Predicting the Spin-Lattice Order of Frustrated Systems from First-Principles

A novel general method of describing the spin-lattice interactions in magnetic solids was proposed in terms of first principles calculations. The spin exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions as well as their derivatives with respect to atomic displacements can be evaluated efficiently on the basis of density functional calculations for four ordered spin states. By taking into consideration the spin-spin interactions, the phonons, and the coupling between them, we show that the ground state structure of a representative spin-frustrated spinel, MgCr2 O4, is tetragonally distorted, in agreement with experiments. However, our calculations find the lowest energy for the collinear spin ground state, in contrast to previously suggested non-collinear models

Declining Rotation Curve and Brown Dwarf MACHOs

If the Galactic rotation speed at the Solar circle is $\sim 200$ km s$^{-1}$ or smaller, which is supported by several recent studies, the rotation curve of the Galaxy could be declining in the outermost region. Motivated by this, we investigate the effect of such declining rotation curve on the estimate of the MACHO mass and the fractional contribution of the MACHOs to the Galactic dark halo. Using Hernquist and Plummer halo models instead of the standard halo model, we find that the MACHO mass could be significantly smaller than that for the standard halo case. In particular, there exists a certain set of halo parameters for which the MACHO mass is 0.1$M_\odot$ or less and at the same time the MACHO contribution to the total mass of the halo is almost 100 %. This result indicates that a halo which consists solely of brown dwarfs can be consistent with both of the observed microlensing properties and the constraints from the rotation curve, provided the outer rotation curve is indeed declining.Comment: 8 pages and 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Superconducting gap variations induced by structural supermodulation in BSCCO

We discuss the possibility that the strain field introduced by the structural supermodulation in Bi-2212 and certain other cuprate materials may modulate the superconducting pairing interaction. We calculate the amplitude of this effect, visible in scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments, and thereby relate a change in the local superconducting gap with the change in the local dopant displacements induced by the supermodulation. In principle, since this modulation is periodic, sufficiently accurate x-ray measurements or ab initio calculations should enable one to determine which atomic displacements enhance pairing and therefore T_c.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Strategies for the production of maize-derived pharmaceuticals using cytoplasmic male sterile lines: In vitro tissue culture/transformation and field breeding approaches

Plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) offer promise as efficient and cost-effective products for the treatment of human and animal diseases. An advantage of producing pharmaceuticals in maize is the large storage capacity and stability for proteins and starch in seed, allowing for manufacturing recombinant proteins such as antigens and antibodies. Other advantages of the maize system include safety, high yields, and scalability of production and processing. However, the benefits of this technology must be balanced against potential health and environmental risks that may be associated with its use. Because PMPs presently have no provision for regulatory tolerance, their inadvertent occurrence in foods and feeds remains an important economic consideration, even when the health and environmental risks are low. Pollen drift is considered a source of potential contamination of maizemade pharmaceuticals in the food chain. In addition to physical and temporal isolation requirements, open field pharmaceutical maize production also calls for controlled pollen release. Here, we describe two strategies to address the issue of transgenic pollen drift. First, we describe the development and genetic transformation of a tissue culture-amenable male-sterile line using biolistic- or Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods. Secondly, we describe the introgression of a transgene from male-fertile transgenic maize to male-sterile germplasm by conventional breeding. After six seasons of breeding, this second strategy allows us to obtain 100% transgenic seeds from an open-field production using a non-transgenic line as the pollinator

X-ray Dichroism and the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprates

A recent polarized x-ray absorption experiment on the high temperature cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 indicates the presence of broken parity symmetry below the temperature, T*, where a pseudogap appears in photoemission. We critically analyze the x-ray data, and conclude that a parity-breaking signal of the kind suggested is unlikely based on the crystal structures reported in the literature. Possible other origins of the observed dichroism signal are discussed. We propose x-ray scattering experiments that can be done in order to determine whether such alternative interpretations are valid or not.Comment: final version to be published in Phys Rev B: some calculational details added, clarification of XNLD contamination and biaxiality, more discussion on possible space groups and previous optics result

"Narrow" Graphene Nanoribbons Made Easier by Partial Hydrogenation

It is a challenge to synthesize graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with narrow widths and smooth edges in large scale. Our first principles study on the hydrogenation of GNRs shows that the hydrogenation starts from the edges of GNRs and proceeds gradually toward the middle of the GNRs so as to maximize the number of carbon-carbon $\pi$-$\pi$ bonds. Furthermore, the partially hydrogenated wide GNRs have similar electronic and magnetic properties as those of narrow GNRs. Therefore, it is not necessary to directly produce narrow GNRs for realistic applications because partial hydrogenation could make wide GNRs "narrower"

Modeling Human Visual Search Performance on Realistic Webpages Using Analytical and Deep Learning Methods

Modeling visual search not only offers an opportunity to predict the usability of an interface before actually testing it on real users, but also advances scientific understanding about human behavior. In this work, we first conduct a set of analyses on a large-scale dataset of visual search tasks on realistic webpages. We then present a deep neural network that learns to predict the scannability of webpage content, i.e., how easy it is for a user to find a specific target. Our model leverages both heuristic-based features such as target size and unstructured features such as raw image pixels. This approach allows us to model complex interactions that might be involved in a realistic visual search task, which can not be easily achieved by traditional analytical models. We analyze the model behavior to offer our insights into how the salience map learned by the model aligns with human intuition and how the learned semantic representation of each target type relates to its visual search performance.Comment: the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System

Van der Waals epitaxy of Bi2Se3 on Si(111) vicinal surface: An approach to prepare high-quality thin films of topological insulator

Epitaxial growth of topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films on nominally flat and vicinal Si(111) substrates is studied. In order to achieve planner growth front and better quality epifilms, a two-step growth method is adopted for the van der Waal epitaxy of Bi2Se3 to proceed. By employing vicinal Si(111) substrate surfaces, the in-pane growth rate anisotropy of Bi2Se3 is explored to achieve single crystalline Bi2Se3 epifilms, in which threading defects and twins are effectively suppressed. Optimization of the growth parameters has resulted in vicinal Bi2Se3 films showing a carrier mobility of ~ 2000 cm2V-1s-1 and the background doping of ~ 3 x 1018 cm-3 of the as-grown layers. Such samples not only show relatively high magnetoresistance but also a linear dependence on magnetic field.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Optical properties and charge-transfer excitations in edge-functionalized all-graphene nanojunctions

We investigate the optical properties of edge-functionalized graphene nanosystems, focusing on the formation of junctions and charge transfer excitons. We consider a class of graphene structures which combine the main electronic features of graphene with the wide tunability of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By investigating prototypical ribbon-like systems, we show that, upon convenient choice of functional groups, low energy excitations with remarkable charge transfer character and large oscillator strength are obtained. These properties can be further modulated through an appropriate width variation, thus spanning a wide range in the low-energy region of the UV-Vis spectra. Our results are relevant in view of designing all-graphene optoelectronic nanodevices, which take advantage of the versatility of molecular functionalization, together with the stability and the electronic properties of graphene nanostructures.Comment: J. Phys. Chem. Lett. (2011), in pres

Towards Graphene Nanoribbon-based Electronics

The successful fabrication of single layer graphene has greatly stimulated the progress of the research on graphene. In this article, focusing on the basic electronic and transport properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), we review the recent progress of experimental fabrication of GNRs, and the theoretical and experimental investigations of physical properties and device applications of GNRs. We also briefly discuss the research efforts on the spin polarization of GNRs in relation to the edge states.Comment: 9pages,10figure