588 research outputs found
Magnetic field control of cycloidal domains and electric polarization in multiferroic BiFeO
The magnetic field induced rearrangement of the cycloidal spin structure in
ferroelectric mono-domain single crystals of the room-temperature multiferroic
BiFeO is studied using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The cycloid
propagation vectors are observed to rotate when magnetic fields applied
perpendicular to the rhombohedral (polar) axis exceed a pinning threshold value
of 5\,T. In light of these experimental results, a phenomenological model
is proposed that captures the rearrangement of the cycloidal domains, and we
revisit the microscopic origin of the magnetoelectric effect. A new coupling
between the magnetic anisotropy and the polarization is proposed that explains
the recently discovered magnetoelectric polarization to the rhombohedral axis
Extracting dynamical equations from experimental data is NP-hard
The behavior of any physical system is governed by its underlying dynamical
equations. Much of physics is concerned with discovering these dynamical
equations and understanding their consequences. In this work, we show that,
remarkably, identifying the underlying dynamical equation from any amount of
experimental data, however precise, is a provably computationally hard problem
(it is NP-hard), both for classical and quantum mechanical systems. As a
by-product of this work, we give complexity-theoretic answers to both the
quantum and classical embedding problems, two long-standing open problems in
mathematics (the classical problem, in particular, dating back over 70 years).Comment: For mathematical details, see arXiv:0908.2128[math-ph]. v2: final
version, accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Square vortex lattice at anomalously low magnetic fields in electron-doped NdCeCuO
We report here on the first direct observations of the vortex lattice in the
bulk of electron-doped NdCeCuO single crystals. Using
small angle neutron scattering, we have observed a square vortex lattice with
the nearest-neighbors oriented at 45 from the Cu-O bond direction,
which is consistent with theories based on the d-wave superconducting gap.
However, the square symmetry persists down to unusually low magnetic fields.
Moreover, the diffracted intensity from the vortex lattice is found to decrease
rapidly with increasing magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Experimental Search for Non-Newtonian Forces in the Nanometer Scale with Slow Neutrons
Improved limits for new gravity-like short-range interactions, in which a
scattering potential is modeled by the Yukawa-type parametrization, have been
obtained by measuring the angular distribution of 6 \AA\ neutrons scattering
from atomic xenon gas. We have collected approximately
small-angle neutron scattering events. The data are interpreted as no evidence
of new forces and show improved upper limits on the coupling strength in the
interaction range of nm to nm. These improved constraints are also
interpreted as new limits for a model, in which a charge of the new forces is
expressed as a linear combination of the baryon number and the lepton number.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 14TH ASIA-PACIFIC PHYSICS CONFERENCE (APPC2019
Plasma resonance at low magnetic fields as a probe of vortex line meandering in layered superconductors
We consider the magnetic field dependence of the plasma resonance frequency
in pristine and in irradiated BiSrCaCuO crystals near . At
low magnetic fields we relate linear in field corrections to the plasma
frequency to the average distance between the pancake vortices in the
neighboring layers (wandering length). We calculate the wandering length in the
case of thermal wiggling of vortex lines, taking into account both Josephson
and magnetic interlayer coupling of pancakes. Analyzing experimental data, we
found that (i) the wandering length becomes comparable with the London
penetration depth near T and (ii) at small melting fields ( G) the
wandering length does not change much at the melting transition. This shows
existence of the line liquid phase in this field range. We also found that
pinning by columnar defects affects weakly the field dependence of the plasma
resonance frequency near .Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 2 PS figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Flux-Line Lattice Structures in Untwinned YBa2Cu3O
A small angle neutron scattering study of the flux-line lattice in a large
single crystal of untwinned YBa2Cu3O is presented. In fields parallel to the
c-axis, diffraction spots are observed corresponding to four orientations of a
hexagonal lattice, distorted by the a-b anisotropy. A value for the anisotropy,
the penetration depth ratio, of 1.18(2) was obtained. The high quality of the
data is such that second order diffraction is observed, indicating a well
ordered FLL. With the field at 33 degrees to c a field dependent re-orientation
of the lattice is observed around 3T.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The pairing state in KFe2As2 studied by measurements of the magnetic vortex lattice
Understanding the mechanism and symmetry of electron pairing in iron-based
superconductors represents an important challenge in condensed matter physics
[1-3]. The observation of magnetic flux lines - "vortices" - in a
superconductor can contribute to this issue, because the spatial variation of
magnetic field reflects the pairing. Unlike many other iron pnictides, our
KFe2As2 crystals have very weak vortex pinning, allowing
small-angle-neutron-scattering (SANS) observations of the intrinsic vortex
lattice (VL). We observe nearly isotropic hexagonal packing of vortices,
without VL-symmetry transitions up to high fields along the fourfold c-axis of
the crystals, indicating rather small anisotropy of the superconducting
properties around this axis. This rules out gap nodes parallel to the c-axis,
and thus d-wave and also anisotropic s-wave pairing [2, 3]. The strong
temperature-dependence of the intensity down to T<<Tc indicates either widely
different full gaps on different Fermi surface sheets, or nodal lines
perpendicular to the axis.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Thermal fluctuations and disorder effects in vortex lattices
We calculate using loop expansion the effect of fluctuations on the structure
function and magnetization of the vortex lattice and compare it with existing
MC results. In addition to renormalization of the height of the Bragg peaks of
the structure function, there appears a characteristic saddle shape ''halos''
around the peaks. The effect of disorder on magnetization is also calculated.
All the infrared divergencies related to soft shear cancel.Comment: 10 pages, revtex file, one figur
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