53 research outputs found
Anisotropic charge dynamics in the quantum spin-liquid candidate -(BEDT-TTF)Cu(CN)
We have in detail characterized the anisotropic charge response of the dimer
Mott insulator -(BEDT-TTF)\-Cu(CN) by dc conductivity, Hall
effect and dielectric spectroscopy. At room temperature the Hall coefficient is
positive and close to the value expected from stoichiometry; the temperature
behavior follows the dc resistivity . Within the planes the dc
conductivity is well described by variable-range hopping in two dimensions;
this model, however, fails for the out-of-plane direction. An unusually broad
in-plane dielectric relaxation is detected below about 60 K; it slows down much
faster than the dc conductivity following an Arrhenius law. At around 17 K we
can identify a pronounced dielectric anomaly concomitantly with anomalous
features in the mean relaxation time and spectral broadening. The out-of-plane
relaxation, on the other hand, shows a much weaker dielectric anomaly; it
closely follows the temperature behavior of the respective dc resistivity. At
lower temperatures, the dielectric constant becomes smaller both within and
perpendicular to the planes; also the relaxation levels off. The observed
behavior bears features of relaxor-like ferroelectricity. Because
heterogeneities impede its long-range development, only a weak tunneling-like
dynamics persists at low temperatures. We suggest that the random potential and
domain structure gradually emerge due to the coupling to the anion network.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
Extrinsic Spin Hall Effect Induced by Iridium Impurities in Copper
We study the extrinsic spin Hall effect induced by Ir impurities in Cu by
injecting a pure spin current into a CuIr wire from a lateral spin valve
structure. While no spin Hall effect is observed without Ir impurity, the spin
Hall resistivity of CuIr increases linearly with the impurity concentration.
The spin Hall angle of CuIr, % throughout the concentration
range between 1% and 12%, is practically independent of temperature. These
results represent a clear example of predominant skew scattering extrinsic
contribution to the spin Hall effect in a nonmagnetic alloy.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Hall effect in the heavy-fermion compound CePtSi
We present Hall-effect measurements on the heavy-fermion compound CePtSi. Above the temperature of antiferromagnetic ordering T_N, the Hall effect of CePtSi exhibits the behavior generally observed in heavy-fermion systems and ascribed to skew scattering. Below T_N the Hall effect is enhanced and its field dependence is strongly nonlinear. We show that this behavior arises from skew scattering or anomalous velocity effects rather than from a change of the ordinary Hall effect induced by a reconstruction of the Fermi surface
Field dependence of magnetization reversal by spin transfer
We analyse the effect of the applied field (Happl) on the current-driven
magnetization reversal in pillar-shaped Co/Cu/Co trilayers, where we observe
two different types of transition between the parallel (P) and antiparallel
(AP) magnetic configurations of the Co layers. If Happl is weaker than a rather
small threshold value, the transitions between P and AP are irreversible and
relatively sharp. For Happl exceding the threshold value, the same transitions
are progressive and reversible. We show that the criteria for the stability of
the P and AP states and the experimentally observed behavior can be precisely
accounted for by introducing the current-induced torque of the spin transfer
models in a Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation. This approach also provides a
good description for the field dependence of the critical currents
Lipocalin 2 modulates the cellular response to amyloid beta
The production, accumulation and aggregation of amyloid beta (Aß) peptides in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are influenced by different modulators. Among these are iron and iron-related proteins, given their ability to modulate the expression of the amyloid precursor protein and to drive Aß aggregation. Herein, we describe that lipocalin 2 (LCN2), a mammalian acute-phase protein involved in iron homeostasis, is highly produced in response to Aß1-42 by choroid plexus epithelial cells and astrocytes, but not by microglia or neurons. Although Aß1-42 stimulation decreases the dehydrogenase activity and survival of wild-type astrocytes, astrocytes lacking the expression of Lcn2 are not affected. This protection results from a lower expression of the proapoptotic gene Bim and a decreased inflammatory response. Altogether, these findings show that Aß toxicity to astrocytes requires LCN2, which represents a novel mechanism to target when addressing AD.Cell Death and Differentiation advance online publication, 23 May 2014; doi:10.1038/cdd.2014.68.We thank Dr. Ioannis Sotiropoulos for reagents and comments. Sandro Da Mesquita and Ana Catarina Ferreira are recipients of PhD fellowships and Fernanda Marques is recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal)/FEDER. This work was supported by a grant from FCT/FEDER (EXPL/NEUOSD/2196/2013)
Linear-T scattering and pairing from antiferromagnetic fluctuations in the (TMTSF)_2X organic superconductors
An exhaustive investigation of metallic electronic transport and
superconductivity of organic superconductors (TMTSF)_2PF_6 and (TMTSF)_2ClO_4
in the Pressure-Temperature phase diagram between T=0 and 20 K and a
theoretical description based on the weak coupling renormalization group method
are reported. The analysis of the data reveals a high temperature domain
(T\approx 20 K) in which a regular T^2 electron-electron Umklapp scattering
obeys a Kadowaki-Woods law and a low temperature regime (T< 8 K) where the
resistivity is dominated by a linear-in temperature component. In both
compounds a correlated behavior exists between the linear transport and the
extra nuclear spin-lattice relaxation due to antiferromagnetic fluctuations. In
addition, a tight connection is clearly established between linear transport
and T_c. We propose a theoretical description of the anomalous resistivity
based on a weak coupling renormalization group determination of
electron-electron scattering rate. A linear resistivity is found and its origin
lies in antiferromagnetic correlations sustained by Cooper pairing via
constructive interference. The decay of the linear resistivity term under
pressure is correlated with the strength of antiferromagnetic spin correlations
and T_c, along with an unusual build-up of the Fermi liquid scattering. The
results capture the key features of the low temperature electrical transport in
the Bechgaard salts
Hall effect in the vicinity of quantum critical point in Tm1-xYbxB12
The angular, temperature and magnetic field dependences of Hall resistance
roH for the rare-earth dodecaboride solid solutions Tm1-xYbxB12 have been
studied in a wide vicinity of the quantum critical point (QCP) xC~0.3. The
measurements performed in the temperature range 1.9-300 K on high quality
single crystals allowed to find out for the first time in these fcc compounds
both an appearance of the second harmonic contribution in ro2H at QCP and its
enhancement under the Tm to ytterbium substitution and/or with increase of
external magnetic field. When the Yb concentration x increases a negative
maximum of a significant amplitude was shown to appear on the temperature
dependences of Hall coefficient RH(T) for the Tm1-xYbxB12 compounds. Moreover,
a complicated activation type behavior of the Hall coefficient is observed at
intermediate temperatures for x>0.5 with activation energies Eg~200K and
Ea~55-75K in combination with the sign inversion of RH(T) at low temperatures
in the coherent regime. The density of states renormalization effects are
analyzed within the variation of Yb concentration and the features of the
charge transport in various regimes (charge gap formation, intra-gap manybody
resonance and coherent regime) are discussed in detail in Tm1-xYbxB12 solid
solutions.Comment: 38 pages including 10 figures, 70 reference
Phenotypic and genetic variation in the response of chickens to Eimeria tenella induced coccidiosis
Background: Coccidiosis is a major contributor to losses in poultry production. With emerging constraints on the use of in-feed prophylactic anticoccidial drugs and the relatively high costs of effective vaccines, there are commercial incentives to breed chickens with greater resistance to this important production disease. To identify phenotypic biomarkers that are associated with the production impacts of coccidiosis, and to assess their covariance and heritability, 942 Cobb500 commercial broilers were subjected to a defined challenge with Eimeria tenella (Houghton). Three traits were measured: weight gain (WG) during the period of infection, caecal lesion score (CLS) post mortem, and the level of a serum biomarker of intestinal inflammation, i.e. circulating interleukin 10 (IL-10), measured at the height of the infection.Results: Phenotypic analysis of the challenged chicken cohort revealed a significant positive correlation between CLS and IL-10, with significant negative correlations of both these traits with WG. Eigenanalysis of phenotypic covariances between measured traits revealed three distinct eigenvectors. Trait weightings of the first eigenvector, (EV1, eigenvalue = 59%), were biologically interpreted as representing a response of birds that were susceptible to infection, with low WG, high CLS and high IL-10. Similarly, the second eigenvector represented infection resilience/resistance (EV2, 22%; high WG, low CLS and high IL-10), and the third eigenvector tolerance (EV3, 19%; high WG, high CLS and low IL-10), respectively. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified two SNPs that were associated with WG at the suggestive level.Conclusions: Eigenanalysis separated the phenotypic impact of a defined challenge with E. tenella on WG, caecal inflammation/pathology, and production of IL-10 into three major eigenvectors, indicating that the susceptibility-resistance axis is not a single continuous quantitative trait. The SNPs identified by the GWAS for body weight were located in close proximity to two genes that are involved in innate immunity (FAM96B and RRAD)
- …