365 research outputs found
Band inversion driven by electronic correlations at the (111) LaAlO/SrTiO interface
Quantum confinement at complex oxide interfaces establishes an intricate
hierarchy of the strongly correlated -orbitals which is widely recognized as
a source of emergent physics. The most prominent example is the (001)
LaAlO/SrTiO(LAO/STO) interface, which features a dome-shaped phase
diagram of superconducting critical temperature and spin-orbit coupling (SOC)
as a function of electrostatic doping, arising from a selective occupancy of
orbitals of different character. Here we study (111)-oriented LAO/STO
interfaces - where the three orbitals contribute equally to the
sub-band states caused by confinement - and investigate the impact of this
unique feature on electronic transport. We show that transport occurs through
two sets of electron-like sub-bands, and the carrier density of one of the sets
shows a non-monotonic dependence on the sample conductance. Using tight-binding
modeling, we demonstrate that this behavior stems from a band inversion driven
by on-site Coulomb interactions. The balanced contribution of all
orbitals to electronic transport is shown to result in strong SOC with reduced
electrostatic modulation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, (+ supplemental material
Two-dimensional superconductivity at the (111)LaAlO/SrTiO interface
We report on the discovery and transport study of the superconducting ground
state present at the (111)LaAlO/SrTiO interface. The superconducting
transition is consistent with a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and
its 2D nature is further corroborated by the anisotropy of the critical
magnetic field, as calculated by Tinkham. The estimated superconducting layer
thickness and coherence length are 10 nm and 60 nm, respectively. The results
of this work provide a new platform to clarify the microscopic details of
superconductivity at LaAlO/SrTiO interfaces, in particular in what
concerns the link with orbital symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Field-Dependent Differential Susceptibility Studies on Tetrathiafulvalene-AuS\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3eC\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3e(CF\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e)\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3e: Universal Aspects of the Spin-Peierls Phase Diagram
An applied magnetic field is known to produce novel effects in the phase behavior of magnetoelastic spin-Peierls systems. Hence we report measurements of the differential susceptibility (χ) and magnetization (M) in fields up to 40 kOe (4 T) on the spin-Peierls compound tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-AuS4C4(CF3)4 in the temperature region (1.1K \u3c- T \u3c- 4.2K). This range of field and temperature encompasses an interesting phase region, including the zero-field spin-Peierls transition temperature Tc(0)=2.03 K. The measurements of the differential (ac) susceptibility provide a more sensitive probe of the transition behavior than magnetization measurements. The first definitive evidence for significant deviations from mean-field critical behavior appear in these measurements, and the appropriate criteria for determining the precise location of the transitions are thus provided by the thermodynamic theory of λ transitions. Using the new criteria, qualitative and even quantitative agreement is obtained with current theories of the field dependence of spin-Peierls transitions. A novel contour plot of χac in the H − T plane is shown to be useful for the delineation of the global phase-transition behavior. An investigation of the role of relaxation effects in χac relative to the nature of the phase boundaries is conducted. A major feature is the observation of a striking degree of universality in the phase behavior of three spin-Peierls systems TTF-AuS4C4(CF3)4, TTF-AuS4C4(CF3)4, and methylethylmorpholinium di-tetracyanoquinodimethane [MEM-(TCNQ)2]. hese universal features are preserved through considerable differences in lattice structure and a variation in Tc(0) of a factor of 10
Isolation and characterization of few-layer black phosphorus
Isolation and characterization of mechanically exfoliated black phosphorus
flakes with a thickness down to two single-layers is presented. A modification
of the mechanical exfoliation method, which provides higher yield of atomically
thin flakes than conventional mechanical exfoliation, has been developed. We
present general guidelines to determine the number of layers using optical
microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy in a fast
and reliable way. Moreover, we demonstrate that the exfoliated flakes are
highly crystalline and that they are stable even in free-standing form through
Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements. A strong
thickness dependence of the band structure is found by density functional
theory calculations. The exciton binding energy, within an effective mass
approximation, is also calculated for different number of layers. Our
computational results for the optical gap are consistent with preliminary
photoluminescence results on thin flakes. Finally, we study the environmental
stability of black phosphorus flakes finding that the flakes are very
hydrophilic and that long term exposure to air moisture etches black phosphorus
away. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the aging of the flakes is slow enough
to allow fabrication of field-effect transistors with strong ambipolar
behavior. Density functional theory calculations also give us insight into the
water-induced changes of the structural and electronic properties of black
phosphorus.Comment: 11 main figures, 7 supporting figure
Reversing Blood Flows Act through klf2a to Ensure Normal Valvulogenesis in the Developing Heart
Heart valve anomalies are some of the most common congenital heart defects, yet neither the genetic nor the epigenetic forces guiding heart valve development are well understood. When functioning normally, mature heart valves prevent intracardiac retrograde blood flow; before valves develop, there is considerable regurgitation, resulting in reversing (or oscillatory) flows between the atrium and ventricle. As reversing flows are particularly strong stimuli to endothelial cells in culture, an attractive hypothesis is that heart valves form as a developmental response to retrograde blood flows through the maturing heart. Here, we exploit the relationship between oscillatory flow and heart rate to manipulate the amount of retrograde flow in the atrioventricular (AV) canal before and during valvulogenesis, and find that this leads to arrested valve growth. Using this manipulation, we determined that klf2a is normally expressed in the valve precursors in response to reversing flows, and is dramatically reduced by treatments that decrease such flows. Experimentally knocking down the expression of this shear-responsive gene with morpholine antisense oligonucleotides (MOs) results in dysfunctional valves. Thus, klf2a expression appears to be necessary for normal valve formation. This, together with its dependence on intracardiac hemodynamic forces, makes klf2a expression an early and reliable indicator of proper valve development. Together, these results demonstrate a critical role for reversing flows during valvulogenesis and show how relatively subtle perturbations of normal hemodynamic patterns can lead to both major alterations in gene expression and severe valve dysgenesis
Screen-detected vs clinical breast cancer: the advantage in the relative risk of lymph node metastases decreases with increasing tumour size
Screen-detected (SD) breast cancers are smaller and biologically more indolent than clinically presenting cancers. An often debated question is: if left undiagnosed during their preclinical phase, would they become more aggressive or would they only increase in size? This study considered a registry-based series (1988–1999) of 3329 unifocal, pT1a-pT3 breast cancer cases aged 50–70 years, of which 994 were SD cases and 2335 clinical cases. The rationale was that (1) the average risk of lymph node involvement (N+) is lower for SD cases, (2) nodal status is the product of biological aggressiveness and chronological age of the disease, (3) for any breast cancer, tumour size is an indicator of chronological age, and (4) for SD cases, tumour size is specifically an indicator of the duration of the preclinical phase, that is, an inverse indicator of lead time. The hypothesis was that the relative protection of SD cases from the risk of N+ and, thus, their relative biological indolence decrease with increasing tumour size. The odds ratio (OR) estimate of the risk of N+ was obtained from a multiple logistic regression model that included terms for detection modality, tumour size category, patient age, histological type, and number of lymph nodes recovered. A term for the detection modality-by-tumour size category interaction was entered, and the OR for the main effect of detection by screening vs clinical diagnosis was calculated. This increased linearly from 0.05 (95% confidence interval: 0.01–0.39) in the 2–7 mm size category to 0.95 (0.64–1.40) in the 18–22 mm category. This trend is compatible with the view that biological aggressiveness of breast cancer increases during the preclinical phase
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