834 research outputs found
Impact of an Irreversibly Adsorbed Layer on Local Viscosity of Nanoconfined Polymer Melts
We report the origin of the effect of nanoscale confinement on the local viscosity of entangled
polystyrene (PS) films at temperatures far above the glass transition temperature. By using marker
x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy with gold nanoparticles embedded in the PS films prepared on solid
substrates, we have determined the local viscosity as a function of the distance from the polymer-substrate
interface. The results show the impact of a very thin adsorbed layer ( 7 nm in thickness) even without
specific interactions of the polymer with the substrate, overcoming the effect of a surface mobile layer at
the air-polymer interface and thereby resulting in a significant increase in the local viscosity as
approaching the substrate interface.T. K. acknowledges the
financial support from NSF Grant No. CMMI-084626.
Uses of the Advanced Photon Source and the National
Synchrotron Light Source were supported by the U.S.
Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic
Energy Sciences, under Contracts No. DE-AC02-
06CH11357 and No. DE-AC02-98CH10886, respectively
Polarization-analyzed resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of the orbital excitations in KCuF3
We report a Cu K-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) study of
orbital excitations in KCuF3 . By performing the polarization analysis of the
scattered photons, we disclose that the excitation between the eg orbitals and
the excitations from t2g to eg exhibit distinct polarization dependence. The
polarization dependence of the respective excitations is interpreted based on a
phenomenological consideration of the symmetry of the RIXS process that yields
a necessary condition for observing the excitations. In addition, we show that
the orbital excitations are dispersionless within our experimental resolution.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A Magnetic Transition Probed by the Ce Ion in Square-Lattice Antiferromagnet CeMnAsO
We examined the magnetic properties of the square-lattice antiferromagnets
CeMnAsO and LaMnAsO and their solid solutions La1-xCexMnAsO by resistivity,
magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity measurements below room temperature.
A first-order phase transition is observed at 34.1 K, below which the
ground-state doublet of the Ce ion splits by 3.53 meV. It is likely that Mn
moments already ordered above room temperature are reoriented at the
transition, as reported for related compounds, such as NdMnAsO and PrMnSbO.
This transition generates a large internal magnetic field at the Ce site in
spite of the fact that simple Heisenberg interactions should be cancelled out
at the Ce site owing to geometrical frustration. The transition takes place at
nearly the same temperature with the substitution of La for Ce up to 90%. The
Ce moment does not undergo long-range order by itself, but is parasitically
induced at the transition, serving as a good probe for detecting the magnetism
of Mn spins in a square lattice.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jp
Observation of anomalous single-magnon scattering in half-metallic ferromagnets by chemical pressure control
Temperature variation of resistivity and specific heat have been measured for
prototypical half-metallic ferromagnets,
R_0.6Sr_0.4MnO_3, with controlling the one-electron bandwidth W. We have
found variation of the temperature scalings in the resistivity from
T^2 (R = La, and Nd) to T^3 (R = Sm), and have interpreted the $T^3-law in
terms of the anomalous single-magnon scattering (AMS) process in the
half-metallic system.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., 3 pages + 4 EPS figure
TRPV1-expressing primary afferents generate behavioral responses to pruritogens via multiple mechanisms
The mechanisms that generate itch are poorly understood at both the molecular and cellular levels despite its clinical importance. To explore the peripheral neuronal mechanisms underlying itch, we assessed the behavioral responses (scratching) produced by s.c. injection of various pruritogens in PLCβ3- or TRPV1-deficient mice. We provide evidence that at least 3 different molecular pathways contribute to the transduction of itch responses to different pruritogens: 1) histamine requires the function of both PLCβ3 and the TRPV1 channel; 2) serotonin, or a selective agonist, α-methyl-serotonin (α-Me-5-HT), requires the presence of PLCβ3 but not TRPV1, and 3) endothelin-1 (ET-1) does not require either PLCβ3 or TRPV1. To determine whether the activity of these molecules is represented in a particular subpopulation of sensory neurons, we examined the behavioral consequences of selectively eliminating 2 nonoverlapping subsets of nociceptors. The genetic ablation of MrgprD^+ neurons that represent ≈90% of cutaneous nonpeptidergic neurons did not affect the scratching responses to a number of pruritogens. In contrast, chemical ablation of the central branch of TRPV1+ nociceptors led to a significant behavioral deficit for pruritogens, including α-Me-5-HT and ET-1, that is, the TRPV1-expressing nociceptor was required, whether or not TRPV1 itself was essential. Thus, TRPV1 neurons are equipped with multiple signaling mechanisms that respond to different pruritogens. Some of these require TRPV1 function; others use alternate signal transduction pathways
Spin Pseudo Gap in La2-xSrxCuO4 Studied by Neutron Scattering
Spin excitations of La2-xSrxCuO have been studied using inelastic neutron
scattering techniques in the energy range of 2 meV =< w =< 12 meV and the
temperature range of 8 K =< T =< 150 K. We observed a signature of a spin
pseudo gap in the excitation spectrum above Tc for the slightly overdoped
sample with x = 0.18. On heating, the spin pseudo gap gradually collapses
between T = 80 K and 150 K. For the x = 0.15 and 0.20, although the visibility
of gap-like structure at T ~ Tc is lower compared to the x = 0.18 sample, the
broad bump of kai"(w) appears at w ~ 5 meV,close to the spin-gap energy at base
temperature, suggests the existence of the spin pseudo gap in the normal state.Comment: revtex, 7 pages, 8 eps figures, PRB (2003) in pres
Spin-Glass and Chiral-Glass Transitions in a Heisenberg Spin-Glass Model in Three Dimensions
The three-dimensional Heisenberg spin-glass model is investigated by
the non-equilibrium relaxation method from the paramagnetic state. Finite-size
effects in the non-equilibrium relaxation are analyzed, and the relaxation
functions of the spin-glass susceptibility and the chiral-glass susceptibility
in the infinite-size system are obtained. The finite-time scaling analysis
gives the spin-glass transition at and the
chiral-glass transition at . The results
suggest that both transitions occur simultaneously. The critical exponent of
the spin-glass susceptibility is estimated as ,
which makes an agreement with the experiments of the insulating and the
canonical spin-glass materials.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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