462 research outputs found
Microwave Absorption of Surface-State Electrons on Liquid He
We have investigated the intersubband transitions of surface state electrons
(SSE) on liquid He induced by microwave radiation at temperatures from 1.1
K down to 0.01 K. Above 0.4 K, the transition linewidth is proportional to the
density of He vapor atoms. This proportionality is explained well by Ando's
theory, in which the linewidth is determined by the electron - vapor atom
scattering. However, the linewidth is larger than the calculation by a factor
of 2.1. This discrepancy strongly suggests that the theory underestimates the
electron - vapor atom scattering rate. At lower temperatures, the absorption
spectrum splits into several peaks. The multiple peak structure is partly
attributed to the spatial inhomogeneity of the static holding electric field
perpendicular to the electron sheet.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp
Non-Classical Response from Quench-Cooled Solid Helium Confined in Porous Gold
We have investigated the non-classical response of solid 4He confined in
porous gold set to torsional oscillation. When solid helium is grown rapidly,
nearly 7% of the solid helium appears to be decoupled from the oscillation
below about 200 mK. Dissipation appears at temperatures where the decoupling
shows maximum variation. In contrast, the decoupling is substantially reduced
in slowly grown solid helium. The dynamic response of solid helium was also
studied by imposing a sudden increase in the amplitude of oscillation. Extended
relaxation in the resonant period shift, suggesting the emergence of the
pinning of low energy excitations, was observed below the onset temperature of
the non-classical response. The motion of a dislocation or a glassy solid is
restricted in the entangled narrow pores and is not likely responsible for the
period shift and long relaxation
Albumin-based hydrogels for regenerative engineering and cell transplantation.
Albumin, the most abundant plasma protein in mammals, is a versatile and easily obtainable biomaterial. It is pH and temperature responsive, dissolvable in high concentrations and gels readily in defined conditions. This versatility, together with its inexpensiveness and biocompatibility, makes albumin an attractive biomaterial for biomedical research and therapeutics. So far, clinical research in albumin has centered mainly on its use as a carrier molecule or nanoparticle to improve drug pharmacokinetics and delivery to target sites. In contrast, research in albumin-based hydrogels is less established albeit growing in interest over recent years. In this minireview, we report current literature and critically discuss the synthesis, mechanical properties, biological effects and uses, biodegradability and cost of albumin hydrogels as a xeno-free, customizable, and transplantable construct for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.EPSRC
Isaac Newton Trust
Rosetrees Trus
Gigantic Maximum of Nanoscale Noncontact Friction
We report measurements of noncontact friction between surfaces of NbSe
and SrTiO, and a sharp Pt-Ir tip that is oscillated laterally by a quartz
tuning fork cantilever. At 4.2 K, the friction coefficients on both the
metallic and insulating materials show a giant maximum at the tip-surface
distance of several nanometers. The maximum is strongly correlated with an
increase in the spring constant of the cantilever. These features can be
understood phenomenologically by a distance-dependent relaxation mechanism with
distributed time scales.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Decay of Superflow Confined in Thin Torus: A Realization of Tunneling Quantum Fields
The quantum nucleation of phase slips in neutral superfluids confined in a
thin torus is investigated by means of the collective coordinate method. We
have devised, with numerical justification, a certain collective coordinate to
describe the quantum nucleation process of a phase slip. Considering the
quantum fluctuation around the local minimum of the action, we calculate the
effective mass of the phase slip. Due to the coherence of the condensate
throughout the torus, the effective mass is proportional to the circumference L
of the torus, and the decay rate has a strong exponential L-dependence.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTe
Binding of molecules to DNA and other semiflexible polymers
A theory is presented for the binding of small molecules such as surfactants
to semiflexible polymers. The persistence length is assumed to be large
compared to the monomer size but much smaller than the total chain length. Such
polymers (e.g. DNA) represent an intermediate case between flexible polymers
and stiff, rod-like ones, whose association with small molecules was previously
studied. The chains are not flexible enough to actively participate in the
self-assembly, yet their fluctuations induce long-range attractive interactions
between bound molecules. In cases where the binding significantly affects the
local chain stiffness, those interactions lead to a very sharp, cooperative
association. This scenario is of relevance to the association of DNA with
surfactants and compact proteins such as RecA. External tension exerted on the
chain is found to significantly modify the binding by suppressing the
fluctuation-induced interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, RevTex, the published versio
Magneto-shear modes and a.c. dissipation in a two-dimensional Wigner crystal
The a.c. response of an unpinned and finite 2D Wigner crystal to electric
fields at an angular frequency has been calculated in the dissipative
limit, , where is the scattering rate. For
electrons screened by parallel electrodes, in zero magnetic field the
long-wavelength excitations are a diffusive longitudinal transmission line mode
and a diffusive shear mode. A magnetic field couples these modes together to
form two new magneto-shear modes. The dimensionless coupling parameter where and are the
speeds of transverse and longitudinal sound in the collisionless limit and
and are the tensor components of the
magnetoconductivity. For , both the coupled modes contribute
to the response of 2D electrons in a Corbino disk measurement of
magnetoconductivity. For , the electron crystal rotates rigidly in
a magnetic field. In general, both the amplitude and phase of the measured a.c.
currents are changed by the shear modulus. In principle, both the
magnetoconductivity and the shear modulus can be measured simultaneously.Comment: REVTeX, 7 pp., 4 eps figure
Bose-Einstein Condensate in Solid Helium
We present neutron scattering measurements of the atomic momentum
distribution, n(k), in solid helium under a pressure p = 41 bars and at
temperatures between 80 mK and 500 mK. The aim is to determine whether there is
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) below the critical temperature, T_c = 200 mK
where a superfluid density has been observed. Assuming BEC appears as a
macroscopic occupation of the k = 0 state below T_c, we find a condensate
fraction of n_0 = (-0.10 \pm 1.20)% at T = 80 mK and n_0 = (0.08\pm0.78)% at T
= 120 mK, consistent with zero. The shape of n(k) also does not change on
crossing T_c within measurement precision.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (in press
Study of Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of Bose systems governed by a random potential using quantum Monte Carlo simulations
We perform quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the 2D hard-core
Bose-Hubbard model in a random potential. Our motivation is to investigate the
effects of randomness on the Kosterlitz--Thouless (KT) transition. The chemical
potential is assumed to be random, by site, with a Gaussian distribution. The
KT transition is confirmed by a finite-size analysis of the superfluid density
and the power-law decay of the correlation function. By varying the variance of
the Gaussian distribution, we find that the transition temperature decreases as
the variance increases. We obtain the phase diagram showing the superfluid and
disordered phases, and estimate the quantum critical point (QCP). Our results
on the ground state reveal the existence of the Bose glass phase. Finally, we
discuss what the value of the variance at the QCP indicates from the viewpoint
of percolation.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in JPS
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