Large phonon-drag enhancement induced by narrow quantum confinement at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

The thermoelectric power of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES) at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface is explored below room temperature, in comparison with that of Nb-doped SrTiO3 single crystals. For the interface we find a region below T =50 K where thermopower is dominated by phonon-drag, whose amplitude is hugely amplified with respect to the corresponding bulk value, reaching values ~mV/K and above. The phonon-drag enhancement at the interface is traced back to the tight carrier confinement of the 2DES, and represents a sharp signature of strong electron-acoustic phonon coupling at the interface

High accuracy decoding of dynamical motion from a large retinal population

Motion tracking is a challenge the visual system has to solve by reading out the retinal population. Here we recorded a large population of ganglion cells in a dense patch of salamander and guinea pig retinas while displaying a bar moving diffusively. We show that the bar position can be reconstructed from retinal activity with a precision in the hyperacuity regime using a linear decoder acting on 100+ cells. The classical view would have suggested that the firing rates of the cells form a moving hill of activity tracking the bar's position. Instead, we found that ganglion cells fired sparsely over an area much larger than predicted by their receptive fields, so that the neural image did not track the bar. This highly redundant organization allows for diverse collections of ganglion cells to represent high-accuracy motion information in a form easily read out by downstream neural circuits.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

Angular dependence of magnetoresistivity in c-oriented MgB2 thin film

The anisotropy of MgB2 is still under debate: its value, strongly dependent on the sample and on the measuring method, ranges between 1.2 and 13. In this work we present our results on a MgB2 c-oriented superconducting thin film. To evaluate the anisotropy, we followed two different approaches. Firstly, magnetoresistivity was measured as a function of temperature at selected magnetic fields applied both parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis; secondly, we measured magnetoresistivity at selected temperatures and magnetic fields, varying the angle q between the magnetic field and the c-axis. The anisotropy estimated from the ratio between the upper critical fields parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis and the one obtained in the framework of the scaling approach within the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory are different but show a similar trend in the temperature dependence. The obtained results are compared and discussed in the light of the two-band nature of MgB2. A comparison between critical fields in thin films and single crystal is also performed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, European Physical Journal B in pres

Thermoelectric behavior of Ruddlesden-Popper series iridates

The goal of this work is studying the evolution of thermoelectric transport across the members of the Ruddlesden-Popper series iridates Srn+1IrnO3n+1, where a metal-insulator transition driven by bandwidth change occurs, from the strongly insulating Sr2IrO4 to the metallic non Fermi liquid behavior of SrIrO3. Sr2IrO4 (n=1), Sr3Ir2O7 (n=2) and SrIrO3 (n=inf.) polycrystals are synthesized at high pressure and characterized by structural, magnetic, electric and thermoelectric transport analyses. We find a complex thermoelectric phenomenology in the three compounds. Thermal diffusion of charge carriers accounts for the Seebeck behavior of Sr2IrO4, whereas additional drag mechanisms come into play in determining the Seebeck temperature dependence of Sr3Ir2O7 and SrIrO3. These findings reveal close relationship between magnetic, electronic and thermoelectric properties, strong coupling of charge carriers with phonons and spin fluctuations as well as relevance of multiband description in these compounds.Comment: main paper + supplementary informatio

Tc=21K in epitaxial FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films with biaxial compressive strain

High purity epitaxial FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films with different thickness were grown by Pulsed Laser Ablation on different substrates. By varying the film thickness, Tc up to 21K were observed, significantly larger than the bulk value. Structural analyses indicated that the a axis changes significantly with the film thickness and is linearly related to the Tc. The latter result indicates the important role of the compressive strain in enhancing Tc. Tc is also related to both the Fe-(Se,Te) bond length and angle, suggesting the possibility of further enhancement

Pulsed Laser Deposition of epitaxial titanium diboride thin films

Epitaxial titanium diboride thin films have been deposited on sapphire substrates by Pulsed Laser Ablation technique. Structural properties of the films have been studied during the growth by Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) and ex-situ by means of X-ray diffraction techniques; both kinds of measurements indicate a good crystallographic orientation of the TiB2 film both in plane and along the c axis. A flat surface has been observed by Atomic Force Microscopy imaging. Electrical resistivity at room temperature resulted to be five times higher than the value reported for single crystals. The films resulted to be also very stable at high temperature, which is very promising for using this material as a buffer layer in the growth of magnesium diboride thin films.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, in press on Thin Solid Film

Neutron Irradiation of Mg11B2 : From the Enhancement to the Suppression of Superconducting Properties

In this letter we present the effect of neutron irradiation up to fluences of 3.9 1019 n/cm2 on the superconducting properties of MgB2. In order to obtain a disorder structure homogeneously distributed, the experiment was carried out on bulk samples prepared with the 11B isotope. Up to fluences of 1018 n/cm2 the critical temperature is slightly diminished (36 K) and the superconducting properties are significantly improved; the upper critical field is increased from 13.5 T to 20.3 T at 12 K and the irreversibility field is doubled at 5 K. For larger neutron fluences the critical temperature is suppressed down to 12 K and the superconducting properties come out strongly degraded.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Appl.Phys.Let

Enhanced flux pinning in neutron irradiated MgB2

We study the effect of neutron irradiation on the critical current density Jc of isotopically pure polycrystalline Mg11B2 samples. For fluences in the range 1017-1018 cm-2, Jc is enhanced and its dependence on magnetic field is significantly improved: we demonstrate that, in this regime, point-like pinning centers are effectively introduced in the system proportionally to the neutron fluence. Instead, for larger fluences, a strong suppression of the critical temperature accompanied by a decrease of both the upper critical field Bc2 and Jc is found.Comment: 13 pages, 3 igure

Influence of free charge carrier density on the magnetic behavior of (Zn,Co)O thin film studied by Field Effect modulation of magnetotransport

The origin of (ferro)magnetic ordering in transition metal doped ZnO is a still open question. For applications it is fundamental to establish if it arises from magnetically ordered impurity clusters embedded into the semiconducting matrix or if it originates from ordering of magnetic ions dilute into the host lattice. In this latter case, a reciprocal effect of the magnetic exchange on the charge carriers is expected, offering many possibilities for spintronics applications. In this paper we report on the relationship between magnetic properties and free charge density investigated by using Zinc oxide based field effect transistors, in which the charge carrier density is modulated by more than 4 order of magnitude, from 10(16) to 10(20) e(-)/cm(3). The magnetotransport properties are employed to probe the magnetic status of the channel both in pure and cobalt doped zinc oxide transistors. We find that it is widely possible to control the magnetic scattering rates by field effect. We believe that this finding is a consequence of the modulation of magnetization and carrier spin polarization by the electric field. The observed effects can be explained by the change in size of bound magnetic polarons that induces a percolation magnetic ordering in the sample