Particle Transportation Using Programmable Electrode Arrays

This study presents a technique to manipulate particles in microchannels using arrays of individually excitable electrodes. These electrodes were energized sequentially to form a non-uniform electric field that moved along the microchannel. The non-uniform electric field caused dielectrophoresis to make polarized particles move. This technique was demonstrated using viable yeast cells in a suspending medium with different conductivities. The viable yeast cells experienced positive dielectrophoresis and negative dielectrophoresis in medium conductivity of 21.5 μS/cm and 966 μS/cm respectively. The experimental results indicate that the cells can be transported in either condition using the proposed technique.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Generation of Dielectrophoretic Force under Uniform Electric Field

Effective dipole moment method has been widely accepted as the de facto technique in predicting the dielectrophoretic force due to the non-uniform electric field. In this method, a finite-particle is modeled as an equivalent point-dipole that would induce a same electric field under the external electric field. This approach is only valid when the particle size is significantly smaller than the characteristic length of interest. This assumption is often violated in a microfluidic device, where the thickness or width of the microchannel can be as small as the particle. It is shown in this numerical study that when the dimensions of the particle were in the same order of magnitude as the characteristic length of the device, dielectrophoretic force can be induced even in a uniform electric field. This force arises due to the disturbance of the particle and the bounding wall.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Toward a Unified Magnetic Phase Diagram of the Cuprate Superconductors

We propose a unified magnetic phase diagram of cuprate superconductors. A new feature of this phase diagram is a broad intermediate doping region of quantum-critical, $z=1$, behavior, characterized by temperature independent $T_1T/T_{\rm 2G}$ and linear $T_1T$, where the spin waves are not completely absorbed by the electron-hole continuum. The spin gap in the moderately doped materials is related to the suppression of the low-energy spectral weight in the quantum disordered, $z=1$, regime. The crossover to the $z=2$ regime, where T_1T/T_{\rm 2G}^2 \simeq \mbox{const}, occurs only in the fully doped materials.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX v2.1, PostScript file for 3 figures attached, UIUC-P-93-06-04

Al0.52In0.48P avalanche photodiodes for soft X-ray spectroscopy

The performance of Al0.52In0.48P avalanche photodiodes was assessed as soft X-ray detectors at room temperature. The effect of the avalanche gain improved the energy resolution and an energy resolution (FWHM) of 682 eV is reported for 5.9 keV X-rays

Spin dynamics in stripe-ordered La5/3Sr1/3NiO4

Polarized and unpolarized neutron inelastic scattering has been used to measure the spin excitations in the spin-charge-ordered stripe phase of La5/3Sr1/3NiO4. At high energies, sharp magnetic modes are observed characteristic of a static stripe lattice. The energy spectrum is described well by a linear spin wave model with intra- and inter-stripe exchange interactions between neighbouring Ni spins given by J = 15 +/- 1.5 meV and J' = 7.5 +/- 1.5 meV respectively. A pronounced broadening of the magnetic fluctuations in a band between 10 meV and 25 meV is suggestive of coupling to collective motions of the stripe domain walls.Comment: ReVTeX 4, 4 pages inc. 4 Fig

Stripe order at low temperatures in La{2-x}Sr{x}NiO4 for 1/3 < x < 1/2

Stripe order in La{2-x}Sr{x}NiO4 beyond x = 1/3 was studied with neutron scattering technique. At low temperatures, all the samples exhibit hole stripe order. Incommensurability \epsilon of the stripe order is approximately linear in the hole concentration n_h = x + 2\delta up to x = 1/2, where \delta denotes the off-stoichiometry of oxygen atoms. The charge and spin ordering temperatures exhibit maxima at n_h = 1/3, and both decrease beyond n_h > 1/3. For 1/3 < n_h < 1/2, the stripe ordering consists of the mixture of the \epsilon = 1/3 stripe order and the n_h = 1/2 charge/spin order.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 4 figure

Phonon thermal conductivity in doped La2CuO4\rm\bf La_2CuO_4: Relevant scattering mechanisms

Results of in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivity measurements on $\rm La_{1.8-x}Eu_{0.2}Sr_xCuO_4$ ($0\leq x\leq0.2$) single crystals are presented. The most characteristic features of the temperature dependence are a pronounced phonon peak at low temperatures and a steplike anomaly at $T_{LT}$, i.e., at the transition to the low temperature tetragonal phase (LTT-phase), which gradually decrease with increasing Sr-content. Comparison of these findings with the thermal conductivity of $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ and $\rm La_2NiO_4$ clearly reveals that in $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ the most effective mechanism for phonon scattering is impurity-scattering (dopants), as well as scattering by soft phonons that are associated with the lattice instability in the low temperature orthorhombic phase (LTO-phase). There is no evidence that stripe correlations play a major role in suppressing the phonon peak in the thermal conductivity of $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Quantum Disordered Regime and Spin Gap in the Cuprate Superconductors

We discuss the crossover from the quantum critical, $z\!=\!1$, to the quantum disordered regime in high-T$_c$ materials in relation to the experimental data on the nuclear relaxation, bulk susceptibility, and inelastic neutron scattering. In our scenario, the spin excitations develop a gap $\Delta\!\sim\!1/\xi$ well above T$_c$, which is supplemented by the quasiparticle gap below T$_c$. The above experiments yield consistent estimates for the value of the spin gap, which increases as the correlation length decreases.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX v3.0, PostScript file for 3 figures is attached, UIUC-P-93-07-06

Direct Observation of a One Dimensional Static Spin Modulation in Insulating La1.95Sr0.05CuO4

We report the results of an extensive elastic neutron scattering study of the incommensurate (IC) static spin correlations in La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 which is an insulating spin glass at low temperatures. The present neutron scattering experiments on the same x=0.05 crystal employ a narrower instrumental Q-resolution and thereby have revealed that the crystal has only two orthorhombic twins at low temperatures with relative populations of 2:1. We find that, in a single twin, only two satellites are observed at (1, +/-0.064, L)(ortho) and (0, 1+/-0.064, L)(ortho), that is, the modulation vector is only along the orthorhombic b*-axis. This demonstrates unambiguously that La1.95Sr0.05CuO4 has a one-dimensional static diagonal spin modulation at low temperatures, consistent with certain stripe models. We have also reexamined the x=0.04 crystal that previously was reported to show a single commensurate peak. By mounting the sample in the (H, K, 0) zone, we have discovered that the x=0.04 sample in fact has the same IC structure as the $x=0.05$ sample. The incommensurability parameter d for x=0.04 and 0.05, where d is the distance from (1/2, 1/2) in tetragonal reciprocal lattice units, follows the linear relation d=x. These results demonstrate that the insulator to superconductor transition in the under doped regime (0.05 </= x </= 0.06) in La2-xSrxCuO4 is coincident with a transition from diagonal to collinear static stripes at low temperatures thereby evincing the intimate coupling between the one dimensional spin density modulation and the superconductivity.Comment: 9 pages 8 figure

Average Lattice Symmetry and Nanoscale Structural Correlations in Magnetoresistive Manganites

We report x-ray scattering studies of nanoscale structural correlations in the paramagnetic phases of the perovskite manganites La$_{0.75}$(Ca$_{0.45}$Sr$_{0.55}$)$_{0.25}$MnO$_3$, La$_{0.625}$Sr$_{0.375}$MnO$_3$, and Nd$_{0.45}$Sr$_{0.55}$MnO$_3$. We find that these correlations are present in the orthorhombic $O$ phase in La$_{0.75}$(Ca$_{0.45}$Sr$_{0.55}$)$_{0.25}$MnO$_3$, but they disappear abruptly at the orthorhombic-to-rhombohedral transition in this compound. The orthorhombic phase exhibits increased electrical resistivity and reduced ferromagnetic coupling, in agreement with the association of the nanoscale correlations with insulating regions. In contrast, the correlations were not detected in the two other compounds, which exhibit rhombohedral and tetragonal phases. Based on these results, as well as on previously published work, we propose that the local structure of the paramagnetic phase correlates strongly with the average lattice symmetry, and that the nanoscale correlations are an important factor distinguishing the insulating and the metallic phases in these compounds.Comment: a note on recent experimental work, and a new reference adde