No description available.

The interaction between magnetism and the nuclear lattice is investigated experimentally, using thermal expansion, magnetostriction, specific heat, magnetisation and neutron scattering measurements. Both localised moment systems, as represented by the rare earth compounds Tb2Agln, Pd2Gdln and Cu2Gdln, as well as transition metal compounds, Ni2MnGa and V20 3 have been characterised at low temperatures. Measurements of the lattice properties are important due to the intrinsic coupling of magnetic degrees of freedom to them. The response of the lattice to magnetic order, and also to applied magnetic fields have been probed by the use of the aforementioned techniques. Such techniques allow the direct determination of the coefficient of linear thermal expansion, over a wide temperature range and the forced magnetostriclion in applied fields of 0 to 7T. Indirect determination of the spontaneous magnetostriction and the total magnetic entropy contribution via measurements of isostructural compounds further enhance the range of experimental data available. The dynamic properties are characterised by spin polarised neutron scattering measurements. The experimental results are presented and discussed. Various methods of coupling lattice and electronic degrees of freedom have been investigated. It is argued that in order to fully understand and appreciate the low temperature properties of the materials investigated such a coupling must be taken into account.

No description available.

A number of weakly bound adducts play important roles in atmospheric chemistry, such as DMS OH and CS2 OH. The work comprising this dissertation involves kinetic and spectroscopic studies of adducts formed between halogen atoms and the important atmospheric trace gases CS2, CH3SCH3 (DMS), CH3I, and C2H5I. The results reported in these studies are useful for developing an understanding of the reactivity of these species and for testing the ability of electronic structure theory and reaction rate theory to predict or rationalize any observed trends. Oxidative pathways of both alkyl halides and sulfur compounds, especially DMS, are of atmospheric interest based on the roles of these species in affecting the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere and in the formation of new particles which impact the Earth s radiation budget and climate variability. The experimental approach employed laser flash photolysis (LFP) coupled with time resolved UV-visible absorption spectroscopy (TRUVVAS) to investigate the spectroscopy and kinetics of the gas phase adducts: SCS Cl, CH3I Cl, C2H5I Cl, (CH3)2S Br, and (CH3)2S I.

Noncovalent interactions in complex chemical systems are examined by considering model systems which capture the essential physics of the interactions and applying correlated electronic structure techniques to these systems. Noncovalent interactions are critical to understanding a host of energetic and structural properties in complex chemical systems, from base pair stacking in DNA to protein folding in organic solids. Complex chemical and biophysical systems, such as enzymes and proteins, are too large to be studied using computational techniques rigorous enough to capture the subtleties of noncovalent interactions. Thus, the larger chemical system must be truncated to a smaller model system to which rigorous methods can be applied in order to capture the essential physics of the interaction. Computational methodologies which can account for high levels of electron correlation, such as second-order perturbation theory and coupled-cluster theory, must be used. These computational techniques will be used to study several types (pi stacking, S/pi, and C-H/pi) of noncovalent interactions in two chemical contexts: biophysical systems and organic solids.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-127).

Submitted by Leonardo Cavalcante (leo.ocavalcante@gmail.com) on 2018-04-30T12:27:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 10302935 bytes, checksum: 7ab2451d7edae0564189a012c22d8bc7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-30T12:27:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 10302935 bytes, checksum: 7ab2451d7edae0564189a012c22d8bc7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In the present work, we use first-principles calculations based Density Functional Theory, as implemented in the SIESTA and SIESTA-TRUNK, which takes into account the Van der waals interactions, codes, to investigate the stability and electronic properties of graphene monolayers with a nanodomain of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with different shapes and sizes. These heterostructures can be obtained through graphene growing in atomic layers of h-BN lithographically patterned and sequential chemical vapour deposition, so that its possible to construct nanodomains of h-BN with an shape or size in graphene. First we will study the effects, in stability, magnetic and electronic properties, of the adsorption of one and two atoms of hydrogen in the edges of the h-BN nanodomain. The alterations that occur in graphene heterostructures with circular h-BN nanodomains, with the same number of boron and nitrogen atoms, and with triangular form with boron terminated edges, where there are more boron atoms than nitrogen atoms, and with nitrogen terminated edges, where there are more nitrogen atoms than boron atoms, this way we can study the effects of hydrogen adsorption in systems with the same number of electrons and holes, with holes in excess and with electrons in excess, respectively. We observe that the electronic and magnetic properties are influenced by the type of atom on which the the hydrogen atom is adsorbed. Besides that, we show that the heterostructures with triangular shaped nanodomains are more stable. Then we study the stability, electronic properties and the effects of perpendicular strain in hybrid bilayers using the GGA and VDW-DF approximations for the exchange-correlation functional. Initially we study bilayer composed of graphene monolayers with a B3N3 nanodomain in hexagonal shape and stacked in various different configurations. We realized that the Bernal stacking configuration (graphite-like) is more stable when compared to the others. Besides that, we could see that the ideal interlayer distance is smaller when we do the calculations with the VDW-DF approximation than when we use the GGA approximation. We study the effect of perpendicular strain, represented by the variation of the interplanar distance, only in the structure which showed to be more stable and, we verify that, the strain is capable of opening the energy gap in the system. In our analyses we also noticed that the band structures of the systems are the same independent of the approximation. Lastly we make a study on the stability, electronic properties and the effects of strain in hybrid bilayers with different geometries. We use the VDW-DF approximation for the exchangeABSTRACT vii correlation functional. The geometries of the h-BN nanodomains, present in each monolayers, are B12N12 in circular shape, B10N6 and B6N10 in triangular shape, we study various combinations of these monolayers in a bilayer system. We found that the Bernal form of stacking has shown to be more stable in all studied configurations and the the interaction between monolayers tends to decrease the energy gap of the system. We analyse the effect of strain onl y in the configuration that has shown to be more stable e we verify that the perpendicular strain is capable of opening the energy gap of the bilayer. / No presente trabalho, usamos cálculos de primeiros princípios baseados na Teoria do Funcional da Densidade, como implementado no código SIESTA e SIESTA-TRUNK, que leva em conta as interações de Van derWaals, para investigar a estabilidade e propriedades eletrônicas de monocamadas de grafeno com um nanodomínio de nitreto de boro hexagonal (h-BN) de diferentes formas e tamanhos. Estas heteroestruturas podem ser obtidas através do crescimento de grafeno em camadas atômicas de h-BN litograficamente padronizado e deposição química de vapor senquencial, de modo que pode-se construir nanodomínios de h-BN no grafeno de qualquer forma ou tamanho desejado. Em primeiro lugar, vamos estudar os efeitos na estabilidade, propriedades eletrônicas e magnéticas, da adsorção de um ou dois átomos de hidrogênio nas bordas do nanodomínio de h-BN. As alterações que ocorrem em heteroestruturas de grafeno com nanodomínios de h-BN em formato circular, com o mesmo número de átomos de boro e nitrogênio, e de forma triangular com bordas terminadas em boro, onde há mais átomos de boro do que de nitrogênio, e com bordas terminadas em nitrogênio, onde há mais átomos de nitrogênio do que de boro, dessa forma estudamos o efeito da adsorção de hidrogênio em sistemas com o mesmo número de elétrons e buracos, com excesso de buracos e com excesso de elétrons respectivamente. Observamos que as propriedades eletrônicas e magnéticas são influenciadas pelo tipo de átomo no qual o átomo de hidrogênio é adsorvido. Além disso mostramos que as estruturas com nanodomínios de formato triangular são mais estáveis. Em seguida estudaremos a estabilidade, propriedades eletrônicas e os efeitos do strain perpendicular em bicamadas híbridas utilizando as aproximação GGA e VDW-DF para o funcional de troca e correlação. Inicialmente estudamos bicamadas compostas por monocamadas de grafeno com um nanodomínio de B3N3 em formato hexagonal e empilhadas em várias configurações diferentes. Percebemos que a configuração de empilhamento Bernal (tipo grafite) é mais estável quando comparada com as outras. Além disso, pudemos ver que a distância interplanar ideal é menor quando fazemos os cálculos usando a aproximação VDW-DF do que quando usamos a aproximação GGA. Nós estudamos o efeito do strain perpendicular, representado pela variação da distância interplanar, somente na estrutura que se mostrou mais estável e, verificamos que, o strain é capaz de abrir um gap de energia no sistema. Em nossas análises percebemos também que as estruturas de bandas dos sistemas são as mesmas independente da aproximação usada. Por último realizamos um estudo da estabilidade, propriedades eletrônicas e os efeitos do strain em bicamadas híbridas com diRESUMO v ferentes geometrias. Usamos a aproximação VDW-DF para o funcional de troca e correlação. As geometrias dos nanodomínios de h-BN, presentes em cada monocamada, são B12N12 em formato circular, B10N6 e B6N10 em formato triangular, estudamos diversas combinações dessa monocamadas em sistemas de bicamadas. Encontramos que a forma de empilahmento Bernal se mostra mais estável em todas as configurações estudadas e que a interação entre monocamadas tende a diminuir o gap de energia do sistema. Analisamos o efeito do strain somente na configuração que se mostrou mais estável e verificamos que o strain perpendicular é capaz de abrir o gap de energia da bicamada.

Title: Chemical reactivity of metal-supported ceria thin films: a density func- tional study Author: Lucie Szabová Department: Department of Surface and Plasma Science Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Vladimír Matolín, DrSc., Department of Surface and Plasma Science, FMF, CU Abstract: The present work is a theoretical analysis based on numerical DFT+U simulations investigating the physical and chemical properties of ultrathin ceria films supported by Cu(111). Such materials exhibit high activity towards several important reactions in heterogeneous catalysis such as water-gas shift and CO oxidation, with important applications also for renewable energy technologies such as fuel cells. We provide evidence of the influence of film thickness on the electronic and structural properties as well as on the reactivity of ultrathin ceria films supported by copper. The calculations combined with scanning tunneling microscopy experiments show that one monolayer thin film of ceria on Cu(111) is charged, strained and contains oxygen vacancies due to the limited thickness of the film. The influence of the film thickness on the reactivity of thin ceria films was explored for the case of water adsorption and dissociation. Significant differences were shown for water adsorption and dissociation on one-monolayer ceria compared to thicker films,...

We investigate the electronic band structure of device relevant GaInNAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and veitical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) structures. We report photo-modulated reflectance (PR) studies under applied pressure and variable temperature that probe the influence of N-related states on the electronic structure of dilute nitrogen (N) III-V MQWs. The pressure and temperature dependence of the intersubband transitions within the MQWs is reduced by addition of N. By matching our experimental results with a theoretical model important predictions for the ground-state electron effective mass and conduction band offset as a function of N and pressure are made. We present results of angle- and temperature-dependent electro-reflectance (ER) measurements on a dilute-N GaInNAs VCSEL and show that these explain how the corresponding VCSEL device can operate over a such a wide range of temperatures. We argue that intrinsic properties of dilute-N QWs provide novel ways to design laser devices, especially in the crucial telecommunication range of wavelengths. We show how non-destructive ER and PR measurements can be used, in order to estimate the QW transition energy when it is coupled with the cavity mode (CM). The energy of the main exciton is determined by monitoring the amplitude and the phase of the PR spectra. The ER measurements are presented on the GaInNAs VCSEL described in the previous paragraph. Furthermore we present a growth characterisation study on a representative InGaAs/GaAs/AlAs/AlGaAs as-grown VCSEL structure, using PR spectroscopy as a function of position on a non-uniform wafer. We also show how temperature dependent PR and the appropriate lineshape model can be used to obtain a full picture of the relative movements between the gain and the CM over the full range of temperature. This information allows calculating the material gain in the temperature range of interest, independent from the effect of the CM and also provides an alternative method for characterising the growth, which can be applied to uniform wafers. PR and non-destructive ER can be used to identify regions suitable for fabrication into devices. For this reason modulation spectroscopy can be very useful for industry to reject wafers where good alignment between the CM and the QW does not occur and can thus save on the time consuming and expensive fabrication procedures.

La thèse concerne l’étude de l’ionisation dissociative simple (e,2e) de l’ion tri-centrique le plus simple de la nature H+3 qui est constitué par trois centres formant un triangle équilatéral, dont la structure électronique a été largement étudiée pendant différentes périodes du siècle passé. Actuellement cette molécule fait l’objet de nombreuses études concernant spécialement sa recombinaison dissociative avec des électrons, et son évolution en présence d’un champ LASER intense, dans le domaine de l’interaction du rayonnement avec la matière. Les techniques de détection développées récemment ouvrent la voie à une réalisation future des expériences d’ionisation simple (e,2e) durant laquelle un électron projectile interagit avec H+3. Pour guider ces expériences, la thèse entreprend le défi théorique de décrire ce processus complexe, et de préparer les outils nécessaires pour la détermination de la section efficace multiplement différentielle. Ceci a nécessité l’emploi de la fonction d’onde ThCC décrivant l’électron éjecté lent dans le champ coulombien de la molécule résiduelle tricentrique mono-électronique dans le cadre de la première approximation de Born. Les résultats ont exploré les conditions optimales de l’ionisation et l’influence de la corrélation électron-électron. Ils prévoient, entre autres, l’apparition de motifs d’interférence quantique dans la variation de la section efficace multiplement différentielle avec la direction de diffusion pour une orientation fixe de la molécule / This thesis is concerned by the (e,2e) simple ionization of the simplest tri-centric ion existing in nature, which is constituted by three centers forming an equilateral triangle. The electronic structure of H+3 has been largely studied during different periods in the past. Currently, it is the subject of numerous studies concerning specially its dissociative recombination with electrons, and its behavior in the field of intense LASER. The recent developments in the detection techniques has opened the possibility to realize (e,2e) simple ionization experiments where the projectile electron interacts with a gas of H+3 , and the emerging fragments are detected in coincidence. To guide these experiments, we undertake the theoretical challenge to describe this complex process, and prepare the necessary tools for the determination of the multiple differential cross section of this process. This task has needed the development and the application of an original three-center continuum wave function (ThCC), which describes the slow ejected electron in the Coulomb field of the residual tri-centric mono-electronic ion in the frame of a first order Born series procedure. Our calculations have explored the optimal conditions for the ionization process and the influence of the electron-electron correlation. Our results predict, among others, the appearance of quantum interference patterns during the variation of the multiple differential cross section with the scattering direction for a given orientation of the molecule