Nuclear spin warm-up in bulk n-GaAs

We show that the spin-lattice relaxation in n-type insulating GaAs is dramatically accelerated at low magnetic fields. The origin of this effect, that cannot be explained in terms of well-known diffusion-limited hyperfine relaxation, is found in the quadrupole relaxation, induced by fluctuating donor charges. Therefore, quadrupole relaxation, that governs low field nuclear spin relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots, but was so far supposed to be harmless to bulk nuclei spins in the absence of optical pumping can be studied and harnessed in much simpler model environment of n-GaAs bulk crystal.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Ultimate photo-induced Kerr rotation achieved in semiconductor microcavities

Photoinduced Kerr rotation by more than $\pi /2$ radians is demonstrated in planar quantum well microcavity in the strong coupling regime. This result is close to the predicted theoretical maximum of $\pi$. It is achieved by engineering microcavity parameters such that the optical impedance matching condition is reached at the smallest negative detuning between exciton resonance and the cavity mode. This ensures the optimum combination of the exciton induced optical non-linearity and the enhancement of the Kerr angle by the cavity. Comprehensive analysis of the polarization state of the light in this regime shows that both renormalization of the exciton energy and the saturation of the excitonic resonance contribute to the observed optical nonlinearities.Comment: Shortened version prepared to submit in Phys. Rev. Letter

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation in p-type GaAs

Spin-lattice relaxation of the nuclear spin system in p-type GaAs is studied using a three-stage experimental protocol including optical pumping and measuring the difference of the nuclear spin polarization before and after a dark interval of variable length. This method allows us to measure the spin-lattice relaxation time $T_1$ of optically pumped nuclei "in the dark", that is, in the absence of illumination. The measured $T_1$ values fall into the sub-second time range, being three orders of magnitude shorter than in earlier studied n-type GaAs. The drastic difference is further emphasized by magnetic-field and temperature dependences of $T_1$ in p-GaAs, showing no similarity to those in n-GaAs. This unexpected behavior is explained within a developed theoretical model involving quadrupole relaxation of nuclear spins, which is induced by electric fields within closely spaced donor-acceptor pairs.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Nanoscale investigation of polymer cement concretes by small angle neutron scattering

An analysis of dense cements, such as polymer cement concrete, is made to produce original innovative components for different types of constructing materials. These materials present good functional properties (ageing resistance, crack formation resistance, hardness, and stability of mechanical modules) and can be used for various applications. In this paper, experimental tests on Portland cement with added γ-Al 2 O 3 and redispersible dry polymer performed using small angle neutron scattering are reported. The objective of the investigation was to assess the key parameters of the material (e.g., porosity, fractal dimensions, and size distribution) at the nanoscale level as well as to obtain useful structural information for expanding the possibility of applications. The results obtained can contribute to the optimisation of the consistency of the material, the design of operating conditions of elements of structures and facilities, and the design of the procedures that support ecological criteria and enhance quality and safety levels. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Accumulation of dehydrin-like proteins in the mitochondria of cereals in response to cold, freezing, drought and ABA treatment

BACKGROUND: Dehydrins are known as Group II late embryogenesis abundant proteins. Their high hydrophilicity and thermostability suggest that they may be structure stabilizers with detergent and chaperone-like properties. They are localised in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and plasma membrane. We have recently found putative dehydrins in the mitochondria of some cereals in response to cold. It is not known whether dehydrin-like proteins accumulate in plant mitochondria in response to stimuli other than cold stress. RESULTS: We have found five putative dehydrins in the mitochondria of winter wheat, rye and maize seedlings. Two of these polypeptides had the same molecular masses in all three species (63 and 52 kD) and were thermostable. Drought, freezing, cold, and exogenous ABA treatment led to higher accumulation of dehydrin-like protein (dlp) 63 kD in the rye and wheat mitochondria. Protein 52 kD was induced by cold adaptation and ABA. Some accumulation of these proteins in the maize mitochondria was found after cold exposition only. The other three proteins appeared to be heat-sensitive and were either slightly induced or not induced at all by all treatments used. CONCLUSIONS: We have found that, not only cold, but also drought, freezing and exogenous ABA treatment result in accumulation of the thermostable dehydrins in plant mitochondria. Most cryotolerant species such as wheat and rye accumulate more heat-stable dehydrins than cryosensitive species such as maize. It has been supposed that their function is to stabilize proteins in the membrane or in the matrix. Heat-sensitive putative dehydrins probably are not involved in the stress reaction and adaptation of plants

Simultaneous measurements of nuclear spin heat capacity, temperature and relaxation in GaAs microstructures

Heat capacity of the nuclear spin system (NSS) in GaAs-based microstructures has been shown to be much greater than expected from dipolar coupling between nuclei, thus limiting the efficiency of NSS cooling by adiabatic demagnetization. It was suggested that quadrupole interaction induced by some small residual strain could provide this additional reservoir for the heat storage. We check and validate this hypothesis by combining nuclear spin relaxation measurements with adiabatic remagnetization and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, using electron spin noise spectroscopy as a unique tool for detection of nuclear magnetization. Our results confirm and quantify the role of the quadrupole splitting in the heat storage within NSS and provide additional insight into fundamental, but still actively debated relation between a mechanical strain and the resulting electric field gradients in GaAs.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Spin Texture in a Cold Exciton Gas

We report on the observation of a spin texture in a cold exciton gas in a GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum well structure. The spin texture is observed around the exciton rings. The observed phenomena include: a ring of linear polarization, a vortex of linear polarization with polarization perpendicular to the radial direction, an anisotropy in the exciton flux, a skew of the exciton fluxes in orthogonal circular polarizations and a corresponding four-leaf pattern of circular polarization, a periodic spin texture, and extended exciton coherence in the region of the polarization vortex. The data indicate a transport regime where the spin polarization is locked to the direction of particle propagation and scattering is suppressed.Comment: version 2 contains updated supplementary materia

Nucleosynthesis in thermonuclear supernovae with tracers: convergence and variable mass particles

Nucleosynthetic yield predictions for multi-dimensional simulations of thermonuclear supernovae generally rely on the tracer particle method to obtain isotopic information of the ejected material for a given supernova simulation. We investigate how many tracer particles are required to determine converged integrated total nucleosynthetic yields. For this purpose, we conduct a resolution study in the number of tracer particles for different hydrodynamical explosion models at fixed spatial resolution. We perform hydrodynamic simulations on a co-expanding Eulerian grid in two dimensions assuming rotational symmetry for both pure deflagration and delayed detonation Type Ia supernova explosions. Within a given explosion model, we vary the number of tracer particles to determine the minimum needed for the method to give a robust prediction of the integrated yields of the most abundant nuclides. For the first time, we relax the usual assumption of constant tracer particle mass and introduce a radially vary- ing distribution of tracer particle masses. We find that the nucleosynthetic yields of the most abundant species (mass fraction > 10E-5) are reasonably well predicted for a tracer number as small as 32 per axis and direction - more or less independent of the explosion model. We conclude that the number of tracer particles that were used in extant published works appear to have been sufficient as far as integrated yields are concerned for the most copiously produced nuclides. Additionally we find that a suitably chosen tracer mass distribution can improve convergence for nuclei produced in the outer layer of the supernova where the constant tracer mass prescription suffers from poor spatial resolution.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA