39 research outputs found
Phonons and Magnetic Excitations in Mott-Insulator LaTiO
The polarized Raman spectra of stoichiometric LaTiO (T K) were
measured between 6 and 300 K. In contrast to earlier report on half-metallic
LaTiO, neither strong background scattering, nor Fano shape of the
Raman lines was observed. The high frequency phonon line at 655 cm
exhibits anomalous softening below T: a signature for structural
rearrangement. The assignment of the Raman lines was done by comparison to the
calculations of lattice dynamics and the nature of structural changes upon
magnetic ordering are discussed. The broad Raman band, which appears in the
antiferromagnetic phase, is assigned to two-magnon scattering. The estimated
superexchange constant meV is in excellent agreement with the
result of neutron scattering studies.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Raman phonons as a probe of disorder, fluctuations and local structure in doped and undoped orthorhombic and rhombohedral manganites
We present a rationalization of the Raman spectra of orthorhombic and
rhombohedral, stoichiometric and doped, manganese perovskites. In particular we
study RMnO3 (R= La, Pr, Nd, Tb, Ho, Er, Y and Ca) and the different phases of
Ca or Sr doped RMnO3 compounds as well as cation deficient RMnO3. The spectra
of manganites can be understood as combinations of two kinds of spectra
corresponding to two structural configurations of MnO6 octahedra and
independently of the average structure obtained by diffraction techniques. The
main peaks of compounds with regular MnO6 octahedra, as CaMnO3, highly Ca doped
LaMnO3 or the metallic phases of Ca or Sr doped LaMnO3, are bending and tilt
MnO6 octahedra modes which correlate to R-O(1) bonds and Mn-O-Mn angles
respectively. In low and optimally doped manganites, the intensity and width of
the broad bands are related to the amplitude of the dynamic fluctuations
produced by polaron hopping in the paramagnetic insulating regime. The
activation energy, which is proportional to the polaron binding energy, is the
measure of this amplitude. This study permits to detect and confirm the
coexistence, in several compounds, of a paramagnetic matrix with lattice
polaron together with regions without dynamic or static octahedron distortions,
identical to the ferromagnetic metallic phase. We show that Raman spectroscopy
is an excellent tool to obtain information on the local structure of the
different micro or macro-phases present simultaneously in many manganites.Comment: Submitted to PR
Quantum Spin Systems: From Spin Gaps to Pseudo Gaps
Many low dimensional spin systems with a dimerized or ladder-like
antiferromagnetic exchange coupling have a gapped excitation spectrum with
magnetic bound states within the spin gap. For spin ladders with an even number
of legs the existence of spin gaps and within the t-J model a tendency toward
superconductivity with d-wave symmetry is predicted. In the following we will
characterize the spin excitation spectra of different low dimensional spin
systems taking into account strong spin phonon interaction (),
charge ordering () and doping on chains and ladders (\ladder).
The spectroscopic characterization of the model systems mentioned above has
been performed using magnetic inelastic light scattering originating from a
spin conserving exchange scattering mechanism. This is also bound to yield more
insight into the interrelation between these spin gap excitations and the
origin of the pseudo gap in high temperature superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Optical studies of gap, hopping energies and the Anderson-Hubbard parameter in the zigzag-chain compound SrCuO2
We have investigated the electronic structure of the zigzag ladder (chain)
compound SrCuO2 combining polarized optical absorption, reflection,
photoreflectance and pseudo-dielectric function measurements with the model
calculations. These measurements yield an energy gap of 1.42 eV (1.77 eV) at
300 K along (perpendicular) to the Cu-O chains. We have found that the lowest
energy gap, the correlation gap, is temperature independent. The electronic
structure of this oxide is calculated using both the
local-spin-density-approximation with gradient correction method, and the
tight-binding theory for the correlated electrons. The calculated density of
electronic states for non-correlated and correlated electrons shows
quasi-one-dimensional character. The correlation gap values of 1.42 eV
(indirect transition) and 1.88 eV (direct transition) have been calculated with
the electron hopping parameters t = 0.30 eV (along a chain), t_yz = 0.12 eV
(between chains) and the Anderson-Hubbard repulsion on copper sites U= 2.0 eV.
We concluded that SrCuO_2 belongs to the correlated-gap insulators.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Phys.Rev.
Magnetic and Charge Correlations in La{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4: Raman Scattering Study
Two aspects in connection with the magnetic properties of
La_{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4 single crystals are discussed. The first is related to
long wavelength magnetic excitations in x = 0, 0.01, and 0.03 La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4
detwinned crystals as a function of doping, temperature and magnetic field. Two
magnetic modes were observed within the AF region of the phase diagram. The one
at lower energies was identified with the spin-wave gap induced by the
antisymmetric DM interaction and its anisotropic properties in magnetic field
could be well explained using a canonical form of the spin Hamiltonian. A new
finding was a magnetic field induced mode whose dynamics allowed us to discover
a spin ordered state outside the AF order which was shown to persist in a 9 T
field as high as 100 K above the N\'eel temperature T_N for x = 0.01. For these
single magnon excitations we map out the Raman selection rules in magnetic
fields and demonstrate that their temperature dependent spectral weight is
peaked at the N\'eel temperature. The second aspect is related to phononic and
magnetic Raman scattering in La_{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4 with three doping
concentrations: x = 1/8, y = 0; x = 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We
observed that around 1/8 Sr doping and independent of Nd concentration there
exists substantial disorder in the tilt pattern of the CuO_6 octahedra in both
the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are
coupled to bond disorder in the cation layers. The weak magnitude of existing
charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure did not allow us to detect
specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics or two-magnon scattering around
2200 cm-1.Comment: 26 pages, 22 figure
Myeloid cells expressing VEGF and arginase-1 following uptake of damaged retinal pigment epithelium suggests potential mechanism that drives the onset of choroidal angiogenesis in mice
Whilst data recognise both myeloid cell accumulation during choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) as well as complement activation, none of the data has presented a clear explanation for the angiogenic drive that promotes pathological angiogenesis. One possibility that is a pre-eminent drive is a specific and early conditioning and activation of the myeloid cell infiltrate. Using a laser-induced CNV murine model, we have identified that disruption of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and Bruch's membrane resulted in an early recruitment of macrophages derived from monocytes and microglia, prior to angiogenesis and contemporaneous with lesional complement activation. Early recruited CD11b(+) cells expressed a definitive gene signature of selective inflammatory mediators particularly a pronounced Arg-1 expression. Accumulating macrophages from retina and peripheral blood were activated at the site of injury, displaying enhanced VEGF expression, and notably prior to exaggerated VEGF expression from RPE, or earliest stages of angiogenesis. All of these initial events, including distinct VEGF (+) Arg-1(+) myeloid cells, subsided when CNV was established and at the time RPE-VEGF expression was maximal. Depletion of inflammatory CCR2-positive monocytes confirmed origin of infiltrating monocyte Arg-1 expression, as following depletion Arg-1 signal was lost and CNV suppressed. Furthermore, our in vitro data supported a myeloid cell uptake of damaged RPE or its derivatives as a mechanism generating VEGF (+) Arg-1(+) phenotype in vivo. Our results reveal a potential early driver initiating angiogenesis via myeloid-derived VEGF drive following uptake of damaged RPE and deliver an explanation of why CNV develops during any of the stages of macular degeneration and can be explored further for therapeutic gain
Oxidative stress-associated impairment of glucose and ammonia metabolism in the filamentous fungus, aspergillus niger b1-D
Oxidative stress events have been shown to be associated with reduced consumption of nutrients in yeasts, but there are very few studies in filamentous fungi. In the present study we investigated the impact of oxidative stress on glucose and ammonia utilization in batch cultures of Aspergillus niger B1-D. The addition of 1 mm H2O2 significantly reduced both glucose and ammonia uptake rates in these cultures. Associated with the decreased nutrient uptake, the activity of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was greatly reduced; conversely, the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase remained unchanged. During the period of reduced nutrient uptake, the intracellular ATP and NADPH levels decreased while the amount of trehalose increased. The activities of glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase, two key enzymes of ammonia assimilation, remained unchanged in response to H2O2 up to 1 mm, suggesting the decreased ammonia uptake rate noted under such conditions is not due to enzyme inactivation caused by oxidative stress, but may be due to an insufficient supply of ATP and NADPH, which are required for ammonia assimilation