Non-Fermi liquid behavior in the magnetotransport of quasi two-dimensional heavy Fermion compounds CeMIn5

We observe several non-Fermi liquid behaviors in the normal-state transport properties of CeMIn₅ (M: Rh and Co) under pressure at low temperatures: (1) The dc-resistivity shows T-linear dependence, ρ_xx∝T. (2) The magnitude of Hall coefficient |R_H| increases rapidly with decreasing temperature, and reaches a value much larger than |1/ne| at low temperatures. (3) The magnetoresistance displays T- and H-dependence that strongly violate Kohler's rule, and is well scaled by the tangent of the Hall angle, . These non-Fermi liquid properties in the electron transport are remarkably pronounced when the AF fluctuations are enhanced in the vicinity of the quantum critical point. Since all of these salient features have been also reported for high-T_c cuprates, we infer that the non-Fermi liquid transport properties capture universal features of strongly correlated electron systems in the presence of strong antiferromagnetic fluctuations.     

Magnetic-field-dependent excitation transfer in quantum wells of diluted magnetic semiconductor

We studied the excitation transfer in double quantum wells of a diluted magnetic semiconductor using a scanning near-field optical microscope at 7 K in external magnetic fields up to 9 T. In each quantum well, local energy minima are generated by local fluctuation of layer thickness and doping concentration of magnetic components. Excitons relax into the local energy minima and transfer between the minima via near-field optical interactions even across quantum wells toward stable sites at which to localize. We measured the intensity maps of near-field photoluminescence with spatial resolution estimated to be 30 nm under varying external magnetic fields. The measurement position reproducibility was confirmed by scanning tunneling microscope images. Analysis of the maps derived the magnetic-field dependence of the typical size of exciton-localization sites for each quantum well. Based on these results, we investigated the excitation transfer between the two quantum wells lying in different layers of the double quantum well system, and showed that the exciton transfer takes place at the two specific applied magnetic-field intensities that result in the crossing of Zeeman-split energy levels of the two different wells. We concluded that both the localization and the inter-quantum-well transfer of excitons are able to be controlled by an external magnetic field. This provides the basis for functional devices operating without any wiring.     

Correlation between film thickness and zinc defect distribution along the growth direction in an isotopic multilayer ZnO thin film grown by pulsed laser deposition analyzed using the internal diffusion method

Zinc self-diffusion along the growth direction was analyzed for the isotopic multilayer ZnO thin film ((⁶⁴ZnO/⁶⁸ZnO)₆⁶⁴ZnO) deposited by pulsed laser deposition. The isotopic distribution was measured using a secondary ion mass spectrometry. The amplitude of the ⁶⁴Zn abundance in the depth profile was reduced by annealing at 993 K for several hours due to interdiffusion between the ⁶⁴ZnO and ⁶⁸ZnO layers. The diffusion profiles at the isotopic interfaces were analyzed using a periodic equation. The obtained zinc self-diffusion coefficients at several isotopic interfaces along the growth direction showed that the self-diffusion coefficients increased towards the film/substrate interface. A similar trend was also found in the lateral direction. The variation among the self-diffusion coefficients was related to the film thicknesses at the analysis positions. Since zinc self-diffusion is controlled by a vacancy-mediated mechanism, the variation in zinc diffusivity along the growth direction can be attributed to the effect of compressive biaxial stress. These findings are useful for producing high-quality ZnO devices.     

Deconfined criticality: generic first-order transition in the SU(2) symmetry case

Monte Carlo simulations of the SU(2)-symmetric deconfined critical point action reveal strong violations of scale invariance for the deconfinement transition. We find compelling evidence that the generic runaway renormalization flow of the gauge coupling is to a weak first-order transition, similar to the case of U(1) x U(1) symmetry. Our results imply that recent numeric studies of the Nèel antiferromagnet to valence bond solid quantum phase transition in SU(2)-symmetric models were not accurate enough in determining the nature of the transition.     

On Multifractality and Fractional Derivatives

It is shown phenomenologically that the fractional derivative = D u of order of a multifractal function has a power-law tail in its cumulative probability, for a suitable range of 's. The exponent is determined by the condition , where _p is the exponent of the structure function of order p. A detailed study is made for the case of random multiplicative processes (Benzi et al., Physica D 65:352 (1993)) which are amenable to both theory and numerical simulations. Large deviations theory provides a concrete criterion, which involves the departure from straightness of the _p graph, for the presence of power-law tails when there is only a limited range over which the data possess scaling properties (e.g., because of the presence of a viscous cutoff). The method is also applied to wind tunnel data and financial data.     

基片偏压对MCECR溅射硬碳膜特性的影响

采用封闭式电子回旋共振(MCECR)氩等离子体溅射碳靶的方法在硅片上沉积了高质量的硬碳膜, 膜层厚度约40 nm. 使用X射线光电子能谱仪(XPS)和高分辨率透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)分析了碳膜结构,并用POD摩擦磨损仪测试了碳膜的摩擦磨损特性,用纳米压入仪测试了碳膜的纳米硬度.详细研究了基片偏压对碳膜的结构、摩擦磨损特性以及纳米硬度的影响,得到了最佳基片偏压.     

Quantum phase transitions of spin chiral nanotubes

Recently many interesting magnetic nanostructures have been fabricated and much attention is arising on the rich magnetic properties that originate in the quantum effects eminent in the nanoscale world. One of the peculiar aspects of the quantum effects is the spin excitation gap. In the spin-1/2 low-dimensional systems, the spin gap often appears when the lattice dimerization or the frustration in the spin–spin interaction are introduced. In the present study, we investigate the ground-state property of the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic spin chiral nanotubes with the spatial modulation in the spin–spin interaction. The ground-state phase diagrams of them are determined by observing the behavior of the expectation value of the Lieb–Schultz–Mattis slow-twist operator calculated by the quantum Monte Carlo method with the continuous-time loop algorithm. We discuss the relation between the characteristic of the topology of the phase diagram and the chiral vector of the nanotubes.     

Phase-locked widely tunable optical single-frequency generator based on a femtosecond comb

We present an arbitrary optical single-frequency generator based on a femtosecond optical frequency comb. The functions of this device are comparable to those of a radio-frequency synthesizer. However, this device operates at hundreds of terahertz. The absolute frequency accuracy of this synthesizer is approximately 1 kHz at a 282 THz carrier frequency. The stability is approximately 2 x 10(-14) at 100 s, and the tuning speed exceeds 30 GHz/s. This source demonstrates the integration of a phase-locked optical comb into a versatile and easy-to-use system for the generation of tunable, absolute optical frequencies. By using downconversion, one could generate tunable terahertz frequencies that are phase locked to a microwave reference, such as a Cs atomic clock, and high-precision interferometry could benefit greatly from the stability and accuracy of this widely tunable source.     

Writing 40 nm marks by using a beaked metallic plate near-field optical probe

We have developed a near-field optical probe that uses a triangular metallic plate with a three-dimensionally tapered apex as a light source for thermally assisted magnetic recording. Numerical analysis using a finite-element method shows that the size of the optical spot generated at the apex is 15 nm x 20 nm, and the efficiency (defined as the ratio between the power of the optical near field at the surface of the recording medium and that of the incident light) is 15% when the incident light is focused by a lens with a numerical aperture of 0.8. The metallic plate was fabricated on the surface of a quartz slider and used for writing marks on a phase change recording medium. The marks were observed with a scanning electron microscope, and we confirmed that marks with a diameter of 40 nm were successfully written on the medium.     

Importance of volume limitation for tissue redox status measurements using nitroxyl contrast agents: a comparison of X-band EPR bile flow monitoring (BFM) method and 300 MHz in vivo EPR measurement

Methods proposed for in vivo redox status estimation, X-band (9.4 GHz) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) bile flow monitoring (BFM) and 300 MHz in vivo EPR measurement, were compared. The spin probe 3-carbamoyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidine-1-oxyl (carbamoyl-PROXYL) was utilized for both methods, due to its suitable lipophilicity. EPR signal decay of a nitroxyl spin probe in the bile flow and in the liver region (upper abdomen) of several rat groups with different selenium status were measured by both the BFM and the in vivo EPR method, respectively. The nitroxyl radical clearance measured with in vivo EPR method may be affected not only by the redox status in the liver but also by information from other tissues in the measured region of the rat. On the other hand, the time course of nitroxyl radical level in the bile flow of rats was found to be a reliable index of redox status. Measurement site and/or volume limitation, which was achieved by the BFM method in this paper, is quite important in estimating reasonable EPR signal decay information as an index of tissue/organ redox status.