TY - JOUR
T1 - MBE growth and characterisation of light rare-earth superlattices
AU - Ward, R.C.C.
AU - Wells, M.R.
AU - Bryn-Jacobsen, C.
AU - Cowley, R.A.
AU - Goff, J.P.
AU - McMorrow, D.F.
AU - Simpson, J.A.
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - The molecular beam epitaxy growth techniques which have already successfully produced a range of heavy rare-earth superlattices have now been extended to produce superlattices of two light rare-earth elements, Nd/Pr, as well as superlattices and alloy films of a heavy/light system, Ho/Pr. High-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis shows the Nd/Pr superlattices to be of high structural quality, while the Ho/Pr superlattices are significantly less so. In the Ho/Pr superlattices, Pr is found to retain its bulk dhcp crystal structure even in thin layers (down to 6 atomic planes thick) sandwiched between thick layers of hcp Ho. In addition, neutron diffraction studies of the He/Pr superlattices have shown that the helical Ho magnetic order is not coherent through the dhcp Pr layers, in contrast to previous hcp/hcp superlattices Ho/Y, Ho/Lu and Ho/Er. The series of Ho:Pr alloy films has shown structural trends similar to bulk alloys, with a range of compositions between Ho0.55Pr0.45 and Ho0.35Pr0.65 where the Sm delta-structure is stable, separating more extensive regions of hcp and dhcp solid solutions.
AB - The molecular beam epitaxy growth techniques which have already successfully produced a range of heavy rare-earth superlattices have now been extended to produce superlattices of two light rare-earth elements, Nd/Pr, as well as superlattices and alloy films of a heavy/light system, Ho/Pr. High-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis shows the Nd/Pr superlattices to be of high structural quality, while the Ho/Pr superlattices are significantly less so. In the Ho/Pr superlattices, Pr is found to retain its bulk dhcp crystal structure even in thin layers (down to 6 atomic planes thick) sandwiched between thick layers of hcp Ho. In addition, neutron diffraction studies of the He/Pr superlattices have shown that the helical Ho magnetic order is not coherent through the dhcp Pr layers, in contrast to previous hcp/hcp superlattices Ho/Y, Ho/Lu and Ho/Er. The series of Ho:Pr alloy films has shown structural trends similar to bulk alloys, with a range of compositions between Ho0.55Pr0.45 and Ho0.35Pr0.65 where the Sm delta-structure is stable, separating more extensive regions of hcp and dhcp solid solutions.
KW - Materialer med særlige fysiske og kemiske egenskaber; Nye funktionelle materialer
U2 - 10.1016/0040-6090(95)07071-0
DO - 10.1016/0040-6090(95)07071-0
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0040-6090
VL - 275
SP - 137
EP - 139
JO - Thin Solid Films
JF - Thin Solid Films
IS - 1-2
ER -