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We report the complex dielectric function of the quasi-one-dimensional chalcogenide Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$, which exhibits a structural phase transition that has been attributed to exciton condensation below $T_c = 326$ K, and of the isostructural Ta$_2$NiS$_5$ which does not exhibit such a transition. Using spectroscopic ellipsometry, we have detected exciton doublets with pronounced Fano lineshapes in both the compounds. The exciton Fano resonances in Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ display an order of magnitude higher intensity than those in Ta$_2$NiS$_5$. In conjunction with prior theoretical work by E. Rashba, we attribute this observation to the giant oscillator strength of spatially extended exciton-phonon bound states in Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$. The formation of exciton-phonon complexes in Ta$_2$NiS$_5$ and Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ is confirmed by the pronounced temperature dependence of sharp interband transitions in the optical spectra, whose peak energies and widths scale with the thermal population of optical phonon modes. The description of the optically excited states in terms of strongly overlapping exciton complexes is in good agreement with the hypothesis of an EI ground state., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

Ta2PdxS5 (x < 1.0) was found to show superconductivity at Tc ~ 6 K. The temperature dependent resistivity of single crystalline Ta2Pd0.92S5 showed that the system is strongly disordered due to Pd deficiencies and close to Anderson localized state. Superconductivity in the dirty limit as well as the temperature dependence of specific heat C(T) implies that superconductivity is s-wave. The upper critical field Hc2 at T = 0 K limit with the magnetic field parallel to the TaS6 chains was found to be as high as 31 T, exceeding the Pauli paramagnetic limit Hp = 10.2 T by a factor of 3. We argue that the absence of the paramagnetic pair-breaking originates from strong spin-orbit scattering due to Pd deficiencies embedded in the periodic lattice of heavy 5d Ta and 4d Pd.

La2Zr2O7 (LZO) formation of bulk powders and of films by Chemical Solution Deposition (CSD) process have been studied using propionates. The treatment involved a one step cycle in the reducing forming gas (Ar-5%H2) to be compatible with Ni-5at%W RABITS. Large amount of residual carbon was found in LZO powders formed in these conditions (10 wt %). The volume fraction of the cube texture in LZO films on Ni-5at%w RABITS was found to be a function of the speed of the gas flown above sample. This phenomenon is discussed in considering the C deposited from the carbon-containing gases emitted during the pyrolysis of the precursor. Using proper conditions (950 ^\circC and the speed of gas of 6.8\times10^{-2} m/s), LZO films with good surface crystallinity could be obtained on Ni-5at%W RABITS as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction, electron backscattered diffraction and RHEED. The existence of residual carbon in oxide films is a common question to films deposited by CSD processes under reducing condition.

The MgB2 bulks were prepared by high energy milling of Mg and B powder. The correlations among milling times, microstructure and superconducting properties were investigated in MgB2 bulks. Samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the magnetization properties were examined by a Superconducting quantum interfere device (SQUID) magnetometer. It showed that the high energy milling is an effective approach to get fine crystalline (40-100nm) bulk MgB2 with good grain connectivity and high Jc performance. The critical current density reaches to 2.0X10E6A/cm2 at 15K and 0.59T, 5.7X10E5A/cm2 at 2T and 3.0X10E4A/cm2 at 5T., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

The powder-in-tube MgB2 wires were prepared by high energy milling of Mg and B powder. The powder was not mechanically alloyed for 2h short milling time. However, the MgB2 grains in wires are very small (20 100nm) and resembled to the dimple after post-heat treatment. The clear evidence for transcrystlline fracture is observed. It indicated that the grain connection was greatly improved and the fluxing pinning was significantly enhanced. Another point to view is no intermediate annealing was adopted during the whole rolling process. The influence of the post-heat treatment on the transport current density was studied. Despite the lower Tc of about 35K, the transport current density reaches to 3X10E4A/cm2 at 15K and 3.5T for 700 sintered wires., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We succeeded in the synthesis of high-Jc MgB2 bulks via high energy ball-milling of elemental Mg and B powder at ambient temperatures. Alternatively to longtime mechanical alloying technique, the mixed powder was ball-milled for only 1h and the completed reaction is achieved by subsequent annealing. The correlations among synthesis parameters, microstructures and superconducting properties in MgB2 bulks were investigated. Samples were characterized by XRD and SEM, and the magnetization properties were examined in a SQUID magnetometer. The high- Jc, approximately 1.7*106A/cm2(15K, 0.59T), and improved flux pinning were attribute to a large number of grain boundaries provided by small grain size., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures,figure9 is replaced for it repeats with figure 10 by mistake