Topotactic routes have been used to produce new materials with tunable electronic and magnetic properties. The host materials were the single and triple layered Ruddlesden-Popper compounds, NaLnTiO4 (Ln = La and Gd) and A2La2Ti3O10 (A = Li and K). These compounds consist of [LnTiO4]- and [La2Ti3O10]2-, respectively, perovskite layers interleaved with two alkali metal ion strata. The topotactic routes used in this research were ion exchange and intercalation. Ion exchange was used to replace the cations in the interlayer space with a cationic unit: vanadyl or the transition metal ion, nickel. This ion exchange route opens the structure to further chemistry because each alkali metal ion is replaced by a divalent ion and a vacancy. In these vacancies other atoms can be inserted. Reductive intercalation with alkali metals is of special interest due to their propensity for forming mixed valence compounds. Mixed valency is usually correlated with semiconductive, metallic or superconductive behaviors, and unusual magnetic properties (CMR). Na0.1(VO) Na0.1(VO) 0.45LaTiO4, Na0.05(VO)0.48GdTiO4 and Li0.3Ni0.85La2Ti3O10 have been obtained by ion exchange reactions. Also, the reactivity of Na0.05(VO)0.48GdTiO4, (VO) La2Ti3O10 and Li0.3Ni0.85La2Ti3O10 is probed by an intercalation reaction with n-BuLi. Lithium insertion between the perovskite blocks reduces the titanium in the perovskite sheets and produces new mixed valence titanates. Lithium intercalation in the vanadyl compounds, Na0.05(VO)0.48GdTiO4 , as well as (VO)La2Ti3O10 gives rise to new magnetic properties. The crystal structures, thermal behavior, electronic and magnetic properties of these new compounds will be discussed.

The main objective of this work is to aid coal mine planning by determining geological structures that affect mining such as faults, dykes and sills. Faults can displace the coal seams by breaking and throwing the coal seam on one side of the fault deeper; thereby constituting safety risks or even making exploitation uneconomical. Dykes are associated with devolatilisation of the coal around them. Both dykes and faults are also important in terms of groundwater management. The sills have the same devolatilisation effect as dykes but on a larger scale as they cover more area than the dykes. They also make mining difficult if one has to mine through them, especially if they are not weathered. The study was based on high resolution airborne magnetic data which was flown on selected areas in the Witbank coalfield. The combined areas cover a total of ~171001 hectares. Total field magnetic data were collected. The data were processed and gridded. The resulting total field magnetic grids were enhanced for better delineation of structures by: reducing the data to the pole, calculation of the first vertical derivatives and computation of the analytic signal. Using the enhanced grids together with other datasets; topographic maps, borehole log information and infrastructure information from the surrounding mines, the geological structures were interpreted. Intense geological activity is observed on the eastern areas of the coalfield (Belfast and Arnot). This is the region where numerous geological activities of different ages were recorded, e.g., the intrusion of Bushveld Complex, the Olifants River Dyke Swarm (ORDS) and the Karoo Basalts. Associated with the intense geological activity is the presence of dykes, faults and sills, which are observed throughout the areas. In the central region, Vandyksdrif area 1 reveals the pre-Karoo basement rocks (felsites and diabases of the Bushveld Igneous Complex) and Vandyksdrif area 2 reveals the Karoo dolerite in the form of a sill. The sill corresponds to the high elevation area on the digital terrain model data suggesting that the sill might be unweathered. Unfortunately, the borehole logs do not mention the state of the dolerite. The western areas reveal mainly the dolerite sill. Like in Vandryksdrif area 2, there is no mention of the state of the dolerite and the suspicion is that the dolerite is also unweathered there as well. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Geology / unrestricted

The goal of this thesis is to experimentally characterize the flyability of current generation read/write heads over media patterned to densities above the superparamagnetic limit. The superparamagnetic limit is the physical limit to magnetic storage density. In magnetic storage, superparamagnetism is the uncontrollable switching of stored bits during the lifespan of a hard disk. Theoretical analysis has predicted that densities of ~50 Gbit/in2 are not possible using traditional continuous media. One strategy to achieve high storage density, above the superparamagnetic limit, is patterned media. With patterned media the physical separation of magnetic domains increases their stability. One of the major challenges of development of patterned media is achieving acceptable flyability of the read/write head. In that vein, a test stand is built to measure head liftoff speed, head to disk intermittent contact and head fly height. Tangential friction, an indicator of head liftoff is measured by a Wheatstone bridge strain circuit attached to a cantilever beam. Intermittent contact is quantified by the amount of noise emanating from the interface, which is measured by a high frequency acoustic emission sensor. Head fly height is measured indirectly with a capacitance circuit built around the head to disk interface. Experimental samples of current generation read/write heads and media are obtained from industry. Current generation media is patterned using focused ion beam milling to a density of 10 Gbit/in2. Other, extremely dense samples, above 700 Gbit/in2, are created via thin film self assembly on silicon substrate. Conclusions on slider head flyability over patterned media are based on comparison with flyability over non-patterned media. It is demonstrated that loss of hydrodynamic lubrication is small for small pattern regions with high conserved surface area ratio. Conserved surface area ratio is defined as total surface area minus etched surface area all divided by the total surface area of the storage media. For wafer scale patterned media with low conserved surface area ratio, head liftoff cannot be achieved at designed normal load. However, a 50% reduction of load allows slider head liftoff.

<p>In the first part of this work, the influence of hydrogen on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe/V(001) superlattices was studied. The local structure of the vanadium-hydride layers was determined by extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements. The magnetic ordering in a weakly coupled Fe/V(001) superlattice was investigated using the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). The interlayer exchange coupling is weakened upon alloying with hydrogen and a phase with short-range magnetic order was observed.</p><p>The second part is concerned with first-principles calculations of magnetic materials, with a focus on magnetic recording applications. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of Fe, Co, and Ni was calculated for tetragonal and trigonal structures. Based on an analysis of the electronic states of tetragonal Fe and Co at the center of the Brillouin zone, tetragonal Fe-Co alloys were proposed as a material that combines a large uniaxial MAE with a large saturation magnetization. This was confirmed by experimental studies on (Fe,Co)/Pt superlattices. The large uniaxial MAE of L1₀ FePt is caused by the large spin-orbit interaction on the Pt sites in connection with a strong hybridization between Fe and Pt. Furthermore, it was shown that the uniaxial MAE can be increased by alloying the Fe sublattice with Mn. The combination of the high-moment rare-earth (RE) metals with the high-<i>T</i>_C 3<i>d</i> transition metals in RE/Cr/Fe multilayers (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy) gives rise to a strong ferromagnetic effective exchange interaction between the Fe layers and the RE layer. The MAE of hcp Gd was found to have two principal contributions, namely the dipole interaction of the large localized 4<i>f</i> spins and the band electron magnetic anisotropy due to the spin-orbit interaction. The peculiar temperature dependence of the easy axis of magnetization was reproduced on a qualitative level.</p>

In the first part of this work, the influence of hydrogen on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe/V(001) superlattices was studied. The local structure of the vanadium-hydride layers was determined by extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements. The magnetic ordering in a weakly coupled Fe/V(001) superlattice was investigated using the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). The interlayer exchange coupling is weakened upon alloying with hydrogen and a phase with short-range magnetic order was observed. The second part is concerned with first-principles calculations of magnetic materials, with a focus on magnetic recording applications. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of Fe, Co, and Ni was calculated for tetragonal and trigonal structures. Based on an analysis of the electronic states of tetragonal Fe and Co at the center of the Brillouin zone, tetragonal Fe-Co alloys were proposed as a material that combines a large uniaxial MAE with a large saturation magnetization. This was confirmed by experimental studies on (Fe,Co)/Pt superlattices. The large uniaxial MAE of L10 FePt is caused by the large spin-orbit interaction on the Pt sites in connection with a strong hybridization between Fe and Pt. Furthermore, it was shown that the uniaxial MAE can be increased by alloying the Fe sublattice with Mn. The combination of the high-moment rare-earth (RE) metals with the high-TC 3d transition metals in RE/Cr/Fe multilayers (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy) gives rise to a strong ferromagnetic effective exchange interaction between the Fe layers and the RE layer. The MAE of hcp Gd was found to have two principal contributions, namely the dipole interaction of the large localized 4f spins and the band electron magnetic anisotropy due to the spin-orbit interaction. The peculiar temperature dependence of the easy axis of magnetization was reproduced on a qualitative level.

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