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2012-02-14
Precision comparison of the quantum Hall effect in graphene and gallium arsenide
The half-integer quantum Hall effect in epitaxial graphene is compared with high precision to the well known integer effect in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. We find no difference between the quantised resistance values within the relative standard uncertainty of our measurement of $8.7\times 10^{-11}$. The result places new tighter limits on any possible correction terms to the simple relation $R_{\rm K}=h/e^2$, and also demonstrates that epitaxial graphene samples are suitable for application as electrical resistance standards of the highest metrological quality. We discuss the characterisation of the graphene sample used in this experiment and present the details of the cryogenic current comparator bridge and associated uncertainty budget.
1202.2985v1
2012-02-14
Pressure suppression of unconventional charge-density-wave state in PrRu4P12 studied by optical conductivity
Optical conductivity s(w) of PrRu4P12 has been studied under high pressure to 14 GPa, at low temperatures to 8 K, and at photon energies 12 meV-1.1 eV. The energy gap in s(w) at ambient pressure, caused by a metal-insulator transition due to an unconventional charge-density-wave formation at 63 K, is gradually filled in with increasing pressure to 10 GPa. At 14 GPa and below 30 K, s(w) exhibits a pronounced Drude-type component due to free carriers. This indicates that the initial insulating ground state at zero pressure has been turned into a metallic one at 14 GPa. This is consistent with a previous resistivity study under pressure, where the resistivity rapidly decreased with cooling below 30 K at 14 GPa. The evolution of electronic structure with pressure is discussed in terms of the hybridization between the 4f and conduction electrons.
1202.3007v3
2012-02-16
Approximate strange metallic behavior in AdS
We show for unit dynamical exponent, $z=1$, the appearance of the Fermi liquid and non-Fermi liquid behavior as we tune the charge density and the magnetic field in 3+1 dimensional field theory using the gauge-gravity duality. There exists an upturn behavior of the resistivity only along the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. Also, there exists a universal behavior of the resistivity, independent of the dimensionality of the spacetime, in a specific corner of the parameter space, namely, in the large charge density and small magnetic field limit: the longitudinal conductivity goes as $T^{-2/z}$, whereas the Hall conductivity goes as $T^{-4/z}$. It means the Hall coefficient goes as $T^{4/z}$. We compute the diffusion constant from the flow equation of the conductivity.
1202.3555v1
2012-04-23
Cyclopentadienyl-Benzene Based Sandwich Molecular Wires Showing Efficient Spin Filtering, Negative Differential Resistance, and Pressure Induced Electronic Transitions
Using density functional theory, we investigate TM-cyclopentadienyl-benzene sandwich molecular wires (SMWs) which are composites of TM-cyclopentadienyl and TM-benzene wires (TM = transition metal (V, Fe)). All the SMWs are found to be highly stable ferromagnetic half-metals, showing spin switching behavior. Transport calculations show that finite size clusters display spin filter property when coupled with Au electrodes on either side. I-V characteristics of all systems confirm the spin filter property, with Au-BzVCpVBz-Au displaying exceptionally high performance. In addition to spin filtering, the Au-BzFeCpFeBz-Au system also shows negative differential resistance (NDR). Compression causes an abrupt reduction in magnetic moment and a transition to a metallic phase, while stretching causes an increase in magnetic moment. Half-metallicity is preserved for modest amounts of stretching and compression.
1204.5047v1
2012-05-17
Microwave heating-induced DC magnetic flux penetration in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ superconducting thin films
The magneto-optical imaging technique is used to visualize the penetration of the magnetic induction in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ thin films during surface resistance measurements. The in-situ surface resistance measurements were performed at 7 GHz using the dielectric resonator method. When only the microwave magnetic field $H_{rf}$ is applied to the superconductor, no $H_{rf}$-induced vortex penetration is observed, even at high rf power. In contrast, in the presence of a constant magnetic field superimposed on $H_{rf}$ we observe a progression of the flux front as $H_{rf}$ is increased. A local thermometry method based on the measurement of the resonant frequency of the dielectric resonator placed on the YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ thin film shows that the $H_{rf}$--induced flux penetration is due to the increase of the film temperature.
1205.3962v1
2012-07-04
Kondo-like behavior near the metal-to-insulator transition of nano-scale granular aluminum
We show that the normal state transport properties of nano-scale granular Aluminum films, near the metal to insulator transition, present striking similarities with those of Kondo systems. Those include a negative magneto-resistance, a minimum of resistance R at a temperature Tm in metallic films, a logarithmic rise at low temperatures and a negative curvature of R(T) at high temperatures. These normal state properties are interpreted in terms of spin-flip scattering of conduction electrons by local magnetic moments, possibly located at the metal/oxide interfaces. Their co-existence with the enhanced superconductivity seen in these films is discussed.
1207.0970v3
2012-07-19
Simulation Studies of Charge Transport on Resistive Structures in Gaseous Ionization Detectors
We developed a tool for the simulation of charge transport on a conducting plate of finite dimensions. This tool is named Chani. Main motivation of developing Chani was to provide a tool for the optimization of the dimensions and resistivity of the anode electrodes in spark-protected Micropattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD). In this thesis, we start with the general description of the LHC and the ATLAS Experiment. Then, we review the gaseous ionization detector technologies and in particular, the micromegas technology. We then present the working principles of Chani along with the example calculations. These examples include comparisons with the analytically solvable problems which shows that the simulation results are reasonable.
1207.4585v1
2012-07-20
Multi-Band Exotic Superconductivity in the New Superconductor Bi4O4S3
Resistivity, Hall effect and magnetization have been investigated on the new superconductor Bi4O4S3. A weak insulating behavior has been induced in the normal state when the superconductivity is suppressed. Hall effect measurements illustrate clearly a multiband feature dominated by electron charge carriers, which is further supported by the magnetoresistance data. Interestingly, a kink appears on the temperature dependence of resistivity at about 4 K at all high magnetic fields when the bulk superconductivity is completely suppressed. This kink can be well traced back to the upper critical field Hc2(T) in the low field region, and is explained as the possible evidence of residual Cooper pairs on the one dimensional chains.
1207.4955v1
2012-08-14
Superconductivity in Bismuth Oxysulfide Bi4O4S3
Bismuth oxysulfide Bi4O4S3, which has recently been claimed to be an exotic superconductor (Tc = 4.5 K), was investigated by magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity measurements as well as by electron probe microanalysis. Single-phase Bi4O4S3 was successfully prepared by a high-pressure method, and its lattice parameters and normal-state resistivity, as well as the density of states at the Fermi level, were found to be comparable to those determined earlier. However, the observed superconductivity was most likely impurity-driven, strictly contradictory to the observations in ongoing experiments. The present results indicate that the superconductivity of Bi4O4S3 does not truly reflect the bulk nature of the BiS2 layered phase, regardless of the manner in which Bi4O4S3 is synthesized. We discuss possible superconducting impurities.
1208.2818v3
2012-08-15
Double negative differential thermal resistance induced by the nonlinear on-site potentials
We study heat conduction through one-dimensional homogeneous lattices in the presence of the nonlinear on-site potentials containing the bounded and unbounded parts, and the harmonic interaction potential. We observe the occurrence of double negative differential thermal resistance (NDTR), namely, there exist two regions of temperature difference, where the heat flux decreases as the applied temperature difference increases. The nonlinearity of the bounded part contributes to NDTR at low temperatures and NDTR at high temperatures is induced by the nonlinearity of the unbounded part. The nonlinearity of the on-site potentials is necessary to obtain NDTR for the harmonic interaction homogeneous lattices. However, for the anharmonic homogeneous lattices, NDTR even occurs in the absence of the on-site potentials, for example the rotator model.
1208.3008v1
2012-09-17
Hair of astrophysical black holes
The "no hair" theorem is not applicable to black holes formed from collapse of a rotating neutron star. Rotating neutron stars can self-produce particles via vacuum breakdown forming a highly conducting plasma magnetosphere such that magnetic field lines are effectively "frozen-in" the star both before and during collapse. In the limit of no resistivity, this introduces a topological constraint which prohibits the magnetic field from sliding off the newly-formed event horizon. As a result, during collapse of a neutron star into a black hole, the latter conserves the number of magnetic flux tubes N_B = e \Phi_\infty /(\pi c \hbar), where \Phi_\infty is the initial magnetic flux through the hemispheres of the progenitor and out to infinity. The black hole's magnetosphere subsequently relaxes to the split monopole magnetic field geometry with self-generated currents outside the event horizon. The dissipation of the resulting equatorial current sheet leads to a slow loss of the anchored flux tubes, a process that balds the black hole on long resistive time scales rather than the short light-crossing time scales expected from the vacuum "no-hair" theorem.
1209.3785v1
2012-09-24
Non-stationary Magnetic Microstructures in Stellar Thin Accretion Discs
We examine the morphology of magnetic structures in thin plasma accretion discs, generalizing a stationary ideal MHD model to the time-dependent visco-resistive case. Our analysis deals with small scale perturbations to a central dipole-like magnetic field, which give rise -- as in the ideal case -- to the periodic modulation of magnetic flux surfaces along the radial direction, corresponding to the formation of a toroidal current channels sequence. These microstructures suffer an exponential damping in time because of the non-zero resistivity coefficient, allowing us to define a configuration lifetime which mainly depends on the midplane temperature and on the length scale of the structure itself. By means of this lifetime we show that the microstructures can exist within the inner region of stellar discs in a precise range of temperatures, and that their duration is consistent with local transient processes (minutes to hours).
1209.5227v2
2012-09-29
Contact induced spin relaxation in Hanle spin precession measurements
In the field of spintronics the "conductivity mismatch" problem remains an important issue. Here the difference between the resistance of ferromagnetic electrodes and a (high resistive) transport channel causes injected spins to be backscattered into the leads and to lose their spin information. We study the effect of the resulting contact induced spin relaxation on spin transport, in particular on non-local Hanle precession measurements. As the Hanle line shape is modified by the contact induced effects, the fits to Hanle curves can result in incorrectly determined spin transport properties of the transport channel. We quantify this effect that mimics a decrease of the spin relaxation time of the channel reaching more than 4 orders of magnitude and a minor increase of the diffusion coefficient by less than a factor of 2. Then we compare the results to spin transport measurements on graphene from the literature. We further point out guidelines for a Hanle precession fitting procedure that allows to reliably extract spin transport properties from measurements.
1210.0093v1
2012-10-02
Magnetic structure of Coronal Mass Ejections
We present several models of the magnetic structure of solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs). First, we model CMEs as expanding force-free magnetic structures. While keeping the internal magnetic field structure of the stationary solutions, expansion leads to complicated internal velocities and rotation, while the field structures remain force-free. Second, expansion of a CME can drive resistive dissipation within the CME changing the ionization states of different ions. We fit in situ measurements of ion charge states to the resistive spheromak solutions. Finally, we consider magnetic field structures of fully confined stable magnetic clouds containing both toroidal and poloidal magnetic fields and having no surface current sheets. Expansion of such clouds may lead to sudden onset of reconnection events.
1210.0918v1
2012-10-25
The RPC-based proposal for the ATLAS forward muon trigger upgrade in view of super-LHC
The innermost station of the present ATLAS forward muon detector needs to be upgraded for the super-LHC. We present a proposal to replace it with a sandwiched detector composed of several layers of small-radius Monitored Drift Tube chambers (sMDT) for precision tracking measurement and two stations of multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (mRPC) for triggering purpose. We describe the layout of the upgraded detector and the trigger strategy. Several modifications to the RPCs used in the ATLAS barrel region are needed to satisfy the super-LHC requirements. Various studies with the proposed mRPC timing resolution, spatial resolution and rate capability have been performed.
1210.6728v1
2012-12-06
The Reconstruction Algorithm Study of 2D Interpolating Resistive Readout Structure
Systematic investigations including both simulation and prototype tests have been done about the interpolating resistive readout structure with GEM (Gaseous Electron Multiplier) detector. From the simulation, we have a good knowledge of the process of charges diffusion on the surface of the readout plane and develop several reconstruction methods to determine the hit position. The total signal duration time of a typical event with the readout structure is about several hundred nanoseconds, which implied an ideal count rate up to 106Hz. A stable worked prototype was designed and fabricated after the simulation. Using 55Fe 5.9keV X-Ray, the image performance of the prototype is examined with flat field image and some special geometry shapes, meanwhile, an energy resolution of about 17% is obtained.
1212.1220v1
2012-12-12
Metal-insulator transition in holography
We exhibit an interaction-driven metal-insulator quantum phase transition in a holographic model. Use of a helical lattice enables us to break translation invariance while preserving homogeneity. The metallic phase is characterized by a sharp Drude peak and a d.c. resistivity that increases with temperature. In the insulating phase the Drude spectral weight is transferred into a `mid-infrared' peak and to energy scales of order the chemical potential. The d.c. resistivity now decreases with temperature. In the metallic phase, operators breaking translation invariance are irrelevant at low energy scales. In the insulating phase, translation symmetry breaking effects are present at low energies. We find the near horizon extremal geometry that captures the insulating physics.
1212.2998v2
2013-01-06
Anomalous response to gate voltage application in mesoscopic LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 devices
We report on resistivity and Hall measurements performed on a series of narrow mesa devices fabricated from LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 single interface heterostructure with a bridge width range of 1.5-10 microns. Upon applying back-gate voltage of the order of a few Volts, a strong increase in the sample resistance (up to factor of 35) is observed, suggesting a relatively large capacitance between the Hall-bar and the gate. The high value of this capacitance is due to the device geometry, and can be explained within an electrostatic model using the Thomas Fermi approximation. The Hall coefficient is sometimes a non-monotonic function of the gate voltage. This behavior is inconsistent with a single conduction band model. We show that a theoretical two-band model is consistent with this transport behavior, and indicates a metal to insulator transition in at least one of these bands.
1301.1055v1
2013-04-22
Stochastic Memristive Devices for Computing and Neuromorphic Applications
Nanoscale resistive switching devices (memristive devices or memristors) have been studied for a number of applications ranging from non-volatile memory, logic to neuromorphic systems. However a major challenge is to address the potentially large variations in space and in time in these nanoscale devices. Here we show that in metal-filament based memristive devices the switching can be fully stochastic. While individual switching events are random, the distribution and probability of switching can be well predicted and controlled. Rather than trying to force high switching probabilities using excessive voltage or time, the inherent stochastic nature of resistive switching allows these binary devices to be used as building blocks for novel error-tolerant computing schemes such as stochastic computing and provide a needed "analog" feature in neuromorphic applications. To verify such potential, we demonstrated memristor-based stochastic bitstreams in both time and space domains, and show that an array of binary memristors can act as a multi-level "analog" device for neuromorphic applications.
1304.5993v1
2013-04-27
Attacks and Countermeasures in Fingerprint Based Biometric Cryptosystems
We investigate implementations of biometric cryptosystems protecting fingerprint templates (which are mostly based on the fuzzy vault scheme by Juels and Sudan in 2002) with respect to the security they provide. We show that attacks taking advantage of the system's false acceptance rate, i.e. false-accept attacks, pose a very serious risk --- even if brute-force attacks are impractical to perform. Our observations lead to the clear conclusion that currently a single fingerprint is not sufficient to provide a secure biometric cryptosystem. But there remain other problems that can not be resolved by merely switching to multi-finger: Kholmatov and Yanikoglu in 2007 demonstrated that it is possible to break two matching vault records at quite a high rate via the correlation attack. We propose an implementation of a minutiae fuzzy vault that is inherently resistant against cross-matching and the correlation attack. Surprisingly, achieving cross-matching resistance is not at the cost of authentication performance. In particular, we propose to use a randomized decoding procedure and find that it is possible to achieve a GAR=91% at which no false accepts are observed on a database generally used. Our ideas can be adopted into an implementation of a multibiometric cryptosystem. All experiments described in this paper can fully be reproduced using software available for download.
1304.7386v1
2013-06-19
Nematode Locomotion in Unconfined and Confined Fluids
The millimeter-long soil-dwelling nematode {\it C. elegans} propels itself by producing undulations that propagate along its body and turns by assuming highly curved shapes. According to our recent study [PLoS ONE \textbf{7}, e40121 (2012)] all these postures can be accurately described by a piecewise-harmonic-curvature (PHC) model. We combine this curvature-based description with highly accurate hydrodynamic bead models to evaluate the normalized velocity and turning angles for a worm swimming in an unconfined fluid and in a parallel-wall cell. We find that the worm moves twice as fast and navigates more effectively under a strong confinement, due to the large transverse-to-longitudinal resistance-coefficient ratio resulting from the wall-mediated far-field hydrodynamic coupling between body segments. We also note that the optimal swimming gait is similar to the gait observed for nematodes swimming in high-viscosity fluids. Our bead models allow us to determine the effects of confinement and finite thickness of the body of the nematode on its locomotion. These effects are not accounted for by the classical resistive-force and slender-body theories.
1306.4423v1
2013-07-08
Effects of the non-uniform initial environment and the guide field on the plasmoid instability
Effects of non-uniform initial mass density and temperature on the plasmoid instability are studied via 2.5-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) simulations. Our results indicate that the development of the plasmoid instability is apparently prevented when the initial plasma density at the center of the current sheet is higher than that in the upstream region. As a result, the higher the plasma density at the center and the lower the plasma $\beta$ in the upstream region, the higher the critical Lundquist number needed for triggering secondary instabilities. When $\beta =0.2$, the critical Lundquist number is higher than $10^4$. For the same Lundquist number, the magnetic reconnection rate is lower for the lower plasma $\beta$ case. Oppositely, when the initial mass density is uniform and the Lundquist number is low, the magnetic reconnection rate turns out to be higher for the lower plasma $\beta$ case. For the high Lundquist number case ($>10^4$) with uniform initial mass density, the magnetic reconnection is not affected by the initial plasma $\beta$ and the temperature distribution. Our results indicate that the guide field has a limited impact on the plasmoid instability in resistive MHD.
1307.1963v1
2013-08-05
Explosive reconnection of double tearing modes in relativistic plasmas: application to the Crab flares
Magnetic reconnection associated to the double tearing mode (DTM) is investigated by means of resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (RRMHD) simulations. A linearly unstable double current sheet system in two dimensional cartesian geometry is considered. For initial perturbations of large enough longitudinal wavelengths, a fast reconnection event is triggered by a secondary instability that is structurally driven by the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic islands. The latter reconnection phase and time scale appear to weakly depend on the plasma resistivity and magnetization parameter. We discuss the possible role of such explosive reconnection dynamics to explain the MeV flares observed in the Crab pulsar nebula. Indeed the time scale and the critical minimum wavelength give constraints on the Lorentz factor of the striped wind and on the location of the emission region respectively.
1308.0906v1
2014-02-05
Thermal-inertial effects on magnetic reconnection in relativistic pair plasmas
The magnetic reconnection process is studied in relativistic pair plasmas when the thermal and inertial properties of the magnetohydrodynamical fluid are included. We find that in both Sweet-Parker and Petschek relativistic scenarios there is an increase of the reconnection rate owing to the thermal-inertial effects, both satisfying causality. To characterize the new effects we define a thermal-inertial number which is independent of the relativistic Lundquist number, implying that reconnection can be achieved even for vanishing resistivity as a result of only thermal-inertial effects. The current model has fundamental importance for relativistic collisionless reconnection, as it constitutes the simplest way to get reconnection rates faster than those accessible with the sole resistivity.
1402.1115v2
2014-02-14
Unification of the Pressure and Composition Dependence of Superconductivity in Ru substituted BaFe2As2
Temperature dependent high pressure electrical resistivity studies has been carried out on Ba(Fe_{1-x}Ru_{x})_{2}As_{2} single crystals with x = 0.12, 0.26 and 0.35, which correspond to under doped, optimally doped and over doped composition regimes respectively. The evolution of structural/magnetic (T_{S-M}) and superconducting transition (T_(c)) temperatures, with pressure for various compositions have been obtained. The normal state resistivity has been analyzed in terms of a model that incorporates both spin fluctuations and the opening of the gap in the spin density wave (SDW)phase. It is shown that Tc scales with the strength of the spin fluctuation, B, and T_{S-M} scales with the SDW gap parameter, \Delta. This provides a prescription for the unification of the composition and pressure induced superconductivity in BaFe2As2.
1402.3387v1
2014-03-24
Physics of Fully Depleted CCDs
In this work we present simple, physics-based models for two effects that have been noted in the fully depleted CCDs that are presently used in the Dark Energy Survey Camera. The first effect is the observation that the point-spread function increases slightly with the signal level. This is explained by considering the effect on charge-carrier diffusion due to the reduction in the magnitude of the channel potential as collected signal charge acts to partially neutralize the fixed charge in the depleted channel. The resulting reduced voltage drop across the carrier drift region decreases the vertical electric field and increases the carrier transit time. The second effect is the observation of low-level, concentric ring patterns seen in uniformly illuminated images. This effect is shown to be most likely due to lateral deflection of charge during the transit of the photogenerated carriers to the potential wells as a result of lateral electric fields. The lateral fields are a result of space charge in the fully depleted substrates arising from resistivity variations inherent to the growth of the high-resistivity silicon used to fabricate the CCDs.
1403.6185v1
2014-05-25
Negative differential resistance in graphene-based ballistic field effect transistor with oblique top gate
Negative differential resistance (NDR) with room temperature peak-valley-ratio of 8 has been observed in a ballistic field-effect-transistor (FET) based on graphene, having an oblique top gate. Graphene FETs with a top gate inclination angle of 45 degrees and a drain-source distance of 400 nm were fabricated on a chip cut from a 4 inch graphene wafer grown by CVD. From the 60 measured devices, NDR was observed only in the regions where the CVD graphene displays the Raman signature of defectless monolayers. In other specific positions on the wafer, where graphene quality was not high enough and the Raman signature indicated the presence of defects, the ballistic character of transport is lost and the graphene FETs display nonlinear drain-voltage dependences tuned by the top and back gate voltage.
1405.6407v1
2014-06-26
The value of monitoring to control evolving populations
Populations can evolve in order to adapt to external changes. The capacity to evolve and adapt makes successful treatment of infectious diseases and cancer difficult. Indeed, therapy resistance has quickly become a key challenge for global health. Therefore, ideas of how to control evolving populations in order to overcome this threat are valuable. Here we use the mathematical concepts of stochastic optimal control to study what is needed to control evolving populations. Following established routes to calculate control strategies, we first study how a polymorphism can be maintained in a finite population by adaptively tuning selection. We then introduce a minimal model of drug resistance in a stochastically evolving cancer cell population and compute adaptive therapies, where decisions are based on monitoring the response of the tumor, which can outperform established therapy paradigms. For both case studies, we demonstrate the importance of high-resolution monitoring of the target population in order to achieve a given control objective: to control one must monitor.
1406.6957v1
2014-07-28
Critical point for the CAF-F phase transition at charge neutrality in bilayer graphene
We report on magneto-transport measurements up to 30 T performed on a bilayer graphene Hall bar, enclosed by two thin hexagonal boron nitride flakes. Our high mobility sample exhibits an insulating state at neutrality point which evolves into a metallic phase when a strong in-plane field is applied, as expected for a transition from a canted antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic spin ordered phase. For the first time we individuate a temperature-independent crossing in the four-terminal resistance as a function of the total magnetic field, corresponding to the critical point of the transition. We show that the critical field scales linearly with the perpendicular component of the field, as expected from the underlying competition between the Zeeman energy and interaction-induced anisotropies. A clear scaling of the resistance is also found and an universal behavior is proposed in the vicinity of the transition.
1407.7425v1
2014-11-28
The tearing mode instability of thin current sheets: the transition to fast reconnection in the presence of viscosity
This paper studies the growth rate of reconnection instabilities in thin current sheets in the presence of both resistivity and viscosity. In a previous paper, Pucci and Velli (2014), it was argued that at sufficiently high Lundquist number S it is impossible to form current sheets with aspect ratios L/a which scale as $L/a\sim S^\alpha$ with $\alpha > 1/3$ because the growth rate of the tearing mode would then diverge in the ideal limit $S\rightarrow\infty$. Here we extend their analysis to include the effects of viscosity, (always present in numerical simulations along with resistivity) and which may play a role in the solar corona and other astrophysical environments. A finite Prandtl number allows current sheets to reach larger aspect ratios before becoming rapidly unstable in pile-up type regimes. Scalings with Lundquist and Prandtl numbers are discussed as well as the transition to kinetic reconnection
1412.0047v2
2014-12-02
Two-stage magnetic-field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition in underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$
In the underdoped pseudogap regime of cuprate superconductors, the normal state is commonly probed by applying a magnetic field ($H$). However, the nature of the $H$-induced resistive state has been the subject of a long-term debate, and clear evidence for a zero-temperature ($T=0$) $H$-tuned superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) has proved elusive. Here we report magnetoresistance measurements in underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$, providing striking evidence for quantum critical behavior of the resistivity -- the signature of a $H$-driven SIT. The transition is not direct: it is accompanied by the emergence of an intermediate state, which is a superconductor only at $T=0$. Our finding of a two-stage $H$-driven SIT goes beyond the conventional scenario in which a single quantum critical point separates the superconductor and the insulator in the presence of a perpendicular $H$. Similar two-stage $H$-driven SIT, in which both disorder and quantum phase fluctuations play an important role, may also be expected in other copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors.
1412.1134v1
2015-01-15
Non-ergodic metallic and insulating phases of Josephson junction chains
Strictly speaking the laws of the conventional Statistical Physics, based on the Equipartition Postulate and Ergodicity Hypothesis, apply only in the presence of a heat bath. Until recently this restriction was not important for real physical systems: a weak coupling with the bath was believed to be sufficient. However, the progress in both quantum gases and solid state coherent quantum devices demonstrates that the coupling to the bath can be reduced dramatically. To describe such systems properly one should revisit the very foundations of the Statistical Mechanics. We examine this general problem for the case of the Josephson junction chain and show that it displays a novel high temperature non-ergodic phase with finite resistance. With further increase of the temperature the system undergoes a transition to the fully localized state characterized by infinite resistance and exponentially long relaxation.
1501.03853v1
2015-02-17
Variations of magnetic properties of UGa2 under pressure
Electrical resistivity \rho(T) of the 5f ferromagnet UGa2 was investigated for single-crystal samples as a function of pressure and magnetic field. The Curie temperature monotonously increases from T$_{C}$ = 124 K under quasi-hydrostatic pressure up to 154 K at p = 14.2 GPa, after which it turns down steeply and reaches T$_{C}$ = 147 K at p = 15.2 GPa. At 20 GPa the compound is already non-magnetic. This dramatic variation is compatible with exchange interactions mediated by the 5f hybridization with the non-f states. The external pressure first enhances the exchange coupling of the 5f moments, but eventually suppresses the order by washing out the 5f moments. Such a two-band model is adequate for the weakly delocalized 5f states. The spin-disorder resistivity, which produces very high \rho-values (300 \mu\Omega.cm) is gradually suppressed by the pressure. In the paramagnetic state, this leads to a crossover from initial negative to positive d\rho/dT.
1502.04948v1
2015-08-17
Suppression of Nonmagnetic Insulating State by Application of Pressure in Mineral Tetrahedrite Cu$_{12}$Sb$_{4}$S$_{13}$
The mineral tetrahedrite Cu$_{12}$Sb$_{4}$S$_{13}$ exhibits a first-order metal--insulator transition (MIT) at $T_{\rm MI}$ = 85 K and ambient pressure. We measured the $^{63}$Cu-NMR at ambient pressure and the resistivity and magnetic susceptibility at high pressures. $^{63}$Cu-NMR results indicate a nonmagnetic insulating ground state in this compound. The MIT is monotonically suppressed by pressure and disappears at $\sim1.0$ GPa. Two other anomalies are observed in the resistivity measurements, and the pressure -- temperature phase diagram of Cu$_{12}$Sb$_{4}$S$_{13}$ is constructed.
1508.03933v1
2015-09-25
Turbulent Reconnection in Relativistic Plasmas And Effects of Compressibility
We report turbulence effects on magnetic reconnection in relativistic plasmas using 3-dimensional relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations. We found reconnection rate became independent of the plasma resistivity due to turbulence effects similarly to non-relativistic cases. We also found compressible turbulence effects modified the turbulent reconnection rate predicted in non-relativistic incompressible plasmas; The reconnection rate saturates and even decays as the injected velocity approaches to the Alfv\'en velocity. Our results indicate the compressibility cannot be neglected when compressible component becomes about half of incompressible mode occurring when the Alfv\'en Mach number reaches about $0.3$. The obtained maximum reconnection rate is around $0.05$ to $0.1$, which will be able to reach around $0.1$ to $0.2$ if injection scales are comparable to the sheet length.
1509.07703v2
2015-09-26
Destroying coherence in high temperature superconductors with current flow
The loss of single-particle coherence going from the superconducting state to the normal state in underdoped cuprates is a dramatic effect that has yet to be understood. Here, we address this issue by performing angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements in the presence of a transport current. We find that the loss of coherence is associated with the development of an onset in the resistance, in that well before the midpoint of the transition is reached, the sharp peaks in the ARPES spectra are completely suppressed. Since the resistance onset is a signature of phase fluctuations, this implies that the loss of single-particle coherence is connected with the loss of long-range phase coherence.
1509.07937v3
2015-11-11
The Effect of Large Scale Magnetic Field on Outflow in ADAFs: an Odd Symmetry Configuration
We construct self-similar inflow-outflow solutions for a hot viscous-resistive accretion flow with large scale magnetic fields that have odd symmetry with respect to the equatorial plane in $B_\theta$, and even symmetry in $B_r$ and $B_\phi$. Following previous authors, we also assume that the polar velocity $v_\theta$ is nonzero. We focus on four parameters: $\beta_{r0}$, $\beta_{\phi0}$ (the plasma beta parameters for associated with magnetic field components at the equatorial plane), the magnetic resistivity $\eta_0$, and the density index $n=-d\ln\rho/d\ln r$. The resulting flow solutions are divided into two parts consisting of an inflow region with a negative radial velocity ($v_r<0$) and an outflow region with $v_r>0$. Our results show that stronger outflows emerge for smaller $\beta_{r0}$ ($\le10^{-2}$ for $n>1$) and larger values of $\beta_{\phi0}$, $\eta_0$ and $n$.
1511.04366v1
2015-12-08
On hybrid circuits exploiting thermistive properties of slime mould
Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by unaided eye. Let the slime mould span two electrodes with a single protoplasmic tube: if the tube is heated to approximately 40{\deg}C, the electrical resistance of the protoplasmic tube increases from 3 M{\Omega} to approximatively 10'000 M{\Omega}. The organism's resistance is not proportional nor correlated to the temperature of its environment. Slime mould can therefore not be considered as a thermistor but rather as a thermic switch. We employ the P. polycephalum thermic switch to prototype hybrid electrical analog summator, NAND gates, and cascade the gates into Flip-Flop latch. Computing operations performed on this bio-hybrid computing circuitry feature high repeatability, reproducibility and comparably low propagation delays
1512.02483v1
2015-12-11
Dynamical Decentralized Voltage Control of Multi-Terminal HVDC Grids
High-voltage direct current (HVDC) is a commonly used technology for long-distance electric power transmission, mainly due to its low resistive losses. When connecting multiple HVDC lines into a multi-terminal HVDC (MTDC) system, several challenges arise. To ensure safe and efficient operation of MTDC systems, the voltage of all terminals need to be steered to within an operational range. In this paper we study the commonly used decentralized voltage droop controller, and show that it in general does not steer the voltages to within the operational range. We propose a decentralized PI controller with deadband, and show that it always steers the voltages to within the operational range regardless of the loads. Additionally we show that the proposed controller inherits the property of proportional power sharing from the droop controller, provided that both the loads and the line resistances are sufficiently low. The results are validated through simulation in MATLAB.
1512.03838v2
2016-01-06
Transfer Printing of CVD Graphene FETs on Patterned Substrates
We describe a simple and scalable method for the transfer of CVD graphene for the fabrication of field effect transistors. This is a dry process that uses a modified RCA cleaning step to improve the surface quality. In contrast to conventional fabrication routes where lithographic steps are performed after the transfer, here graphene is transferred to a pre-patterned substrate. The resulting FET devices display nearly zero Dirac voltage, and the contact resistance between the graphene and metal contacts is on the order of 910 +- 340 Ohm-micrometer. This approach enables formation of conducting graphene channel lengths up to one millimeter. The resist-free transfer process provides a clean graphene surface that is promising for use in high sensitivity graphene FET biosensors.
1601.01224v1
2016-01-25
A Perceptually Motivated Filter Bank with Perfect Reconstruction for Audio Signal Processing
Many audio applications rely on filter banks (FBs) to analyze, process, and re-synthesize sounds. To approximate the auditory frequency resolution in the signal chain, some applications rely on perceptually motivated FBs, the gammatone FB being a popular example. However, most perceptually motivated FBs only allow partial signal reconstruction at high redundancies and/or do not have good resistance to sub-channel processing. This paper introduces an oversampled perceptually motivated FB enabling perfect reconstruction, efficient FB design, and adaptable redundancy. The filters are directly constructed in the frequency domain and linearly distributed on a perceptual frequency scale (e.g. ERB, Bark, or Mel scale). The proposed design allows for various filter shapes, uniform or non-uniform FB setting, and large down-sampling factors. For redundancies $\geq$ 3 perfect reconstruction is achieved by computing the canonical dual FB analytically. For lower redundancies perfect reconstruction is achieved using an iterative method. Experiments show performance improvements of the proposed approach when compared to the gammatone FB in terms of reconstruction error and resistance to sub-channel processing, especially at low redundancies.
1601.06652v1
2016-04-06
The Raspberry model for protein-like particles: ellipsoids and confinement in cylindrical pores
The study of protein mass transport via atomistic simulation requires time and length scales beyond the computational capabilities of modern computer systems. The raspberry model for colloidal particles in combination with the mesoscopic hydrodynamic method of lattice Boltzmann facilitates coarse-grained simulations that are on the order of microseconds and hundreds of nanometers for the study of diffusive transport of protein-like colloid particles. The raspberry model reproduces linearity in resistance to motion versus particle size and correct enhanced drag within cylindrical pores at off-center coordinates for spherical particles. Owing to the high aspect ratio of many proteins, ellipsoidal raspberry colloid particles were constructed and reproduced the geometric resistance factors of Perrin and of Happel and Brenner in the laboratory-frame and in the moving body-frame. Accurate body-frame rotations during diffusive motion have been captured for the first time using projections of displacements.
1604.01829v3
2016-04-29
Superconductivity and abnormal pressure effect in Sr0.5La0.5FBiSe2 superconductor
Through the solid state reaction method, we synthesized a new BiSe2-based superconductor Sr0:5La0:5FBiSe2 with superconducting transition temperature Tc?3.8 K. A strong diamagnetic signal below Tc in susceptibility ?(T) is observed indicating the bulk nature of superconductivity. Different to most BiS2-based compounds where superconductivity develops from a semiconducting-like normal state, the present compound exhibits a metallic behavior down to Tc. Under weak magnetic field or pressure, however, a remarkable crossover from metallic to insulating behaviors takes place around Tmin where the resistivity picks up a local minimum. With increasing pressure, Tc decreases monotonously and Tmin shifts to high temperatures, while the absolute value of the normal state resistivity at low temperatures first decreases and then increases with pressure up to 2.5 GPa. These results imply that the electronic structure of Sr0:5La0:5FBiSe2 may be different to those in the other BiS2-based systems.
1604.08686v1
2016-05-04
Eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers based on Tetrafluoropropene and Helium
Due to the recent restrictions deriving from the application of the Kyoto protocol, the main components of the gas mixtures presently used in the Resistive Plate Chambers systems of the LHC experiments will be most probably phased out of production in the coming years. Identifying possible replacements with the adequate characteristics requires an intense R&D, which was recently started, also in collaborations across the various experiments. Possible candidates have been proposed and are thoroughly investigated. Some tests on one of the most promising candidate - HFO-1234ze, an allotropic form of tetrafluoropropane- have already been reported. Here an innovative approach, based on the use of Helium, to solve the problems related to the too elevate operating voltage of HFO-1234ze based gas mixtures, is discussed and the relative first results are shown.
1605.01691v1
2016-05-07
Numerical study on the effect of design parameters and spacers on RPC signal and timing properties
Numerical calculations have been performed to understand the reason for the observed non-uniform response of a Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) in a few critical regions such as near edge spacers and corners of the device. In this context, the signal from a RPC due to the passage of muons through different regions has been computed. Also, a simulation of RPC timing properties is presented along with the effect of the applied field, gas mixture and geometrical components.
1605.02154v3
2016-05-26
Preliminary results of Resistive Plate Chambers operated with eco-friendly gas mixtures for application in the CMS experiment
The operations of Resistive Plate Chambers in LHC experiments require Fluorine based (F-based) gases for optimal performance. Recent European regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be limited or banned. In view of the CMS experiment upgrade, several tests are ongoing to measure the performance of the detector with these new ecological gas mixtures, in terms of efficiency, streamer probability, induced charge and time resolution. Prototype chambers with readout pads and with the standard CMS electronic setup are under test. In this paper preliminary results on performance of RPCs operated with a potential eco-friendly gas candidate 1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, commercially known as HFO-1234ze, with CO2 and CF3I based gas mixtures are presented and discussed for the possible application in the CMS experiment.
1605.08172v1
2016-05-31
First results of CMS RPC performance at 13 TeV
The muon spectrometer of the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is equipped with a redundant system made of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) and Drift Tube (DT) chambers in the barrel, RPC and Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) in the endcap region. In this paper, the first results of the performance of the RPC system during 2015 with the LHC running at 13 TeV is presented. The stability of the RPC performance, in terms of efficiency, cluster size and noise, is reported.
1605.09521v3
2016-07-21
Magnetocapacitance oscillations and thermoelectric effect in two-dimensional electron gas irradiated by microwaves
To study the influence of microwave irradiation on two-dimensional electrons, we apply a method based on capacitance measurements in GaAs quantum well samples where the gate covers a central part of the layer. We find that the capacitance oscillations at high magnetic fields, caused by the oscillations of thermodynamic density of states, are not essentially modified by microwaves. However, in the region of fields below 1 Tesla, we observe another set of oscillation, with the period and the phase identical to those of microwave induced resistance oscillations. The phenomenon of microwave induced capacitance oscillations is explained in terms of violation of the Einstein relation between conductivity and the diffusion coefficient in the presence of microwaves, which leads to a dependence of the capacitor charging on the anomalous conductivity. We also observe microwave-induced oscillations in the capacitive response to periodic variations of external heating. These oscillations appear due to the thermoelectric effect and are in antiphase with microwave induced resistance oscillations because of the Corbino-like geometry of our experimental setup.
1607.06435v1
2016-08-01
TorBricks: Blocking-Resistant Tor Bridge Distribution
Tor is currently the most popular network for anonymous Internet access. It critically relies on volunteer nodes called bridges for relaying Internet traffic when a user's ISP blocks connections to Tor. Unfortunately, current methods for distributing bridges are vulnerable to malicious users who obtain and block bridge addresses. In this paper, we propose TorBricks, a protocol for distributing Tor bridges to n users, even when an unknown number t < n of these users are controlled by a malicious adversary. TorBricks distributes O(tlog(n)) bridges and guarantees that all honest users can connect to Tor with high probability after O(log(t)) rounds of communication with the distributor. We also extend our algorithm to perform privacy-preserving bridge distribution when run among multiple untrusted distributors. This not only prevents the distributors from learning bridge addresses and bridge assignment information, but also provides resistance against malicious attacks from a m/3 fraction of the distributors, where m is the number of distributors.
1608.00509v1
2016-10-03
Beyond ideal magnetohydrodynamics: Resistive, reactive and relativistic plasmas
We develop a new framework for the modelling of charged fluid dynamics in general relativity. The model, which builds on a recently developed variational multi-fluid model for dissipative fluids, accounts for relevant effects like the inertia of both charge currents and heat and, for mature systems, the decoupling of superfluid components. We discuss how the model compares to standard relativistic magnetohydronamics and consider the connection between the fluid dynamics, the microphysics and the underlying equation of state. As illustrations of the formalism, we consider three distinct two-fluid models describing i) an Ohm's law for resistive charged flows, ii) a relativistic heat equation, and iii) an equation representing the momentum of a decoupled superfluid component. As a more complex example, we also formulate a three-fluid model which demonstrates the thermo-electric effect. This framework allows us to model neutron stars (and related systems) at a hierarchy of increasingly complex levels, and should enable us to make progress on a range of exciting problems in astrophysics and cosmology.
1610.00449v1
2016-10-13
Straintronic magneto-tunneling-junction based ternary content addressable memory
Straintronic magneto-tunneling junction (s-MTJ) switches, whose resistances are controlled with voltage-generated strain in the magnetostrictive free layer of the MTJ, are extremely energy-efficient switches that would dissipate a few aJ of energy during switching. Unfortunately, they are also relatively error-prone and have low resistance on/off ratio. This suggests that as computing elements, they are best suited for non-Boolean architectures. Here, we propose and analyze a ternary content addressable memory implemented with s-MTJs and some transistors. It overcomes challenges encountered by traditional all-transistor implementations, resulting in exceptionally high cell density.
1610.03902v2
2016-10-17
Topological quantum phase transition and superconductivity induced by pressure in the bismuth tellurohalide BiTeI
A pressure-induced topological quantum phase transition has been theoretically predicted for the semiconductor BiTeI with giant Rashba spin splitting. In this work, the evolution of the electrical transport properties in BiTeI and BiTeBr is investigated under high pressure. The pressure-dependent resistivity in a wide temperature range passes through a minimum at around 3 GPa, indicating the predicted transition in BiTeI. Superconductivity is observed in both BiTeI and BiTeBr while the resistivity at higher temperatures still exhibits semiconducting behavior. Theoretical calculations suggest that the superconductivity may develop from the multi-valley semiconductor phase. The superconducting transition temperature Tc increases with applied pressure and reaches a maximum value of 5.2 K at 23.5 GPa for BiTeI (4.8 K at 31.7 GPa for BiTeBr), followed by a slow decrease. Our results demonstrate that BiTeX (X = I, Br) compounds with non-trivial topology of electronic states display new ground states upon compression.
1610.05364v1
2016-11-29
Sub 100nW volatile nano-metal-oxide memristor as synaptic-like encoder of neuronal spikes
Advanced neural interfaces mediate a bio-electronic link between the nervous system and microelectronic devices, bearing great potential as innovative therapy for various diseases. Spikes from a large number of neurons are recorded leading to creation of big data that require on-line processing under most stringent conditions, such as minimal power dissipation and on-chip space occupancy. Here, we present a new concept where the inherent volatile properties of a nano-scale memristive device are used to detect and compress information on neural spikes as recorded by a multi-electrode array. Simultaneously, and similarly to a biological synapse, information on spike amplitude and frequency is transduced in metastable resistive state transitions of the device, which is inherently capable of self-resetting and of continuous encoding of spiking activity. Furthermore, operating the memristor in a very high resistive state range reduces its average in-operando power dissipation to less than 100 nW, demonstrating the potential to build highly scalable, yet energy-efficient on-node processors for advanced neural interfaces.
1611.09671v1
2016-12-21
Magnetotransport studies of Superconducting Pr$_4$Fe$_2$As$_2$Te$_{1-x}$O$_4$
We report a detailed study of the electrical transport properties of single crystals of Pr$_4$Fe$_2$As$_2$Te$_{1-x}$O$_4$, a recently discovered iron-based superconductor. Resistivity, Hall effect and magnetoresistance are measured in a broad temperature range revealing the role of electrons as dominant charge carriers. The significant temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient and the violation of Kohler's law indicate multiband effects in this compound. The upper critical field and the magnetic anisotropy are investigated in fields up to 16 T, applied parallel and perpendicular to the crystallographic c-axis. Hydrostatic pressure up to 2 GPa linearly increases the critical temperature and the resistivity residual ratio. A simple two-band model is used to describe the transport and magnetic properties of Pr$_4$Fe$_2$As$_2$Te$_{1-x}$O$_4$. The model can successfully explain the strongly temperature dependent negative Hall coefficient and the high magnetic anisotropy assuming that the mobility of electrons is higher than that of holes.
1612.07090v1
2016-12-23
Strained graphene Hall bar
The effects of strain, induced by a Gaussian bump, on the magnetic field dependent transport properties of a graphene Hall bar are investigated. The numerical simulations are performed using both classical and quantum mechanical transport theory and we found that both approaches exhibit similar characteristic features. The effects of the Gaussian bump are manifested by a decrease of the bend resistance, $R_B$, around zero-magnetic field and the occurrence of side-peaks in $R_B$. These features are explained as a consequence of bump-assisted scattering of electrons towards different terminals of the Hall bar. Using these features we are able to give an estimate of the size of the bump. Additional oscillations in $R_B$ are found in the quantum description that are due to the population/depopulation of Landau levels. The bump has a minor influence on the Hall resistance even for very high values of the pseudo-magnetic field. When the bump is placed outside the center of the Hall bar valley polarized electrons can be collected in the leads.
1612.07995v1
2017-02-01
Superzone gap formation and low lying crystal electric field levels in PrPd$_2$Ge$_2$ single crystal
The magnetocrystalline anisotropy exhibited in PrPd$_2$Ge$_2$ single crystal has been investigated by measuring the magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity and heat capacity. PrPd$_2$Ge$_2$ crystallizes in the well known ThCr$_2$Si$_2$\--type tetragonal structure. The antiferromagnetic ordering is confirmed as 5.1~K with the [001]-axis as the easy axis of magnetization. A superzone gap formation is observed from the electrical resistivity measurement when the current is passed along the [001] direction. The crystal electric field (CEF) analysis on the magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and the heat capacity measurements confirms a doublet ground state with a relatively low over all CEF level splitting. The CEF level spacings and the Zeeman splitting at high fields become comparable and lead to metamagnetic transition at 34~T due to the CEF level crossing.
1702.00220v1
2017-02-08
Giant microwave-induced $B$-periodic magnetoresistance oscillations in a two-dimensional electron gas with a bridged-gate tunnel point contact
We have studied the magnetoresistance of the quantum point contact fabricated on the high mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) exposed to microwave irradiation. The resistance reveals giant $B$-periodic oscillations with the relative amplitude $\Delta R/R$ of up to $700$\% resulting from the propagation and interference of the edge magnetoplasmons (EMPs) in the sample. This giant photoconductance is attributed to the considerably large local electron density modulation in the vicinity of the point contact. We have also analyzed the oscillation periods $\Delta B$ of the resistance oscillations and, comparing the data with the EMP theory, extracted the EMP interference length $L$. We have found that the length $L$ substantially exceeds the distance between the contact leads but rather corresponds to the distance between metallic contact pads measured along the edge of the 2DEG. This resolves existing controversy in the literature and should help to properly design highly sensitive microwave and terahertz spectrometers based on the discussed effect.
1702.02309v1
2017-05-31
An upper bound on transport
The linear growth of operators in local quantum systems leads to an effective lightcone even if the system is non-relativistic. We show that consistency of diffusive transport with this lightcone places an upper bound on the diffusivity: $D \lesssim v^2 \tau_\text{eq}$. The operator growth velocity $v$ defines the lightcone and $\tau_\text{eq}$ is the local equilibration timescale, beyond which the dynamics of conserved densities is diffusive. We verify that the bound is obeyed in various weakly and strongly interacting theories. In holographic models this bound establishes a relation between the hydrodynamic and leading non-hydrodynamic quasinormal modes of planar black holes. Our bound relates transport data --- including the electrical resistivity and the shear viscosity --- to the local equilibration time, even in the absence of a quasiparticle description. In this way, the bound sheds light on the observed $T$-linear resistivity of many unconventional metals, the shear viscosity of the quark-gluon plasma and the spin transport of unitary fermions.
1706.00019v2
2017-10-10
Transport coefficients from QCD Kondo effect
We study the transport coefficients from the QCD Kondo effect in quark matter which contains heavy quarks as impurity particles. We estimate the coupling constant of the interaction between a light quark and a heavy quark at finite density and temperature by using the renormalization group equation up to two-loop order. We also estimate the coupling constant at zero temperature by using the mean-field approximation as non-perturbative treatment. To calculate the transport coefficients, we use the relativistic Boltzmann equation and apply the relaxation time approximation. We calculate the electric resistivity from the relativistic kinetic theory, and the viscosities from the relativistic hydrodynamics. We find that the electric resistivity is enhanced and the shear viscosity is suppressed due to the QCD Kondo effect at low temperature.
1710.03434v2
2017-10-17
Superconductivity of Cobalt in Thin Films
Due to competing long range ferromagnetic order, the transition metals Fe, Co and Ni are not superconductors at ambient pressure. While superconductivity was observed in a non-magnetic phase of Fe, stabilized under pressure, it is yet to be discovered in Co and Ni under any experimental conditions. Here, we report emergence of superconductivity in the recently discovered high-density nonmagnetic face centered cubic phase in Co thin films below a transition temperature (Tc) of ~5.4 K, as revealed in experiments based on point-contact spectroscopy and resistance, and four-probe measurements of resistance at ambient pressure. We confirm the non-magnetic nature of the dense fcc phase of Co within first-principles density functional theory, and show that its superconductivity below 5 K originates from anomalous softening of zone-boundary phonons and their enhanced coupling with electrons upon biaxial strain.
1710.06114v1
2017-10-29
Gauge Topological Nature of the Superconductor-Insulator Transition
It has long been believed that, at absolute zero, electrons can form only one quantum coherent state, a superconductor. Yet, several two dimensional superconducting systems were found to harbor the superinsulating state with infinite resistance, a mirror image of superconductivity, and a metallic state often referred to as Bose metal, characterized by finite longitudinal and vanishing Hall resistances. The nature of these novel and mysterious quantum coherent states is the subject of intense study.Here, we propose a topological gauge description of the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) that enables us to identify the underlying mechanism of superinsulation as Polyakov's linear confinement of Cooper pairs via instantons. We find a criterion defining conditions for either a direct SIT or for the SIT via the intermediate Bose metal and demonstrate that this Bose metal phase is a Mott topological insulator in which the Cooper pair-vortex liquid is frozen by Aharonov-Bohm interactions.
1710.10575v2
2018-01-09
Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter via Astronomical Ephemeris
A novel idea of the direct detection to search for a ultralight dark matter based on the interaction between the dark matter and a nucleon is proposed. Solar system bodies feel the dark matter wind and it acts as a resistant force opposing their motions. The astronomical ephemeris of solar system bodies is so precise that it has a strong capability to detect a dark matter whose mass is much lighter than O(1) eV. We have estimated the resistant force based on the calculation of the elastic scattering cross section between the dark matter and the bodies beyond the Born approximation, and show that the astronomical ephemeris indeed put a very strong constraint on the interaction between the dark matter and a nucleon, depending on how smoothly the ultralight dark matter is distributed at the scale smaller than the celestial bodies in our solar system.
1801.02807v1
2018-01-09
Flare particle acceleration in the interaction of twisted coronal flux ropes
The aim of this work is to investigate and characterise non-thermal particle behaviour in a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) model of unstable multi-threaded flaring coronal loops. We have used a numerical scheme which solves the relativistic guiding centre approximation to study the motion of electrons and protons. The scheme uses snapshots from high resolution numerical MHD simulations of coronal loops containing two threads, where a single thread becomes unstable and (in one case) destabilises and merges with an additional thread. The particle responses to the reconnection and fragmentation in MHD simulations of two loop threads are examined in detail. We illustrate the role played by uniform background resistivity and distinguish this from the role of anomalous resistivity using orbits in an MHD simulation where only one thread becomes unstable without destabilising further loop threads. We examine the (scalable) orbit energy gains and final positions recovered at different stages of a second MHD simulation wherein a secondary loop thread is destabilised by (and merges with) the first thread. We compare these results with other theoretical particle acceleration models in the context of observed energetic particle populations during solar flares.
1801.02907v1
2018-02-12
First FBK Production of 50$μ$m Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK, Trento, Italy) has recently delivered its first 50 $\mu$m thick production of Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD), based on the Low-Gain Avalanche Diode design. These sensors use high resistivity Si-on-Si substrates, and have a variety of gain layer doping profiles and designs based on Boron, Gallium, Carbonated Boron and Carbonated Gallium to obtain a controlled multiplication mechanism. Such variety of gain layers will allow identifying the most radiation hard technology to be employed in the production of UFSD, to extend their radiation resistance beyond the current limit of $\phi \sim$ 10$^{15}$ n$_{eq}$/cm$^2$. In this paper, we present the characterisation, the timing performances, and the results on radiation damage tolerance of this new FBK production.
1802.03988v2
2018-02-12
A candidate Theory for the "Strange Metal" phase at Finite Energy Window
We propose a lattice model for strongly interacting electrons with the potential to explain the main phenomenology of the strange metal phase in the cuprate high temperature superconductors. Our model is motivated by the recently developed "tetrahedron" rank-3 tensor model that mimics much of the physics of the better-known Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. Our electron model has the following advantageous properties: (1) it only needs one orbital per site on the square lattice; (2) it does not require any quenched random interaction; (3) it has local interactions and respects all the symmetries of the system; (4) the soluble limit of this model has a longitudinal DC resistivity that scales linearly with temperature within a finite temperature window; (5) again the soluble limit of this model has a fermion pairing instability in the infrared, which can lead to either superconductivity or a "pseudogap" phase. The linear$-T$ longitudinal resistivity and the pairing instability originate from the generic scaling feature of the SYK model and the tetrahedron tensor model.
1802.04293v2
2018-02-22
Negative differential resistance in Van der Waals heterostructures due to moiré-induced spectral reconstruction
Formation of moir\'{e} superlattices is common in Van der Waals heterostructures as a result of the mismatch between lattice constants and misalignment of crystallographic directions of the constituent two-dimensional crystals. We discuss theoretically electron transport in a Van der Waals tunnelling transistor in which one of the electrodes is made of two crystals forming a moir\'{e} superlattice at their interface. By investigating structures containing either the aligned graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure or twisted bilayer graphene, we show that negative differential resistance is possible in such transistors as a consequence of the superlattice-induced changes in the electronic density of states and without the need of momentum conserving tunnelling present in high-quality exfoliated devices.
1802.08100v3
2018-04-10
Development of Integration-Type Silicon-On-Insulator Monolithic Pixel Detectors by Using a Float Zone Silicon
In this paper, we describe the development of monolithic pixel detectors by using a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology for X-ray and charged particle applications. The detectors are based on a 0.2 {\mu}m CMOS fully depleted SOI process (Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd). The SOI wafer consists of a thick high-resistivity substrate for sensing and a thin low resistivity Si layer for CMOS circuits. We developed the integration-type SOI pixel detector, INTPIX4 mainly for X-ray imaging; it is made of a Float Zone (FZ) or Czochralski (Cz) silicon wafer. Since 2005, Cz SOI detectors were used initially. After 2011, FZ SOI detectors were successfully fabricated. In this paper, we state recent progresses and test results of the SOI monolithic pixel detector using a FZ silicon and compare them with the results obtained using the Cz detector.
1804.03338v1
2018-05-07
Vacuum-dressed cavity magnetotransport of a 2D electron gas
We present a theory predicting how the linear magnetotransport of a two-dimensional electron gas is modified by a passive electromagnetic cavity resonator where no real photons are injected nor created. For a cavity photon mode with in-plane linear polarization, the dc bulk magnetoresistivity of the 2D electron gas is anisotropic. In the regime of high filling factors of the Landau levels, the envelope of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations is profoundly modified and the resistivity can be increased or reduced depending on the system parameters. In the limit of low magnetic fields, the resistivity along the cavity-mode polarization direction is enhanced in the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime. Our work shows the crucial role of virtual polariton excitations in controlling the dc charge transport properties of cavity-embedded systems.
1805.02623v2
2018-06-09
Streamer studies in Resistive Plate Chambers
The present paper is meant as an update of the presentation given in a previous Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) workshop, aimed at finding an eco-friendly gas mixture for streamer operation of RPCs. Indeed the streamer working regime is still suitable for building large RPC systems dedicated to low rate applications, such as cosmic ray and neutrino physics. In addition to other studies about gas mixtures for streamer mode operation, in this paper the replacement of R134a with CF4, a gas widely used in other gaseous detectors, has been investigated. The effect of the gas gap thickness on the discharge quenching has also been studied; this is an important check because thin gas gaps of 1 mm, one half of the typical used value, have been introduced for high rate applications. Finally preliminar results about the streamer formation timing are also reported.
1806.03443v2
2018-09-04
Linear Wave Propagation for Resistive Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics
We present a linear mode analysis of the relativistic MHD equations in the presence of finite electrical conductivity. Starting from the fully relativistic covariant formulation, we derive the dispersion relation in the limit of small linear perturbations. It is found that the system supports ten wave modes which can be easily identified in the limits of small or large conductivities. In the resistive limit, matter and electromagnetic fields decouple and solution modes approach pairs of light and acoustic waves as well as a number of purely damped (non-propagating) modes. In the opposite (ideal) limit, the frozen-in condition applies and the modes of propagation coincide with a pair of fast magnetosonic, a pair of slow and Alfv\'en modes, as expected. In addition, the contact mode is always present and it is unaffected by the conductivity. For finite values of the conductivity, the dispersion relation gives rise to either pairs of opposite complex conjugate roots or purely imaginary (damped) modes. In all cases, the system is dissipative and also dispersive as the phase velocity depends nonlineary on the wavenumber. Occasionally, the group velocity may exceed the speed of light although this does not lead to superluminal signal propagation.
1809.01115v1
2018-09-16
Temperature-dependent transport measurements with Arduino
The current performances of single-board microcontrollers render them attractive not only for basic applications but also for more elaborate projects, amongst which physics teaching or research. In this article, we show how temperature-dependent transport measurements can be performed using an Arduino microcontroller, from cryogenic temperatures up to room temperature or above. We focus on two of the main issues for this type of experiments: the determination of the sample temperature and the measurement of its resistance. We also detail two student-led experiments: evidencing the magnetocaloric effect in Gadolinium and measuring the resistive transition of a high critical temperature superconductor.
1809.08075v1
2018-09-27
Impact of Integrated Circuit Packaging on Synaptic Dynamics of Memristive Devices
The memristor can be used as non volatile memory (NVM) and for emulating neuron behavior. It has the ability to switch between low resistance $R_{on}$ and high resistance values $R_{off}$, and exhibit the synaptic dynamic behaviour such as potentiation and depression. This paper presents a study on potentiation and depression of memristors in Quad Flat Pack. A comparison is drawn between the memristors with and without the impact of parasitics of packaging, using measured data and equivalent circuit models. The parameters in memristor and packaging models for the SPICE simulations were determined using measured data to reflect the memristor parasitics in Quad Flat Packs.
1809.10434v1
2019-09-30
Numerical simulation of magnetic reconnection around a black hole
We performed numerical simulations of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics with uniform resistivity to investigatethe occurrence of magnetic reconnection in a split-monopole magnetic field around a Schwarzschild black hole. We found that magnetic reconnection happens near the black hole at its equatorial plane. The magnetic reconnection has a point-like reconnection region and slow shock waves, as in the Petschek reconnection model. The magnetic reconnection rate decreases as the resistivity becomes smaller. When the global magnetic Reynolds number is $10^4$ or larger, the magnetic reconnection rate increases linearly with time from $2 \tau_{\rm S}$ to $\sim 10 \tau_{\rm S}$ ($\tau_{\rm S}=r_{\rm S}/c, r_{\rm S}$ is the Schwarzschild radius and $c$ is the speed of light). The linear increase of the reconnection rate agrees with the magnetic reconnection in the Rutherford regime of the tearing mode instability.
1909.13414v1
2014-08-01
The linear tearing instability in three dimensional, toroidal gyrokinetic simulations
Linear gyro-kinetic simulations of the classical tearing mode in three-dimensional toroidal geometry were performed using the global gyro kinetic turbulence code, GKW . The results were benchmarked against a cylindrical ideal MHD and analytical theory calculations. The stability, growth rate and frequency of the mode were investigated by varying the current profile, collisionality and the pressure gradients. Both collision-less and semi-collisional tearing modes were found with a smooth transition between the two. A residual, finite, rotation frequency of the mode even in the absense of a pressure gradient is observed which is attributed to toroidal finite Larmor-radius effects. When a pressure gradient is present at low collisionality, the mode rotates at the expected electron diamagnetic frequency. However the island rotation reverses direction at high collisionality. The growth rate is found to follow a $\eta^{1/7}$ scaling with collisional resistivity in the semi-collisional regime, closely following the semi-collisional scaling found by Fitzpatrick. The stability of the mode closely follows the stability using resistive MHD theory, however a modification due to toroidal coupling and pressure effects is seen.
1408.0112v1
2014-08-01
Development of Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) for medical imaging
The low cost and high resolution Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) opens up a new possibility to find an efficient alternative detector for the Time of Flight (TOF) based Positron Emission Tomography, where the sensitivity of the system depends largely on the time resolution of the detector. In a layered structure, suitable converters can be used to increase the photon detection efficiency. In this paper results of the cosmic ray test of a four-gap bakelite-based prototype MRPC operated in streamer mode and six-gap glass-based MRPC operated in avalanche mode are discussed.
1408.0280v1
2014-08-17
Quantum criticality in two dimensions and Marginal Fermi Liquid
Kinetic properties of a two dimensional model of fermions interacting with antiferromagnetic spin excitations near the quantum critical point (QCP) are considered. The temperature or doping are assumed to be sufficiently high, such that the pseudogap does not appear. In contrast to standard spin-fermion models, it is assumed that there are intrinsic inhomogeneities in the system suppressing space correlations of the antiferromagnetic excitations. It is argued that the inhomogeneities in the spin excitations in the "strange metal" phase can be a consequence of existence of $\pi $-shifted domain walls in the doped antiferromagnetic phase. Averaging over the inhomogeneities and calculating physical quantities like resistivity and some others one can explain unusual properties of cuprates unified under the name "Marginal Fermi Liquid" (MFL). The dependence of the slope of the linear temperature dependence of the resistivity on doping is compared with experimental data.
1408.3865v3
2017-03-29
Illumination effect by visible continuous-wave laser on bulk 40 K-superconductors
Visible CW (continuous wave) -laser heating effects on the bulk superconductors CeFeAsO0.65F0.35 and MgB2 with 1.5 mm thickness have been investigated by measuring the temperature dependence of electrical resistivity. Each compound shows a critical-temperature Tc reduction with increasing fluence rate. At the normal state, a parallel circuit model based on the Fourier's law can well reproduce the temperature dependence of electrical resistivity of illuminated sample. On the other hand, the predicted temperature-rise due to the laser heating in the superconducting state is much smaller than the observed Tc-reduction. A temperature gradient of a few K across the sample thickness easily triggers the destruction of bulk superconductivity. Furthermore we have found a slight Tc-enhancement in CeFeAsO0.65F0.35 after a rather high fluence-rate irradiation.
1703.10270v1
2004-06-12
Thermally-activated current transport in MgB_2 films
Thermally-activated flux flow (TAFF) resistivity above the irreversibility field is reported for two different c-axis textured MgB_2 superconducting films. Transport measurements at different perpendicular magnetic fields 0 < B < 9 T and temperatures from 5 to 40K reveal TAFF Ohmic resistivity described by the Arrhenius law with the quadratic field dependence of the activation energy. Our transport measurements on bulk MgB_2 ceramic samples also show the TAFF behavior, but do not show the quadratic field dependence of U(T,B). We explain our results in terms of thermally-activated drift of pre-existing quenched dislocations in the vortex lattice. Our results indicate that thermal fluctuations can be essential in determining the irreversibility field in MgB2 though to a much lesser extent than in high-temperature superconductors.
0406294v1
2011-07-05
Parametric oscillator based on non-linear vortex dynamics in low resistance magnetic tunnel junctions
Radiofrequency vortex spin-transfer oscillators based on magnetic tunnel junctions with very low resistance area product were investigated. A high power of excitations has been obtained characterized by a power spectral density containing a very sharp peak at the fundamental frequency and a series of harmonics. The observed behaviour is ascribed to the combined effect of spin transfer torque and Oersted-Amp\`ere field generated by the large applied dc-current. We furthermore show that the synchronization of a vortex oscillation by applying a ac bias current is mostly efficient when the external frequency is twice the oscillator fundamental frequency. This result is interpreted in terms of a parametric oscillator.
1107.0867v2
2013-12-02
Robust superconductivity with large upper critical field in Nb2PdS5
We report synthesis, structural details and complete superconducting characterization of very recently discovered Nb2PdS5 new superconductor. The synthesized compound is crystallized in mono-clinic structure. Bulk superconductivity is seen in both magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity measurements with superconducting transition temperature (Tc) at 6K. The upper critical field (Hc2), being estimated from high field magneto-transport measure-ments is above 240kOe. The estimated Hc2(0) is clearly above the Pauli paramagnetic limit. Heat capacity measurements show clear transition with well defined peak at Tc, but with lower jump than as expected for a BCS type superconductor. The Sommerfield constant and Debye temperature as determined from low temperature fitting of heat capacity data are 32mJ/moleK2 and 263K respectively. Hall coefficients and resistivity in conjugation with electronic heat capacity indicates multiple gap superconductivity signatures in Nb2PdS5. We also studied the impact of hydrostatic pressure on superconductivity of Nb2PdS5 and found nearly no change in Tc for the given pressure range.
1312.0425v5
2013-12-12
Pressure-induced superconductivity in EuFe2As2 without a quantum critical point: magnetotransport and upper critical field measurements under high pressure
Resistivity and Hall effect measurements of EuFe$_2$As$_2$ up to 3.2\,GPa indicate no divergence of quasiparticle effective mass at the pressure $P_\mathrm{c}$ where the magnetic and structural transition disappears. This is corroborated by analysis of the temperature ($T$) dependence of the upper critical field. $T$-linear resistivity is observed at pressures slightly above $P_\mathrm{c}$. The scattering rates for both electrons and holes are shown to be approximately $T$-linear. When a field is applied, a $T^2$ dependence is recovered, indicating that the origin of the $T$-linear dependence is spin fluctuations.
1312.3380v1
2013-12-25
Ambipolar Transport and Magneto-resistance Crossover in a Mott Insulator, Sr$_{2}$IrO$_{4}$
Electric field effect (EFE) controlled magnetoelectric transport in thin films of undoped and La-doped Sr$_{2}$IrO$_{4}$ (SIO) were investigated under the action of ionic liquid gating. Despite large carrier density modulation, the temperature dependent resistance measurements exhibit insulating behavior in chemically and EFE doped samples with the band filling up to 10\%. The ambipolar transport across the Mott gap is demonstrated by EFE tuning of the activation energy. Further, we observe a crossover from a negative magnetoresistance (MR) at high temperatures to positive MR at low temperatures. The crossover temperature was around $\sim$80-90 K, irrespective of the filling. This temperature and magnetic field dependent crossover is qualitatively associated with a change in the conduction mechanism from Mott to Coulomb gap mediated variable range hopping (VRH). This explains the origin of robust insulating ground state of SIO in electrical transport studies and highlights the importance of disorder and Coulombic interaction on electrical properties of SIO.
1312.7015v2
2014-11-18
Tunneling transport in a few monolayer-thick WS2/graphene heterojunction
This paper demonstrates the high-quality tunnel barrier characteristics and layer number controlled tunnel resistance of a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) measuring just a few monolayers in thickness. Investigation of vertical transport in WS2 and MoS2 TMDs in graphene/TMD/metal heterostructures revealed that WS2 exhibits tunnel barrier characteristics when its thickness is between 2 to 5 monolayers, whereas MoS2 experiences a transition from tunneling to thermionic emission transport with increasing thickness within the same range. Tunnel resistance in a graphene/WS2/metal heterostructure therefore increases exponentially with the number of WS2 layers, revealing the tunnel barrier height of WS2 to be 0.37 eV.
1411.4714v2
2016-06-01
Variation of transition temperatures and residual resistivity ratio in vapor-grown FeSe
The study of the iron-based superconductor FeSe has blossomed with the availability of high quality single crystals, obtained through flux/vapor-transport growth techniques below the structural transformation temperature of its tetragonal phase, T~450 C. Here, we report on the variation of sample morphology and properties due to small modifications in the growth conditions. A considerable variation of the superconducting transition temperature Tc, from 8.8 K to 3 K, which cannot be correlated with the sample composition, is observed. Instead, we point out a clear correlation between Tc and disorder, as measured by the residual resistivity ratio. Notably, the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition is also found to be quite strongly disorder dependent (Ts =72 - 90 K), and linearly correlated with Tc.
1606.00500v1
2016-06-14
Effect of atomic disorder and Ce doping on superconductivity of Ca3Rh4Sn13: Electric transport properties under high pressure
We report the observation of a superconducting state below 8K coexistent with a spin-glass state caused by atomic disorder in Ce substituted Ca3Rh4Sn13. Measurements of specific heat, resistivity, and magnetism reveal the existence of inhomogeneous superconductivity in samples doped with Ce with superconducting critical temperatures Tc higher than those observed in the parent compound. For Ca3Rh4Sn13, the negative value of the change in resistivity with pressure P, correlates well with the calculated decrease in the density of states at the Fermi energy with P. Based on band structure calculations performed under pressure, we demonstrate how the change in DOS would affect Tc of Ca3Rh4Sn13 under negative lattice pressure in samples that are strongly defected by quenching.
1606.04579v1
2017-01-19
Spin-filtering in superconducting junction with the manganite interlayer
We report on the electronic transport and the impact of spin-filtering in mesa-structures made of epitaxial thin films of cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu3Ox(YBCO) and the manganite LaMnO3 (LMO) interlayer with the Au/Nb counterelectrode. Ferromagnetic resonance measurements of heterostructure Au/LMO/YBCO shows ferromagnetic state at temperatures below 150 K as in the case of reference LMO film grown on the neodymium gallate substrate. The heights of the tunneling barrier evaluated from resistive characteristics of mesa-structures at different thickness of interlayer showed an exponential decrease from 30 mV down to 5 mV with the increase of manganite interlayer thickness. Temperature dependence of the conductivity of mesa-structures could be described taking into account the d-wave superconductivity in YBCO and a spin filtering of the electron transport. Spin filtering is supported also by measurements of magneto-resistance and the high sensitivity of mesa-structure conductivity to weak magnetic fields.
1701.05364v1
2017-01-27
Control of superconductivity with a single ferromagnetic layer in niobium/erbium bilayers
Superconducting spintronics in hybrid superconductor/ferromagnet (S-F) heterostructures provides an exciting potential new class of device. The prototypical super-spintronic device is the superconducting spin-valve, where the critical temperature, $T_c$, of the S-layer can be controlled by the relative orientation of two (or more) F-layers. Here, we show that such control is also possible in a simple S/F bilayer. Using field history to set the remanent magnetic state of a thin Er layer, we demonstrate for a Nb/Er bilayer a high level of control of both $T_c$ and the shape of the resistive transition, R(T), to zero resistance. We are able to model the origin of the remanent magnetization, treating it as an increase in the effective exchange field of the ferromagnet and link this, using conventional S-F theory, to the suppression of $T_c$. We observe stepped features in the R(T) which we argue is due to a fundamental interaction of superconductivity with inhomogeneous ferromagnetism, a phenomena currently lacking theoretical description.
1701.08065v2
2017-11-08
Mechanical characterization of disordered and anisotropic cellular monolayers
We consider a cellular monolayer, described using a vertex-based model, for which cells form a spatially disordered array of convex polygons that tile the plane. Equilibrium cell configurations are assumed to minimize a global energy defined in terms of cell areas and perimeters; energy is dissipated via dynamic area and length changes, as well as cell neighbour exchanges. The model captures our observations of an epithelium from a Xenopus embryo showing that uniaxial stretching induces spatial ordering, with cells under net tension (compression) tending to align with (against) the direction of stretch, but with the stress remaining heterogeneous at the single-cell level. We use the vertex model to derive the linearized relation between tissue-level stress, strain and strain-rate about a deformed base state, which can be used to characterize the tissue's anisotropic mechanical properties; expressions for viscoelastic tissue moduli are given as direct sums over cells. When the base state is isotropic, the model predicts that tissue properties can be tuned to a regime with high elastic shear resistance but low resistance to area changes, or vice versa.
1711.02909v2
2017-11-21
Strained graphene structures: from valleytronics to pressure sensing
Due to its strong bonds graphene can stretch up to 25% of its original size without breaking. Furthermore, mechanical deformations lead to the generation of pseudo-magnetic fields (PMF) that can exceed 300 T. The generated PMF has opposite direction for electrons originating from different valleys. We show that valley-polarized currents can be generated by local straining of multi-terminal graphene devices. The pseudo-magnetic field created by a Gaussian-like deformation allows electrons from only one valley to transmit and a current of electrons from a single valley is generated at the opposite side of the locally strained region. Furthermore, applying a pressure difference between the two sides of a graphene membrane causes it to bend/bulge resulting in a resistance change. We find that the resistance changes linearly with pressure for bubbles of small radius while the response becomes non-linear for bubbles that stretch almost to the edges of the sample. This is explained as due to the strong interference of propagating electronic modes inside the bubble. Our calculations show that high gauge factors can be obtained in this way which makes graphene a good candidate for pressure sensing.
1711.07904v1
2017-12-12
Dynamical Negative Differential Resistance in Antiferromagnetically Coupled Few-Atom Spin-Chains
We present the appearance of negative differential resistance (NDR) in spin-dependent electron transport through a few-atom spin-chain. A chain of three antiferromagnetically coupled Fe atoms(Fe trimer) was positioned on a Cu2N/Cu(100) surface and contacted with the spin-polarized tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, thus coupling the Fe trimer to one non-magnetic and one magnetic lead. Pronounced NDR appears at the low bias of 7 mV where inelastic electron tunneling dynamically locks the atomic spin in a long-lived excited state. This causes a rapid increase of the magnetoresistance between spin-polarized tip and Fe trimer and quenches elastic tunneling. By varying the coupling strength between tip and Fe trimer we find that in this transport regime the dynamic locking of the Fe trimer competes with magnetic exchange interaction, which statically forces the Fe trimer into the high-magnetoresistance state and removes the NDR.
1712.04213v1
2017-12-12
Scaling Projections on Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
We investigate scaling of technologically relevant magnetic tunnel junction devices in the trilayer and pentalayer configurations by varying the cross-sectional area along the transverse direction using the non-equilibrium Green's function spin transport formalism. We study the geometry dependence by considering square and circular cross-sections. As the transverse dimension in each case reduces, we demonstrate that the transverse mode energy profile plays a major role in the resistance-area product. Both types of devices show constant tunnel magnetoresistance at larger cross-sectional areas but achieve ultra-high magnetoresistance at small cross-sectional areas, while maintaining low resistance-area products. We notice that although the critical switching voltage for switching the magnetization of the free layer nanomagnet in the trilayer case remains constant at larger areas, it needs more energy to switch at smaller areas. In the pentalayer case, we observe an oscillatory behavior at smaller areas as a result of double barrier tunneling. We also describe how switching characteristics of both kinds of devices are affected by the scaling.
1712.04235v1
2017-12-14
Conductivity of anisotropic inhomogeneous superconductors above critical temperature
We propose a model and derive analytical expressions for conductivity in heterogeneous fully anisotropic conductors with ellipsoid superconducting inclusions. This model and calculations are useful to analyze the observed temperature dependence of conductivity anisotropy in various anisotropic superconductors, where superconductivity onset happens inhomogeneously in the form of isolated superconducting islands. The results are applied to explain the experimental data on resistivity above the transition temperature $T_c$ in the high-temperature superconductor $\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_4O_8}$ and in the organic superconductor $\beta$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$I$_{3}$. The comparison of resistivity data and diamagnetic response in $\beta$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$I$_{3}$ allows us to estimate the size of superconducting inclusions as $d\sim 1\mu m$.
1712.05347v2
2017-12-16
Mitigating Asymmetric Nonlinear Weight Update Effects in Hardware Neural Network based on Analog Resistive Synapse
Asymmetric nonlinear weight update is considered as one of the major obstacles for realizing hardware neural networks based on analog resistive synapses because it significantly compromises the online training capability. This paper provides new solutions to this critical issue through co-optimization with the hardware-applicable deep-learning algorithms. New insights on engineering activation functions and a threshold weight update scheme effectively suppress the undesirable training noise induced by inaccurate weight update. We successfully trained a two-layer perceptron network online and improved the classification accuracy of MNIST handwritten digit dataset to 87.8/94.8% by using 6-bit/8-bit analog synapses, respectively, with extremely high asymmetric nonlinearity.
1712.05895v1
2018-10-30
Whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping of Staphylococcus aureus
Next-generation sequencing technology enables routine detection of bacterial pathogens for clinical diagnostics and genetic research. Whole genome sequencing has been of importance in the epidemiologic analysis of bacterial pathogens. However, few whole genome sequencing-based genotyping pipelines are available for practical applications. Here, we present the whole genome sequencing-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping method and apply to the evolutionary analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The SNP genotyping method calls genome variants using next-generation sequencing reads of whole genomes and calculates the pair-wise Jaccard distances of the genome variants. The method may reveal the high-resolution whole genome SNP profiles and the structural variants of different isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) strains. The phylogenetic analysis of whole genomes and particular regions may monitor and track the evolution and the transmission dynamic of bacterial pathogens. The computer programs of the whole genome sequencing-based SNP genotyping method are available to the public at https://github.com/cyinbox/NGS.
1810.13027v1
2018-11-02
Ladder-like optical conductivity in the spin-fermion model
In the nested limit of the spin-fermion model for the cuprates, one-dimensional physics in the form of half-filled two-leg ladders emerges. We show that the renormalization group flow of the corresponding ladder is towards the d-Mott phase, a gapped spin-liquid with short-ranged d-wave pairing correlations, and reveals an intermediate SO(5)$\times$SO(3) symmetry. We use the results of the renormalization group in combination with a memory-function approach to calculate the optical conductivity of the spin-fermion model in the high-frequency regime, where processes within the hot spot region dominate the transport. We argue that umklapp processes play a major role. For finite temperatures, we determine the resistivity in the zero-frequency (dc) limit. Our results show an approximate linear temperature dependence of the resistivity and a conductivity that follows a non-universal power law. A comparison to experimental data supports our assumption that the conductivity is dominated by the antinodal contribution above the pseudogap.
1811.01103v2
2018-11-13
Hydrodynamic and Solid Mechanics Analysis of Capillary Force-Induced Mold Deformation in Sub-10 nm UV Nanoimprint Lithography
A model has been developed to study the dynamic filling process and to investigate the capillary force-induced deformation of nanostructures on the imprint mold during ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) down to sub-10 nm resolution. The dynamic behavior of resist filling with varied physical parameters was investigated by a hydrodynamic model. The capillary force-induced deformation of mold structures was modeled using beam bending mechanics for both wetting and non-wetting mold structures. Theoretically calculated results were cross-validated with finite-element simulations using two-phase flow and solid mechanics methods. Based on the theoretical analysis, a general parameter of critical aspect ratio for design of imprint mold for UV-NIL is developed. The investigation of capillary force-induced deformation in UV-NIL helps to deepen the understanding of dynamic mechanism of resist filling and structural deformation at sub-10 nm scale and enable optimization for high-fidelity UV-NIL.
1811.05103v2
2018-11-29
Magneto-immutable turbulence in weakly collisional plasmas
We propose that pressure anisotropy causes weakly collisional turbulent plasmas to self-organize so as to resist changes in magnetic-field strength. We term this effect "magneto-immutability" by analogy with incompressibility (resistance to changes in pressure). The effect is important when the pressure anisotropy becomes comparable to the magnetic pressure, suggesting that in collisionless, weakly magnetized (high-$\beta$) plasmas its dynamical relevance is similar to that of incompressibility. Simulations of magnetized turbulence using the weakly collisional Braginskii model show that magneto-immutable turbulence is surprisingly similar, in most statistical measures, to critically balanced MHD turbulence. However, in order to minimize magnetic-field variation, the flow direction becomes more constrained than in MHD, and the turbulence is more strongly dominated by magnetic energy (a nonzero "residual energy"). These effects represent key differences between pressure-anisotropic and fluid turbulence, and should be observable in the $\beta\gtrsim1$ turbulent solar wind.
1811.12421v2
2019-02-15
Electrodynamics of granular aluminum from superconductor to insulator: observation of collective superconducting modes
We report on a detailed study of the optical response and $T_c-\rho$ phase diagram ($T_c$ being the superconducting critical temperature and $\rho$ the normal state resistivity of the film) of granular aluminum, combining transport measurements and a high resolution optical spectroscopy technique. The $T_c-\rho$ phase diagram is discussed as resulting from an interplay between the phase stiffness, the Coulomb repulsion and the superconducting gap $\Delta$. We provide a direct evidence for two different types of well resolved sub-gap absorptions, at $\omega_1\simeq\Delta$ and at $\Delta\lesssim\omega_2\lesssim2\Delta$ (decreasing with increasing resistivity).
1902.05843v2
2019-02-27
Energy bandpass filtering in superlattice phase change memories
We propose energy bandpass filtering employed using the idea of anti-reflection heterostructures as a means to reduce the energy requirements of a superlattice phase change memory based on GeTe and Sb$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ heterostructures. Different configurations of GeTe/Sb$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ superlattices are studied using the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. Our electronic transport simulations calculate the coupling parameter for the high resistance covalent state, to $97 \%$ that of the stable low resistance resonant state, maintaining the ON/OFF ratio of 100 for a reliable read operation. By examining various configurations of the superlattice structures we conclude that the inclusion of anti-reflection units on both sides of the superlattice increases the overall ON/OFF ratio by an order of magnitude which can further help in scaling down of the memory device. It is also observed that the device with such anti-reflection units exhibits 32$\%$ lesser RESET voltage than the most common PCM superlattice configurations and 27$\%$ in the presence of elastic dephasing. Moreover, we also find that the ON/OFF ratios in these devices are also resilient to the variations in the periodicity of the superlattice.
1902.10551v1
2019-05-15
Automatic Long-Term Deception Detection in Group Interaction Videos
Most work on automated deception detection (ADD) in video has two restrictions: (i) it focuses on a video of one person, and (ii) it focuses on a single act of deception in a one or two minute video. In this paper, we propose a new ADD framework which captures long term deception in a group setting. We study deception in the well-known Resistance game (like Mafia and Werewolf) which consists of 5-8 players of whom 2-3 are spies. Spies are deceptive throughout the game (typically 30-65 minutes) to keep their identity hidden. We develop an ensemble predictive model to identify spies in Resistance videos. We show that features from low-level and high-level video analysis are insufficient, but when combined with a new class of features that we call LiarRank, produce the best results. We achieve AUCs of over 0.70 in a fully automated setting. Our demo can be found at http://home.cs.dartmouth.edu/~mbolonkin/scan/demo/
1905.08617v2