Том 104, № 6 (2016)

The magnetic properties of Li_xCoO₂ for x = 0.94, 0.75, 0.66, and 0.51 are investigated within the method combining the generalized gradient approximation with dynamical mean field theory (GGA + DMFT). A delicate interplay between Hund’s exchange energy and t_2g−e_g crystal field splitting is found to be responsible for the high-spin to low-spin state transition for Co⁴⁺ ions. The GGA + DMFT calculations show that the Co⁴⁺ ions at a small doping level adopt the high-spin state, while delithiation leads to an increase in the crystal field splitting and low-spin state becomes preferable. The Co³⁺ ions are found to stay in the low-spin configuration for any x values.

The mobility of Dirac electrons (DEs) in HgTe quantum wells with the thickness close to the critical value corresponding to the transition from the direct to inverted spectrum has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The nonmonotonic dependence of this mobility on the electron density is found experimentally. The theory of DE scattering on impurities and fluctuations of the thickness of a well caused by its roughnesses is elaborated. This theory is in good agreement with experiment and explains the observed nonmonotonicity by the decrease in the ratio of the de Broglie wavelength of DEs to the characteristic size of the roughness with the increase in their concentration.

The effect of electromagnetic retardation on the spectrum of edge plasmons in a semi-infinite two-dimensional electron system is considered. The problem is reduced to complicated integral equations for the potentials, which are solved upon a major simplification of the kernel. The spatial distribution of the potentials, charges, and currents is analyzed. It is shown that edge plasmon polaritons in the high-conductivity two-dimensional system are characterized by a high Q factor at all frequencies, including those lower than the reciprocal electron relaxation time τ^-1.

New results of the neutron-induced fission experiments carried out at the neutron time-of-flight spectrometer GNEIS of the PNPI are given. Angular distributions of fission fragments from the neutron-induced fission of ²³³U and ²⁰⁹Bi nuclei have been measured in the energy range 1–200 MeV using position sensitive multiwire proportional counters as fission fragment detector. The recent improvements of the measurement and data processing procedures are described. The data on anisotropy of fission fragments deduced from the measured angular distributions are presented in comparison with the experimental data of other authors.

A new optical state at the boundary of a chiral medium whose dielectric tensor has a helical symmetry is described analytically and numerically. The case of zero tangential wavenumber is considered. The state localized near the boundary does not transfer energy along this boundary and decreases exponentially with the distance from the boundary. The penetration of the field into the chiral medium is blocked at wavelengths corresponding to the photonic band gap and close to the pitch of the helix. The polarization of light near the boundary has the same sign of chirality as the helical symmetry. It is shown that the homogeneous environment or a substrate should exhibit anisotropic metallic reflection. The spectral manifestation of the state is determined by the angle between the optical axes of the media at the interface. A state at the interface between a cholesteric liquid crystal and an anisotropic metal–dielectric nanocomposite was considered as an example.

The possibility of the efficient band reject filtration of the continuous X-ray excitation spectrum in the energy range E ≥ 8 keV is demonstrated. This makes it possible to strongly increase the sensitivity of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy at detecting of weak fluorescence lines. Spectral rejection is implemented by transmitting a primary beam through highly oriented pyrolytic graphite with given structural parameters. Diffraction extinction in pyrolytic graphite ensures the possibility of reducing the intensity by more than 20 dB and rejecting the spectral band with a width of ~1 keV. The reduction of statistical fluctuations of the background of elastically scattered radiation is achieved when the bottom of the formed spectral valley is adjusted to the analyzed fluorescence line. The proposed scheme of band reject filtration also allows the suppression of intense characteristic lines in the primary and scattered radiation spectra.

The composition and content of pulsed neutral cluster beams are determined by a specially proposed method from ion signals of cluster fragments in time-of-flight spectra of clusters in these beams. For beams of different-size mixed clusters (SF₆)_mAr_n (where 1 ≤ m ≤ 4 and 0 ≤ n ≤ 9 are the number of molecules and atoms in clusters, respectively), it is shown that the proposed method makes it possible to determine the composition and content of neutral van der Waals molecular and atomic–molecular clusters in beams.

Ultrashort laser pulses are widely used in technological processes. A metal irradiated by ultrashort laser pulses is transferred to a two-temperature (2Т) state where the electron temperature is above the temperature of the ion subsystem. The theory of interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with metals includes the description of the thermal conductivity in 2Т states as an important component. This work is devoted to the solution of a serious problem of the determination of the 2Т thermal conductivity. To this end, a technique for the solution of the kinetic equation at temperatures comparable with the Fermi energy is developed for the high-temperature region of the phase diagram. Furthermore, quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulation of 2Т ion configurations is performed and the electrical resistivity of these configurations is calculated by the Kubo–Greenwood (QMD–KG) formula. The data calculated by the QMD–KG formula are compared to those obtained with the kinetic equation.