Critical temperature and interface transparency of N/S/N triple layers: theory and experiment

The influence of the finite transparency, , of superconductor/normal metal (S/N) interface on the critical temperature of proximity coupled layered structures is investigated in the dirty limit on the basis of the microscopic equations solved exactly by a matrix method. The calculated theoretical curves satisfactory reproduce the experimental dependencies of the critical temperature on the thickness of the superconducting layers in N/S/N trilayers. The relation between the transparency coefficient and the normal metal coherence length is also discussed.     

Quasiparticles relaxation processes in Nb/CuNi bilayers

The dynamic instability of the moving vortex lattice at high driving currents has been studied in superconductor (S)/weak ferromagnet (F) bilayer, Nb/Cu_0.38Ni_0.62. Voltage-current, V(I), characteristics have been acquired as a function of both the temperature, T, and the magnetic field, H, and interpreted in the framework of the model proposed by Larkin and Ovchinnikov. From these analysis the values of the quasiparticle relaxation time, τ, have been estimated. The results confirm the high performance of S/F hybrids in terms of velocity in the energy relaxation process, compared to corresponding single superconducting thin films. Moreover the temperature dependence of τ _E is extremely smooth, also if compared with the data reported in literature for other weak ferromagnet S/F based systems. This last result has been tentatively ascribed to the disorder present in the CuNi alloy.     

Microwave-induced thermal escape in Josephson junctions

We investigate, by experiments and numerical simulations, thermal activation processes of Josephson tunnel junctions in the presence of microwave radiation. When the applied signal resonates with the Josephson plasma frequency oscillations, the switching current may become multivalued in a temperature range far exceeding the classical to quantum crossover temperature. Plots of the switching currents traced as a function of the applied signal frequency show very good agreement with the functional forms expected from Josephson plasma frequency dependencies on the bias current. Throughout, numerical simulations of the corresponding thermally driven classical Josephson junction model show very good agreement with the experimental data.     

Classical analogs for Rabi-oscillations,Ramsey-fringes,and spin-echo in Josephson junctions

We investigate the results of recently published experiments on the quantum behavior of Josephson circuits in terms of the classical modeling based on the resistively and capacitively-shunted (RCSJ) junction model. Our analysis shows evidence for a close analogy between the nonlinear behavior of a pulsed microwave-driven Josephson junction at low temperature and low dissipation and the experimental observations reported for the Josephson circuits. Specifically, we demonstrate that Rabi-oscillations, Ramsey-fringes, and spin-echo observations are not phenomena with a unique quantum interpretation. In fact, they are natural consequences of transients to phase-locking in classical nonlinear dynamics and can be observed in a purely classical model of a Josephson junction when the experimental recipe for the application of microwaves is followed and the experimental detection scheme followed. We therefore conclude that classical nonlinear dynamics can contribute to the understanding of relevant experimental observations of Josephson response to various microwave perturbations at very low temperature and low dissipation.     

Sound propagation and energy relations in churches

The results of an acoustic survey carried out in a group of Italian churches differing in style, typology, and location were used in order to study how the acoustic energy varies inside this kind of space. The effect of different architectural elements on sound propagation was investigated by means of three-dimensional impulse responses measured using a B-format microphone with sweep signals. Side chapels, columns, and trussed roofs appeared to scatter the reflections, so that the purely diffuse exponential sound decay begins after a time interval which grows with the source-receiver distance and with the complexity of the church. The results of the measurements were then compared with predictions given by existing theoretical models to check their accuracy. In particular a model previously proposed by the authors for a specific type of Romanesque churches was further refined taking into account the new findings and making some simplifications. Its application to the wider sample of churches under analysis showed that strength, clarity, and center time can be predicted with reasonable accuracy.     

Dynamics of pedestrians in regions with no visibility— A lattice model without exclusion

We investigate the motion of pedestrians through obscure corridors where the lack of visibility (due to smoke, fog, darkness, etc.) hides the precise position of the exits. We focus our attention on a set of basic mechanisms, which we assume to be governing the dynamics at the individual level. Using a lattice model, we explore the effects of non-exclusion on the overall exit flux (evacuation rate). More precisely, we study the effect of the buddying threshold (of no-exclusion per site) on the dynamics of the crowd and investigate to which extent our model confirms the following pattern revealed by investigations on real emergencies: If the evacuees tend to cooperate and act altruistically, then their collective action tends to favor the occurrence of disasters. The research reported here opens many fundamental questions and should be seen therefore as a preliminary investigation of the very complex behavior of the people and their motion in dark regions.     

Renormalization group at criticality and complete analyticity of constrained models: A numerical study

We study the majority rule transformation applied to the Gibbs measure for the 2D Ising model at the critical point. The aim is to show that the renormalized Hamiltonian is well defined in the sense that the renormalized measure is Gibbsian. We analyze the validity of Dobrushin-Shlosman uniqueness (DSU) finite-size condition for the constrained models corresponding to different configurations of the image system. It is known that DSU implies, in our 2D case, complete analyticity from which, as recently shown by Haller and Kennedy. Gibbsianness follows. We introduce a Monte Carlo algorithm to compute an upper bound to Vasserstein distance (appearing in DSU) between finite-volume Gibbs measures with different boundary conditions. We get strong numerical evidence that indeed the DSU condition is verified for a large enough volumeV for all constrained models.     

Dilution enthalpies of alkanols in concentrated aqueous solutions of urea at 25°C

Enthalpies of dilution of some aliphatic alcohols were determined at 25°C in aqueous 7M urea solutions by flow microcalorimetry. The excess enthalpies were expressed as power expansion series in molalities referred to 1 kg of constant composition urea-water mixture. This urea-water mixture was utilized throughout as a mixed solvent. The values of the second enthalpic virial coefficients were all found to be positive and generally lower than the corresponding values in water. Large differences were encountered, as in water, by comparing normal and branched isomeric propanols and butanols. For one system it was possible to measure the third coefficients, which were also positive. The second enthalpic coefficients were found to increase with the molecular weight of the alkanols. These facts suggest that in the presence of a large concentration of urea, the excess enthalpies are mainly determined by apolar interactions. This is surprising and potentially rich in consequences for a better understanding of the interactions among amino acid residues distantly situated in the primary sequences but topologically near in the loops of globular proteins. An analysis, carried out using the Savage-Wood additivity group method, shows that the enthalpic contributions (that appear to play a crucial role in water in making the polar interaction to be favorable) become essentially unfavorable in urea-water solvent. The hypothesis that the peptide-peptide interactions are prevented by the preferential solvation of urea is also discussed.