Pulsed laser deposition of atomically flat La1-xSrxMnO3 thin films using a novel target geometry

A new ablation target geometry is presented that was used to produce thin films of La_1-xSr_xMnO₃ grown heteroepitaxially on SrTiO₃ by pulsed reactive crossed-beam laser ablation. The films were grown in order to perform angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, which demands that the surface be atomically flat. In situ and ex situ analysis shows that this condition was met, even after depositing to a thickness of over 100 nm. PACS 61.10.-i; 61.18.Bn; 68.47.Gh; 71.27.+a; 81.15.Fg     

Unusual current‐voltage characteristics of single crystalline and bicrystalline La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films

The current‐voltage characteristics of single crystalline and bicrystalline La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ films were measured and analyzed. Several epitaxial films, as well as 45° [001]‐tilt grain boundaries, display current‐voltage characteristics which are asymmetric with respect to polarity reversal of the bias current. One epitaxial film has a polarity dependent resistance of ～340kΩ and of ～670kΩ in forward and in reverse direction, respectively.     

Spectral decomposition of an elementary 3-fermion 2-body operator

The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of an elementary 3-fermion 2-body operator 3P²_g∧I¹A³∑_{1≤i≤j≤3}P²_g(i, j)A³ acting on a 3-particle antisymmetric finite-dimensional Hilbert space have been found. Here P_g² denotes the projection operator onto a 2-particle antisymmetric function g², while A³ denotes the 3-particle antisymmetrizing operator.     

Searching for new conditions for fermion N-representability

New elements of the dual cone of the set of fermion N-representable 2-density operators are proposed. So far, the explicit form of the corresponding necessary conditions for N-representability is obtained for N = 3. In this case the new condition is stronger than the known B- and C-conditions for 3-representability. The results provide evidence that in the spectral decomposition of the N-representable 2-density operator there exists an intrinsic relation between the eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenfunction.     

Three-dimensional subwavelength imaging by a photonic-crystal flat lens using negative refraction at microwave frequencies

We experimentally demonstrate subwavelength resolution imaging at microwave frequencies by a three-dimensional (3D) photonic-crystal flat lens using full 3D negative refraction. The photonic crystal was fabricated in a layer-by-layer process. A subwavelength pinhole source and a dipole detector were employed for the measurement. By point-by-point scanning, we obtained the image of the pinhole source shown in both amplitude and phase, which demonstrated the imaging mechanism and subwavelength feature size in all three dimensions. An image of two pinhole sources with subwavelength spacing showed two resolved spots, which further verified subwavelength resolution.     

Crime and punishment: Does it pay to punish?

Crime is the result of a rational distinctive balance between the benefits and costs of an illegal act. This idea was proposed by Becker more than forty years ago (Becker (1968) [1]). In this paper, we simulate a simple artificial society, in which agents earn fixed wages and can augment (or lose) wealth as a result of a successful (or not) act of crime. The probability of apprehension depends on the gravity of the crime, and the punishment takes the form of imprisonment and fines. We study the costs of the law enforcement system required for keeping crime within acceptable limits, and compare it with the harm produced by crime. A sharp phase transition is observed as a function of the probability of punishment, and this transition exhibits a clear hysteresis effect, suggesting that the cost of reversing a deteriorated situation might be much higher than that of maintaining a relatively low level of delinquency. Besides, we analyze economic consequences that arise from crimes under different scenarios of criminal activity and probabilities of apprehension.     

Turbulence transition and the edge of chaos in pipe flow

The linear stability of pipe flow implies that only perturbations of sufficient strength will trigger the transition to turbulence. In order to determine this threshold in perturbation amplitude we study the edge of chaos which separates perturbations that decay towards the laminar profile and perturbations that trigger turbulence. Using the lifetime as an indicator and methods developed in Skufca et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 174101 (2006), we show that superimposed on an overall 1/Re scaling predicted and studied previously there are small, nonmonotonic variations reflecting folds in the edge of chaos. By tracing the motion in the edge we find that it is formed by the stable manifold of a unique flow field that is dominated by a pair of downstream vortices, asymmetrically placed towards the wall. The flow field that generates the edge of chaos shows intrinsic chaotic dynamics.     

Differential effects of synchronous and asynchronous multifinger coactivation on human tactile performance

Background  

Repeated execution of a tactile task enhances task performance. In the present study we sought to improve tactile performance with unattended activation-based learning processes (i.e., focused stimulation of dermal receptors evoking neural coactivation (CA)). Previous studies show that the application of CA to a single finger reduced the stationary two-point discrimination threshold and significantly increased tactile acuity. These changes were accompanied by an expansion of the cortical finger representation in primary somatosensory cortex (SI). Here we investigated the effect of different types of multifinger CA on the tactile performance of each finger of the right hand.     

Locally conformal method for acoustic finite-difference time-domain modeling of rigid surfaces

The finite-difference time-domain method is a simple but powerful numerical method for simulating full-wave acoustic propagation and scattering. However, the method can demand a large amount of computational resources. Traditionally, continuously curved boundaries are represented in a stair-step fashion and thus accurately modeling scattering from a boundary will require a finer discretization than would otherwise be necessary for modeling propagation in a homogeneous medium. However, a fine discretization might not be practical due to limited computational resources. A locally conformal technique is presented here for modeling acoustic scattering from continuously curved rigid boundaries. This technique is low cost, simple to implement, and gives better results for the same grid discretization than the traditional stair-step representation. These improvements can be traded for a coarser discretization which reduces the computational burden. The improved accuracy of this technique is demonstrated for a spherical scatterer.     

Multiple conversion and optical limiting in a subharmonic-pumped parametric oscillator

We demonstrate that multiple coexisting frequency-conversion processes can occur in an externally resonant second-harmonic generator under suitable conditions. Besides the generation of signal and idler waves by subharmonic-pumped parametric oscillation, sum-frequency mixing among the resonant subharmonic (1064-nm), signal, and idler waves was observed, leading to additional emission wavelengths around the harmonic wavelength (532 nm). The output waves both exhibit high frequency stability, with as long as 4 h of mode-hop-free parametric oscillation, and are continuously tunable over 2 GHz. Near degeneracy the parametric oscillator operates as an optical limiter for the harmonic wave.