A theoretical model to determine the effective dielectric tensor of heterogeneous materials composed by anisotropic microcrystallites has been introduced to explain the infrared spectral features of textured thin films of uniaxial materials as the function of a textural parameter. This theoretical treatment is able to satisfactorily reproduce the experimental absorbance spectra of TiO 2-anatase thin films chosen as a model system. Comparison of texture data obtained from infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction are in good agreement which support the validity of the proposed model.

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Dynamic morphological transitions in thin-layer electrodeposits obtained from copper sulphate solutions have been studied. The chemical composition of the electrodeposits indicates that they appear as a consequence of the competition between copper and cuprous oxide formation. In addition, the Ohmic control of the process is verified at initial stages of the deposit growth. At higher deposit developments, gravity-induced convection currents play a role in the control of the whole process and affect the position of these transitions.

The mosaic structure of single domain YBa2Cu3O6+x/Y2BaCuO5 (123/211) directionally solidified composites is investigated by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. This mosaic structure results from a polygonization process before the oxygenation step. A topological model is given based on the observed distribution of preferred subgrain boundary planes. This polygonization, characteristic of melt textured 123, is proposed to be an intrinsic critical current density limitation for these materials.

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