No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Ballistic measurements were made of the critical magnetic fields of superconducting. cylinders of cerium-doped lead. Within the accuracy of our measurements, the introduction of the paramagnetic impurity, cerium, in lead has no effect other than a slight broadening of the transition. The samples, containing 0.00, 0.10, 1.0, and 1.5 atomic percent cerium in lead had been vacuum cast in pyrex tubes. The relative fractions of the cerium in these samples and their final purities were tested by the techniques of neutron activation analysis. / Master of Science

No description available.

Nesta tese investigamos o estado normal (T > Tc) dos Yba2Cu3O6+x supercondutores de alto Tc. As técnicas da RMN e RQN foram empregadas para estudar as respostas estática e dinâmica do sistema de spins eletrônicos em função da temperatura, para diversas concentrações de oxigênio: x = 0.5 (cristal 1), 0.92 (cristal 2), 0.94 (cristal 3) e 1.0 (cristais 4 e 5). Focalizando diferentes sítios nucleares a RMN pode fornecer uma informação mais rica da susceptibilidade dinâmica, X (q.w), abrangendo diferentes regiões da Zona de Brillouin (ZB). Com os sítios do 17O(2,3) e do 89Y sensoreamos a região próxima ao centro do ZB, q == 0, enquanto que com o sitio do Cu(2) exploramos o extremo do ZB, (q == QAF). Foi realizado um estudo comparativo da RMN dos sítios do Cu(2), do O(2,3) e do Y sobre o cristal 1. Da comparação entre os deslocamentos hiperfinos magnéticos do Y e do O(2,3) extraímos as contribuições orbitais e as constantes de acoplamento hiperfino do Y. A razão entre as relaxações spin-rede do O(2,3) e do Y mostrou-se independente da temperatura, e próxima do esperado teoricamente a partir das constantes hiperfinas no cenário do hamiltoniano de Mila e Rice. Questões como a dependência da taxa de relaxação spin-rede (T1-1) com a intensidade do campo e a anisotropia da susceptibilidade estática de spin foram estudadas sobre o cristal 2. Acima de Tc, para o Cu(2), não foi encontrada nenhuma dependência de T1 com a intensidade do campo. Os resultados sobre o Y indicam uma anisotropia da susceptibilidade e do tensor de acoplamento hiperfino. Uma extensa comparação entre os resultados da RMN e da Difusão Inelástica de Nêutrons (DIN) foi realizada sobre as mesmas amostras (cristais 4 e 5), fato inédito ate então. Propõe-se um modelo gaussiano para X\"~q,o», compatível com as experiências de nêutrons, no qual o comprimento de correlação ~ foi fixado pelos resultados da DIN sobre o cristal 2. Analisando a relaxação spin-spin do Cu(2), 63(T2g)-1, em função deste modelo, extraímos a susceptibilidade estática X\'(q=QAF) em unidades absolutas e encontramos um fator de Stoner X\'(q=QAF) / X\'(q=O) ~ 10. Da análise conjunta de 63(T1T)-1 e 63 (T2g)-1 obtivemos a energia característica das flutuações AF, rAF::::3:0meV, em excelente acordo com a DIN. Estes mesmos resultados permitiram evidenciar, exclusivamente através do RMN, quando ocorre a abertura de um gap de spin. Neste trabalho mostramos que resultados da DIN são compatíveis com a RMN para o sitio do Cu(2), porem, sérias dificuldades são encontradas para explicar os resultados sobre os sítios do Y e, principalmente, do O(2,3). As alternativas para este problema são discutidas. Os resultados obtidos nesta tese levaram ao estabelecimento de um diagrama de fase, segundo a RMN, do estado normal dos Yba2Cu3O6+x supercondutores, cobrindo do regime sub-dopado ao regime sobre-dopado, passando pela composição de dopagem ótima. / The normal state(T > Tc) of the high Te superconducting Yba2Cu3O6+x was studied. The NMR and NQR techniques were employed in order to investigate the static and dynamic responses of the electronic spin system as function of temperature, for the following oxygen contents: x = 0.5 (crystal 1), 0.92 (crystal 2), 0.94 (crystal 3) e 1.0 (crystals 4 and 5). Focusing various nuclear sites the NMR could give a more rich information of the dynamical susceptibility, X(q,ffi), probing different regions of the Brillouin Zone (ZB). With 17O(2,3) and 89Y sites the BZ center, q:: 0, was studied, while with the Cu(2) site it was the BZ extreme, (q:: QAF) that was investigated. In crystal 1 we have compared the NMR of the Cu(2), O(2,3) and Y sites. From the comparison between the Y and O(2,3) magnetic hyperfine shift we have extracted the orbital contributions and the Y hyperfine coupling tensor. The ratio between the O(2,3) and Y nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate was found to be temperature independent, and its value was in fair agreement with what it was expected theoretically from the coupling constants within the picture of the Mila-Rice Hamiltonian. Problems such as the field intensity dependence of the spin-lattice -relaxation rate (T1-1) and the anisotropy of the static susceptibility where investigated in crystal 2. Above Tc, for the Cu(2) site, we have not found any field dependence of T1. Our results on the Y site indicate an anisotropy of both the static susceptibility and the Y coupling tensor. An extensive comparison between the NMR and the Inelastic Neutron Diffusion (IND) results was done in the very same samples, crystals 2 and 4. In accordance to neutron data a Gaussian model for X\"AF( q,ro) is proposed, in which the coherence length ~ was fixed by the IND results in crystal 2. Analyzing the Cu(2) nuclear spin-spin relaxation rate, 63(T2g)-1, as function of this model, we have extracted the staggered susceptibility X\'(q=QAF) in absolute units, finding a Stoner factor X \'( q=QAF) / X\'( q=O) ~ 10. From the analysis of 63(T1T)-1 together with 63(T2g)-1 we have obtained the AF characteristic energy, rAF ::::l 30meV, in excellent agreement with IND. These results provided us a powerful method to evidence the opening of a spin pseudo gap, exclusively from the NMR results. A consistent picture arise from the comparison between IND and the Cu(2) NMR. In contrast, it is hard to explain the Y and, specially, the O(2,3) results within this same picture. The theoretical alternatives to this puzzle are discussed. The whole set of results we have obtained led us to propose a NMR based phenomenological phase diagram for the normal state of the superconducting Yba2Cu3O6+x, covering from the under doped regime to the over doped regime, passing through the optimal doping.

Investigating the structure-property relationships of solid state materials can help improve many of the materials we use each day in life. It can also lead to the discovery of materials with interesting and unforeseen properties. In this work the structure property relationships of newly discovered layered oxypnictide phases are presented and discussed. There has generally been worldwide interest in layered oxypnictide materials following the discovery of superconductivity up to 55 K for iron arsenides such as LnFeAsO[subscript 1-x]F[subscript x] (where Ln = Lanthanoid). This work presents efforts to understand the structure and physical property changes which occur to LnFeAsO materials when Fe is replaced with Rh or Ir and when As is replaced with Sb. As part of this work the solid solution between LaFeAsO and LaRhAsO was examined and superconductivity is observed for low Rh content with a maximum critical temperature of 16 K. LnRhAsO and LnIrAsO compositions are found to be metallic; however Ce based compositions display a resistivity temperature dependence which is typical of Kondo lattice materials. At low temperatures a sudden drop in resistivity occurs for both CeRhAsO and CeIrAsO compositions and this drop coincides with an antiferromagnetic transition. The Kondo scattering temperatures and magnetic transition temperatures observed for these materials can be rationalized by considering the expected difference in N(E[subscript F])J parameters between them, where N(E[subscript F]) is the density of states at the Fermi level and J represents the exchange interaction between the Ce 4f¹ electrons and the conduction electrons. In addition to studying these 4d and 5d substituted systems the LaFeSbO compositional system was investigated. While LaFeSbO has not been successfully synthesized the transition metal free layered oxypnictide composition La₂SbO₂ was discovered and its structural and physical properties have been examined along with the properties of La₂BiO₂. Density functional theory was used to calculate the heats of formation for competing phases within the LaFeSbO system, in order to better understand the stability of LaFeSbO and why it has not yet been observed. The materials La₂SbO₂ and La₂BiO₂ were investigated for the presence of oxygen vacancies using powder neutron diffraction. Structure refinement reveals that there is significant disorder within the a-b plane for Sb compositions. / Graduation date: 2012

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-88). Also available on the Internet.