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Identification and characterization of the dominant thermal resistance in lithium-ion batteries using operando 3-omega sensors
Poor thermal transport within lithium-ion batteries fundamentally limits their performance, safety, and lifetime, in spite of external thermal management systems. All prior efforts to understand the origin of batteries' mysteriously high thermal resistance have been confined to ex situ measurements without understanding the impact of battery operation. Here, we develop a frequency-domain technique that employs sensors capable of measuring spatially resolved intrinsic thermal transport properties within a live battery while it is undergoing cycling. Our results reveal that the poor battery thermal transport is due to high thermal contact resistance between the separator and both electrode layers and worsens as a result of formation cycling, degrading total battery thermal transport by up to 70%. We develop a thermal model of these contact resistances to explain their origin. These contacts account for up to 65% of the total thermal resistance inside the battery, leading to far-reaching consequences for the thermal design of batteries. Our technique unlocks new thermal measurement capabilities for future battery research
An investigation for the development of an integrated optical data preprocessor
The successful fabrication and demonstration of an integrated optical circuit designed to perform a parallel processing operation by utilizing holographic subtraction to simultaneously compare N analog signal voltages with N predetermined reference voltages is summarized. The device alleviates transmission, storage and processing loads of satellite data systems by performing, at the sensor site, some preprocessing of data taken by remote sensors. Major accomplishments in the fabrication of integrated optics components include: (1) fabrication of the first LiNbO3 waveguide geodesic lens; (2) development of techniques for polishing TIR mirrors on LiNbO3 waveguides; (3) fabrication of high efficiency metal-over-photoresist gratings for waveguide beam splitters; (4) demonstration of high S/N holographic subtraction using waveguide holograms; and (5) development of alignment techniques for fabrication of integrated optics circuits. Important developments made in integrated optics are the discovery and suggested use of holographic self-subtraction in LiNbO3, development of a mathematical description of the operating modes of the preprocessor, and the development of theories for diffraction efficiency and beam quality of two dimensional beam defined gratings
Towards understanding two-level-systems in amorphous solids -- Insights from quantum circuits
Amorphous solids show surprisingly universal behaviour at low temperatures.
The prevailing wisdom is that this can be explained by the existence of
two-state defects within the material. The so-called standard tunneling model
has become the established framework to explain these results, yet it still
leaves the central question essentially unanswered -- what are these two-level
defects? This question has recently taken on a new urgency with the rise of
superconducting circuits in quantum computing, circuit quantum electrodynamics,
magnetometry, electrometry and metrology. Superconducting circuits made from
aluminium or niobium are fundamentally limited by losses due to two-level
defects within the amorphous oxide layers encasing them. On the other hand,
these circuits also provide a novel and effective method for studying the very
defects which limit their operation. We can now go beyond ensemble measurements
and probe individual defects -- observing the quantum nature of their dynamics
and studying their formation, their behaviour as a function of applied field,
strain, temperature and other properties. This article reviews the plethora of
recent experimental results in this area and discusses the various theoretical
models which have been used to describe the observations. In doing so, it
summarises the current approaches to solving this fundamentally important
problem in solid-state physics.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Nonequilibrium quantum criticality in bilayer itinerant ferromagnets
We present a theory of nonequilibrium quantum criticality in a coupled
bilayer system of itinerant electron magnets. The model studied consists of the
first layer subjected to an inplane current and open to an external substrate.
The second layer is closed and subject to no direct external drive, but couples
to the first layer via short-ranged spin exchange interaction. No particle
exchange is assumed between the layers. Starting from a microscopic fermionic
model, we derive an effective action in terms of two coupled bosonic fields
which are related to the magnetization fluctuations of the two layers. When
there is no interlayer coupling, the two bosonic modes possess different
dynamical critical exponents z with z=2 (z=3) for the first (second) layer.
This results in multi-scale quantum criticality in the coupled system. It is
shown that the linear coupling between the two fields leads to a low energy
fixed point characterized by the larger dynamical critical exponent z=3. The
perturbative renormalization group is used to compute the correlation length in
the quantum disordered and quantum critical regimes. We also derive the
stochastic dynamics obeyed by the critical fluctuations in the quantum critical
regime. Comparing the nonequilibrium situation to the thermal equilibrium
scenario, where the whole system is at a temperature T, we find that the
nonequilibrium drive does not always play the role of temperature.Comment: 20+ pages, 3 figures; Revised version as accepted by PRB, added
figure of mean field phase diagra
Dangling-bond spin relaxation and magnetic 1/f noise from the amorphous-semiconductor/oxide interface: Theory
We propose a model for magnetic noise based on spin-flips (not
electron-trapping) of paramagnetic dangling-bonds at the
amorphous-semiconductor/oxide interface. A wide distribution of spin-flip times
is derived from the single-phonon cross-relaxation mechanism for a
dangling-bond interacting with the tunneling two-level systems of the amorphous
interface. The temperature and frequency dependence is sensitive to three
energy scales: The dangling-bond spin Zeeman energy delta, as well as the
minimum (E_min) and maximum (E_max) values for the energy splittings of the
tunneling two-level systems. We compare and fit our model parameters to a
recent experiment probing spin coherence of antimony donors implanted in
nuclear-spin-free silicon [T. Schenkel {\it et al.}, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88,
112101 (2006)], and conclude that a dangling-bond area density of the order of
10^{14}cm^{-2} is consistent with the data. This enables the prediction of
single spin qubit coherence times as a function of the distance from the
interface and the dangling-bond area density in a real device structure. We
apply our theory to calculations of magnetic flux noise affecting SQUID devices
due to their Si/SiO_2 substrate. Our explicit estimates of flux noise in SQUIDs
lead to a noise spectral density of the order of 10^{-12}Phi_{0}^{2} {Hz}^{-1}
at f=1Hz. This value might explain the origin of flux noise in some SQUID
devices. Finally, we consider the suppression of these effects using surface
passivation with hydrogen, and the residual nuclear-spin noise resulting from a
perfect silicon-hydride surface.Comment: Final published versio
Probing a spin transfer controlled magnetic nanowire with a single nitrogen-vacancy spin in bulk diamond
The point-like nature and exquisite magnetic field sensitivity of the
nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond can provide information about the inner
workings of magnetic nanocircuits in complement with traditional transport
techniques. Here we use a single NV in bulk diamond to probe the stray field of
a ferromagnetic nanowire controlled by spin transfer (ST) torques. We first
report an unambiguous measurement of ST tuned, parametrically driven,
large-amplitude magnetic oscillations. At the same time, we demonstrate that
such magnetic oscillations alone can directly drive NV spin transitions,
providing a potential new means of control. Finally, we use the NV as a local
noise thermometer, observing strong ST damping of the stray field noise,
consistent with magnetic cooling from room temperature to 150 K.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, plus supplementary informatio
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