Measurement of the Hyperfine Structure and Isotope Shifts of the 3s23p2 3P2 to 3s3p3 3Do3 Transition in Silicon

The hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of the 3s23p2 3P2 to 3s3p3 3Do3 transition in silicon have been measured. The transition at 221.7 nm was studied by laser induced fluorescence in an atomic Si beam. For 29Si, the hyperfine A constant for the 3s23p2 3P2 level was determined to be -160.1+-1.3 MHz (1 sigma error), and the A constant for the 3s3p3 3Do3 level is -532.9+-0.6 MHz. This is the first time that these constants were measured. The isotope shifts (relative to the abundant isotope 28Si) of the transition were determined to be 1753.3+-1.1 MHz for 29Si and 3359.9+-0.6 MHz for 30Si. This is an improvement by about two orders of magnitude over a previous measurement. From these results we are able to predict the hyperfine structure and isotope shift of the radioactive 31Si atom, which is of interest in building a scalable quantum computer

Increased collagen synthesis rate during wound healing in muscle

Wound healing in muscle involves the deposition of collagen, but it is not known whether this is achieved by changes in the synthesis or the degradation of collagen. We have used a reliable flooding dose method to measure collagen synthesis rate in vivo in rat abdominal muscle following a surgical incision. Collagen synthesis rate was increased by 480% and 860% on days 2 and 7 respectively after surgery in the wounded muscle compared with an undamaged area of the same muscle. Collagen content was increased by approximately 100% at both day 2 and day 7. These results demonstrate that collagen deposition during wound healing in muscle is achieved entirely by an increase in the rate of collagen synthesis

InP/Ga0.47In0.53As monolithic, two-junction, three-terminal tandem solar cells

The work presented has focussed on increasing the efficiency of InP-based solar cells through the development of a high-performance InP/Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As two-junction, three-terminal monolithic tandem cell. Such a tandem is particularly suited to space applications where a radiation-hard top cell (i.e., InP) is required. Furthermore, the InP/Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As materials system is lattice matched and offers a top cell/bottom cell bandgap differential (0.60 eV at 300 K) suitable for high tandem cell efficiencies under AMO illumination. A three-terminal configuration was chosen since it allows for independent power collection from each subcell in the monolithic stack, thus minimizing the adverse impact of radiation damage on the overall tandem efficiency. Realistic computer modeling calculations predict an efficiency boost of 7 to 11 percent from the Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As bottom cell under AMO illumination (25 C) for concentration ratios in the 1 to 1000 range. Thus, practical AMO efficiencies of 25 to 32 percent appear possible with the InP/Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As tandem cell. Prototype n/p/n InP/Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As monolithic tandem cells were fabricated and tested successfully. Using an aperture to define the illuminated areas, efficiency measurements performed on a non-optimized device under standard global illumination conditions (25 C) with no antireflection coating (ARC) give 12.2 percent for the InP top cell and 3.2 percent for the Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As bottom cell, yielding an overall tandem efficiency of 15.4 percent. With an ARC, the tandem efficiency could reach approximately 22 percent global and approximately 20 percent AMO. Additional details regarding the performance of individual InP and Ga(0.47)In(0.53)As component cells, fabrication and operation of complete tandem cells and methods for improving the tandem cell performance, are also discussed

Charge ordering in extended Hubbard models: Variational cluster approach

We present a generalization of the recently proposed variational cluster perturbation theory to extended Hubbard models at half filling with repulsive nearest neighbor interaction. The method takes into account short-range correlations correctly by the exact diagonalisation of clusters of finite size, whereas long-range order beyond the size of the clusters is treated on a mean-field level. For one dimension, we show that quantum Monte Carlo and density-matrix renormalization-group results can be reproduced with very good accuracy. Moreover we apply the method to the two-dimensional extended Hubbard model on a square lattice. In contrast to the one-dimensional case, a first order phase transition between spin density wave phase and charge density wave phase is found as function of the nearest-neighbor interaction at onsite interactions U>=3t. The single-particle spectral function is calculated for both the one-dimensional and the two-dimensional system.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure

s-wave Superconductivity Phase Diagram in the Inhomogeneous Two-Dimensional Attractive Hubbard Model

We study s-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional square lattice attractive Hubbard Hamiltonian for various inhomogeneous patterns of interacting sites. Using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) mean field approximation, we obtain the phase diagram for inhomogeneous patterns in which the on-site attractive interaction U_i between the electrons takes on two values, U_i=0 and -U/(1-f) (with f the concentration of non-interacting sites) as a function of average electron occupation per site n, and study the evolution of the phase diagram as f varies. In certain regions of the phase diagram, inhomogeneity results in a larger zero temperature average pairing amplitude (order parameter) and also a higher superconducting (SC) critical temperature T_c, relative to a uniform system with the same mean interaction strength (U_i=-U on all sites). These effects are observed for stripes, checkerboard, and even random patterns of the attractive centers, suggesting that the pattern of inhomogeneity is unimportant. The phase diagrams also include regions where superconductivity is obliterated due to the formation of various charge ordered phases. The enhancement of T_{c} due to inhomogeneity is robust as long as the electron doping per site n is less than twice the fraction of interacting sites [2(1-f)] regardless of the pattern. We also show that for certain inhomogeneous patterns, when n = 2(1-f), increasing temperature can work against the stability of existing charge ordered phases for large f and as a result, enhance T_{c}.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy on the novel superconductor CaC6

We present scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of the newly discovered superconductor CaC$_6$. The tunneling conductance spectra, measured between 3 K and 15 K, show a clear superconducting gap in the quasiparticle density of states. The gap function extracted from the spectra is in good agreement with the conventional BCS theory with $\Delta(0)$ = 1.6 $\pm$ 0.2 meV. The possibility of gap anisotropy and two-gap superconductivity is also discussed. In a magnetic field, direct imaging of the vortices allows to deduce a coherence length in the ab plane $\xi_{ab}\simeq$ 33 nm

The Principle of Valence Bond Amplitude Maximization in Cuprates: How it breeds Superconductivity, Spin and Charge Orders

A simple microscopic principle of `Valence bond (nearest neighbor singlet) amplitude maximization '(VBAM) is shown to be present in undoped and optimally doped cuprates and unify the very different orderings such as antiferromagnetism in the Mott insulator and the robust superconductivity accompanied by an enhanced charge and stripe correlations in the optimally doped cuprates. VBAM is nearly synonymous with the energy minimization principle. It is implicit in the RVB theory and thereby makes the predictions of RVB mean field theory of superconductivity qualitatively correct.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe

ExploreNEOs VIII: Dormant Short-Period Comets in the Near-Earth Asteroid Population

We perform a search for dormant comets, asteroidal objects of cometary origin, in the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population based on dynamical and physical considerations. Our study is based on albedos derived within the ExploreNEOs program and is extended by adding data from NEOWISE and the Akari asteroid catalog. We use a statistical approach to identify asteroids on orbits that resemble those of short-period near-Earth comets using the Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter, the aphelion distance, and the minimum orbital intersection distance with respect to Jupiter. From the sample of NEAs on comet-like orbits, we select those with a geometric albedo $p_V \leq 0.064$ as dormant comet candidates, and find that only $\sim$50% of NEAs on comet-like orbits also have comet-like albedos. We identify a total of 23 NEAs from our sample that are likely to be dormant short-period near-Earth comets and, based on a de-biasing procedure applied to the cryogenic NEOWISE survey, estimate both magnitude-limited and size-limited fractions of the NEA population that are dormant short-period comets. We find that 0.3-3.3% of the NEA population with $H \leq 21$, and $9^{+2}_{-5}$% of the population with diameters $d \geq 1$ km, are dormant short-period near-Earth comets.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in A

Luther-Emery Stripes, RVB Spin Liquid Background and High Tc Superconductivity

The stripe phase in high Tc cuprates is modeled as a single stripe coupled to the RVB spin liquid background by the single particle hopping process. In normal state, the strong pairing correlation inherent in RVB state is thus transfered into the Luttinger stripe and drives it toward spin-gap formation described by Luther-Emery Model. The establishment of global phase coherence in superconducting state contributes to a more relevant coupling to Luther-Emery Stripe and leads to gap opening in both spin and charge sectors. Physical consequences of the present picture are discussed, and emphasis is put on the unification of different energy scales relevant to cuprates, and good agreement is found with the available experimental results, especially in ARPES.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe

Anisotropy in the helicity modulus of a quantum 3D XY-model: application to YBCO

We present a variational study of the helicity moduli of an anisotropic quantum three-dimensional (3D) XY-model of YBCO in superconducting state. It is found that both the ab-plane and the c-axis helicity moduli, which are proportional to the inverse square of the corresponding magnetic field penetration depth, vary with temperature T as T to the fourth power in the zero temperature limit. Moreover, the c-axis helicity modulus drops with temperature much faster than the ab-plane helicity modulus because of the weaker Josephson couplings along the c-axis compared to those along the ab-plane. These findings are in disagreement with the experiments on high quality samples of YBCO.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur