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    Inductive flash-annealing of bulk metallic glasses
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Kosiba, K.; Pauly, S.
    We developed a temperature-controlled inductive flash-annealing device, which heats bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) at defined rates of up to 200 K/s to a given temperature. Subsequent instantaneous quenching in water allows preserving the microstructures obtained at various stages of crystallization. One Zr-based and two CuZr-based BMGs were flash-annealed at the onset of crystallization with different heating rates in order to prepare advanced BMG-matrix composites. The highly reproducible composite microstructures contain uniformly dispersed crystals and a narrow crystal size distribution. In order to assess the limitations of the present process, which mainly originate from non-uniform inductive heating, the skin depth was calculated. It is determined to be about 2.3 mm, which enables flash-annealing of rather bulky samples. The cooling rate was estimated from the interlamellar spacing of eutectic Al-Cu alloys to be on the order of 103 K/s. This ensures that decomposition of the microstructure during quenching is prevented. The present flash-annealing procedure is applicable to a wide variety of glass-forming liquids and has a large potential for tailoring the microstructure and, consequently, the mechanical properties of BMG-matrix composites.
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    Superconducting ferecrystals: Turbostratically disordered atomic-scale layered (PbSe)1.14(NbSe2)n thin films
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Grosse, Corinna; Alemayehu, Matti B.; Falmbigl, Matthias; Mogilatenko, Anna; Chiatti, Olivio; Johnson, David C.; Fischer, Saskia F.
    Hybrid electronic heterostructure films of semi- and superconducting layers possess very different properties from their bulk counterparts. Here, we demonstrate superconductivity in ferecrystals: turbostratically disordered atomic-scale layered structures of single-, bi- and trilayers of NbSe2 separated by PbSe layers. The turbostratic (orientation) disorder between individual layers does not destroy superconductivity. Our method of fabricating artificial sequences of atomic-scale 2D layers, structurally independent of their neighbours in the growth direction, opens up new possibilities of stacking arbitrary numbers of hybrid layers which are not available otherwise, because epitaxial strain is avoided. The observation of superconductivity and systematic Tc changes with nanostructure make this synthesis approach of particular interest for realizing hybrid systems in the search of 2D superconductivity and the design of novel electronic heterostructures.