2,023 research outputs found
The Absence of Vortex Lattice Melting in a Conventional Superconductor
The state of the vortex lattice extremely close to the superconducting to
normal transition in an applied magnetic field is investigated in high purity
niobium. We observe that thermal fluctuations of the order parameter broaden
the superconducting to normal transition into a crossover but no sign of a
first order vortex lattice melting transition is detected in measurements of
the heat capacity or the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) intensity.
Direct observation of the vortices via SANS always finds a well ordered vortex
lattice. The fluctuation broadening is considered in terms of the Lowest Landau
Level theory of critical fluctuations and scaling is found to occur over a
large H_{c2}(T) range
Origin of Electric Field Induced Magnetization in Multiferroic HoMnO3
We have performed polarized and unpolarized small angle neutron scattering
experiments on single crystals of HoMnO3 and have found that an increase in
magnetic scattering at low momentum transfers begins upon cooling through
temperatures close to the spin reorientation transition at TSR ~ 40 K. We
attribute the increase to an uncompensated magnetization arising within
antiferromagnetic domain walls. Polarized neutron scattering experiments
performed while applying an electric field show that the field suppresses
magnetic scattering below T ~ 50 K, indicating that the electric field affects
the magnetization via the antiferromagnetic domain walls rather than through a
change to the bulk magnetic order
Exploring the fragile antiferromagnetic superconducting phase in CeCoIn5
CeCoIn5 is a heavy fermion Type-II superconductor which exhibits clear
indications of Pauli-limited superconductivity. A variety of measurements give
evidence for a transition at high magnetic fields inside the superconducting
state, when the field is applied either parallel to or perpendicular to the c
axis. When the field is perpendicular to the c axis, antiferromagnetic order is
observed on the high-field side of the transition, with a magnetic wavevector
of (q q 0.5), where q = 0.44 reciprocal lattice units. We show that this order
remains as the magnetic field is rotated out of the basal plane, but the
associated moment eventually disappears above 17 degrees, indicating that the
anomalies seen with the field parallel to the c axis are not related to this
magnetic order. We discuss the implications of this finding.Comment: Accepted Physical Review Letters, September 2010. 4 pages, 4 figure
Unconventional magnetic phase separation in -CoVO
We have explored the magnetism in the non-geometrically frustrated spin-chain
system -CoVO which possesses a complex magnetic exchange
network. Our neutron diffraction patterns at low temperatures (
= 6.6 K) are best described by a model in which two magnetic
phases coexist in a volume ratio 65(1) : 35(1), with each phase consisting of a
single spin modulation. This model fits previous studies and our observations
better than the model proposed by Lenertz in J. Phys. Chem. C 118,
13981 (2014), which consisted of one phase with two spin modulations. By
decreasing the temperature from , the minority phase of our
model undergoes an incommensurate-commensurate lock-in transition at =
5.6 K. Based on these results, we propose that phase separation is an
alternative approach for degeneracy-lifting in frustrated magnets
Field Dependence of the Superconducting Basal Plane Anisotropy of TmNi2B2C
The superconductor TmNi2B2C possesses a significant four-fold basal plane
anisotropy, leading to a square Vortex Lattice (VL) at intermediate fields.
However, unlike other members of the borocarbide superconductors, the
anisotropy in TmNi2B2C appears to decrease with increasing field, evident by a
reentrance of the square VL phase. We have used Small Angle Neutron Scattering
measurements of the VL to study the field dependence of the anisotropy. Our
results provide a direct, quantitative measurement of the decreasing
anisotropy. We attribute this reduction of the basal plane anisotropy to the
strong Pauli paramagnetic effects observed in TmNi2B2C and the resulting
expansion of vortex cores near Hc2.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
Dimensional Evolution of Spin Correlations in the Magnetic Pyrochlore Yb2Ti2O7
The pyrochlore material Yb2Ti2O7 displays unexpected quasi-two-dimensional
(2D) magnetic correlations within a cubic lattice environment at low
temperatures, before entering an exotic disordered ground state below T=265mK.
We report neutron scattering measurements of the thermal evolution of the 2D
spin correlations in space and time. Short range three dimensional (3D) spin
correlations develop below 400 mK, accompanied by a suppression in the
quasi-elastic (QE) scattering below ~ 0.2 meV. These show a slowly fluctuating
ground state with spins correlated over short distances within a
kagome-triangular-kagome (KTK) stack along [111], which evolves to isolated
kagome spin-stars at higher temperatures. Furthermore, low-temperature specific
heat results indicate a sample dependence to the putative transition
temperature that is bounded by 265mK, which we discuss in the context of recent
mean field theoretical analysis.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Fermi surface and order parameter driven vortex lattice structure transitions in twin-free YBa2Cu3O7
We report on small-angle neutron scattering studies of the intrinsic vortex
lattice (VL) structure in detwinned YBa2Cu3O7 at 2 K, and in fields up to 10.8
T. Because of the suppressed pinning to twin-domain boundaries, a new distorted
hexagonal VL structure phase is stabilized at intermediate fields. It is
separated from a low-field hexagonal phase of different orientation and
distortion by a first-order transition at 2.0(2) T that is probably driven by
Fermi surface effects. We argue that another first-order transition at 6.7(2)
T, into a rhombic structure with a distortion of opposite sign, marks a
crossover from a regime where Fermi surface anisotropy is dominant, to one
where the VL structure and distortion is controlled by the order-parameter
anisotropy.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (2 color), minor change
Are people in residential care entitled to receive rehabilitation services following hip fracture? Views of the public from a citizens' jury.
BACKGROUND:Access to rehabilitation services for people living in residential care facilities is frequently limited. A randomised trial of a hospital outreach hip fracture rehabilitation program in residential care facilities has demonstrated improvements in mobility at four weeks and quality of life at 12 months but was not considered cost-effective by standard health economic metrics. The current study aimed to explore the general public's views on issues involved in the allocation of rehabilitation resources for residents of care facilities. METHODS:A citizens' jury comprising 13 purposively sampled members of the general public, representative of the South Australian age, gender and household income profile. The jury considered the questions "Should there be an investment of physical rehabilitation services in residential care for older people following a hip fracture? If so, what is the best way of providing this service (considering funding, models of service delivery and equity)?" Deliberations were in the context of a state-wide health reform program. The jury was conducted over two days with an experienced independent facilitator, addressing questions developed by a steering group of research academics and clinicians. RESULTS:The mean age of the citizens' jury members was 43 (range 26 to 61). Eleven members voted for investment in outreach hospital rehabilitation services in residential aged care. All jurors agreed a number of strategies in addition to investment should be implemented, including health care planning and decision making, increased emphasis on hip fracture prevention, training of aged care staff in rehabilitation and routine provision of hospital discharge summaries to families. The jury further advocated for an increased focus on rehabilitation in residential care, potentially through accreditation criteria, increasing health literacy of residents and families, implementation of age friendly environment strategies and improving connections of care facilities with community, hospital and tertiary services. CONCLUSIONS:This citizens' jury representative of the general public recommends that regardless of dementia and frailty, people who live in residential care and are walking and fracture their hips should have access to hospital outreach rehabilitation and recovery services
Trans-biome diversity in Australian grass-specialist lizards (Diplodactylidae: Strophurus)
Comparisons of biodiversity patterns within lineages that occur across major climate gradients and biomes, can provide insights into the relative roles that lineage history, landscape and climatic variation, and environmental change have played in shaping regional biotas. In Australia, while there has been extensive research into the origins and patterns of diversity in the Australian Arid Zone (AAZ), how diversity is distributed across this biome and the Australian Monsoonal Tropics (AMT) to the north, has been less studied. We compared the timing and patterns of diversification across this broad aridity gradient in a clade of lizards (Strophurus: phasmid geckos) that only occur in association with a unique Australian radiation of sclerophyllous grasses (Triodia: spinifex). Our results indicate that overall genetic diversity is much higher, older and more finely geographically structured within the AMT, including distantly related clades endemic to the sandstone escarpments of the Kimberley and Arnhem Plateau. Niche modelling analyses also suggest that the distribution of taxa in the AMT is more strongly correlated with variation in topographic relief than in the AAZ. The two broad patterns that we recovered - (i) lineage endemism increases as latitude decreases, and (ii) endemism is tightly correlated to rocky regions - parallel and corroborate other recent studies of habitat generalists and specialised saxicoline lineages occurring across these same regions. Early Miocene diversification estimates also suggest that, soon after Triodia grasses colonised Australia and began to diversify in the Miocene, phasmid geckos with Gondwanan ancestry shifted into these grasses, and have subsequently remained closely associated with this unique vegetation type.This work was supported by a linkage grant from the Australian Research Council to PMO, Michael Lee and Paul Doughty, a McKenzie Postdoctoral fellowship to PMO from the University of Melbourne, and an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award to PMO
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