Self-injection length in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3-YBa2Cu3O7-δ ferromagnet-superconductor multilayer thin films

We have carried out extensive studies on the self-injection problem in barrierless heterojunctions between La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ (LCMO) and YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) thin films. The heterojunctions were formed in situ by sequentially growing LCMO and YBCO films on 〈100〉 LaAlO₃ (LAO) substrate using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system. YBCO micro-bridges with 64 μm width were patterned both on the LAO (control) and LCMO side of the substrate. Critical current, I _c, was measured at 77 K on both the control side as well as the LCMO side for different YBCO film thickness. It was observed that while the control side showed a J _c of ∼ 2 × 10⁶ A/cm², the LCMO side showed about half the value for the same thickness (1800 ?). The difference in J _c indicates that a certain thickness of YBCO has become ‘effectively’ normal due to self-injection. From the measurement of J _c at two different thicknesses (1800 ? and 1500 ?) of YBCO films both on the LAO as well as the LCMO side, the value of self-injection length (at 77 K) was estimated to be ∼ 900 ?. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first time that self-injection length has been quantified. A control experiment carried out with LaNiO₃ deposited by PLD on YBCO did not show any evidence of self-injection.     

Study of the peak effect phenomenon in single crystals of 2H-NbSe2

The weakly pinned single crystals of the hexagonal 2H-NbSe₂ compound have emerged as prototypes for determining and characterizing the phase boundaries of the possible order-disorder transformations in the vortex matter. We present here a status report based on the ac and dc magnetization measurements of the peak effect phenomenon in three crystals of 2H-NbSe₂, in which the critical current densities vary over two orders of magnitude. We sketch the generic vortex phase diagram of a weakly pinned superconductor, which also utilizes theoretical proposals. We also establish the connection between the metastability effects and pinning.     

Superperiodicity,chaos and coexisting orbits of ion-acoustic waves in a four-component nonextensive plasma

Superperiodicity, chaos and coexisting orbits of ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) are studied in a multi-component plasma consisting of fluid ions, q -nonextensive cold and hot electrons and Maxwellian hot positrons. The significant impacts of the system parameters on superperiodic and nonlinear periodic IAWs are presented. Considering an external periodic perturbation various types of quasiperiodic and chaotic features for IAWs are studied in different parametric ranges through time series’ plots, phase spaces and Lyapunov exponents. It has been observed that there exist some coexisting orbits for IAWs. Coexisting orbits for IAWs in a classical electron–positron–ion plasma system are reported.     

Optical Emission Spectroscopy of Carbon Clusters Produced in a Hollow Cathode Sputter Source

A hollow cathode sputter source is developed to trace the production of carbon clusters and study the influence of discharge current and argon gas pressure on cluster production using an optical emission spectroscopic technique. Optical emission spectra from the hollow cathode source reveal the production of the C₂ Swan band. The sputter source is optimized for the maximum carbon cluster yield. The vibrational temperature analysis of the C₂ cluster is carried out using the Boltzmann plot method. The dependence of vibrational temperature on argon gas pressure is discussed and the dominant method for C-C association in the glow discharge is suggested.     

Effect of rotation in lubrication problems: Existence of more fundamental solutions

A generalized Reynolds equation is derived in the present paper by taking into account the effect of rotation in lubrication problems. The existence of certain fundamental solutions is shown in this extended framework which is not allowed in the classical Reynolds theory. Results concerning the pressure and the load capacity of the resulting bearing system are obtained and interpreted in the respective cases when the film thickness is a linear or an exponential functions of the coordinate along the bearing length. One of the important results is that while the load capacity decreases with increasing values of α for an exponentially inclined slider in the classical Reynolds theory, it increases with increasing values of α in the present context.     

Dielectric relaxation of CdSe nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of cadmium selenide (CdSe) have been synthesized by soft chemical route using mercaptoethanol as a capping agent. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope measurements show that the prepared sample belongs to sphalerite structure with the average particle size of 25 nm. The band gap of the material is found to be 2.1 eV. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra of the sample are measured at various excitation wavelengths. The PL spectra appear in the visible region, and the emission feature depends on the wavelength of the excitation. Impedance spectroscopy is applied to investigate the dielectric relaxation of the sample in a temperature range from 323 to 473 K and in a frequency range from 42 Hz to 1.1 MHz. The complex impedance plane plot has been analyzed by an equivalent circuit consisting of two serially connected R-CPE units, each containing a resistance (R) and a constant phase element (CPE). The dielectric relaxation of the sample is investigated in the electric modulus formalism. The temperature dependent relaxation times obey the Arrhenius law. The Havriliak–Negami model is used to investigate the dielectric relaxation mechanism in the sample. The frequency dependent conductivity spectra are found to obey the power law.     

Comparing predator–prey models with hidden and explicit resources

In this paper two mathematical models are proposed and analyzed to elucidate the influence on a generalist predator of its hidden and explicit resources. Boundedness of the system’s trajectories, feasibility, local and global stability of the equilibria for both models are established, as well as possible local bifurcations. The findings indicate that the relevant behaviour of the system, including switching of stability, extinction and persistence of the involved populations, depends mainly on the reproduction rate of the favorite prey. To achieve full ecosystem survival some balance between the respective grazing pressures exerted by the predator on the prey populations needs to be maintained, while higher grazing pressure just on one species always leads to its extinction.     

Quantum Phase Properties of Photon Added and Subtracted Displaced Fock States

Quantum phase properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states (and their limiting cases) are investigated from a number of perspectives, and it is shown that the quantum phase properties are dependent on the quantum state engineering operations performed. Specifically, the analytic expressions for quantum phase distributions and angular Q distribution as well as measures of quantum phase fluctuation and phase dispersion are obtained. The uniform phase distribution of the initial Fock states is observed to be transformed by the unitary operation (i.e., displacement operator) into non‐Gaussian shape, except for the initial vacuum state. It is observed that the phase distribution is symmetric with respect to the phase of the displacement parameter and becomes progressively narrower as its amplitude increases. The non‐unitary (photon addition/subtraction) operations make it even narrower in contrast to the Fock parameter, which leads to broadness. The photon subtraction is observed to be a more powerful quantum state engineering tool in comparison to the photon addition. Further, one of the quantum phase fluctuation parameters is found to reveal the existence of antibunching in both the engineered quantum states under consideration. Finally, the relevance of the engineered quantum states in the quantum phase estimation is also discussed.     

Elliptical magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging with GRAPPA for imaging brain tumors at 3 T

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) is a technique for imaging spatial variation of metabolites and has been very useful in characterizing biochemical changes associated with disease as well as response to therapy in malignant pathologies. This work presents a self-calibrated undersampling to accelerate 3D elliptical MRSI and an extrapolation-reconstruction algorithm based on the GRAPPA method. The accelerated MRSI technique was tested in three volunteers and five brain tumor patients. Acceleration allowed larger spatial coverage and consequently, less lipid contamination in spectra, compared to fully sampled acquisition within the same scantime. Metabolite concentrations measured from the accelerated acquisitions were in good agreement with measurements obtained from fully sampled MRSI scans.