46 research outputs found
Nanotube Piezoelectricity
We combine ab initio, tight-binding methods and analytical theory to study
piezoelectric effect of boron nitride nanotubes. We find that piezoelectricity
of a heteropolar nanotube depends on its chirality and diameter and can be
understood starting from the piezoelectric response of an isolated planar
sheet, along with a structure specific mapping from the sheet onto the tube
surface. We demonstrate that coupling between the uniaxial and shear
deformation are only allowed in the nanotubes with lower chiral symmetry. Our
study shows that piezoelectricity of nanotubes is fundamentally different from
its counterpart in three dimensional (3D) bulk materials.Comment: 4 pages, with 3 postscript figures embedded. Uses REVTEX4 macros.
Also available at
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~nsai/preprints/bn_piezo/index.htm
Three-dimensional electronic instabilities in polymerized solid A1C60
The low-temperature structure of A1C60 (A=K, Rb) is an ordered array of
polymerized C60 chains, with magnetic properties that suggest a non-metallic
ground state. We study the paramagnetic state of this phase using
first-principles electronic-structure methods, and examine the magnetic
fluctuations around this state using a model Hamiltonian. The electronic and
magnetic properties of even this polymerized phase remain strongly three
dimensional, and the magnetic fluctuations favor an unusual three-dimensional
antiferromagnetically ordered structure with a semi-metallic electronic
spectrum.Comment: REVTeX 3.0, 10 pages, 4 figures available on request from
[email protected]
Nanoscale Processing by Adaptive Laser Pulses
We theoretically demonstrate that atomically-precise ``nanoscale processing"
can be reproducibly performed by adaptive laser pulses. We present the new
approach on the controlled welding of crossed carbon nanotubes, giving various
metastable junctions of interest. Adaptive laser pulses could be also used in
preparation of other hybrid nanostructures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figure
Electromagnetic properties of graphene junctions
A resonant chiral tunneling (CT) across a graphene junction (GJ) induced by
an external electromagnetic field (EF) is studied. Modulation of the electron
and hole wavefunction phases by the external EF during the CT
processes strongly impacts the CT directional diagram. Therefore the a.c.
transport characteristics of GJs depend on the EF polarization and frequency
considerably. The GJ shows great promises for various nanoelectronic
applications working in the THz diapason.Comment: 4 pages 3 figure
Exciton swapping in a twisted graphene bilayer as a solid-state realization of a two-brane model
It is shown that exciton swapping between two graphene sheets may occur under
specific conditions. A magnetically tunable optical filter is described to
demonstrate this new effect. Mathematically, it is shown that two turbostratic
graphene layers can be described as a "noncommutative" two-sheeted
(2+1)-spacetime thanks to a formalism previously introduced for the study of
braneworlds in high energy physics. The Hamiltonian of the model contains a
coupling term connecting the two layers which is similar to the coupling
existing between two braneworlds at a quantum level. In the present case, this
term is related to a K-K' intervalley coupling. In addition, the experimental
observation of this effect could be a way to assess the relevance of some
theoretical concepts of the braneworld hypothesis.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, final version published in European Physical
Journal
An interlaboratory study of TEX86 and BIT analysis of sediments, extracts and standard mixtures.
Two commonly used proxies based on the distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are the TEX86 (TetraEther indeX of 86 carbon atoms) paleothermometer for sea surface temperature reconstructions and the BIT (Branched Isoprenoid Tetraether) index for reconstructing soil organic matter input to the ocean. An initial round-robin study of two sediment extracts, in which 15 laboratories participated, showed relatively consistent TEX86 values (reproducibility ±3-4°C when translated to temperature) but a large spread in BIT measurements (reproducibility ±0.41 on a scale of 0-1). Here we report results of a second round-robin study with 35 laboratories in which three sediments, one sediment extract, and two mixtures of pure, isolated GDGTs were analyzed. The results for TEX86 and BIT index showed improvement compared to the previous round-robin study. The reproducibility, indicating interlaboratory variation, of TEX86 values ranged from 1.3 to 3.0°C when translated to temperature. These results are similar to those of other temperature proxies used in paleoceanography. Comparison of the results obtained from one of the three sediments showed that TEX86 and BIT indices are not significantly affected by interlaboratory differences in sediment extraction techniques. BIT values of the sediments and extracts were at the extremes of the index with values close to 0 or 1, and showed good reproducibility (ranging from 0.013 to 0.042). However, the measured BIT values for the two GDGT mixtures, with known molar ratios of crenarchaeol and branched GDGTs, had intermediate BIT values and showed poor reproducibility and a large overestimation of the "true" (i.e., molar-based) BIT index. The latter is likely due to, among other factors, the higher mass spectrometric response of branched GDGTs compared to crenarchaeol, which also varies among mass spectrometers. Correction for this different mass spectrometric response showed a considerable improvement in the reproducibility of BIT index measurements among laboratories, as well as a substantially improved estimation of molar-based BIT values. This suggests that standard mixtures should be used in order to obtain consistent, and molar-based, BIT values
The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts – II. New FRB discoveries and their follow-up
We report the discovery of four Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) in the ongoing SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts at the Parkes Radio Telescope: FRBs 150610, 151206, 151230 and 160102. Our real-time discoveries have enabled us to conduct extensive, rapid multimessenger follow-up at 12 major facilities sensitive to radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray photons and neutrinos on time-scales ranging from an hour to a few months post-burst. No counterparts to the FRBs were found and we provide upper limits on afterglow luminosities. None of the FRBs were seen to repeat. Formal fits to all FRBs show hints of scattering while their intrinsic widths are unresolved in time. FRB 151206 is at low Galactic latitude, FRB 151230 shows a sharp spectral cut-off, and FRB 160102 has the highest dispersion measure (DM = 2596.1 ± 0.3 pc cm−3) detected to date. Three of the FRBs have high dispersion measures (DM > 1500 pc cm−3), favouring a scenario where the DM is dominated by contributions from the intergalactic medium. The slope of the Parkes FRB source counts distribution with fluences >2 Jy ms is α=−2.2+0.6−1.2 and still consistent with a Euclidean distribution (α = −3/2). We also find that the all-sky rate is 1.7+1.5−0.9×103 FRBs/(4π sr)/day above ∼2Jyms and there is currently no strong evidence for a latitude-dependent FRB sky rate