>Magister Scientiae - MSc / In the past few decades, the studies of f-electron materials have revealed unusual physical properties such as Fermi-liquid, non-Fermi-liquid behaviour at low temperatures, heavy- Fermion behaviour, valence fluctuation, Kondo effect, superconducting and magnetic ordering. These materials include binary and ternary compounds and alloys with Cerium (Ce) or Ytterbium (Yb) based rare earth elements or Uranium (U) based actinide element. In these systems the localized magnetic moments formed by Ce, Yb or U ions transform the electronic properties of these compounds leading to quasiparticles with masses in excess to 1000 times the bare electron mass. These materials are known as heavy-fermion materials. Two well known heavy – Fermion compounds with Ce based rare earth elements of interest in this thesis are CePt₂Si₂ and CeCu₅In. The effect of substituting Ce with moment bearing Tb or Dy in these two compounds, are reported through measurements of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and magnetization. The three alloy systems (Ce₁₋ₓREₓ)Pt₂Si₂ (RE = Tb, Dy) and (Ce₁₋ₓTbᵪ)Cu₅In under investigation in the present thesis, was synthesized and characterized by x-ray diffraction. The alloy systems (Ce₁₋ₓREₓ)Pt₂Si₂ (RE = Tb, Dy, 0≤ ᵡ ≤1) formed a single phase in the P4/nmm tetragonal CaBe₂Ge₂ – type structure across the whole series while the (Ce₁₋ₓTbᵪ)Cu₅In alloy system formed a single phase in the Pnma orthorhombic CeCu₆ – type crystal structure up to 40% Ce substitution. The physical properties of these systems is reported and discussed through the measurements of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and magnetization. The variables of this study are: the doping concentration of Tb or Dy, the applied magnetic field and the sample temperature. Electrical resistivity studies for all the systems revealed coherence effect at Ce – rich alloys (0≤ ᵡ ≤0.2) and single-ion Kondo scattering with further increased RE concentration ( ᵡ ≥ 0.3). The magnetic property studies indicate antiferromagnetic ordering only for the (Ce₁₋ₓREₓ)Pt₂Si₂ alloy system in the concentration range 0.7≤ ᵡ ≤ 1. The present thesis is comprised of six chapters, which are arranged as follows: The first chapter deals with the theoretical background of the physical properties of Ce based intermetallics compounds and alloys. Experimental techniques constitutes chapter II and explains the techniques used in this study. The theoretical overview of the two parent compounds of interest in this thesis (CePt₂Si₂ and CeCu₅In) is presented in chapter III. The fourth and the fifth chapters of this study deals with results and discussion. The thesis is completed with a conclusion in chapter six.

Lasers find a wide range of applications in many areas including photo-biology, photo-chemistry, materials processing, imaging and telecommunications. However, the practical use of such sources is often limited by the bulky nature of existing systems. By fabricating channel waveguides in solid-state laser-gain materials more compact laser systems can be designed and fabricated, providing user-friendly sources. Other advantages inherent in the use of waveguide gain media include the maintenance of high intensities over extended interaction lengths, reducing laser thresholds. This thesis presents the development of Yb:tungstate lasers operating around 1μm in waveguide geometries. An Yb:KY(WO₄)₂ planar waveguide laser grown by liquid phase epitaxy is demonstrated with output powers up to 190 mW and 76 % slope efficiency. This is similar to the performance from bulk lasers but in a very compact design. Excellent thresholds of only 40 mW absorbed pump power are realised. The propagation loss is found to be less than 0.1 dBcm⁻¹ and Q-switched operation is also demonstrated. Channel waveguides are fabricated in Yb:KGd(WO₄)₂ and Yb:KY(WO₄)₂ using ultrafast laser inscription. Several of these waveguides lase in compact monolithic cavities. A maximum output power of 18.6 mW is observed, with a propagation loss of ~2 dBcm⁻¹. By using a variety of writing conditions the optimum writing pulse energy is identified. Micro-spectroscopy experiments are performed to enable a fuller understanding of the induced crystal modification. Observations include frequency shifts of Raman lines which are attributed to densification of WO₂W bonds in the crystal. Yb:tungstate lasers can generate ultrashort pulses and some preliminary work is done to investigate the use of quantum dot devices as saturable absorbers. These are shown to have reduced saturation fluence compared to quantum well devices, making them particularly suitable for future integration with Yb:tungstate waveguides for the creation of ultrafast, compact and high repetition rate lasers.