Abstract: Spatially nonhomogeneously spin polarized nuclei are proposed as a new mechanism to monitor electron states in a nanostructure, or as a means to create and, if necessary, reshape such nanostructures in the course of the experiment. We found that a polarization of nuclear spins may lift the spin polarization of the electron states in a nanostructure and, if sufficiently strong, leads to a polarization of the electron spins. Polarized nuclear spins may form an energy landscape capable of binding electrons with energy up to several meV and the localization radius > 100 Angstrom. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Explicit analytic expressions are obtained for the density of states D(E) and Fermi energy E-F of a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of a weak and periodic unidirectional electric or magnetic modulation and of a uniform perpendicular magnetic field B. The Landau levels broaden into bands and their width, proportional to the modulation strength, oscillates with B and gives rise to Weiss oscillations in D(E), E-F and the transport coefficients. When both electric and magnetic modulations are present the position of the resulting oscillations depends on the ratio delta between the two modulation strengths. When the modulations are out of phase there is no shift in the position of the oscillations when delta varies and for a particular value of delta the oscillations are suppressed.

Abstract: We investigate the energy levels of the negatively and positively charged excitons (also called trions) in a 200 Angstrom wide GaAs quantum well in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. A comparison is made with the experimental results of Glasberg et al. (Phys. Rev. B. 59 (1999) R10 425) and of Yusa et al. (cond-mat/0103505). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The magnetic proper-ties and their correlation with the microstructure and electrical transport are investigated in La0.88Sr0.1MnO3 films grown on (100)SrTiO3 Single crystal substrates with thickness ranging from 100 to 2500 Angstrom. The ultrathin film (t = 100 Angstrom) has a single ferromagnetic transition (FMT) at T-c of 250 K, whereas the thicker films exhibit two FMTs, with the main one at a lowered T-c of 200 K while the minor one around 300 K. Furthermore, a thickness dependent magnetic anisotropy has been found, strongly indicating the existence of strain effect, which is also revealed by the transmission electron microscopy study. The suppressed Jahn-Teller distortion (JTD) by the epitaxial strain, and the recovered JTD due to the strain relexation are suggested to explain the metallic behavior in thin films and the insulating behavior in the thick film (t = 2500 Angstrom), repectively.

Abstract: Single-chain elasticity of polyethylene at theta point up to 90% of stretching with respect to its contour length is computed by Monte Carlo simulation of an atomistic model in continuous space. The elasticity law together with the free-energy and the internal energy variations with stretching are found to be very well represented by the wormlike chain model up to 65% of the chain elongation, provided the persistence length is treated as a temperature-dependent parameter. Beyond this value of elongation simple ideal chain models are not able to describe the Monte Carlo data in a thermodynamic consistent way. This study reinforces the use of the wormlike chain model to interpret experimental data on the elasticity of synthetic polymers in the finite extensibility regime, provided the chain is not yet in its fully stretched regime. Specific solvent effects on the elasticity law and the partition between energetic and entropic contributions to single chain elasticity are investigated. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract: The distribution of the electric charge density in mesoscopic superconducting disks and cylinders is studied within the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau approach. We found that, even in the Meissner state the mesoscopic sample exhibits a non-uniform charge distribution such that a region near the sample edge becomes negatively charged. When vortices are inside the sample there is a superposition of the negative charge located at the vortex core and this Meissner charge, and, as a result, the charge at the sample edge changes sign as a function of the applied magnetic field.

Abstract: The electronic structure of disk-shaped InP/InGaP self-assembled quantum dots is calculated within the effective-mass theory. The strain-dependent 6x6 multiband Hamiltonian for the valence band is simplified into an axially symmetric form. Both the continuum mechanical model, discretized by finite elements, and the isotropic model are used to calculate the strain distribution and their results are critically compared. The dependence of the electron and the hole energy levels on the dimensions of the quantum dot is investigated. We found that both the electron and hole energies are underestimated if the strain distribution is calculated by the isotropic elasticity theory. The agreement between the electron energies for the two approaches is better for thinner quantum dots. The heavy holes are confined inside the quantum dot, while the light holes are located outside the disk, but confined by the strain field near the edge of the disk periphery. We found that the (h) over bar /2 hole ground state crosses the 3 (h) over bar /2 ground state when the height of the quantum dot increases and becomes the ground state for sufficiently thick quantum disks. The higher hole levels exhibit both crossings between the states of the different parity and anticrossings between the states of the same parity.

Abstract: We report quenching of the Hall effect with increasing magnetic field confined in a micron-sized spot. Such fields were created by placing tall ferromagnetic pillars on top of a two-dimensional electron gas, which allowed us to achieve the field strength up to 0.4 T under the pillars in the absence of external field. The quenching is accompanied by an anomalous increase in resistance and occurs when the cyclotron diameter matches the size of the magnetic spot. The results are explained by a rapid increase in the number of electrons that are scattered or quasilocalized by the magnetic region.

Abstract: The present paper describes the synthesis, characterization of mixed-valence bismuthates with three- or two-dimensional perovskite-like structures and structural criteria that influence superconductivity in these compounds. Single-phase samples of Sr1-xKxBiO3 were prepared for the broad range of K-content: 0.25 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.65. For these bismuthates the symmetry of the structure changes from monoclinic to orthorhombic and finally to tetragonal upon increasing the K-content thus resulting in the decrease of the Bi-O distances and reduction of the network distortions. Superconductivity with maximum T-c = 12 K exists in the narrow range (x approximate to 0.5-0.6) within the stability field of the tetragonal phase (0.33 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.65), when the three-dimensional octahedral framework has close to the ideal perovskite structure arrangement. The layered type (Ba,K)(3)Bi2O7 and (Ba,K)(2)BiO4 bismuthates belonging to the A(n+1)B(n)O(3n+1) homologous series were investigated. Buckling of the (BiO2) layers in the structure of the n = 2 member occurs due to the ordering of alkaline- and alkaline-earth cations between two independent positions. The formation of the one-layer bismuthate was revealed by Electron Microscopy and XRPD studies. Both types of compounds are considered to be possible candidates for new superconducting materials among bismuthates. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Abstract: A comparative study is made of the strain distribution in cylindrical InAs/GaAs and InP/InGaP self-assembled quantum dots as obtained from isotropic elasticity theory, the anisotropic continuum mechanical model, and from atomistic calculations. For the isotropic case, the recently proposed approach [J. H. Davies, J. Appl. Phys. 84, 1358 (1998)] is used, while the finite-element method, the valence force field method, and Stillinger-Weber potentials are employed to calculate the strain in anisotropic structures. We found that all four methods result in strain distributions of similar shapes, but with notable quantitative differences inside the dot and near the disk-matrix boundary. The variations of the diagonal strains with the height of the quantum dot, with fixed radius, as calculated from all models, are almost linear. Furthermore, the energies of the band edges in the two types of quantum dots are extracted from the multiband effective-mass theory by inserting the strain distributions as obtained by the four models. We demonstrated that all strain models produce effective potentials for the heavy and light holes which agree very well inside the dot. A negligible anisotropy of all normal strains in the (x,y) plane is found, which, providing the axial symmetry of the kinetic part of the multiband effective-mass Hamiltonian, justifies the use of the axial approximation. Strain propagation along the vertical direction is also considered with the aim to study the influence of strain on the electron coupling in stacks of quantum dots. We found that the interaction between the strain fields of the individual quantum dots makes the effective quantum wells for the electrons in the conduction band shallower, thereby counteracting the quantum mechanical coupling. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract: Cyclotron resonance in CdTe/CdMgTe quantum wells (QWs) was studied. Due to the polaron effect the zero-field effective mass is strongly influenced by the QW width. The experimental data have been described theoretically by taking into account electron-phonon coupling and the nonparabolicity of the conduction band. The subband structure was calculated self-consistently. The best fit was obtained for an electron-phonon coupling constant alpha = 0.3 and bare electron mass of m(b) = 0.092m(0).