Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy: A versatile tool for the investigations of plasmonic excitations

The inelastic scattering of electrons is one route to study the vibrational and electronic properties of materials. Such experiments, also called electron energy-loss spectroscopy, are particularly useful for the investigation of the collective excitations in metals, the charge carrier plasmons. These plasmons are characterized by a specific dispersion (energy-momentum relationship), which contains information on the sometimes complex nature of the conduction electrons in topical materials. In this review we highlight the improvements of the electron energy-loss spectrometer in the last years, summarize current possibilities with this technique, and give examples where the investigation of the plasmon dispersion allows insight into the interplay of the conduction electrons with other degrees of freedom

Assessment of Stress in Laboratory Beagle Dogs Constrained by a Pavlov Sling

The 3Rs - Replacement, Reduction and Refinement - have become increasingly important in designing animal experiments. The Pavlov sling is thought to be a non-invasive method to restrain dogs for examinations. The aim of our study was to investigate whether laboratory Beagle dogs that had been trained to tolerate restraint by a Pavlov sling are stressed by this procedure and, furthermore, to analyze their behavior during this period. Five male and five female Beagle dogs were used, each three years of age. Animals were restrained in the Pavlov sling for 30 min on six days with an interval of at least two days. The following behaviors were recorded every minute for each session: postures of body, head, and ears, as well as state of eyes, tail, legs, and mouth. Additionally, the animals were observed for the occurrence of particular stress signs, including body shaking, sweating of the paws, increased saliva production, piloerection, blinking of eyes, snout licking, yawning, and panting. As an indicator for stress, salivary cortisol levels were measured before, during, and after each session. Our results show that for most behavioral parameters, e.g., body, leg, head, tail, and ear posture, the frequency of changes between different behavior patterns, as well as cortisol concentration, were not influenced by restraint in the Pavlov sling. Therefore, the Pavlov sling does not seem to be perceived as a stressful situation by the Beagle dogs. Our study demonstrates that under certain conditions the use of the Pavlov sling in trained dogs can substitute for more ordinary methods of immobilization, e.g., the use of narcotics

Evidence for an orbital dependent Mott transition in the ladders of (La,Ca)x_xSr14−x_{14-x}Cu24_{24}O41_{41} derived by electron energy-loss spectroscopy

The knowledge of the charge carrier distribution among the different orbitals of Cu and O is a precondition for the understanding of the physical properties of various Cu-O frameworks. We employ electron energy-loss spectroscopy to elucidate the charge carrier plasmon dispersion in (La, Ca)$_x$Sr$_{14-x}$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ in dependency of $x$ as well as temperature. We observe that the energy of the plasmon increases upon increasing Ca content, which signals an internal charge redistribution between the two Cu-O subsystems. Moreover, contrary to an uncorrelated model we come to the conclusion that the holes transferred to the Cu$_2$O$_3$ ladders are mainly located in the bonding and not in the anti-bonding band. This is caused by an orbital dependent Mott transition

Time-reversal symmetry breaking versus superstructure

One of the mysteries of modern condenced-matter physics is the nature of the pseudogap state of the superconducting cuprates. Kaminski et al.1 claimed to have observed signatures of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the pseudogap regime in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d (Bi2212). Here we argue that the observed dichroism is due to the 5x1 superstructure replica of the electronic bands and therefore cannot be considered as evidence for the spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking in cuprates.Comment: 5 pages, pd

Food Deprivation, Body Weight Loss and Anxiety-Related Behavior in Rats

In behavioral studies, food deprivation protocols are routinely used to initiate or maintain motivational states that are required in a particular test situation. However, there is limited evidence as to when food deprivation compromises animal welfare. This study investigated the effects of different lengths of food deprivation periods and restricted (fixed-time) feeding on body weight loss as well as anxiety-related and motivated behavior in 5–6 month old male and female Wistar rats. The observed body weight loss was not influenced by sex and ranged between 4% (16 h deprivation) to approximately 9% (fixed-time feeding). Despite significant body weight loss in all groups, the motivation to eat under the aversive test conditions of the modified open field test increased only after 48 h of food deprivation. Long-lasting effects on anxiety as measured in the elevated plus maze test 24 h after refeeding have not been observed, although fixed-time feeding could possibly lead to a lasting anxiogenic effect in female rats. Overall, female rats showed a more anxiolytic profile in both tests when compared to male rats. Despite these sex differences, results suggest that food deprivation is not always paralleled by an increased motivation to feed in a conflict situation. This is an important finding as it highlights the need for tailored pilot experiments to evaluate the impact of food deprivation protocols on animals in regard to the principles of the 3Rs introduced by Russell and Burch. View Full-Tex

Natural variation in physiological responses of tunisian hedysarum carnosum under iron deficiency

Iron (Fe) is an essential element for plant growth and development. The cultivation of leguminous plants has generated strong interest because of their growth even on poor soils. Calcareous and saline soils with poor mineral availability are wide-spread in Tunisia. In an attempt to select better forage crops adapted to Tunisian soils, we characterized Fe deficiency responses of three different isolates of Hedysarum carnosum, an endemic Tunisian extremophile species growing in native stands in salt and calcareous soil conditions. H. carnosum is a non-model crop. The three isolates, named according to their habitats Karkar, Thelja, and Douiret, differed in the expression of Fe deficiency symptoms like morphology, leaf chlorosis with compromised leaf chlorophyll content and photosynthetic capacity and leaf metal contents. Across these parameters Thelja was found to be tolerant, while Karkar and Douiret were susceptible to Fe deficiency stress. The three physiological and molecular indicators of the iron deficiency response in roots, Fe reductase activity, growth medium acidification and induction of the IRON-REGULATED TRANSPORTER1 homolog, indicated that all lines responded to -Fe, however, varied in the strength of the different responses. We conclude that the individual lines have distinct adaptation capacities to react to iron deficiency, presumably involving mechanisms of whole-plant iron homeostasis and internal metal distribution. The Fe deficiency tolerance of Thelja might be linked with adaptation to its natural habitat on calcareous soil

A Comparison of Stripe Modulations in La1.875_{1.875}Ba0.125_{0.125}CuO4_4 and La1.48_{1.48}Nd0.4_{0.4}Sr0.12_{0.12}CuO4_4

We report combined soft and hard x-ray scattering studies of the electronic and lattice modulations associated with stripe order in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ and La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$. We find that the amplitude of both the electronic modulation of the hole density and the strain modulation of the lattice is significantly larger in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ than in La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$ and is also better correlated. The in-plane correlation lengths are isotropic in each case; for La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$, $\xi^{hole}=255\pm 5$ \AA\ whereas for La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$F, $\xi^{hole}=111\pm 7$ \AA. We find that the modulations are temperature independent in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ in the low temperature tetragonal phase. In contrast, in La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$, the amplitude grows smoothly from zero, beginning 13 K below the LTT phase transition. We speculate that the reduced average tilt angle in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ results in reduced charge localization and incoherent pinning, leading to the longer correlation length and enhanced periodic modulation amplitude.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Frenkel and charge transfer excitons in C60

We have studied the low energy electronic excitations of C60 using momentum dependent electron energy-loss spectroscopy in transmission. The momentum dependent intensity of the gap excitation allows the first direct experimental determination of the energy of the 1Hg excitation and thus also of the total width of the multiplet resulting from the gap transition. In addition, we could elucidate the nature of the following excitations - as either Frenkel or charge transfer excitons.Comment: RevTEX, 3 Figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.