2,267 research outputs found
Interplay between the electrical transport properties of GeMn thin films and Ge substrates
We present evidence that electrical transport studies of epitaxial p-type
GeMn thin films fabricated on high resistivity Ge substrates are severely
influenced by parallel conduction through the substrate, related to the large
intrinsic conductivity of Ge due to its small bandgap. Anomalous Hall
measurements and large magneto resistance effects are completely understood by
taking a dominating substrate contribution as well as the measurement geometry
into account. It is shown that substrate conduction persists also for well
conducting, degenerate, p-type thin films, giving rise to an effective
two-layer conduction scheme. Using n-type Ge substrates, parallel conduction
through the substrate can be reduced for the p-type epi-layers, as a
consequence of the emerging pn-interface junction. GeMn thin films fabricated
on these substrates exhibit a negligible magneto resistance effect. Our study
underlines the importance of a thorough characterization and understanding of
possible substrate contributions for electrical transport studies of GeMn thin
films.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Clustering in a precipitate free GeMn magnetic semiconductor
We present the first study relating structural parameters of precipitate free
Ge0.95Mn0.05 films to magnetisation data. Nanometer sized clusters - areas with
increased Mn content on substitutional lattice sites compared to the host
matrix - are detected in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The
films show no overall spontaneous magnetisation at all down to 2K. The TEM and
magnetisation results are interpreted in terms of an assembly of
superparamagnetic moments developing in the dense distribution of clusters.
Each cluster individually turns ferromagnetic below an ordering temperature
which depends on its volume and Mn content.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2006). High resolution
images ibide
Singularity in the boundary resistance between superfluid He and a solid surface
We report new measurements in four cells of the thermal boundary resistance
between copper and He below but near the superfluid-transition
temperature . For fits of to the data yielded ,
whereas a fit to theoretical values based on the renormalization-group theory
yielded . Alternatively, a good fit of the theory to the data could
be obtained if the {\it amplitude} of the prediction was reduced by a factor
close to two. The results raise the question whether the boundary conditions
used in the theory should be modified.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revte
Small Molecule Inhibitors of Inflammatory Caspases-1, -4, and -5
Inflammatory caspases-1, -4, and -5 play critical roles in mediating the innate immune response to pathogen- and damage-associated molecular patterns. Caspase-1 produces the cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β), while caspases-4 and -5 activate the NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome via the non-canonical pathway. Overactivation of these enzymes is associated with an increased risk for inflammatory diseases such as lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) have been developed to attenuate the production of IL-1β, but unfavorable bioavailability and toxicity have provided an insurmountable barrier in clinical trials. This work is concerned with delivering an overview of current progress in the synthetic design of SMIs of the inflammatory caspases
Heat transport by turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection for $\Pra\ \simeq 0.83\times 10^{12} \alt \Ra\ \alt 10^{15}\Gamma = 0.50$
We report experimental results for heat-transport measurements, in the form
of the Nusselt number \Nu, by turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection in a
cylindrical sample of aspect ratio ( m is
the diameter and m the height). The measurements were made using
sulfur hexafluoride at pressures up to 19 bars as the fluid. They are for the
Rayleigh-number range 3\times 10^{12} \alt \Ra \alt 10^{15} and for Prandtl
numbers \Pra\ between 0.79 and 0.86. For \Ra < \Ra^*_1 \simeq 1.4\times
10^{13} we find \Nu = N_0 \Ra^{\gamma_{eff}} with , consistent with classical turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection in a
system with laminar boundary layers below the top and above the bottom plate.
For \Ra^*_1 < \Ra < \Ra^*_2 (with \Ra^*_2 \simeq 5\times 10^{14})
gradually increases up to . We argue that above
\Ra^*_2 the system is in the ultimate state of convection where the boundary
layers, both thermal and kinetic, are also turbulent. Several previous
measurements for are re-examined and compared with the present
results.Comment: 44 pages, 18 figures, submitted to NJ
Microcomputer Based Digital Image Processing System Developed To Count And Size Laser-Generated Small Particle Images
A microcomputer-based digital image processing system has been developed to count and size laser-generated small particle images. Processing rates of 5 to 600 frames per minute were achieved by utilizing a real-time digital image processor. Particles from 7 to 700 µm in the plane of focus were counted and sized. A major emphasis in this work was to determine the basic problems and limitations involved with using a digital image processing scheme to accurately size particles. Areas that were investigated include the effect of the threshold level on measured particle size, particle boundary diffraction gray-level gradients, and geometric nonlinearities introduced by the vidicon camera. A Laser Electro-Optics Ltd. calibration reticle containing simulated particles from 5.29 to 92.75 µm in diameter was used as the basis for an in-depth calibration process. It was determined that various inherent problems with image processing systems limit their accuracy unless compensation is made. Decalibration techniques were used to correct for these inaccuracies. After correction, an average error of less than 1.0% was found for 25 to 100 µm particles. A 2.8% error was found in the experimentally determined distribution of 52.8 µm polystyrene microspheres
Rayleigh-B\'{e}nard convection in a homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal
We report experimental results for convection near onset in a thin layer of a
homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal heated from below as a function
of the temperature difference and the applied vertical magnetic
field and compare them with theoretical calculations. The experiments cover
the field range 8 \alt h \equiv H/ H_{F} \alt 80 ( is the
Fr\'eedericksz field). For less than a codimension-two field the bifurcation is subcritical and oscillatory, with travelling- and
standing-wave transients. Beyond the bifurcation is stationary and
subcritical until a tricritical field is reached, beyond which it
is supercritical. The bifurcation sequence as a function of found in the
experiment confirms the qualitative aspects of the theoretical predictions.
However, the value of is about 10% higher than the predicted value and
the results for are systematically below the theory by about 2% at small
and by as much as 7% near . At , is continuous within
the experimental resolution whereas the theory indicates a 7% discontinuity.
The theoretical tricritical field is somewhat below the
experimental one. The fully developed flow above for is
chaotic. For the subcritical stationary bifurcation also
leads to a chaotic state. The chaotic states persist upon reducing the Rayleigh
number below , i.e. the bifurcation is hysteretic. Above the tricritical
field , we find a bifurcation to a time independent pattern which within
our resolution is non-hysteretic.Comment: 15 pages incl. 23 eps figure
Effect of the Centrifugal Force on Domain Chaos in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection
Experiments and simulations from a variety of sample sizes indicated that the
centrifugal force significantly affects rotating Rayleigh-B\'enard
convection-patterns. In a large-aspect-ratio sample, we observed a hybrid state
consisting of domain chaos close to the sample center, surrounded by an annulus
of nearly-stationary nearly-radial rolls populated by occasional defects
reminiscent of undulation chaos. Although the Coriolis force is responsible for
domain chaos, by comparing experiment and simulation we show that the
centrifugal force is responsible for the radial rolls. Furthermore, simulations
of the Boussinesq equations for smaller aspect ratios neglecting the
centrifugal force yielded a domain precession-frequency
with as predicted by the amplitude-equation model for domain
chaos, but contradicted by previous experiment. Additionally the simulations
gave a domain size that was larger than in the experiment. When the centrifugal
force was included in the simulation, and the domain size closely agreed
with experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure
Spiral Defect Chaos in Large Aspect Ratio Rayleigh-Benard Convection
We report experiments on convection patterns in a cylindrical cell with a
large aspect ratio. The fluid had a Prandtl number of approximately 1. We
observed a chaotic pattern consisting of many rotating spirals and other
defects in the parameter range where theory predicts that steady straight rolls
should be stable. The correlation length of the pattern decreased rapidly with
increasing control parameter so that the size of a correlated area became much
smaller than the area of the cell. This suggests that the chaotic behavior is
intrinsic to large aspect ratio geometries.Comment: Preprint of experimental paper submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. May 12
1993. Text is preceeded by many TeX macros. Figures 1 and 2 are rather lon
Enhanced heat transport by turbulent two-phase Rayleigh-B\'enard convection
We report measurements of turbulent heat-transport in samples of ethane
(CH) heated from below while the applied temperature difference straddled the liquid-vapor co-existance curve . When the sample
top temperature decreased below , droplet condensation occurred
and the latent heat of vaporization provided an additional heat-transport
mechanism.The effective conductivity increased linearly with
decreasing , and reached a maximum value that was an
order of magnitude larger than the single-phase . As
approached the critical pressure, increased dramatically even
though vanished. We attribute this phenomenon to an enhanced
droplet-nucleation rate as the critical point is approached.Comment: 4 gages, 6 figure
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