Electronic heat current rectification in hybrid superconducting devices

In this work, we review and expand recent theoretical proposals for the realization of electronic thermal diodes based on tunnel-junctions of normal metal and superconducting thin films. Starting from the basic rectifying properties of a single hybrid tunnel junction, we will show how the rectification efficiency can be largely increased by combining multiple junctions in an asymmetric chain of tunnel-coupled islands. We propose three different designs, analyzing their performance and their potential advantages. Besides being relevant from a fundamental physics point of view, this kind of devices might find important technological application as fundamental building blocks in solid-state thermal nanocircuits and in general-purpose cryogenic electronic applications requiring energy management.Comment: 9 pages, 5 color figure

A model for conservative chaos constructed from multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates with a trap in 2 dimensions

To show a mechanism leading to the breakdown of a particle picture for the multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates(BECs) with a harmonic trap in high dimensions, we investigate the corresponding 2-$d$ nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation (Gross-Pitaevskii equation) with use of a modified variational principle. A molecule of two identical Gaussian wavepackets has two degrees of freedom(DFs), the separation of center-of-masses and the wavepacket width. Without the inter-component interaction(ICI) these DFs show independent regular oscillations with the degenerate eigen-frequencies. The inclusion of ICI strongly mixes these DFs, generating a fat mode that breaks a particle picture, which however can be recovered by introducing a time-periodic ICI with zero average. In case of the molecule of three wavepackets for a three-component BEC, the increase of amplitude of ICI yields a transition from regular to chaotic oscillations in the wavepacket breathing.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The Stationary Phase Method for a Wave Packet in a Semiconductor Layered System. The applicability of the method

Using the formal analysis made by Bohm in his book, {\em "Quantum theory"}, Dover Publications Inc. New York (1979), to calculate approximately the phase time for a transmitted and the reflected wave packets through a potential barrier, we calculate the phase time for a semiconductor system formed by different mesoscopic layers. The transmitted and the reflected wave packets are analyzed and the applicability of this procedure, based on the stationary phase of a wave packet, is considered in different conditions. For the applicability of the stationary phase method an expression is obtained in the case of the transmitted wave depending only on the derivatives of the phase, up to third order. This condition indicates whether the parameters of the system allow to define the wave packet by its leading term. The case of a multiple barrier systems is shown as an illustration of the results. This formalism includes the use of the Transfer Matrix to describe the central stratum, whether it is formed by one layer (the single barrier case), or two barriers and an inner well (the DBRT system), but one can assume that this stratum can be comprise of any number or any kind of semiconductor layers.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures although figure 4 has 5 graph

Hilbert Space Average Method and adiabatic quantum search

We discuss some aspects related to the so-called Hilbert space Average Method, as an alternative to describe the dynamics of open quantum systems. First we present a derivation of the method which does not make use of the algebra satisfied by the operators involved in the dynamics, and extend the method to systems subject to a Hamiltonian that changes with time. Next we examine the performance of the adiabatic quantum search algorithm with a particular model for the environment. We relate our results to the criteria discussed in the literature for the validity of the above-mentioned method for similar environments.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Controllable soliton emission from a Bose-Einstein condensate

We demonstrate, through numerical simulations, the controllable emission of matter-wave bursts from a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a shallow optical dipole trap. The process is triggered by spatial variations of the scattering length along the trapping axis. In our approach, the outcoupling mechanism are atom-atom interactions and thus, the trap remains unaltered. Once emitted, the matter wave forms a robust soliton. We calculate analytically the parameters for the experimental implementation of this atomic soliton machine gun.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Hyper-chaotic magnetisation dynamics of two interacting dipoles

The present work is a numerical study of the deterministic spin dynamics of two interacting anisotropic magnetic particles in the presence of a time-dependent external magnetic field using the Landau–Lifshitz equation. Particles are coupled through the dipole–dipole interaction. The applied magnetic field is made of a constant longitudinal amplitude component and a time-dependent transversal amplitude component. Dynamical states obtained are represented by their Lyapunov exponents and bifurcation diagrams. The dependence on the largest and the second largest Lyapunov exponents, as a function of the magnitude and frequency of the applied magnetic field, and the relative distance between particles, is studied. The system presents multiple transitions between regular and chaotic behaviour depending on the control parameters. In particular, the system presents consistent hyper-chaotic states

Supersymmetric pairing of kinks for polynomial nonlinearities

We show how one can obtain kink solutions of ordinary differential equations with polynomial nonlinearities by an efficient factorization procedure directly related to the factorization of their nonlinear polynomial part. We focus on reaction-diffusion equations in the travelling frame and damped-anharmonic-oscillator equations. We also report an interesting pairing of the kink solutions, a result obtained by reversing the factorization brackets in the supersymmetric quantum mechanical style. In this way, one gets ordinary differential equations with a different polynomial nonlinearity possessing kink solutions of different width but propagating at the same velocity as the kinks of the original equation. This pairing of kinks could have many applications. We illustrate the mathematical procedure with several important cases, among which the generalized Fisher equation, the FitzHugh-Nagumo equation, and the polymerization fronts of microtubulesComment: 13 pages, 2 figures, revised during the 2nd week of Dec. 200

A study of the antioxidant capacity of oak wood used in wine ageing and the correlation with polyphenol composition

The antioxidant capacity of oak wood used in the ageing of wine was studied by four different methods: measurement of scavenging capacity against a given radical (ABTS, DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Although, the four methods tested gave comparable results for the antioxidant capacity measured in oak wood extracts, the ORAC method gave results with some differences from the other methods. Non-toasted oak wood samples displayed more antioxidant power than toasted ones due to differences in the polyphenol compositon. A correlation analysis revealed that ellagitannins were the compounds mainly responsible for the antioxidant capacity of oak wood. Some phenolic acids, mainly gallic acid, also showed a significant correlation with antioxidant capacity