555 research outputs found
Quantum interference in deformed carbon nanotube waveguides
Quantum interference (QI) in two types of deformed carbon nanotubes (CNTs),
i.e., axially stretched and AFM tip-deformed CNTs, has been investigated by the
pi-electron only and four-orbital tight-binding (TB) method. It is found that
the rapid conductance oscillation (RCO) period is very sensitive to the applied
strains, and decreases in an inverse proportion to the deformation degree,
which could be used as a powerful experimental tool to detect precisely the
deformation degree of the deformed CNTs. Also, the sigma-pi coupling effect is
found to be negligible under axially stretched strain, while it works on the
transport properties of the tip-deformed CNTs.Comment: 14 pages and 5 figure
Wasserstoffaufnahme und Wasserstoffversprödung von Zircaloy-2, ZrNb 1 und ZrNb 2,5. EUR 1501. = Hydrogen uptake and hydrogen embrittlement of Zircaloy-2, ZrNb 1 and ZrNb 2.5. EUR 1501.
Lateral spin-orbit interaction and spin polarization in quantum point contacts
We study ballistic transport through semiconductor quantum point contact
systems under different confinement geometries and applied fields. In
particular, we investigate how the {\em lateral} spin-orbit coupling,
introduced by asymmetric lateral confinement potentials, affects the spin
polarization of the current. We find that even in the absence of external
magnetic fields, a variable {\em non-zero spin polarization} can be obtained by
controlling the asymmetric shape of the confinement potential. These results
suggest a new approach to produce spin polarized electron sources and we study
the dependence of this phenomenon on structural parameters and applied magnetic
fields. This asymmetry-induced polarization provides also a plausible
explanation of our recent observations of a 0.5 conductance plateau (in units
of ) in quantum point contacts made on InAs quantum-well structures.
Although our estimates of the required spin-orbit interaction strength in these
systems do not support this explanation, they likely play a role in the effects
enhanced by electron-electron interactions.Comment: Summited to PRB (2009
Ballistic electron transport in stubbed quantum waveguides: experiment and theory
We present results of experimental and theoretical investigations of electron
transport through stub-shaped waveguides or electron stub tuners (ESTs) in the
ballistic regime. Measurements of the conductance G as a function of voltages,
applied to different gates V_i (i=bottom, top, and side) of the device, show
oscillations in the region of the first quantized plateau which we attribute to
reflection resonances. The oscillations are rather regular and almost periodic
when the height h of the EST cavity is small compared to its width. When h is
increased, the oscillations become less regular and broad depressions in G
appear. A theoretical analysis, which accounts for the electrostatic potential
formed by the gates in the cavity region, and a numerical computation of the
transmission probabilities successfully explains the experimental observations.
An important finding for real devices, defined by surface Schottky gates, is
that the resonance nima result from size quantization along the transport
direction of the EST.Comment: Text 20 pages in Latex/Revtex format, 11 Postscript figures. Phys.
Rev. B,in pres
Nonequilibrium phenomena in adjacent electrically isolated nanostructures
We report on nonequilibrium interaction phenomena between adjacent but
electrostatically separated nanostructures in GaAs. A current flowing in one
externally biased nanostructure causes an excitation of electrons in a circuit
of a second nanostructure. As a result we observe a dc current generated in the
unbiased second nanostructure. The results can be qualitatively explained in
terms of acoustic phonon based energy transfer between the two mutually
isolated circuits.Comment: EP2DS-2007 proceedings; as publishe
An overview of the ciao multiparadigm language and program development environment and its design philosophy
We describe some of the novel aspects and motivations behind
the design and implementation of the Ciao multiparadigm programming system. An important aspect of Ciao is that it provides the programmer with a large number of useful features from different programming paradigms and styles, and that the use of each of these features can be turned on and off at will for each program module. Thus, a given module may be using e.g. higher order functions and constraints, while another module may be using objects, predicates, and concurrency. Furthermore, the language is designed to be extensible in a simple and modular way. Another important aspect of Ciao is its programming environment, which provides a powerful preprocessor (with an associated assertion language) capable of statically finding non-trivial bugs, verifying that programs comply with specifications, and performing many types of program optimizations. Such optimizations produce code that is highly competitive with other dynamic languages or, when the highest levéis of optimization are used, even that of static languages, all while retaining the interactive development environment of a dynamic language. The environment also includes a powerful auto-documenter. The paper provides an informal overview of the language and program development environment. It aims at illustrating the design philosophy rather than at being exhaustive, which would be impossible in the format of a paper, pointing instead to the existing literature on the system
Evidence of Spin-Filtering in Quantum Constrictions with Spin-Orbit Interaction
A new type of blockade effect - spin-orbit blockade (SOB) - is found in the
conduction of a quantum dot (QD) made of a material with spin-orbit
interaction. The blockade arises from spin-filtering effect in a quantum point
contact (QPC), which is a component of the QD. Hence the appearance of the
blockade itself evidences the spin-filtering effect in the QPC. The lower bound
of filtering efficiency is estimated to be above 80%.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Universal conductance fluctuations in three dimensional metallic single crystals of Si
In this paper we report the measurement of conductance fluctuations in single
crystals of Si made metallic by heavy doping (n \approx 2-2.5n_c, n_c being
critical composition at Metal-Insulator transition). Since all dimensions (L)
of the samples are much larger than the electron phase coherent length L_\phi
(L/L_\phi \sim 10^3), our system is truly three dimensional. Temperature and
magnetic field dependence of noise strongly indicate the universal conductance
fluctuations (UCF) as predominant source of the observed magnitude of noise.
Conductance fluctuations within a single phase coherent region of L_\phi^3 was
found to be saturated at \approx (e^2/h)^2. An accurate
knowledge of the level of disorder, enables us to calculate the change in
conductance \delta G_1 due to movement of a single scatterer as \delta G_1 \sim
e^2/h, which is \sim 2 orders of magnitude higher than its theoretically
expected value in 3D systems.Comment: Text revised version. 4 eps figs unchange
POLG2 deficiency causes adult-onset syndromic sensory neuropathy, ataxia and parkinsonism
Objective: Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a key role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders such as ataxia and Parkinson's disease. We describe an extended Belgian pedigree where seven individuals presented with adult-onset cerebellar ataxia, axonal peripheral ataxic neuropathy, and tremor, in variable combination with parkinsonism, seizures, cognitive decline, and ophthalmoplegia. We sought to identify the underlying molecular etiology and characterize the mitochondrial pathophysiology of this neurological syndrome.
Methods: Clinical, neurophysiological, and neuroradiological evaluations were conducted. Patient muscle and cultured fibroblasts underwent extensive analyses to assess mitochondrial function. Genetic studies including genome-wide sequencing were conducted.
Results: Hallmarks of mitochondrial dysfunction were present in patients' tissues including ultrastructural anomalies of mitochondria, mosaic cytochrome c oxidase deficiency, and multiple mtDNA deletions. We identified a splice acceptor variant in POLG2, c.970-1G>C, segregating with disease in this family and associated with a concomitant decrease in levels of POLG2 protein in patient cells.
Interpretation: This work extends the clinical spectrum of POLG2 deficiency to include an overwhelming, adult-onset neurological syndrome that includes cerebellar syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, tremor, and parkinsonism. We therefore suggest to include POLG2 sequencing in the evaluation of ataxia and sensory neuropathy in adults, especially when it is accompanied by tremor or parkinsonism with white matter disease. The demonstration that deletions of mtDNA resulting from autosomal-dominant POLG2 variant lead to a monogenic neurodegenerative multicomponent syndrome provides further evidence for a major role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathomechanism of nonsyndromic forms of the component neurodegenerative disorders
Coulomb Drag in Coherent Mesoscopic Systems
We present a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems. Our
formalism expresses the drag in terms of scattering matrices and wave
functions, and its range of validity covers both ballistic and disordered
systems. The consequences can be worked out either by analytic means, such as
the random matrix theory, or by numerical simulations. We show that Coulomb
drag is sensitive to localized states, which usual transport measurements do
not probe. For chaotic 2D-systems we find a vanishing average drag, with a
nonzero variance. Disordered 1D-wires show a finite drag, with a large
variance, giving rise to a possible sign change of the induced current.Comment: 4 pages including 2 figures. Minor changes. Accepted for publication
in Phys. Rev. Let
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