Neste trabalho, apresentamos o resultado de nossas investigações em amostras de poços quânticos parabólicos (PQW) de AlGaAs crescidas em substratos de GaAs por MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy). Nossos estudos se concentram nas implicações da variação do fator g de Landé ao longo da estrutura dos PQW, a qual ocorre em virtude da dependência dessa grandeza com respeito ao conteúdo de Al na liga AlGaAs. Essas implicações são analisadas através de medidas de transporte eletrônico (medidas de Hall e do efeito Shubnikov-de Haas). As medidas de Subnikov-de Haas a temperaturas da ordem de dezenas a centenas de milikelvin com variação do ângulo de inclinação se mostram um eficiente método para a determinação do fator g. Distinguimos não só o fator g determinado pelas propriedades da liga, como também uma contribuição oriunda de efeitos de muitos corpos (contribuição de troca). Por outro lado, as medidas de Hall nos revelam um comportamento anômalo, que mostramos não ter origem no conhecido "efeito Hall anômalo" presente em materiais ferromagnéticos, nem em efeitos de ocupação de múltiplas sub-bandas. Atribuímos o fenômeno a um efeito "válvula de spin", conseqüente da variação espacial do fator g. Nossas observações nos permitem a idealização de um transistor "válvula de spin", prescindindo do emprego de materiais magnéticos. / We present the results of our investigations concerning MBE grown AlGaAs/GaAs parabolic quantum well (PQW) samples. We focused on the variation of the Landé g factor along the structure of the PQWs, which occur as a consquence of its dependence on the Al content on the alloy AlGaAs. The implications are studied by Hall and Shubnikov-de Haas measurements. Shubnikov-de Haas measurements at temperatures of the order of tenths to hundreds of milikelvin with variation of the tilt angle are shown to be an efficient method for the determination of the g factor. We could distinguish not only the alloy g factor, but its many body contribution (exchange contribution). On the other hand, Hall measurements exhibit an unusual behavior, which we prooved it has no relation neither to the well known "anomalous Hall effect", a characteristic of ferromagnetic materials, nor to a multi subband occupation effect. We atribute such behavior to a "spin valve effect", caused by the spatial variation of the g factor. Our observations allow us to idealize a "spin valve" transistor, without any ferromagnetic material in its structure.

Im Rahmen dieser Doktorarbeit werden de Haas-van Alphen-Untersuchungen an den nichtmagnetischen Borkarbidsupraleitern LuNi2B2C und YNi2B2C präsentiert. Aus den Quantenoszillationen in der normalleitenden Phase in Kombination mit Bandstrukturrechnungen konnten Informationen über die verzweigte Fermiflächenarchitektur und über die Elektron-Phonon-Kopplung der Borkarbide gewonnen werden. Die Kopplung ist stark anisotrop und fermiflächenabhängig. Dies spricht für einen Mehrbandmechanismus der Supraleitung in der Materialklasse. Zusätzlich konnten de Haas-van-Alphen-Oszillationen mehrerer Fermiflächen unterhalb von Bc2 tief in der Shubnikov-Phase beobachtet werden. Das Verhalten dieser Oszillationen lässt sich nicht mit bisher bekannten Theorien beschreiben. Allerdings weist das Bestehen der Oszillationen weit unterhalb von Bc2 auf ein Bestehen von elektronischen Zuständen in der Shubnikov-Phase hin.

Die Betrachtung von Schwere-Fermionen-Systemen stellt ein wichtiges Themengebiet im Bereich der Festkörperphysik dar. Das Verhalten von Schwere-Fermionen-Systemen wird durch die starken Korrelationen der magnetischen Momente der ungepaarten Spins der f-Elektronen bestimmt. Experimentell zugängliche Messgrößen sind dadurch bei tiefen Temperaturen stark erhöht, so dass sich diese Systeme besonders gut zur Untersuchung von Grundzustandseigenschaften eignen. Zentrales Thema dieser Arbeit ist die Untersuchung zweier intermetallischer Seltenerd-Verbindungen in Bezug auf Quantenphasenübergänge. Diese treten am absoluten Nullpunkt der Temperatur als Funktion eines anderen Parameters wie Magnetfeld, Druck oder chemischer Substitution auf und sind bei endlicher Temperatur durch Abweichungen physikalischer Messgrößen von der durch L. D. Landau aufgestellten Theorie der Fermi-Flüssigkeiten nachzuweisen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Tieftemperaturexperimente bis hinab zu 20mK und in Magnetfeldern bis zu 18T durchgeführt. Es wurden elektrischer Widerstand, magnetische Wechselfeldsuszeptibilität, Magnetostriktion und thermische Ausdehnung gemessen. / The investigation of heavy-fermion systems marks an important subject in the research field of solid state physics. The behaviour of heavy-fermion systems is dominated by the strong correlations of the magnetic moments of the unpaired f-electron spins. At low temperatures, experimentally accessible variables are strongly enhanced so that these systems are especially suited to analyse ground state properties. The central topic of this thesis is the investigation of two intermetallic rare-earth compounds with regard to quantum phase transitions. The latter occur at zero temperature as a function of parameters such as magnetic field, pressure or chemical substitution. They are traceable at finite temperature due to deviations of physical variables from the theory of Fermi liquids established by L. D. Landau. For this purpose, low-temperature experiments were performed down to 20mK and in magnetic fields up to 18T. Electrical resistivity, magnetic ac susceptibility, magnetostriction and thermal expansion were measured.

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This project focuses on two important topics which may pose hazards to human health. Firstly, drinking water disinfection by-products (DBPs), which are generated by the chemical disinfection of water have been investigated. What has not been shown is the effect of DBPs in human germ cells as well as somatic cells and whether oxidative stress is involved in the mechanism of genotoxic action. Three different DBPs (halo acetic acids: HAAs), together with the antioxidants – catalase and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), were investigated in peripheral blood cells and sperm from healthy individuals using the Comet assay and lymphocytes only using the micronucleus assay. Secondly, nanoparticles of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin and ibuprofen, have been investigated in patients with respiratory diseases, in the micronucleus assay and the Comet repair assay. NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase enzyme activity, which plays part in tumour progression. In the Comet assay, BHA and catalase were able to reduce DNA damage in both cell types compared to HAAs alone. Similarly, in the micronucleus assay, micronuclei were reduced with the antioxidants, suggesting oxygen radical involvement in both assays. With the NSAIDs, reductions were seen for DNA damage in the micronucleus assay with aspirin and ibuprofen nanoparticles compared to their bulk forms. Using the Comet repair assay, aspirin and ibuprofen nanoparticles aided repair of DNA to a greater extent than their bulk counterparts, which in turn showed better repair compared to samples repaired without NSAIDs. These observations show the importance of DBPs and NSAIDs in genotoxic public health issues.

This thesis consists of two parts. The first part considers the effect of microwave radiation on magnetotransport in high quality GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure two dimensional electron systems. The effect of microwave (MW) radiation on electron temperature was studied by investigating the amplitude of the Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) oscillations in a regime where the cyclotron frequency $\omega_{c}$ and the MW angular frequency $\omega$ satisfy $2\omega \leq \omega_{c} \leq 3.5\omega$. The results indicate negligible electron heating under modest MW photoexcitation, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Next, the effect of the polarization direction of the linearly polarized MWs on the MW induced magnetoresistance oscillation amplitude was investigated. The results demonstrate the first indications of polarization dependence of MW induced magnetoresistance oscillations. In the second part, experiments on the magnetotransport of three dimensional highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) reveal a non-zero Berry phase for HOPG. Furthermore, a novel phase relation between oscillatory magneto- and Hall- resistances was discovered from the studies of the HOPG specimen.

Diss.--Hambourg, 2000. / Bibliogr. p. 499-514. Index.