387 research outputs found
Pressure induced enhancement of ferroelectricity in multiferroic MnO(=Tb,Dy, and Ho)
Measurements of ferroelectric polarization and dielectric constant were done
on MnO (=Tb, Dy, and Ho) with applied hydrostatic pressures of up
to 18 kbar. At ambient pressure, distinctive anomalies were observed in the
temperature profile of both physical properties at critical temperatures
marking the onset of long range AFM order (T), ferroelectricity
(T) as well as at temperatures when anomalous changes in the
polarization, dielectric constant and spin wave commensurability have been
previously reported. In particular, the step in the dielectric constant at low
temperatures (T), associated with both a drop in the ferroelectric
polarization and an incommensurate magnetic structure, was shown to be suddenly
quenched upon passing an -dependent critical pressure. This was shown to
correlate with the stabilization of the high ferroelectric polarization state
which is coincident with the commensurate magnetic structure. The observation
is suggested to be due to a pressure induced phase transition into a
commensurate magnetic structure as exemplified by the pressure-temperature
(-) phase diagrams constructed in this work. The - phase diagrams
are determined for all three compounds.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted for review in Phys. Rev.
Electrically driven spin excitation in a ferroelectric magnet DyMnO_3
Temperature (5--250 K) and magnetic field (0--70 kOe) variations of the
low-energy (1--10 meV) electrodynamics of spin excitations have been
investigated for a complete set of light-polarization configurations for a
ferroelectric magnet DyMnO by using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. We
identify the pronounced absorption continuum (1--8 meV) with a peak feature
around 2 meV, which is electric-dipole active only for the light -vector
along the a-axis. This absorption band grows in intensity with lowering
temperature from the spin-collinear paraelectric phase above the ferroelectric
transition, but is independent of the orientation of spiral spin plane ( or
), as shown on the original (ferroelectric polarization)
phase as well as the magnetic field induced phase. The possible origin of this electric-dipole active band is argued in
terms of the large fluctuations of spins and spin-current.Comment: New version, 11 pages including colored 8 figure
Observation of nuclei with energies 8-30 MeV per nucleon in the Earth's magnetosphere at the altitudes 350 KM
Observations of the flux of nuclei with an energy of IO MeV per nucleon on the Salyut-7 Station in September 1984 are presented. The observed flux is smaller by a factor of 50 than the flux detected in May, 1981
Effects of ac-field amplitude on the dielectric susceptibility of relaxors
The thermally activated flips of the local spontaneous polarization in
relaxors were simulated to investigate the effects of the applied-ac-field
amplitude on the dielectric susceptibility. It was observed that the
susceptibility increases with increasing the amplitude at low temperatures. At
high temperatures, the susceptibility experiences a plateau and then drops. The
maximum in the temperature dependence of susceptibility shifts to lower
temperatures when the amplitude increases. A similarity was found between the
effects of the amplitude and frequency on the susceptibility.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, Phys. Rev. B (in July 1st
Dielectric nonlinearity of relaxor ferroelectric ceramics at low ac drives
Dielectric nonlinear response of
(PbMgNbO)(PbTiO) (0.9PMN-0.1PT) relaxor
ceramics was investigated under different ac drive voltages. It was observed
that: (i) the dielectric permittivity is independent on ac field amplitude at
high temperatures; (ii) with increasing ac drive, the permittivity maximum
increases, and the temperature of the maximum shifts to lower temperature;
(iii) the nonlinear effect is weakened when the measurement frequency
increases. The influences of increasing ac drive were found to be similar to
that of decreasing frequency. It is believed that the dielectric nonlinearities
of relaxors at low drives can be explained by the phase transition theory of
ergodic space shrinking in succession. A Monte Carlo simulation was performed
on the flips of micro polarizations at low ac drives to verify the theory.Comment: Submitted to J. Phys.: Cond. Matte
Pentafluorophenyl platinum(II) complexes of PTA and its N-allyl and N-benzyl derivatives: Synthesis, characterization and biological activity
From the well-known 1,3,5-triaza-phosphaadamantane (PTA, 1a), the novel N-allyl and N-benzyl tetrafuoroborate salts 1-allyl-1-azonia-3,5-diaza-7-phosphaadamantane (APTA(BF4), 1b) and 1-benzyl-1-azonia-3,5-diaza-7-phosphaadamantane (BzPTA(BF4), 1c) were obtained. These phosphines were then allowed to react with (Pt(\u3bc-Cl)(C6F5)(tht))2 (tht = tetrahydrothiophene) affording the water soluble Pt(II) complexes trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(PTA)2) (2a) and its bis-cationic congeners trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(APTA)2)(BF4)2 (2b) and trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(BzPTA)2)(BF4)2 (2c). The compounds were fully characterized by multinuclear NMR, ESI-MS, elemental analysis and (for 2a) also by single crystal X-ray diffraction, which proved the trans configuration of the phosphine ligands. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the cytotoxic activities of all complexes the normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cell culture were used. The antineoplastic activity of the investigated compounds was checked against the human lung carcinoma (A549), epithelioid cervix carcinoma (HeLa) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell cultures. Interactions between the complexes and human serum albumin (HSA) using fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) were also investigated
The polarizability model for ferroelectricity in perovskite oxides
This article reviews the polarizability model and its applications to
ferroelectric perovskite oxides. The motivation for the introduction of the
model is discussed and nonlinear oxygen ion polarizability effects and their
lattice dynamical implementation outlined. While a large part of this work is
dedicated to results obtained within the self-consistent-phonon approximation
(SPA), also nonlinear solutions of the model are handled which are of interest
to the physics of relaxor ferroelectrics, domain wall motions, incommensurate
phase transitions. The main emphasis is to compare the results of the model
with experimental data and to predict novel phenomena.Comment: 55 pages, 35 figure
Experiences from treating seven adult 5q spinal muscular atrophy patients with Nusinersen
Background: The antisense oligonucleotide Nusinersen recently became the first approved drug against spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). It was approved for all ages, albeit the clinical trials were conducted exclusively on children. Hence, clinical data on adults being treated with Nusinersen is scarce. In this case series, we report on drug application, organizational demands, and preliminary effects during the first 10 months of treatment with Nusinersen in
seven adult patients.
Methods: All patients received intrathecal injections with Nusinersen. In cases with severe spinal deformities, we performed computed tomography (CT)-guided applications. We conducted a total of 40 administrations of Nusinersen. We evaluated the patients with motor, pulmonary, and laboratory assessments, and tracked patient-reported outcome.
Results: Intrathecal administration of Nusinersen was successful in most patients, even though access to the lumbar intrathecal space in adults with SMA is often challenging. No severe adverse events occurred. Six of the seven patients reported stabilization of motor function or reduction in symptom severity. The changes in the assessed scores did not reach a
significant level within this short time period.
Conclusions: Treating adult SMA patients with Nusinersen is feasible and most patients consider it beneficial. It demands a complex organizational and interdisciplinary effort. Due to the slowly decreasing motor functions in adult SMA patients, long observation phases for this recently approved treatment are needed to allow conclusions about effectiveness of Nusinersen in adults
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