We studied ZrO2-La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 pillar matrix thin films which were found to show anomalous magnetic and electron transport properties controlled by the amount of ZrO2. With the application of an aberration corrected transmission electron microscope,
structure and chemical information of the system, especially of the pillar matrix interface were revealed at atomic resolution. Minor amounts of Zr were found to occupy Mn positions within the matrix and its solubility within the matrix was found to be less than 6 mol%. Moreover, the Zr concentration reached minimum concentration at the pillar matrix interface accompanied by oxygen deficiency. La and Mn diffusion into the pillar was observed along with a change of the Mn valence state. La and Mn positions inside ZrO2 pillars were also revealed at atomic resolution. These results provide detailed information for future studies of macroscopic properties of these materials.
In this paper, we present a systematic investigation of symmetry-breaking in the plasmonic modes of triangular gold nanoprisms. Their geometrical C3 symmetry is one of the simplest possible that allows degeneracy in the particles mode spectrum. It is
reduced to the non-degenerate symmetries Cv or E by positioning additional, smaller gold nanoprisms in close proximity, either in a lateral or a vertical configuration. Corresponding to the lower symmetry of the system, its eigenmodes also feature lower symmetries (Cv), or preserve only the identity (E) as symmetry. We discuss how breaking the symmetry of the plasmonic system not only breaks the degeneracy of some lower order modes, but also how it alters the damping and eigenenergies of the observed Fano-type resonances.
