Apatite-type rare-earth silicates are attractive materials with extensive applications such as in solid-oxide fuel cells due to their extremely high oxide-ion conductivity below 600 °C. The presence of interstitial (excess) oxygens has been believed to be responsible for the high conductivity of apatite-type materials. On the contrary, the present study clearly reveals the presence of Si vacancies □ instead of interstitial oxygens in La-rich La_9.565(Si_5.826□_0.174)O₂₆ using single-crystal neutron and X-ray diffraction analyses, density measurements and ab initio electronic calculations. Higher mobility (i.e., lower activation energy) of oxide ions along the c axis is a major reason for the high oxide-ion conductivity of La_9.565(Si_5.826□_0.174)O₂₆ when compared with that of La_9.333Si₆O₂₆. Excess La cations yield overbonded channel oxygens, leading to their highly anisotropic atomic displacements and high oxygen mobility along the c axis. This novel finding of the overbonding effect without interstitial oxygens will open a new window for the design of better ion conductors.

Ferromagnetic-metal surface state derived from topological polarization and its spin-orbitronics functionalities in FeSi.

Precise x-ray diffraction measurements using high-energy x rays of synchrotron radiation and systematic Raman scattering measurements were carried out for ${\mathrm{Ge}}_x{\mathrm{S}}_{100-x}$ $(10⩽x⩽40)$ network glasses. The structural models of the network glasses were proposed based on the results. In the stoichiometric composition ${\mathrm{Ge}}_{33}{\mathrm{S}}_{67}$, ${\mathrm{GeS}}_4$ tetrahedral units are connected forming either corner-sharing or edge-sharing structures. In the S-rich glasses, S atoms are inserted between two neighboring ${\mathrm{GeS}}_4$ tetrahedra, resulting in a flexible floppy network. In a much more S-rich region, some ${\mathrm{S}}_8$ ring molecules are isolated from the network, and assemble to form a crystal in nanoscopic scale. In this respect, ${\mathrm{Ge}}_{10}{\mathrm{S}}_{90}$ samples are regarded as crystallized glasses. In the Ge-rich region, the ${\mathrm{GeS}}_4$ tetrahedra are connected with bridging Ge atoms. The connection makes a new rigid network. The bridging Ge-S bond is weaker than the intratetrahedron bond, and this leads to drastic changes in the optical properties.

A large background scattering originating from the sample matrix is a major obstacle for fine-structure analysis of a nanometric layer buried in a bulk material. As polarization analysis can decrease undesired scattering in a neutron reflectivity (NR) profile, we performed NR experiments with polarization analysis on a polypropylene (PP)/perhydropolysilazane-derived SiO₂ (PDS)/Si substrate sample, having a deep-buried layer of SiO₂ to elucidate the fine structure of the nano-PDS layer. This method offers unique possibilities for increasing the amplitude of the Kiessig fringes in the higher scattering vector (Q_z) region of the NR profiles in the sample by decreasing the undesired background scattering. Fitting and Fourier transform analysis results of the NR data indicated that the synthesized PDS layer remained between the PP plate and Si substrate with a thickness of approximately 109 Å. Furthermore, the scattering length density of the PDS layer, obtained from the background subtracted data appeared to be more accurate than that obtained from the raw data. Although the density of the PDS layer was lower than that of natural SiO₂, the PDS thin layer had adequate mechanical strength to maintain a uniform PDS layer in the depth-direction under the deep-buried condition.

The only available tabletop electron storage rings are the machines from the MIRRORCLE series. The electrons are accelerated in a microtron and injected into the storage ring. During its circulation, each electron passes through a tiny target many times, emitting a photon beam. Both the spectrum and the angular distribution of the radiation depend on the material, the thickness and the shape of the target. In this paper measured angular distributions of the radiation from several different targets in the magnetic field of the 20 MeV storage ring MIRRORCLE-20SX are presented. The detector comprises a 3 mm × 3 mm × 8.5 µm plastic scintillator (PS) coupled to a photomultiplier by a bundle of optical fibers. The output of the photomultiplier is digitized by an IF converter. This detector is sensitive mostly to soft X-ray radiation, and its PS is moved by a mechanical system in a plane perpendicular to the radiation axis. The measured angular distributions for Mo and Sn targets contain an annulus which is attributed to transition radiation. The angular distributions for Al, carbon nanotube and diamond-like carbon (DLC) targets show some suppression of the radiation along the magnetic field. This is the first evidence of observation of the angular distribution of synchrotron Cherenkov radiation, which represents Cherenkov radiation in a magnetic field. The power radiated from the DLC target is estimated.

Ferromagnetic (FM) interlayer exchange coupling of ion-beam sputtered Fe/Ge multilayers was investigated by off-specular polarized neutron scattering measurements. We observed a monotonously growing correlation of magnetic moments in the out-of-plane direction with decreasing Ge thickness. The magnetic properties of the multilayers with and without the FM interlayer exchange coupling agree well with the three- and two-dimensional random anisotropy model, respectively, assuming an FM interlayer exchange coupling comparable to the direct exchange interaction within the sample plane. The results of the Fe/Ge multilayers were used to invoke FM interlayer exchange coupling in a neutron polarizing supermirror in order to extend its bandwidth. Typically, the bandwidth is limited due to a Curie temperature close to room temperature of the thinnest Fe layers with less than 3 nm. We propose a modified layer sequence of the neutron polarizing supermirror, where the minimum Fe thickness was set to 3.5 nm, whereas the Ge thickness was reduced. A performance test of the neutron polarizing supermirror showed that the FM interlayer exchange coupling contributed to the presence of the magnetization comparable to the bulk and resulted in a marked extension in the bandwidth.