172 research outputs found
Measurement of Counting Statistics of Electron Transport in a Tunnel Junction
We present measurements of the time-dependent fluctuations in electrical
current in a voltage-biased tunnel junction. We were able to simultaneously
extract the first three moments of the tunnel current counting statistics.
Detailed comparison of the second and the third moment reveals that counting
statistics is accurately described by the Poissonian distribution expected for
spontaneous current fluctuations due to electron charge discreteness, realized
in tunneling transport at negligible coupling to environment.Comment: bibliography expande
Resonant Tunneling in a Dissipative Environment
We measure tunneling through a single quantum level in a carbon nanotube
quantum dot connected to resistive metal leads. For the electrons tunneling
to/from the nanotube, the leads serve as a dissipative environment, which
suppresses the tunneling rate. In the regime of sequential tunneling, the
height of the single-electron conductance peaks increases as the temperature is
lowered, although it scales more weekly than the conventional 1/T. In the
resonant tunneling regime (temperature smaller than the level width), the peak
width approaches saturation, while the peak height starts to decrease. Overall,
the peak height shows a non-monotonic temperature dependence. We associate this
unusual behavior with the transition from the sequential to the resonant
tunneling through a single quantum level in a dissipative environment.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Full counting statistics of a chaotic cavity with asymmetric leads
We study the statistics of charge transport in a chaotic cavity attached to
external reservoirs by two openings of different size which transmit non-equal
number of quantum channels. An exact formula for the cumulant generating
function has been derived by means of the Keldysh-Green function technique
within the circuit theory of mesoscopic transport. The derived formula
determines the full counting statistics of charge transport, i.e., the
probability distribution and all-order cumulants of current noise. It is found
that, for asymmetric cavities, in contrast to other mesoscopic systems, the
third-order cumulant changes the sign at high biases. This effect is attributed
to the skewness of the distribution of transmission eigenvalues with respect to
forward/backward scattering. For a symmetric cavity we find that the third
cumulant approaches a voltage-independent constant proportional to the
temperature and the number of quantum channels in the leads.Comment: new section on probability distribution and new references adde
Application of high resolution DLP stereolithography for fabrication of tricalcium phosphate scaffolds for bone regeneration
Bone regeneration requires porous and mechanically stable scaffolds to support tissue integration and angiogenesis, which is essential for bone tissue regeneration. With the advent of additive manufacturing process, production of complex porous architecture has become feasible. However, a balance has to be sorted between porous architecture and mechanical stability which facilitates bone regeneration for load bearing applications. 
 Current study evaluates used of high resolution digital light processing (DLP) -based additive manufacturing to produce complex but mechanical stable scaffolds based on β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) for bone regeneration. 
 Four different geometries, a rectilinear Grid, hexagonal Kagome, schwart primitive and hollow Schwarz are designed with 400 µm pores and 75 or 50 vol.% porosity. However after initial screening for design stability and mechanical properties, only a rectilinear Grid structure, a hexagonal Kagome structure are found to be reproducible and showed higher mechanical properties. 
 Micro computed tomography (µ-CT) analysis shows < 2 vol.% error in porosity and < 6 % relative deviation of average pore sizes for the Grid structures. At 50 vol.% porosity, this architecture also has the highest compressive strength of 44.7 MPa (Weibull modulus is 5.28), while bulk specimens reach 235 ± 37 MPa. 
 To evaluate suitability of 3D scaffolds produce by DLP methods for bone regeneration, scaffolds were cultured with murine preosteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Short term study showed cells growth over 14 days, with more than two-fold increase of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity compared to cells on 2D tissue culture plastic. Collagen deposition was increased by a factor of 1.5 – 2 when compared to the 2D controls. This confirm retention of biocompatible and osteo-inductive properties of β-TCP following DLP process. 
 This study has implications for designing of the high resolution porous scaffolds for bone regenerative applications and contributes to understanding of DLP based additive manufacturing process for medical applications
Portfolio selection problems in practice: a comparison between linear and quadratic optimization models
Several portfolio selection models take into account practical limitations on
the number of assets to include and on their weights in the portfolio. We
present here a study of the Limited Asset Markowitz (LAM), of the Limited Asset
Mean Absolute Deviation (LAMAD) and of the Limited Asset Conditional
Value-at-Risk (LACVaR) models, where the assets are limited with the
introduction of quantity and cardinality constraints. We propose a completely
new approach for solving the LAM model, based on reformulation as a Standard
Quadratic Program and on some recent theoretical results. With this approach we
obtain optimal solutions both for some well-known financial data sets used by
several other authors, and for some unsolved large size portfolio problems. We
also test our method on five new data sets involving real-world capital market
indices from major stock markets. Our computational experience shows that,
rather unexpectedly, it is easier to solve the quadratic LAM model with our
algorithm, than to solve the linear LACVaR and LAMAD models with CPLEX, one of
the best commercial codes for mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problems.
Finally, on the new data sets we have also compared, using out-of-sample
analysis, the performance of the portfolios obtained by the Limited Asset
models with the performance provided by the unconstrained models and with that
of the official capital market indices
Detecting Current Noise with a Josephson Junction in the Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling Regime
We discuss the use of a hysteretic Josephson junction to detect current
fluctuations with frequencies below the plasma frequency of the junction. These
adiabatic fluctuations are probed by switching measurements observing the
noise-affected average rate of macroscopic quantum tunneling of the detector
junction out of its zero-voltage state. In a proposed experimental scheme,
frequencies of the noise are limited by an on-chip filtering circuit. The third
cumulant of current fluctuations at the detector is related to an asymmetry of
the switching rates.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures. To appear in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
in the proceedings of the ULTI conference organized in Lammi, Finland (2006
Evolutionary Games with Affine Fitness Functions: Applications to Cancer
We analyze the dynamics of evolutionary games in which fitness is defined as
an affine function of the expected payoff and a constant contribution. The
resulting inhomogeneous replicator equation has an homogeneous equivalent with
modified payoffs. The affine terms also influence the stochastic dynamics of a
two-strategy Moran model of a finite population. We then apply the affine
fitness function in a model for tumor-normal cell interactions to determine
which are the most successful tumor strategies. In order to analyze the
dynamics of concurrent strategies within a tumor population, we extend the
model to a three-strategy game involving distinct tumor cell types as well as
normal cells. In this model, interaction with normal cells, in combination with
an increased constant fitness, is the most effective way of establishing a
population of tumor cells in normal tissue.Comment: The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13235-011-0029-
Measurement of finite-frequency current statistics in a single-electron transistor
Electron transport in nano-scale structures is strongly influenced by the
Coulomb interaction which gives rise to correlations in the stream of charges
and leaves clear fingerprints in the fluctuations of the electrical current. A
complete understanding of the underlying physical processes requires
measurements of the electrical fluctuations on all time and frequency scales,
but experiments have so far been restricted to fixed frequency ranges as
broadband detection of current fluctuations is an inherently difficult
experimental procedure. Here we demonstrate that the electrical fluctuations in
a single electron transistor (SET) can be accurately measured on all relevant
frequencies using a nearby quantum point contact for on-chip real-time
detection of the current pulses in the SET. We have directly measured the
frequency-dependent current statistics and hereby fully characterized the
fundamental tunneling processes in the SET. Our experiment paves the way for
future investigations of interaction and coherence induced correlation effects
in quantum transport.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published in Nature Communications (open access
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