid ^4He at low temperatures and in this regime may provide an alternative source for the unusual elastic phenomena observed in solid ^4He.

High field (up to 140 kOe) angle dependent magneto transport of Bi2Te3 single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sultana, Rabia; Maheshwari, P. K.; Tiwari, Brajesh; Awana, V. P. S.

2018-01-01

We report the angle dependent high field (up to 140 kOe) magneto transport of Bi2Te3 single crystals, a well-known topological insulator. The crystals were grown from melt of constituent elements via solid state reaction route by self-flux method. Details of crystal growth along with their brief characterisation up to 5 Tesla applied field was reported by some of us recently (Sultana et al 2017 J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 428 213). The angle dependence of the magneto-resistance (MR) of Bi2Te3 follows the cos (θ) function i.e., MR is responsive, when the applied field is perpendicular (tilt angle θ = 0° and/or 180°) to the transport current. The low field (±10 kOe) MR showed the signatures of weak anti localisation character with typical ν-type cusp near origin at 5 K. Further, the MR is linear right up to highest applied field of 140 kOe. The large positive MR are observed up to high temperatures and are above 250% and 150% at 140 kOe in perpendicular fields at 50 K and 100 K respectively. Heat capacity C P(T) measurements revealed the value of Debye temperature (ѲD) to be 135 K. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy data clearly showed that the bulk Bi2Te3 single crystal consists of a single Dirac cone.

Picosecond electric-field-induced threshold switching in phase-change materials [THz-induced threshold switching and crystallization of phase-change materials

DOE PAGES

Zalden, Peter; Shu, Michael J.; Chen, Frank; ...

2016-08-05

Many chalcogenide glasses undergo a breakdown in electronic resistance above a critical field strength. Known as threshold switching, this mechanism enables field-induced crystallization in emerging phase-change memory. Purely electronic as well as crystal nucleation assisted models have been employed to explain the electronic breakdown. Here, picosecond electric pulses are used to excite amorphous Ag 4In 3Sb 67Te 26. Field-dependent reversible changes in conductivity and pulse-driven crystallization are observed. The present results show that threshold switching can take place within the electric pulse on subpicosecond time scales—faster than crystals can nucleate. As a result, this supports purely electronic models of thresholdmore » switching and reveals potential applications as an ultrafast electronic switch.« less

Effect of electric field and temperature gradient on the orientational dynamics of liquid crystals in a microvolume cylindrical cavity.

PubMed

Zakharov, A V; Vakulenko, A A; Romano, Silvano

2009-10-28

We have considered a homogeneously aligned liquid crystal (HALC) microvolume confined between two infinitely long horizontal coaxial cylinders and investigated dynamic field pumping, i.e., studied the interactions between director, velocity, and electric E fields as well as a radially applied temperature gradient inverted Delta T, where the inner cylinder is kept at a lower temperature than the outer one. In order to elucidate the role of inverted Delta T in producing hydrodynamic flow u, we have carried out a numerical study of a system of hydrodynamic equations including director reorientation, fluid flow, and temperature redistribution across the HALC cavity. Calculations show that only under the influence of inverted Delta T does the initially quiescent HALC sample settle down to a stationary flow regime with horizontal component of velocity u(eq)(r). The effects of inverted Delta T and of the size of the HALC cavity on magnitude and direction of u(eq)(r) have been investigated for a number of hydrodynamic regimes. Calculations also showed that E influences only the director redistribution across the HALC but not the magnitude of the velocity u(eq)(r).

In-situ Optical Waveguides for Monitoring and Modifying Protein Crystal Growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gibson, Ursula; Osterberg, Ulf

2004-01-01

The use of electric fields in the growth of protein crystals was investigated, both theoretically and experimentally. We used dc, ac and optical fields to change the spatial distribution of proteins. Dc fields had only local effects, due to the conductivity of the growth solution. We found that for low frequency fields, movement of the buffer and salt ions dominated, and that for high frequency ac fields, &electrophoretic effects could be useful for relocating growing protein crystals. The most promising result was that for optical fields, a large gradient in the field could be used to capture a crystal, and observe growth in-situ. This concept could be developed into an experimental setup compatible with automated x-ray diffraction measurements in microgravity.

Three-dimensional analysis of flow and segregation in vertical Bridgman crystal growth under axial and transversal magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, C. W.; Lee, I. F.; Yeh, B. C.

2003-07-01

Three-dimensional simulation, both pseudo-steady and time-dependent states, is carried out to illustrate the effects of magnetic fields on the flow and segregation in a vertical Bridgman crystal growth. With an axial magnetic field in a perfectly vertical growth, the calculated results are in good agreement with those obtained by a two-dimensional axisymmetric model. The asymptotic scaling of flow damping is also consistent with the boundary layer approximation regardless to the magnetic orientation. Radial and axial segregations are further discussed concluding that radial segregation could be severe if the flow damping is not adequate. Moreover, there is a regime of enhanced global dopant mixing due to the flow stretching by the axial field. Accordingly, the transversal field is more effective in pushing the growth to the diffusion-controlled limit and suppressing the asymmetric global flow due to ampule tilting.

Lattice Rotation Patterns and Strain Gradient Effects in Face-Centered-Cubic Single Crystals Under Spherical Indentation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, Y. F.; Larson, B. C.; Lee, J. H.

Strain gradient effects are commonly modeled as the origin of the size dependence of material strength, such as the dependence of indentation hardness on contact depth and spherical indenter radius. However, studies on the microstructural comparisons of experiments and theories are limited. First, we have extended a strain gradient Mises-plasticity model to its crystal plasticity version and implemented a finite element method to simulate the load-displacement response and the lattice rotation field of Cu single crystals under spherical indentation. The strain gradient simulations demonstrate that the forming of distinct sectors of positive and negative angles in the lattice rotation fieldmore » is governed primarily by the slip geometry and crystallographic orientations, depending only weakly on strain gradient effects, although hardness depends strongly on strain gradients. Second, the lattice rotation simulations are compared quantitatively with micron resolution, three-dimensional X-ray microscopy (3DXM) measurements of the lattice rotation fields under 100mN force, 100 mu m radius spherical indentations in < 111 >, < 110 >, and < 001 > oriented Cu single crystals. Third, noting the limitation of continuum strain gradient crystal plasticity models, two-dimensional discrete dislocation simulation results suggest that the hardness in the nanocontact regime is governed synergistically by a combination of strain gradients and source-limited plasticity. However, the lattice rotation field in the discrete dislocation simulations is found to be insensitive to these two factors but to depend critically on dislocation obstacle densities and strengths.« less

Magnetization behavior of RE123 bulk magnets bearing twin seed-crystals in pulsed field magnetization processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oka, T.; Miyazaki, T.; Ogawa, J.; Fukui, S.; Sato, T.; Yokoyama, K.; Langer, M.

2016-02-01

Melt-textured Y-Ba-Cu-O high temperature superconducting bulk magnets were fabricated by the cold seeding method with using single or twin-seed crystals composed of Nd-Ba-Cu-O thin films on MgO substrates. The behavior of the magnetic flux penetration into anisotropic-grown bulk magnets thus fabricated was precisely evaluated during and after the pulsed field magnetization operated at 35 K. These seed crystals were put on the top surfaces of the precursors to grow large grains during the melt-processes. Although we know the magnetic flux motion is restricted by the enhanced pinning effect in temperature ranges lower than 77 K, we observed that flux invasion occurred at applied fields of 3.3 T when the twin seeds were used. This is definitely lower than those of 3.7 T when the single-seeds were employed. This means that the magnetic fluxes are capable of invading into twin-seeded bulk magnets more easily than single-seeded ones. The twin seeds form the different grain growth regions, the narrow-GSR (growth sector region) and wide-GSR, according to the different grain growth directions which are parallel and normal to the rows of seed crystals, respectively. The invading flux measurements revealed that the magnetic flux invades the sample from the wide-GSR prior to the narrow-GSR. It suggests that such anisotropic grain growth leads to different distributions of pinning centers, variations of J c values, and the formation of preferential paths for the invading magnetic fluxes. Using lower applied fields definitely contributed to lowering the heat generation during the PFM process, which, in turn, led to enhanced trapped magnetic fluxes.

Effective bichromatic potential for ultra-high Q-factor photonic crystal slab cavities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alpeggiani, Filippo, E-mail: filippo.alpeggiani01@ateneopv.it; Andreani, Lucio Claudio; Gerace, Dario

2015-12-28

We introduce a confinement mechanism in photonic crystal slab cavities, which relies on the superposition of two incommensurate one-dimensional lattices in a line-defect waveguide. It is shown that the resulting photonic profile realizes an effective quasi-periodic bichromatic potential for the electromagnetic field confinement yielding extremely high quality (Q) factor nanocavities, while simultaneously keeping the mode volume close to the diffraction limit. We apply these concepts to pillar- and hole-based photonic crystal slab cavities, respectively, and a Q-factor improvement by over an order of magnitude is shown over existing designs, especially in pillar-based structures. Thanks to the generality and easy adaptationmore » of such confinement mechanism to a broad class of cavity designs and photonic lattices, this work opens interesting routes for applications where enhanced light–matter interaction in photonic crystal structures is required.« less

Field-Induced Alignment of Polar Bent-Ccore Smectic A Liquid Crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yongqiang; Goodhew, Lisa; Shao, Renfan; Maclennan, Joseph; Clark, Noel; Rudquist, Per

2014-03-01

The SmAPF phase is a promising phase modulator mode. To use the SmAPF materials for applications, we need to obtain uniform, large-area alignment of the samples. However, bent-core liquid crystals are notoriously difficult to align with conventional surface treatment methods because most of them have no nematic phase. We have developed a powerful, new method using in-plane applied electric fields that allows us to create a perfect bookshelf alignment of orthogonal bent-core smectics. By using an interdigitated, finger-like electrode arrangement on one of the cell surfaces, we can align the materials by applying in-plane electric fields. This stripe geometry, which produces curved field lines, allows for only one smectic layer orientation, normal both to the cell walls and to the finger electrodes. After alignment, the cell can be operated in the conventional way by connecting the finger electrodes together to make one effective electrode, opposing continuous, common electrode on the opposite side of the cell. This alignment method opens up the use of these materials in perfectly aligned cells for both amplitude and phase-only modulation applications. This work was supported by NSF MRSEC Grant No. DMR-0820579, by NSF Grant No. DMR-1008300, and by Swedish Research Council (VR) Grant No. 621-2009-3621.

Generation of high-field terahertz pulses in an HMQ-TMS organic crystal pumped by an ytterbium laser at 1030 nm.

PubMed

Rovere, Andrea; Jeong, Young-Gyun; Piccoli, Riccardo; Lee, Seung-Heon; Lee, Seung-Chul; Kwon, O-Pil; Jazbinsek, Mojca; Morandotti, Roberto; Razzari, Luca

2018-02-05

We present the generation of high-peak-electric-field terahertz pulses via collinear optical rectification in a 2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyryl)-1-methilquinolinium-2,4,6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate (HMQ-TMS) organic crystal. The crystal is pumped by an amplified ytterbium laser system, emitting 170-fs-long pulses centered at 1030 nm. A terahertz peak electric field greater than 200 kV/cm is obtained for 420 µJ of optical pump energy, with an energy conversion efficiency of 0.26% - about two orders of magnitude higher than in common inorganic crystals collinearly pumped by amplified femtosecond lasers. An open-aperture Z-scan measurement performed on an n-doped InGaAs thin film using such terahertz source shows a nonlinear increase in the terahertz transmission of about 2.2 times. Our findings demonstrate the potential of this terahertz generation scheme, based on ytterbium laser technology, as a simple and efficient alternative to the existing intense table-top terahertz sources. In particular, we show that it can be readily used to explore nonlinear effects at terahertz frequencies.

Effects of Gravity on ZBLAN Glass Crystallization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Dennis S.; Ethridge, Edwin C.; Smith, G. A.; Workman, G.

2003-01-01

The effects of gravity on the crystallization of ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3- NaF glasses have been studied utilizing NASA's KC135 and a sounding rocket, Fibers and cylinders of ZBLAN glass were heated to the crystallization temperature in unit and reduced gravity. When processed in unit gravity the glass crystallized, but when processed in reduced gravity, crystallization was suppressed. A possible explanation involving shear thinning is presented to explain these results.

Effects of Gravity on ZBLAN Glass Crystallization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Dennis S.; Ethridge, Edwin C.; Smith, Guy A.; Workman, Gary

2004-01-01

The effects of gravity on the crystallization of ZrF(4)-BaF(2)-LaF(3)-AIF(3)-NaF glasses have been studied using the NASA KC-135 and a sounding rocket. Fibers and cylinders of ZBLAN glass were heated to the crystallization temperature in unit and reduced gravity. When processed in unit gravity the glass crystallized, but when processed in reduced gravity, crystallization was suppressed. A possible explanation involving shear thinning is presented to explain these results.

Effect of Interface Shape and Magnetic Field on the Microstructure of Bulk Ge:Ga

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cobb, S. D.; Szofran, F. R.; Volz, M. P.

1999-01-01

Thermal and compositional gradients induced during the growth process contribute significantly to the development of defects in the solidified boule. Thermal gradients and the solid-liquid interface shape can be greatly effected by ampoule material. Compositional gradients are strongly influenced by interface curvature and convective flow in the liquid. Results of this investigation illustrate the combined influences of interface shape and convective fluid flow. An applied magnetic field was used to reduce the effects of convective fluid flow in the electrically conductive melt during directional solidification. Several 8 mm diameter boules of Ga-doped Ge were grown at different field strengths, up to 5 Tesla, in four different ampoule materials. Compositional profiles indicate mass transfer conditions ranged from completely mixed to diffusion controlled. The influence of convection in the melt on the developing crystal microstructure and defect density was investigated as a function of field strength and ampoule material. Chemical etching and electron backscattered electron diffraction were used to map the crystal structure of each boule along the center plane. Dislocation etch pit densities were measured for each boule. Results show the influence of magnetic field strength and ampoule material on overall crystal quality.

Spectroscopy of Charge Carriers and Traps in Field-Doped Single Crystal Organic Semiconductors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Xiaoyang; Frisbie, Daniel

2017-03-31

The proposed research aims to achieve quantitative, molecular level understanding of charge carriers and traps in field-doped crystalline organic semiconductors via in situ linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy, in conjunction with transport measurements and molecular/crystal engineering.

Characterization of the electro-optic effect in styrylpyridinium cyanine dye thin-film crystals by an ac modulation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshimura, Tetsuzo

1987-09-01

The electro-optic effect in styrylpyridinium cyanine dye (SPCD) thin-film crystals is characterized by a newly developed ac modulation method that is effective in characterizing thin-film materials of small area. SPCD thin-film crystals 3-10 μm thick were grown from a methanol solution of SPCD. The crystal shows strong dichroism and anisotropy of refractive index, indicating that molecular dipole moments align along a definite direction (z axis). When an electric field is applied along the z axis, SPCD thin-film crystals show a large figure of merit of electro-optic phase retardation of 6.5×10-10 m/V, which is 5 times as large as in LiNbO3 crystal, 2 times that in 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA) crystal, and is the largest ever reported in organic solids. The electro-optic coefficient r33 of SPCD crystals is estimated to be approximately 4.3×10-10 m/V, which is 6 times larger than that of an MNA crystal. This value is consistent with that expected from second-harmonic generation measurements.

Prediction and theoretical characterization of p-type organic semiconductor crystals for field-effect transistor applications.

PubMed

Atahan-Evrenk, Sule; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

2014-01-01

The theoretical prediction and characterization of the solid-state structure of organic semiconductors has tremendous potential for the discovery of new high performance materials. To date, the theoretical analysis mostly relied on the availability of crystal structures obtained through X-ray diffraction. However, the theoretical prediction of the crystal structures of organic semiconductor molecules remains a challenge. This review highlights some of the recent advances in the determination of structure-property relationships of the known organic semiconductor single-crystals and summarizes a few available studies on the prediction of the crystal structures of p-type organic semiconductors for transistor applications.

An Experimental Study of the Effects of A Rotating Magnetic Field on Electrically Conducting Aqueous Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran Narayanan; Mazuruk, Konstantin

1998-01-01

The use of a rotating magnetic field for stirring metallic melts has been a commonly adopted practice for a fairly long period. The elegance of the technique stems from its non-intrusive nature and the intense stirring it can produce in an electrically conducting medium. A further application of the method in recent times has been in the area of crystal growth from melts (e.g. germanium). The latter experiments have been mainly research oriented in order to understand the basic physics of the process and to establish norms for optimizing such a technique for the commercial production of crystals. When adapted for crystal growth applications, the rotating magnetic field is used to induce a slow flow or rotation in the melt which in effect significantly curtails temperature field oscillations in the melt. These oscillations are known to cause dopant striations and thereby inhomogeneities in the grown crystal that essentially degrades the crystal quality. The applied field strength is typically of the order of milli-Teslas with a frequency range between 50-400 Hz. In this investigation, we report findings from experiments that explore the feasibility of applying a rotating magnetic field to aqueous salt solutions, that are characterized by conductivities that are several orders of magnitude smaller than semi-conductor melts. The aim is to study the induced magnetic field and consequently the induced flow in such in application. Detailed flow field description obtained through non-intrusive particle displacement tracking will be reported along with an analytical assessment of the results. It is anticipated that the obtained results will facilitate in establishing a parameter range over which the technique can be applied to obtain a desired flow field distribution. This method can find applicability in the growth of crystals from aqueous solutions and give an experimenter another controllable parameter towards improving the quality of the grown crystal.

Enhancement of the dynamic Casimir effect within a metal photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueta, Tsuyoshi

2013-05-01

If the counterposed metal plates are vibrated, when the gap between the plates becomes narrow, the energy of stationary states between the plates increases, and when it spreads, the energy decreases. Light with the energy for this energy difference arises. This is called dynamical Casimir effect. The author has so far investigated the interaction between lattice vibration and light in a one-dimensional metal photonic crystal whose stacked components are artificially vibrated by using actuators. A simple model was numerically analyzed, and the following novel phenomena were found out. The lattice vibration generates the light of frequency which added the integral multiple of the vibration frequency to that of the incident wave and also amplifies the incident wave resonantly. On a resonance, the amplification factor increases very rapidly with the number of layers. Resonance frequencies change with the phases of lattice vibration. The amplification phenomenon was analytically discussed for low frequency of the lattice vibration and is confirmed by numerical works. The lattice-vibrating metal photonic crystal is a system of dynamical Casimir effect connected in series, and so we can expect that a dynamical Casimir effect is enhanced by the photonic band effect. In the present study, when an electromagnetic field between metal plates is in the ground state in a one-dimensional metal photonic crystal, the radiation of electromagnetic wave in excited states has been investigated by artificially introducing lattice vibration to the photonic crystal. In this case as well as a dynamical Casimir effect, it has been shown that the harmonics of a ground state are generated just by vibrating a photonic crystal even without an incident wave. The dependencies of the radiating power on the number of layers and on the wavenumber of the lattice vibration are remarkable. It has found that the radiation amplitude on lower excited states is not necessarily large and radiation on

Selective Precipitation and Concentrating of Perovskite Crystals from Titanium-Bearing Slag Melt in Supergravity Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Jintao; Zhong, Yiwei; Guo, Zhancheng

2016-08-01

Selective precipitation and concentrating of perovskite crystals from titanium-bearing slag melt in the supergravity field was investigated in this study. Since perovskite was the first precipitated phase from the slag melt during the cooling process, and a greater precipitation quantity and larger crystal sizes of perovskite were obtained at 1593 K to 1563 K (1320 °C to 1290 °C), concentrating of perovskite crystals from the slag melt was carried out at this temperature range in the supergravity field, at which the perovskite transforms into solid particles while the other minerals remain in the liquid melt. The layered structures appeared significantly in the sample obtained by supergravity treatment, and all the perovskite crystals moved along the supergravity direction and concentrated as the perovskite-rich phase in the bottom area, whereas the molten slag concentrated in the upper area along the opposite direction, in which it was impossible to find any perovskite crystals. With the gravity coefficient of G = 750, the mass fraction of TiO2 in the perovskite-rich phase was up to 34.65 wt pct, whereas that of the slag phase was decreased to 12.23 wt pct, and the recovery ratio of Ti in the perovskite-rich phase was up to 75.28 pct. On this basis, an amplification experimental centrifugal apparatus was exploited and the continuous experiment with larger scale was further carried out, the results confirming that selective precipitation and concentrating of perovskite crystals from the titanium-bearing slag melt by supergravity was a feasible method.

Measurement of spatio-temporal field distribution of THz pulses in electro-optic crystal by interferometry method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chizhov, P A; Ushakov, A A; Bukin, V V

2015-05-31

We propose a scheme for measuring the spatial distribution of the THz pulse electric field strength in an electro-optic crystal using optical interferometry. The resulting images of the field distribution from a test source with a spherical wave front are presented. (extreme light fields and their applications)

A Crystal Field Approach to Orbitally Degenerate SMMs: Beyond the Spin-Only Hamiltonian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhaskaran, Lakshmi; Marriott, Katie; Murrie, Mark; Hill, Stephen

Single-Molecule Magnets (SMMs) with large magnetization reversal barriers are promising candidates for high-density information storage. Recently, a large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy was observed for a mononuclear trigonal bipyramidal (TBP) [NiIICl3(Me-abco)2] SMM. High-field EPR studies analyzed on the basis of a spin-only Hamiltonian give ¦D¦>400 cm-1, which is close to the spin-orbit coupling parameter λ = 668 cm-1 for NiII, suggesting an orbitally degenerate ground state. The spin-only description is ineffective in this limit, necessitating the development of a model that includes the orbital moment. Here we describe a phenomenological approach that takes into account a full description of crystal field, electron-electron repulsion and spin-orbit coupling effects on the ground state of a NiII ion in a TBP coordination geometry. The model is in good agreement with the high-field EPR experiments, validating its use for spectroscopic studies of orbitally degenerate molecular nanomagnets. This work was supported by the NSF (DMR-1309463).

Hybrid excitations due to crystal field, spin-orbit coupling, and spin waves in LiFePO4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yiu, Yuen; Le, Manh Duc; Toft-Peterson, Rasmus; Ehlers, Georg; McQueeney, Robert J.; Vaknin, David

2017-03-01

We report on the spin waves and crystal field excitations in single crystal LiFePO4 by inelastic neutron scattering over a wide range of temperatures, below and above the antiferromagnetic transition of this system. In particular, we find extra excitations below TN=50 K that are nearly dispersionless and are most intense around magnetic zone centers. We show that these excitations correspond to transitions between thermally occupied excited states of Fe2 + due to splitting of the S =2 levels that arise from the crystal field and spin-orbit interactions. These excitations are further amplified by the highly distorted nature of the oxygen octahedron surrounding the iron atoms. Above TN, magnetic fluctuations are observed up to at least 720 K, with an additional inelastic excitation around 4 meV, which we attribute to single-ion effects, as its intensity weakens slightly at 720 K compared to 100 K, which is consistent with the calculated cross sections using a single-ion model. Our theoretical analysis, using the MF-RPA model, provides both detailed spectra of the Fe d shell and estimates of the average ordered magnetic moment and TN. By applying the MF-RPA model to a number of existing spin-wave results from other Li M PO4 (M =Mn , Co, and Ni), we are able to obtain reasonable predictions for the moment sizes and transition temperatures.

Depoling and fatigue behavior of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystal at megahertz frequencies under bipolar electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhaojiang; Li, Shiyang; Zhang, Yang; Cao, Wenwu

2017-05-01

Bipolar electric field induced degradation in [001]c poled Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-0.29PT) single crystals was investigated at megahertz frequencies. The electromechanical coupling factor kt, dielectric constant ɛr, dielectric loss D, and piezoelectric constant d33 were measured as a function of amplitude, frequency, and number of cycles of the applied electric field. Our results showed that samples degrade rapidly when the field amplitude is larger than a critical value due to the onset of domain switching. We define this critical value as the effective coercive field Ec at high frequencies, which increases drastically with frequency. We also demonstrate an effective counter-depoling method by using a dc bias, which could help the design of high field driven devices based on PMN-PT single crystals and operated at megahertz frequencies.

CRYSTAL: The Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Layers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delnore, Victor E.; Cox, Stephen K.; Curran, Robert J.

1999-01-01

CRYSTAL the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Layers is part of the ongoing series of field experiments to study clouds and their impact on world weather and climate, and will attempt to improve the application of cloud effects in global climate models. CRYSTAL is being planned as two parts: a limited CRYSTAL field campaign in 2001 to examine towering clouds and anvil genesis over the Everglades of Florida, and the main CRYSTAL field campaign in the summer of 2003 in the Tropical Western Pacific. The latter is timed to take advantage of several cloud measurement satellites that will be operational at that time. This paper discusses some of the issues to be addressed in CRYSTAL, gives a brief description of the research plan, and describes its relationship to other important field experiments.

Effect of Crystal Orientation on Fatigue Failure of Single Crystal Nickel Base Turbine Blade Superalloys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arakere, N. K.; Swanson, G.

2002-01-01

High cycle fatigue (HCF) induced failures in aircraft gas turbine and rocket engine turbopump blades is a pervasive problem. Single crystal nickel turbine blades are being utilized in rocket engine turbopumps and jet engines throughout industry because of their superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance, and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities over polycrystalline alloys. Currently the most widely used single crystal turbine blade superalloys are PWA 1480/1493, PWA 1484, RENE' N-5 and CMSX-4. These alloys play an important role in commercial, military and space propulsion systems. Single crystal materials have highly orthotropic properties making the position of the crystal lattice relative to the part geometry a significant factor in the overall analysis. The failure modes of single crystal turbine blades are complicated to predict due to the material orthotropy and variations in crystal orientations. Fatigue life estimation of single crystal turbine blades represents an important aspect of durability assessment. It is therefore of practical interest to develop effective fatigue failure criteria for single crystal nickel alloys and to investigate the effects of variation of primary and secondary crystal orientation on fatigue life. A fatigue failure criterion based on the maximum shear stress amplitude /Delta(sub tau)(sub max))] on the 24 octahedral and 6 cube slip systems, is presented for single crystal nickel superalloys (FCC crystal). This criterion reduces the scatter in uniaxial LCF test data considerably for PWA 1493 at 1200 F in air. Additionally, single crystal turbine blades used in the alternate advanced high-pressure fuel turbopump (AHPFTP/AT) are modeled using a large-scale three-dimensional finite element model. This finite element model is capable of accounting for material orthotrophy and variation in primary and secondary crystal orientation. Effects of variation in crystal orientation on blade stress response are studied based on 297

Simulations of surface stress effects in nanoscale single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zadin, V.; Veske, M.; Vigonski, S.; Jansson, V.; Muszinsky, J.; Parviainen, S.; Aabloo, A.; Djurabekova, F.

2018-04-01

Onset of vacuum arcing near a metal surface is often associated with nanoscale asperities, which may dynamically appear due to different processes ongoing in the surface and subsurface layers in the presence of high electric fields. Thermally activated processes, as well as plastic deformation caused by tensile stress due to an applied electric field, are usually not accessible by atomistic simulations because of the long time needed for these processes to occur. On the other hand, finite element methods, able to describe the process of plastic deformations in materials at realistic stresses, do not include surface properties. The latter are particularly important for the problems where the surface plays crucial role in the studied process, as for instance, in the case of plastic deformations at a nanovoid. In the current study by means of molecular dynamics (MD) and finite element simulations we analyse the stress distribution in single crystal copper containing a nanovoid buried deep under the surface. We have developed a methodology to incorporate the surface effects into the solid mechanics framework by utilizing elastic properties of crystals, pre-calculated using MD simulations. The method leads to computationally efficient stress calculations and can be easily implemented in commercially available finite element software, making it an attractive analysis tool.

Effect of In Situ Annealing Treatment on the Mobility and Morphology of TIPS-Pentacene-Based Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

PubMed

Yang, Fuqiang; Wang, Xiaolin; Fan, Huidong; Tang, Ying; Yang, Jianjun; Yu, Junsheng

2017-08-23

In this work, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with a bottom gate top contact structure were fabricated by using a spray-coating method, and the influence of in situ annealing treatment on the OFET performance was investigated. Compared to the conventional post-annealing method, the field-effect mobility of OFET with 60 °C in situ annealing treatment was enhanced nearly four times from 0.056 to 0.191 cm 2 /Vs. The surface morphologies and the crystallization of TIPS-pentacene films were characterized by optical microscope, atomic force microscope, and X-ray diffraction. We found that the increased mobility was mainly attributed to the improved crystallization and highly ordered TIPS-pentacene molecules.

Effect of In Situ Annealing Treatment on the Mobility and Morphology of TIPS-Pentacene-Based Organic Field-Effect Transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Fuqiang; Wang, Xiaolin; Fan, Huidong; Tang, Ying; Yang, Jianjun; Yu, Junsheng

2017-08-01

In this work, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with a bottom gate top contact structure were fabricated by using a spray-coating method, and the influence of in situ annealing treatment on the OFET performance was investigated. Compared to the conventional post-annealing method, the field-effect mobility of OFET with 60 °C in situ annealing treatment was enhanced nearly four times from 0.056 to 0.191 cm2/Vs. The surface morphologies and the crystallization of TIPS-pentacene films were characterized by optical microscope, atomic force microscope, and X-ray diffraction. We found that the increased mobility was mainly attributed to the improved crystallization and highly ordered TIPS-pentacene molecules.

Dimensional effects on the magnetic domains in planar magnetophotonic crystal waveguides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Xiaoyue

2007-05-01

The application of photonic crystal technology in magneto-optic media can yield significant improvements in polarization rotation efficiency and optical switching capability and an overall reduction in magneto-optic device dimensions. Resonant photonic crystal structures in planar ferrimagnetic film waveguides are of interest because they may lead to the development of on-chip magneto-optical switches and isolators for photonic device integration. In the present work, two different methods for the fabrication of on-chip waveguide magnetophotonic crystals, through electron beam lithography and focused ion beam milling, are discussed and demonstrated. A high precision photonic measurement system was set up for testing and analysis of the waveguide devices. The results obtained show photonic band gaps with resonant transmission in the gap, and enhanced magneto-optic rotation efficiency. The character of waveguide modes therein, birefringence effects, and structural variation effects were studied extensively and are presented in this thesis. Planar magnetization control produced by manipulation of the magnetic shape anisotropy in the photonic crystal micro-cavity was demonstrated in this work. By introducing strip structures into the resonant cavity formed on magnetic garnet films with in-plane anisotropy, a bi-stable magnetic state and an enhanced magnetic field reversal mechanism were demonstrated. This effect was extensively studied through experimental and micromagnetic simulation analysis of the polarization rotation hysteresis. The results discussed herein show that domain closure loops between the strips limit the magnification of the coercivity in the resonant cavity and that these limitations can be overcome by the formation of isolated single-domain magnetic microstrips in the cavity.

One-Dimensional Nanostructure Field-Effect Sensors for Gas Detection

PubMed Central

Zhao, Xiaoli; Cai, Bin; Tang, Qingxin; Tong, Yanhong; Liu, Yichun

2014-01-01

Recently; one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure field-effect transistors (FETs) have attracted much attention because of their potential application in gas sensing. Micro/nanoscaled field-effect sensors combine the advantages of 1D nanostructures and the characteristic of field modulation. 1D nanostructures provide a large surface area-volume ratio; which is an outstanding advantage for gas sensors with high sensitivity and fast response. In addition; the nature of the single crystals is favorable for the studies of the response mechanism. On the other hand; one main merit of the field-effect sensors is to provide an extra gate electrode to realize the current modulation; so that the sensitivity can be dramatically enhanced by changing the conductivity when operating the sensors in the subthreshold regime. This article reviews the recent developments in the field of 1D nanostructure FET for gas detection. The sensor configuration; the performance as well as their sensing mechanism are evaluated. PMID:25090418

Control of spontaneous emission from a microwave-field-driven four-level atom in an anisotropic photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Duo; Li, Jiahua; Ding, Chunling; Yang, Xiaoxue

2012-05-01

The spontaneous emission properties of a microwave-field-driven four-level atom embedded in anisotropic double-band photonic crystals (PCs) are investigated. We discuss the influences of the band-edge positions, Rabi frequency and detuning of the microwave field on the emission spectrum. It is found that several interesting features such as spectral-line enhancement, spectral-line suppression, spectral-line overlap, and multi-peak structures can be observed in the spectra. The proposed scheme can be achieved by use of a microwave-coupled field into hyperfine levels in rubidium atom confined in a photonic crystal. These theoretical investigations may provide more degrees of freedom to manipulate the atomic spontaneous emission.

Magnetic islands modelled by a phase-field-crystal approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faghihi, Niloufar; Mkhonta, Simiso; Elder, Ken R.; Grant, Martin

2018-03-01

Using a minimal model based on the phase-field-crystal formalism, we study the coupling between the density and magnetization in ferromagnetic solids. Analytical calculations for the square phase in two dimensions are presented and the small deformation properties of the system are examined. Furthermore, numerical simulations are conducted to study the influence of an external magnetic field on various phase transitions, the anisotropic properties of the free energy functional, and the scaling behaviour of the growth of the magnetic domains in a crystalline solid. It is shown that the energy of the system can depend on the direction of the magnetic moments, with respect to the crystalline direction. Furthermore, the growth of the magnetic domains in a crystalline solid is studied and is shown that the growth of domains is in agreement with expected behaviour.

Rotating Vessels for Growing Protein Crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cottingham, Paul

2005-01-01

Rotating vessels have been proposed as means of growing larger, more nearly uniform protein crystals than would otherwise be possible in the presence of normal Earth gravitation. Heretofore, nonrotating vessels have been used. It is difficult to grow high-quality protein crystals in the terrestrial gravitational field because of convection plumes created by the interaction between gravitation and density gradients in protein-solution depletion layers around growing crystals. The density gradients and the associated convection plumes cause the surfaces of growing crystals to be exposed to nonuniform solution densities, thereby causing the crystals to form in irregular shapes. The microgravitational environment of outer space has been utilized to eliminate gravitation-induced convection, but this approach is generally not favorable because of the high cost and limited availability of space flight. The use of a rotating vessel according to the proposal is intended to ameliorate the effects of gravitation and the resultant convection, relative to the corresponding effects in a non-rotating vessel. The rotation would exert an averaging effect over time, distributing the convective force on the depletion layer. Therefore, the depletion layer would be more nearly uniform and, as a result, the growing crystal would be more nearly perfect. The proposal admits of variations (see figure), including the following: The growing crystal could be rotated about its own central axis or an external axis. The crystal-growth vessel could be of any of various shapes, including cylindrical, hemispherical, conical, and combinations thereof. The crystal-growth vessel could be suspended in a viscous fluid in an outer vessel to isolate the growing crystal from both ambient vibrations and vibrations induced by a mechanism that drives the rotation. The rotation could be coupled to the crystal-growth vessel by viscous or magnetic means. The crystal-growth vessel could be supported within the

Effect of binder liquid type on spherical crystallization.

PubMed

Maghsoodi, Maryam; Hajipour, Ali

2014-11-01

Spherical crystallization is a process of formation of agglomerates of crystals held together by binder liquid. This research focused on understanding the effect of type of solvents used as binder liquid on the agglomeration of crystals. Carbamazepine and ethanol/water were used respectively as a model drug and crystallization system. Eight solvents as binder liquid including chloroform, dichloromethane, isopropyl acetate, ethyl acetate, n-hexane, dimethyl aniline, benzene and toluene were examined to better understand the relationship between the physical properties of the binder liquid and its ability to bring about the formation of the agglomerates. Moreover, the agglomerates obtained from effective solvents as binder liquid were evaluated in term of size, apparent particle density and compressive strength. In this study the clear trend was observed experimentally in the agglomerate formation as a function of physical properties of the binder liquid such as miscibility with crystallization system. Furthermore, the properties of obtained agglomerates such as size, apparent particle density and compressive strength were directly related to physical properties of effective binder liquids. RESULTS of this study offer a useful starting point for a conceptual framework to guide the selection of solvent systems for spherical crystallization.

Effect of amino acid doping on the growth and ferroelectric properties of triglycine sulphate single crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Raghavan, C.M.; Sankar, R.; Mohan Kumar, R.

2008-02-05

Effect of amino acids (L-leucine and isoleucine) doping on the growth aspects and ferroelectric properties of triglycine sulphate crystals has been studied. Pure and doped crystals were grown from aqueous solution by low temperature solution growth technique. The cell parameter values were found to significantly vary for doped crystals. Fourier transform infrared analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups in the grown crystal. Morphology study reveals that amino acid doping induces faster growth rate along b-direction leading to a wide b-plane and hence suitable for pyroelectric detector applications. Ferroelectric domain structure has been studied by atomic force microscopy and hysteresismore » measurements reveal an increase of coercive field due to the formation of single domain pattern.« less

Large Electro-Optic Kerr Effect in Ionic Liquid Crystals: Connecting Features of Liquid Crystals and Polyelectrolytes.

PubMed

Schlick, M Christian; Kapernaum, Nadia; Neidhardt, Manuel M; Wöhrle, Tobias; Stöckl, Yannick; Laschat, Sabine; Giesselmann, Frank

2018-06-06

The electro-optic Kerr effect in simple dipolar fluids such as nitrobenzene has been widely applied in electro-optical phase modulators and light shutters. In 2005, the discovery of the large Kerr effect in liquid-crystalline blue phases (Y. Hisakado et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 96-98.) gave new directions to the search for advanced Kerr effect materials. Even though the Kerr effect is present in all transparent and optically isotropic media, it is well known that the effect can be anomalously large in complex fluids, namely in the isotropic phase of liquid crystals or in polyelectrolyte solutions. Herein, it is shown that the Kerr effect in the isotropic phase of ionic liquid crystals combines the effective counterion polarization mechanism found in polyelectrolytes and the unique pretransitional growth of the Kerr constant found in the isotropic phase of nematic liquid crystals. Maximum Kerr constants in the order of several 10 -11  m V -2 (ten times higher than the Kerr constant of the toxic nitrobenzene and less temperature sensitive than Kerr constants of nematic liquid crystals) make ionic liquid crystals attractive as new class of functional materials in low-speed Kerr effect applications. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effect of H{sup +} implantation on the optical properties of semi-insulating GaAs crystals in the IR spectral region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klyui, N. I.; Lozinskii, V. B., E-mail: lvb@isp.kiev.ua; Liptuga, A. I.

2017-03-15

The optical properties of semi-insulating GaAs crystals subjected to multienergy hydrogen-ion implantation and treatment in a high-frequency electromagnetic field are studied in the infrared spectral region. It is established that such combined treatment provides a means for substantially increasing the transmittance of GaAs crystals to values characteristic of crystals of high optical quality. On the basis of analysis of the infrared transmittance and reflectance data, Raman spectroscopy data, and atomic-force microscopy data on the surface morphology of the crystals, a physical model is proposed to interpret the effects experimentally observed in the crystals. The model takes into account the interactionmore » of radiation defects with the initial structural defects in the crystals as well as the effect of compensation of defect centers by hydrogen during high-frequency treatment.« less

Effect of medicinal plants on the crystallization of cholesterol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saraswathi, N. T.; Gnanam, F. D.

1997-08-01

One of the least desirable calcifications in the human body is the mineral deposition in atherosclerosis plaques. These plaques principally consist of lipids such as cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, phospholipids and triglycerides. Chemical analysis of advanced plaques have shown the presence of considerable amounts of free cholesterol identified as cholesterol monohydrate crystals. Cholesterol has been crystallized in vitro. The extracts of some of the Indian medicinal plants detailed below were used as additives to study their effect on the crystallization behaviour of cholesterol. It has been found that many of the herbs have inhibitory effect on the crystallization such as nucleation, crystal size and habit modification. The inhibitory effect of the plants are graded as Commiphora mughul > Aegle marmeleos > Cynoden dactylon > Musa paradisiaca > Polygala javana > Alphinia officinarum > Solanum trilobatum > Enicostemma lyssopifolium.

Tunable two-dimensional photonic crystals using liquid crystal infiltration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonard, S. W.; Mondia, J. P.; van Driel, H. M.; Toader, O.; John, S.; Busch, K.; Birner, A.; Gösele, U.; Lehmann, V.

2000-01-01

The photonic band gap of a two-dimensional photonic crystal is continuously tuned using the temperature dependent refractive index of a liquid crystal. Liquid crystal E7 was infiltrated into the air pores of a macroporous silicon photonic crystal with a triangular lattice pitch of 1.58 μm and a band gap wavelength range of 3.3-5.7 μm. After infiltration, the band gap for the H polarized field shifted dramatically to 4.4-6.0 μm while that of the E-polarized field collapsed. As the sample was heated to the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature of the liquid crystal (59 °C), the short-wavelength band edge of the H gap shifted by as much as 70 nm while the long-wavelength edge was constant within experimental error. Band structure calculations incorporating the temperature dependence of the liquid crystal birefringence can account for our results and also point to an escaped-radial alignment of the liquid crystal in the nematic phase.

Gigantic magnetoelectric effect caused by magnetic-field-induced canted antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition in quasi-two-dimensional Ca2CoSi2O7 crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akaki, M.; Tozawa, J.; Akahoshi, D.; Kuwahara, H.

2009-05-01

We have investigated the magnetic and dielectric properties of Ca2CoSi2O7 crystal. The dielectricity and magnetism of Ca2CoSi2O7 are strongly coupled below a canted antiferromagnetic transition temperature (TN). Magnetic fields induce electric polarization below TN. Interestingly, the magnetic-field-induced electric polarization is detected even without poling electric fields. Below TN, a canted antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition is induced by magnetic fields. The large magnetocapacitance is observed around TN. The origin of the large magnetocapacitance is due to the magnetic-field-induced the canted antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition.

Two-dimensional liquid crystalline growth within a phase-field-crystal model.

PubMed

Tang, Sai; Praetorius, Simon; Backofen, Rainer; Voigt, Axel; Yu, Yan-Mei; Wang, Jincheng

2015-07-01

By using a two-dimensional phase-field-crystal (PFC) model, the liquid crystalline growth of the plastic triangular phase is simulated with emphasis on crystal shape and topological defect formation. The equilibrium shape of a plastic triangular crystal (PTC) grown from an isotropic phase is compared with that grown from a columnar or smectic-A (CSA) phase. While the shape of a PTC nucleus in the isotropic phase is almost identical to that of the classical PFC model, the shape of a PTC nucleus in CSA is affected by the orientation of stripes in the CSA phase, and irregular hexagonal, elliptical, octagonal, and rectangular shapes are obtained. Concerning the dynamics of the growth process, we analyze the topological structure of the nematic order, which starts from nucleation of +1/2 and -1/2 disclination pairs at the PTC growth front and evolves into hexagonal cells consisting of +1 vortices surrounded by six satellite -1/2 disclinations. It is found that the orientational and the positional order do not evolve simultaneously; the orientational order evolves behind the positional order, leading to a large transition zone, which can span over several lattice spacings.

Simultaneous negative refraction and focusing of fundamental frequency and second-harmonic fields by two-dimensional photonic crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Jun; College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Henan Normal University, 453007 Xinxiang, Henan; Zhang, Xiangdong, E-mail: zhangxd@bit.edu.cn

2015-09-28

Simultaneous negative refraction for both the fundamental frequency (FF) and second-harmonic (SH) fields in two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals have been found through both the physical analysis and exact numerical simulation. By combining such a property with the phase-matching condition and strong second-order susceptibility, we have designed a SH lens to realize focusing for both the FF and SH fields at the same time. Good-quality non-near field images for both FF and SH fields have been observed. The physical mechanism for such SH focusing phenomena has been disclosed, which is different from the backward SH generation as has been pointed outmore » in the previous investigations. In addition, the effect of absorption losses on the phenomena has also been discussed. Thus, potential applications of these phenomena to biphotonic microscopy technique are anticipated.« less

Electric-field-induced flow-aligning state in a nematic liquid crystal.

PubMed

Fatriansyah, Jaka Fajar; Orihara, Hiroshi

2015-04-01

The response of shear stress to a weak ac electric field as a probe is measured in a nematic liquid crystal under shear flow and dc electric fields. Two states with different responses are clearly observed when the dc electric field is changed at a constant shear rate: the flow aligning and non-flow aligning states. The director lies in the shear plane in the flow aligning state and out of the plane in the non-flow aligning state. Through application of dc electric field, the non-flow aligning state can be changed to the flow aligning state. In the transition from the flow aligning state to the non-flow aligning state, it is found that the response increases and the relaxation time becomes longer. Here, the experimental results in the flow aligning state are discussed on the basis of the Ericksen-Leslie theory.

Enhanced magnetic hysteresis in Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal and its influence on magnetic shape memory effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heczko, O.; Drahokoupil, J.; Straka, L.

2015-05-01

Enhanced magnetic hysteresis due to boron doping in combination with magnetic shape memory effect in Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal results in new interesting functionality of magnetic shape memory (MSM) alloys such as mechanical demagnetization. In Ni50.0Mn28.5Ga21.5 single crystal, the boron doping increased magnetic coercivity from few Oe to 270 Oe while not affecting the transformation behavior and 10 M martensite structure. However, the magnetic field needed for MSM effect also increased in doped sample. The magnetic behavior is compared to undoped single crystal of similar composition. The evidence from the X-ray diffraction, magnetic domain structure, magnetization loops, and temperature evolution of the magnetic coercivity points out that the enhanced hysteresis is caused by stress-induced anisotropy.

Comparative analysis of 2D spatio-temporal visualisation techniques for the pulsed THz-radiation field using an electro-optic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ushakov, A. A.; Chizhov, P. A.; Bukin, V. V.; Garnov, S. V.; Savel'ev, A. B.

2018-05-01

Two 2D techniques for visualising the field of pulsed THz radiation ('shadow' and 'interferometric'), which are based on the linear electro-optical effect with application of a ZnTe detector crystal 1 × 1 cm in size, are compared. The noise level and dynamic range for the aforementioned techniques are analysed and their applicability limits are discussed.

Organic semiconductor crystals.

PubMed

Wang, Chengliang; Dong, Huanli; Jiang, Lang; Hu, Wenping

2018-01-22

Organic semiconductors have attracted a lot of attention since the discovery of highly doped conductive polymers, due to the potential application in field-effect transistors (OFETs), light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and photovoltaic cells (OPVs). Single crystals of organic semiconductors are particularly intriguing because they are free of grain boundaries and have long-range periodic order as well as minimal traps and defects. Hence, organic semiconductor crystals provide a powerful tool for revealing the intrinsic properties, examining the structure-property relationships, demonstrating the important factors for high performance devices and uncovering fundamental physics in organic semiconductors. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular packing, morphology and charge transport features of organic semiconductor crystals, the control of crystallization for achieving high quality crystals and the device physics in the three main applications. We hope that this comprehensive summary can give a clear picture of the state-of-art status and guide future work in this area.

Hybrid excitations due to crystal field, spin-orbit coupling, and spin waves in LiFePO 4

DOE PAGES

Yiu, Yuen; Le, Manh Duc; Toft-Peterson, Rasmus; ...

2017-03-09

Here, we report on the spin waves and crystal field excitations in single crystal LiFePO 4 by inelastic neutron scattering over a wide range of temperatures, below and above the antiferromagnetic transition of this system. In particular, we find extra excitations below T N = 50 K that are nearly dispersionless and are most intense around magnetic zone centers. Furthermore, we show that these excitations correspond to transitions between thermally occupied excited states of Fe 2 + due to splitting of the S = 2 levels that arise from the crystal field and spin-orbit interactions. These excitations are further amplifiedmore » by the highly distorted nature of the oxygen octahedron surrounding the iron atoms. Above T N , magnetic fluctuations are observed up to at least 720 K, with an additional inelastic excitation around 4 meV, which we attribute to single-ion effects, as its intensity weakens slightly at 720 K compared to 100 K, which is consistent with the calculated cross sections using a single-ion model. This theoretical analysis, using the MF-RPA model, provides both detailed spectra of the Fe d shell and estimates of the average ordered magnetic moment and T N . By applying the MF-RPA model to a number of existing spin-wave results from other Li M PO 4 ( M = Mn , Co, and Ni), we are able to obtain reasonable predictions for the moment sizes and transition temperatures.« less

Critical behavior of the spin-1 and spin-3/2 Baxter-Wu model in a crystal field.

PubMed

Dias, D A; Xavier, J C; Plascak, J A

2017-01-01

The phase diagram and the critical behavior of the spin-1 and the spin-3/2 two-dimensional Baxter-Wu model in a crystal field are studied by conventional finite-size scaling and conformal invariance theory. The phase diagram of this model, for the spin-1 case, is qualitatively the same as those of the diluted 4-states Potts model and the spin-1 Blume-Capel model. However, for the present case, instead of a tricritical point one has a pentacritical point for a finite value of the crystal field, in disagreement with previous work based on finite-size calculations. On the other hand, for the spin-3/2 case, the phase diagram is much richer and can present, besides a pentacritical point, an additional multicritical end point. Our results also support that the universality class of the critical behavior of the spin-1 and spin-3/2 Baxter-Wu model in a crystal field is the same as the pure Baxter-Wu model, even at the multicritical points.

SdsA polymorph isolation and improvement of their crystal quality using nonconventional crystallization techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De la Mora, Eugenio; Flores-Hernández, Edith; Jakoncic, Jean

SdsA, a sodium dodecyl sulfate hydrolase, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was crystallized in three different crystal polymorphs and their three-dimensional structure was determined. The different polymorphs present different crystal packing habits. One of the polymorphs suggests the existence of a tetramer, an oligomeric state not observed previously, while the crystal packing of the remaining two polymorphs obstructs the active site entrance but stabilizes flexible regions of the protein. Nonconventional crystallization methods that minimize convection, such as counterdiffusion in polyvinyl alcohol gel coupled with the influence of a 500 MHz (10.2 T) magnetic field, were necessary to isolate the poorest diffracting polymorphmore » and increase its internal order to determine its structure by X-ray diffraction. In conclusion, the results obtained show the effectiveness of nonconventional crystallographic methods to isolate different crystal polymorphs.« less

Atomistic polarizable force field for molecular dynamics simulations of azide anion containing ionic liquids and crystals.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starovoytov, Oleg; Hooper, Justin; Borodin, Oleg; Smith, Grant

2010-03-01

Atomistic polarizable force field has been developed for a number of azide anion containing ionic liquids and crystals. Hybrid Molecular Dynamics/Monte Carlo (MD/MC) simulations were performed on methylguanazinium azide and 1-(2-butynyl)-3-methyl-imidazolium azide crystals, while 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium azide and 1-amino-3-methyl-1,2,3-triazolium azide ionic liquids were investigated using MD simulations. Crystal cell parameters and crystal structures of 1-(2-butynyl)-3-methyl-imidazolium azide were found in good agreement with X-ray experimental data. Density and ion transport of 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium azide predicted from MD simulations were in good agreement with experiments. Details of the ionic liquid structure and relaxation mechanism will be discussed.

The effect of temperature and gas flow on the physical vapour growth of mm-scale rubrene crystals for organic FETs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullah, A. R.; Micolich, A. P.; Cochrane, J. W.; Hamilton, A. R.

2007-12-01

There has recently been significant interest in rubrene single-crystals grown using physical vapour transport techniques due to their application in high-mobility organic field-effect transistor (OFET) devices. Despite numerous studies of the electrical properties of such crystals, there has only been one study to date focussing on characterising and optimising the crystal growth as a function of the relevant growth parameters. Here we present a study of the dependence of the yield of useful crystals (defined as crystals with at least one dimension of order 1 mm) on the temperature and volume flow of carrier gas used in the physical vapour growth process.

Modelling of thermal field and point defect dynamics during silicon single crystal growth using CZ technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabanskis, A.; Virbulis, J.

2018-05-01

Mathematical modelling is employed to numerically analyse the dynamics of the Czochralski (CZ) silicon single crystal growth. The model is axisymmetric, its thermal part describes heat transfer by conduction and thermal radiation, and allows to predict the time-dependent shape of the crystal-melt interface. Besides the thermal field, the point defect dynamics is modelled using the finite element method. The considered process consists of cone growth and cylindrical phases, including a short period of a reduced crystal pull rate, and a power jump to avoid large diameter changes. The influence of the thermal stresses on the point defects is also investigated.

Anisotropies in the linear polarization of vacancy photoluminescence in diamond induced by crystal rotations and strong magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braukmann, D.; Popov, V. P.; Glaser, E. R.; Kennedy, T. A.; Bayer, M.; Debus, J.

2018-03-01

We study the linear polarization properties of the photoluminescence of ensembles of neutral and negatively charged nitrogen vacancies and neutral vacancies in diamond crystals as a function of their symmetry and their response to strong external magnetic fields. The linear polarization degree, which exceeds 10% at room temperature, and rotation of the polarization plane of their zero-phonon lines significantly depend on the crystal rotation around specific axes demonstrating anisotropic angular evolutions. The sign of the polarization plane rotation is changed periodically through the crystal rotation, which indicates a switching between electron excited states of orthogonal linear polarizations. At external magnetic fields of up to 10 T, the angular dependencies of the linear polarization degree experience a remarkable phase shift. Moreover, the rotation of the linear polarization plane increases linearly with rising magnetic field at 6 K and room temperature, for the negatively charged nitrogen vacancies, which is attributed to magneto-optical Faraday rotation.

Investigation of Three-Dimensional Stress Fields and Slip Systems for FCC Single Crystal Superalloy Notched Specimens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arakere, Nagaraj K.; Magnan, Shannon; Ebrahimi, Fereshteh; Ferroro, Luis

2004-01-01

Metals and their alloys, except for a few intermetallics, are inherently ductile, i.e. plastic deformation precedes fracture in these materials. Therefore, resistance to fracture is directly related to the development of the plastic zone at the crack tip. Recent studies indicate that the fracture toughness of single crystals depends on the crystallographic orientation of the notch as well as the loading direction. In general, the dependence of crack propagation resistance on crystallographic orientation arises from the anisotropy of (i) elastic constants, (ii) plastic deformation (or slip), and (iii) the weakest fracture planes (e.g. cleavage planes). Because of the triaxial stress state at the notch tips, many slip systems that otherwise would not be activated during uniaxial testing, become operational. The plastic zone formation in single crystals has been tackled theoretically by Rice and his co-workers and only limited experimental work has been conducted in this area. The study of the stresses and strains in the vicinity of a FCC single crystal notch tip is of relatively recent origin. We present experimental and numerical investigation of 3D stress fields and evolution of slip sector boundaries near notches in FCC single crystal tension test specimens, and demonstrate that a 3D linear elastic finite element model that includes the effect of material anisotropy is shown to predict active slip planes and sectors accurately. The slip sector boundaries are shown to have complex curved shapes with several slip systems active simultaneously near the notch. Results are presented for surface and mid-plane of the specimens. The results demonstrate that accounting for 3D elastic anisotropy is very important for accurate prediction of slip activation near FCC single crystal notches loaded in tension. Results from the study will help establish guidelines for fatigue damage near single crystal notches.

Effect of microgravity on crystallization of ZBLAN fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Dennis S.

1994-01-01

ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AIF3-NaF (ZBLAN) optical fiber was flown on board the NASA's KC-135 microgravity aircraft to determine the effects of microgravity on crystal growth in this material. Fiber samples were placed in evacuated quartz ampoules and heated to the crystallization temperature in 0g, 1g, and 2g. The 1g and 2g samples were observed to slump and crystallize. The 0g samples showed no evidence of crystallization.

Unconventional topological Hall effect in skyrmion crystals caused by the topology of the lattice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Göbel, Börge; Mook, Alexander; Henk, Jürgen; Mertig, Ingrid

2017-03-01

The hallmark of a skyrmion crystal (SkX) is the topological Hall effect (THE). In this article we predict and explain an unconventional behavior of the topological Hall conductivity in SkXs. In simple terms, the spin texture of the skyrmions causes an inhomogeneous emergent magnetic field whose associated Lorentz force acts on the electrons. By making the emergent field homogeneous, the THE is mapped onto the quantum Hall effect (QHE). Consequently, each electronic band of the SkX is assigned to a Landau level. This correspondence of THE and QHE allows us to explain the unconventional behavior of the THE of electrons in SkXs. For example, a skyrmion crystal on a triangular lattice exhibits a quantized topological Hall conductivity with steps of 2 .e2/h below and with steps of 1 .e2/h above the van Hove singularity. On top of this, the conductivity shows a prominent sign change at the van Hove singularity. These unconventional features are deeply connected to the topology of the structural lattice.

Study of crystal-field excitations and infrared active phonons in TbMnO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansouri, S.; Jandl, S.; Balli, M.; Fournier, P.; Mukhin, A. A.; Ivanov, V. Yu; Balbashov, A.; Orlita, M.

2018-05-01

The Tb3+ (4f 8) crystal-field (CF) excitations and the infrared phonons in TbMnO3 are studied as a function of temperature and under an applied magnetic field. The phonon energy shifts reflect local displacement of the oxygen ions that contribute to the CF energy level shifts below 120 K and under magnetic field. The CF polarized transmission spectra provide interesting information about the debated nature of the excitations at 41, 65, 130 cm‑1. We also evaluate the contribution of the charge transfer mechanism to the magnetoelectric process in TbMnO3 under magnetic field.

Research on temperature field of KDP crystal under ion beam cleaning.

PubMed

Li, Furen; Xie, Xuhui; Tie, Guipeng; Hu, Hao; Zhou, Lin

2016-06-20

KH₂PO₄ (KDP) crystal is a kind of excellent nonlinear optical component used as a laser frequency conversion unit in a high-power laser system. However, KDP crystal has raised a huge challenge in regards to its fabrication for high precision: KDP crystal has special physical and chemical characteristics. Abrasive-free water-dissolution magnetorheological finishing is used in KDP figuring in our lab. But the iron powders of MRF fluid are easily embedded into the soft surface of KDP crystal, which will greatly decrease the laser-induced damage resistance. This paper proposes to utilize ion beam figuring (IBF) technology to figure and clean the surface of a KDP component. Although IBF has many good performances, the thermal effect control is a headachy problem for the KDP process. To solve this problem, we have established its thermal effect models, which are used to calculate a component's surface temperature and thermal gradient in the whole process. By this way, we can understand how to control a temperature map and its gradient in the IBF process. Many experiments have been done to validate and optimize this method. Finally, a KDP component with the size of 200×200×12  mm is successfully processed by this method.

Molecular dynamics simulations of dislocations in TlBr crystals under an electrical field

DOE PAGES

Zhou, X. W.; Foster, M. E.; Yang, P.; ...

2016-07-13

TlBr crystals have superior radiation detection properties; however, their properties degrade in the range of hours to weeks when an operating electrical field is applied. To account for this rapid degradation using the widely-accepted vacancy migration mechanism, the vacancy concentration must be orders of magnitude higher than any conventional estimates. The present work has incorporated a new analytical variable charge model in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine the structural changes of materials under electrical fields. Our simulations indicate that dislocations in TlBr move under electrical fields. As a result, this discovery can lead to new understanding of TlBr agingmore » mechanisms under external fields.« less

Dependence of mobility on shallow localized gap states in single-crystal organic field-effect-transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butko, V. Y.; So, W.; Lang, D. V.; Chi, X.; Lashley, J. C.; Ramirez, A. P.

2009-12-01

In order to optimize the performance of molecular organic electronic devices it is important to study the intermolecular density of states and charge transport mechanisms in the environment of crystalline organic material. Using this approach in Field Effect Transistors (FETs) we show that material purification improves carrier mobility and decreases density of the deep localized electronic state. We also report a general exponential energy dependence of the density of localized states in a vicinity of the mobility edge (Fermi energies up to ∼7 times higher than the thermal energy (kT)) in a variety of the extensively purified molecular organic crystal FETs. This observation and the low activation energy of the order of ∼kT suggest that molecular structural misplacements of the sizes that are comparable with thermal molecular modes rather than impurity deep traps play a role in formation of these shallow states. We find that the charge carrier mobility in the FET nanochannels, μeff, is parameterized by two factors, the free-carrier mobility, μ0, and the ratio of the free carrier density to the total carrier density induced by gate bias. Crystalline FETs fabricated from rubrene, pentacene, and tetracene have a high free-carrier mobility, μ0∼50 cm2/Vs, at 300 K with lower device μeff dominated by localized shallow gap states. This relationship suggests that further improvements in electronic performance could be possible with enhanced device quality.

Photovoltaic effect and photopolarization in Pb [(Mg1/3Nb2/3) 0.68Ti0.32] O3 crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makhort, A. S.; Chevrier, F.; Kundys, D.; Doudin, B.; Kundys, B.

2018-01-01

Ferroelectric materials are an alternative to semiconductor-based photovoltaics and offer the advantage of above bandgap photovoltage generation. However, there are few known compounds, and photovoltaic efficiencies remain low. Here, we report the discovery of a photovoltaic effect in undoped lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate crystal and a significant improvement in the photovoltaic response under suitable electric fields and temperatures. The photovoltaic effect is maximum near the electric-field-driven ferroelectric dipole reorientation, and increases threefold near the Curie temperature (Tc). Moreover, at ferroelectric saturation, the photovoltaic response exhibits clear remanent and transient effects. The transient-remanent combinations together with electric and thermal tuning possibilities indicate photoferroelectric crystals as emerging elements for photovoltaics and optoelectronics, relevant to all-optical information storage and beyond.

G-Jitter Effects in Protein Crystal Growth - A Numerical Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N.; Baugher, C. R.

1995-01-01

The impact of spacecraft acceleration environment on Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) is studied. A brief overview of the Space Shuttle acceleration environment is provided followed by a simple scaling procedure used to obtain estimates of the flow and concentration field characteristics in PCG. A detailed two-dimensional numerical model is then used to simulate the PCG system response to different disturbance scenarios; viz. residual g effects, impulse type disturbances and oscillatory inputs. The results show that PCG is susceptible to g-jitter and is a good candidate for vibration isolation.

Photonic time crystals.

PubMed

Zeng, Lunwu; Xu, Jin; Wang, Chengen; Zhang, Jianhua; Zhao, Yuting; Zeng, Jing; Song, Runxia

2017-12-07

When space (time) translation symmetry is spontaneously broken, the space crystal (time crystal) forms; when permittivity and permeability periodically vary with space (time), the photonic crystal (photonic time crystal) forms. We proposed the concept of photonic time crystal and rewritten the Maxwell's equations. Utilizing Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method, we simulated electromagnetic wave propagation in photonic time crystal and photonic space-time crystal, the simulation results show that more intensive scatter fields can obtained in photonic time crystal and photonic space-time crystal.

Dual-polarized light-field imaging micro-system via a liquid-crystal microlens array for direct three-dimensional observation.

PubMed

Xin, Zhaowei; Wei, Dong; Xie, Xingwang; Chen, Mingce; Zhang, Xinyu; Liao, Jing; Wang, Haiwei; Xie, Changsheng

2018-02-19

Light-field imaging is a crucial and straightforward way of measuring and analyzing surrounding light worlds. In this paper, a dual-polarized light-field imaging micro-system based on a twisted nematic liquid-crystal microlens array (TN-LCMLA) for direct three-dimensional (3D) observation is fabricated and demonstrated. The prototyped camera has been constructed by integrating a TN-LCMLA with a common CMOS sensor array. By switching the working state of the TN-LCMLA, two orthogonally polarized light-field images can be remapped through the functioned imaging sensors. The imaging micro-system in conjunction with the electric-optical microstructure can be used to perform polarization and light-field imaging, simultaneously. Compared with conventional plenoptic cameras using liquid-crystal microlens array, the polarization-independent light-field images with a high image quality can be obtained in the arbitrary polarization state selected. We experimentally demonstrate characters including a relatively wide operation range in the manipulation of incident beams and the multiple imaging modes, such as conventional two-dimensional imaging, light-field imaging, and polarization imaging. Considering the obvious features of the TN-LCMLA, such as very low power consumption, providing multiple imaging modes mentioned, simple and low-cost manufacturing, the imaging micro-system integrated with this kind of liquid-crystal microstructure driven electrically presents the potential capability of directly observing a 3D object in typical scattering media.

Molecular reorientation of a nematic liquid crystal by thermal expansion

PubMed Central

Kim, Young-Ki; Senyuk, Bohdan; Lavrentovich, Oleg D.

2012-01-01

A unique feature of nematic liquid crystals is orientational order of molecules that can be controlled by electromagnetic fields, surface modifications and pressure gradients. Here we demonstrate a new effect in which the orientation of nematic liquid crystal molecules is altered by thermal expansion. Thermal expansion (or contraction) causes the nematic liquid crystal to flow; the flow imposes a realigning torque on the nematic liquid crystal molecules and the optic axis. The optical and mechanical responses activated by a simple temperature change can be used in sensing, photonics, microfluidic, optofluidic and lab-on-a-chip applications as they do not require externally imposed gradients of temperature, pressure, surface realignment, nor electromagnetic fields. The effect has important ramifications for the current search of the biaxial nematic phase as the optical features of thermally induced structural changes in the uniaxial nematic liquid crystal mimic the features expected of the biaxial nematic liquid crystal. PMID:23072803

Lower critical field measurements in YBa2Cu3O(6+x) single crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaiser, D. L.; Swartzendruber, L. J.; Gayle, F. W.; Bennett, L. H.

1991-01-01

The temperature dependence of the lower critical field in YBa2Cu3O(6+x) single crystals was determined by magnetization measurements with the applied field parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. Results are compared with data from the literature and fitted to Ginzberg-Landau equations by assuming a linear dependence of the parameter kappa on temperature. A value of 7 plus or minus 2 kOe was estimated for the thermodynamic critical field at T = O by comparison of calculated H (sub c2) values with experimental data from the literature.

The effect of an external electric field on the growth of incongruent-melting material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uda, Satoshi; Huang, Xinming; Wang, Shou-Qi

2005-02-01

The significance of an electric field on the crystallization process is differentiated into two consequences; (i) thermodynamic effect and (ii) growth-dynamic effect. The former modifies the chemical potential of the associated phases which changes the equilibrium phase relationship while the latter influences the solute transport, growth kinetics, surface creation and defect generation during growth. The intrinsic electric field generating during growth is attributed to the crystallization-related electromotive force and the thermoelectric power driven by the temperature gradient at the interface which influences the solute transport and solute partitioning. The external electric field was applied to the growth apparatus in the ternary system of La2O3- Ga2O3- SiO2 so that the chemical potential of both solid and liquid phases changed leading to the variation of the equilibrium phase relationship. Imposing a 500 V/cm electric field on the system moved the boundary of primary phase field of lanthanum gallate ( LaGaO3) and Ga-bearing lanthanum silicate ( La14GaxSi9-xO) toward the SiO2 apex by 5 mol% which clearly demonstrated the change of the phase relationship by the external electric field.

Particles at fluid-fluid interfaces: A new Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard surface- phase-field-crystal model.

PubMed

Aland, Sebastian; Lowengrub, John; Voigt, Axel

2012-10-01

Colloid particles that are partially wetted by two immiscible fluids can become confined to fluid-fluid interfaces. At sufficiently high volume fractions, the colloids may jam and the interface may crystallize. The fluids together with the interfacial colloids form an emulsion with interesting material properties and offer an important route to new soft materials. A promising approach to simulate these emulsions was presented in Aland et al. [Phys. Fluids 23, 062103 (2011)], where a Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard model for the macroscopic two-phase fluid system was combined with a surface phase-field-crystal model for the microscopic colloidal particles along the interface. Unfortunately this model leads to spurious velocities which require very fine spatial and temporal resolutions to accurately and stably simulate. In this paper we develop an improved Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard-surface phase-field-crystal model based on the principles of mass conservation and thermodynamic consistency. To validate our approach, we derive a sharp interface model and show agreement with the improved diffuse interface model. Using simple flow configurations, we show that the new model has much better properties and does not lead to spurious velocities. Finally, we demonstrate the solid-like behavior of the crystallized interface by simulating the fall of a solid ball through a colloid-laden multiphase fluid.

Segregation effects during solidification in weightless melts. [effects of evaporation and solidification on crystalization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, C.

1975-01-01

Computer programs are developed and used in the study of the combined effects of evaporation and solidification in space processing. The temperature and solute concentration profiles during directional solidification of binary alloys with surface evaporation were mathematically formulated. Computer results are included along with an econotechnical model of crystal growth. This model allows: prediction of crystal size, quality, and cost; systematic selection of the best growth equipment or alloy system; optimization of growth or material parameters; and a maximization of zero-gravity effects. Segregation in GaAs crystals was examined along with vibration effects on GaAs crystal growth. It was found that a unique segregation pattern and strong convention currents exist in GaAs crystal growth. Some beneficial effects from vibration during GaAs growth were discovered. The implications of the results in space processing are indicated.

Effects of humidity and surfaces on the melt crystallization of ibuprofen.

PubMed

Lee, Dong-Joo; Lee, Suyang; Kim, Il Won

2012-01-01

Melt crystallization of ibuprofen was studied to understand the effects of humidity and surfaces. The molecular self-assembly during the amorphous-to-crystal transformation was examined in terms of the nucleation and growth of the crystals. The crystallization was on Al, Au, and self-assembled monolayers with -CH(3), -OH, and -COOH functional groups. Effects of the humidity were studied at room temperature (18-20 °C) with relative humidity 33%, 75%, and 100%. Effects of the surfaces were observed at -20 °C (relative humidity 36%) to enable close monitoring with slower crystal growth. The nucleation time of ibuprofen was faster at high humidity conditions probably due to the local formation of the unfavorable ibuprofen melt/water interface. The crystal morphologies of ibuprofen were governed by the nature of the surfaces, and they could be associated with the growth kinetics by the Avrami equation. The current study demonstrated the effective control of the melt crystallization of ibuprofen through the melt/atmosphere and melt/surface interfaces.

Polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors with location-controlled crystal grains fabricated by excimer laser crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Chun-Chien; Lee, Yao-Jen; Chiang, Ko-Yu; Wang, Jyh-Liang; Lee, I.-Che; Chen, Hsu-Hsin; Wei, Kai-Fang; Chang, Ting-Kuo; Chen, Bo-Ting; Cheng, Huang-Chung

2007-11-01

In this paper, location-controlled silicon crystal grains are fabricated by the excimer laser crystallization method which employs amorphous silicon spacer structure and prepatterned thin films. The amorphous silicon spacer in nanometer-sized width formed using spacer technology is served as seed crystal to artificially control superlateral growth phenomenon during excimer laser irradiation. An array of 1.8-μm-sized disklike silicon grains is formed, and the n-channel thin-film transistors whose channels located inside the artificially-controlled crystal grains exhibit higher performance of field-effect-mobility reaching 308cm2/Vs as compared with the conventional ones. This position-manipulated silicon grains are essential to high-performance and good uniformity devices.

Spherical Particle in Nematic Liquid Crystal Under an External Field: The Saturn Ring Regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alama, Stan; Bronsard, Lia; Lamy, Xavier

2018-03-01

We consider a nematic liquid crystal occupying the exterior region in R^3 outside of a spherical particle, with radial strong anchoring. Within the context of the Landau-de Gennes theory, we study minimizers subject to an external field, modeled by an additional term which favors nematic alignment parallel to the field. When the external field is high enough, we obtain a scaling law for the energy. The energy scale corresponds to minimizers concentrating their energy in a boundary layer around the particle, with quadrupolar symmetry. This suggests the presence of a Saturn ring defect around the particle, rather than a dipolar director field typical of a point defect.

Photovoltaic effect in Bi{sub 2}TeO{sub 5} photorefractive crystal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oliveira, Ivan de, E-mail: ivan@ft.unicamp.brg; Capovilla, Danilo Augusto; Carvalho, Jesiel F.

2015-10-12

We report on the presence of a strong photovoltaic effect on nominally undoped photorefractive Bi{sub 2}TeO{sub 5} crystals and estimated their Glass photovoltaic constant and photovoltaic field for λ = 532 nm illumination. We directly measured the photovoltaic-based photocurrent in this material under λ = 532 nm wavelength laser light illumination and compared its behavior with that of a well known photovoltaic Fe-doped Lithium Niobate crystal. We also show the photovoltaic current to strongly depend on the polarization direction of light. Holographic diffraction efficiency oscillation during recording and the behavior of fringe-locked running holograms in self-stabilized experiments are also demonstrated here as additional indirect proofs ofmore » the photovoltaic nature of this material.« less

Effect of real-world sounds on protein crystallization.

PubMed

Zhang, Chen-Yan; Liu, Yue; Tian, Xu-Hua; Liu, Wen-Jing; Li, Xiao-Yu; Yang, Li-Xue; Jiang, Han-Jun; Han, Chong; Chen, Ke-An; Yin, Da-Chuan

2018-06-01

Protein crystallization is sensitive to the environment, while audible sound, as a physical and environmental factor during the entire process, is always ignored. We have previously reported that protein crystallization can be affected by a computer-generated monotonous sound with fixed frequency and amplitude. However, real-world sounds are not so simple but are complicated by parameters (frequency, amplitude, timbre, etc.) that vary over time. In this work, from three sound categories (music, speech, and environmental sound), we selected 26 different sounds and evaluated their effects on protein crystallization. The correlation between the sound parameters and the crystallization success rate was studied mathematically. The results showed that the real-world sounds, similar to the artificial monotonous sounds, could not only affect protein crystallization, but also improve crystal quality. Crystallization was dependent not only on the frequency, amplitude, volume, irradiation time, and overall energy of the sounds but also on their spectral characteristics. Based on these results, we suggest that intentionally applying environmental sound may be a simple and useful tool to promote protein crystallization. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Magneto-optical properties of biogenic photonic crystals in algae

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Iwasaka, M., E-mail: iwasaka-m@umin.ac.jp; Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012 Saitama; Mizukawa, Y.

In the present study, the effects of strong static magnetic fields on the structural colors of the cell covering crystals on a microalgae, coccolithophore, were investigated. The coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, generates a precise assembly of calcite crystals called coccoliths by biomineralization. The coccoliths attached to the cells exhibited structural colors under side light illumination, and the colors underwent dynamic transitions when the magnetic fields were changed between 0 T and 5 T, probably due to diamagnetically induced changes of their inclination under the magnetic fields. The specific light-scattering property of individual coccoliths separated from the cells was also observed. Light scattering frommore » a condensed suspension of coccoliths drastically decreased when magnetic fields of more than 4 T were applied parallel to the direction of observation. The magnetically aligned cell-covering crystals of the coccolithophores exhibited the properties of both a photonic crystal and a minimum micromirror.« less

Combining phase-field crystal methods with a Cahn-Hilliard model for binary alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balakrishna, Ananya Renuka; Carter, W. Craig

2018-04-01

Diffusion-induced phase transitions typically change the lattice symmetry of the host material. In battery electrodes, for example, Li ions (diffusing species) are inserted between layers in a crystalline electrode material (host). This diffusion induces lattice distortions and defect formations in the electrode. The structural changes to the lattice symmetry affect the host material's properties. Here, we propose a 2D theoretical framework that couples a Cahn-Hilliard (CH) model, which describes the composition field of a diffusing species, with a phase-field crystal (PFC) model, which describes the host-material lattice symmetry. We couple the two continuum models via coordinate transformation coefficients. We introduce the transformation coefficients in the PFC method to describe affine lattice deformations. These transformation coefficients are modeled as functions of the composition field. Using this coupled approach, we explore the effects of coarse-grained lattice symmetry and distortions on a diffusion-induced phase transition process. In this paper, we demonstrate the working of the CH-PFC model through three representative examples: First, we describe base cases with hexagonal and square symmetries for two composition fields. Next, we illustrate how the CH-PFC method interpolates lattice symmetry across a diffuse phase boundary. Finally, we compute a Cahn-Hilliard type of diffusion and model the accompanying changes to lattice symmetry during a phase transition process.

Analytical studies on the crystal melt interface shape in the Czochralski process for oxide single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Ja Hoon; Kang, In Seok

2000-09-01

Effects of the operating conditions on the crystal-melt interface shape are analytically investigated for the Czochralski process of the oxide single crystals. The ideas, which were used for the silicon single-crystal growth by Jeong et al. (J. Crystal Growth 177 (1997) 157), are extended to the oxide single-crystal growth problem by considering the internal radiation in the crystal phase and the melt phase heat transfer with the high Prandtl number. The interface shape is approximated in the simplest form as a quadratic function of radial position and an expression for the deviation from the flat interface shape is derived as a function of operating conditions. The radiative heat transfer rate between the interface and the ambient is computed by calculating the view factors for the curved interface shape with the assumption that the crystal phase is completely transparent. For the melt phase, the well-known results from the thermal boundary layer analysis are applied for the asymptotic case of high Prandtl number based on the idea that the flow field near the crystal-melt interface can be modeled as either a uniaxial or a biaxial flow. Through this work, essential information on the interface shape deformation and the effects of operating conditions are brought out for the oxide single-crystal growth.

Coulomb crystals in neutron star crust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baiko, D. A.

2014-03-01

It is well known that neutron star crust in a wide range of mass densities and temperatures is in a crystal state. At a given density, the crystal is made of fully ionized atomic nuclei of a single species immersed in a nearly incompressible (i.e., constant and uniform) charge compensating background of electrons. This model is known as the Coulomb crystal model. In this talk we analyze thermodynamic and elastic properties of the Coulomb crystals and discuss various deviations from the ideal model. In particular, we study the Coulomb crystal behavior in the presence of a strong magnetic field, consider the effect of the electron gas polarizability, outline the main properties of binary Coulomb crystals, and touch the subject of quasi-free neutrons permeating the Coulomb crystal of ions in deeper layers of neutron star crust.

Giant anisotropy of magnetocaloric effect in TbMnO3 single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Jin-Ling; Zhang, Xiang-Qun; Li, Guo-Ke; Cheng, Zhao-Hua; Zheng, Lin; Lu, Yi

2011-05-01

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in TbMnO3 single crystals was investigated by isothermal magnetization curves for the ab plane at low temperatures. Large magnetic entropy change, ΔSM = -18.0 J/kg K, and the refrigerant capacity, RC = 390.7 J/kg, are achieved near the ordering temperature of Tb3+ moment (TNTb) under 70 kOe along the a axis. Furthermore, the TbMnO3 single crystal exhibits a giant MCE anisotropy. The difference of ΔSMand RC between the a and b axes is field and temperature dependent, which reaches maximum values of 11.4 J/kg K and 304.1 J/kg, respectively. By taking magnetocrystalline anisotropy into account, the rotating ΔSMwithin the ab plane can be well simulated, indicating that the anisotropy of ΔSMis directly contributed from the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Our finding for giant MCE anisotropy in TbMnO3 single crystals explores the possibility of using this material for magnetic refrigerators by rotating its magnetization vector rather than moving it in and out of the magnet.

Tunable long persistent luminescence in the second near-infrared window via crystal field control.

PubMed

Nie, Jianmin; Li, Yang; Liu, Shanshan; Chen, Qiuqun; Xu, Qi; Qiu, Jianrong

2017-09-29

Construction of an active composite as a biomarker with deeper tissue penetration and higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is of great importance for the application in bioimaging. Here, we report a strategy for tuning the emission bandwidth and intensity via crystal field control in long persistent phosphors (LPPs). Ni 2+ -doped Zn 1+y Sn y Ga 2-x-2y O 4 phosphors, with a tunable emission band peaking from 1270 to 1430 nm in the second near-infrared (NIR) window, have been successfully prepared. Such featured materials have the advantages of low absorption and scattering as well as more efficient tissue penetration. The emission spectra can be controlled by tailoring the local crystal field around the activator precisely via substitution of Zn and Sn for Ga. Moreover, with high resolution and weak light disturbance, these developed multi-band afterglow phosphors exhibit great application potential in advanced optical imaging.

Spectroscopic studies and crystal-field analyses of Am{sup 3+}: LiYF{sub 4}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cavellec, R.; Hubert, S.; Simoni, E.

1997-03-01

Fluorescence and laser selective excitation spectroscopy have been used to investigate the electronic energy level structure of the actinide Am{sup 3+} (5{line_integral}{sup 6}) in LiYF{sub 4}. From the analysis of the fluorescence in the visible and infrared spectra obtained at 10K, 29 crystal-field levels have been assigned in the D{sub 2d} approximation. Zeeman splitting observation permits one to index some doubly degenerated {Gamma}{sub 5} levels. The phenomenological crystal-field parameters have been calculated in the D{sub 2d} approximation. A least-square adjustment yields a mean error of 38 cm{sup {minus}1} with the following values (in cm{sup {minus}1}) of the B{sub q}{sup k}more » parameters: B{sub O}{sup 2} = 473, B{sub 0}{sup 4} = -1776, B{sub 4}{sup 4}=2253, B{sub 0}{sup 6} = 80, and B{sub 4}{sup 6} = -2222.« less

Active crystals on a sphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Praetorius, Simon; Voigt, Axel; Wittkowski, Raphael; Löwen, Hartmut

2018-05-01

Two-dimensional crystals on curved manifolds exhibit nontrivial defect structures. Here we consider "active crystals" on a sphere, which are composed of self-propelled colloidal particles. Our work is based on a phase-field-crystal-type model that involves a density and a polarization field on the sphere. Depending on the strength of the self-propulsion, three different types of crystals are found: a static crystal, a self-spinning "vortex-vortex" crystal containing two vortical poles of the local velocity, and a self-translating "source-sink" crystal with a source pole where crystallization occurs and a sink pole where the active crystal melts. These different crystalline states as well as their defects are studied theoretically here and can in principle be confirmed in experiments.

Applications of ultrasound to chiral crystallization, resolution and deracemization.

PubMed

Xiouras, Christos; Fytopoulos, Antonios; Jordens, Jeroen; Boudouvis, Andreas G; Van Gerven, Tom; Stefanidis, Georgios D

2018-05-01

Industrial synthesis of enantiopure compounds is nowadays heavily based on the separation of racemates through crystallization processes. Although the application of ultrasound in solution crystallization processes (sonocrystallization) has become a promising emerging technology, offering several benefits (e.g. reduction of the induction time and narrowing of the metastable zone width, control over the product size, shape and polymorphic modification), little attention has been paid so far to the effects of ultrasound on chiral crystallization processes. Several recent studies have reported on the application of acoustic energy to crystallization processes that separate enantiomers, ranging from classical (diastereomeric) resolution and preferential crystallization to new and emerging processes such as attrition-enhanced deracemization (Viedma ripening). A variety of interesting effects have been observed, which include among others, enhanced crystallization yield with higher enantiomeric purity crystals, spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking crystallization, formation of metastable conglomerate crystals and enhanced deracemization rates. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the effects of ultrasound on chiral crystallization and outline several aspects of interest in this emerging field. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Novel forms of colloidal self-organization in temporally and spatially varying external fields: from low-density network-forming fluids to spincoated crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yethiraj, Anand

2010-03-01

External fields affect self-organization in Brownian colloidal suspensions in many different ways [1]. High-frequency time varying a.c. electric fields can induce effectively quasi-static dipolar inter-particle interactions. While dipolar interactions can provide access to multiple open equilibrium crystal structures [2] whose origin is now reasonably well understood, they can also give rise to competing interactions on short and long length scales that produce unexpected low-density ordered phases [3]. Farther from equilibrium, competing external fields are active in colloid spincoating. Drying colloidal suspensions on a spinning substrate produces a ``perfect polycrystal'' - tiny polycrystalline domains that exhibit long-range inter-domain orientational order [4] with resultant spectacular optical effects that are decoupled from single-crystallinity. High-speed movies of drying crystals yield insights into mechanisms of structure formation. Phenomena arising from multiple spatially- and temporally-varying external fields can give rise to further control of order and disorder, with potential application as patterned (photonic and magnetic) materials. [4pt] [1] A. Yethiraj, Soft Matter 3, 1099 (2007). [2] A. Yethiraj, A. van Blaaderen, Nature 421, 513 (2003). [3] A.K. Agarwal, A. Yethiraj, Phys. Rev. Lett ,102, 198301 (2009). [4] C. Arcos, K. Kumar, W. Gonz'alez-Viñas, R. Sirera, K. Poduska, A. Yethiraj, Phys. Rev. E ,77, 050402(R) (2008).

Enhanced magnetic hysteresis in Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal and its influence on magnetic shape memory effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heczko, O., E-mail: heczko@fzu.cz; Drahokoupil, J.; Straka, L.

2015-05-07

Enhanced magnetic hysteresis due to boron doping in combination with magnetic shape memory effect in Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal results in new interesting functionality of magnetic shape memory (MSM) alloys such as mechanical demagnetization. In Ni{sub 50.0}Mn{sub 28.5}Ga{sub 21.5} single crystal, the boron doping increased magnetic coercivity from few Oe to 270 Oe while not affecting the transformation behavior and 10 M martensite structure. However, the magnetic field needed for MSM effect also increased in doped sample. The magnetic behavior is compared to undoped single crystal of similar composition. The evidence from the X-ray diffraction, magnetic domain structure, magnetization loops, and temperature evolutionmore » of the magnetic coercivity points out that the enhanced hysteresis is caused by stress-induced anisotropy.« less

Crystallization from Gels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narayana Kalkura, S.; Natarajan, Subramanian

Among the various crystallization techniques, crystallization in gels has found wide applications in the fields of biomineralization and macromolecular crystallization in addition to crystallizing materials having nonlinear optical, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and other properties. Furthermore, by using this method it is possible to grow single crystals with very high perfection that are difficult to grow by other techniques. The gel method of crystallization provides an ideal technique to study crystal deposition diseases, which could lead to better understanding of their etiology. This chapter focuses on crystallization in gels of compounds that are responsible for crystal deposition diseases. The introduction is followed by a description of the various gels used, the mechanism of gelling, and the fascinating phenomenon of Liesegang ring formation, along with various gel growth techniques. The importance and scope of study on crystal deposition diseases and the need for crystal growth experiments using gel media are stressed. The various crystal deposition diseases, viz. (1) urolithiasis, (2) gout or arthritis, (3) cholelithiasis and atherosclerosis, and (4) pancreatitis and details regarding the constituents of the crystal deposits responsible for the pathological mineralization are discussed. Brief accounts of the theories of the formation of urinary stones and gallstones and the role of trace elements in urinary stone formation are also given. The crystallization in gels of (1) the urinary stone constituents, viz. calcium oxalate, calcium phosphates, uric acid, cystine, etc., (2) the constituents of the gallstones, viz. cholesterol, calcium carbonate, etc., (3) the major constituent of the pancreatic calculi, viz., calcium carbonate, and (4) cholic acid, a steroidal hormone are presented. The effect of various organic and inorganic ions, trace elements, and extracts from cereals, herbs, and fruits on the crystallization of major urinary stone and gallstone

Dependence of Pentacene Crystal Growth on Dielectric Roughness for Fabrication of Flexible Field-Effect Transistors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, H.; Yang, C; Kim, S

2010-01-01

The dependence of pentacene nanostructures on gate dielectric surfaces were investigated for flexible organic field-effect transistor (OFET) applications. Two bilayer types of polymer/aluminum oxide (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) gate dielectrics were fabricated on commercial Al foils laminated onto a polymer back plate. Some Al foils were directly used as gate electrodes, and others were smoothly polished by an electrolytic etching. These Al surfaces were then anodized and coated with poly({alpha}-methyl styrene) (PAMS). For PAMS/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} dielectrics onto etched Al foils, surface roughness up to 1 nm could be reached, although isolated dimples with a lateral diameter of several micrometers weremore » still present. On PAMS/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} dielectrics (surface roughness >40 nm) containing mechanical grooves of Al foil, average hole mobility ({mu}FET) of 50 nm thick pentacene-FETs under the low operating voltages (|V| < 6 V) was {approx}0.15 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}. In contrast, pentacene-FETs employing the etched Al gates exhibited {mu}FET of 0.39 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}, which was comparable to that of reference samples with PAMS/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} dielectrics onto flat sputtered Al gates. Conducting-probe atomic force microscopy and two-dimensional X-ray diffraction of pentacene films with various thicknesses revealed different out-of-plane and in-plane crystal orderings of pentacene, depending on the surface roughness of the gate dielectrics.« less

Dynamical properties of nematic liquid crystals subjected to shear flow and magnetic fields: tumbling instability and nonequilibrium fluctuations.

PubMed

Fatriansyah, Jaka Fajar; Orihara, Hiroshi

2013-07-01

We investigate the dynamical properties of monodomain nematic liquid crystals under shear flow and magnetic fields on the basis of the Ericksen-Leslie theory. Stable and unstable states appear depending on the magnetic field and the shear rate. The trajectory of the unstable state shows tumbling motion. The phase diagram of these states is plotted as a function of the three components of the magnetic field at a constant shear rate. The phase diagram changes depending on the viscous properties of different types of nematic liquid crystals. In this nonequilibrium steady state, we calculate the correlation function of director fluctuations and the response function, and discuss the nonequilibrium fluctuations and the modified fluctuation-dissipation relation in connection with nonconservative forces due to shear flow.

Effects of Humidity and Surfaces on the Melt Crystallization of Ibuprofen

PubMed Central

Lee, Dong-Joo; Lee, Suyang; Kim, Il Won

2012-01-01

Melt crystallization of ibuprofen was studied to understand the effects of humidity and surfaces. The molecular self-assembly during the amorphous-to-crystal transformation was examined in terms of the nucleation and growth of the crystals. The crystallization was on Al, Au, and self-assembled monolayers with –CH3, –OH, and –COOH functional groups. Effects of the humidity were studied at room temperature (18–20 °C) with relative humidity 33%, 75%, and 100%. Effects of the surfaces were observed at −20 °C (relative humidity 36%) to enable close monitoring with slower crystal growth. The nucleation time of ibuprofen was faster at high humidity conditions probably due to the local formation of the unfavorable ibuprofen melt/water interface. The crystal morphologies of ibuprofen were governed by the nature of the surfaces, and they could be associated with the growth kinetics by the Avrami equation. The current study demonstrated the effective control of the melt crystallization of ibuprofen through the melt/atmosphere and melt/surface interfaces. PMID:22949861

Modeling local structure using crystal field and spin Hamiltonian parameters: the tetragonal FeK3+-OI2- defect center in KTaO3 crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnutek, P.; Y Yang, Z.; Rudowicz, C.

2009-11-01

The local structure and the spin Hamiltonian (SH) parameters, including the zero-field-splitting (ZFS) parameters D and (a+2F/3), and the Zeeman g factors g_{\\parallel } and g_{\\perp } , are theoretically investigated for the FeK3+-OI2- center in KTaO3 crystal. The microscopic SH (MSH) parameters are modeled within the framework of the crystal field (CF) theory employing the CF analysis (CFA) package, which also incorporates the MSH modules. Our approach takes into account the spin-orbit interaction as well as the spin-spin and spin-other-orbit interactions omitted in previous studies. The superposition model (SPM) calculations are carried out to provide input CF parameters for the CFA/MSH package. The combined SPM-CFA/MSH approach is used to consider various structural models for the FeK3+-OI2- defect center in KTaO3. This modeling reveals that the off-center displacement of the Fe3+ ions, Δ1(Fe3+), combined with an inward relaxation of the nearest oxygen ligands, Δ2(O2-), and the existence of the interstitial oxygen OI2- give rise to a strong tetragonal crystal field. This finding may explain the large ZFS experimentally observed for the FeK3+-OI2- center in KTaO3. Matching the theoretical MSH predictions with the available structural data as well as electron magnetic resonance (EMR) and optical spectroscopy data enables predicting reasonable ranges of values of Δ1(Fe3+) and Δ2(O2-) as well as the possible location of OI2- ligands around Fe3+ ions in KTaO3. The defect structure model obtained using the SPM-CFA/MSH approach reproduces very well the ranges of the experimental SH parameters D, g_{\\parallel } and g_{\\perp } and importantly yields not only the correct magnitude of D but also the sign, unlike previous studies. More reliable predictions may be achieved when experimental data on (a+2F/3) and/or crystal field energy levels become available. Comparison of our results with those arising from alternative models existing in the literature indicates

Phase-Field Modeling of Polycrystalline Solidification: From Needle Crystals to Spherulites—A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gránásy, László; Rátkai, László; Szállás, Attila; Korbuly, Bálint; Tóth, Gyula I.; Környei, László; Pusztai, Tamás

2014-04-01

Advances in the orientation-field-based phase-field (PF) models made in the past are reviewed. The models applied incorporate homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation of growth centers and several mechanisms to form new grains at the perimeter of growing crystals, a phenomenon termed growth front nucleation. Examples for PF modeling of such complex polycrystalline structures are shown as impinging symmetric dendrites, polycrystalline growth forms (ranging from disordered dendrites to spherulitic patterns), and various eutectic structures, including spiraling two-phase dendrites. Simulations exploring possible control of solidification patterns in thin films via external fields, confined geometry, particle additives, scratching/piercing the films, etc. are also displayed. Advantages, problems, and possible solutions associated with quantitative PF simulations are discussed briefly.

Crystal Resonators with Increased Immunity to Acceleration Fields

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

D. H. Donnay, McGill University; June :977, pp. 3-7. and M . J. Buerger and C. Frondel, Harvard University. 1241 M . Ono, K. Furusawa , S. Ishigami, T...crystal boundary to the mounting ’copnens supports. The stress distribution within the crystal depends t vi ron m ents of manpack and aircraft...Sase, and M . Sato, "Quartz crystal accelerometer insensitive to temperature variation," in Proc. 31stAFCS, June 1977, pp. 62-70. REFERENCES’ [251 D

Particles at fluid-fluid interfaces: A new Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard surface-phase-field-crystal model

PubMed Central

Aland, Sebastian; Lowengrub, John; Voigt, Axel

2013-01-01

Colloid particles that are partially wetted by two immiscible fluids can become confined to fluid-fluid interfaces. At sufficiently high volume fractions, the colloids may jam and the interface may crystallize. The fluids together with the interfacial colloids form an emulsion with interesting material properties and offer an important route to new soft materials. A promising approach to simulate these emulsions was presented in Aland et al. [Phys. Fluids 23, 062103 (2011)], where a Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard model for the macroscopic two-phase fluid system was combined with a surface phase-field-crystal model for the microscopic colloidal particles along the interface. Unfortunately this model leads to spurious velocities which require very fine spatial and temporal resolutions to accurately and stably simulate. In this paper we develop an improved Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard-surface phase-field-crystal model based on the principles of mass conservation and thermodynamic consistency. To validate our approach, we derive a sharp interface model and show agreement with the improved diffuse interface model. Using simple flow configurations, we show that the new model has much better properties and does not lead to spurious velocities. Finally, we demonstrate the solid-like behavior of the crystallized interface by simulating the fall of a solid ball through a colloid-laden multiphase fluid. PMID:23214691

Spin-glass polyamorphism induced by a magnetic field in LaMnO3 single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eremenko, V. V.; Sirenko, V. A.; Baran, A.; Čižmár, E.; Feher, A.

2018-05-01

We present experimental evidence of field-driven transition in spin-glass state, similar to pressure-induced transition between amorphous phases in structural and metallic glasses, attributed to the polyamorphism phenomena. Cusp in temperature dependences of ac magnetic susceptibility of weakly disordered LaMnO3 single crystal is registered below the temperature of magnetic ordering. Frequency dependence of the cusp temperature proves its spin-glass origin. The transition induced by a magnetic field in spin-glass state, is manifested by peculiarity in dependence of cusp temperature on applied magnetic field. Field dependent maximum of heat capacity is observed in the same magnetic field and temperature range.

Electromagnetic Field Effects in Semiconductor Crystal Growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dulikravich, George S.

1996-01-01

This proposed two-year research project was to involve development of an analytical model, a numerical algorithm for its integration, and a software for the analysis of a solidification process under the influence of electric and magnetic fields in microgravity. Due to the complexity of the analytical model that was developed and its boundary conditions, only a preliminary version of the numerical algorithm was developed while the development of the software package was not completed.

Toward polarizable AMOEBA thermodynamics at fixed charge efficiency using a dual force field approach: application to organic crystals.

PubMed

Nessler, Ian J; Litman, Jacob M; Schnieders, Michael J

2016-11-09

First principles prediction of the structure, thermodynamics and solubility of organic molecular crystals, which play a central role in chemical, material, pharmaceutical and engineering sciences, challenges both potential energy functions and sampling methodologies. Here we calculate absolute crystal deposition thermodynamics using a novel dual force field approach whose goal is to maintain the accuracy of advanced multipole force fields (e.g. the polarizable AMOEBA model) while performing more than 95% of the sampling in an inexpensive fixed charge (FC) force field (e.g. OPLS-AA). Absolute crystal sublimation/deposition phase transition free energies were determined using an alchemical path that grows the crystalline state from a vapor reference state based on sampling with the OPLS-AA force field, followed by dual force field thermodynamic corrections to change between FC and AMOEBA resolutions at both end states (we denote the three step path as AMOEBA/FC). Importantly, whereas the phase transition requires on the order of 200 ns of sampling per compound, only 5 ns of sampling was needed for the dual force field thermodynamic corrections to reach a mean statistical uncertainty of 0.05 kcal mol -1 . For five organic compounds, the mean unsigned error between direct use of AMOEBA and the AMOEBA/FC dual force field path was only 0.2 kcal mol -1 and not statistically significant. Compared to experimental deposition thermodynamics, the mean unsigned error for AMOEBA/FC (1.4 kcal mol -1 ) was more than a factor of two smaller than uncorrected OPLS-AA (3.2 kcal mol -1 ). Overall, the dual force field thermodynamic corrections reduced condensed phase sampling in the expensive force field by a factor of 40, and may prove useful for protein stability or binding thermodynamics in the future.

Advection of nematic liquid crystals by chaotic flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Náraigh, Lennon

2017-04-01

Consideration is given to the effects of inhomogeneous shear flow (both regular and chaotic) on nematic liquid crystals in a planar geometry. The Landau-de Gennes equation coupled to an externally prescribed flow field is the basis for the study: this is solved numerically in a periodic spatial domain. The focus is on a limiting case where the advection is passive, such that variations in the liquid-crystal properties do not feed back into the equation for the fluid velocity. The main tool for analyzing the results (both with and without flow) is the identification of the fixed points of the dynamical equations without flow, which are relevant (to varying degrees) when flow is introduced. The fixed points are classified as stable/unstable and further as either uniaxial or biaxial. Various models of passive shear flow are investigated. When tumbling is present, the flow is shown to have a strong effect on the liquid-crystal morphology; however, the main focus herein is on the case without tumbling. Accordingly, the main result of the work is that only the biaxial fixed point survives as a solution of the Q-tensor dynamics under the imposition of a general flow field. This is because the Q-tensor experiences not only transport due to advection but also co-rotation relative to the local vorticity field. A second result is that all families of fixed points survive for certain specific velocity fields, which we classify. We single out for close study those velocity fields for which the influence of co-rotation effectively vanishes along the Lagrangian trajectories of the imposed velocity field. In this scenario, the system exhibits coarsening arrest, whereby the liquid-crystal domains are "frozen in" to the flow structures, and the growth in their size is thus limited.

Effect of solvent on crystallization behavior of xylitol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Hongxun; Hou, Baohong; Wang, Jing-Kang; Lin, Guangyu

2006-04-01

Effect of organic solvents content on crystallization behavior of xylitol was studied. Solubility and crystallization kinetics of xylitol in methanol-water system were experimentally determined. It was found that the solubility of xylitol at various methanol content all increases with increase of temperature. But it decreases when increasing methanol content at constant temperature. Based on the theory of population balance, the nucleation and growth rates of xylitol in methanol-water mixed solvents were calculated by moments method. From a series of experimental population density data of xylitol gotten from a batch-operated crystallizer, parameters of crystal nucleation and growth rate equations at different methanol content were got by the method of nonlinear least-squares. By analyzing, it was found that the content of methanol had an apparent effect on nucleation and growth rate of xylitol. At constant temperature, the nucleation and growth rate of xylitol all decrease with increase of methanol content.

Three-Dimensional Stress Fields and Slip Systems for Single Crystal Superalloy Notched Specimens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Magnan, Shannon M.; Throckmorton, David (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Single crystal superalloys have become increasingly popular for turbine blade and vane applications due to their high strength, and creep and fatigue resistance at elevated temperatures. The crystallographic orientation of a single crystal material greatly affects its material properties, including elastic modulus, shear modulus, and ductility. These directional properties, along with the type of loading and temperature, dictate an anisotropic response in the yield strength, creep resistance, creep rupture ductility, fatigue resistance, etc. A significant amount of research has been conducted to determine the material properties in the <001> orientation, yet the material properties deviating from the <001> orientation have not been assessed for all cases. Based on the desired application and design criteria, a crystal orientation is selected to yield the maximum properties. Currently, single crystal manufacturing is able to control the primary crystallographic orientation within 15 of the target orientation, which is an acceptable deviation to meet both performance and cost guidelines; the secondary orientation is rarely specified. A common experiment is the standard load-controlled tensile test, in which specimens with different orientations can be loaded to observe the material response. The deformation behavior of single-crystal materials under tension and compression is known to be a function of not only material orientation, but also of varying microdeformation (i.e. dislocation) mechanisms. The underlying dislocation motion causes deformation via slip, and affects the activation of specific slip systems based on load and orientation. The slip can be analyzed by observing the visible traces left on the surface of the specimen from the slip activity within the single crystal material. The goal of this thesis was to predict the slip systems activated in three-dimensional stress fields of a notched tensile specimen, as a function of crystal orientation, using

Simulation of Gravity Effects on Bulk Crystal Growth with Effects on undercooling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuang, S.-H.; Lu, M.-F.

For the production of a perfect single crystal by Bridgman, it is important to acquire the correct information about the heat transfer mechanism and to control the heat transfer in the Bridgman furnace. Because the quality of the crystal is closely related to its thermal history and the transport phenomena in the furnace. Ma et al. (2004) presented that faceting simulation of bulk crystal growth with undercooling method. Lan et al. (2003) developed a new model to study heat flow and facet formation in Bridgman growth with the undercooling satisfied the given growth mechanism. Considering the gravity effects added kinetic undercooling is thus developed. Heat conduction, convection and radiation are considered and coupled with the two-dimensional transient undercooling simulation. The solidification interface temperature is related to the undercooling along the interface and the melting temperature. In this investigation, we are going to apply the developed model to simulate interface in vertical Bridgman crystal growth process for yttrium aluminum garnet subjected to the normal gravity to microgravity. Also, it discusses the effect upon the shape and the propagation of the solidification crystal front.

Modeling the effect of crystal and crucible rotation on the interface shape in Czochralski growth of piezoelectric langatate crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stelian, C.; Nehari, A.; Lasloudji, I.; Lebbou, K.; Dumortier, M.; Cabane, H.; Duffar, T.

2017-10-01

Single La3Ga5.5Ta0.5O14 (LGT) crystals have been grown by using the Czochralski technique with inductive heating. Some ingots exhibit imperfections such as cracks, dislocations and striations. Numerical modeling is applied to investigate the factors affecting the shape of the crystal-melt interface during the crystallization of ingots having 3 cm in diameter. It was found that the conical shape of the interface depends essentially on the internal radiative exchanges in the semi-transparent LGT crystal. Numerical results are compared to experimental visualization of the growth interface, showing a good agreement. The effect of the forced convection produced by the crystal and crucible rotation is numerically investigated at various rotation rates. Increasing the crystal rotation rate up to 50 rpm has a significant flattening effect on the interface shape. Applying only crucible rotation enhances the downward flow underneath the crystal, leading to an increased interface curvature. Counter rotation between the crystal and the crucible results in a distorted shape of the interface.

Phase-field study on geometry-dependent migration behavior of voids under temperature gradient in UO2 crystal matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Weijin; Peng, Yuyi; Li, Xu'an; Chen, Kelang; Ma, Jun; Wei, Lingfeng; Wang, Biao; Zheng, Yue

2017-10-01

In this work, a phase-field model is established to capture the void migration behavior under a temperature gradient within a crystal matrix, with an appropriate consideration of the surface diffusion mechanism and the vapor transport mechanism. The interfacial energy and the coupling between the vacancy concentration field and the crystal order parameter field are carefully modeled. Simulations are performed on UO2. The result shows that for small voids (with an area ≤ πμm2), the well-known characteristics of void migration, in consistence with the analytical model, can be recovered. The migration is manifested by a constant velocity and a minor change of the void shape. In contrast, for large voids (with an area of ˜10 μm2) initially in circular shapes, significant deformation of the void from a circular to cashew-like shape is observed. After long-time migration, the deformed void would split into smaller voids. The size-dependent behavior of void migration is due to the combined effect of the interfacial energy (which tends to keep the void in circular shape) and the surface diffusion flow (which tends to deform the void due to the nonuniform diffusion along the surface). Moreover, the initial shape of the void modifies the migration velocity and the time point when splitting occurs (for large voids) at the beginning of migration due to the shape relaxation of the void. However, it has a minor effect on the long-time migration. Our work reveals novel void migration behaviors in conditions where the surface-diffusion mechanism is dominant over the vapor transport mechanism; meanwhile, the size of the void lies at a mediate size range.

Elastic constants of stressed and unstressed materials in the phase-field crystal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zi-Le; Huang, Zhi-Feng; Liu, Zhirong

2018-04-01

A general procedure is developed to investigate the elastic response and calculate the elastic constants of stressed and unstressed materials through continuum field modeling, particularly the phase-field crystal (PFC) models. It is found that for a complete description of system response to elastic deformation, the variations of all the quantities of lattice wave vectors, their density amplitudes (including the corresponding anisotropic variation and degeneracy breaking), the average atomic density, and system volume should be incorporated. The quantitative and qualitative results of elastic constant calculations highly depend on the physical interpretation of the density field used in the model, and also importantly, on the intrinsic pressure that usually pre-exists in the model system. A formulation based on thermodynamics is constructed to account for the effects caused by constant pre-existing stress during the homogeneous elastic deformation, through the introducing of a generalized Gibbs free energy and an effective finite strain tensor used for determining the elastic constants. The elastic properties of both solid and liquid states can be well produced by this unified approach, as demonstrated by an analysis for the liquid state and numerical evaluations for the bcc solid phase. The numerical calculations of bcc elastic constants and Poisson's ratio through this method generate results that are consistent with experimental conditions, and better match the data of bcc Fe given by molecular dynamics simulations as compared to previous work. The general theory developed here is applicable to the study of different types of stressed or unstressed material systems under elastic deformation.

Effect of manganese doping on PIN-PMN-PT single crystals for high power applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahul, Raffi

Single crystals based on relaxor-lead titanate (relaxor-PT) solid solutions have advanced the world of piezoelectric materials for the past two decades with their giant piezoelectric properties achieved by domain engineered configurations. When single crystals of lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT) solid solution in the rhombohedral phase were poled along [001]c direction with "4R" domain configuration, they exhibited high piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33 >2000 pC/N) and high electromechanical coupling (k33 >0.9) which led to their widespread use in advanced medical imaging systems and underwater acoustic devices. However, PMN-PT crystals suffer from low phase transition temperature (Trt ˜85-95 °C) and lower coercive field (depolarizing electric field, Ec ˜2-3 kV/cm). Lead indium niobate - lead magnesium niobate - lead titanate (PIN-PMN-PT) ternary single crystals formed by adding indium as another constituent exhibit higher coercive field (E c ˜5kV/cm) and higher Curie temperature (Tc >210 °C) than the binary PMN-PT crystals (Ec ˜2.5 kV/cm and Tc <140 °C). When these ternary PIN-PMN-PT crystals are doped with manganese (Mn:PIN-PMN-PT), they behave like hard piezoelectric materials demonstrating an internal bias field (Ei ˜0.8-1.6 kV/cm), leading to low elastic losses and high mechanical Q-factor (Qm >600) compared to the undoped binary crystals (Qm of PMN-PT <150). Although the spontaneous polarization directions for these rhombohedral crystals are in the c directions, the giant piezoelectric effect (d33 >2000 pC/N for PMN-PT) occurs in the [001]c poled crystals, which is attributed to the polarization rotation mechanisms. Hence, domain engineering configurations induced by poling these crystals in orientations other than their polarization axis are critical for achieving large piezoelectric effects. Based on the phase diagram of these solid solutions, with the increase in PT content beyond the rhombohedral phase region, orthorhombic

A hybrid phononic crystal for roof application.

PubMed

Wan, Qingmian; Shao, Rong

2017-11-01

Phononic crystal is a type of acoustic material, and the study of phononic crystals has attracted great attention from national research institutions. Meanwhile, noise reduction in the low-frequency range has always encountered difficulties and troubles in the engineering field. In order to obtain a unique and effective low-frequency noise reduction method, in this paper a low frequency noise attenuation system based on phononic crystal structure is proposed and demonstrated. The finite element simulation of the band gap is consistent with the final test results. The effects of structure parameters on the band gaps were studied by changing the structure parameters and the band gaps can be controlled by suitably tuning structure parameters. The structure and results provide a good support for phononic crystal structures engineering application.

Large piezoelectric properties in KNN-based lead-free single crystals grown by a seed-free solid-state crystal growth method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Jie; Zhang, Faqiang; Yang, Qunbao; Liu, Zhifu; Li, Yongxiang; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Qiming

2016-05-01

We report lead-free single crystals with a nominal formula of (K0.45Na0.55)0.96Li0.04NbO3 grown using a simple low-cost seed-free solid-state crystal growth method (SFSSCG). The crystals thus prepared can reach maximum dimensions of 6 mm × 5 mm × 2 mm and exhibit a large piezoelectric coefficient d33 of 689 pC/N. Moreover, the effective piezoelectric coefficient d33 * , obtained under a unipolar electric field of 30 kV/cm, can reach 967 pm/V. The large piezoelectric response plus the high Curie temperature (TC) of 432 °C indicate that SFSSCG is an effective approach to synthesize high-performance lead-free piezoelectric single crystals.

Molecular dynamics on diffusive time scales from the phase-field-crystal equation.

PubMed

Chan, Pak Yuen; Goldenfeld, Nigel; Dantzig, Jon

2009-03-01

We extend the phase-field-crystal model to accommodate exact atomic configurations and vacancies by requiring the order parameter to be non-negative. The resulting theory dictates the number of atoms and describes the motion of each of them. By solving the dynamical equation of the model, which is a partial differential equation, we are essentially performing molecular dynamics simulations on diffusive time scales. To illustrate this approach, we calculate the two-point correlation function of a fluid.

High pressure luminescence of Nd3+ in YAlO3 perovskite nanocrystals: A crystal-field analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Rodríguez, Miguel A.; Muñoz-Santiuste, Juan E.; Lavín, Víctor; Lozano-Gorrín, Antonio D.; Rodríguez-Hernández, Plácida; Muñoz, Alfonso; Venkatramu, Vemula; Martín, Inocencio R.; Rodríguez-Mendoza, Ulises R.

2018-01-01

Pressure-induced energy blue- and red-shifts of the 4F3/2 → 4I9/2,11/2 near-infrared emission lines of Nd3+ ions in YAlO3 perovskite nano-particles have been measured from ambient conditions up to 29 GPa. Different positive and negative linear pressure coefficients have been calibrated for the emission lines and related to pressure-induced changes in the interactions between those Nd3+ ions and their twelve oxygen ligands at the yttrium site. Potentiality of the simple overlap model, combined with ab initio structural calculations, in the description of the effects of these interactions on the energy levels and luminescence properties of the optically active Nd3+ ion is emphasized. Simulations show how the energies of the 4f3 ground configuration and the barycenters of the multiplets increase with pressure, whereas the Coulomb interaction between f-electrons decreases and the crystal-field strength increases. All these effects combined explain the wavelength blue-shifts of some near-infrared emission lines of Nd3+ ions. Large pressure rates of various emission lines suggest that a YAlO3 perovskite nano-crystal can be a potential candidate for near-infrared optical pressure sensors.

Appearance of singularities of optical fields under torsion of crystals containing threefold symmetry axes.

PubMed

Skab, Ihor; Vasylkiv, Yurij; Zapeka, Bohdan; Savaryn, Viktoriya; Vlokh, Rostyslav

2011-07-01

We present an analysis of the effect of torsion stresses on the spatial distribution of optical birefringence in crystals of different point symmetry groups. The symmetry requirements needed so that the optical beam carries dislocations of the phase front are evaluated for the case when the crystals are twisted and the beam closely corresponds to a plane wave. It is shown that the torsion stresses can produce screw-edge, pure screw, or pure edge dislocations of the phase front in the crystals belonging to cubic and trigonal systems. The conditions for appearance of canonical and noncanonical vortices in the conditions of crystal torsion are analyzed. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Electrically tunable liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olausson, Christina B.; Scolari, Lara; Wei, Lei; Noordegraaf, Danny; Weirich, Johannes; Alkeskjold, Thomas T.; Hansen, Kim P.; Bjarklev, Anders

2010-02-01

We demonstrate electrical tunability of a fiber laser using a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber. Tuning of the laser is achieved by combining the wavelength filtering effect of a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber device with an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. We fabricate an all-spliced laser cavity based on a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber mounted on a silicon assembly, a pump/signal combiner with single-mode signal feed-through and an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. The laser cavity produces a single-mode output and is tuned in the range 1040- 1065 nm by applying an electric field to the silicon assembly.

Mathematical modeling of static layer crystallization for propellant grade hydrogen peroxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Lin; Chen, Xinghua; Sun, Yaozhou; Liu, Yangyang; Li, Shuai; Zhang, Mengqian

2017-07-01

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an important raw material widely used in many fields. In this work a mathematical model of heat conduction with a moving boundary was proposed to study the melt crystallization process of hydrogen peroxide which was carried out outside a cylindrical crystallizer. Considering the effects of the temperature of the cooling fluid on the thermal conductivity of crude crystal, the model is an improvement of Guardani's research and can be solved by analytic iteration method. An experiment was designed to measure the thickness of crystal layer with time under different conditions. A series of analysis, including the effects of different refrigerant temperature on crystal growth rate, the effects of different cooling rates on crystal layer growth rate, the effects of crystallization temperature on heat transfer and the model's application scope were conducted based on the comparison between experimental results and simulation results of the model.

The petrologic history of the Sanganguey volcanic field, Nayarit, Mexico: Comparisons in a suite of crystal-rich and crystal-poor lavas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crabtree, Stephen M.; Waters, Laura E.

2017-04-01

To evaluate if intermediate magmas erupting from Volcán Sanganguey (Mexico) and the surrounding volcanic field are formed by mixing of basalts and rhyolites or if they initially exist as intermediate liquids, a detailed petrological study is presented for eight andesite and dacite magmas. Six of the samples erupted from the central edifice (four andesites and two dacites) are crystal-rich (≤ 50 vol%), whereas the remaining two samples (one andesite and one dacite) erupted from monogenetic vents in the peripheral volcanic field and are crystal poor (≤ 5 vol%). Despite the variation in crystallinity, all samples are multiply saturated in five to seven mineral phases (plagioclase + orthopyroxene + titanomagnetite + ilmenite + apatite ± clinopyroxene ± hornblende). In all samples, plagioclase spans a 30-40 mol% An range in composition and orthopyroxene spans a range in Mg# of 5-10. Pre-eruptive temperatures and oxygen fugacites (relative to the NNO buffer) range from 853 (± 24) to 1085 (± 16) °C and - 0.1 (± 0.1) to 0.9 (± 0.1) Δ NNO, on the basis of Fe-Ti two oxide thermometry. Application of the plagioclase-liquid hygrometer to the samples reveals maximum H2O contents that range from 1.7-6.2 wt%. Comparison with phase equilibrium experiments demonstrates that all plagioclase and orthopyroxene compositions in the crystal-poor samples could have grown from their respective whole rock compositions. Comparison of crystal rich samples with phase equilibrium experiments reveals the presence of sodic xenocrysts which reflect resorption textures and an estimated excess plagioclase crystal cargo of > 6 vol%. The excess plagioclase crystal cargo is not distinguishable from phenocrystic plagioclase based on composition or texture, suggesting that they were also grown in intermediate melts, and are therefore described as antecrystic. No calcic plagioclase xenocrysts (> An79) typical of hydrous arc basalts are observed, thus it is likely that the excess plagioclase

A molecular-field approximation for quantum crystals. Ph.D. Thesis; [considering ground state properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Danilowicz, R.

1973-01-01

Ground-state properties of quantum crystals have received considerable attention from both theorists and experimentalists. The theoretical results have varied widely with the Monte Carlo calculations being the most successful. The molecular field approximation yields ground-state properties which agree closely with the Monte Carlo results. This approach evaluates the dynamical behavior of each pair of molecules in the molecular field of the other N-2 molecules. In addition to predicting ground-state properties that agree well with experiment, this approach yields data on the relative importance of interactions of different nearest neighbor pairs.

Anisotropic Piezocomposite Actuator Incorporating Machined PMN-PT Single Crystal Fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkie, W. Keats; Inman, Daniel J.; Lloyd, Justin M.; High, James W.

2004-01-01

The design, fabrication, and testing of a flexible, planar, anisotropic piezoelectric composite actuator utilizing machined PMN-32%PT single crystal fibers is presented. The device consists of a layer of rectangular single crystal piezoelectric fibers in an epoxy matrix, packaged between interdigitated electrode polyimide films. Quasistatic free-strain measurements of the single crystal device are compared with measurements from geometrically identical specimens incorporating polycrystalline PZT-5A and PZT-5H piezoceramic fibers. Free-strain actuation of the single crystal actuator at low bipolar electric fields (+/- 250 V/mm) is approximately 400% greater than that of the baseline PZT-5A piezoceramic device, and 200% greater than that of the PZT-5H device. Free-strain actuation under high unipolar electric fields (0-4kV/mm) is approximately 200% of the PZT-5A baseline device, and 150% of the PZT-5H alternate piezoceramic device. Performance increases at low field are qualitatively consistent with predicted increases based on scaling the low-field d(sub 33) piezoelectric constants of the respective piezoelectric materials. High-field increases are much less than scaled d(sub 33) estimates, but appear consistent with high-field freestrain measurements reported for similar bulk single-crystal and piezoceramic compositions. Measurements of single crystal actuator capacitance and coupling coefficient are also provided. These properties were poorly predicted using scaled bulk material dielectric and coupling coefficient data. Rules-of-mixtures calculations of the effective elastic properties of the single crystal device and estimated actuation work energy densities are also presented. Results indicate longitudinal stiffnesses significantly lower (50% less) than either piezoceramic device. This suggests that single-crystal piezocomposite actuators will be best suited to low induced-stress, high strain and deflection applications.

Role of internal demagnetizing field for the dynamics of a surface-modulated magnonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langer, M.; Röder, F.; Gallardo, R. A.; Schneider, T.; Stienen, S.; Gatel, C.; Hübner, R.; Bischoff, L.; Lenz, K.; Lindner, J.; Landeros, P.; Fassbender, J.

2017-05-01

This work aims to demonstrate and understand the key role of local demagnetizing fields in hybrid structures consisting of a continuous thin film with a stripe modulation on top. To understand the complex spin dynamics of these structures, the magnonic crystal was reconstructed in two different ways—performing micromagnetic simulations based on the structural shape as well as based on the internal demagnetizing field, which both are mapped on the nanoscale using electron holography. The simulations yield the frequency-field dependence as well as the angular dependence revealing the governing role of the internal field landscape around the backward-volume geometry. Simple rules for the propagation vector and the mode localization are formulated in order to explain the calculated mode profiles. Treating internal demagnetizing fields equivalent to anisotropies, the complex angle-dependent spin-wave behavior is described for an in-plane rotation of the external field.

Numerical modeling perspectives on zircon crystallization and magma reservoir growth at the Laguna del Maule volcanic field, central Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, N. L.; Dufek, J.; Singer, B. S.

2017-12-01

Magma reservoirs in the middle to upper crust are though to accumulate incrementally over 104 -105 years. Coupled crystallization ages and compositions of zircon are a potentially powerful tracer of reservoir growth and magma evolution. However, complex age distributions and disequilibrium trace element partitioning complicate the interpretation of the zircon record in terms of magmatic processes. In order to make quantitative predictions of the effects of magmatic processes that contribute reservoir growth and evolution—such as cooling and crystallization, magma recharge and mixing, and rejuvenation and remelting of cumulate-rich reservoir margins—we develop a model of zircon saturation and growth within a numerical framework of coupled thermal transfer, phase equilibrium, and magma dynamics. We apply this model to the Laguna del Maule volcanic field (LdM), located in central Chile. LdM has erupted at least 40 km3 of rhyolite from 36 vents distributed within a 250 km2 lake basin. Ongoing unrest demonstrates the large, silicic magma system beneath LdM remains active to this day. Zircon from rhyolite erupted between c. 23 and 1.8 ka produce a continuous distribution of 230Th-238U ages ranging from eruption to 40 ka, as well as less common crystal domains up to 165 ka and rare xenocrysts. Zircon trace element compositions fingerprint compositionally distinct reservoirs that grew within the larger magma system. Despite the dominantly continuous distributions of ages, many crystals are characterized by volumetrically substantial, trace element enriched domains consistent with rapid crystal growth. We utilize numerical simulations to assess the magmatic conditions required to catalyze these "blooms" of crystallization and the magma dynamics that contributed to the assembly of the LdM magma system.

Fatigue effect in ferroelectric crystals: Growth of the frozen domains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shur, V. Ya.; Akhmatkhanov, A. R.; Baturin, I. S.

2012-06-01

The model of the fatigue effect during cyclic switching caused by growth of the frozen domain area with charged domain walls has been proposed. It was claimed on the basis of the previous experimental results that for switching in increasing field the frozen domain area started to grow at the given sub-threshold field value and stopped at the threshold field. The influence of the shape and frequency of the field pulses used for cyclic switching has been considered. The uniaxial ferroelectric stoichiometric lithium tantalate single crystals produced by vapor transport equilibration with record low value of coercive field have been chosen as a model material for experimental verification of the model. The formation of the charged domain walls as a result of cyclic switching has been revealed by analysis of the domain images obtained by optical and Raman confocal microscopy. It has been shown that the fatigue degree is equal to the fraction of the frozen domain area. The experimental dependence of the switched charge on the cycle number has been successfully fitted by modified Kolmogorov-Avrami formula. The experimentally observed frequency independence of fatigue profile for rectangular pulses and frequency dependence for triangular pulses has been explained by proposed model.

Electron paramagnetic resonance study of alinement induced by magnetic fields in two smectic-A liquid crystals not exhibiting nematic phases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fryburg, G. C.; Gelerinter, E.

1972-01-01

Using vanadyl acetylacetonate (VAAC) as a paramagnetic probe, the molecular ordering in two smectic-A liquid crystals that do not display nematic phases were studied. Reproducible alinement was attained by slow cooling throughout the isotropic smectic-A transition in dc magnetic fields of 1.1 and 2.15 teslas. The degree of order attained is small for a smectic-A liquid crystal. Measurements were made of the variation of the average hyperfine splitting of the alined samples as a function of orientation relative to the dc magnetic field of the spectrometer. This functional dependence is in agreement with the theoretical prediction except where the viscosity of the liquid crystal becomes large enough to slow the tumbling of the VAAC, as indicated by asymmetry in the end lines of the spectrum.

Comparison of dislocation density tensor fields derived from discrete dislocation dynamics and crystal plasticity simulations of torsion

DOE PAGES

Jones, Reese E.; Zimmerman, Jonathan A.; Po, Giacomo; ...

2016-02-01

Accurate simulation of the plastic deformation of ductile metals is important to the design of structures and components to performance and failure criteria. Many techniques exist that address the length scales relevant to deformation processes, including dislocation dynamics (DD), which models the interaction and evolution of discrete dislocation line segments, and crystal plasticity (CP), which incorporates the crystalline nature and restricted motion of dislocations into a higher scale continuous field framework. While these two methods are conceptually related, there have been only nominal efforts focused at the global material response that use DD-generated information to enhance the fidelity of CPmore » models. To ascertain to what degree the predictions of CP are consistent with those of DD, we compare their global and microstructural response in a number of deformation modes. After using nominally homogeneous compression and shear deformation dislocation dynamics simulations to calibrate crystal plasticity ow rule parameters, we compare not only the system-level stress-strain response of prismatic wires in torsion but also the resulting geometrically necessary dislocation density fields. To establish a connection between explicit description of dislocations and the continuum assumed with crystal plasticity simulations we ascertain the minimum length-scale at which meaningful dislocation density fields appear. Furthermore, our results show that, for the case of torsion, that the two material models can produce comparable spatial dislocation density distributions.« less

The effect of ice crystal shape on aircraft contrails

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meza Castillo, Omar E.

Aircraft contrails are a common phenomenon observed in the sky. They are formed mainly of water, from the ambient atmosphere and as a by-product of the combustion process, in the form of ice crystals. They have been identified as a potential contributor to global warming. Some contrails can be long-lived and create man-made cloud cover, thus possibly altering the radiative balance of the earth. There has been a great deal of research on various aspects of contrail development, but to date, little has been done on the influence of ice crystal shapes on the contrail evolution. In-situ studies have reported that young contrails are mainly quasi-spherical crystals while older contrails can have a much more diverse spectrum of possible shapes. The most common shapes found in contrails are quasi-spherical, hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, and bullet rosettes. Numerical simulations of contrails to date typically have assumed "spherical" as the default ice shape. This work simulated contrail development with a large eddy simulation (LES) model that implemented both spherical and non-spherical shapes to examine the effects. The included shape effect parameters, such as capacitance coefficient, ventilation factor, Kelvin effect, fall velocity and ice crystal surface area, help to establish the shape difference in the results. This study also investigated initial sensitivities to an additional ice parameter, the ice deposition coefficient. The literature shows conflicting values for this coefficient over a wide range. In the course of this investigation a comparison of various ice metrics was made for simulations with different assumed crystal shapes (spheres, hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, bullet rosettes and combination of shapes). The simulations were performed at early and late contrail time, with a range of ice crystal sizes, and with/without coupled radiation. In young and older contrails and without coupled radiation, the difference from the shape effect in

Resonant photonic States in coupled heterostructure photonic crystal waveguides.

PubMed

Cox, Jd; Sabarinathan, J; Singh, Mr

2010-02-09

In this paper, we study the photonic resonance states and transmission spectra of coupled waveguides made from heterostructure photonic crystals. We consider photonic crystal waveguides made from three photonic crystals A, B and C, where the waveguide heterostructure is denoted as B/A/C/A/B. Due to the band structure engineering, light is confined within crystal A, which thus act as waveguides. Here, photonic crystal C is taken as a nonlinear photonic crystal, which has a band gap that may be modified by applying a pump laser. We have found that the number of bound states within the waveguides depends on the width and well depth of photonic crystal A. It has also been found that when both waveguides are far away from each other, the energies of bound photons in each of the waveguides are degenerate. However, when they are brought close to each other, the degeneracy of the bound states is removed due to the coupling between them, which causes these states to split into pairs. We have also investigated the effect of the pump field on photonic crystal C. We have shown that by applying a pump field, the system may be switched between a double waveguide to a single waveguide, which effectively turns on or off the coupling between degenerate states. This reveals interesting results that can be applied to develop new types of nanophotonic devices such as nano-switches and nano-transistors.

Multi-Layer SnSe Nanoflake Field-Effect Transistors with Low-Resistance Au Ohmic Contacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Sang-Hyeok; Cho, Kwanghee; Park, No-Won; Park, Soonyong; Koh, Jung-Hyuk; Lee, Sang-Kwon

2017-05-01

We report p-type tin monoselenide (SnSe) single crystals, grown in double-sealed quartz ampoules using a modified Bridgman technique at 920 °C. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) measurements clearly confirm that the grown SnSe consists of single-crystal SnSe. Electrical transport of multi-layer SnSe nanoflakes, which were prepared by exfoliation from bulk single crystals, was conducted using back-gated field-effect transistor (FET) structures with Au and Ti contacts on SiO2/Si substrates, revealing that multi-layer SnSe nanoflakes exhibit p-type semiconductor characteristics owing to the Sn vacancies on the surfaces of SnSe nanoflakes. In addition, a strong carrier screening effect was observed in 70-90-nm-thick SnSe nanoflake FETs. Furthermore, the effect of the metal contacts to multi-layer SnSe nanoflake-based FETs is also discussed with two different metals, such as Ti/Au and Au contacts.

Magnetostriction of Hexagonal HoMnO3 and YMnO3 Single Crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlovskii, N. S.; Dubrovskii, A. A.; Nikitin, S. E.; Semenov, S. V.; Terent'ev, K. Yu.; Shaikhutdinov, K. A.

2018-03-01

We report on the magnetostriction of hexagonal HoMnO3 and YMnO3 single crystals in a wide range of applied magnetic fields (up to H = 14 T) at all possible combinations of the mutual orientations of magnetic field H and magnetostriction Δ L/L. The measured Δ L/L( H, T) data agree well with the magnetic phase diagram of the HoMnO3 single crystal reported previously by other authors. It is shown that the nonmonotonic behavior of magnetostriction of the HoMnO3 crystal is caused by the Ho3+ ion; the magnetic moment of the Mn3+ ion parallel to the hexagonal crystal axis. The anomalies established from the magnetostriction measurements of HoMnO3 are consistent with the phase diagram of these compounds. For the isostructural YMnO3 single crystal with a nonmagnetic rare-earth ion, the Δ L/L( H, T) dependences are described well by a conventional quadratic law in a wide temperature range (4-100 K). In addition, the magnetostriction effect is qualitatively estimated with regard to the effect of the crystal electric field on the holmium ion.

Effect of Partial Crystallization on the Structural and Luminescence Properties of Er3+-Doped Phosphate Glasses

PubMed Central

Lopez-Iscoa, Pablo; Salminen, Turkka; Hakkarainen, Teemu; Petit, Laeticia; Janner, Davide; Boetti, Nadia G.; Lastusaari, Mika; Pugliese, Diego; Paturi, Petriina; Milanese, Daniel

2017-01-01

Er-doped phosphate glass ceramics were fabricated by melt-quenching technique followed by a heat treatment. The effect of the crystallization on the structural and luminescence properties of phosphate glasses containing Al2O3, TiO2, and ZnO was investigated. The morphological and structural properties of the glass ceramics were characterized by Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Additionally, the luminescence spectra and the lifetime values were measured in order to study the influence of the crystallization on the spectroscopic properties of the glasses. The volume ratio between the crystal and the glassy phases increased along with the duration of the heat treatment. The crystallization of the glass ceramics was confirmed by the presence of sharp peaks in the XRD patterns and different crystal phases were identified depending on the glass composition. Sr(PO3)2 crystals were found to precipitate in all the investigated glasses. As evidenced by the spectroscopic properties, the site of the Er3+ ions was not strongly affected by the heat treatment except for the fully crystallized glass ceramic which does not contain Al2O3, TiO2, and ZnO. An increase of the lifetime was also observed after the heat treatment of this glass. Therefore, we suspect that the Er3+ ions are incorporated in the precipitated crystals only in this glass ceramic. PMID:28772833

Theoretically informed Monte Carlo simulation of liquid crystals by sampling of alignment-tensor fields.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armas-Perez, Julio C.; Londono-Hurtado, Alejandro; Guzman, Orlando

2015-07-27

A theoretically informed coarse-grained Monte Carlo method is proposed for studying liquid crystals. The free energy functional of the system is described in the framework of the Landau-de Gennes formalism. The alignment field and its gradients are approximated by finite differences, and the free energy is minimized through a stochastic sampling technique. The validity of the proposed method is established by comparing the results of the proposed approach to those of traditional free energy minimization techniques. Its usefulness is illustrated in the context of three systems, namely, a nematic liquid crystal confined in a slit channel, a nematic liquid crystalmore » droplet, and a chiral liquid crystal in the bulk. It is found that for systems that exhibit multiple metastable morphologies, the proposed Monte Carlo method is generally able to identify lower free energy states that are often missed by traditional approaches. Importantly, the Monte Carlo method identifies such states from random initial configurations, thereby obviating the need for educated initial guesses that can be difficult to formulate.« less

Theoretically informed Monte Carlo simulation of liquid crystals by sampling of alignment-tensor fields

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armas-Pérez, Julio C.; Londono-Hurtado, Alejandro; Guzmán, Orlando

2015-07-28

A theoretically informed coarse-grained Monte Carlo method is proposed for studying liquid crystals. The free energy functional of the system is described in the framework of the Landau-de Gennes formalism. The alignment field and its gradients are approximated by finite differences, and the free energy is minimized through a stochastic sampling technique. The validity of the proposed method is established by comparing the results of the proposed approach to those of traditional free energy minimization techniques. Its usefulness is illustrated in the context of three systems, namely, a nematic liquid crystal confined in a slit channel, a nematic liquid crystalmore » droplet, and a chiral liquid crystal in the bulk. It is found that for systems that exhibit multiple metastable morphologies, the proposed Monte Carlo method is generally able to identify lower free energy states that are often missed by traditional approaches. Importantly, the Monte Carlo method identifies such states from random initial configurations, thereby obviating the need for educated initial guesses that can be difficult to formulate.« less

Crystallization behavior of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide films and its effects on thin-film transistor performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suko, Ayaka; Jia, JunJun; Nakamura, Shin-ichi; Kawashima, Emi; Utsuno, Futoshi; Yano, Koki; Shigesato, Yuzo

2016-03-01

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering and post-annealed in air at 300-1000 °C for 1 h to investigate the crystallization behavior in detail. X-ray diffraction, electron beam diffraction, and high-resolution electron microscopy revealed that the IGZO films showed an amorphous structure after post-annealing at 300 °C. At 600 °C, the films started to crystallize from the surface with c-axis preferred orientation. At 700-1000 °C, the films totally crystallized into polycrystalline structures, wherein the grains showed c-axis preferred orientation close to the surface and random orientation inside the films. The current-gate voltage (Id-Vg) characteristics of the IGZO thin-film transistor (TFT) showed that the threshold voltage (Vth) and subthreshold swing decreased markedly after the post-annealing at 300 °C. The TFT using the totally crystallized films also showed the decrease in Vth, whereas the field-effect mobility decreased considerably.

Enhanced dual-frequency operation of a polymerized liquid crystal microplate by liquid crystal infiltration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumagai, Takayuki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Ozaki, Masanori

2017-04-01

The electric-field-induced switching behavior of a polymer microplate is investigated. A microplate fabricated with a photopolymerizable dual-frequency liquid crystal was surrounded by an unpolymerized photopolymerizable dual-frequency liquid crystal in the isotropic phase. As an electric field was applied along the plane of the microplate, the microplate switched to set its interior molecular orientation to be either parallel or perpendicular to the field, depending on the frequency. Analysis of the rotational behavior, as well as numerical calculations, showed that the surrounding unpolymerized photopolymerizable dual-frequency liquid crystal infiltrated into the microplate, which enhanced the dielectric properties of the microplate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an enhanced dual-frequency dielectric response of a polymer microplate induced by liquid crystal infiltration.

The effect factors of potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystallization in aqueous solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Cun; Sun, Fei; Liu, Xuzhao

2017-01-01

The effects of cooling rate and pH on the potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystallization process were studied by means of batch crystallization process. The experiment shows that with the increase of cooling rate, the metastable zone width increase and the induction period decrease. When the pH is 3.0, the metastable zone width and induction period are both the minimum, while the crystallization rate is the highest. The crystallization products were characterized by scanning election microscope. Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate (KDP) is a kind of excellent nonlinear optical materials, and belongs to tetragonal system, and ideal shape is aggregate of tetragonal prism and tetragonal dipyramid, the (100) cone is alternating accumulation by double positive ions and double negative ions [1-4]. The crystals of aqueous solution method to grow have large electro-optical nonlinear coefficient and high loser-damaged threshold, and it is the only nonlinear optical crystal could be used in inertial confinement fusion (ICF), KDP crystals are the ideal system to study the native defects of complex oxide insulating material [5-7]. With the development of photovoltaic technology, KDP crystals growth and performance have become a research focus worldwide [8, 9]. The merits of the crystallization process directly affect the quality of KDP products, so the study of the effect of crystallization conditions has an important significance on industrial production. This paper studied the change rule of metastable zone width, induction period, crystallization rate and particle size distribution in crystal process, and discussed the technical condition of KDP crystallization.

Superposition model analysis of zero field splitting for Mn2+ in some host single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bansal, R. S.; Ahlawat, P.; Bharti, M.; Hooda, S. S.

2013-07-01

The Newman superposition model has been used to investigate the substitution of Mn2+ for Zn2+ site in ammonium tetra flurozincate dihydrate and for Co2+ site in cobalt ammonium phosphate hexahydrate and cobalt potassium phosphate hexahydrate single crystals. The calculated values of zero field splitting parameter b 2 0 at room temperature fit the experimental data with average intrinsic parameters overline{b}2 (F) = -0.0531 cm-1 for fluorine and overline{b}2 (O) = -0.0280 cm-1 for oxygen, taken t 2 = 7 for Mn2+ doped in ammonium tetra fluorozincate dihydrate single crystals. The values of overline{b}2 determined for Mn2+ doped in cobalt ammonium phosphate hexahydrate are -0.049 cm-1 for site I and -0.045 cm-1 for site II and in cobalt pottasium phosphate hexahydrate single crystals it is found to be overline{b}2 = -0.086 cm-1. We find close agreement between theoretical and experimental values of b 2 0.

Spontaneous liquid crystal and ferromagnetic ordering of colloidal magnetic nanoplates

PubMed Central

Shuai, M.; Klittnick, A.; Shen, Y.; Smith, G. P.; Tuchband, M. R.; Zhu, C.; Petschek, R. G.; Mertelj, A.; Lisjak, D.; Čopič, M.; Maclennan, J. E.; Glaser, M. A.; Clark, N. A.

2016-01-01

Ferrofluids are familiar as colloidal suspensions of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in aqueous or organic solvents. The dispersed particles are randomly oriented but their moments become aligned if a magnetic field is applied, producing a variety of exotic and useful magnetomechanical effects. A longstanding interest and challenge has been to make such suspensions macroscopically ferromagnetic, that is having uniform magnetic alignment in the absence of a field. Here we report a fluid suspension of magnetic nanoplates that spontaneously aligns into an equilibrium nematic liquid crystal phase that is also macroscopically ferromagnetic. Its zero-field magnetization produces distinctive magnetic self-interaction effects, including liquid crystal textures of fluid block domains arranged in closed flux loops, and makes this phase highly sensitive, with it dramatically changing shape even in the Earth's magnetic field. PMID:26817823

Mechanical and electro-optical properties of unconventional liquid crystal systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Guangxun

Four types of unconventional liquid crystal systems - amphotropic glycolipids; novel bent-core liquid crystals, bent-core liquid crystal and glycolipid mixtures, and colloidal crystal-liquid crystal systems - were studied and characterized by polarizing microscopy, electrical current, digital scanning calorimetry, and dielectric spectroscopy. Thermotropic properties of glycolipids show a number of unusual properties, most notably high (60-120) relative dielectric constants mainly proportional to the number of polar sugar heads. The relaxation of this dielectric mode is found to be governed by the hydrogen bonding between sugar heads. Studies on novel bent-core liquid crystals reveal a new optically isotropic ferroelectric phase, molecular chirality-induced polarity, and transitions between molecular chirality and polarity driven phases. Mixtures of several bent-core substances with nematic, polar SmA and SmC phases, and a simple amphiphilic sugar lipid with SmA mesophase found to obey the well known miscibility rules, i.e. the sugar lipid mixes best with the polar SmA bent-core material. In addition, the chiral sugar lipid was found to induce tilt to the non-tilted polar SmA phase, which represents a new direction among the chirality--polarity--tilt relations. The effects of the surface properties and electric fields were studied on various colloid particles--and liquid crystal systems. It is found that the surface properties (hydrophobicity, roughness, rubbing) of the substrates are important in determining the size and symmetry of colloidal crystals. The director field of the liquid crystal infiltrated in the colloid crystals can be rendered both random and uniform along one of the crystallographic axis. We present the first observations of DC electric-field-induced rotational and translational motion of finite particles in liquid crystals. The electrorotation is essentially identical to the well - known Quincke rotation, which in liquid crystals triggers an

Anti-solvent crystallization of L-threonine in Taylor crystallizers and MSMPR crystallizer: Effect of fluid dynamic motions on crystal size, shape, and recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sooyun; Lee, Choul-Ho; Kim, Woo-Sik

2017-07-01

The influence of the fluid dynamic motions of a periodic Taylor vortex and random turbulent eddy on the anti-solvent crystallization of L-threonine was investigated. The Taylor vortex flow and random turbulent eddy flow were generated by the inner cylinder rotation in a Couette-Taylor (CT) crystallizer and the impeller agitation in a mixed-suspension mixed product removal (MSMPR) crystallizer, respectively. Furthermore, the circumferentially sinusoidal fluctuation of a Taylor vortex was induced in an elliptical Couette-Taylor (ECT) crystallizer . The periodic Taylor vortex flows in the CT and ECT crystallizers resulted in a smaller crystal size and higher crystal recovery ratio of L-threonine than the random turbulent flow in the MSMPR crystallizer due to induction of a higher supersaturation, resulting in a higher nucleation in the CT and ECT crystallizers than in the MSMPR crystallizer. Thus, the crystal size was reduced and the crystal recovery ratio enhanced when increasing the rotation/agitation speed and feed flow rate in the CT, ECT, and MSMPR crystallizers. When increasing the temperature, the crystal size and crystal recovery ratio were both increased due an enhanced mass transfer for crystal growth. The crystal morphology changes according to the fluid dynamic motion with various crystallization conditions were well correlated in terms of the supersaturation.

Bean--Livingston barriers and first field for flux penetration in high- T sub c crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burlachkov, L.; Konczykowski, M.; Yeshurun, Y.

We present evidence for the importance of Bean--Livingston (BL) barriers for field penetration into high-{ital T}{sub {ital c}} crystals. The magnetization curves {ital M}({ital H}) and the first field {ital H}{sub {ital p}} for flux penetration were measured near the transition temperature {ital T}{sub {ital c}} of untwinned Y-Ba-Cu-O crystal by using a miniature Hall probe. There are three observations that serve as evidence for the efficiency of BL barriers: (1) the magnetization was found to be almost zero on the descending branch of the magnetization loop; (2) The slope of {ital H}{sub {ital p}}({ital T}) exhibits a clear changemore » close to {ital T}{sub {ital c}}, being largest at {ital T}{sub {ital c}}; (3) after introducing damage by irradiating the sample, both the field {ital H}{sub {ital p}} and the width of the {ital M}({ital H}) loops reduce significantly, showing almost reversible behavior for the sample. We explain these observations in terms of BL barriers which are shown to be especially important in high-{ital T}{sub {ital c}} superconductors, and these could be responsible for the controversy of the {ital H}{sub {ital c}1} values reported previously in the literature.« less

Dynamic and magneto-optic properties of bent-core liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salili, Seyyed Muhammad

In this work, we describe dynamic behavior of free-standing bent-core liquid crystal filaments under dilative and axial compressive stresses in the B7 phase. We found that such filaments demonstrate very complex structures depending on the filament's temperature relative to the isotropic phase, initial filament thickness, and velocity at which the filament is pulled or compressed. We also present our experimental methods, results and analysis of the rupture and recoil properties of several bent-core liquid crystal filaments, anticipating that they may serve as a model system for complex biological fibers. After that, we systematically describe rheological measurements for dimeric liquid crystal compounds. We studied the shear-induced alignment properties, measured the viscoelastic properties as a function of temperature, shear rate, stress and frequency, and compared the results with the rheological properties of conventional chiral nematic and smectic phases. Then we present results of chiral nematic liquid crystals composed of flexible dimer molecules subject to large DC magnetic fields between 0 and 31T. We observe that these fields lead to selective reflection of light depending on temperature and magnetic field. The band of reflected wavelengths can be tuned from ultraviolet to beyond the IR-C band. A similar effect induced by electric fields has been presented previously, and was explained by a field-induced oblique-heliconical director deformation in accordance with early theoretical predictions. Finally, we report an unprecedented magnetic field-induced shifts of the isotropic-nematic phase transition temperature observed in liquid crystal dimers where two rigid linear mesogens are linked by flexible chains of either even- or odd-numbered hydrocarbon groups. This effect is explained in terms of quenching of the thermal fluctuations and decrease of the average bend angle of molecules in the odd-numbered dimers.

Giant crystal-electric-field effect and complex magnetic behavior in single-crystalline CeRh3Si2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pikul, A. P.; Kaczorowski, D.; Gajek, Z.; Stȩpień-Damm, J.; Ślebarski, A.; Werwiński, M.; Szajek, A.

2010-05-01

Single-crystalline CeRh3Si2 was investigated by means of x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, electrical resistivity, and specific-heat measurements carried out in wide temperature and magnetic field ranges. Moreover, the electronic structure of the compound was studied at room temperature by cerium core-level x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The physical properties were analyzed in terms of crystalline electric field and compared with results of ab initio band-structure calculations performed within the density-functional theory approach. The compound was found to crystallize in the orthorhombic unit cell of the ErRh3Si2 type (space group Imma No.74, Pearson symbol: oI24 ) with the lattice parameters a=7.1330(14)Å , b=9.7340(19)Å , and c=5.6040(11)Å . Analysis of the magnetic and XPS data revealed the presence of well-localized magnetic moments of trivalent cerium ions. All the physical properties were found to be highly anisotropic over the whole temperature range studied and influenced by exceptionally strong crystalline electric field with the overall splitting of the 4f1 ground multiplet exceeding 5700 K. Antiferromagnetic order of the cerium magnetic moments at TN=4.70(1)K and their subsequent spin rearrangement at Tt=4.48(1)K manifest themselves as distinct anomalies in the temperature characteristic of all the physical properties investigated and exhibit complex evolution in an external magnetic field. A tentative magnetic B-T phase diagram, constructed for B parallel to the b axis being the easy magnetization direction, shows very complex magnetic behavior of CeRh3Si2 , similar to that recently reported for an isostructural compound CeIr3Si2 . The electronic band-structure calculations corroborated the antiferromagnetic ordering of the cerium magnetic moments and well-reproduced the experimental XPS valence-band spectrum.

DDA Computations of Porous Aggregates with Forsterite Crystals: Effects of Crystal Shape and Crystal Mass Fraction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wooden, Diane H.; Lindsay, Sean S.; Harker, David; Woodward, Charles; Kelley, Michael S.; Kolokolova, Ludmilla

2015-01-01

Porous aggregate grains are commonly found in cometary dust samples and are needed to model cometary IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Models for thermal emissions from comets require two forms of silicates: amorphous and crystalline. The dominant crystal resonances observed in comet SEDs are from Forsterite (Mg2SiO4). The mass fractions that are crystalline span a large range from 0.0 < or = fcrystal < or = 0.74. Radial transport models that predict the enrichment of the outer disk (>25 AU at 1E6 yr) by inner disk materials (crystals) are challenged to yield the highend-range of cometary crystal mass fractions. However, in current thermal models, Forsterite crystals are not incorporated into larger aggregate grains but instead only are considered as discrete crystals. A complicating factor is that Forsterite crystals with rectangular shapes better fit the observed spectral resonances in wavelength (11.0-11.15 microns, 16, 19, 23.5, 27, and 33 microns), feature asymmetry and relative height (Lindley et al. 2013) than spherically or elliptically shaped crystals. We present DDA-DDSCAT computations of IR absorptivities (Qabs) of 3 micron-radii porous aggregates with 0.13 < or = fcrystal < or = 0.35 and with polyhedral-shaped Forsterite crystals. We can produce crystal resonances with similar appearance to the observed resonances of comet Hale- Bopp. Also, a lower mass fraction of crystals in aggregates can produce the same spectral contrast as a higher mass fraction of discrete crystals; the 11micron and 23 micron crystalline resonances appear amplified when crystals are incorporated into aggregates composed otherwise of spherically shaped amorphous Fe-Mg olivines and pyroxenes. We show that the optical properties of a porous aggregate is not linear combination of its monomers, so aggregates need to be computed. We discuss the consequence of lowering comet crystal mass fractions by modeling IR SEDs with aggregates with crystals, and the implications for radial

Spray printing of organic semiconducting single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rigas, Grigorios-Panagiotis; Payne, Marcia M.; Anthony, John E.; Horton, Peter N.; Castro, Fernando A.; Shkunov, Maxim

2016-11-01

Single-crystal semiconductors have been at the forefront of scientific interest for more than 70 years, serving as the backbone of electronic devices. Inorganic single crystals are typically grown from a melt using time-consuming and energy-intensive processes. Organic semiconductor single crystals, however, can be grown using solution-based methods at room temperature in air, opening up the possibility of large-scale production of inexpensive electronics targeting applications ranging from field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes to medical X-ray detectors. Here we demonstrate a low-cost, scalable spray-printing process to fabricate high-quality organic single crystals, based on various semiconducting small molecules on virtually any substrate by combining the advantages of antisolvent crystallization and solution shearing. The crystals' size, shape and orientation are controlled by the sheer force generated by the spray droplets' impact onto the antisolvent's surface. This method demonstrates the feasibility of a spray-on single-crystal organic electronics.

Anisotropic Laminar Piezocomposite Actuator Incorporating Machined PMN-PT Single Crystal Fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkie, W. Keats; Inman, Daniel J.; Lloyd, Justin M.; High, James W.

2006-01-01

The design, fabrication, and testing of a flexible, laminar, anisotropic piezoelectric composite actuator utilizing machined PMN-32%PT single crystal fibers is presented. The device consists of a layer of rectangular single crystal piezoelectric fibers in an epoxy matrix, packaged between interdigitated electrode polyimide films. Quasistatic free-strain measurements of the single crystal device are compared with measurements from geometrically identical specimens incorporating polycrystalline PZT-5A and PZT-5H piezoceramic fibers. Free-strain actuation of the single crystal actuator at low bipolar electric fields (+/- 250 V/mm) is approximately 400% greater than that of the baseline PZT-5A piezoceramic device, and 200% greater than that of the PZT-5H device. Free-strain actuation under high unipolar electric fields (0-4kV/mm) is approximately 200% of the PZT-5A baseline device, and 150% of the PZT-5H alternate piezoceramic device. Performance increases at low field are qualitatively consistent with predicted increases based on scaling the low-field d33 piezoelectric constants of the respective piezoelectric materials. High-field increases are much less than scaled d33 estimates, but appear consistent with high-field freestrain measurements reported for similar bulk single-crystal and piezoceramic compositions. Measurements of single crystal actuator capacitance and coupling coefficient are also provided. These properties were poorly predicted using scaled bulk material dielectric and coupling coefficient data. Rules-of-mixtures calculations of the effective elastic properties of the single crystal device and estimated actuation work energy densities are also presented. Results indicate longitudinal stiffnesses significantly lower (50% less) than either piezoceramic device. This suggests that single-crystal piezocomposite actuators will be best suited to low induced-stress, high strain and deflection applications.

Measuring of the pitch variation of cholesteric liquid crystals under electric field using wavelength-swept laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ko, Myeong Ock; Kim, Sung-Jo; Kim, Jong-Hyun; Jeon, Min Yong

2017-04-01

We measure the pitch variation of cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) according to the applied electric field using a wavelength-swept laser. While the electric field is applied to the CLC, the pitch of the CLC is elongated normal to the direction of electric field. Therefore, the reflection band is shifted to the longer wavelength. When the applied electric field to the CLC cell was over 1.52 V/μm, the reflection band was changed to the longer wavelength of about 75.1 nm. We believe that the dynamic behavior of the CLC can be analyzed if a high-speed wavelength-swept laser is used as an optical source.

The application of crystal soaking technique to study the effect of zinc and cresol on insulinotropin crystals grown from a saline solution.

PubMed

Kim, Y; Haren, A M

1995-11-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of zinc and cresol on the structure of insulinotropin crystals. Insulinotropin crystals grown from a saline solution were treated with zinc and/or m-cresol using a crystal soaking technique. The effects of these additives on the crystal structure were investigated with powder X-ray diffraction, photomicrography, and differential scanning calorimetry. The molecular interaction between insulinotropin and m-trifluorocresol in solution was also studied by 19F NMR: The data suggest that the original crystals grown from a saline solution have relatively weak lattice forces. After the addition of m-cresol to the suspension of the insulinotropin crystals, the crystals were immediately rendered amorphous. The m-cresol molecules which diffused into the crystals through solvent channels may have disturbed the lattice interactions that maintain the integrity of the crystal. In contrast, the zinc added to the suspension stabilized the crystal lattice so that the subsequent addition of m-cresol did not alter the integrity of the crystals. A marked increase in melting point (206 degrees versus 184 degrees) and heat of fusion (24.6 J/g versus 1.4 J/g) of the crystals was observed after the treatment with zinc. The solubility of the zinc treated crystals in a pH 7.1 phosphate buffered saline was 1/20 of that of the original crystals. When the insulinotropin crystals were treated with the additives using a crystal soaking method, the crystals underwent structural changes. Zinc stabilized the crystal lattice, and reduced the solubility of the peptide.

The Effect of Solution Conditions on the Nucleation Kinetics of Tetragonal Lysozyme Crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Judge, Russell A.; Baird, James K.; Pusey, Marc L.

1998-01-01

An understanding of protein crystal nucleation rates and the effect of solution conditions upon them, is fundamental to the preparation of protein crystals of the desired size and shape for X-ray diffraction analysis. The ability to predict the effect of supersaturation, temperature, pH and precipitant concentration on the number and size of crystals formed is of great benefit in the pursuit of protein structure analysis. In this study we experimentally examine the effect of supersaturation, temperature, pH and sodium chloride concentration on the nucleation rate of tetragonal chicken egg white lysozyme crystals. In order to do this batch crystallization plates were prepared at given solution concentrations and incubated at three different temperatures over the period of one week. The number of crystals per well with their size and dimensions were recorded and correlated against solution conditions. Duplicate experiments indicate the reproducibility of the technique. Although it is well known that crystal numbers increase with increasing supersaturation, large changes in crystal number were also correlated against solution conditions of temperature, pH and salt concentration over the same supersaturation ranges. Analysis of these results enhance our understanding of the effect of solution conditions such as the dramatic effect that small changes in charge and ionic strength can have on the number of tetragonal lysozyme crystals that form and grow in solution.

Preliminary observations of the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broom, M. Beth H.; Witherow, William K.; Snyder, Robert S.; Carter, Daniel C.

1988-01-01

Studies to examine the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology using sucrose as a model system were initiated. Aspect ratios, defined as the width of the 100-plane-oriented face over the width of the 001-plane-oriented face, were determined for oriented crystals which were grown with either the 001-oriented or the 100-oriented face perpendicular to the convective flow. The dependence of the crystal morphology on orientation is much greater for crystals grown with one face occluded than for crystals grown suspended in solution. Many factors appear to interact in a complex fashion to influence crystal morphology.

Empirical temperature-dependent intermolecular potentials determined by data mining from crystal data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofmann, D. W. M.; Kuleshova, L. N.

2018-05-01

Modern force fields are accurate enough to describe thermal effects in molecular crystals. Here, we have extended our earlier approach to discrete force fields for various temperatures to a force field with a continuous function. For the parametrisation of the force field, we used data mining on experimental structures with the temperature as an additional descriptor. The obtained force field can be used to minimise energy at a finite temperature and for molecular dynamics with zero-K potentials. The applicability of the method has been demonstrated for the prediction of crystal density, temperature density gradients and transition temperature.

Thermal Characterization, Crystal Field Analysis and In-Band Pumped Laser Performance of Er Doped NaY(WO4)2 Disordered Laser Crystals

PubMed Central

Serrano, María Dolores; Cascales, Concepción; Han, Xiumei; Zaldo, Carlos; Jezowski, Andrzej; Stachowiak, Piotr; Ter-Gabrielyan, Nikolay; Fromzel, Viktor; Dubinskii, Mark

2013-01-01

Undoped and Er-doped NaY(WO4)2 disordered single crystals have been grown by the Czochralski technique. The specific heat and thermal conductivity (κ) of these crystals have been characterized from T = 4 K to 700 K and 360 K, respectively. It is shown that κ exhibits anisotropy characteristic of single crystals as well as a κ(T) behavior observed in glasses, with a saturation mean free phonon path of 3.6 Å and 4.5 Å for propagation along a and c crystal axes, respectively. The relative energy positions and irreducible representations of Stark Er3+ levels up to 4G7/2 multiplet have been determined by the combination of experimental low (<10 K) temperature optical absorption and photoluminescence measurements and simulations with a single-electron Hamiltonian including both free-ion and crystal field interactions. Absorption, emission and gain cross sections of the 4I13/2↔4I15/2 laser related transition have been determined at 77 K. The 4I13/2 Er3+ lifetime (τ) was measured in the temperature range of 77–300 K, and was found to change from τ (77K) ≈ 4.5 ms to τ (300K) ≈ 3.5 ms. Laser operation is demonstrated at 77 K and 300 K by resonantly pumping the 4I13/2 multiplet at λ≈1500 nm with a broadband (FWHM≈20 nm) diode laser source perfectly matching the 77 K crystal 4I15/2 → 4I13/2 absorption profile. At 77 K as much as 5.5 W of output power were obtained in π-polarized configuration with a slope efficiency versus absorbed pump power of 57%, the free running laser wavelength in air was λ≈1611 nm with the laser output bandwidth of 3.5 nm. The laser emission was tunable over 30.7 nm, from 1590.7 nm to 1621.4 nm, for the same π-polarized configuration. PMID:23555664

Effect of polar surfaces on organic molecular crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharia, Onise; Tsyshevskiy, Roman; Kuklja, Maija; University of Maryland College Park Team

Polar oxide materials reveal intriguing opportunities in the field of electronics, superconductivity and nanotechnology. While behavior of polar surfaces has been widely studied on oxide materials and oxide-oxide interfaces, manifestations and properties of polar surfaces in molecular crystals are still poorly understood. Here we discover that the polar catastrophe phenomenon, known on oxides, also takes place in molecular materials as illustrated with an example of cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) crystals. We show that the surface charge separation is a feasible compensation mechanism to counterbalance the macroscopic dipole moment and remove the electrostatic instability. We discuss the role of surface charge on degradation of polar surfaces, electrical conductivity, optical band-gap closure and surface metallization. Research is supported by the US ONR (Grants N00014-16-1-2069 and N00014-16-1-2346) and NSF. We used NERSC, XSEDE and MARCC computational resources.

Effect of co-crystallization on singlet fission efficiency in pentacene derivatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiaopeng; Sanders, Samuel; Campos, Luis; Sfeir, Matthew; Marom, Noa

Singlet fission (SF), the conversion of one singlet exciton into two triplet excitons, may lead to a twofold increase in the efficiency of organic photovoltaics. Since SF has been observed in crystalline pentacene, this material has drawn interest both experimentally and theoretically. Recently, it has been shown that SF efficiency in rubrene may be improved by modifying the crystal packing. Here, we study the effect of co-crystallization with small molecule H-bond donors on SF efficiency in pentacene derivatives. Five co-crystals are synthetized and their photoluminescence (PL) and absorption spectra are measured. First-principles calculations based on many-body perturbation theory (MBPT) are then employed to study their excitonic properties. By combining experiment and theory, we demonsrate that excitonic properties, including singlet-triplet gaps, exciton binding energies, and exciton localization, are significantly modulated in pentacene co-crystals. Consequently, co-crystallization becomes an effective strategy for improving SF efficiency in molecular crystals of organic semiconductors.

Polarizability of acetanilide and RDX in the crystal: effect of molecular geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsiaousis, D.; Munn, R. W.; Smith, P. J.; Popelier, P. L. A.

2004-10-01

Density-functional theory with the B3LYP functional at the 6-311++G** level is used to calculate the dipole moment and the static polarizability for acetanilide and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX) in their in-crystal structures. For acetanilide the dipole moment is 2{1}/{2}% larger than for the gas-phase structure and for RDX (where there is a gross geometry change) it is 15% larger. The polarizability for the in-crystal structure is smaller than for the gas-phase structure by 3% for both species, whereas the in-crystal effective optical polarizability is larger than the gas-phase static polarizability for both crystals. Hence, effects in addition to the molecular geometry change in the crystal must be considered in order to interpret the effective polarizability completely.

Crystallization of spin superlattices with pressure and field in the layered magnet SrCu 2(BO 3) 2

DOE PAGES

Haravifard, S.; Graf, D.; Feiguin, A. E.; ...

2016-06-20

An exact mapping between quantum spins and boson gases provides fresh approaches to the creation of quantum condensates and crystals. Here we report on magnetization measurements on the dimerized quantum magnet SrCu 2(BO 3) 2 at cryogenic temperatures and through a quantum-phase transition that demonstrate the emergence of fractionally filled bosonic crystals in mesoscopic patterns, specified by a sequence of magnetization plateaus. We apply tens of Teslas of magnetic field to tune the density of bosons and gigapascals of hydrostatic pressure to regulate the underlying interactions. Simulations help parse the balance between energy and geometry in the emergent spin superlattices.more » In conclusion, the magnetic crystallites are the end result of a progression from a direct product of singlet states in each short dimer at zero field to preferred filling fractions of spin-triplet bosons in each dimer at large magnetic field, enriching the known possibilities for collective states in both quantum spin and atomic systems.« less

Effect of the Crystal Environment on Side-Chain Conformational Dynamics in Cyanovirin-N Investigated through Crystal and Solution Molecular Dynamics Simulations

PubMed Central

Ahlstrom, Logan S.; Vorontsov, Ivan I.; Shi, Jun; Miyashita, Osamu

2017-01-01

Side chains in protein crystal structures are essential for understanding biochemical processes such as catalysis and molecular recognition. However, crystal packing could influence side-chain conformation and dynamics, thus complicating functional interpretations of available experimental structures. Here we investigate the effect of crystal packing on side-chain conformational dynamics with crystal and solution molecular dynamics simulations using Cyanovirin-N as a model system. Side-chain ensembles for solvent-exposed residues obtained from simulation largely reflect the conformations observed in the X-ray structure. This agreement is most striking for crystal-contacting residues during crystal simulation. Given the high level of correspondence between our simulations and the X-ray data, we compare side-chain ensembles in solution and crystal simulations. We observe large decreases in conformational entropy in the crystal for several long, polar and contacting residues on the protein surface. Such cases agree well with the average loss in conformational entropy per residue upon protein folding and are accompanied by a change in side-chain conformation. This finding supports the application of surface engineering to facilitate crystallization. Our simulation-based approach demonstrated here with Cyanovirin-N establishes a framework for quantitatively comparing side-chain ensembles in solution and in the crystal across a larger set of proteins to elucidate the effect of the crystal environment on protein conformations. PMID:28107510

Effect of the Crystal Environment on Side-Chain Conformational Dynamics in Cyanovirin-N Investigated through Crystal and Solution Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

PubMed

Ahlstrom, Logan S; Vorontsov, Ivan I; Shi, Jun; Miyashita, Osamu

2017-01-01

Side chains in protein crystal structures are essential for understanding biochemical processes such as catalysis and molecular recognition. However, crystal packing could influence side-chain conformation and dynamics, thus complicating functional interpretations of available experimental structures. Here we investigate the effect of crystal packing on side-chain conformational dynamics with crystal and solution molecular dynamics simulations using Cyanovirin-N as a model system. Side-chain ensembles for solvent-exposed residues obtained from simulation largely reflect the conformations observed in the X-ray structure. This agreement is most striking for crystal-contacting residues during crystal simulation. Given the high level of correspondence between our simulations and the X-ray data, we compare side-chain ensembles in solution and crystal simulations. We observe large decreases in conformational entropy in the crystal for several long, polar and contacting residues on the protein surface. Such cases agree well with the average loss in conformational entropy per residue upon protein folding and are accompanied by a change in side-chain conformation. This finding supports the application of surface engineering to facilitate crystallization. Our simulation-based approach demonstrated here with Cyanovirin-N establishes a framework for quantitatively comparing side-chain ensembles in solution and in the crystal across a larger set of proteins to elucidate the effect of the crystal environment on protein conformations.

Temperature induced phase transformations and negative electrocaloric effect in (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 antiferroelectric single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuo, Fangping; Li, Qiang; Yan, Qingfeng; Zhang, Yiling; Wu, Hong-Hui; Xi, Xiaoqing; Chu, Xiangcheng; Cao, Wenwu

2017-10-01

Temperature induced phase transitions and electrocaloric effect (ECE) of (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 (PLZST) single crystals have been comprehensively studied. Based on the in situ evolution of domain structures and dielectric properties of the PLZST crystals, the phase transitions during heating are in the sequence of orthorhombic antiferroelectric → rhombohedral ferroelectric → cubic paraelectric. Coexistence of the negative and positive ECEs has been achieved in the PLZST single crystals. A negative ECE value of -1.26 °C and enhanced electrocaloric strength of -0.21 K mm/kV near the Curie temperature have been obtained. A modified Landau model gives a satisfactory description of the experimentally observed unusual ECE. Moreover, a temperature-electric field phase diagram is also established based on theoretical analysis. Our results will help people understand better the electrocaloric family, particularly on the negative and/or positive effect in antiferroelectrics and ferroelectrics.

Dipole moment and solvatochromism of benzoic acid liquid crystals: Tuning the dipole moment and molecular orbital energies by substituted Au under external electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sıdır, Yadigar Gülseven; Sıdır, İsa; Demiray, Ferhat

2017-06-01

The optical absorption and steady-state fluorescence spectra of 4-heptyloxybenzoic acid (4hoba), 4-octyloxybenzoic acid (4ooba) and 4-nonyloxybenzoic acid (4noba) liquid crystals have been measured in a series of different polarity organic solvents. The ground state (μg) and excited state (μe) dipole moments of the monomeric and dimeric 4-alkyloxybenzoic acid liquid crystals have been obtained by means of different solvatochromic shift methods. HOMO-LUMO gaps (HLG) and dipole moments have been tuned by applying external electric (EF) field on monomer, dimer and Au substituted monomer and dimer liquid crystal structures. By applying external electric field, Au substituted monomer liquid crystals display semiconductor character, while Au substituted dimer liquid crystals gain metallic character under E = 0.04 V/Å. Eventuated specific and non-specific interactions between solvent and solute in solvent medium have been expounded by using LSER (Linear Solvation Energy Relationships).

Effect of polarization self-action in cubic crystals: peculiarities and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boiko, Sergei A.; Lisitsa, Mikhail P.; Tarasov, Georgiy G.; Valakh, Mikhail Y.

1995-04-01

New concepts are developed to describe a wide area of nonlinear systems involving the phase relaxation peculiarities for the degenerate two- level system under the resonant optical excitation. Nonlinear susceptibility of the two-level system becomes anisotropic, and self- induced changes of polarization (SICP) are developed to the large (gigantic) magnitudes. The nonlinearities of two different natures are considered: the saturation of absorption and the resonant optical reorientation of anisotropic defects. For these particular cases, the SICP effects manifest themselves at a field much lower than that in traditional nonlinear optics. The larger magnitudes of the effects offer good possibilities for the development of optical devices based on the new physical principles. Various applications of SICP effects are demonstrated, including the spectroscopic investigations of impure cubic crystals, optical diagnostics, optical storage, information processing, and the development of new optical devices.

Circularly polarized vacuum field in three-dimensional chiral photonic crystals probed by quantum dot emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, S.; Ota, Y.; Tajiri, T.; Tatebayashi, J.; Iwamoto, S.; Arakawa, Y.

2017-11-01

The modification of a circularly polarized vacuum field in three-dimensional chiral photonic crystals was measured by spontaneous emission from quantum dots in the structures. Due to the circularly polarized eigenmodes along the helical axis in the GaAs-based mirror-asymmetric structures we studied, we observed highly circularly polarized emission from the quantum dots. Both spectroscopic and time-resolved measurements confirmed that the obtained circularly polarized light was influenced by a large difference in the photonic density of states between the orthogonal components of the circular polarization in the vacuum field.

Screened dipolar interactions in some molecular crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munn, R. W.; Hurst, M.

1990-10-01

Screened dipole energies and dipole electric fields are calculated for the crystals of HCN, meta- and para-nitroaniline, the nonlinear optical compounds POM, MAP and DAN, meta-dinitrobenzene, and acetanilide. Only para-nitroaniline is centrosymmetric, but all the crystals have significant negative dipole energies (of the order of -20 kJ mol -1) except for POM and metadinitrobenzene, where they are positive but small in magnitude. Local dipole fields are of the order of 10 GV m -1. The results assume that surface charge annuls any macroscopic dipole field. It is speculated that the observed preponderance of centrosymmetric crystals of polar molecules may reflect a favourable dipole energy in the initial crystal nucleus rather than the macroscopic crystal.

Spectroscopy of Charge Carriers and Traps in Field-Doped Single Crystal Organic Semiconductors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Xiaoyang

2014-12-10

The proposed research aims to achieve quantitative, molecular level understanding of charge carriers and traps in field-doped crystalline organic semiconductors via in situ linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy, in conjunction with transport measurements and molecular/crystal engineering. Organic semiconductors are emerging as viable materials for low-cost electronics and optoelectronics, such as organic photovoltaics (OPV), organic field effect transistors (OFETs), and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Despite extensive studies spanning many decades, a clear understanding of the nature of charge carriers in organic semiconductors is still lacking. It is generally appreciated that polaron formation and charge carrier trapping are two hallmarks associatedmore » with electrical transport in organic semiconductors; the former results from the low dielectric constants and weak intermolecular electronic overlap while the latter can be attributed to the prevalence of structural disorder. These properties have lead to the common observation of low charge carrier mobilities, e.g., in the range of 10-5 - 10-3 cm2/Vs, particularly at low carrier concentrations. However, there is also growing evidence that charge carrier mobility approaching those of inorganic semiconductors and metals can exist in some crystalline organic semiconductors, such as pentacene, tetracene and rubrene. A particularly striking example is single crystal rubrene (Figure 1), in which hole mobilities well above 10 cm2/Vs have been observed in OFETs operating at room temperature. Temperature dependent transport and spectroscopic measurements both revealed evidence of free carriers in rubrene. Outstanding questions are: what are the structural features and physical properties that make rubrene so unique? How do we establish fundamental design principles for the development of other organic semiconductors of high mobility? These questions are critically important but not comprehensive, as the

Effects of thermo-order-mechanical coupling on band structures in liquid crystal nematic elastomer porous phononic crystals.

PubMed

Yang, Shuai; Liu, Ying

2018-08-01

Liquid crystal nematic elastomers are one kind of smart anisotropic and viscoelastic solids simultaneously combing the properties of rubber and liquid crystals, which is thermal sensitivity. In this paper, the wave dispersion in a liquid crystal nematic elastomer porous phononic crystal subjected to an external thermal stimulus is theoretically investigated. Firstly, an energy function is proposed to determine thermo-induced deformation in NE periodic structures. Based on this function, thermo-induced band variation in liquid crystal nematic elastomer porous phononic crystals is investigated in detail. The results show that when liquid crystal elastomer changes from nematic state to isotropic state due to the variation of the temperature, the absolute band gaps at different bands are opened or closed. There exists a threshold temperature above which the absolute band gaps are opened or closed. Larger porosity benefits the opening of the absolute band gaps. The deviation of director from the structural symmetry axis is advantageous for the absolute band gap opening in nematic state whist constrains the absolute band gap opening in isotropic state. The combination effect of temperature and director orientation provides an added degree of freedom in the intelligent tuning of the absolute band gaps in phononic crystals. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Classical nucleation theory in the phase-field crystal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jreidini, Paul; Kocher, Gabriel; Provatas, Nikolas

2018-04-01

A full understanding of polycrystalline materials requires studying the process of nucleation, a thermally activated phase transition that typically occurs at atomistic scales. The numerical modeling of this process is problematic for traditional numerical techniques: commonly used phase-field methods' resolution does not extend to the atomic scales at which nucleation takes places, while atomistic methods such as molecular dynamics are incapable of scaling to the mesoscale regime where late-stage growth and structure formation takes place following earlier nucleation. Consequently, it is of interest to examine nucleation in the more recently proposed phase-field crystal (PFC) model, which attempts to bridge the atomic and mesoscale regimes in microstructure simulations. In this work, we numerically calculate homogeneous liquid-to-solid nucleation rates and incubation times in the simplest version of the PFC model, for various parameter choices. We show that the model naturally exhibits qualitative agreement with the predictions of classical nucleation theory (CNT) despite a lack of some explicit atomistic features presumed in CNT. We also examine the early appearance of lattice structure in nucleating grains, finding disagreement with some basic assumptions of CNT. We then argue that a quantitatively correct nucleation theory for the PFC model would require extending CNT to a multivariable theory.

Classical nucleation theory in the phase-field crystal model.

PubMed

Jreidini, Paul; Kocher, Gabriel; Provatas, Nikolas