Controlling polarization direction in epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 films through Nb (n-type) and Fe (p-type) doping

Fe (acceptor) and Nb (donor) doped epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 (PZT) films were grown on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates and their electric properties were compared to those of un-doped PZT layers deposited in similar conditions. All the films were grown from targets produced from high purity precursor oxides and the doping was in the limit of 1% atomic in both cases. The remnant polarization, the coercive field and the potential barriers at electrode interfaces are different, with lowest values for Fe doping and highest values for Nb doping, with un-doped PZT in between. The dielectric constant is larger in the doped films, while the effective density of charge carriers is of the same order of magnitude. An interesting result was obtained from piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) investigations. It was found that the as-grown Nb-doped PZT has polarization orientated upward, while the Fe-doped PZT has polarization oriented mostly downward. This difference is explained by the change in the conduction type, thus in the sign of the carriers involved in the compensation of the depolarization field during the growth. In the Nb-doped film the majority carriers are electrons, which tend to accumulate to the growing surface, leaving positively charged ions at the interface with the bottom SrRuO3 electrode, thus favouring an upward orientation of polarization. For Fe-doped film the dominant carriers are holes, thus the sign of charges is opposite at the growing surface and the bottom electrode interface, favouring downward orientation of polarization. These findings open the way to obtain p-n ferroelectric homojunctions and suggest that PFM can be used to identify the type of conduction in PZT upon the dominant direction of polarization in the as-grown films.

Homochiral or Heterochiral: A Systematic Study of Threonine Clusters Using a FT ICR Mass Spectrometer

The strong chiral preferences of some magic clusters of amino acids have attracted continually increasing interests due to their unique structures, properties and possible roles in homochirogenesis. However, how chirality can influence the generation and stability of cluster ions in a wild range of cluster sizes is still unknown for most amino acids. In this study, the preference for threonine clusters to form homochiral and heterochiral complex ions has been investigated by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry. Abundant cluster [Thrn+mH]m+ ions (7 ≤ n ≤ 78, 1 ≤ m ≤ 5) have been observed for both samples of enantiopure (100% L) and racemic (50:50 L:D) threonine solutions. Further analyses of the spectra show that the [Thr14+2H]2+ ion is characterized by its most outstanding homochiral preference, and [Thr7+H]+ and [Thr8+H]+ ions also clearly exhibit their homochiral preferences. Although most of the triply charged clusters (20 ≤ n ≤ 36) are characterized by heterochiral preferences, the quadruply charged [Thrn+4H]4+ ions (40 ≤ n ≤ 59) have no obvious chiral preference in general. On the other hand, a weak homochiral preference exists for most of the quintuply charged ions observed in the experiment.

Ultrafast Temporal Evolution of Interatomic Coulombic Decay in NeKr Dimers

We investigate interatomic Coulombic decay in NeKr dimers after neon inner-valence photoionization [Ne+(2s-1)] using a synchrotron light source. We measure with energy resolution the two singly charged ions of the...

Вероятность ионизации атомов, распыленных при бомбардировке поверхности металлов одно- и многозарядными ионами

The processes of ionization of atoms sputtered under bombardment of clean metal surface by singly and multiply charged ions with kinetic energy of several keV were studied. Within the framework of simple phenomenological model of ion formation, the relaxation of local electron excitation in metal was taking into account. Analytical expressions for estimation of ionization probability of sputtered atoms was obtain. It was shown, that in comparison with singly charged ions, bombardment of metals with multiply charged ions results to significant increase of ionization probability of sputtered atoms due to more efficient excitation of electrons and increase of relaxation time of this excitation.

Detailed dynamics of direct three-body recombination of singly charged ions

We consider the main aspects of detailed dynamics of the reactions of direct three-body ion-ion recombination Cs+ + X– + R → CsX + R (X– = F–, I– and...

THEORETICAL STUDYING SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF Zn-LIKE IONS ON THE BASIS OF RELATIVISTIC MANY-BODY PERTURBATION THEORY

A theoretical study of the spectroscopic characteristics of Zn-like multiply charged ions is carried out within the framework of the relativistic many-body perturbation theory. The optimized Dirac-Kohn-Shem approximation was chosen as the zero approximation of the relativistic perturbation theory. Optimization has been fulfilled by means of introduction of the parameters to the Kohn-Sham exchange and correlation potentials and further minimization of the gauge-non-invariant contributions into radiation width of atomic levels with using relativistic orbital set, generated by the corresponding zeroth approximation Hamiltonian.

THE INFLUENCE OF SINGLY CHARGED IONS ON THE TRANSLATIONAL MOTION OF MOLECULES IN EXTREMELY DILUTE AMIDE SOLUTIONS

The type of short range solvation of Li+, Na+ K+, Rb+, Cs+, NH4+, Cl– , Br–, I–, ClO4– ions has been determined and analyzed in formamide (FA), N-methylformamide (MFA), N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at 298.15 K. In order to determine the type of ion solvation we used familiar-variable quantitative parameter (– ri), where is the translational displacement length of ion, ri is its structural radius. It was found that the difference (– ri) is equal to the coefficient of attraction friction (CAF) of ions normalized to the solvent viscosity and hydrodynamic coefficient. The sign of the CAF is determined by the sign of the algebraic sum of its ion-molecular and intermolecular components. In amide solutions the studied cations are cosmotropes (positively solvated ((– ri) > 0), structure-making ions) and anions are chaotropes (negatively solvated ((– ri) < 0 ), structure-breaking ions). In the amide series, regardless of the sign (– ri), the near-solvation enhances, which can be explained by the weakening of the specific interaction between the solvent molecules. The decrease of and respectively (– ri) with increasing cation radius in a given solvent is the result of weakening of its coordinating force due to the decrease of charge density in the series Li+–Na+–K+–Rb+–Cs+. The increase of (and (– ri), correspondingly) for the ions studied in the series FA- MFA-DMF can be explained by the weakening of intermolecular interactions in this series, which leads to the strengthening of solvation. It was found that for the halide ions in the series FA-MFA-DMF the regular growth of parameter is explained by the weakening of the solvent structure. It was shown that Li+ ion with the lowest diffusion coefficient among cations and the highest value forms kinetically stable complexes in amide solutions.

Aromaticity of Heterocirculenes

This review summarizes the results on the aromaticity of a series of synthesized and hypothetical neutral heterocirculene molecules and their double charged ions. The aromaticity of heterocirculenes is a direct reflection of their electronic structure responsible for the specific optoelectronic and photophysical properties. We show how the presence of a heteroatom in the outer macrocycle affects the aromaticity of hetero[8]circulenes. In addition, we also describe the change in aromaticity and strain energy for a series of the “lower” (n < 8) and “higher” (n > 8) hetero[n]circulenes. It was demonstrated that the loss of planarity with increased strain leads to an increased antiaromaticity of the lower hetero[n]circulenes, whereas higher hetero[n]circulenes demonstrate a more pronounced aromatic nature because of the small departure from planarity of each heteroarene ring in hetero[n]circulene molecule. Finally, we discuss the aromatic nature of the first examples of π-extended hetero[8]circulenes.