Molecular spins are characterized by an effective electronic and magnetic tunability and this is a very relevant property for quantum computation applications [1]. In particular metal complexes have unpaired electrons located in the d orbitals, whose energy can be easily tuned using proper ligands; hence, metal complexes are very promising candidate to realize qubit devices. An accurate choice...
The properties of surface acoustic waves (fig. 1a) and spin waves propagating in magnetic [Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$/Au/Co/Au]$_{10}$ multilayers (fig. 1b) on silicon substrate have been investigated by high resolution Brillouin spectroscopy [1-2]. The behavior of spin waves was studied in two experimental geometries: Backward Volume (BV) geometry and Damon-Eshbach (DE) geometry [3]. The thickness of...
Controlling the magnetic moment of individual atoms is a technologically important challenge, with applications as high density storage devices. Breakthrough experimental studies have recently shown that it is possible to create stable magnetic quantum states in individual adatoms [1–3]. While the role of electronic interactions on the magnetic stability has been thoroughly investigated...
Neutron Compton scattering (NCS) is a unique experimental technique made possible by the development of epithermal neutron sources, such as the ISIS source of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK [1, 2]. Dynamic structure factors, measured in NCS, are solely determined by the nuclear momentum distribution (NMD). In the picture of purely classical nuclei, the NMD shape is determined by...
Since the discovery of the piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate-titanate (PZT) solid solution, namely near its morphotropic phase boundary region (MPB), those materials exhibiting piezoelectricity have been largely studied, wherein PZT still stands as a prototype for electromechanical applications. However, lead based materials are poisonous in nature and thus they should be substitute...
Antiferroelectricity can be seen as being a property similar to antiferromagnetism with electric dipoles instead of spins. It is characterized by a phase transition between a high- and a low-symmetry phase where antiparallel dipoles emerge [1]. In analogy with soft-mode driven ferroelectric transitions (e.g. in PbTiO3), it is then possible to think of an ideal antiferroelectric phase...
BaZrO3 is a perovskite that exhibits the ideal cubic structure with space group Pm-3m from ambient conditions down to 2 K [1]. However, theoretical studies by DFT yield a more complex picture: the cubic phase is predicted to be slightly unstable, with an unstable phonon mode at the R point, which should give rise to an antiferrodistortive (AFD) transition to a low-symmetry phase with...
MXenes exhibit many outstanding properties and therefore been considered as promising electrode material candidates. Taking 2D transition metal carbides as representatives, we systematically explored several influencing factors, including transition metal species, layer thickness, functional group, and strain on their mechanical properties (e.g., stiffness) and their electrochemical properties...
The nucleation processes are still today between the more intriguing problems of the condensed matter physics; they have been described by different models, but their understanding I still far to be complete [1]. In particular, we are missing the experimental investigations of the first nucleation events due to their unpredictable localization in the time and space coordinates.
The nucleation...
Though the mechanical properties of ice and water differ, they still have much in common from the dielectric spectroscopy viewpoint. We analyze the spectra of dynamical conductivity of solid and liquid water as a signature of their molecular dynamics. The dynamics of ice and water are considered on the same footing. We introduce a model [1] that provides a clear interpretation of the...
Responsive polymers as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) are known as “smart”
materials due to their ability to respond to variations of parameters like temperature, pH,
pressure, and many others. PNIPAM phase behaviour results from a highly temperaturesensitive competition between hydrophobicity of methyl and methylene groups and the
ability of amide groups to make strong hydrogen bonds....
Liquid crystals (LCs) confined in various host system have attracted great interest in recent years. New material properties originating from finite size of pores and interaction between molecules and pore surface have been reported, including optical properties, dynamic peculiarities and different phase diagram than in bulk. It was concluded that a change in the transition temperature origins...
