Related papers: Binary separation in very thin nematic films: thic…
The wetting behavior of thin films of 4'-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) on Si is investigated via optical and x-ray reflectivity measurement. An experimental phase diagram is obtained showing a broad thick-thin coexistence region spanning…
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…
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…
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…
Nickel/Bismuth (Ni/Bi) bilayers have recently attracted attention due to the occurrence of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the superconducting state. Here, we report on the structural, magnetic and electric characterization of thin film…
The phase separation occurring in Fe-Ni thin films near the Invar composition is studied by using high-resolution spectromicroscopy techniques and density functional theory calculations. Annealed at temperatures around 300 C, Fe0.70Ni0.30…
Continued advances in superconducting qubit performance require more detailed understandings of the many sources of decoherence. Within these devices, two-level systems arise due to defects, interfaces, and grain boundaries, and are thought…
Computer simulations are presented of the isotropic-to-nematic transition in a liquid crystal confined between two parallel plates a distance H apart. The plates are neutral and do not impose any anchoring on the particles. Depending on the…
Here we demonstrate the controlled growth of Bi(110) and Bi(111) films on an (insulating) $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$(0001) substrate by surface X-ray diffraction and X-ray reflectivity using synchrotron radiation. At temperatures as low as 40 K,…
We discuss ferroelectric phase transitions into single- and multidomain states in very thin films using continuous theory. It is shown that in nearly cubic ferroelectrics the domain state may survive down to atomic film thicknesses, unlike…
Al2O3 thin films have been deposited at substrate temperatures between 500{\deg}C to 600{\deg}C by reactive magnetron sputtering using an additional arbitrary substrate bias to tailor the energy distribution of the incident ions. The films…
The role of stoichiometry and growth temperature in the preferential nucleation of material phases in the Li-Nb-O family are explored yielding an empirical growth phase diagram. It is shown that while single parameter variation often…
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…
The electrical conductance of molecular beam epitaxial Bi on BaF2(111) was measured as a function of both film thickness (4-540 nm) and temperature (5-300 K). Unlike bulk Bi as a prototype semimetal, the Bi thin films up to 90 nm are found…
Understanding thermal transport in silicon nanostructures is crucial for effective thermal management in semiconductor devices. In such nanostructures, boundary scattering can significantly reduce thermal conductivity. Diffusive boundary…
V$_3$Si thin films are known to be superconducting with transition temperatures up to 15 K, depending on the annealing temperature and the properties of the substrate underneath. Here we investigate the film structural properties with the…
The pairing temperature of superconducting thin films is expected to display, within the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory, oscillations as a function of the film thickness. We show that the pattern of these oscillations switches between two…
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…
We study the critical properties of a two--dimensional Ising model with competing ferromagnetic exchange and dipolar interactions, which models an ultra-thin magnetic film with high out--of--plane anisotropy in the monolayer limit. We…