Stabilization mechanism of γ-Mg17Al12 and ß-Mg2Al3 complex metallic alloys.

Large-unit-cell complex metallic alloys (CMAs) frequently achieve stability by lowering the kinetic energy of the electron system through formation of a pseudogap in the electronic density of states (DOS) across the Fermi energy εF. By employing experimental techniques that are sensitive to the electronic DOS in the vicinity of εF, we have studied the stabilization mechanism of two binary CMA phases from the Al-Mg system: the γ-Mg17Al12 phase with 58 atoms in the unit cell and the ß-Mg2Al3 phase with 1178 atoms in the unit cell. Since the investigated alloys are free from transition metal elements, orbital hybridization effects must be small and we were able to test whether the alloys obey the Hume-Rothery stabilization mechanism, where a pseudogap in the DOS is produced by the Fermi surface-Brillouin zone interactions. The results have shown that the DOS of the γ-Mg17Al12 phase exhibits a pronounced pseudogap centered almost exactly at εF, which is compatible with the theoretical prediction that this phase is stabilized by the Hume-Rothery mechanism. The disordered cubic ß-Mg2Al3 phase is most likely entropically stabilized at high temperatures, whereas at lower temperatures stability is achieved by undergoing a structural phase transition to more ordered rhombohedral ß' phase at 214 ° C, where all atomic sites become fully occupied. No pseudogap in the vicinity of εF was detected for the ß' phase on the energy scale of a few 100 meV as determined by the 'thermal observation window' of the Fermi-Dirac function, so that the Hume-Rothery stabilization mechanism is not confirmed for this compound. However, the existence of a much broader shallow pseudogap due to several critical reciprocal lattice vectors [Formula: see text] that simultaneously satisfy the Hume-Rothery interference condition remains the most plausible stabilization mechanism of this phase. At Tc = 0.85 K, the ß' phase undergoes a superconducting transition, which slightly increases the cohesive energy and may contribute to relative stability of this phase against competing neighboring phases.

PdGa intermetallic hydrogenation catalyst: an NMR and physical property study.

The PdGa intermetallic compound is a highly selective and stable heterogeneous hydrogenation catalyst for the semi-hydrogenation of acetylene. We have studied single crystals of PdGa grown by the Czochralski technique. The (69)Ga electric-field-gradient (EFG) tensor was determined by means of NMR spectroscopy, giving experimental confirmation of both the recently refined structural model of PdGa and the theoretically predicted Pd-Ga covalent bonding scheme. The hydrogenation experiment has detected no hydrogen uptake in the PdGa, thus preventing in situ hydride formation that leads to a reduction of the catalytic selectivity. We have also determined bulk physical properties (the magnetic susceptibility, the electrical resistivity, the thermoelectric power, the Hall coefficient, the thermal conductivity and the specific heat) of single-crystalline PdGa. The results show that PdGa is a diamagnet with metallic electrical resistivity and moderately high thermal conductivity. The thermoelectric power is negative with complicated temperature dependence, whereas the Hall coefficient is positive and temperature-dependent, indicating complexity of the Fermi surface. Partial fulfillment of the NMR Korringa relation reveals that the charge carriers are weakly correlated. Specific heat measurements show that the density of electronic states (DOS) at the Fermi energy of PdGa is reduced to 15% of the DOS of the elemental Pd metal.

Unconventional magnetism in a nitrogen-containing analog of cupric oxide.

We have investigated the magnetic properties of CuNCN, the first nitrogen-based analog of cupric oxide CuO. Our muon-spin relaxation, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron-spin resonance studies reveal that classical magnetic ordering is absent down to the lowest temperatures. However, a large enhancement of spin correlations and an unexpected inhomogeneous magnetism have been observed below 80 K. We attribute this to a peculiar fragility of the electronic state against weak perturbations due to geometrical frustration, which selects between competing spin-liquid and more conventional frozen states.

Spin amplitude modulation driven magnetoelectric coupling in the new multiferroic FeTe2O5Br.

The magnetic and ferroelectric properties of the layered geometrically frustrated cluster compound FeTe2O5Br were investigated with single-crystal neutron diffraction and dielectric measurements. An incommensurate transverse amplitude modulated magnetic order with the wave vector q=(1/2,0.463,0) develops below T(N)=10.6(2) K. Simultaneously, a ferroelectric order due to exchange striction involving polarizable Te4+ lone-pair electrons develops perpendicular to q and to Fe3+ magnetic moments. The observed magnetoelectric coupling is proposed to originate from the temperature dependent phase difference between neighboring amplitude modulation waves.

Modeling the static fringe field of superconducting magnets.

The resonance frequency-space and the frequency gradient-space relations are evaluated analytically for the static fringe magnetic field of superconducting magnets used in the NMR diffusion measurements. The model takes into account the actual design of the high-homogeneity magnet coil system that consists of the main coil and the cryoshim coils and enables a precise calibration of the on-axis magnetic field gradient and the resonance frequency inside and outside of the superconducting coil.