The search for ferromagnetism above room temperature in dilute magnetic semiconductors has been intense in recent years. We report the first observations of ferromagnetism above room temperature for dilute (<4 at.%) Mn-doped ZnO. The Mn is found to carry an average magnetic moment of 0.16 mu(B) per ion. Our ab initio calculations find a valance state of Mn(2+) and that the magnetic moments are ordered ferromagnetically, consistent with the experimental findings. We have obtained room-temperature ferromagnetic ordering in bulk pellets, in transparent films 2-3 microm thick, and in the powder form of the same material. The unique feature of our sample preparation was the low-temperature processing. When standard high-temperature (T > 700 degrees C) methods were used, samples were found to exhibit clustering and were not ferromagnetic at room temperature. This capability to fabricate ferromagnetic Mn-doped ZnO semiconductors promises new spintronic devices as well as magneto-optic components.

A theoretical formalism to calculate the single crystal elastic constants for orthorhombic crystals from first principle calculations is described. This is applied for TiSi2 and we calculate the elastic constants using a full potential linear muffin-tin orbital method using the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The calculated values compare favorably with recent experimental results. An expression to calculate the bulk modulus along crystallographic axes of single crystals, using elastic constants, has been derived. From this the calculated linear bulk moduli are found to be in good agreement with the experiments. The shear modulus, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio for ideal polycrystalline TiSi2 are also calculated and compared with corresponding experimental values. The directional bulk modulus and the Young’s modulus for single crystal TiSi2 are estimated from the elastic constants obtained from LDA as well as GGA calculations and are compared with the experimental results. The shear anisotropic factors and anisotropy in the linear bulk modulus are obtained from the single crystal elastic constants. From the site and angular momentum decomposed density of states combined with a charge density analysis and the elastic anisotropies, the chemical bonding nature between the constituents in TiSi2 is analyzed. The Debye temperature is calculated from the average elastic wave velocity obtained from shear and bulk modulus as well as the integration of elastic wave velocities in different directions of the single crystal. The calculated elastic properties are found to be in good agreement with experimental values when the generalized gradient approximation is used for the exchange and correlation potential.

The microscopic mechanism behind the extraordinary ability of ceria to store, release, and transport oxygen is explained on the basis of first-principles quantum mechanical simulations. The oxygen-vacancy formation energy in ceria is calculated for different local environments. The reversible CeO2-Ce2O3 reduction transition associated with oxygen-vacancy formation and migration is shown to be directly coupled with the quantum process of electron localization.