Solid or liquid? Solidification of a nanoconfined liquid under nonequilibrium conditions

There has been a long-standing debate about the physical state and possible phase transformations of confined liquids. In this report, we show that a model-confined liquid can behave both as a Newtonian liquid with very little change in its dynamics and as a pseudosolid, depending solely on the rate of approach of the confining surfaces. Thus, the confined liquid does not exhibit any confinement-induced solidification in thermodynamic equilibrium. Instead, solidification is induced kinetically when the two confining surfaces are approached with a minimum critical rate. This critical rate is surprisingly slow (on the order of 6 Å/s), explaining the frequent observation of confinement-induced solidification. © 2006 American Chemical Society

Low-amplitude, force gradient imaging of Cu(100) surface using tunnel current feedback

The large corrugation amplitudes in scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) images of metal surfaces have been commonly attributed to the action of forces between the tip and the sample. We have investigated the Cu(100) surface using a high-resolution non-contact atomic force microscope/scanning tunnelling microscope (nc-AFM/STM) in UHV. Force gradient and STM topography images were acquired simultaneously using constant tunnelling current feedback. Force gradient images showed atomic resolution whereas STM scans exhibited almost no contrast, corresponding to a flat tip trajectory during scans. The corrugation height in force gradient images was found to increase as the set tunnelling current was increased. Force gradient and tunnel current were directly measured as a function of separation, to determine the operating conditions during imaging. The STM operation regime is found to lie between the minimum of the stiffness curve and the start of repulsive force

Energy dissipation in atomic force microscopy and atomic loss processes

Atomic scale dissipation is of great interest in nanomechanics and atomic manipulation. We present dissipation measurements with a linearized, ultrasmall amplitude atomic force microscope which is capable of measuring dissipation at chosen, fixed separations. We show that the dynamic dissipation in the noncontact regime is of the order of a few 10–100 meV per cycle. This dissipation is likely due to the motion of a bistable atomic defect in the tip-surface region. In the contact regime we observe dc hysteresis associated with nanoscale plasticity. We find the hysteretic energy loss to be 1 order of magnitude higher for a silicon surface than for copper

A highly sensitive atomic force microscope for linear measurements of molecular forces in liquids

We describe a highly improved atomic force microscope for quantitative nanomechanical measurements in liquids. The main feature of this microscope is a modified fiber interferometer mounted on a five axis inertial slider which provides a deflection sensitivity that is significantly better than conventional laser deflection based systems. The measured low noise floor of 572.0 fmHz provides excellent cantilever amplitude resolution. This allows us to operate the instrument far below resonance at extremely small cantilever amplitudes of less than 1 Å. Thus linear measurements of nanomechanical properties of liquid systems can be performed. In particular, we present measurements of solvation forces in confined octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and water with amplitudes smaller than the size of the respective molecules. In general, the development of the instrument is important in the context of quantitative nanomechanical measurements in liquid environments. © 2005 American Institute of Physics

Direct measurement of interatomic force gradients using an ultra-low-amplitude atomic force microscope

Interatomic force gradients between a W tip and a 7 × 7 reconstructed Si(111) surface were measured using an off-resonance, ultra-low-amplitude atomic force microscope (AFM) technique. The amplitudes used were less than 1 Å (peak-to-peak), which allowed direct measurement of the interaction force gradients as a function of separation. The force gradient curves are shown to consist of an attractive van der Waals part and short-range attractive and repulsive interactions. The van der Waals background can be subtracted, leaving a short-range interaction with an energy parameter of 1.9-3.4 eV and an interaction length-scale of 0.54-1.26 Å, characteristic of a single atomic bond. This correlates well with our observation of single-atom resolved force gradient images. In general, the interaction is reversible up to the zero intercept of the force gradient (inflection point of the energy). Beyond this point hysteresis tends to be observed and the onset of inelastic deformation can be clearly discerned. An analysis of the atomic scale contact gives reasonable values for the interfacial energy, yield strength, and the energy per atom needed to initiate plastic deformation

助成研究報告

textabstractIncreasing amounts of data support a role for guanine quadruplex (G4) DNA and RNA structures in various cellular processes. We stained different organisms with monoclonal antibody 1H6 specific for G4 DNA. Strikingly, immuno-electron microscopy showed exquisite specificity for heterochromatin. Polytene chromosomes from Drosophila salivary glands showed bands that co-localized with heterochromatin proteins HP1 and the SNF2 domain-containing protein SUUR. Staining was retained in SUUR knock-out mutants but lost upon overexpression of SUUR. Somatic cells in Macrostomum lignano were strongly labeled, but pluripotent stem cells labeled weakly. Similarly, germline stem cells in Drosophila ovaries were weakly labeled compared to most other cells. The unexpected presence of G4 structures in heterochromatin and the difference in G4 staining between somatic cells and stem cells with germline DNA in ciliates, flatworms, flies and mammals point to a conserved role for G4 structures in nuclear organization and cellular differentiation

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters