Fluctuation-induced magnetotransport of superconductors in the quasiballistic regime

We study the fluctuation-induced magnetotransport of a two-dimensional superconductor in the quasiballistic regime, where ξ _GL(T) ≪ ℓ (ℓ is the electron mean free path and ξ _GL(T) is the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length). The magnetoconductivity is evaluated in the nonlocal fluctuation regime thereby extending the existing theory valid in the local limit. We show that the Maki-Thompson (MT) and density-of-states (DOS) contributions strongly compensate each other and their sum is negligible in comparison with the Aslamazov-Larkin (AL) term. The hierarchy of the fluctuation contributions to the magnetoconductivity in the high-field limit is also qualitatively discussed. Received 10 July 2002 / Received in final form 21 November 2002 Published online 7 May 2003     

Cyclic carbonates formed during performic acid oxidation of atractyligenin

The performic oxidation of the kaurenic double bond of atractyligenin and derivatives affords cyclic carbonates between the 15α-OH and 16α-OH or the 16α-OH and 17-OH. Their formation is quite unusual and novel for natural substrates.     

Strongly driven exciton resonances in quantum wells: light-induced dressing versus coulomb scattering

The nonequilibrium dynamics of a two-dimensional electron-hole gas is studied in the regime of strong and resonant pumping of the exciton resonance. The Coulomb collision rates are consistently determined by taking into account the light-induced coherence of the two-band system that leads to a dressing of the carrier spectral functions. The light dressing dramatically reduces the Coulomb scattering efficiency. Results are presented for Rabi oscillations in the time domain and dynamical Stark splitting in the pump-probe absorption spectra.     

Enhanced resonant backscattering of excitons in disordered quantum wells

A clear signature of enhanced backscattering of excitons is observed in the directional resonant Rayleigh scattering of light from localized two-dimensional excitons in disordered quantum wells. Its spectral dependence and time dynamics are measured and theoretically predicted in a quantitative way. The intensity enhancement has a large momentum span extending beyond the external light emission cone. This is a consequence of the small localization length of the exciton as a massive particle probed close to the band bottom. The localization length can be controlled by the photon kinetic energy. This constitutes a qualitative difference to backscattering phenomena in other branches of physics.