Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Physics / Christopher M. Sorensen / This work presents a microphysical model of the classical interaction of electromagnetic waves with arbitrary single and multiple particles. The model is based on the volume integral equation solution to the macroscopic time-harmonic Maxwell equations. The integral is discretized over a particle's volume. The near and far-field scattered wave is then described by the secondary radiation from the discretized elements. The physical origin of the angular structure of the scattered wave is characterized by the superposition of these secondary waves. A graphical technique is developed to visualize how this superposition relates to the physical features of a particle, e.g., its size, shape, and refractive index. Numerical and analytical implementations of the model are presented for spherical and spheroidal particles and fractal-like spherical-particle aggregates. The connection between the reflection symmetry of a particle and the polarization state of its far-field scattered wave is illustrated. The model is used to explain the cause of the angular power-law patterns in a particle's scattered intensity. An analysis of the internal field distribution in fractal-like aggregates is performed and the results are compared to the Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory. Extinction and the optical theorem are examined within the context of the model, resulting in a new understanding for the physical mechanism causing extinction and implications regarding its measurement. The culmination of this work is the unification of multiple scattering-concepts, often regarded as distinct, and the resulting insight afforded by the unified microphysical picture. This unified view is shown to reveal a new and simple explanation for the famous extinction paradox.

<p> The process of star formation is an integral part of the new field of astrobiology, which studies the origins of life. Since the gas that collapses to form stars and their resulting protoplanetary disks is known to be weakly ionized and contain magnetic fields, star formation is governed by multifluid magnetohydrodynamics. In this thesis we consider two important problems involved in the process of star formation that may have strongly affected the origins of life, with the goal of determining the thermal effects of these flows and modeling the physical conditions of these environments.</p><p> We first considered the outstanding problem of how primitive bodies, specifically asteroids, were heated in protoplanetary disks early in their lifetime. Reexamining asteroid heating due to the classic unipolar induction heating mechanism described by Sonett et al. (1970), we find that this mechanism contains a subtle conceptual error. As original conceived, heating due to this mechanism is driven by a uniform, supersonic, fully-ionized, magnetized, T Tauri solar wind, which sweeps past an asteroid and causes the asteroid to experience a motional electric field in its rest frame. We point out that this mechanism ignores the interaction between the body surface and the flow, and thus only correctly describes the electric field far away from the asteroid where the plasma streams freely. In a realistic protoplanetary disk environment, we show that the interaction due to friction between the asteroid surface and the flow causes a shear layer to form close to the body, wherein the motional electric field predicted by Sonett et al. decreases and tends to zero at the asteroid surface. We correct this error by using the equations of multifluid magnetohydrodynamics to explicitly treat the shear layer. We calculate the velocity field in the plasma, and the magnetic and electric fields everywhere for two flows over an idealized infinite asteroid with varying magnetic field orientations. We show that the total electric field in the asteroid may either be of comparable strength to the electric field predicted by Sonett et al. or vanish depending on the magnetic field geometry. We include the effects of dust grains in the gas and calculate the heating rates in the plasma flow due to ion-neutral scattering and viscous dissipation. We term this newly discovered heating mechanism &ldquo;electrodynamic heating&rdquo;, use measurements of asteroid electrical conductivities to estimate the upper limits of the possible heating rates and amount of thermal energy that can be deposited in the solid body, and compare these to the heating produced by the decay of radioactive nuclei like Al²⁶.</p><p> For the second problem we modeled molecular line emission from time-dependent multifluid MHD shock waves in star-forming regions. By incorporating realistic radiative cooling by CO and H₂ into the numerical method developed by Ciolek &amp; Roberge (2013), we present the only current models of truly time-dependent multifluid MHD shock waves in weakly-ionized plasmas. Using the physical conditions determined by our models, we present predictions of molecular emission in the form of excitation diagrams, which can be compared to observations of protostellar outflows in order to trace the physical conditions of these environments. Current work focuses on creating models for varying initial conditions and shock ages, which are and will be the subject of several in progress studies of observed molecular outflows and will provide further insight into the physics and chemistry of these flows.</p>

The extended kagome lattice, composed of alternating kagome and triangular layers, provides a novel geometry for frustrated magnetism. In this thesis, we study the properties of Heisenberg spins with nearest-neighbour antiferromagnetic interactions on this lattice. In common with many other models of frustrated magnets, this system has highly degenerate classical ground states. It is set apart from other examples, however, by the strong interlayer correlations between triangular layer spins. We study the implications of such correlations in both the statics and dynamics. We characterise classical ground states using a flux picture for a single layer of kagome spins, a theoretical description that sets geometrical bounds on correlations. We quantify the divergent but sub-extensive ground state degeneracy by a Maxwellian counting argument, and verify this calculation by analysing the energy eigenvalues of numerical ground states. We explore the ground state connectedness but do not reach firm conclusions on this issue. We use the self-consistent Gaussian approximation (SCGA) to calculate static spin correlations at finite temperature. The results of these calculations agree well with elastic neutron scattering experiments. We derive an expression for the effective interlayer interaction between kagome spins by integrating out the triangular lattice spins. We use linear spinwave theory to compute the spin excitation spectrum numerically. This shows encouraging similarity with inelastic neutron scattering data on a single-crystal YBaCo$_4$O$_7$ sample, for a wide range of wavevector and frequency. This agreement shows that our spin model is a reasonable description of the physics, and suggests that this numerical technique might be useful for other geometrically frustrated magnets. We study the dynamics analytically using the stochastic SCGA recently developed for the pyrochlore lattice. For technical reasons, we apply this technique on a related model, the stacked kagome lattice, rather than on the extended kagome lattice itself. From this we find slow relaxation at low temperature, with a rate ~ T² compared to the faster ~ T scaling for the pyrochlore. Strikingly, in simulations of the dynamics on the extended kagome lattice by numerical integration of the semiclassical equations of motion, we find two different relaxation rates. Kagome layer spins relax more quickly than the triangular layer spins, having ~ T.

This thesis presents neutron and x-ray scattering measurements on quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb antiferromagnets A2IrO₃ (A=Na, Li) and the solid-solution intermediate material (Na_1-xLi_x)₂IrO₃. The aim is to study the magnetic order and excitations of 5d Ir⁴⁺ ions in a honeycomb lattice, where unusual magnetic properties have been theoretically predicted to be stabilised by the combinations of strong spin-orbit coupling and honeycomb lattice geometry with 90 degree Ir-O-Ir bonding. By using an optimised setup to minimise the strong neutron absorption by Ir nuclei, inelastic neutron scattering measurements on powder sample of Na₂IrO₃ observed dispersive excitations below 5meV with a dispersion that can be accounted for by including substantial further-neighbor exchanges that stabilize zigzag magnetic order. The onset of long-range magnetic order was confirmed by the observation of oscillations in zero-field muon-spin rotation experiments. Higher-resolution inelastic neutron data found features consistent with a spin gap of 1.8meV and the data was parameterised by including Ising-type exchange anisotropy. Combining single-crystal diffraction and density functional calculations, a revised crystal structure model with significant departures from the ideal 90 degree Ir-O-Ir bonds required for dominant Kitaev exchange was proposed. Various "idealised'' crystal structures were constructed to emphasize the departures between the actual structure and structures with cubic IrO₆ octahedra. The magnetic excitations from the isostructural Li₂IrO₃ revealed strongly dispersive magnetic excitations, qualitatively different from Na₂IrO₃. Elastic neutron diffraction detected a magnetic Bragg peak with a wavevector consistent with spiral orders. To explain the observed neutron data, the spiral H2 phase in the Heisenberg J₁-J₂-J₃ model was proposed, and a full calculation was performed with strong in-plane anisotropic interaction. A further measurement for improving the lower-energy excitation found no clear evidence for a spin gap down to E=0.7meV. Lastly, the crystal structure of (Na_1-xLi_x)₂IrO₃ was investigated with single-crystal x-ray diffraction, revealing a site-mixing of Ir and Na ions in the honeycomb lattice and insensitivity of the refinement to the Li positions. Ab initio calculations suggested that up to x=0.25 Li ions replaced Na in the honeycomb centre and phase separation occurred beyond that, which is consistent with the evolution of observed lattice parameters.

Although high-temperature superconductivity in layered copper oxides (cuprates) was discovered more than twenty years ago, the nature of the high temperature superconductivity still remains elusive. The discovery of the Fe-based superconductors with the maximum transition temperature of 56K has broken the cuprates monopoly in the physics of high temperature superconducting compounds and opened a new avenue for investigating the superconducting mechanism. In this dissertation I will focus on iron chalcogenide, which is an important member of Fe-based superconductors. Similar to other classes of unconventional superconductors, the superconductivity in Fe-based superconductors can be achieved by suppressing the long-range antiferromagnetic order of the parent compounds through either pressure or charge carrier doping. Although the superconducting pairing mechanism of Fe-based supercondcutors has not yet been identified, a great deal of experiments has shown that the superconducting pairing in these materials is associated with magnetic spin fluctuations. Further clarification of the relationship between magnetism and superconductivity in these materials is among the central topics in the field of superconductivity For iron pnictides, such as LaO1-xF xFeAs and Ba1-xK xFe2As2, the antiferromagnetism of undoped parent compounds is widely believed to be driven by a spin density wave instability arising from the nesting of two Fermi surface (FS) pockets by a vector Q =(pi, pi) (in the units of the inverse tetragonal lattice parameters.). The FS nesting vector corresponds to the wavevector of the AFM order. However, this itinerant model is not applicable to the antiferromagnetism of the parent compound of iron chalcogenides, since its antiferromagnetic wavevector is Q AF = (pi, 0), 45&deg; rotated relative to the FS nesting vector. Although the parent compound of iron chalcogenides possesses an antiferromagnetic state distinct from that of iron pnictides, the superconducting state of the optimally-doped iron chalcogeinde exhibits spin resonance in magnetic excitation spectra, similar to that seen in optimally-doped iron pnictide superconductors; spin resonance is observed at the same wavevector (pi, pi) in both types of materials. This suggests that both classes of materials might have the same magnetic origin for superconducting pairing. Therefore, resolution of the dichotomy between (pi, 0) magnetic order in the parent compound FeTe and superconductivity with (pi, pi) magnetic resonance in Se-substituted samples is a key challenge to our emerging understanding of iron-based superconductivity In this dissertation we aim to elucidate the puzzling relationship between magnetism and superconductivity by studying the evolution of superconductivity and magnetism in Fe1.02(Te1-xSe x). We first performed preliminary studies of the evolution of superconductivity, magnetism, and structural transition in Fe1.22 (Te1-xSex) using polycrystalline samples. Our results and analyses suggest that superconductivity in this system is associated with magnetic fluctuations and therefore may be unconventional in nature In follow-up studies, we established the complete phase diagram of electronic and magnetic properties for Fe1.02(Te1- xSex) using high-quality single crystal samples. We find that for low Se content long-range AFM order is formed with a magnetic wave vector (pi, 0). Dynamic magnetic correlations with a (pi, pi) wave vector, however, do co-exist in a wide range of the phase diagram. Increasing Se doping tunes the relative strength of these distinct correlations. Bulk superconductivity occurs only in a composition range where (pi, 0) magnetic correlations are sufficiently suppressed and (pi, pi) spin fluctuations associated with the nearly nesting Fermi surface dominate. This indicates that iron chalcogenide and iron pnictide superconductors, despite a competing magnetic instability in the former, have a similar mechanism for superconductivity In addition, we address another important issue in Fe(Te, Se) system: the effect of excess iron at interstitial sites of the (Te, Se) layers on electronic properties. Our results show that the excess Fe not only suppresses superconductivity, but also leads to weak charge carrier localization. Our results suggest that such weak charge carrier localization is related to the magnetic coupling between the excess Fe and the adjacent Fe sheets, which is responsible for the superconductivity suppression caused by the excess Fe / acase@tulane.edu

In this work I present results of a theoretical study of the intrinsic response of ferromagnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ's). The goal of the work has been to understand the underlying physics in order to describe the intrinsic portion of the observed behavior. Specifically, I present a free electron tunneling model which predicts that the magneto-conductance ratio (DeltaG/G) or tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR) in high quality MTJs is dominated by the intrinsic response. The model assumes an effective tunneling electronic structure which has been constructed from parameters extracted from first principles calculations and a simple barrier whose effective height and thickness are deduced from the experiments. This model does not utilize the polarization (P) of the density of states (DOS) as an input parameter, but rather calculates the conductance for each spin channel and configuration in order to calculate TMR directly. The process of matching spin-dependent tunneling states with spin-independent barrier states produces a spin-dependent T-matrix which is the main difference between this model and other prevalent models which have been built upon Julliere's model (M. Julliere, Phys. Lett. 54 225, 1975). The effect of bias is handled by increasing the chemical potential on one side of the barrier, and the effect of temperature is included via Fermi smearing and the temperature dependent magnetic band structure. The model predicts that MTJ's are quite sensitive to changes in the magnetic band structure. This explains both the large temperature dependence of TMR and the high sensitivity of MTJ's to magnetic fields. The model strongly supports the assertion that only a portion of the total DOS is relevant to spin-dependent tunneling (SDT) and that the bands which supply the tunneling electrons are essentially Stoner split. I conclude with a consideration of asymmetric TMR and a short first principles study of fcc magnetic alloys which gives some insight into the relative success of permalloy based MTJ's / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation examines the electronic structure and magnetic properties of II-VI and IV-VI dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS). Properties that are investigated include the exchange energy, magnetic moment, density of states, sources of the magnetic coupling, and the effect that crystal disorder has on the aforementioned parameters. The computational methods employed are the Vienna ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP), and the Layered Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (LKKR) method. These two methods are based upon density functional theory. VASP relies on the construction of a pseudopotential and a plane wave expansion to model the charge density and wavefunction. LKKR uses multiple scattering theory to find the Green's function and electronic structure. The coherent potential approximation (CPA) can be readily incorporated into the LKKR approach, resulting in a first principle technique that can study a substitutionally disordered random alloy We have studied how the double-exchange, super-exchange, and inter-band exchange are effected by the crystal symmetry of the host, the electronic structure of the transition metal, and geometry of the impurities d-shell. We observed in a few materials that a competition between exchange mechanism is possible. When the sign of the interactions are the same, the result is an unambiguous magnetic ground state. However, when the sign of the competing exchange mechanisms are opposite, the material is expected to have a weaker, often oscillating, magnetic coupling, as a result of magnetic frustration and sensitivity to transition metal spacing and orientation. We have also examined how the chemical interactions may be coupled to the magnetic interactions. This becomes important at high impurity concentrations when the transition metal impurity cannot participate effectively in crystal bonding. In these cases, the transition metal d-orbitals that reside in the gap, and are involved in the exchange, are forced to initiate bonding with the host. This will result in an unexpected magnetic coupling. We note that most models of the transition metal coupling are formulated in the dilute limit The goal of this study was to discover, theoretically, a DMS structure that is both half-metallic and ferromagnetic at room temperature. The Cr doped compounds, and Ni II-VI compounds were found to be the most likely candidates to exhibit these properties. We also seek to establish systematic trends of how the electronic structure and magnetic properties vary as a function of crystal disorder. This is relevant since disorder is always present to some degree in these types of materials as a consequence of the growth techniques used in their fabrication / acase@tulane.edu

Investigation of magnetic proximity effect in ferromagnet/superconductor thin films by low temperature Magneto Optical Kerr Effect measurement

<p>This dissertation examines the use of artificial structured materials -- known as metamaterials -- in two antenna applications in which conventional dielectric materials are otherwise used. In the first application, the use of metamaterials to improve the impedance matching of planar phased array antennas over a broad range of scan angles is explored. A phased array antenna is composed of an array of antenna elements and enables long-distance signal propagation by directional radiation. The direction of signal propagation is defined as the scan angle. The power transmission ratio of a phased array is the ratio of the radiated power to the input power, and depends on the scan angle. The variation in the power transmission ratio is due to the different mutual coupling contributions between antenna elements at different scan angles. An optimized stack of dielectric layers, known as a wide-angle impedance matching layer (WAIM), is used to optimize the power transmission ratio profile over a broad range of scan angles. In this work, the use of metamaterials to design anisotropic WAIMs with access to a larger range of constitutive parameters -- including magnetic permeability -- to offer an improved power transmission ratio at a broad range of scan angles is investigated. </p> <p>In the second antenna application, a strategy to create maximally transmissive and minimally reflective electromagnetic radome materials using embedded metamaterial inclusions is introduced. A radome is a covering used to protect an antenna from weather elements or provide structural function such as the prevention of aerodynamic drag. A radome should be made from a fully transparent and non-refractive material so that radiated fields from and to the enclosed antenna are not disrupted. The aim of this research was to demonstrate that embedded metamaterial inclusions can be used to isotropically adjust the dielectric properties of a composite material to a desired value. This strategy may lead to the creation of a structural material with electromagnetic properties close to air, thus reducing the detrimental scattering effects often associated with conventional radome materials.</p> <p>Chapter 1 introduces the concept of metamaterials and discusses the use of subwavelength metallic structures to artificially engineer constitutive parameters such as permeability of permittivity. In Chapter 2, the analytical formulations that enable the characterization of the transmission performance of a planar phased array covered with anisotropic impedance matching layers are developed. Chapter 3 discusses the design rules that must govern the design parameters of anisotropic WAIMs realizable using metamaterials, and also presents examples of anisotropic impedance matching layers that provide a maximum power transmission ratio for most scan angles. In addition, numerical and experimental results on a metamaterial placed over a phased array are presented. In Chapter 4, the feasibility of using metamaterials to realize a minimally transparent and fully transmissive radome material is numerically investigated. In Chapter 5, experimental results that corroborate earlier numerical simulation results are analyzed.</p> / Dissertation

The current gain of bipolar junction transistors is reduced due to ionizing radiation exposure or hot-carrier stressing. Radiation-induced degradation is particularly severe at the low dose rates encountered in space. In this work, the dose rate effect in lateral and substrate pnp bipolar transistors is rigorously quantified over the range of 0.001 to 294 rad(Si)/s. Gain degradation shows little dependence on dose rate below 0.005 rad(Si)/s, suggesting that degradation enhancement comparable to that expected from space-like dose rates was achieved. In addition, the effect of ambient temperature on radiation-induced gain degradation at 294 rad(Si)/s is thoroughly investigated over the range of 25 to 240°C. Degradation is enhanced with increasing temperature while simultaneously being moderated by in situ annealing such that, for a given total dose, an optimum irradiation temperature for maximum degradation results. Optimum irradiation temperature decreases logarithmically with total dose and is larger and more sensitive to dose in the substrate device than in the lateral device. Maximum high dose rate degradation at elevated temperature closely approaches low dose rate degradation in both of the devices. A flexible hardness assurance methodology based on accelerated irradiations at elevated temperatures is described. The influence of mechanical stress on the radiation hardness of single-crystalline emitter transistors is investigated using x-ray diffraction. Correlation of device radiation sensitivity and mechanical stress in the base supports previously reported observations that Si-SiO₂ interfaces exhibit increased susceptibility to radiation damage under tensile Si stress. Relaxation of processing-induced stress in the base oxide due to ionizing radiation is smaller than the stress induced by emitter contact metallization followed by a post-metallization anneal. Possible mechanisms for radiation-induced stress relaxation and their effect on the radiation sensitivity of bipolar transistors are discussed. The combined effects of ionizing radiation and hot-carrier stress on the current gain of npn transistors are investigated. The hot-carrier response of the transistors is improved by radiation damage, whereas hot-carrier damage has little effect on subsequent radiation stress. Characterization of the temporal progression of hot-carrier effects reveals that hot-carrier stress acts initially to reduce excess base current and improve current gain in irradiated transistors. Numerical simulations show that the magnitude of the peak electric-field within the emitter-base depletion region is reduced significantly by net positive oxide charges induced by radiation. The interaction of the two stress types is explained in a physical model based on the probability of hot-carrier injection and the neutralization and compensation of radiation damage in the base oxide. The results of this work further the understanding of stress-induced gain degradation in bipolar transistors and provide important insight for the use of bipolar transistors in stress environments.