328 research outputs found
Measurement of the complex Faraday angle in thin-film metals and high temperature superconductors
A sensitive polarization modulation technique uses photoelastic modulation
and hetrodyne detection to simultaneously measure the Faraday rotation and
induced ellipticity in light transmitted by semiconducting and metallic
samples. The frequencies measured are in the mid-infrared and correspond to the
spectral lines of a CO2 laser. The measured temperature range is continuous and
extends from 35 to 330K. Measured samples include GaAs and Si substrates, gold
and copper films, and YBCO and BSCCO high temperature superconductors.Comment: 12 pages of text, 6 figures, fixed typos in formulas, added figur
Optical Conductivity and Hall Coefficient in High-Tc Superconductors: Significant Role of Current Vertex Corrections
We study AC conductivities in high-Tc cuprates, which offer us significant
information to reveal the true electronic ground states. Based on the
fluctuation-exchange (FLEX) approximation, current vertex corrections (CVC's)
are correctly taken into account to satisfy the conservation laws. We find the
significant role of the CVC's on the optical Hall conductivity in the presence
of strong antiferromagnetic (AF) fluctuations. This fact leads to the failure
of the relaxation time approximation (RTA). As a result, experimental highly
unusual behaviors, (i) prominent frequency and temperature dependences of the
optical Hall coefficient, and (ii) simple Drude form of the optical Hall andge
for wide range of frequencies, are satisfactorily reproduced. In conclusion,
both DC and AC transport phenomena in (slightly under-doped) high-Tc cuprates
can be explained comprehensively in terms of nearly AF Fermi liquid, if one
take the CVC's into account.Comment: 5 page
Magneto-optical evidence for a gapped Fermi surface in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x
The infrared (900-1100 cm-1) Faraday rotation and circular dichroism are
measured in the normal state of underdoped High Tc superconductors and used to
study the magneto-transport. YBa2Cu3O6+x thin films are investigated in the
temperature range 10-300 K in magnetic fields up to 8 Tesla and as a function
of oxygen concentration. A dramatic increase of the Hall frequency is observed
for underdoped samples which is not consistent with the approach to a Mott
transition but is consistent with a partial gapping of the Fermi surface as
predicted in charge density wave models.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Strong, Ultra-narrow Peaks of Longitudinal and Hall Resistances in the Regime of Breakdown of the Quantum Hall Effect
With unusually slow and high-resolution sweeps of magnetic field, strong,
ultra-narrow (width down to ) resistance peaks are observed in
the regime of breakdown of the quantum Hall effect. The peaks are dependent on
the directions and even the history of magnetic field sweeps, indicating the
involvement of a very slow physical process. Such a process and the sharp peaks
are, however, not predicted by existing theories. We also find a clear
connection between the resistance peaks and nuclear spin polarization.Comment: 5 pages with 3 figures. To appear in PR
Agro-materials : a bibliographic review
Facing the problems of plastic recycling and fossil resources exhaustion, the use of biomass to conceive new materials appears like a reasonable solution. Two axes of research are nowadays developed : on the one hand the synthesis of biodegradable plastics, whichever the methods may be, on the other hand the utilization of raw biopolymers, which is the object of this paper. From this perspective, the “plastic” properties of natural polymers, the caracteristics of the different classes of polymers, the use of charge in vegetable matrix and the possible means of improving the durability of these agro-materials are reviewed
SPHERE: the exoplanet imager for the Very Large Telescope
Observations of circumstellar environments to look for the direct signal of
exoplanets and the scattered light from disks has significant instrumental
implications. In the past 15 years, major developments in adaptive optics,
coronagraphy, optical manufacturing, wavefront sensing and data processing,
together with a consistent global system analysis have enabled a new generation
of high-contrast imagers and spectrographs on large ground-based telescopes
with much better performance. One of the most productive is the
Spectro-Polarimetic High contrast imager for Exoplanets REsearch (SPHERE)
designed and built for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. SPHERE
includes an extreme adaptive optics system, a highly stable common path
interface, several types of coronagraphs and three science instruments. Two of
them, the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) and the Infra-Red Dual-band Imager
and Spectrograph (IRDIS), are designed to efficiently cover the near-infrared
(NIR) range in a single observation for efficient young planet search. The
third one, ZIMPOL, is designed for visible (VIR) polarimetric observation to
look for the reflected light of exoplanets and the light scattered by debris
disks. This suite of three science instruments enables to study circumstellar
environments at unprecedented angular resolution both in the visible and the
near-infrared. In this work, we present the complete instrument and its on-sky
performance after 4 years of operations at the VLT.Comment: Final version accepted for publication in A&
Characterizing the morphology of the debris disk around the low-mass star GSC 07396-00759
Context. Debris disks have commonly been studied around intermediate-mass
stars. Their intense radiation fields are believed to efficiently remove the
small dust grains that are constantly replenished by collisions. For lower-mass
stars, in particular M-stars, the dust removal mechanism needs to be further
investigated given the much weaker radiation field produced by these objects.
Aims. We present new polarimetric observations of the nearly edge-on disk
around the pre-main sequence M-type star GSC 07396-00759, taken with VLT/SPHERE
IRDIS, with the aim to better understand the morphology of the disk, its dust
properties, and the star-disk interaction via the stellar mass-loss rate.
Methods. We model our observations to characterize the location and properties
of the dust grains using the Henyey-Greenstein approximation of the polarized
phase function and evaluate the strength of the stellar winds. Results. We find
that the observations are best described by an extended and highly inclined
disk (i\approx 84.3\,^{\circ}\pm0.3) with a dust distribution centered at a
radius au. The polarized phase function is best
reproduced by an anisotropic scattering factor and small
micron-sized dust grains with sizes m. We furthermore
discuss some of the caveats of the approach and a degeneracy between the grain
size and the porosity. Conclusions. Even though the radius of the disk may be
over-estimated, our results suggest that using a given scattering theory might
not be sufficient to fully explain key aspects such as the shape of the phase
function, or the dust grain size. With the caveats in mind, we find that the
average mass-loss rate of GSC 07396-00759 can be up to 500 times stronger than
that of the Sun, supporting the idea that stellar winds from low-mass stars can
evacuate small dust grains from the disk
New records and detailed distribution and abundance of selected arthropod species collected between 1999 and 2011 in Azorean native forests
[Background] In this contribution we present detailed distribution and abundance data for arthropod species identified during the BALA ¿ Biodiversity of Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the Azores (1999-2004) and BALA2 projects (2010-2011) from 18 native forest fragments in seven of the nine Azorean islands (all excluding Graciosa and Corvo islands, which have no native forest left).[New information] Of the total 286 species identified, 81% were captured between 1999 and 2000, a period during which only 39% of all the samples were collected. On average, arthropod richness for each island increased by 10% during the time frame of these projects. The classes Arachnida, Chilopoda and Diplopoda represent the most remarkable cases of new island records, with more than 30% of the records being novelties. This study stresses the need to expand the approaches applied in these projects to other habitats in the Azores, and more importantly to other less surveyed taxonomic groups (e.g. Diptera and Hymenoptera). These steps are fundamental for getting a more accurate assessment of biodiversity in the archipelago.AMCS was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF 331623 ‘COMMSTRUCT’) and by a Juan de la Cierva Fellowship (IJCI-2014-19502) funded by the Spanish ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’.Peer Reviewe
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