Crossed Andreev reflection-induced magnetoresistance

We show that very large negative magnetoresistance can be obtained in magnetic trilayers in a current-in-plane geometry owing to the existence of crossed Andreev reflection. This spin-valve consists of a thin superconducting film sandwiched between two ferromagnetic layers whose magnetization is allowed to be either parallelly or antiparallelly aligned. For a suitable choice of structure parameters and nearly fully spin-polarized ferromagnets the magnetoresistance can exceed -80%. Our results are relevant for the design and implementation of spintronic devices exploiting ferromagnet-superconductor structures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, final published versio

Building Simulation Applications BSA 2019 - Proceedings of 4th IBPSA-Italy conference

Unlike the previous editions,the fourth Building Simulation Applications BSA 2019 Conference took place in June, from 19th to 21st, instead of during the winter period. For the biennial conference hosted by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, IBPSA Italy had to double its efforts, considering its concurrent commitment to the organization of Building Simulation 2019 in Rome. Even so, BSA 2019 featured more than 60 participants and around 130 different authors, with a significant presence of delegates from abroad and, in particular, from Austria. A different review process was introduced, with the full paper submission and review following the conference. Based on this, only 40 out of the 54 works presented during the conference in two parallel sessions were accepted for inclusion in this proceedings book

Towards a microscopic description of the free-energy landscape of water

Free-energy landscape theory is often used to describe complex molecular systems. Here, a microscopic description of water structure and dynamics based on configuration-space-networks and molecular dynamics simulations of the TIP4P/2005 model is applied to investigate the free-energy landscape of water. The latter is built on top of a large set of water microstates describing the kinetic stability of local hydrogen-bond arrangements up to the second solvation shell. In temperature space, the landscape displays three regions with an overall different organization. At ambient conditions, the free-energy surface is characterized by structural inhomogeneities with multiple, structurally well defined, short-lived basins of attraction. Below around ambient temperature, the liquid rapidly becomes homogeneous. In this regime, the landscape is funneled-like, with fully-coordinated water arrangements at the bottom of the funnel. Finally, a third region develops below the temperature of maximal compressibility (Widom line) where the funnel becomes steeper with few interconversions between microstates other than the fully coordinated ones. Our results present a viable a way to manage the complexity of water structure and dynamics, connecting microscopic properties to its ensemble behavior