Interlayer spin-singlet pairing induced by magnetic interactions in an antiferromagnetic superconductor

It is shown that interlayer spin-singlet Cooper pairing is induced by magnetic interactions in a metallic antiferromagnet of stacked conductive layers in which each layer is ferromagnetically polarized and they order antiferromagnetically in stacking direction. As a result, the antiferromagnetic long-range order and superconductivity coexist at low temperatures. It is shown that T_AF > T_c except for in a very limited parameter region unless T_AF = 0, where T_AF and T_c denote the antiferromagnetic and superconducting transition temperatures, respectively. It is found that the exchange field caused by the spontaneous staggered magnetization does not affect superconductivity at all, even if it is very large. The resultant superconducting order parameter has a horizontal line node, and is isotropic in spin space in spite of the anisotropy of the background magnetic order. We discuss the possible relevance of the present mechanism to the antiferromagnetic heavy fermion superconductors UPd_2Al_3 and CePt_3Si.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, in revtex

Barriers to student success in Madagascar

Various indicators suggest that many students in developing countries are not learning in school. Using Madagascar as a case study, we aimed to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of education among those enrolled in science and math programs of primary, secondary, and university institutions; and (2) understand barriers to student progression through the education system. To address these aims, we conducted 63 semi-structured interviews in June and August 2012 with science and math teachers in five population centers, across all three levels of the public and private school system. We found that crowded classes, limited resources (pedagogical and infrastructural), an average student age range of seven years per classroom (suggestive of grade repetition and/or late school starting age), and discontinuities in the language of instruction explain why teachers estimated that almost 25% of their students would not finish school. Although most secondary and university teachers taught the sciences only in French, they estimated that just one-third of students could fully understand the language. There were also urban-rural and public-private disparities. Teachers in urban areas were significantly more likely to teach using French than their rural counterparts, while public schools housed significantly larger classes than private institutions. While resource equalisation will help to resolve many of these disparities, improved early training in professional languages and increased local autonomy in designing appropriate curriculums will be necessary to tackle other shortfalls

Field-angle resolved specific heat and thermal conductivity in the vortex phase of UPd_2Al_3

The field-angle dependent specific heat and thermal conductivity in the vortex phase of UPd_2Al_3 is studied using the Doppler shift approximation for the low energy quasiparticle excitations. We first give a concise presentation of the calculation procedure of magnetothermal properties with vortex and FS averages performed numerically. The comparison of calculated field-angle oscillations and the experimental results obtained previously leads to a strong reduction of the possible SC candidate states in UPd_2Al_3. The possible SC gap functions have node lines in hexagonal symmetry planes containing either the zone center or the AF zone boundary along c. Node lines in non-symmetry planes can be excluded. We also calculate the field and temperature dependence of field-angular oscillation amplitudes. We show that the observed nonmonotonic field dependence and sign reversal of the oscillation amplitude is due to small deviations from unitary scattering.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Efficient Selfconsistent Calculations of Multiband Superconductivity in UPd2_2Al3_3

An efficient physically motivated computational approach to multiband superconductivity is introduced and applied to the study of the gap symmetry in a heavy-fermion, UPd$_2$Al$_3$. Using realistic pairing potentials and accurate energy bands that are computed within density functional theory, self-consistent calculations demonstrate that the only accessible superconducting gap with nodes exhibits d-wave symmetry in the $A_{1g}$ representation of the $D_{6h}$ point group. Our results suggest that in a superconductor with gap nodes the prevailing gap symmetry is dictated by the constraint that nodes must be as far as possible from high-density areas

Optical and photovoltaic properties of indium selenide thin films prepared by van der Waals epitaxy

Indium selenide thin films have been grown on p-type gallium selenide single crystal substrates by van der Waals epitaxy. The use of two crucibles in the growth process has resulted in indium selenide films with physical properties closer to these of bulk indium selenide than those prepared by other techniques. The optical properties of the films have been studied by electroabsorption measurements. The band gap and its temperature dependence are very close to those of indium selenide single crystals. The width of the fundamental transition, even if larger than that of the pure single crystal material, decreases monotonously with temperature. Exciton peaks are not observed even at low temperature, which reveals that these layers still contain a large defect concentration. The current–voltage characteristic of indium selenide thin film devices was measured under simulated AM2 conditions. The solar conversion efficiency of these devices is lower than 0.6%. The high concentration of defects reduces the diffusion length of minority carriers down to values round to 0.2 μ[email protected] ; [email protected]