Assembling nanostructures from DNA using a composite nanotweezers with a shape memory effect

The article demonstrates a technique for fabricating a structure with the inclusion of suspended DNA threads and manipulating them using composite nanotweezers with shape memory effect. This technique could be suitable for stretching of nanothin DNA-like conductive threads and for measuring their electrical conductivity, including the I-V characteristic directly in the electron microscope chamber, where the nanotweezers provide a two-sided clamping of the DNA tip, giving a stable nanocontact to the DNA bundle. Such contact, as a part of 1D nanostructure, is more reliable during manipulations with nanothreads than traditional measurements when a nanothread is touched by a thin needle, for example, in a scanning tunnel microscope.Comment: To be presented on IEEE 3M-NANO 201

Magnetocaloric effect and magnetization in a Ni-Mn-Ga Heusler alloy in the vicinity of magnetostructural transition

The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of a Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga alloy with coupled magnetic and structural (martensitic) phase transitions were studied experimentally and theoretically. The magnetocaloric effect was measured by a direct method in magnetic fields 0-26 kOe at temperatures close to the magnetostructural transition temperature. For theoretical description of the alloy properties near the magnetostructural transition a statistical model is suggested, that takes into account the coexistence of martensite and austenite domains in the vicinity of martensite transformation point.Comment: presented at ICM-2003, to appear in JMM

Deciphering M-T diagram of shape memory Heusler alloys: reentrance, plateau and beyond

We present our recent results on temperature behaviour of magnetization observed in Ni_47Mn_39In_14 Heusler alloys. Three regions can be distinguished in the M-T diagram: (I) low temperature martensitic phase (with the Curie temperature T_CM = 140 K), (II) intermediate mixed phase (with the critical temperature T_MS = 230 K) exhibiting a reentrant like behavior (between T_CM and T_MS) and (III) high temperature austenitic phase (with the Curie temperature T_CA = 320 K) exhibiting a rather wide plateau region (between T_MS and T_CA). By arguing that powerful structural transformations, causing drastic modifications of the domain structure in alloys, would also trigger strong fluctuations of the order parameters throughout the entire M-T diagram, we were able to successfully fit all the data by incorporating Gaussian fluctuations (both above and below the above three critical temperatures) into the Ginzburg-Landau scenario

Experimental investigation of magnetic circular dichroism spectrum and stress induced optical activity in a single-defect photonic crystal

Experimental investigation results for the magnetic circular dichroism spectrum (MCD) of a photonic crystal (PC) are presented. We found that in the vicinity of the transmission peak within the photonic bandgap and also near the bandgap edges, the circular dichroism is measurable even in the absence of any applied magnetic field. The application of magnetic field leads to generating an additional MCD signal measurable at the wavelengths near the “defect mode” transmittance line