2,147 research outputs found
Microstrip superconducting quantum interference device amplifiers with submicron Josephson junctions: enhanced gain at gigahertz frequencies
We present measurements of an amplifier based on a dc superconducting quantum
interference device (SQUID) with submicron Al-AlOx-Al Josephson junctions. The
small junction size reduces their self-capacitance and allows for the use of
relatively large resistive shunts while maintaining nonhysteretic operation.
This leads to an enhancement of the SQUID transfer function compared to SQUIDs
with micron-scale junctions. The device layout is modified from that of a
conventional SQUID to allow for coupling signals into the amplifier with a
substantial mutual inductance for a relatively short microstrip coil.
Measurements at 310 mK exhibit gain of 32 dB at 1.55 GHz.Comment: Version with high resolution figures at:
http://physics.syr.edu/~bplourde/bltp-publications.ht
Control of many electron states in semiconductor quantum dots by non-Abelian vector potentials
Adiabatic time evolution of degenerate eigenstates of a quantum system
provides a means for controlling electronic states since mixing between
degenerate levels generates a matrix Berry phase. In the presence of spin-orbit
coupling in n-type semiconductor quantum dots the electron Hamiltonian is
invariant under time reversal operation and the many body groundstate may be
doubly degenerate. This double degeneracy can generate non-Abelian vector
potentials when odd number of electrons are present. We find that the
antisymmetry of many electron wavefunction has no effect on the matrix Berry
phase. We have derived equations that allow one to investigate the effect of
electron correlations by expressing the non-Abelian vector potentials for many
electron system in terms of single electron non-Abelian vector potentials.Comment: minor changes included, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Experimental Investigation of Pervaporation Membranes for Biobutanol Separation
Biotechnological production of chemical building blocks is one important step towards a more sustainable production. Unfortunately, the products to be separated are often highly diluted. Pervaporation has received increasing attention for the separation of small amounts of organic compounds from aqueous solutions, especially in the separation of butanol from water or from fermentation broth. To evaluate the potential of pervaporation for biobutanol recovery a consistent database is required, describing the dependency of permeate fluxes and selectivities on process variables like temperature, permeate pressure as well as feed concentrations and compositions. Therefore, within this work we investigated the separation behaviour of a commercially available polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane and membranes based on poly(ether block amide) (PEBA) fabricated in our own laboratory. The membranes were tested under varying operating conditions. Fermentation by-products or impurities may affect the pervaporation separation performance. Therefore, in addition, the permeate fluxes and the influence of acetone, ethanol, acetic and butyric acid and 1,3-propanediol have been investigated in detail as well. Several differences in the permeability and selectivity of PDMS and PEBA were observed during the experimental study. Swelling experiments were applied to further analyse the separation behaviour of PDMS and PEBA more in detail. Finally the influence of the observed separation performances on the overall butanol pervaporation process is discussed. It was found that especially well permeating by-products like acetone can drastically influence the subsequent downstreaming process
Picovoltmeter for probing vortex dynamics in a single weak-pinning Corbino channel
We have developed a picovoltmeter using a Nb dc Superconducting QUantum
Interference Device (SQUID) for measuring the flux-flow voltage from a small
number of vortices moving through a submicron weak-pinning superconducting
channel. We have applied this picovoltmeter to measure the vortex response in a
single channel arranged in a circle on a Corbino disk geometry. The circular
channel allows the vortices to follow closed orbits without encountering any
sample edges, thus eliminating the influence of entry barriers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument
Shell structure and electron-electron interaction in self-assembled InAs quantum dots
Using far-infrared spectroscopy, we investigate the excitations of
self-organized InAs quantum dots as a function of the electron number per dot,
1<n<6, which is monitored in situ by capacitance spectroscopy. Whereas the
well-known two-mode spectrum is observed when the lowest s - states are filled,
we find a rich excitation spectrum for n=3, which reflects the importance of
electron-electron interaction in the present, strongly non-parabolic confining
potential. From capacitance spectroscopy we find that the electronic shell
structure in our dots gives rise to a distinct pattern in the charging energies
which strongly deviates from the monotonic behavior of the Coulomb blockade
found in mesoscopic or metallic structures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 PostScript figure
Simulations and cosmological inference: A statistical model for power spectra means and covariances
We describe an approximate statistical model for the sample variance
distribution of the non-linear matter power spectrum that can be calibrated
from limited numbers of simulations. Our model retains the common assumption of
a multivariate Normal distribution for the power spectrum band powers, but
takes full account of the (parameter dependent) power spectrum covariance. The
model is calibrated using an extension of the framework in Habib et al. (2007)
to train Gaussian processes for the power spectrum mean and covariance given a
set of simulation runs over a hypercube in parameter space. We demonstrate the
performance of this machinery by estimating the parameters of a power-law model
for the power spectrum. Within this framework, our calibrated sample variance
distribution is robust to errors in the estimated covariance and shows rapid
convergence of the posterior parameter constraints with the number of training
simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, matches final version published in PR
An inclusion result for dagger closure in certain section rings of abelian varieties
We prove an inclusion result for graded dagger closure for primary ideals in
symmetric section rings of abelian varieties over an algebraically closed field
of arbitrary characteristic.Comment: 11 pages, v2: updated one reference, fixed 2 typos; final versio
Microwave Response of Vortices in Superconducting Thin Films of Re and Al
Vortices in superconductors driven at microwave frequencies exhibit a response related to the interplay between the vortex viscosity, pinning strength, and flux creep effects. At the same time, the trapping of vortices in superconducting microwave resonant circuits contributes excess loss and can result in substantial reductions in the quality factor. Thus, understanding the microwave vortex response in superconducting thin films is important for the design of such circuits, including superconducting qubits and photon detectors, which are typically operated in small, but non-zero, magnetic fields. By cooling in fields of the order of 100 T and below, we have characterized the magnetic field and frequency dependence of the microwave response of a small density of vortices in resonators fabricated from thin films of Re and Al, which are common materials used in superconducting microwave circuits. Above a certain threshold cooling field, which is different for the Re and Al films, vortices become trapped in the resonators. Vortices in the Al resonators contribute greater loss and are influenced more strongly by flux creep effects than in the Re resonators. This different behavior can be described in the framework of a general vortex dynamics model
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