1,924 research outputs found
Ultrasensitive mechanical detection of magnetic moment using a commercial disk drive write head
Sensitive detection of weak magnetic moments is an essential capability in
many areas of nanoscale science and technology, including nanomagnetism,
quantum readout of spins, and nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging. Here, we
show that the write head of a commercial hard drive may enable significant
advances in nanoscale spin detection. By approaching a sharp diamond tip to
within 5 nm from the pole and measuring the induced diamagnetic moment with a
nanomechanical force transducer, we demonstrate a spin sensitivity of 0.032
Bohr magnetons per root Hz, equivalent to 21 proton magnetic moments. The high
sensitivity is enabled in part by the pole's strong magnetic gradient of up to
28 million Tesla per meter and in part by the absence of non-contact friction
due to the extremely flat writer surface. In addition, we demonstrate
quantitative imaging of the pole field with about 10 nm spatial resolution. We
foresee diverse applications for write heads in experimental condensed matter
physics, especially in spintronics, ultrafast spin manipulation, and mesoscopic
physics.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure
Theoretical Sensitivity Analysis for Quantitative Operational Risk Management
We study the asymptotic behavior of the difference between the values at risk
VaR(L) and VaR(L+S) for heavy tailed random variables L and S for application
in sensitivity analysis of quantitative operational risk management within the
framework of the advanced measurement approach of Basel II (and III). Here L
describes the loss amount of the present risk profile and S describes the loss
amount caused by an additional loss factor. We obtain different types of
results according to the relative magnitudes of the thicknesses of the tails of
L and S. In particular, if the tail of S is sufficiently thinner than the tail
of L, then the difference between prior and posterior risk amounts VaR(L+S) -
VaR(L) is asymptotically equivalent to the expectation (expected loss) of S.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables, forthcoming in International Journal of
Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF
Nanoladder cantilevers made from diamond and silicon
We present a "nanoladder" geometry that minimizes the mechanical dissipation
of ultrasensitive cantilevers. A nanoladder cantilever consists of a
lithographically patterned scaffold of rails and rungs with feature size
100 nm. Compared to a rectangular beam of the same dimensions, the mass and
spring constant of a nanoladder are each reduced by roughly two orders of
magnitude. We demonstrate a low force noise of zN and zN in a one-Hz bandwidth for devices made from silicon and
diamond, respectively, measured at temperatures between 100--150 mK. As opposed
to bottom-up mechanical resonators like nanowires or nanotubes, nanoladder
cantilevers can be batch-fabricated using standard lithography, which is a
critical factor for applications in scanning force microscopy
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The fibrin-derived gamma377-395 peptide inhibits microglia activation and suppresses relapsing paralysis in central nervous system autoimmune disease.
Perivascular microglia activation is a hallmark of inflammatory demyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS), but the mechanisms underlying microglia activation and specific strategies to attenuate their activation remain elusive. Here, we identify fibrinogen as a novel regulator of microglia activation and show that targeting of the interaction of fibrinogen with the microglia integrin receptor Mac-1 (alpha(M)beta(2), CD11b/CD18) is sufficient to suppress experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice that retain full coagulation function. We show that fibrinogen, which is deposited perivascularly in MS plaques, signals through Mac-1 and induces the differentiation of microglia to phagocytes via activation of Akt and Rho. Genetic disruption of fibrinogen-Mac-1 interaction in fibrinogen-gamma(390-396A) knock-in mice or pharmacologically impeding fibrinogen-Mac-1 interaction through intranasal delivery of a fibrinogen-derived inhibitory peptide (gamma(377-395)) attenuates microglia activation and suppresses relapsing paralysis. Because blocking fibrinogen-Mac-1 interactions affects the proinflammatory but not the procoagulant properties of fibrinogen, targeting the gamma(377-395) fibrinogen epitope could represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MS and other neuroinflammatory diseases associated with blood-brain barrier disruption and microglia activation
Local dynamics of topological magnetic defects in the itinerant helimagnet FeGe
Chiral magnetic interactions induce complex spin textures including helical
and conical spin waves, as well as particle-like objects such as magnetic
skyrmions and merons. These spin textures are the basis for innovative device
paradigms and give rise to exotic topological phenomena, thus being of interest
for both applied and fundamental sciences. Present key questions address the
dynamics of the spin system and emergent topological defects. Here we analyze
the micromagnetic dynamics in the helimagnetic phase of FeGe. By combining
magnetic force microscopy, single-spin magnetometry, and
Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert simulations we show that the nanoscale dynamics are
governed by the depinning and subsequent motion of magnetic edge dislocations.
The motion of these topologically stable objects triggers perturbations that
can propagate over mesoscopic length scales. The observation of stochastic
instabilities in the micromagnetic structure provides new insight to the
spatio-temporal dynamics of itinerant helimagnets and topological defects, and
discloses novel challenges regarding their technological usage
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