Related papers: Thin-thick coexistence behavior of 8CB liquid crys…
The behavior as a function of temperature of very thin films (10 to 200 nm) of pentylcyanobiphenyl (5CB) on silicon substrates is reported. In the vicinity of the nematic/isotropic transition we observe a coexistence of two regions of…
Confinement in the nanochannels of porous silicon strongly affects the phase behavior of the archetype liquid-crystal 4-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB). A very striking phenom- enon is the development of a short-range smectic order, which…
A transient surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic-isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is…
We present a neutron and X-rays scattering study of the phase transitions of 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) confined in unidirectional nanopores of porous alumina and porous silicon (PSi) membranes with an average diameter of 30 nm.…
The effects of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (NTs) on low-temperature phase transformations in 5CB were studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), low-temperature photoluminescence and measurements of electrical…
We have investigated heteroepitaxial films of Sm-doped BiFeO3 with a Sm-concentration near a morphotropic phase boundary. Our high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction, carried out in a temperature range of 25C to 700C, reveals…
We report on the superconducting properties of Nb$_{1-x}$Ti$_x$N thin films of thickness $\sim$ 10 nm, with different Ti fraction $x$ in the range $ 0 \leq x \leq 0.5$, deposited by high temperature chemical vapor deposition. In this…
High-resolution ac-calorimetry has been carried out on dispersions of aerosils in the liquid crystal octyloxycyanobiphenyl (8OCB) as a function of aerosil concentration and temperature spanning the crystal to isotropic phases. The…
We report on the temperature-dependent optical response of thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-{\delta} (YBCO) in the visible spectral range under cryogenic conditions. Specifically, we observe an increase in transmittance near the superconducting…
Vanadium silicide (V$_3$Si) is a promising superconductor for integration with silicon-based electronics, however the interfacial growth kinetics have a strong influence on the resulting superconducting properties and are not yet fully…
4-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) has been recently shown to display an unusual sequence of phases when confined into porous silicon (PSi). The gradual increase of oriented short-range smectic (SRS) correlations in place of a phase transition…
Silicon thin films for coverages ($\theta$) between 0.3 and 3 monolayers have been grown on rutile \ce{TiO2}(110)-(1x1) at room temperature and studied by x-ray and ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopies, Auger electron spectroscopy, and…
We present a neutron scattering analysis of the structure of the smectic liquid crystal octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) confined in one-dimensional nanopores of porous silicon films (PS). The smectic transition is completely suppressed, leading to…
Superconducting thin films with high intrinsic kinetic inductance $L_{k}$ are important for high-sensitivity detectors, enabling strong coupling in hybrid quantum systems, and enhancing nonlinearities in quantum devices. We report the…
We report an in-situ microbeam grazing incidence X-ray scattering study of 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C$_8$-BTBT) organic semiconductor thin film deposition by hollow pen writing. Multiple transient phases are…
We report on the structural and superconducting properties of nanocrystalline tungsten thin films growth by sputtering at room temperature with an N2:Ar mixture (N2 from 3% to 50%). The crystalline phases were identified by comparing…
Niobium is commonly used for superconducting quantum systems as readout resonators, capacitors, and interconnects. The coherence time of the superconducting qubits is mainly limited by microwave dissipation attributed to two-level system…
A surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic--isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is actually based…
A partially miscible binary liquid mixture, composed of A and B particles, is considered theoretically under conditions for which a stable A-rich liquid phase is in thermal equilibrium with the vapor phase. The B-rich liquid is metastable.…
X-ray reflectivity measurements of the binary liquid Ga-Bi alloy reveal a dramatically different surface structure above and below the monotectic temperature $T_{mono}=222^{\circ}$ C. A Gibbs-adsorbed Bi monolayer resides at the surface at…