12,481 research outputs found
Enhancement of superconductive critical temperatures in almost empty or full bands in two dimensions: possible relevance to beta-HfNCl, C60 and MgB2
We examine possibility of enhancement of superconductive critical temperature
in two-dimensions. The weak coupling BCS theory is applied, especially when the
Fermi level is near the edges of the electronic bands. The attractive
interaction depends on due to screening. The density of states(DOS)
does not have a peak near the bottom of the band, but -dependent
contribution to DOS (electron density on the Fermi surface) has a diverging
peak at the bottom or top. These features lead to significant enhancement of
the critical temperatures. The results are qualitatively consistent with the
superconductive behaviors of HfNCl (\Tc \le 25K) and ZrNCl(\Tc \le 15K),
C with a field-effect transistor configuration (\Tc = 52K), and
MgB (\Tc \approx 40K) which have the unexpectedly high superconductive
critical transition temperatures.Comment: 5 pages,4 figure
Ripples in Tapped or Blown Powder
We observe ripples forming on the surface of a granular powder in a container
submitted from below to a series of brief and distinct shocks. After a few
taps, the pattern turns out to be stable against any further shock of the same
amplitude. We find experimentally that the characteristic wavelength of the
pattern is proportional to the amplitude of the shocks. Starting from
consideration involving Darcy's law for air flow through the porous granulate
and avalanche properties, we build up a semi-quantitative model which fits
satisfactorily the set of experimental observations as well as a couple of
additional experiments.Comment: 7 pages, four postscript figures, submitted PRL 11/19/9
Surface effects on the Mott-Hubbard transition in archetypal VO
We present an experimental and theoretical study exploring surface effects on
the evolution of the metal-insulator transition in the model Mott-Hubbard
compound Cr-doped VO. We find a microscopic domain formation that is
clearly affected by the surface crystallographic orientation. Using scanning
photoelectron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, we find that surface defects
act as nucleation centers for the formation of domains at the
temperature-induced isostructural transition and favor the formation of
microscopic metallic regions. A density functional theory plus dynamical mean
field theory study of different surface terminations shows that the surface
reconstruction with excess vanadyl cations leads to doped, and hence more
metallic surface states, explaining our experimental observations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The Scientific Reach of Multi-Ton Scale Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments
The next generation of large scale WIMP direct detection experiments have the
potential to go beyond the discovery phase and reveal detailed information
about both the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter. We report here
on early results arising from the development of a detailed numerical code
modeling the proposed DARWIN detector, involving both liquid argon and xenon
targets. We incorporate realistic detector physics, particle physics and
astrophysical uncertainties and demonstrate to what extent two targets with
similar sensitivities can remove various degeneracies and allow a determination
of dark matter cross sections and masses while also probing rough aspects of
the dark matter phase space distribution. We find that, even assuming dominance
of spin-independent scattering, multi-ton scale experiments still have
degeneracies that depend sensitively on the dark matter mass, and on the
possibility of isospin violation and inelasticity in interactions. We find that
these experiments are best able to discriminate dark matter properties for dark
matter masses less than around 200 GeV. In addition, and somewhat surprisingly,
the use of two targets gives only a small improvement (aside from the advantage
of different systematics associated with any claimed signal) in the ability to
pin down dark matter parameters when compared with one target of larger
exposure.Comment: 23 pages; updated to match PRD versio
Effects of cluster diffusion on the island density and size distribution in submonolayer island growth
The effects of cluster diffusion on the submonolayer island density and
island-size distribution are studied for the case of irreversible growth of
compact islands on a 2D substrate. In our model, we assume instantaneous
coalescence of circular islands, while the cluster mobility is assumed to
exhibit power-law decay as a function of island-size with exponent mu. Results
are presented for mu = 1/2, 1, and 3/2 corresponding to cluster diffusion via
Brownian motion, correlated evaporation-condensation, and edge-diffusion
respectively, as well as for higher values including mu = 2,3, and 6. We also
compare our results with those obtained in the limit of no cluster mobility
corresponding to mu = infinity. In agreement with theoretical predictions of
power-law behavior of the island-size distribution (ISD) for mu < 1, for mu =
1/2 we find Ns({\theta}) ~ s^{-\tau} (where Ns({\theta}) is the number of
islands of size s at coverage {\theta}) up to a cross-over island-size S_c.
However, the value of {\tau} obtained in our simulations is higher than the
mean-field (MF) prediction {\tau} = (3 - mu)/2. Similarly, the value of the
exponent {\zeta} corresponding to the dependence of S_c on the average
island-size S (e.g. S_c ~ S^{\zeta}) is also significantly higher than the MF
prediction {\zeta} = 2/(mu+1). A generalized scaling form for the ISD is also
proposed for mu < 1, and using this form excellent scaling is found for mu =
1/2. However, for finite mu >= 1 neither the generalized scaling form nor the
standard scaling form Ns({\theta}) = {\theta} /S^2 f(s/S) lead to scaling of
the entire ISD for finite values of the ratio R of the monomer diffusion rate
to deposition flux. Instead, the scaled ISD becomes more sharply peaked with
increasing R and coverage. This is in contrast to models of epitaxial growth
with limited cluster mobility for which good scaling occurs over a wide range
of coverages.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to Physical Review
Avoiding power broadening in optically detected magnetic resonance of single NV defects for enhanced DC-magnetic field sensitivity
We report a systematic study of the magnetic field sensitivity of a magnetic
sensor based on a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defect in diamond, by using
continuous optically detected electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. We
first investigate the behavior of the ESR contrast and linewidth as a function
of the microwave and optical pumping power. The experimental results are in
good agreement with a simplified model of the NV defect spin dynamics, yielding
to an optimized sensitivity around 2 \mu T/\sqrt{\rm Hz}. We then demonstrate
an enhancement of the magnetic sensitivity by one order of magnitude by using a
simple pulsed-ESR scheme. This technique is based on repetitive excitation of
the NV defect with a resonant microwave \pi-pulse followed by an optimized
read-out laser pulse, allowing to fully eliminate power broadening of the ESR
linewidth. The achieved sensitivity is similar to the one obtained by using
Ramsey-type sequences, which is the optimal magnetic field sensitivity for the
detection of DC magnetic fields
Gamma-ray emission from dark matter wakes of recoiled black holes
A new scenario for the emission of high-energy gamma-rays from dark matter
annihilation around massive black holes is presented. A black hole can leave
its parent halo, by means of gravitational radiation recoil, in a merger event
or in the asymmetric collapse of its progenitor star. A recoiled black hole
which moves on an almost-radial orbit outside the virial radius of its central
halo, in the cold dark matter background, reaches its apapsis in a finite time.
Near or at the apapsis passage, a high-density wake extending over a large
radius of influence, forms around the black hole. It is shown that significant
gamma-ray emission can result from the enhancement of neutralino annihilation
in these wakes. At its apapsis passage, a black hole is shown to produce a
flash of high-energy gamma-rays whose duration is determined by the mass of the
black hole and the redshift at which it is ejected. The ensemble of such black
holes in the Hubble volume is shown to produce a diffuse high-energy gamma-ray
background whose magnitude is compared to the diffuse emission from dark matter
haloes alone.Comment: version to appear in Astrophysical Journal letters (labels on Fig. 3
corrected
Magnetic-field-dependent photodynamics of single NV defects in diamond: Application to qualitative all-optical magnetic imaging
Magnetometry and magnetic imaging with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in
diamond rely on the optical detection of electron spin resonance (ESR).
However, this technique is inherently limited to magnetic fields that are weak
enough to avoid electron spin mixing. Here we focus on the high off-axis
magnetic field regime for which spin mixing alters the NV defect spin dynamics.
We first study in a quantitative manner the dependence of the NV defect optical
properties on the magnetic field vector B. Magnetic-field-dependent
time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements are compared to a seven-level
model of the NV defect that accounts for field-induced spin mixing. The model
reproduces the decreases in (i) ESR contrast, (ii) PL intensity and (iii)
excited level lifetime with an increasing off-axis magnetic field. We next
demonstrate that those effects can be used to perform all-optical magnetic
imaging in the high off-axis magnetic field regime. Using a scanning NV defect
microscope, we map the stray field of a magnetic hard disk through both PL and
fluorescence lifetime imaging. This all-optical method for high magnetic field
imaging at the nanoscale might be of interest in the field of nanomagnetism,
where samples producing fields in excess of several tens of milliteslas are
typical
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