4,059 research outputs found
Acoustic and optical phonon dynamics from femtosecond time-resolved optical spectroscopy of superconducting iron pnictide Ca(Fe_0.944Co_0.056)_2As_2
We report temperature evolution of coherently excited acoustic and optical
phonon dynamics in superconducting iron pnictide single crystal
Ca(Fe_0.944Co_0.056)_2As_2 across the spin density wave transition at T_SDW ~
85 K and superconducting transition at T_SC ~20 K. Strain pulse propagation
model applied to the generation of the acoustic phonons yields the temperature
dependence of the optical constants, and longitudinal and transverse sound
velocities in the temperature range of 3.1 K to 300 K. The frequency and
dephasing times of the phonons show anomalous temperature dependence below T_SC
indicating a coupling of these low energy excitations with the Cooper-pair
quasiparticles. A maximum in the amplitude of the acoustic modes at T ~ 170 is
seen, attributed to spin fluctuations and strong spin-lattice coupling before
T_SDW.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures (revised manuscript
Ultrafast quasiparticle dynamics in superconducting iron pnictide CaFe1.89Co0.11As2
Nonequilibrium quasiparticle relaxation dynamics is reported in
superconducting CaFe1.89Co0.11As2 single crystal using femtosecond
time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy. The carrier dynamics reflects a
three-channel decay of laser deposited energy with characteristic time scales
varying from few hundreds of femtoseconds to order of few nanoseconds where the
amplitudes and time-constants of the individual electronic relaxation
components show significant changes in the vicinity of the spin density wave
(T_SDW ~ 85 K) and superconducting (T_SC ~ 20 K) phase transition temperatures.
The quasiparticles dynamics in the superconducting state reveals a charge gap
with reduced gap value of 2_0/k_BT_SC ~ 1.8. We have determined the
electron-phonon coupling constant \lemda to be ~ 0.14 from the temperature
dependent relaxation time in the normal state, a value close to those reported
for other types of pnictides. From the peculiar temperature-dependence of the
carrier dynamics in the intermediate temperature region between the
superconducting and spin density wave phase transitions, we infer a temperature
scale where the charge gap associated with the spin ordered phase is maximum
and closes on either side while approaching the two phase transition
temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures (revised manuscript);
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssc.2013.02.00
Brillouin Scattering Studies of La_{0.77}Ca_{0.23}MnO_3 Across Metal-Insulator Transition
Temperature-dependent Brillouin scattering studies have been carried out on
La_{0.77}Ca_{0.23}MnO_3 across the paramagnetic insulator - ferromagnetic metal
(I-M) transition. The spectra show a surface Rayleigh wave (SRW) and a high
velocity pseudo surface acoustic wave (HVPSAW) besides bulk acoustic waves
(BAW). The Brillouin shifts associated with SRW and HVPSAW show blue-shifts,
where as the frequencies of the BAW decrease below the I-M transition
temperature (T_C) of 230 K. These results can be understood based on the
temperature dependence of the elastic constants. We also observe a central peak
whose width is maximum at T_C.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Phonon Anomalies, Orbital-Ordering and Electronic Raman Scattering in iron-pnictide Ca(Fe0.97Co0.03)2As2: Temperature-dependent Raman Study
We report inelastic light scattering studies on Ca(Fe0.97Co0.03)2As2 in a
wide spectral range of 120-5200 cm-1 from 5K to 300K, covering the tetragonal
to orthorhombic structural transition as well as magnetic transition at Tsm ~
160K. The mode frequencies of two first-order Raman modes B1g and Eg, both
involving displacement of Fe atoms, show sharp increase below Tsm.
Concomitantly, the linewidths of all the first-order Raman modes show anomalous
broadening below Tsm, attributed to strong spin-phonon coupling. The high
frequency modes observed between 400-1200 cm-1 are attributed to the electronic
Raman scattering involving the crystal field levels of d-orbitals of Fe2+. The
splitting between xz and yz d-orbital levels is shown to be ~ 25 meV which
increases as temperature decreases below Tsm. A broad Raman band observed at ~
3200 cm-1 is assigned to two-magnon excitation of the itinerant Fe 3d
antiferromagnet.Comment: Accepted for Publication in JPC
Detection of Sugar-Lectin Interactions by Multivalent Dendritic Sugar Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
We show that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) decorated with sugar
functionalized poly (propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer is a very sensitive
platform to quantitatively detect carbohydrate recognizing proteins, namely,
lectins. The changes in electrical conductivity of SWNT in field effect
transistor device due to carbohydrate - protein interactions form the basis of
present study. The mannose sugar attached PETIM dendrimers undergo charge -
transfer interactions with the SWNT. The changes in the conductance of the
dendritic sugar functionalized SWNT after addition of lectins in varying
concentrations were found to follow the Langmuir type isotherm, giving the
concanavalin A (Con A) - mannose affinity constant to be 8.5 x 106 M-1. The
increase in the device conductance observed after adding 10 nM of Con A is same
as after adding 20 \muM of a non - specific lectin peanut agglutinin, showing
the high specificity of the Con A - mannose interactions. The specificity of
sugar-lectin interactions was characterized further by observing significant
shifts in Raman modes of the SWNT.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Manifestation of geometric frustration on magnetic and thermodynamic properties of pyrochlores (X=Ti, Zr)
We present here magnetization, specific heat and Raman studies on
single-crystalline specimens of the first pyrochlore member of
the rare-earth titanate series. Its analogous compound in the
rare-earth zirconate series is also investigated in the polycrystalline form.
The Sm spins in remain unordered down to at least T = 0.5 K. The
absence of magnetic ordering is attributed to very small values of exchange
() and dipolar interaction ()
between the spins in this pyrochlore. In contrast, the pyrochlore
is characterized by a relatively large value of Sm-Sm spin
exchange (); however, long-range ordering of the
spins is not established at least down to T = 0.67 K, due to
frustration of the spins on the pyrochlore lattice. The ground state
of ions in both pyrochlores is a well-isolated Kramer's doublet. The
higher-lying crystal field excitations are observed in the low-frequency region
of the Raman spectra of the two compounds recorded at T = 10 K. At higher
temperatures, the magnetic susceptibility of shows a broad
maximum at T = 140 K while that of changes monotonically. Whereas
is a promising candidate for investigating spin-fluctuations on a
frustrated lattice as indicated by our data, the properties of
seem to conform to a conventional scenario where geometrical frustration of the
spin exclude their long-range ordering.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Cyclooxygenase Inhibition Limits Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption following Intracerebral Injection of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha in the Rat
Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is important in neurological disorders. Neuroinflammation is associated with increased BBB breakdown and brain injury. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) is involved in BBB injury and edema formation through a mechanism involving matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) upregulation. There is emerging evidence indicating that cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition limits BBB disruption following ischemic stroke and bacterial meningitis, but the mechanisms involved are not known. We used intracerebral injection of TNF-a to study the effect of COX inhibition on TNF-a-induced BBB breakdown, MMP expression/activity and oxidative stress. BBB disruption was evaluated by the uptake of 14C-sucrose into the brain and by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilizing Gd-DTPA as a paramagnetic contrast agent. Using selective inhibitors of each COX isoform, we found that COX-1 activity is more important than COX-2 in BBB opening. TNF-a induced a significant upregulation of gelatinase B (MMP-9), stromelysin-1 (MMP-3) and COX-2. In addition, TNF-a significantly depleted glutathione as compared to saline. Indomethacin (10 mg/kg; i.p.), an inhibitor of COX-1 and COX-2, reduced BBB damage at 24 h. Indomethacin significantly attenuated MMP-9 and MMP-3 expression and activation, and prevented the loss of endogenous radical scavenging capacity following intracerebral injection of TNF-a. Our results show for the first time that BBB disruption during neuroinflammation can be significantly reduced by administration of COX inhibitors. Modulation of COX in brain injury by COX inhibitors or agents modulating prostaglandin E2 formation/signaling may be useful in clinical settings associated with BBB disruption
Signatures of superconducting and pseudogap phases in ultrafast transient reflectivity of Ca(Fe0.927Co0.073)2As2
We present femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopic studies of a
pseudogap (PG) along with the superconducting (SC) gap in an overdoped iron
pnictide Ca(Fe0.927Co0.073)2As2. It is seen that the temperature evolution of
the photoexcited quasiparticle (QP) relaxation dynamics, coherently excited
A1g-symmetric optical phonon and two acoustic phonon dynamics behave
anomalously in the vicinity of the superconducting transition temperature Tc. A
continuous change in the sign of the experimentally measured transient
differential reflectivity Delta_R/R signal at the zero time-delay between the
pump and probe pulses at a temperature of ~200 K is inferred as an evidence of
the emergence of the PG phase around that temperature. This behavior is
independent of the pump photon energy and occurs for crystals without the spin
density wave phase transition.Comment: EPL (2014
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