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V-pit defects in InGaN/GaN were studied by numerical simulations of the strain field and X-ray diffraction (XRD) reciprocal space maps. The results were compared with XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) experimental data collected from a series of samples grown by metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy. Analysis of the principal strains and their directions in the vicinity of V-pits explains the pseudomorphic position of the InGaN epilayer peak observed by X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping. The top part of the InGaN layer involving V-pits relieves the strain by elastic relaxation. Plastic relaxation by misfit dislocations is not observed. The creation of the V-pits appears to be a sufficient mechanism for strain relaxation in InGaN/GaN epilayers.

Optimizing and monitoring the growth conditions of Pt films, often used as bottom electrodes in multiferroic material systems, represents a highly relevant issue that is of importance for controlling the crystalline quality and performance of ferroelectric oxides such as, e.g. LuFeO3. We performed a time-resolved monitoring of the growth and morphology of Pt films during pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in dependence on the grown film effective thickness and on the growth temperature Tg using in situ grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). Through real-time analysis and modeling of GISAXS patterns, we could fully characterize the influence of Tg on the morphology and on the growth kinetics of the Pt layers. Consequently, critical and characteristic effective thicknesses for the transitions nucleation phase (I)/coalescence phase (II) and coalescence phase (II)/coarsening phase (III) could be determined. In combination with complementary microscopic imaging and chemical mapping via combined SEM/EDXS, we demonstrate the occurrence of a morphological progression in the Pt PLD-grown Pt films, changing from grains at room temperature to a 3D-island morphology at 300 degrees C, further to a hole-free structure at 500 degrees C, and finally to a channel structure for 700 and 900 degrees C. The film topography, as characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), favors the PLD growth of Pt layers at temperatures beyond 700 degrees C where the film is homogeneous, continuous, and hole-free with a flat and smooth surface. The double dependency of the percolation transition on the film effective thickness and on the growth temperature has been established by measuring the electrical conductivity.

High-quality crystalline large grains with uniform morphologies of the perovskite films are particularly important for achieving stable, high-performance perovskite solar cells. Herein, an effectiv...

This work describes temperature-induced crystallization processes and reaction mechanisms occurring in the borohydride-imidazolate system. In the course of thermal evolution, crystal structures of two novel bimetallic imidazolates AMnIm3 (A = Na, K) were solved using synchrotron radiation powder diffraction data. Both the alkali metal cation and the Mn cations exhibit distorted octahedral coordination while each imidazolate is surrounded by two alkali metal and two manganese atoms. Extensive study of the thermal expansion behaviour revealed that the expansion of the bimetallic imidazolates does not proceed uniformly over the entire temperature range but rather abruptly changes from a colossal negative to a moderate positive volume expansion. Such behaviour is caused by the coherent intergrowth of the coexisting phases which form a composite, a positive lattice mismatch and a tensile strain during the coexistence of NaMIm3 (M = Mg and Mn) and NaIm or HT-NaIm. Such coherent coalescence of two materials opens the possibility for targeted design of zero thermal expansion materials. Graphical abstract Crystal structures of AMnIm3 (A = Na, K) were determined. Coherently intergrown NaMIm3/NaIm (M = Mg, Mn) present colossal negative thermal expansion.

Formation of thin uranium hydrides films, UH2 and \b{eta}-UH3, synthesized by a reactive dc sputtering of uranium metal, was explored using variable deposition conditions. Obtained stable oxygen-free hydride films were studied by a variety of methods, both in situ (photoelectron spectroscopy - XPS), and ex-situ (x-ray diffraction - XRD, transmission electron microscopy - TEM), electrical resistivity, and magnetometry). Both types of hydrides are ferromagnetic, the Curie temperatures of UH2 and \b{eta}-UH3 are approx. 120 and 170 K, respectively. Ferromagnetism in the thin films is robust and does not depend on structure details while electrical resistivity data reflect disorder in both types of hydrides.

Atomistic processes during pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) growth influence the physical properties of the resulting films. We investigated the PLD of epitaxial layers of hexagonal LuFeO3 by measuring the x-ray diffraction intensity in the quasiforbidden reflection 0003 in situ during deposition. From measured x-ray diffraction intensities we determined coverages of each layer and studied their time evolution which is described by scaling exponent β directly connected to the surface roughness. Subsequently we modelled the growth using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. While the experimentally obtained scaling exponent β decreases with the laser frequency, the simulations provided the opposite behaviour. We demonstrate that the increase of the surface temperature caused by impinging ablated particles satisfactorily explains the recorded decrease in the scaling exponent with the laser frequency. This phenomena is often overlooked during the PLD growth.

Atomistic processes during pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) growth influence the physical properties of the resulting films. We investigated the PLD of epitaxial layers of hexagonal LuFeO[Formula: see text] by measuring the X-ray diffraction intensity in the quasiforbidden reflection 0003 in situ during deposition. From measured X-ray diffraction intensities we determined coverages of each layer and studied their time evolution which is described by scaling exponent [Formula: see text] directly connected to the surface roughness. Subsequently we modelled the growth using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. While the experimentally obtained scaling exponent [Formula: see text] decreases with the laser frequency, the simulations provided the opposite behaviour. We demonstrate that the increase of the surface temperature caused by impinging ablated particles satisfactorily explains the recorded decrease in the scaling exponent with the laser frequency. This phenomena is often overlooked during the PLD growth.

Phase transitions in a single crystal of a metastable β-titanium alloy (Ti-15Mo) were investigated in situ during heating by synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The results were compared with previous measurements of electrical resistance. Single-crystalline samples allowed different crystallographic families of ω-Ti and α-Ti phases to be distinguished. The observed evolution of the intensity of the reflections of the ω phase during heating is consistent with the evolution of electrical resistance, which proves that the resistance is affected by the presence of ω-phase particles. Between approximately 673 and 833 K, both the resistance and the intensity of ω peaks sharply decrease. At 833 K, ω reflections disappear, indicating a complete dissolution of the ω phase due to achieving the solvus temperature of the ω phase in the Ti–15Mo alloy. The synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment proved that the disappearance of the ω phase during heating of Ti–15Mo with a heating rate of 5 K min−1 occurs by its dissolution back to the β phase and not by ω → α transformation.

Optimizing and monitoring the growth conditions of Pt films, often used as bottom electrodes in multiferroic material systems, represents a highly relevant issue that is of importance for controlling the crystalline quality and performance of ferroelectric oxides such as, e.g. LuFeO

We present a methodical study of grazing-incidence small-angle x-ray scattering performed in situ during pulsed-laser deposition of Pt on sapphire substrates. From measured two-dimensional intensity distributions in reciprocal space we calculated horizontal and vertical intensity projections and compare them to numerical simulations. The structure of the Pt layers was described using a simple Monte-Carlo model and the Ornstein-Zernicke theory with the Percus-Yevick approximation, and the scattering process was simulated using distorted-wave Born approximation. The validity of the structure models as well as the effect of the indirect scattering processes are discussed. From the comparison of the measured and simulated data we determined the lateral and vertical sizes of surface islands, the surface coverage, the island coalescence, as well as the thickness of the wetting layer at the substrate surface. We studied the time evolution of these parameters and their dependence on the substrate temperature.

The ideal electron transport layer of a high performance perovskite solar cell should have good optical transparency, high electron mobility, and an energy level alignment well-matched with the perovskite material. In this work, we investigate the role of TiCl4 post-treatment of the mesoporous TiO2 electron transport layer by varying the concentration of TiCl4 and characterizing optical and electrical properties, charge carrier dynamics, and photovoltaic performance of mesoscopic CH3NH3PbI3 solar cells. It is found that the TiCl4 treatment provides an additional interconnection between the TiO2 particles, leading to better percolation as evident from high resolution cross-section images and chemical maps. This enhances effective electron mobility in the material as well as significantly reduces average sub-bandgap absorption due to defects and electronic disorder determined by photothermal deflection spectroscopy. Moreover, improvement of interfacial contact due to a smoother surface contributes to more efficient charge extraction and suppressed charge recombination and reduced hysteresis. As a result, the optimized device based on TiCl4 post-treated mesoporous TiO2 achieved the highest conversion efficiency of 17.4% compared with 14.1% for the device with pristine mesoporous TiO2.

We report on the epitaxial strain-driven electronic and antiferromagnetic modulations of a pseudospin-half square-lattice realized in superlattices of (SrIrO_{3})_{1}/(SrTiO_{3})_{1}. With increasing compressive strain, we find the low-temperature insulating behavior to be strongly suppressed with a corresponding systematic reduction of both the Neel temperature and the staggered moment. However, despite such a suppression, the system remains weakly insulating above the Neel transition. The emergence of metallicity is observed under large compressive strain but only at temperatures far above the Neel transition. These behaviors are characteristics of the Slater-Mott crossover regime, providing a unique experimental model system of the spin-half Hubbard Hamiltonian with a tunable intermediate coupling strength.

A fundamental difference between antiferromagnets and ferromagnets is the lack of linear coupling to a uniform magnetic field due to the staggered order parameter. Such coupling is possible via the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction but at the expense of reduced antiferromagnetic (AFM) susceptibility due to the canting-induced spin anisotropy. We solve this long-standing problem with a top-down approach that utilizes spin-orbit coupling in the presence of a hidden SU(2) symmetry. We demonstrate giant AFM responses to sub-Tesla external fields by exploiting the extremely strong two-dimensional critical fluctuations preserved under a symmetry-invariant exchange anisotropy, which is built into a square-lattice artificially synthesized as a superlattice of SrIrO3 and SrTiO3. The observed field-induced logarithmic increase of the ordering temperature enables highly efficient control of the AFM order. As antiferromagnets promise to afford switching speed and storage security far beyond ferromagnets, our symmetry-invariant approach unleashes the great potential of functional antiferromagnets., Comment: 3 figures

Highly porous structures consisting of niobium nanoparticles (Nb NPs) are prepared using magnetron sputtering and inert gas aggregation method. Alongside the thermally-driven evolution of nanoparticle morphology, the microstructural genesis is probed in-situ by x-ray diffraction for the temperature range up to 800 °C. The as-deposited Nb NPs are formed by the Nb core and NbOx shell. The elevated temperature triggers the gradual oxidation that proceeds until 200 °C. Above this point the structure is fully amorphous. Further increase of the temperature to 450 °C leads to a transition to the crystalline TT-Nb2O5 phase, which hexagonal structure was solved in the current study. The subsequent rise of the temperature to 600 °C results in the conversion to the orthorhombic T-Nb2O5 phase. Up to this state, the size of nanoparticles corresponds to the size of crystallites. The annealing above 600 °C causes coalescence of NPs with the formation of hundreds-of-nanometers large structures.

Molybdenum oxide is an intensively studied material, thanks to its high bandgap, high work function, and potentially also photochromism, plasmonic properties, and layered structure. In this contribution, we employ Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) from stoichiometric MoO3 and metal Mo target at temperature range of 25 °C–500 °C and oxygen pressure variation of 0.1 mbar–0.4 mbar to deposit high transparency MoO3 layers. The combination of Photothermal Deflection Spectroscopy (PDS) and Spectral Ellipsometry is applied to accurately track all the optical properties. The X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) are used to monitor crystallinity and surface morphology. We have observed that with increasing temperature, initially amorphous layer becomes smoother and denser, bandgap narrows and sub-gap absorption increases. This trend can be reversed by increasing oxygen pressure. Above 400 °C, the material starts crystallizing, first in monoclinic β-MoO3 phase and then in orthorhombic α-MoO3 phase. The high pressure promotes crystallinity, however increases surface roughness. Depositions form metal Mo target follow the same trends as in the case of stoichiometric MoO3 target, however the deposition from stoichiometric target produces lower sub-gap absorptance. Sub-gap absorptance centred around 1000 nm depends strongly on deposition temperature and weakly on oxygen pressure.

Nanoporous gold is of great interest for many applications due to its three dimensional interconnected porosity at nanoscale. Among all currently use techniques to obtain nanoporous gold, dealloying is one of the most used method to create a well-controlled nanoporous morphology. Only few studies report on the creation of nanoporous gold from alloy thin film deposited by magnetron co-sputtering. However, this deposition technique allows easy tune of the morphology at nanoscale. In this paper, we report on the creation of different morphologies of nanoporous gold obtained after dealloying in nitric acid of Au-Cu thin film deposited by magnetron co-sputtering. The influence of the substrate temperature during film deposition is studied by means of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray scattering analysis. We demonstrate the impact of the as-grown thin film morphology on the final nanoporous structure. We further explain the relationship between the different nanoporous morphologies and the residual stress on the as-grown thin film.

$5d$ iridates have shown vast emergent phenomena due to a strong interplay among their lattice, charge, and spin degrees of freedom, because of which the potential in spintronic application of the thin-film form is highly leveraged. Here we have epitaxially stabilized perovskite $\mathrm{SrI}{\mathrm{r}}_{0.8}\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{n}}_{0.2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ on [001] $\mathrm{SrTi}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ substrates through pulsed laser deposition and systematically characterized the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties. Physical property measurements unravel an insulating ground state with a weak ferromagnetism in the compressively strained epitaxial film. The octahedral rotation pattern is identified by synchrotron x-ray diffraction, resolving a mix of ${a}^{+}{b}^{\ensuremath{-}}{c}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and ${a}^{\ensuremath{-}}{b}^{+}{c}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ domains. X-ray magnetic resonant scattering directly demonstrates a G-type antiferromagnetic structure of the magnetic order and the spin canting nature of the weak ferromagnetism.

The effect of PECVD deposition of amorphous Silicon on perovskite layers, and perovskite layers prepared on pre-deposited a-Si are investigated in the interest of determining the interaction between the two materials and developing a-Si as a material for direct integration into perovskite cells. This may include as selective contacts or carrier transport layers, an encapsulation material, or in other ways. Doped and intrinsic a-Si layers are deposited at a range of temperatures, with the resulting structures characterized by methods including photoluminescence, SEM imaging, absorption, resistivity measurements, and degradation rate. Comparisons are made to layers deposited on glass without any PECVD deposition carried out and layers subjected to heating without PECVD deposition. The implications for use of a-Si in perovskite cells are explored.

Influence of epitaxial strain and oxygen octahedra rotations on electronic structure of ${\mathrm{La}}_{2/3}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{1/3}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$ ultrathin films was systematically studied. The investigated films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on four different substrates: cubic (001)-oriented ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_{3}$, (001) ${({\mathrm{LaAlO}}_{3})}_{1/3}{({\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{AlTaO}}_{6})}_{2/3}$, (001) ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$, and orthorhombic (110) ${\mathrm{DyScO}}_{3}$, providing a broad range of induced epitaxial strains. Magnetic properties were found to deteriorate with increasing value of the epitaxial strain, as expected due to unit cell distortion increasingly deviating from the bulk and effect of the magnetically inert layer. A combination of spectroscopic ellipsometry and magneto-optical Kerr effect spectroscopy was used to determine spectra of the diagonal and off-diagonal elements of permittivity tensor. The off-diagonal elements at room temperature confirmed the presence of two previously reported electronic transitions in the spectra of all films. Moreover they revealed another electronic transition around 4.3 eV only in the spectra of films grown under compressive strain. We proposed classification of this transition as a crystal field paramagnetic Mn ${t}_{2g}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}_{g}$ transition. Ab initio calculations were employed to distinguish between the potential influence of oxygen octahedra rotations and distortions. The ab initio calculations indicated a negligible influence of oxygen octahedra rotations on magneto-optical properties of ${\mathrm{La}}_{2/3}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{1/3}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$. They further supported the proposed classification of the additional electronic transition, showing a key role of strain in controlling the electronic structure of ultrathin perovskite films.

Ruddlesden-popper type Srn+1IrnO3n+1 compound is a major focus of condensed matter physics where the subtle balance between electron-electron correlation, spin-orbit interaction and crystal field effect brings a host of emergent phenomena. While it is understandable that a canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulating state with an easy-plane anisotropy is developed in Sr2IrO4 as the 2D limit of the series, it is intriguing that bilayer Sr3Ir2O7, with slightly higher effective dimensionality, stabilizes c-axis collinear antiferromagnetism. This also renders Sr3Ir2O7 as a unique playground to study exotic physics near a critical spin transition point. However, the epitaxial growth of the Sr3Ir2O7 is still a challenging task because of the narrow growth window. In our research, we have studied the thermodynamic process during synthesis of Sr3Ir2O7 thin films. We successfully expanded the synthesis window by mapping out the relation between the thin film sample crystal structure and gas pressure. Our work thus provides a more accessible avenue to stabilize metastable materials., Accepted by Applied Physics Letters

A high-pressure metastable orthorhombic phase of SrIrO3 perovskite has been epitaxially stabilized on several substrates (DyScO3, GdScO3, NdScO3 and SrTiO3) in the form of thin monocrystalline layers with (110) surface orientation. The unit-cell parameters of the pseudomorphic thin SrIrO3 layers depend on the biaxial strain imposed by the various substrates due to the different lattice mismatches of the particular substrate and the bulk orthorhombic SrIrO3 structure. Using X-ray diffractometry, it is shown that both compressive and tensile strain increase the lattice parameters a and b, while the angle γ scales with the applied strain, being smaller or larger than 90° for compressive or tensile strain, respectively, resulting in a small monoclinic distortion of the layer unit cell. Owing to the similarity of the substrate and layer lattices, the diffraction signals from the two structures overlap partially, which complicates structure determination by standard refinement methods using measured integrated intensities. The measured signal is composed of two interfering components corresponding to the waves diffracted by the substrate and by the layer, where the first component is calculated exactly using the known substrate structure, while the second one is determined by the unknown unit-cell parameters of the layer. The unit-cell parameters were refined in order to fit the experimental data with the simulation. The fractional coordinates of the atoms in the unit cell resulting from the fit are similar to those in the bulk structure.

Crystal structure, magnetic and electrical properties of thin U–Mo films and their hydrides prepared by reactive sputter deposition from metallic targets were studied. The films are metallic but with high values of electrical resistivity. Both bcc U0.79Mo0.21 thin film and the hydride (UH3)0.74Mo0.26 (β-UH3 structure type) have a very strong texture. Superconductivity is identified below Tc = 0.55 K for U0.79Mo0.21. The critical field of 1.0 T is exceeding that of α-U (0.3 T). The hydride film (UH3)0.74Mo0.26 is a ferromagnet with the Curie temperature TC = 165 K, higher concentration of Mo somewhat reduces the TC value. Deposition on a cooled substrate reduces the grain size of the hydride, approaching the limit of amorphous state. The U–Mo films and hydrides exhibit the net negative temperature coefficient of resistivity, TCR = dρ/dT, attributed to the randomness on atomic scale, yielding very strong scattering of electrons and weak localization.

Correction for ‘Mixed H2O/H2 plasma-induced redox reactions of thin uranium oxide films under UHV conditions’ by Ghada El Jamal et al., Dalton Trans., 2021, DOI: 10.1039/d1dt01020d.

A new type of uranium binary hydride, UH

Fundamental control of magnetic coupling through heterostructure morphology is a prerequisite for rational engineering of magnetic ground states. We report the tuning of magnetic interactions in superlattices composed of single and bilayers of SrIrO3 inter-spaced with SrTiO3 in analogy to the Ruddlesden-Popper series iridates. Magnetic scattering shows predominately c-axis antiferromagnetic orientation of the magnetic moments for the bilayer, as in Sr3Ir2O7. However, the magnetic excitation gap, measured by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, is quite different between the two structures, evidencing a significant change in the stability of the competing magnetic phases. In contrast, the single layer iridate hosts a more bulk-like gap. We find these changes are driven by bending of the c-axis Ir-O-Ir bond, which is much weaker in the single layer, and subsequent local environment changes, evidenced through x-ray diffraction and magnetic excitation modeling. Our findings demonstrate how large changes in the magnetic interactions can be tailored and probed in spin-orbit coupled heterostructures by engineering subtle structural modulations.

The emission of light in two-dimensional (2-D) layered hybrid organic lead halide perovskites, namely (R-NH3)2PbX4, can be effectively tuned using specific building blocks for the perovskite formation. Herein this behaviour is combined with a non-covalent graphene functionalization allowing excellent selectivity and spatial resolution of the perovskite film growth, promoting the formation of hybrid 2-D perovskite : graphene heterostructures with uniform coverage of up to centimeter scale graphene sheets and arbitrary shapes down to 5 μm. Using cryo-Raman microspectroscopy, highly resolved spectra of the perovskite phases were obtained and the Raman mapping served as a convenient spatially resolved technique for monitoring the distribution of the perovskite and graphene constituents on the substrate. In addition, the stability of the perovskite phase with respect to the thermal variation was inspected in situ by X-ray diffraction. Finally, time-resolved photoluminescence characterization demonstrated that the optical properties of the perovskite films grown on graphene are not hampered. Our study thus opens the door to smart fabrication routes for (opto)-electronic devices based on 2-D perovskites in contact with graphene with complex architectures.

We report an experimental investigation of the two-dimensional ${J}_{\text{eff}}=1/2$ antiferromagnetic Mott insulator by varying the interlayer exchange coupling in [${({\mathrm{SrIrO}}_{3})}_{1}$, ${({\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3})}_{m}$] ($m=1$, 2 and 3) superlattices. Although all samples exhibited an insulating ground state with long-range magnetic order, temperature-dependent resistivity measurements showed a stronger insulating behavior in the $m=2$ and $m=3$ samples than the $m=1$ sample which displayed a clear kink at the magnetic transition. This difference indicates that the blocking effect of the excessive ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ layer enhances the effective electron-electron correlation and strengthens the Mott phase. The significant reduction of the N\'eel temperature from 150 K for $m=1$ to 40 K for $m=2$ demonstrates that the long-range order stability in the former is boosted by a substantial interlayer exchange coupling. Resonant x-ray magnetic scattering revealed that the interlayer exchange coupling has a switchable sign, depending on the ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ layer number $m$, for maintaining canting-induced weak ferromagnetism. The nearly unaltered transition temperature between the $m=2$ and the $m=3$ demonstrated that we have realized a two-dimensional antiferromagnet at finite temperatures with diminishing interlayer exchange coupling.

Uranium hydride films with the β-UH3 structure were successfully synthesized using reactive sputter deposition. Their composition can be modified, if cooling the substrate to 177 K, by incorporating Mo as alloying element, in analogy to bulk nanocrystalline (UH3)-Mo hydrides. The films were in detail studied by in situ XPS (4f, 5d, 6p, valence band), valence-band UPS, and BIS, revealing variations of electronic structure with respect to U metal, confronted with ab initio calculations. We could identify certain ionicity in the U-H bonding projected in a large shift of the 6p peaks to higher binding energies. The U-6d states partly shift above the Fermi level and partly hybridize with the H-1s states, which weakens the 5f-6d hybridization. Although large scale features of the band structure are consistently explained and 5f states remain at the Fermi level EF, spectral features close to EF are not well reproduced by DFT or DFT+U calculations. This situation suggests prominence of electron-electron correlations affecting spectral function in the conditions of intermediate 5f localization.

The evolution of local ferroelectric lattice distortions in multiferroic Ge1-x Mn x Te is studied by x-ray diffraction, x-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory. We show that the anion/cation displacements smoothly decrease with increasing Mn content, thereby reducing the ferroelectric transition from 700 to 100 K at x = 0.5, where the ferromagnetic Curie temperature reaches its maximum. First principles calculations explain this quenching by different local bond contributions of the Mn 3d shell compared to the Ge 4s shell in excellent quantitative agreement with the experiments.

Jian, Liu et al., By using a combination of heteroepitaxial growth, structure refinement based on synchrotron x-ray diffraction, and first-principles calculations, we show that the symmetry-protected Dirac line nodes in the topological semimetallic perovskite SrIrO3 can be lifted simply by applying epitaxial constraints. In particular, the Dirac gap opens without breaking the Pbnm mirror symmetry. In virtue of a symmetry-breaking analysis, we demonstrate that the original symmetry protection is related to the n-glide operation, which can be selectively broken by different heteroepitaxial structures. This symmetry protection renders the nodal line a nonsymmorphic Dirac semimetallic state. The results highlight the vital role of crystal symmetry in spin-orbit-coupled correlated oxides and provide a foundation for experimental realization of topological insulators in iridate-based heterostructures., We thank C. Fang, P. J. Ryan, and J.-W. Kim for insightful discussions. We thank J. Rubio for experiment assistance. J.L. is sponsored by the Science Alliance Joint Directed Research and Development Program at the University of Tennessee.We are thankful for support from the director of the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231 through the Quantum Materials FWP.We acknowledge additional support of the material synthesis facility through the DOD ARO MURI, E3S, and DARPA. D.K. acknowledges the support from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): J3523-N27. We acknowledge support from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Grant no. 14-37427. Financial support from the Spanish MINECO (MAT2012-33207) is acknowledged. We acknowledge ESRF for the provision of beam time. Use of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. J.M.R. and D.P. acknowledge support from the Army Research Office under Grant No. W911NF-15-1-0017 and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) of the DOD for providing computational resources that have contributed to the research results reported herein.

Simple processes for the preparation of semiconductor quantum dot lattices embedded in dielectric amorphous matrices play an important role in various nanotechnology applications. Of particular interest are quantum dot lattices with properties that differ significantly in different directions parallel to the material surface. Here, a simple method is demonstrated for the fabrication of an anisotropic lattice of Ge quantum dots in an amorphous Al2O3matrix by a self-assembly process. A specific deposition geometry with an oblique incidence of the Ge and Al2O3adparticles was used during magnetron sputtering deposition to achieve the desired anisotropy. The observed Ge quantum dot ordering is explained by a combination of directional diffusion of adparticles from the Ge and Al2O3targets and a shadowing process which occurs during deposition as a result of the specific surface morphology. The prepared material shows a strong anisotropy of the electrical conductivity in different directions parallel to the sample surface.

Magnetic properties of Ge1�xMnx epitaxial layers with a Mn content of a few percents are substantially influenced by inhomogeneities in the distribution of Mn atoms in the Ge lattice. Depending on the substrate temperature during molecular-beam epitaxial fabrication, apparently cubic, coherent Mn-rich clusters or incoherent precipitates consisting of the hexagonal, intermetallic Mn5Ge3 phase can occur in a defect free, diamond lattice Ge matrix. In this work, we apply synchrotron x-ray diffraction in grazing-incidence geometry to probe the diffuse scattered intensity of the distorted Ge host lattice. Based on a theoretical description of the scattered intensity we derive quantitative information on the lattice mismatch between the Mn inclusions and the Ge lattice, as well as on the average size of the inclusions and the average Mn content within the inclusions.

Densities of Mn ions in epitaxial layers of (Ga,Mn)As were determined by anomalous x-ray diffraction, i.e., by a measurement of the dependence of the intensity of weak diffraction 002 on the photon energy around the Mn K absorption edge. From the measured data it was possible to determine the density of Mn ions in substitutional positions and the difference in the Mn densities in two possible interstitial positions in the GaAs lattice. The data demonstrate that the rate of the out-diffusion of the Mn interstitials from the Ga tetrahedrons significantly exceeds that from the As tetrahedrons.

We present a method for the determination of the concentration of Mn ions in nonequivalent interstitial positions in the lattice of (Ga, Mn)As. The Mn ions occupy substitutional and/or interstitial positions in the GaAs lattice and the dependence of the structure factor on their concentration differs for various diffractions and for different positions in the lattice. We measured several diffractions including weak diffractions, which are very sensitive to the Mn content. All measured diffraction curves were simultaneously fitted to a theoretical model and the densities of Mn ions, in particular interstitial positions, were obtained. The method reported here allows us to determine the amount of interstitial Mn which, according to current understanding, affects the ferromagnetic properties including the Curie temperature in (Ga, Mn)As.

An x-ray method is described for the structure characterization of semiordered GaN nanorods. In contrast to other works based on synchrotron radiation, the method uses a standard x-ray laboratory equipment so that it is suitable for a rapid characterization of the nanorods in a technological laboratory. The method uses a grazing-incidence diffraction setup and it makes it possible to determine the mean size of the rods and their angular twist with respect to the crystalline substrate. The applicability of the method is demonstrated on a series of GaN nanorod samples and the parameters of the nanorods are compared with the results of scanning electron microscopy.

The intensity of x-ray diffraction from a polycrystalline multilayer in a grazing-incidence scattering geometry is modulated by a standing wave created by the interference of the radiation transmitted through the multilayer stack with the wave field specularly reflected from the superlattice interfaces. Similarly, the radiation being diffracted from the polycrystalline structure is reflected specularly from the interfaces and a standing-wave interference pattern results as well. This effect is demonstrated by a series of diffraction measurements on C∕Ni periodic multilayers; the experimental data have been modeled using the distorted-wave Born approximation and a very good correspondence with the experiments was achieved. The method was used for the study of the profiles of the crystallite sizes and strains in multilayers.