1,142 research outputs found
Electronic states of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes with bond and site disorder
Disorder effects on the density of states in carbon nanotubes are analyzed by
a tight binding model with Gaussian bond or site disorder. Metallic armchair
and semiconducting zigzag nanotubes are investigated. In the strong disorder
limit, the conduction and valence band states merge, and a finite density of
states appears at the Fermi energy in both of metallic and semiconducting
carbon nanotubes. The bond disorder gives rise to a huge density of states at
the Fermi energy differently from that of the site disorder case. Consequences
for experiments are discussed.Comment: Phys. Rev. B: Brief Reports (to be published). Related preprints can
be found at http://www.etl.go.jp/~harigaya/NEW.htm
One-electron states and interband optical absorption in single-wall carbon nanotubes
Explicit expressions for the wave functions and dispersion equation for the
band p - electrons in single-wall carbon nanotubes are obtained within the
method of zero-range potentials. They are then used to investigate the
absorption spectrum of polarized light caused by direct interband transitions
in isolated nanotubes. It is shown that, at least, under the above
approximations, the circular dichroism is absent in chiral nanotubes for the
light wave propagating along the tube axis. The results obtained are compared
with those calculated in a similar way for a graphite plane.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Subband population in a single-wall carbon nanotube diode
We observe current rectification in a molecular diode consisting of a
semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotube and an impurity. One half of the
nanotube has no impurity, and it has a current-voltage (I-V) charcteristic of a
typical semiconducting nanotube. The other half of the nanotube has the
impurity on it, and its I-V characteristic is that of a diode. Current in the
nanotube diode is carried by holes transported through the molecule's
one-dimensional subbands. At 77 Kelvin we observe a step-wise increase in the
current through the diode as a function of gate voltage, showing that we can
control the number of occupied one-dimensional subbands through electrostatic
doping.Comment: to appear in Physical Review Letters. 4 pages & 3 figure
Protection of CpG islands from DNA methylation is DNA-encoded and evolutionarily conserved.
DNA methylation is a repressive epigenetic modification that covers vertebrate genomes. Regions known as CpG islands (CGIs), which are refractory to DNA methylation, are often associated with gene promoters and play central roles in gene regulation. Yet how CGIs in their normal genomic context evade the DNA methylation machinery and whether these mechanisms are evolutionarily conserved remains enigmatic. To address these fundamental questions we exploited a transchromosomic animal model and genomic approaches to understand how the hypomethylated state is formed in vivo and to discover whether mechanisms governing CGI formation are evolutionarily conserved. Strikingly, insertion of a human chromosome into mouse revealed that promoter-associated CGIs are refractory to DNA methylation regardless of host species, demonstrating that DNA sequence plays a central role in specifying the hypomethylated state through evolutionarily conserved mechanisms. In contrast, elements distal to gene promoters exhibited more variable methylation between host species, uncovering a widespread dependence on nucleotide frequency and occupancy of DNA-binding transcription factors in shaping the DNA methylation landscape away from gene promoters. This was exemplified by young CpG rich lineage-restricted repeat sequences that evaded DNA methylation in the absence of co-evolved mechanisms targeting methylation to these sequences, and species specific DNA binding events that protected against DNA methylation in CpG poor regions. Finally, transplantation of mouse chromosomal fragments into the evolutionarily distant zebrafish uncovered the existence of a mechanistically conserved and DNA-encoded logic which shapes CGI formation across vertebrate species
A life story in three parts: the use of triptychs to make sense of personal digital data
Many social media platforms support the curation of personal digital data, and, more recently, the use of that data for review and reflection. We explored the process of reflection by asking users to create a meaningful ‘triptych’ of photographs drawn from their Facebook accounts. In a first study, we asked participants to manually trawl their own accounts and select three relevant images, which we then framed and used as an interview probe. In a second study, we designed an automated triptych generation system and assessed participants’ experiences of using this system. We conducted qualitative analyses of participant interviews from both studies. Consistent with other ‘slow technology’ work, we found the act of creating a physical artefact from social media data gave that data new meaning, albeit with notable differences between manual vs automatically generated triptychs. We conclude by discussing possible improvements to the design of the automated triptych system
One-Dimensional Energy Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Resonant Electron Scattering
We characterized the energy band dispersion near the Fermi level in
single-walled carbon nanotubes using low-temperature scanning tunneling
microscopy. Analysis of energy dependent standing wave oscillations, which
result from quantum interference of electrons resonantly scattered by defects,
yield a linear energy dispersion near EF, and indicate the importance of parity
in scattering for armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes. Additionally, these
data provide values of the tight-binding overlap integral and Fermi wavevector
in good agreement with previous work, but indicate that the electron coherence
length is substantially shortened.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Bandgap Change of Carbon Nanotubes: Effect of Small Tensile and Torsional Strain
We use a simple picture based on the electron approximation to study
the bandgap variation of carbon nanotubes with uniaxial and torsional strain.
We find (i) that the magnitude of slope of bandgap versus strain has an almost
universal behaviour that depends on the chiral angle, (ii) that the sign of
slope depends on the value of and (iii) a novel change in sign
of the slope of bandgap versus uniaxial strain arising from a change in the
value of the quantum number corresponding to the minimum bandgap. Four orbital
calculations are also presented to show that the orbital results are
valid.Comment: Revised. Method explained in detai
Multiple Functionality in Nanotube Transistors
Calculations of quantum transport in a carbon nanotube transistor show that
such a device offers unique functionality. It can operate as a ballistic
field-effect transistor, with excellent characteristics even when scaled to 10
nm dimensions. At larger gate voltages, channel inversion leads to resonant
tunneling through an electrostatically defined nanoscale quantum dot. Thus the
transistor becomes a gated resonant tunelling device, with negative
differential resistance at a tunable threshold. For the dimensions considered
here, the device operates in the Coulomb blockade regime, even at room
temperature.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Size Effects in Carbon Nanotubes
The inter-shell spacing of multi-walled carbon nanotubes was determined by
analyzing the high resolution transmission electron microscopy images of these
nanotubes. For the nanotubes that were studied, the inter-shell spacing
is found to range from 0.34 to 0.39 nm, increasing with
decreasing tube diameter. A model based on the results from real space image
analysis is used to explain the variation in inter-shell spacings obtained from
reciprocal space periodicity analysis. The increase in inter-shell spacing with
decreased nanotube diameter is attributed to the high curvature, resulting in
an increased repulsive force, associated with the decreased diameter of the
nanotube shells.Comment: 4 pages. RevTeX. 4 figure
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