ALBERT

Notes: The overtone spectroscopy and intramolecular vibrational relaxation dynamics of CH chromophore in the fluoroform molecule is studied by a three-dimensional (3D) time-dependent wave-packet method, and the results are compared with the experiment and with those of a 2D (stretch–bend) wave-packet method. A third mode (CF symmetrical stretch) is included in order to explain the long time dynamics and the combination bands between the CF stretch fundamental and the Fermi polyad frequencies. The comparison with the 2D study is carried out by the use of a full set of dynamical and spectroscopic variables, based on the autocorrelation function of the bright states of each polyad. The spectroscopic variables then follow by Fourier transforming the autocorrelation function, while the dynamical ones emerge via survival probability in the frame of the dynamical statistical ensemble. These include several relaxation times and the number of cells and rates of phase–space exploration. The specific effect of the third mode is monitored by following the reduced dynamics of the system irrespective of the polyad stretch–bend dynamics, through population evolution. Dynamical results clearly reveal the third mode effects at very short and long times. In the last regime, we can observe a great span of different behaviors, depending on how the third mode excited states are involved. This richer variety of dynamical patterns cannot be observed in a two-mode model and justifies the present work. The spectroscopic results of both models are in good agreement with the experimental results. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: CoSiB and FeB single layers and CoSiB/FeB bilayers with thicknesses ranging from 250 to 1500 Å were grown on bowed glass substrates using rf sputtering. A magnetoelastic anisotropy was induced in the magnetic layers after removing the films from the sputtering chamber. The positive (FeB) and the negative (CoSiB) magnetostrictive single layers showed an easy magnetization axis transverse and parallel to the compression axis, respectively. The magnetic behavior of the CoSiB/FeB bilayers is shown to be extremely sensitive to the thickness of each layer, to their thickness ratios, and also to the deposition sequence of the layers on the substrate. These results are discussed in terms of the interactions between two magnetic phases with easy magnetization axes transverse to each other. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Well characterized Ln1−xCaxMnO3 manganites (Ln=La, Pr, Nd, Sm) with x=1/2 and x=1/3 have been investigated by magnetization measurements in pulsed magnetic fields up to 50 T. Using such high fields all the CO phase boundaries were identified in the temperature range 4–300 K. The transition fields at 4.2 K have been determined in a series of polycrystalline samples with x=1/2 and different effective bandwidths. They vary from Hc=8 T for La to (approximate)30 T for Sm. In this article we have focused on selected H–T phase diagrams. In particular, the results on Pr1/2Ca1/2MnO3, with the ideal 1:1 electron/hole ratio, are compared with Pr2/3Ca1/3MnO3 where the carrier concentration has been significantly reduced. The observed anomalies in the Hc(T) curves are discussed in the light on neutron diffraction data. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The local spin dynamics in the paramagnetic phase of ferromagnetic and charge-ordered Mn perovskites has been investigated by muon spin relaxation. Significant differences are observed in the muon relaxation in ferromagnetic (F) and antiferromagnetic (AF) Ln1−xCaxMnO3 samples with x=1/3 and 1/2. A glassy like spin dynamics is found close to TC in the former which is completely suppressed in samples with dominant AF exchange interactions. The observation of a falloff in the muon relaxation rate at TCO in Ln1/2Ca1/2MnO3 is also discussed. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Parametric decays of a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave in an electron–positron unmagnetized plasma are studied. Like in the case of a plane polarized wave, there are two distinctive situations. One in which vs/c〈c/vp (vs is the electroacoustic speed, c the speed of light, and vp is the phase velocity of the electromagnetic wave), and the other situation when vs/c≥c/vp. In the first case, there is an ordinary decay instability and two modulational instabilities. One of the modulational instabilities is a resonant instability, and the other is a nonresonant, essentially electromagnetic instability in which the pump wave decays into two sideband waves. In the second situation (vs/c≥c/vp), there are two modulational instabilities similar to the previous situation, but as the intensity of the pump wave increases, the resonant modulational instability disappears and only the nonresonant electromagnetic instability remains. The effect of Landau damping on the electroacoustic modes is also studied. This effect is simulated through a collisional term in the fluid equations. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: In this response we shall rebut what we consider to be misleading statements in the comment by Shukla and Stenflo (hereafter referred to as SS). © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Hetero- and homoepitaxial Nd3+-doped LaF3 thin films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Two different orientations of CaF2 substrates, (111) and (110), have been used for the heteroepitaxial structures. High-resolution emission and excitation spectra as well as the decay time of the emission have been measured. The spectroscopic measurements demonstrate that one Nd3+ site is present in the LaF3 layers grown on CaF2(111) substrates but two slightly different Nd3+ centers are resolved in the films on CaF2(110) substrates. One Nd3+ site has been found in the homoepitaxial sample. Slight differences are observed between the centers found in the LaF3 layers and the one observed in the Nd3+-doped LaF3 bulk crystal. For the homoepitaxial layer, the linewidths are similar to those of the bulk crystals, whereas for the heteroepitaxial layers, a broadening is observed. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The intensity of a He–Ne laser (633 nm, 5 mW) transmitted by different GaSe samples is observed to change in correlation with a Nd-yttrium–aluminum–garnet laser pulse (532 nm, 7.8 ns, 3 mJ) which excites them. Such time response has been attributed to a nonlinear optical effect, i.e., a decrease in the refractive index due to the exciton screening by the photogenerated carriers. A calculation of the absorption coefficient and refractive index at different carrier concentrations has led to a reconstruction of transmittance transients which fully agree with the experimental data at different incident intensities and temperatures.© 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: We have successfully built and tested a circuit designed to control a piezoelectric tube scanner having the standard single inner-electrode quartered outer-electrode configuration, using digital-to-analog (D/A) converters commercially available. To avoid noise associated with the PC, the signals transmitted by the D/A channels to the control electronics are received by instrumentation amplifiers INA 105 at the control circuit, providing 86 dB common mode rejection, thereby over four orders of magnitude of immunity to common mode noise. To prevent ground loops in the communication between the control electronics and the analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, a novel approach was used. The signals sent by the control electronics to the A/D converters were transmitted via isolation amplifiers ISO 122 followed by a 10 kHz Sallen–Key low pass filter incorporated at each output of the control circuit, providing galvanic isolation between the control electronics and the PC, thereby eliminating ground loops. The control circuit was designed to allow analog as well as digital feedback, selectable via a toggle switch. The design also incorporates the possibility of using two independent external signals to modulate the polarization of the sample and two independent external signals to modulate the piezoelectric transducer drive along the Z direction. It also incorporates the possibility of electronically canceling the slope that might occur while scanning due to the sample being tilted along the X axis (fast scan direction) and/or along the Y axis (slow scan direction). The circuit was tested using two 12 bit A/D–D/A converters DAS 1602 to control the scanner of a scanning tunneling microscope, with a home-built scanning head, electrometer, and preamplifier. With the complete system in operation but in the absence of tunneling current, the electrometer exhibits a current noise under 3 pA rms and a response time of 30 μs to a step input current, a performance that compares well with that of bulkier and more expensive commercial low noise current amplifiers. To calibrate the instrument and verify proper control operation, we obtained images of a commercial holographic grating covered with gold running the instrument in the digital feedback mode, using the algorithm described by Piner and Reifenberger [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 60, 3123 (1989)]. The control circuit and the electrometer turn out to be about one order of magnitude less expensive than commercially available control circuits and low noise current amplifiers of similar performance. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.