Abstract: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.70.2146

Abstract: A general Monte Carlo program for the simulation of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers is presented. The global layout of the program is discussed and the way in which variance reduction techniques have been employed to improve the efficiency of the code is described. For the case of polychromatic excitation in a direct excitation energy-dispersive (ED) XRF instrument, experimentally collected ED-XRF spectra are compared with simulated spectral distributions. Applications of the software in the field of quantitative analysis and thickness estimation of samples of intermediate thickness illustrate the potential of the method.

Abstract: A model for superstructure ordering in the <<chain>> layers of Ga (Co) substituted YBCO intergrowths with general formula (REO2)NSr2MCu2O5 (M = Co, Ga; n = 1, 2, ...) is proposed. By Ga or Co substitution for Cu, the structure of the <<chain>> layer changes : instead of the CuO4 planar squares, the chains consist of MO4 tetrahedra (M = Ga, Co) running along the [110] perovskite direction. The existing model for the Ga substituted <<123>> implies that all the chains are the same. Our new model is based on the results of Electron diffraction and High-resolution electron microscopy investigations. The model reveals the occurrence of two types of chains as a consequence of <<opposite>> ordering between neighbouring tetrahedra. The comer linked tetrahedra in each chain appear as alternatingly rotated in opposite sense, and a chain itself, as being displaced with respect to the underlying structure in one of two senses ; either forth (right) or back (left) along the chain direction. The regular alternation of chains of opposite type doubles the periodicity within a layer and induces the possibility for intrinsic disorder in the chain layer stacking sequence. The planar superstructure and a staggered stacking of the tetrahedral chain layers is found irrespective of the rest of the intergrowth structure. Superstructure ordering in the case of Co substitution is more perfect than for the Ga substitution.

Abstract: It is shown that the infrared absorption spectra of pure type IaB diamonds, namely those that on cursory examination show only a B one-phonon component and neither A nor D, and the complete absence of a B' localized-mode platelet absorption peak, may be divided into two subgroups. The defect content of specimens of one of these subgroups has been studied before and comprises slip dislocations and voidites in random homogeneous distributions unconnected with the transformation of platelets to dislocation loops. Electron microscopy of a specimen of the other subgroup, which may be recognized by the presence of weak additional one-phonon absorption near 1100 cm-1, shows a population of dislocation loops resulting from the complete transformation of a former platelet population, plus accompanying voidites. It is suggested that the extra absorption is caused by the dislocation loops. Observation of the way in which loops and voidites are distributed suggests that voidite production and platelet transformation may not, after all, be interlinked phenomena, but parallel independent processes both promoted by the same unknown conditions.