6,354 research outputs found
The Electromigration Force in Metallic Bulk
The voltage induced driving force on a migrating atom in a metallic system is
discussed in the perspective of the Hellmann-Feynman force concept, local
screening concepts and the linear-response approach. Since the force operator
is well defined in quantum mechanics it appears to be only confusing to refer
to the Hellmann-Feynman theorem in the context of electromigration. Local
screening concepts are shown to be mainly of historical value. The physics
involved is completely represented in ab initio local density treatments of
dilute alloys and the implementation does not require additional precautions
about screening, being typical for jellium treatments. The linear-response
approach is shown to be a reliable guide in deciding about the two
contributions to the driving force, the direct force and the wind force.
Results are given for the wind valence for electromigration in a number of FCC
and BCC metals, calculated using an {\it ab initio} KKR-Green's function
description of a dilute alloy.Comment: 14 pages, 1 Postscript figur
Electronic Transport Spectroscopy of Carbon Nanotubes in a Magnetic Field
We report magnetic field spectroscopy measurements in carbon nanotube quantum
dots exhibiting four-fold shell structure in the energy level spectrum. The
magnetic field induces a large splitting between the two orbital states of each
shell, demonstrating their opposite magnetic moment and determining transitions
in the spin and orbital configuration of the quantum dot ground state. We use
inelastic cotunneling spectroscopy to accurately resolve the spin and orbital
contributions to the magnetic moment. A small coupling is found between
orbitals with opposite magnetic moment leading to anticrossing behavior at zero
field.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Crossover from Luttinger liquid to Coulomb blockade regime in carbon nanotubes
We develop a theoretical approach to the low-energy properties of 1D electron
systems aimed to encompass the mixed features of Luttinger liquid and Coulomb
blockade behavior observed in the crossover between the two regimes. For this
aim we extend the Luttinger liquid description by incorporating the effects of
a discrete single-particle spectrum. The intermediate regime is characterized
by a power-law behavior of the conductance, but with an exponent oscillating
with the gate voltage, in agreement with recent experimental observations. Our
construction also accounts naturally for the existence of a crossover in the
zero-bias conductance, mediating between two temperature ranges where the
power-law behavior is preserved but with different exponent.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Electronic excitation spectrum of metallic carbon nanotubes
We have studied the discrete electronic spectrum of closed metallic nanotube
quantum dots. At low temperatures, the stability diagrams show a very regular
four-fold pattern that allows for the determination of the electron addition
and excitation energies. The measured nanotube spectra are in excellent
agreement with theoretical predictions based on the nanotube band structure.
Our results permit the complete identification of the electron quantum states
in nanotube quantum dots.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Resistivity due to low-symmetrical defects in metals
The impurity resistivity, also known as the residual resistivity, is
calculated ab initio using multiple-scattering theory. The mean-free path is
calculated by solving the Boltzmann equation iteratively. The resistivity due
to low-symmetrical defects, such as an impurity-vacancy pair, is calculated for
the FCC host metals Al and Ag and the BCC transition metal V. Commonly, 1/f
noise is attributed to the motion of such defects in a diffusion process.Comment: 24 pages in REVTEX-preprint format, 10 Postscript figures. Phys. Rev.
B, vol. 57 (1998), accepted for publicatio
Testing and classification of the resistance to fire of structural building components. EUR 8750 EN. Industrial processes: building and civil engineering
Evolution of SU(4) Transport Regimes in Carbon Nanotube Quantum Dots
We study the evolution of conductance regimes in carbon nanotubes with doubly
degenerate orbitals (``shells'') by controlling the contact transparency within
the same sample. For sufficiently open contacts, Kondo behavior is observed for
1, 2, and 3 electrons in the topmost shell. As the contacts are opened more,
the sample enters the ``mixed valence'' regime, where different charge states
are strongly hybridized by electron tunneling. Here, the conductance as a
function of gate voltage shows pronounced modulations with a period of four
electrons, and all single-electron features are washed away at low temperature.
We successfully describe this behavior by a simple formula with no fitting
parameters. Finally, we find a surprisingly small energy scale that controls
the temperature evolution of conductance and the tunneling density of states in
the mixed valence regime.Comment: 4 pages + supplementary info. The second part of the original
submission is now split off as a separate paper (0709.1288
Quantum and thermal spin relaxation in diluted spin ice: Dy(2-x)MxTi2O7 (M = Lu, Y)
We have studied the low temperature a.c. magnetic susceptibility of the
diluted spin ice compound Dy(2-x)MxTi2O7, where the magnetic Dy ions on the
frustrated pyrochlore lattice have been replaced with non-magnetic ions, M = Y
or Lu. We examine a broad range of dilutions, 0 <= x <= 1.98, and we find that
the T ~ 16 K freezing is suppressed for low levels of dilution but re-emerges
for x > 0.4 and persists to x = 1.98. This behavior can be understood as a
non-monotonic dependence of the quantum spin relaxation time with dilution. The
results suggest that the observed spin freezing is fundamentally a single spin
process which is affected by the local environment, rather than the development
of spin-spin correlations as earlier data suggested.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure
Heptameric association of light-harvesting complex II trimers in partially solubilized photosystem II membranes
We report a structural characterization by electron microscopy and image analysis of a supramolecular complex consisting of seven trimeric light-harvesting complex II proteins, The complex was readily observed in partially-solubilized Tris-washed photosystem II membranes from spinach but was also found to occur, with a low frequency, in oxygen-evolving photosystem II membranes. The structure reveals sis peripheral trimers with the same rotational orientation and a central trimer with the opposite orientation. We conclude that the heptamer represents a naturally occurring aggregation state of part of the light-harvesting complex II trimers in the thylakoid membranes. (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.</p
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