1,305 research outputs found
High Field determination of superconducting fluctuations in high-Tc cuprates
Large pulsed magnetic fields up to 60 Tesla are used to suppress the
contribution of superconducting fluctuations (SCF) to the ab-plane conductivity
above Tc in a series of YBa2Cu3O6+x single crystals. The fluctuation
conductivity is found to vanish nearly exponentially with temperature, allowing
us to determine precisely the field H'c(T) and the temperature T'c above which
the SCFs are fully suppressed. T'c is always found much smaller than the
pseudogap temperature. A careful investigation near optimal doping shows that
T'c is higher than the pseudogap T*, which indicates that the pseudogap cannot
be assigned to preformed pairs. For nearly optimally doped samples, the
fluctuation conductivity can be accounted for by gaussian fluctuations
following the Ginzburg-Landau scheme. A phase fluctuation contribution might be
invoked for the most underdoped samples in a T range which increases when
controlled disorder is introduced by electron irradiation. Quantitative
analysis of the fluctuating magnetoconductance allows us to determine the
critical field Hc2(0) which is found to be quite similar to H'c(0) and to
increase with hole doping. Studies of the incidence of disorder on both T'c and
T* enable us to propose a three dimensional phase diagram including a disorder
axis, which allows to explain most observations done in other cuprate families.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, invited paper at the M2SHTSC Conference
Washington (2012
Superconducting Fluctuations, Pseudogap and Phase Diagram in Cuprates
We report transport measurements using pulsed magnetic fields to suppress the
superconducting fluctuations (SCF) conductivity in a series of YBa_2Cu_3O_(6+x)
samples. These experiments allow us altogether to measure the temperature T'c
at which SCF disappear, and the pseudogap temperature T*. While the latter are
consistent with previous determinations of T*, we find that T'c is slightly
larger than similar data taken by Nernst measurements. A careful investigation
near optimal doping shows that T* becomes smaller than T'c, which is an
unambiguous evidence that the pseudogap cannot be assigned to preformed pairs.
Studies of the incidence of disorder on both T'c and T* allow us to propose a
phase diagram including disorder which explains most observations done in other
cuprate families, and to discuss the available knowledge on the pseudogap line
in the phase diagram.Comment: New version with minor correction
Total suppression of superconductivity by high magnetic fields in YBa2 Cu3O6.6
We have studied in fields up to 60T the variation of the transverse
magnetoresistance (MR) of underdoped YBCO6.6 crystals either pure or with Tc
reduced down to 3.5K by electron irradiation. We evidence that the normal state
MR is restored above a threshold field H'c(T), which is found to vanish at
T'c>>Tc. In the pure YBCO6.6 sample a 50 Tesla field is already required to
completely suppress the superconducting fluctuations at Tc. While disorder does
not depress the pseudogap temperature, it reduces drastically the phase
coherence established at Tc and weakly H'c(0), T'c and the onset Tnu of the
Nernst signal which are more characteristic of the 2D local pairing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Nernst effect and disorder in the normal state of high-T_{c} cuprates
We have studied the influence of disorder induced by electron irradiation on
the Nernst effect in optimally and underdoped YBa2Cu3O(7-d) single crystals.
The fluctuation regime above T_{c} expands significantly with disorder,
indicating that the T_{c} decrease is partly due to the induced loss of phase
coherence. In pure crystals the temperature extension of the Nernst signal is
found to be narrow whatever the hole doping, contrary to data reported in the
low-T_{c} cuprates families. Our results show that the presence of "intrinsic"
disorder can explain the enhanced range of Nernst signal found in the pseudogap
phase of the latter compounds.Comment: revised version. to be published in Physical Review Letter
Exploring the spatial, temporal, and vertical distribution of methane in Pluto's atmosphere
High-resolution spectra of Pluto in the 1.66 um region, recorded with the
VLT/CRIRES instrument in 2008 (2 spectra) and 2012 (5 spectra), are analyzed to
constrain the spatial and vertical distribution of methane in Pluto's
atmosphere and to search for mid-term (4 year) variability. A sensitivity study
to model assumptions (temperature structure, surface pressure, Pluto's radius)
is performed. Results indicate that (i) no variation of the CH4 atmospheric
content (column-density or mixing ratio) with Pluto rotational phase is present
in excess of 20 % (ii) CH4 column densities show at most marginal variations
between 2008 and 2012, with a best guess estimate of a ~20 % decrease over this
time frame. As stellar occultations indicate that Pluto's surface pressure has
continued to increase over this period, this implies a concomitant decrease of
the methane mixing ratio (iii) the data do not show evidence for an
altitude-varying methane distribution; in particular, they imply a roughly
uniform mixing ratio in at least the first 22-27 km of the atmosphere, and high
concentrations of low-temperature methane near the surface can be ruled out.
Our results are also best consistent with a relatively large (> 1180 km) Pluto
radius. Comparison with predictions from a recently developed global climate
model GCM indicates that these features are best explained if the source of
methane occurs in regional-scale CH4 ice deposits, including both low latitudes
and high Northern latitudes, evidence for which is present from the rotational
and secular evolution of the near-IR features due to CH4 ice. Our "best guess"
predictions for the New Horizons encounter in 2015 are: a 1184 km radius, a 17
ubar surface pressure, and a 0.44 % CH4 mixing ratio with negligible
longitudinal variations.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure
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Recent advances in the development of a European Mars climate model in Oxford
Since the early 1990s, efforts have been under way in Oxford to develop a range of numerical weather and climate prediction models for various studies of the Martian atmosphere and near-surface environment. Early versions of the Oxford model were more in the way of 'process models', aimed at relatively idealised studies e.g. of baroclinic instability[1] and low-level western boundary currents in the cross-equatorial solsticial Hadley circulation[2]. Since the mid-1990s, however, the group in Oxford have worked closely with the modelling group at LMD in Paris to develop a joint suite of more sophisticated and comprehensive numerical models of Mars' atmosphere. This collaboration, partly sponsored in recent years by the European Space Agency in connection with the associated development of a climate database for Mars[3], culminated in a suite of global circulation models[4], in which both groups share a library of parametrisation schemes, but in which the Oxford team use a spectral representation of horizontal fields (in the form of spherical harmonics) and the LMD group use a grid-point finite difference representation. These models were described in some detail by Forget et al.[4], and their preliminary validation and use in the construction of first versions of the European Mars Climate Database by Lewis et al.[3]. In the present report, we will review further developments which have taken place since the latter papers were published. Aspects of these developments which are common to both the LMD and Oxford groups will also be covered in the companion contribution by Forget et al. in this meeting, and so will only be touched on briefly here. Instead, we will concentrate on those advances which are more specific to the Oxford version of the model. In the following sections, we outline the main new developments to the model formulation since 1999. Subsequent sections then describe some recent examples where the new model is being utilised to advance a diverse range of studies of Mars atmospheric science
Inkjet-printed vertically emitting solid-state organic lasers
In this paper, we show that Inkjet Printing can be successfully applied to
external-cavity vertically-emitting thin-film organic lasers, and can be used
to generate a diffraction-limited output beam with an output energy as high as
33.6 uJ with a slope efficiency S of 34%. Laser emission shows to be
continuously tunable from 570 to 670 nm using an intracavity polymer-based
Fabry-Perot etalon. High-optical quality films with several um thicknesses are
realized thanks to ink-jet printing. We introduce a new optical material where
EMD6415 commercial ink constitutes the optical host matrix and exhibits a
refractive index of 1.5 and an absorption coefficient of 0.66 cm-1 at 550-680
nm. Standard laser dyes like Pyromethene 597 and Rhodamine 640 are incorporated
in solution to the EMD6415 ink. Such large size " printed pixels " of 50 mm 2
present uniform and flat surfaces, with roughness measured as low as 1.5 nm in
different locations of a 50um x 50um AFM scan. Finally, as the gain capsules
fabricated by Inkjet printing are simple and do not incorporate any tuning or
cavity element, they are simple to make, have a negligible fabrication cost and
can be used as fully disposable items. This works opens the way towards the
fabrication of really low-cost tunable visible lasers with an affordable
technology that has the potential to be widely disseminated
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