Memory and Spin Injection Devices Involving Half Metals

We suggest memory and spin injection devices fabricated with half-metallic materials and based on the anomalous Hall effect. Schematic diagrams of the memory chips, in thin film and bulk crystal form, are presented. Spin injection devices made in thin film form are also suggested. These devices do not need any external magnetic field but make use of their own magnetization. Only a gate voltage is needed. The carriers are 100% spin polarized. Memory devices may potentially be smaller, faster, and less volatile than existing ones, and the injection devices may be much smaller and more efficient than existing spin injection devices

Neuroendocrine–immune disequilibrium and endometriosis: an interdisciplinary approach

Endometriosis, a chronic disease characterized by endometrial tissue located outside the uterine cavity, affects one fourth of young women and is associated with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. However, an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiology and effective treatment strategies of endometriosis is still largely elusive. Inadequate immune and neuroendocrine responses are significantly involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, and key findings are summarized in the present review. We discuss here the role of different immune mechanisms particularly adhesion molecules, protein–glycan interactions, and pro-angiogenic mediators in the development and progression of the disease. Finally, we introduce the concept of endometrial dissemination as result of a neuroendocrine-immune disequilibrium in response to high levels of perceived stress caused by cardinal clinical symptoms of endometriosis

Structural variants and the modified Slater-Pauling curve for transition-metal-based half-Heusler alloys

We compare the physical differences between two atomic configurations, found in the literature, of the half-Heusler alloys-XMnY, where X is a transition-metal element and Y is a nonmetallic element. The structural differences arise from the placement of the X and Y atoms and the vacancy within the full-Heusler (L2(1)) structure. In one configuration, Y and Mn are nearest neighbors and the vacancy is at (1/4,3/4,1/4)a (4d) while in the other configuration, X and Mn are nearest neighbors and the vacancy is located at (0,0,1/2)a (4b), where a is the lattice constant of face-centered cube. We suggest that the important difference between the two configurations is the identity of the transition-metal element nearest to the non-metal element. Physical properties, in particular the bonding features, reflect this difference. The general validity of the modified Slater-Pauling curve, which gives successful zeroth-order prediction of the magnetic moments of many half-Heusler alloys including CrMnSb in the second configuration, is tested in the six XMnY alloys studied here. Their calculated moments obey the predictions by the modified Slater-Pauling curve for positive moments only. Exceptions appear for predictions with negative moments. A simple and plausible physical reason is provided. Furthermore, the possibility of a non-ferromagnetic phase is examined and the energetics between the ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic phases are compared. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4788825