Superconducting energy gap and c-axis plasma frequency of (Nd,Sm)FeAsO0.82F0.18 superconductors from infrared ellipsometry

We present far-infrared ellipsometric measurements of polycrystalline samples of the pnictide superconductor RFeAsO0.82F0.18 (R=Nd and Sm). We find evidence that the electronic properties are strongly anisotropic such that the optical spectra are dominated by the weakly conducting c-axis response similar to the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. We deduce an upper limit of the c-axis superconducting plasma frequency of omega pl,c(SC)< or =260 cm(-1) corresponding to a lower limit of the c-axis magnetic penetration depth of lambda c > or =6 microm and lambda c/lambda ab > or =30 as compared to lambda ab=185 nm from muon spin rotation [A. Drew, arXiv:0805.1042 [Phys. Rev. Lett. (to be published)]]. We also observe a gaplike suppression of the conductivity in the superconducting state with a shoulderlike feature at omegaSC* approximately 300 cm(-1) and spectral shape which is consistent with an unconventional order parameter with 2Delta approximately omegaSC* approximately 37 meV.     

Tests of the gravitational inverse-square law below the dark-energy length scale

We conducted three torsion-balance experiments to test the gravitational inverse-square law at separations between 9.53 mm and 55 microm, probing distances less than the dark-energy length scale lambda(d)=[4 -root](variant Planck's over 2pic/rho(d) approximately 85 microm. We find with 95% confidence that the inverse-square law holds (|alpha|相似文献   

Laser heating of solid matter by light-pressure-driven shocks at ultrarelativistic intensities

The heating of solid targets irradiated by 5 x 10(20) W cm(-2), 0.8 ps, 1.05 microm wavelength laser light is studied by x-ray spectroscopy of the K-shell emission from thin layers of Ni, Mo, and V. A surface layer is heated to approximately 5 keV with an axial temperature gradient of 0.6 microm scale length. Images of Ni Ly(alpha) show the hot region has 100 G bar light pressure compresses the preformed plasma and drives a shock into the solid, heating a thin layer.     

Forces between conducting surfaces due to spatial variations of surface potential

We describe analytical and numerical methods for calculating forces between conductors due to variations of electrostatic surface potential across their surfaces. In the simple case where the spatial variation of surface potential gives rise to uniform power spectra, we show that the electrostatic force can be large in comparison with, and scale in approximately the same way with distance of closest approach as, the Casimir force. Patch potentials that are consistent with existing experimental data could give rise to forces with a magnitude of 4% of the Casimir force at separations of 0.1 microm.     

Emission of a single conjugated polymer chain isolated in its single crystal monomer matrix

The excitonic luminescence of a highly ordered single conjugated polymer chain is studied by microphotoluminescence. At T< or =10 K it consists of a single Lorentzian line. The linewidth increases linearly with T between 6 and 60 K, from 350 microeV at 6 K, indicating a pure dephasing time of approximately 2 ps. Above 10 K, other neighboring regions along the chain direction start to emit at a slightly higher (by approximately 1 meV) energy. This indicates very small inhomogeneous broadening, very long chains ( > or =10 microm), and a long range and very rapid exciton energy transfer ( >10 microm in <100 ps).     

Effect of plasma scale length on multi-MeV proton production by intense laser pulses

The influence of the plasma density scale length on the production of MeV protons from thin foil targets irradiated at I lambda(2) = 5 x 10(19) W cm(-2) has been studied. With an unperturbed foil, protons with energy >20 MeV were formed in an exponential energy spectrum with a temperature of 2.5+/-0.3 MeV. When a plasma with a scale length of 100 microm was preformed on the back of the foil, the maximum proton energy was reduced to <5 MeV and the beam was essentially destroyed. The experimental results are consistent with an electrostatic accelerating mechanism that requires an ultrashort scale length at the back of the target.     

Total strength of the magnetic dipole resonance in <Superscript>27</Superscript>Al

The γ decay of the resonance-like structure observed in the ²⁶Mg(pγ)²⁷ Al reaction in the energy range E _p = 0.8–3.0 MeV of accelerated protons has been investigated. The M1 resonance on the ground and excited states of ²⁷Al with E* = 844 and 1014 keV is identified. The total strength of the M1 resonance on the ground state of this nucleus is determined. The position and total strength of this resonance are explained taking into account pairing forces.     

Contact instability in adhesion and debonding of thin elastic films

Based on experiments and 3D simulations, we show that a soft elastic film during adhesion and debonding from a rigid flat surface undergoes morphological transitions to pillars, labyrinths, and cavities, all of which have the same lateral pattern length scale, lambda close to lambda/H approximately 3 for thick films, H > 1 microm . The linear stability analysis and experiments show a new thin film regime where lambda/H approximately equal to 3 + 2pi(lambda/3 muH)1/4 (gamma is surface tension, mu is shear modulus) because of a significant surface energy penalty (for example, lambda/H approximately equal to 6 for H = 200 nm; mu = 1 MPa).     

Abnormal odd-even staggering behavior around 132Sn studied by density functional theory

In this work, we have performed Skyrme density functional theory (DFT) calculations of nuclei around ¹³²Sn to study whether the abnormal odd-even staggering (OES) behavior of binding energies around N = 82 can be reproduced. With the Skyrme forces SLy4 and SkM*, we tested the volume- and surface-type pairing forces and also the intermediate between these two pairing forces, in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation with or without the Lipkin-Nogami (LN) approximation or particle number projection after the convergence of HFBLN (PLN). The Universal Nuclear Energy Density Function (UNEDF) parameter sets are also used. The trend of the neutron OES against the neutron number or proton number does not change significantly by tuning the density dependence of the pairing force. Moreover, for the pairing force that is favored more at the nuclear surface, a larger mass OES is obtained, and vice versa. It appears that the combination of volume and surface pairing can give better agreement with the data. In the studies of the OES, a larger ratio of surface to volume pairing might be favored. Additionally, in most cases, the OES given by the HFBLN approximation agrees more closely with the experimental data. We found that both the Skyrme and pairing forces can influence the OES behavior. The mass OES calculated by the UNEDF DFT is explicitly smaller than the experimental one. The UNEDF1 and UNEDF2 forces can reproduce the experimental trend of the abnormal OES around ¹³²Sn. The neutron OES of the tin isotopes given by the SkM* force agrees more closely with the experimental one than that given by the SLy4 force in most cases. Both SLy4 and SkM* DFT have difficulties in reproducing the abnormal OES around ¹³²Sn. Using the PLN method, the systematics of OES are improved for several combinations of Skyrme and pairing forces.     

Dimensional crossover of quantum critical behavior in CeCoIn5

The nature of quantum criticality in CeCoIn5 is studied by low-temperature thermal expansion alpha(T). At the field-induced quantum critical point at H = 5 T a crossover scale T* approximately 0.3 K is observed, separating alpha(T)/T proportional, variant T(-1) from a weaker T(-1/2) divergence. We ascribe this change to a crossover in the dimensionality of the critical fluctuations which may be coupled to a change from unconventional to conventional quantum criticality. Disorder, whose effect on quantum criticality is studied in CeCoIn(5-x)Sn(x) (0 < or = x < or = 0.18), shifts T* towards higher temperatures.     

Detection of spin-polarized electrons injected into a two-dimensional electron gas

The spin-dependent mean-free path of electrons in a high-mobility InAs two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is measured. Ferromagnetic metal/insulator/2DEG junctions are fabricated on a common channel in a nonlocal geometry and used as spin injectors and detectors. For electrons in spin-orbit eigenstates at 4.5 K, lower bounds for the spin mean-free path and relaxation time are Lambda(S) > or = 4.6 microm and tau(s) > or = 3.8 ps, respectively. The temperature dependence is weak over the range 4.5相似文献   

Instabilities during the evaporation of a film: Non-glassy polymer + volatile solvent

: We consider solutions where the surface tension of the solvent s is smaller than the surface tension of the polymer p. In an evaporating film, a “plume”, of solvent-rich fluid, then induces a local depression in surface tension, and the surface forces tend to strengthen the plume. We give an estimate (at the level of scaling laws) for the minimum thickness e ^* required to obtain this instability. We predict that a) e ^* is a decreasing function of the solvent vapor pressure pv(e ^* ~ pv^-1/2); b) e ^* should be very small (< 1 micron) provided that the initial solution is rather dilute; c) the overall evaporation time for the film should be much longer than the growth time of the instability. The instability should lead to distortions of the free surface and may be optically observable. It should dominate over the classical Benard-Marangoni instability induced by cooling.     

Superhigh numerical aperture (NA > 1.5) micro gradient-index lens based on a dual-material approach

We describe a novel scheme for obtaining a superhigh numerical aperture gradient-index (SHNA GRIN) lens from multiple thin layers of two or more materials with large refractive-index contrast. Design procedures for the lens are described, including variation of the layer thickness to achieve focusing and of the thickness limit to reduce scattering loss. We use an exact numerical solution by the finite-difference time-domain method to evaluate the lens's performance. Specific examples of a SHNA GRIN lens with a SiO2-TiO2 material system designed for fiber coupling to a nanowaveguide are shown to have focusing FWHM spot sizes of 0.53-0.7 microm at lambda =1.55 microm (corresponding to a NA of approximately 1.6-1.1) with 2.7-2.4% more loss than an ideal continuous index profile GRIN lens. With this approach, a SHNA GRIN lens with a NA of > 1.5 and a length of <20 microm can be achieved with currently available thin-film deposition techniques.     

Ashkin-teller criticality and pseudo-first-order behavior in a frustrated Ising model on the square lattice

We study the challenging thermal phase transition to stripe order in the frustrated square-lattice Ising model with couplings J(1) < 0 (nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic) and J(2) > 0 (second-neighbor, antiferromagnetic) for g = J(2)/|J(1| > 1/2. Using Monte Carlo simulations and known analytical results, we demonstrate Ashkin-Teller criticality for g ≥ g*; i.e., the critical exponents vary continuously between those of the 4-state Potts model at g = g* and the Ising model for g → ∞. Thus, stripe transitions offer a route to realizing a related class of conformal field theories with conformal charge c = 1 and varying exponents. The transition is first order for g < g* = 0.67 ± 0.01, much lower than previously believed, and exhibits pseudo-first-order behavior for |g* ≤ g 相似文献   

Dynamically Generated Resonances from Two Vectors in the Charm Sector and their Decays

In this talk we study dynamically generated resonances from two-vector mesons within the hidden gauge formalism in a coupled channel unitary approach. We focus on the sectors with charm and/or strangeness and double charm, being some of them flavor exotic. Concretely, by looking for poles in the complex plane, we get three poles in the T-matrix around 2,460, 2,640 and 2,572 MeV that we identify with the ${D^*_2(2,460), D^*(2,640)}$ and ${D^*_{s2}(2,573)}$ , coupling strongly to D*ρ (the first two) and D*K* respectively. In addition, we obtain resonances in other exotic sectors such as (charm = 1; strangeness = ?1), (charm = 2; strangeness = 0, 1). This ’flavor-exotic’ states are interpreted as ${D^*\bar{K}^*, D^*D^*}$ and ${D^*_sD^*}$ molecular states and have not been observed yet. The observation of these peculiar states is a challenge for the experimentalist.     

Brownian motion of nucleated cell envelopes impedes adhesion

We demonstrate that composite envelopes of nucleated cells exhibit pronounced short wavelength (相似文献   

Imprinted optical pattern of low-softening phosphate glass

Thermal imprinting of transparent tin phosphate glass was performed at 250 degrees C using a fine-patterned silica mold. The glass sample was prepared by a conventional melt-quenching method and polished with a roughness of < or =10 nm for imprinting experiments. The imprinting temperature is optimized based on experimental viscosity data. Scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope observations revealed that a square grid pattern has a surface roughness of < or =10 nm and 5 microm x 5 microm squares with ~1 microm intervals and 90-100 nm depth. Diffraction spots due to the micropattern are demonstrated by illuminating He-Ne laser light.     

Unbounded Representations of q-Deformation of Cuntz Algebra

We study a deformation of the Cuntz–Toeplitz C ^*-algebra determined by the relations ${a_i^*a_i=1+q a_ia_i^*,\, a_i^*a_j=0}$ . We define its well-behaved unbounded *-representations and classify all irreducible ones up to unitary equivalence.     

R'2 measured in trabecular bone in vitro: relationship to trabecular separation.

Measurement of key parameters of the microstructure of trabecular bone is critical to the study of osteoporosis and bone strength. Density based methods cannot provide this information, and give only the total amount of bone present, and not its arrangement. Magnetic resonance imaging has shown the potential to provide information related to the microarchitecture of the trabecular bone matrix. Twelve samples (8 x 8 x 8 mm3 bone cubes) were cut from sheep vertebrae such that the trabeculae ran either parallel or perpendicular to each face. Detailed measurements of the structure of these bone cubes were made by histomorphometry, and compared to R'2 and R*2 measured with a spin and gradient-echo sequence, Partially Refocused Interleaved Multiple Echo, at 1.5 Tesla. The precision of the R'2 measurement (% coefficient of variation) was 8.7+/-5.1, and 7.7+/-4.3 for R*2. Uncorrected values of R'2 and R*2 were significantly correlated to density measured by quantitative computed tomography (r = 0.87, p = 0.0005, and r = 0.90, p = 0.0002, respectively), and trabecular bone area measured by histomorphometry (r = 0.80, p = 0.002, and r = 0.83, p = 0.0008, respectively). Density correction was effected by imaging the same slice of bone in two orientations (90 degrees and 0 degrees ) to the main magnetic field. For both R'2 and R*2 there was a significant difference between measurements in the 90 degrees and 0 degrees orientations (p < 0.01). The difference between the two values was used, and termed R'2net or R*2net. The net parameters were independent of bone mass. R'2net and R*2net were significantly correlated to trabecular separation (p < 0.05) with r = -0.58 and r = -0.62, respectively. These results demonstrate the ability of magnetic resonance imaging to characterize a key measure of the trabecular microstucture. An increase in trabecular separation has important biomechanical consequences in osteoporosis. This result also strengthens the hypothesis that the sensitivity of R'2 to osteoporosis-related bone changes is due to magnetic susceptibility effects in which rapid transitions between bone and marrow create local magnetic field inhomogeneities that result in an increase in R'2 values.     

Effective production of Xe<Subscript>2</Subscript>I excimer molecules by high-energy charged particles in Xe containing a small amount of C<Subscript>3</Subscript>F<Subscript>7</Subscript>I

An anomalously high efficiency of generating Xe₂I* excimer molecules in dense Xe–C₃F₇I gaseous mixtures with a small amount of C₃F₇I that are excited by a pulsed beam of fast electrons is discovered. The electron energy is 150 keV, and the beam current amplitude and duration are, respectively, 5 A and 5 ns. The temporal–spectral characteristics of spontaneous radiation from XeI* and Xe2I* excimer molecules are measured. Also, the luminescence times of the upper level for the B–X transition in the XeI* molecule (λ_max = 253 nm) and the upper level for the 4²Γ–1²Γ transition in the Xe₂I* molecule (λ = 352 nm), as well as the rate constants of quenching these levels by the gaseous mixture components, are determined. Based on the characteristics of the track structure of a high-energy plasma produced by charged particles in the dense gaseous medium, a model of plasma-chemical processes leading to the formation of XeI* (λ_max = 253 nm) and Xe₂I* (λ = 352 nmnm) excimer molecules in a Xe–C₃F₇I mixture with a small amount of an iodine atom donor is suggested.