620 research outputs found
Two Component Heat Diffusion Observed in CMR Manganites
We investigate the low-temperature electron, lattice, and spin dynamics of
LaMnO_3 (LMO) and La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO_3 (LCMO) by resonant pump-probe reflectance
spectroscopy. Probing the high-spin d-d transition as a function of time delay
and probe energy, we compare the responses of the Mott insulator and the
double-exchange metal to the photoexcitation. Attempts have previously been
made to describe the sub-picosecond dynamics of CMR manganites in terms of a
phenomenological three temperature model describing the energy transfer between
the electron, lattice and spin subsystems followed by a comparatively slow
exponential decay back to the ground state. However, conflicting results have
been reported. Here we first show clear evidence of an additional component in
the long term relaxation due to film-to-substrate heat diffusion and then
develop a modified three temperature model that gives a consistent account for
this feature. We confirm our interpretation by using it to deduce the bandgap
in LMO. In addition we also model the non-thermal sub-picosecond dynamics,
giving a full account of all observed transient features both in the insulating
LMO and the metallic LCMO.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.064434
v2: Abstract correcte
Effects of hydrogen bonding on supercooled liquid dynamics and the implications for supercooled water
The supercooled state of bulk water is largely hidden by unavoidable
crystallization, which creates an experimentally inaccessible temperature
regime - a 'no man's land'. We address this and circumvent the crystallization
problem by systematically studying the supercooled dynamics of hydrogen bonded
oligomeric liquids (glycols), where water corresponds to the chain-ends alone.
This novel approach permits a 'dilution of water' by altering the hydrogen bond
concentration via variations in chain length. We observe a dynamic crossover in
the temperature dependence of the structural relaxation time for all glycols,
consistent with the common behavior of most supercooled liquids. We find that
the crossover becomes more pronounced for increasing hydrogen bond
concentrations, which leads to the prediction of a marked dynamic transition
for water within 'no man's land' at T~220 K. Interestingly, the predicted
transition thus takes place at a temperature where a so called 'strong-fragile'
transition has previously been suggested. Our results, however, imply that the
dynamic transition of supercooled water is analogous to that commonly observed
in supercooled liquids. Moreover, we find support also for the existence of a
secondary relaxation of water with behavior analogous to that of the secondary
relaxation observed for the glycols.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; corrected typos, title changed, small clarifying
text changes, two labels removed from Fig. 2
Anharmonic softening of Raman active phonons in Iron-Pnictides; estimating the Fe isotope effect due to anharmonic expansion
We present Raman measurements on the iron-pnictide superconductors
CeFeAsO_{1-x}F_{x} and NdFeAsO{1-x}F_{x}. Modeling the Fe-As plane in terms of
harmonic and a cubic anharmonic Fe-As interaction we calculate the temperature
dependence of the energy and lifetime of the Raman active Fe B_{1g} mode and
fit to the observed energy shift. The shifts and lifetimes are in good
agreement with those measured also in other Raman studies which demonstrate
that the phonon spectrum is well represented by phonon-phonon interactions
without any significant electronic contribution. We also estimate the
anharmonic expansion from Fe (56->54) isotope substitution to \Delta a=5.1
10^{-4}\AA and \Delta d_{Fe-As}= 2.510^{-4}\AA and the shift of harmonic zero
point fluctuations of bond lengths <=3 10^{-5}\AA^2, giving a total
relative average decrease of electronic hopping integrals of |\delta t|/t<= 2.0
10^{-4}. The results poses a serious challenge for any theory of
superconductivity in the pnictides that does not include electron-phonon
interactions to produce a sizable Fe-isotope effect.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Highly efficient incorporation of the fluorescent nucleotide analogs tC and tCO by Klenow fragment
Studies of the mechanisms by which DNA polymerases select the correct nucleotide frequently employ fluorescently labeled DNA to monitor conformational rearrangements of the polymerase–DNA complex in response to incoming nucleotides. For this purpose, fluorescent base analogs play an increasingly important role because they interfere less with the DNA–protein interaction than do tethered fluorophores. Here we report the incorporation of the 5′-triphosphates of two exceptionally bright cytosine analogs, 1,3-diaza-2-oxo-phenothiazine (tC) and its oxo-homolog, 1,3-diaza-2-oxo-phenoxazine (tCO), into DNA by the Klenow fragment. Both nucleotide analogs are polymerized with slightly higher efficiency opposite guanine than cytosine triphosphate and are shown to bind with nanomolar affinity to the DNA polymerase active site, according to fluorescence anisotropy measurements. Using this method, we perform competitive binding experiments and show that they can be used to determine the dissociation constant of any given natural or unnatural nucleotide. The results demonstrate that the active site of the Klenow fragment is flexible enough to tolerate base pairs that are size-expanded in the major groove. In addition, the possibility to enzymatically polymerize a fluorescent nucleotide with high efficiency complements the tool box of biophysical probes available to study DNA replication
Use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to predict nitrogen uptake by winter wheat within fields with high variability in organic matter
In this study, the ability to predict N-uptake in winter wheat crops using NIR-spectroscopy on soil samples was evaluated. Soil samples were taken in unfertilized plots in one winter wheat field during three years (1997-1999) and in another winter wheat field nearby in one year (2000). Soil samples were analyzed for organic C content and their NIR-spectra. N-uptake was measured as total N-content in aboveground plant materials at harvest. Models calibrated to predict N-uptake were internally cross validated and validated across years and across fields. Cross-validated calibrations predicted N-uptake with an average error of 12.1 to 15.4 kg N ha-1. The standard deviation divided by this error (RPD) ranged between 1.9 and 2.5. In comparison, the corresponding calibrations based on organic C alone had an error from 11.7 to 28.2 kg N ha-1 and RPDs from 1.3 to 2.5. In three of four annual calibrations within a field, the NIR-based calibrations worked better than the organic C based calibrations. The prediction of N-uptake across years, but within a field, worked slightly better with an organic C based calibration than with a NIR based one, RPD = 1.9 and 1.7 respectively. Across fields, the corresponding difference was large in favour of the NIR-calibration, RPD = 2.5 for the NIR-calibration and 1.5 for the organic C calibration. It was concluded that NIR-spectroscopy integrates information about organic C with other relevant soil components and therefore has a good potential to predict complex functions of soils such as N-mineralization. A relatively good agreement of spectral relationships to parameters related to the N-mineralization of datasets across the world suggests that more general models can be calibrated
Propylene Carbonate Reexamined: Mode-Coupling Scaling without Factorisation ?
The dynamic susceptibility of propylene carbonate in the moderately viscous
regime above is reinvestigated by incoherent neutron and
depolarised light scattering, and compared to dielectric loss and solvation
response. Depending on the strength of relaxation, a more or less
extended scaling regime is found. Mode-coupling fits yield consistently
and K, although different positions of the
susceptibility minimum indicate that not all observables have reached the
universal asymptotics
Acute Effects of a Fungal Volatile Compound
Objective: 3-Methylfuran (3-MF) is a common fungal volatile product with active biologic properties, and previous studies have indicated a contribution to airway disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the acute health effects of this compound in humans. Design: Acute effects were assessed via chamber exposure to (1 mg/m(3)) 3-MF. Participants and measurements: Twenty-nine volunteers provided symptom reports, ocular electromyograms, measurement of eye tear film break-up time, vital staining of the eye, nasal lavage, acoustic rhinometry, transfer tests, and dynamic spirometry. Results: No subjective ratings were significantly increased during exposure. Blinking frequency and the lavage biomarkers myeloperoxidase and lysozyme were significantly increased, and forced vital capacity was significantly decreased during exposure to 3-MF compared with air control. Conclusions and relevance to clinical practice: Acute effects in the eyes, nose, and airways were detected and might be the result of the biologically active properties of 3-MF. Thus, 3-MF may contribute to building-related illness
Universal and non-universal features of glassy relaxation in propylene carbonate
It is demonstrated that the susceptibility spectra of supercooled propylene
carbonate as measured by depolarized-light-scattering, dielectric-loss, and
incoherent quasi-elastic neutron-scattering spectroscopy within the GHz window
are simultaneously described by the solutions of a two-component schematic
model of the mode-coupling theory (MCT) for the evolution of glassy dynamics.
It is shown that the universal beta-relaxation-scaling laws, dealing with the
asymptotic behavior of the MCT solutions, describe the qualitative features of
the calculated spectra. But the non-universal corrections to the scaling laws
render it impossible to achieve a complete quantitative description using only
the leading-order-asymptotic results.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
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