3,325 research outputs found
Optically induced coherent intra-band dynamics in disordered semiconductors
On the basis of a tight-binding model for a strongly disordered semiconductor
with correlated conduction- and valence band disorder a new coherent dynamical
intra-band effect is analyzed. For systems that are excited by two, specially
designed ultrashort light-pulse sequences delayed by tau relatively to each
other echo-like phenomena are predicted to occur. In addition to the inter-band
photon echo which shows up at exactly t=2*tau relative to the first pulse, the
system responds with two spontaneous intra-band current pulses preceding and
following the appearance of the photon echo. The temporal splitting depends on
the electron-hole mass ratio. Calculating the population relaxation rate due to
Coulomb scattering, it is concluded that the predicted new dynamical effect
should be experimentally observable in an interacting and strongly disordered
system, such as the Quantum-Coulomb-Glass.Comment: to be published in Physical Review B15 February 200
Urinary biomarker concentrations of captan, chlormequat, chlorpyrifos and cypermethrin in UK adults and children living near agricultural land
There is limited information on the exposure to pesticides experienced by UK residents living near agricultural land. This study aimed to investigate their pesticide exposure in relation to spray events. Farmers treating crops with captan, chlormequat, chlorpyrifos or cypermethrin provided spray event information. Adults and children residing ≤100 m from sprayed fields provided first-morning void urine samples during and outwith the spray season. Selected samples (1–2 days after a spray event and at other times (background samples)) were analysed and creatinine adjusted. Generalised Linear Mixed Models were used to investigate if urinary biomarkers of these pesticides were elevated after spray events. The final data set for statistical analysis contained 1518 urine samples from 140 participants, consisting of 523 spray event and 995 background samples which were analysed for pesticide urinary biomarkers. For captan and cypermethrin, the proportion of values below the limit of detection was greater than 80%, with no difference between spray event and background samples. For chlormequat and chlorpyrifos, the geometric mean urinary biomarker concentrations following spray events were 15.4 μg/g creatinine and 2.5 μg/g creatinine, respectively, compared with 16.5 μg/g creatinine and 3.0 μg/g creatinine for background samples within the spraying season. Outwith the spraying season, concentrations for chlorpyrifos were the same as those within spraying season backgrounds, but for chlormequat, lower concentrations were observed outwith the spraying season (12.3 μg/g creatinine). Overall, we observed no evidence indicative of additional urinary pesticide biomarker excretion as a result of spray events, suggesting that sources other than local spraying are responsible for the relatively low urinary pesticide biomarkers detected in the study population
Probing superconducting phase fluctuations from the current noise spectrum of pseudogaped metal-superconductor tunnel junctions
We study the current noise spectra of a tunnel junction of a metal with
strong pairing phase fluctuation and a superconductor. It is shown that there
is a characteristic peak in the noise spectrum at the intrinsic Josephson
frequency when is smaller than the pairing gap but
larger than the pairing scattering rate. In the presence of an AC voltage, the
tunnelling current noise shows a series of characteristic peaks with increasing
DC voltage. Experimental observation of these peaks will give direct evidence
of the pair fluctuation in the normal state of high- superconductors and
from the half width of the peaks the pair decay rate can be estimated.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Hidden Order in the Cuprates
We propose that the enigmatic pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors is
characterized by a hidden broken symmetry of d(x^2-y^2)-type. The transition to
this state is rounded by disorder, but in the limit that the disorder is made
sufficiently small, the pseudogap crossover should reveal itself to be such a
transition. The ordered state breaks time-reversal, translational, and
rotational symmetries, but it is invariant under the combination of any two. We
discuss these ideas in the context of ten specific experimental properties of
the cuprates, and make several predictions, including the existence of an
as-yet undetected metal-metal transition under the superconducting dome.Comment: 12 pages of RevTeX, 9 eps figure
Phase fluctuations and the pseudogap in YBa2Cu3Ox
The thermodynamics of the superconducting transition is studied as a function
of doping using high-resolution expansivity data of YBa2Cu3Ox single crystals
and Monte-Carlo simulations of the anisotropic 3D-XY model. We directly show
that Tc of underdoped YBa2Cu3Ox is strongly suppressed from its mean-field
value (Tc-MF) by phase fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter. For
overdoped YBa2Cu3Ox fluctuation effects are greatly reduced and Tc ~ Tc-MF . We
find that Tc-MF exhibits a similar doping dependence as the pseudogap energy,
naturally suggesting that the pseudogap arises from phase-incoherent Cooper
pairing.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Figure
Renormalized mean-field theory of the neutron scattering in cuprate superconductors
The magnetic excitation spectrum of the t-t'-J-model is studied in mean-field
theory and compared to inelastic neutron-scattering (INS) experiments on YBCO
and BSCCO superconductors. Within the slave-particle formulation the dynamical
spin response is calculated from a renormalized Fermi liquid with an effective
interaction ~J in the magnetic particle--hole channel. We obtain the so-called
41meV resonance at wave vector (pi,pi) as a collective spin-1 excitation in the
d-wave superconducting state. It appears sharp (undamped), if the underlying
Fermi surface is hole-like with a sufficient next-nearest-neighbor hopping
t'<0. The double-layer structure of YBCO or BSCCO is not important for the
resonance to form. The resonance energy \omega_{res} and spectral weight at
optimal doping come out comparable to experiment. The observed qualitative
behavior of \omega_{res} with hole filling is reproduced in the underdoped as
well as overdoped regime. A second, much broader peak becomes visible in the
magnetic excitation spectrum if the 2D wave-vector is integrated over. It is
caused by excitations across the maximum gap, and in contrast to the resonance
its energy is almost independent of doping. At energies above or below
\omega_{res} the commensurate resonance splits into incommensurate peaks,
located off (pi,pi). Below \omega_{res} the intensity pattern is of `parallel'
type and the dispersion relation of incommensurate peaks has a negative
curvature. This is in accordance with recent INS experiments on YBCO.Comment: 17pp including 14 figure
Magnetic neutron scattering in hole doped cuprate superconductors
A review is presented of the static and dynamic magnetic properties of
hole-doped cuprate superconductors measured with neutron scattering. A wide
variety of experiments are described with emphasis on the monolayer
La_{2-x}(Sr,Ba)_{x}CuO_{4} and bilayer YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6+x} cuprates. At zero
hole doping, both classes of materials are antiferromagnetic insulators with
large superexchange constants of J > 100 meV. For increasing hole doping, the
cuprates become superconducting at a critical hole concentration of
x_{c}=0.055. The development of new instrumentation at neutron beam sources
coupled with the improvement in materials has lead to a better understanding of
these materials and the underlying spin dynamics over a broad range of hole
dopings. We will describe how the spin dispersion changes across the insulating
to superconducting boundary as well as the static magnetic properties which are
directly coupled with the superconductivity. Experiments directly probing the
competing magnetic and superconducting order parameters involving magnetic
fields, impurity doping, and structural order will be examined. Correlations
between superconductivity and magnetism will also be discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures. To be published in Journal of the Physical
Society of Japa
Tuning ultrafast electron thermalization pathways in a van der Waals heterostructure
Ultrafast electron thermalization - the process leading to Auger
recombination, carrier multiplication via impact ionization and hot carrier
luminescence - occurs when optically excited electrons in a material undergo
rapid electron-electron scattering to redistribute excess energy and reach
electronic thermal equilibrium. Due to extremely short time and length scales,
the measurement and manipulation of electron thermalization in nanoscale
devices remains challenging even with the most advanced ultrafast laser
techniques. Here, we overcome this challenge by leveraging the atomic thinness
of two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials in order to introduce a highly
tunable electron transfer pathway that directly competes with electron
thermalization. We realize this scheme in a graphene-boron nitride-graphene
(G-BN-G) vdW heterostructure, through which optically excited carriers are
transported from one graphene layer to the other. By applying an interlayer
bias voltage or varying the excitation photon energy, interlayer carrier
transport can be controlled to occur faster or slower than the intralayer
scattering events, thus effectively tuning the electron thermalization pathways
in graphene. Our findings, which demonstrate a novel means to probe and
directly modulate electron energy transport in nanoscale materials, represent
an important step toward designing and implementing novel optoelectronic and
energy-harvesting devices with tailored microscopic properties.Comment: Accepted to Nature Physic
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