576 research outputs found
Very fast relaxation in polycarbonate glass
Low-frequency Raman and inelastic neutron scattering of amorphous bis-phenol
A polycarbonate is measured at low temperature, and compared. The vibrational
density of states and light-vibration coupling coefficient are determined. The
frequency dependences of these parameters are explained by propagating
vibration modes up to an energy of about 1 meV, and fracton-like modes in more
cohesive domains at higher energies. The vibrational dynamics is in agreement
with a disorder in the glass, which is principally of bonding or of elasticity
instead of density.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, to be pub. in EPJ
Low-energy vibrational density of states of plasticized poly(methyl methacrylate)
The low-energy vibrational density of states (VDOS)of hydrogenated or
deuterated poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)plasticized by dibutyl phtalate (DBP)
is determined by inelastic neutron scattering.From experiment, it is equal to
the sum of the ones of the PMMA and DBP components.However, a partition of the
total low-energy VDOS among PMMA and DBP was observed.Contrary to Raman
scattering, neutron scattering does not show enhancement of the boson peak due
to plasticization.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures (Workshop on Disordered Systems, Andalo
Effect of physical aging on the low-frequency vibrational density of states of a glassy polymer
The effects of the physical aging on the vibrational density of states (VDOS)
of a polymeric glass is studied. The VDOS of a poly(methyl methacrylate) glass
at low-energy (<15 meV), was determined from inelastic neutron scattering at
low-temperature for two different physical thermodynamical states. One sample
was annealed during a long time at temperature lower than Tg, and another was
quenched from a temperature higher than Tg. It was found that the VDOS around
the boson peak, relatively to the one at higher energy, decreases with the
annealing at lower temperature than Tg, i.e., with the physical aging.Comment: To be published in Europhys. Let
Magnetic switching in granular FePt layers promoted by near-field laser enhancement
Light-matter interaction at the nanoscale in magnetic materials is a topic of
intense research in view of potential applications in next-generation
high-density magnetic recording. Laser-assisted switching provides a pathway
for overcoming the material constraints of high-anisotropy and high-packing
density media, though much about the dynamics of the switching process remains
unexplored. We use ultrafast small-angle x-ray scattering at an x-ray
free-electron laser to probe the magnetic switching dynamics of FePt
nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix following excitation by an optical
femtosecond laser pulse. We observe that the combination of laser excitation
and applied static magnetic field, one order of magnitude smaller than the
coercive field, can overcome the magnetic anisotropy barrier between "up" and
"down" magnetization, enabling magnetization switching. This magnetic switching
is found to be inhomogeneous throughout the material, with some individual FePt
nanoparticles neither switching nor demagnetizing. The origin of this behavior
is identified as the near-field modification of the incident laser radiation
around FePt nanoparticles. The fraction of not-switching nanoparticles is
influenced by the heat flow between FePt and a heat-sink layer
Structural dynamics during laser induced ultrafast demagnetization
The mechanism underlying femtosecond laser pulse induced ultrafast
magnetization dynamics remains elusive despite two decades of intense research
on this phenomenon. Most experiments focused so far on characterizing
magnetization and charge carrier dynamics, while first direct measurements of
structural dynamics during ultrafast demagnetization were reported only very
recently. We here present our investigation of the infrared laser pulse induced
ultrafast demagnetization process in a thin Ni film, which characterizes
simultaneously magnetization and structural dynamics. This is achieved by
employing femtosecond time resolved X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity
(tr-XRMR) as probe technique. The experimental results reveal unambiguously
that the sub-picosecond magnetization quenching is accompanied by strong
changes in non-magnetic X-ray reflectivity. These changes vary with reflection
angle and changes up to 30 have been observed. Modeling the X-ray
reflectivity of the investigated thin film, we can reproduce these changes by a
variation of the apparent Ni layer thickness of up to 1. Extending these
simulations to larger incidence angles we show that tr-XRMR can be employed to
discriminate experimentally between currently discussed models describing the
ultrafast demagnetization phenomenon
Unravelling the genetic causes of mosaic islet morphology in congenital hyperinsulinism
Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) causes dysregulated insulin secretion which can lead to life-threatening hypoglycaemia if not effectively managed. CHI can be sub-classified into three distinct groups: diffuse, focal and mosaic pancreatic disease. Whilst the underlying causes of diffuse and focal disease have been widely characterised, the genetic basis of mosaic pancreatic disease is not known. To gain new insights into the underlying disease processes of mosaic-CHI we studied the islet tissue histopathology derived from limited surgical resection from the tail of the pancreas in a patient with CHI. The underlying genetic aetiology was investigated using a combination of high depth next-generation sequencing, microsatellite analysis and p57kip2 immunostaining. Histopathology of the pancreatic tissue confirmed the presence of a defined area associated with marked islet hypertrophy and a cytoarchitecture distinct from focal CHI but compatible with mosaic CHI localised to a discrete region within the pancreas. Analysis of DNA extracted from the lesion identified a de novo mosaic ABCC8 mutation and mosaic paternal uniparental disomy which were not present in leukocyte DNA or the surrounding unaffected pancreatic tissue. This study provides the first description of two independent disease-causing somatic genetic events occurring within the pancreas of an individual with localised mosaic CHI. Our findings increase knowledge of the genetic causes of islet disease and provide further insights into the underlying developmental changes associated with β-cell expansion in CHI.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to read the full-text
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Transient magnetic gratings on the nanometer scale
Laser-driven non-local electron dynamics in ultrathin magnetic samples on a sub-10 nm length scale is a key process in ultrafast magnetism. However, the experimental access has been challenging due to the nanoscopic and femtosecond nature of such transport processes. Here, we present a scattering-based experiment relying on a laser-induced electro- and magneto-optical grating in a Co/Pd ferromagnetic multilayer as a new technique to investigate non-local magnetization dynamics on nanometer length and femtosecond timescales. We induce a spatially modulated excitation pattern using tailored Al near-field masks with varying periodicities on a nanometer length scale and measure the first four diffraction orders in an x-ray scattering experiment with magnetic circular dichroism contrast at the free-electron laser facility FERMI, Trieste. The design of the periodic excitation mask leads to a strongly enhanced and characteristic transient scattering response allowing for sub-wavelength in-plane sensitivity for magnetic structures. In conjunction with scattering simulations, the experiment allows us to infer that a potential ultrafast lateral expansion of the initially excited regions of the magnetic film mediated by hot-electron transport and spin transport remains confined to below three nanometers
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