24,939 research outputs found
Transport in gapped bilayer graphene: the role of potential fluctuations
We employ a dual-gated geometry to control the band gap \Delta in bilayer
graphene and study the temperature dependence of the resistance at the charge
neutrality point, RNP(T), from 220 to 1.5 K. Above 5 K, RNP(T) is dominated by
two thermally activated processes in different temperature regimes and exhibits
exp(T3/T)^{1/3} below 5 K. We develop a simple model to account for the
experimental observations, which highlights the crucial role of localized
states produced by potential fluctuations. The high temperature conduction is
attributed to thermal activation to the mobility edge. The activation energy
approaches \Delta /2 at large band gap. At intermediate and low temperatures,
the dominant conduction mechanisms are nearest neighbor hopping and
variable-range hopping through localized states. Our systematic study provides
a coherent understanding of transport in gapped bilayer graphene.Comment: to appear in Physical Review B: Rapid Com
Growth of Epitaxial Oxide Thin Films on Graphene
The transfer process of graphene onto the surface of oxide substrates is well known. However, for many devices, we require high quality oxide thin films on the surface of graphene. This step is not understood. It is not clear why the oxide should adopt the epitaxy of the underlying oxide layer when it is deposited on graphene where there is no lattice match. To date there has been no explanation or suggestion of mechanisms which clarify this step. Here we show a mechanism, supported by first principles simulation and structural characterisation results, for the growth of oxide thin films on graphene. We describe the growth of epitaxial SrTiO3 (STO) thin films on a graphene and show that local defects in the graphene layer (e.g. grain boundaries) act as bridgepillar spots that enable the epitaxial growth of STO thin films on the surface of the graphene layer. This study, and in particular the suggestion of a mechanism for epitaxial growth of oxides on graphene, offers new directions to exploit the development of oxide/graphene multilayer structures and devices
Do the recent severe droughts in the Amazonia have the same period of length?
We propose a new measure based on drought period length to assess the
temporal difference between the recent two severe droughts of 2005 and 2010 in
the Amazonia. The sensitivity of the measure is demonstrated by disclosing the
distinct spatial responding mechanisms of the Northeastern and Southwestern
Amazon (NA, SA) to the surrounding sea surface temperature (SST) variabilities.
The Pacific and Atlantic oceans have different roles on the precipitation
patterns in Amazonia. More specifically, the very dry periods in the NA are
influenced by El Ni\~no events, while the very dry periods in the SA are
affected by the anomalously warming of the SST in the North Atlantic. We show
convincingly that the drought 2005 hit SA, which is caused by the North
Atlantic only. There are two phases in the drought 2010: (i) it was started in
the NA in August 2009 affected by the El Ni\~no event, and (ii) later shifted
the center of action to SA resulted from anomalously high SST in North
Atlantic, which further intensifies the impacts on the spatial coverage.Comment: 5 figure
Myelin figures: the buckling and flow of wet soap
Myelin figures are interfacial structures formed when certain surfactants
swell in excess water. Here, I present data and model calculations suggesting
myelin formation and growth is due to the fluid flow of surfactant, driven by
the hydration gradient at the dry surfactant/water interface; a simple model
based on this idea qualitatively reproduces the various myelin growth behaviors
observed in different experiments. From a detailed experimental observation of
how myelins develop from a planar precursor structure, I identify a mechanical
instability that may underlie myelin formation. These results indicate the
mixed mechanical character of the surfactant lamellar structure, where fluid
and elastic properties coexist, is what enables the formation and growth of
myelins.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E. Corrected
figures/typo
Band gap bowing in NixMg1-xO.
Epitaxial transparent oxide NixMg1-xO (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) thin films were grown on MgO(100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. High-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis indicate that the thin films are compositionally and structurally homogeneous, forming a completely miscible solid solution. Nevertheless, the composition dependence of the NixMg1-xO optical band gap shows a strong non-parabolic bowing with a discontinuity at dilute NiO concentrations of x 0.074 and account for the anomalously large band gap narrowing in the NixMg1-xO solid solution system
Bosonic resonating valence bond wave function for doped Mott insulators
We propose a new class of ground states for doped Mott insulators in the
electron second-quantization representation. They are obtained from a bosonic
resonating valence bond (RVB) theory of the t-J model. At half filling, the
ground state describes spin correlations of the S=1/2 Heisenberg model very
accurately. Its spin degrees of freedom are characterized by RVB pairing of
spins, the size of which decreases continuously as holes are doped into the
system. Charge degrees of freedom emerge upon doping and are described by
twisted holes in the RVB background. We show that the twisted holes exhibit an
off diagonal long range order (ODLRO) in the pseudogap ground state, which has
a finite pairing amplitude, but is short of phase coherence. Unpaired spins in
such a pseudogap ground state behave as free vortices, preventing
superconducting phase coherence. The existence of nodal quasiparticles is also
ensured by such a hidden ODLRO in the ground state, which is
non-Fermi-liquid-like in the absence of superconducting phase coherence. Two
distinct types of spin excitations can also be constructed. The superconducting
instability of the pseudogap ground state is discussed and a d-wave
superconducting ground state is obtained. This class of pseudogap and
superconducting ground states unifies antiferromagnetism, pseudogap,
superconductivity, and Mott physics into a new state of matter.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.
The effect of inelastic processes on tunneling
We study an electron that interacts with phonons or other linear or nonlinear
excitations as it resonantly tunnels. The method we use is based on mapping a
many-body problem in a large variational space exactly onto a one-body problem.
The method is conceptually simpler than previous Green's function approaches,
and allows the essentially exact numerical solution of much more general
problems. We solve tunneling problems with transverse channels, multiple sites
coupled to phonons, and multiple phonon degrees of freedom and excitations.Comment: 12 pages, REVTex, 4 figures in compressed tar .ps forma
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