Current-induced domain wall motion in Rashba spin-orbit system

Current-induced magnetic domain wall motion, induced by transfer of spin transfer effect due to exchange interaction, is expected to be useful for next generation high-density storages. We here show that efficient domain wall manipulation can be achieved by introduction of Rashba spin-orbit interaction, which induces spin precession of conduction electron and acts as an effective magnetic field. Its effect on domain wall motion depends on the wall configuration. We found that the effect is significant for Bloch wall with the hard axis along the current, since the effective field works as $\beta$ or field-like term and removes the threshold current if in extrinsic pinning is absent. For N\'eel wall and Bloch wall with easy axis perpendicular to Rashba plane, the effective field induces a step motion of wall corresponding to a rotation of wall plane by the angle of approximately $\pi$ at current lower than intrinsic threshold. Rashba interaction would therefore be useful to assist efficient motion of domain walls at low current

Concentration and localization of zinc during seed development and germination in wheat

In a field experiment, the effect of foliar Zn applications on the concentration of Zn in seeds of a bread wheat cultivar (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Balatilla) was studied during different stages of seed development. In addition, a staining method using dithizone (DTZ: diphenyl thiocarbazone) was applied to (1) study the localization of Zn in seeds, (2) follow the remobilization of Zn during germination, and (3) develop a rapid visual Zn screening method for seed and flour samples. In all seed development stages, foliar Zn treatments were effective in increasing seed Zn concentration. The highest Zn concentration in the seeds was found in the first stage of seed development (around the early milk stage); after this, seed Zn concentration gradually decreased until maturity. When reacting with Zn, DTZ forms a redcolored complex. The DTZ staining of seed samples revealed that Zn is predominantly located in the embryo and aleurone parts of the seeds. After 36 h of germination, the coleoptile and roots that emerged from seeds showed very intensive red color formation and had Zn concentrations up to 200 mg kg1, indicating a substantial remobilization of Zn from seed pools into the developing roots (radicle) and coleoptile. The DTZ staining method seems to be useful in ranking flour samples for their Zn concentrations. There was a close relationship between the seed Zn concentrations and spectral absorbance of the methanol extracts of the flour samples stained with DTZ. The results suggest that (1) accumulation of Zn in seeds is particularly high during early seed development, (2) Zn is concentrated in the embryo and aleurone parts, and (3) the DTZ staining method can be used as a rapid, semiquantitative method to estimate Zn concentrations of flour and seed samples and to screen genotypes for their Zn concentrations in seeds

Divergence of the orbital nuclear magnetic relaxation rate in metals

We analyze the nuclear magnetic relaxation rate $(1/T_1)_{orb}$ due to the coupling of nuclear spin to the orbital moment of itinerant electrons in metals. In the clean non--interacting case, contributions from large--distance current fluctuations add up to cause a divergence of $(1/T_1)_{orb}$. When impurity scattering is present, the elastic mean free time $\tau$ cuts off the divergence, and the magnitude of the effect at low temperatures is controlled by the parameter $\ln(\mu \tau)$, where $\mu$ is the chemical potential. The spin--dipolar hyperfine coupling, while has the same spatial variation $1/r^3$ as the orbital hyperfine coupling, does not produce a divergence in the nuclear magnetic relaxation rate.Comment: 11pages; v4: The analysis of the normal state is more compelete now, including a comparison with other hyperfine interactions and a detailed discussion of the effect in representative metals. The superconducting state is excluded from consideration in this pape

White noise analysis on manifolds and the energy representation of a gauge group

The energy representation of a gauge group on a Riemannian manifold has been discussed by several authors. Y. Shimada has shown the irreducibility for compact Riemannian manifold, using white noise analysis. In this paper we extend its technique to noncompact Riemannian manifolds which have differential operators satisfying some conditions.Comment: 9 page

Charge degree of freedom and single-spin fluid model in YBa_2Cu_4O_8

We present a 17O nuclear magnetic resonance study in the stoichiometric superconductor YBa_2Cu_4O_8. A double irradiation method enables us to show that, below around 180 K, the spin-lattice relaxation rate of plane oxygen is not only driven by magnetic, but also significantly by quadrupolar fluctuations, i.e. low-frequency charge fluctuations. In the superconducting state, on lowering the temperature, the quadrupolar relaxation diminishes faster than the magnetic one. These findings show that, with the opening of the pseudo spin gap, a charge degree of freedom of mainly oxygen character is present in the electronic low-energy excitation spectrum.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, REVTE

Bosonization method for second super quantization

A bosonic-fermionic correspondence allows an analytic definition of functional super derivative, in particular, and a bosonic functional calculus, in general, on Bargmann- Gelfand triples for the second super quantization. A Feynman integral for the super transformation matrix elements in terms of bosonic anti-normal Berezin symbols is rigorously constructed.Comment: In memoriam of F. A. Berezin, accepted in Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics, 15 page

Phase transitions of an intrinsic curvature model on dynamically triangulated spherical surfaces with point boundaries

An intrinsic curvature model is investigated using the canonical Monte Carlo simulations on dynamically triangulated spherical surfaces of size upto N=4842 with two fixed-vertices separated by the distance 2L. We found a first-order transition at finite curvature coefficient \alpha, and moreover that the order of the transition remains unchanged even when L is enlarged such that the surfaces become sufficiently oblong. This is in sharp contrast to the known results of the same model on tethered surfaces, where the transition weakens to a second-order one as L is increased. The phase transition of the model in this paper separates the smooth phase from the crumpled phase. The surfaces become string-like between two point-boundaries in the crumpled phase. On the contrary, we can see a spherical lump on the oblong surfaces in the smooth phase. The string tension was calculated and was found to have a jump at the transition point. The value of \sigma is independent of L in the smooth phase, while it increases with increasing L in the crumpled phase. This behavior of \sigma is consistent with the observed scaling relation \sigma \sim (2L/N)^\nu, where \nu\simeq 0 in the smooth phase, and \nu=0.93\pm 0.14 in the crumpled phase. We should note that a possibility of a continuous transition is not completely eliminated.Comment: 15 pages with 10 figure

Effect of microbial fuel cell operation time on the disinfection efficacy of electrochemically synthesised catholyte from urine

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an excellent solution to tackle some of the major challenges currently faced by humankind: sustainable energy sources, waste management and water stress. Besides treating wastewater and producing useful electricity from urine, ceramic MFCs can also generate biocidal catholyte in-situ. It has been proved that the electricity generation from the MFCs has a high impact in the catholyte composition. Therefore, the catholyte composition constantly changes while electricity is generated. However, these changes in catholyte composition with time has not yet been studied and that could highly contribute to the disinfection efficacy. In this work, the evolution of the catholyte generation and composition with the MFC operation time has been chemically and microbiologically evaluated, during 42 days. The results show an increase in pH and conductivity with the operation time, reaching pH 11.5. Flow cytometry and luminometer analyses of bioluminescent pathogenic E. coli exposed to the synthesised catholyte revealed killing properties against bacterial cells. A bio-electrochemical system, capable of electricity generation and simultaneous production of bactericidal catholyte from human urine is presented. The possibility to electrochemically generate in-situ a bacterial killing agent from urine, offers a great opportunity for water reuse and resource recovery for practical implementations

Characterization of Al-based insulating films fabricated by physical vapor deposition

ArticleJAPANESE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS. 47(1):609-611(2008)journal articl