1,757 research outputs found
Effect of 50 Hz Electromagnetic Fields on the Induction of Heat-Shock Protein Gene Expression in Human Leukocytes
Although evidence is controversial, exposure to environmental power-frequency magnetic fields is of public concern. Cells respond to some abnormal physiological conditions by producing cytoprotective heat-shock (or stress) proteins. In this study, we determined whether exposure to power-frequency magnetic fields in the range 0–100 μT rms either alone or concomitant with mild heating induced heat-shock protein gene expression in human leukocytes, and we compared this response to that induced by heat alone. Samples of human peripheral blood were simultaneously exposed to a range of magnetic-field amplitudes using a regimen that was designed to allow field effects to be distinguished from possible artifacts due to the position of the samples in the exposure system. Power-frequency magnetic-field exposure for 4 h at 37°C had no detectable effect on expression of the genes encoding HSP27, HSP70A or HSP70B, as determined using reverse transcriptase-PCR, whereas 2 h at 42°C elicited 10-, 5- and 12-fold increases, respectively, in the expression of these genes. Gene expression in cells exposed to power-frequency magnetic fields at 40°C was not increased compared to cells incubated at 40°C without field exposure. These findings and the extant literature suggest that power-frequency electromagnetic fields are not a universal stressor, in contrast to physical agents such as heat
Impurity and strain effects on the magnetotransport of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 films
The influence of zinc doping and strain related effects on the normal state
transport properties(the resistivity, the Hall angle and the orbital magneto-
resistance(OMR) is studied in a series of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 films with
values of y between 0 and 0.12 and various degrees of strain induced by the
mismatch between the films and the substrate. The zinc doping affects only the
constant term in the temperature dependence of cotangent theta but the strain
affects both the slope and the constant term, while their ratio remains
constant.OMR is decreased by zinc doping but is unaffected by strain. The ratio
delta rho/(rho*tan^2 theta) is T-independent but decreases with impurity
doping. These results put strong constraints on theories of the normal state of
high- temperature superconductors
Non-Universal Power Law of the "Hall Scattering Rate" in a Single-Layer Cuprate Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}CuO_{6}
In-plane resistivity \rho_{ab}, Hall coefficient, and magnetoresistance (MR)
are measured in a series of high-quality Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}CuO_{6} crystals
with various carrier concentrations, from underdope to overdope. Our crystals
show the highest T_c (33 K) and the smallest residual resistivity ever reported
for Bi-2201 at optimum doping. It is found that the temperature dependence of
the Hall angle obeys a power law T^n with n systematically decreasing with
increasing doping, which questions the universality of the Fermi-liquid-like
T^2 dependence of the "Hall scattering rate". In particular, the Hall angle of
the optimally-doped sample changes as T^{1.7}, not as T^2, while \rho_{ab}
shows a good T-linear behavior. The systematics of the MR indicates an
increasing role of spin scattering in underdoped samples.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Vortex Dynamics and the Hall-Anomaly: a Microscopic Analysis
We present a microscopic derivation of the equation of motion for a vortex in
a superconductor. A coherent view on vortex dynamics is obtained, in which {\it
both} hydrodynamics {\it and} the vortex core contribute to the forces acting
on a vortex. The competition between these two provides an interpretation of
the observed sign change in the Hall angle in superconductors with mean free
path of the order of the coherence length in terms of broken
particle-hole symmetry, which is related to details of the microscopic
mechanism of superconductivity.Comment: 12 pages, late
He Scattering from Compact Clusters and from Diffusion-Limited Aggregates on Surfaces: Observable Signatures of Structure
The angular intensity distribution of He beams scattered from compact
clusters and from diffusion limited aggregates, epitaxially grown on metal
surfaces, is investigated theoretically. The purpose is twofold: to distinguish
compact cluster structures from diffusion limited aggregates, and to find
observable {\em signatures} that can characterize the compact clusters at the
atomic level of detail. To simplify the collision dynamics, the study is
carried out in the framework of the sudden approximation, which assumes that
momentum changes perpendicular to the surface are large compared with momentum
transfer due to surface corrugation. The diffusion limited aggregates on which
the scattering calculations were done, were generated by kinetic Monte Carlo
simulations. It is demonstrated, by focusing on the example of compact Pt
Heptamers, that signatures of structure of compact clusters may indeed be
extracted from the scattering distribution. These signatures enable both an
experimental distinction between diffusion limited aggregates and compact
clusters, and a determination of the cluster structure. The characteristics
comprising the signatures are, to varying degrees, the Rainbow, Fraunhofer,
specular and constructive interference peaks, all seen in the intensity
distribution. It is also shown, how the distribution of adsorbate heights above
the metal surface can be obtained by an analysis of the specular peak
attenuation. The results contribute to establishing He scattering as a powerful
tool in the investigation of surface disorder and epitaxial growth on surfaces,
alongside with STM.Comment: 41 pages, 16 postscript figures. For more details see
http://www.fh.huji.ac.il/~dan
Dynamic ordering and frustration of confined vortex rows studied by mode-locking experiments
The flow properties of confined vortex matter driven through disordered
mesoscopic channels are investigated by mode locking (ML) experiments. The
observed ML effects allow to trace the evolution of both the structure and the
number of confined rows and their match to the channel width as function of
magnetic field. From a detailed analysis of the ML behavior for the case of
3-rows we obtain ({\it i}) the pinning frequency , ({\it ii}) the onset
frequency for ML ( ordering velocity) and ({\it iii}) the
fraction of coherently moving 3-row regions in the channel. The
field dependence of these quantities shows that, at matching, where is
maximum, the pinning strength is small and the ordering velocity is low, while
at mismatch, where is small, both the pinning force and the ordering
velocity are enhanced. Further, we find that , consistent
with the dynamic ordering theory of Koshelev and Vinokur. The microscopic
nature of the flow and the ordering phenomena will also be discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure, submitted to PRB. Discussion has been improved
and a figure has been adde
Big, Fast Vortices in the d-RVB theory of High Temperature Superconductivity
The effect of proximity to a Mott insulating phase on the superflow
properties of a d-wave superconductor is studied using the slave boson-U(1)
gauge theory model. The model has two limits corresponding to superconductivity
emerging either out of a 'renormalized fermi liquid' or out of a
non-fermi-liquid regime. Three crucial physical parameters are identified: the
size of the vortex \textit{as determined from the supercurrent it induces;} the
coupling of the superflow to the quasiparticles and the 'nondissipative time
derivative' term. As the Mott phase is approached, the core size as defined
from the supercurrent diverges, the coupling between superflow and
quasiparticles vanishes, and the magnitude of the nondissipative time
derivative dramatically increases. The dissipation due to a moving vortex is
found to vary as the third power of the doping. The upper critical field and
the size of the critical regime in which paraconductivity may be observed are
estimated, and found to be controlled by the supercurrent length scale
Magnetotransport in the Normal State of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 Films
We have studied the magnetotransport properties in the normal state for a
series of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 films with values of y, between 0 and
0.12. A variable degree of compressive or tensile strain results from the
lattice mismatch between the substrate and the film, and affects the transport
properties differently from the influence of the zinc impurities. In
particular, the orbital magnetoresistance (OMR) varies with y but is
strain-independent. The relations for the resistivity and the Hall angle and
the proportionality between the OMR and tan^2 theta are followed about 70 K. We
have been able to separate the strain and impurity effects by rewriting the
above relations, where each term is strain-independent and depends on y only.
We also find that changes in the lattice constants give rise to closely the
same fractional changes in other terms of the equation.The OMR is more strongly
supressed by the addition of impurities than tan^2 theta. We conclude that the
relaxation ratethat governs Hall effect is not the same as for the
magnetoresistance. We also suggest a correspondence between the transport
properties and the opening of the pseudogap at a temperature which changes when
the La-sr ratio changes, but does not change with the addition of the zinc
impurities
Transverse Phase Locking for Vortex Motion in Square and Triangular Pinning Arrays
We analyze transverse phase locking for vortex motion in a superconductor
with a longitudinal DC drive and a transverse AC drive. For both square and
triangular arrays we observe a variety of fractional phase locking steps in the
velocity versus DC drive which correspond to stable vortex orbits. The locking
steps are more pronounced for the triangular arrays which is due to the fact
that the vortex motion has a periodic transverse velocity component even for
zero transverse AC drive. All the steps increase monotonically in width with AC
amplitude. We confirm that the width of some fractional steps in the square
arrays scales as the square of the AC driving amplitude. In addition we
demonstrate scaling in the velocity versus applied DC driving curves at
depinning and on the main step, similar to that seen for phase locking in
charge-density wave systems. The phase locking steps are most prominent for
commensurate vortex fillings where the interstitial vortices form symmetrical
ground states. For increasing temperature, the fractional steps are washed out
very quickly, while the main step gains a linear component and disappears at
melting. For triangular pinning arrays we again observe transverse phase
locking, with the main and several of the fractional step widths scaling
linearly with AC amplitude.Comment: 10 pages, 14 postscript figure
Dynamic Scaling and Two-Dimensional High-Tc Superconductors
There has been ongoing debate over the critical behavior of two-dimensional
superconductors; in particular for high Tc superconductors. The conventional
view is that a Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition occurs as long as
finite size effects do not obscure the transition. However, there have been
recent suggestions that a different transition actually occurs which
incorporates aspects of both the dynamic scaling theory of Fisher, Fisher, and
Huse and the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition. Of general interest is
that this modified transition apparently has a universal dynamic critical
exponent. Some have countered that this apparent universal behavior is rooted
in a newly proposed finite-size scaling theory; one that also incorporates
scaling and conventional two-dimensional theory. To investigate these issues we
study DC voltage versus current data of a 12 angstrom thick YBCO film. We find
that the newly proposed scaling theories have intrinsic flexibility that is
relevant to the analysis of the experiments. In particular, the data scale
according to the modified transition for arbitrarily defined critical
temperatures between 0 K and 19.5 K, and the temperature range of a successful
scaling collapse is related directly to the sensitivity of the measurement.
This implies that the apparent universal exponent is due to the intrinsic
flexibility rather than some real physical property. To address this intrinsic
flexibility, we propose a criterion which would give conclusive evidence for
phase transitions in two-dimensional superconductors. We conclude by reviewing
results to see if our criterion is satisfied.Comment: 14 page
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