Electrochemical energy for living systems

Plastoquinone and ubiquinone play essential roles in the electron transport chains of chloroplasts and mitochondria by coupling electron transport to the transfer of protons across membranes. The energy of the resulting proton gradient is used to synthesize adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of all life. How did quinones first become involved in this process? We have detected several quinone compounds in carbonaceous meteorites that can transport protons in a liposome model system. It is possible that such compounds were available to transport protons in primitive versions of electron transport in early life.     

Charge transport in anodic TiO2 nanotubes studied by terahertz spectroscopy

We report on the photoelectrochemical and terahertz measurements, of the charge transport properties of 1 μm thick self‐organized TiO₂ nanotube layers, prepared by the anodization of titanium. We provide evidence regarding the complexity of electron transport, and dynamics in the nanotubes. Shortly after photoexcitation, charge mobilites in amorphous and crystalline nanotubes are similar, but still lower compared to the bulk anatase. The mobility subsequently decreases due to trapping‐detrapping processes. The recombination rate in anatase nanotubes is much slower than in the amorphous ones, enabling the material to reach an internal photon to electron conversion efficiency exceeding 60%.     

Single-electron coherence: Finite temperature versus pure dephasing

We analyze a coherent injection of single electrons on top of the Fermi sea in two situations, at finite-temperature and in the presence of pure dephasing. Both finite-temperature and pure dephasing change the property of the injected quantum states from pure to mixed. However, we show that the temperature-induced mixedness does not alter the coherence properties of these single-electron states. In particular two such mixed states exhibit perfect antibunching while colliding at an electronic wave splitter. This is in striking difference with the dephasing-induced mixedness which suppresses antibunching. On the contrary, a single-particle shot noise is suppressed at finite temperatures but is not affected by pure dephasing. This work therefore extends the investigation of the coherence properties of single-electron states to the case of mixed states and clarifies the difference between different types of mixedness.     

Reprint of : Single-electron coherence: Finite temperature versus pure dephasing

We analyze a coherent injection of single electrons on top of the Fermi sea in two situations, at finite-temperature and in the presence of pure dephasing. Both finite-temperature and pure dephasing change the property of the injected quantum states from pure to mixed. However, we show that the temperature-induced mixedness does not alter the coherence properties of these single-electron states. In particular two such mixed states exhibit perfect antibunching while colliding at an electronic wave splitter. This is in striking difference with the dephasing-induced mixedness which suppresses antibunching. On the contrary, a single-particle shot noise is suppressed at finite temperatures but is not affected by pure dephasing. This work therefore extends the investigation of the coherence properties of single-electron states to the case of mixed states and clarifies the difference between different types of mixedness.     

Triplet pairing states with equal spins in ferromagnet/superconductor heterojunctions for noncollinear magnetizations

Four-component Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations are applied to study tunneling conductance spectra of ferromagnet/ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor (F₁/F₂/d-wave S) tunnel junctions and to find out signs of spin-triplet pairing correlations induced in the proximity structure. The pairing correlations with equal spins arises from the novel Andreev reflection (AR), which requires at least three factors: the usual AR at the F₂/S interface, spin flip in the F₂ layer, and superconducting coherence kept up in the F₂ layer. Effects of angle α between magnetizations of the two F layers, polarizations of the F₁ and F₂ layers, the thickness of the F₂ layer, and the orientation of the d-wave S crystal on the tunneling conductance are investigated. A conversion from a zero-bias conductance dip at α = 0 to a zero-bias conductance peak at a certain value of α can be seen as a sign of generated spin-triplet correlations.     

Effect of spin–orbit coupling on spin transport at graphene/transition metal interface

In spite of large spin coherence length in graphene due to small spin–orbit coupling, the created potential barrier and antiferromagnetic coupling at graphene/transition metal (TM) contacts strongly reduce the spin transport behavior in graphene. Keeping these critical issues in mind in the present work, ferromagnetic (Co, Ni) nanosheets are grown on graphene surface to elucidate the nature of interaction at the graphene/ferromagnetic interface to improve the spin transistor characteristics. Temperature dependent magnetoconductance shows unusual behavior exhibiting giant enhancement in magnetoconductance with increasing temperature. A model based on spin–orbit coupling operated at the graphene/TM interface is proposed to explain this anomalous result. We believe that the device performance can be improved remarkably tuning the spin–orbit coupling at the interface of graphene based spin transistor. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Anisotropic resistivity of the monolayer graphene in the trigonal warping and connected Fermi curve regimes

In the present study, the anisotropic resistivity of the monolayer graphene has been obtained in semiclassical regime beyond the Dirac point approximation. In particular, detailed investigations were made on the dependence of conductivity on the Fermi energy. At low energies, in the vicinity of the Dirac points, band energy of the monolayer graphene is isotropic at the Fermi level. Meanwhile, at the intermediate Fermi energies anisotropic effects such as trigonal warping is expected to be the origin of the anisotropic resistivity. However, besides the band anisotropy there also exists an other source of anisotropic resistivity which was introduced by scattering matrix. At high energies it was shown that the band anisotropy is less effective than the anisotropy generated by the scattering matrix. It was also shown that there exist two distinct regimes of anisotropic resistivity corresponding the trigonal warping and connected Fermi curve at intermediate and high energies respectively.     

Dune morphodynamics

The physics of dunes relies on the interaction between a wind flow and an erodible topography. Thus, if strong enough to transport grains, the wind shapes sandy areas into dune fields. These dunes are reminiscent of a wavy sea so that sandy deserts are called sand seas. However, the comparison stops there. Contrary to water waves, dunes propagate only under wind action and when the wind stops, they do not vanish but stand. Consequently, dunes are not only the result of the present winds, but can integrate the wind regimes over long periods. Thus, they exhibit a range of shapes and sizes with superimposed patterns. They are witnesses of past wind regimes and their shape and orientation are used to constraint climatic models on other planetary bodies where they are observed as well (e.g., Mars, Titan and Venus). Here, we discuss the morphodynamics of dunes and endeavor to identify and to explain the physical mechanisms at play in the selection of their shape, size and orientation, whilst focusing on Earth desert sand dunes.