Abstract: The structure of the metastable Ni2Al phase, which has long been a matter of controversy, has been carefully re-examined by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) and electron microdiffraction. First, it is concluded that theas-quenched NixAl100-x(60 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 65) material already exhibits a partial omega-type collapse in a one-dimensional fashion which and is consistent with the anomalous dip in the phonon dispersion curve. Ni2Al precipitates are formed on annealing by thermal decomposition of the high-temperature NixAl100-xB2 phase and still retain the small omega-type shuffle. The amount of displacement in the well developed Ni2Al phase was estimated to be between 20 and 50% of the ideal omega collapse; this was determined by means of a combined technique of HREM and microdiffraction together with dynamical calculations of HREM images and diffraction intensities.

Abstract: The low-temperature transport properties are studied for electrons confined in delta-doped semiconductor structures with two sheets in parallel. The subband quantum mobility and transport mobility are calculated numerically for the Si delta-doped GaAs systems. The effect of coupling of the two delta layers on the electron transport is investigated. Our calculations are in good agreement with experimental results.

Abstract: When the energy difference between two electric subbands in a quasi-two-dimensional electron system equals a LO-phonon energy, resonant scattering will occur. This leads to an enhancement of the scattering rate and, consequently, to a suppression of the conductivity. Changing the energy difference between the electric subbands (e.g., through a gate) leads to a series of electrophonon resonances in the conductivity. A detailed study is made of this effect for different confinement potentials. We found that the scattering processes where the emission of a phonon is involved are very important for the electrophonon resonance and that the size of the effect decreases with increasing temperature.

Abstract: A combination of infrared spectroscopy and magnetotransport is used to investigate the impurity band and the magnetic-field-induced metal-insulator transition in n-type GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs superlattices. The dropping of the Fermi level from the conduction band into the impurity band upon increasing magnetic field is observed in a sample doped to n=4n(c), where n(c) is the critical density according to the Mott criterion. The metal-insulator transition takes place while the Fermi level is in the impurity band, with no qualitative change from the metallic to the insulating side. Due to the anisotropy of the superlattice band structure, the metal-insulator transition is shifted to higher magnetic field, when the magnetic field is tilted away from the growth axis towards the layer planes.