Field-effect control of superconductivity and Rashba spin-orbit coupling in top-gated LaAlO3/SrTiO3 devices

The recent development in the fabrication of artificial oxide heterostructures opens new avenues in the field of quantum materials by enabling the manipulation of the charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom. In this context, the discovery of two-dimensional electron gases (2-DEGs) at LAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, which exhibit both superconductivity and strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC), represents a major breakthrough. Here, we report on the realisation of a field-effect LaAlO3/SrTiO3 device, whose physical properties, including superconductivity and SOC, can be tuned over a wide range by a top-gate voltage. We derive a phase diagram, which emphasises a field-effect-induced superconductor-to-insulator quantum phase transition. Magneto-transport measurements indicate that the Rashba coupling constant increases linearly with electrostatic doping. Our results pave the way for the realisation of mesoscopic devices, where these two properties can be manipulated on a local scale by means of top-gates

Temporal resolution deficits in the visual fields of MS patients

AbstractWe assessed the relationship between temporal resolution and MS-induced neuropathy. A diagnostic strategy comprising assessments of temporal resolution at 16 points in the extra-foveal visual field up to 12° from the fovea was first compared with foveal temporal resolution and with a standard VEP procedure in the same MS patients. At the group level, foveal temporal resolution was less sensitive to demyelination than the 16-point diagnostic strategy, the detection rate of which was comparable to that of the VEP procedure. Cross-sensitivity of the VEP and the 16-point diagnostic procedure was low. Subsequently, the average severity of MS-induced temporal resolution deficits was studied at three retinal loci of the same size but different eccentricities. Foveal deficits were not significantly greater than more peripheral deficits within the central 12°

Oblique basin inversion and strain partitioning in back-arc context: example from the Moroccan Alboran Margin (Western Mediterranean)

EUROPEAN GEOPHYSICAL UNIO

Quartic scaling of sound attenuation with frequency in vitreous silica

Several theoretical approaches to disordered media predict that acoustic waves should undergo a quartic increase in their attenuation coefficient with increasing frequency in the sub-terahertz region. Such Rayleigh-type scattering would be related to the anomalous low-temperature plateau in the thermal conductivity and to the so-called boson peak, i.e. an excess of vibrational modes above the Debye density of states at around 1 THz. Brillouin scattering of light allows the measurement of sound absorption and velocity dispersion up to about 0.1 THz while inelastic x-ray scattering is limited to frequencies larger than about 1 THz. We take advantage of the advent of ultrafast optical techniques to explore the acoustical properties of amorphous SiO2 layers in the difficult but crucial frequency region within this gap. A quartic scaling law with frequency is clearly revealed between 0.2 and 0.9 THz, which is further shown to be independent of temperature. This strongly damped regime is accompanied by a decrease in the sound velocity already starting from about 0.5 THz, in line with theories. Our study assists to clarify the anomalous acoustical properties in glasses at frequencies entering the boson peak region.Comment: 4 figures, 11 page

Orbifold projection in supersymmetric QCD at N_f\leq N_c

Supersymmetric orbifold projection of N=1 SQCD with relatively small number of flavors (not larger than the number of colors) is considered. The purpose is to check whether orbifolding commutes with the infrared limit. On the one hand, one considers the orbifold projection of SQCD and obtains the low-energy description of the resulting theory. On the other hand, one starts with the low-energy effective theory of the original SQCD, and only then perfoms orbifolding. It is shown that at finite N_c the two low-energy theories obtained in these ways are different. However, in the case of stabilized run-away vacuum these two theories are shown to coincide in the large N_c limit. In the case of quantum modified moduli space, topological solitons carrying baryonic charges are present in the orbifolded low-energy theory. These solitons may restore the correspondence between the two theories provided that the soliton mass tends to zero in the large N_c limit.Comment: 10 pages; misprint corrected, reference adde