271 research outputs found
On the possibility of spontaneous currents in mesoscopie systems
It is shown that a mesoscopic metallic system can exhibit a phase transition
to a low temperature state with a spontaneous orbital current if it is
sufficiently free of elastic defect scattering. The interaction among the electrons,
which is the reason of the phase transition, is of the magnetic origin
and it leads to an ordered state of the orbital magnetic moments
Manipulating nonequilibrium magnetism through superconductors
Electrostatic control of the magnetization of a normal mesoscopic conductor
is analyzed in a hybrid superconductor-normal-superconductor system. This
effect stems from the interplay between the non-equilibrium condition in the
normal region and the Zeeman splitting of the quasiparticle density of states
of the superconductor subjected to a static in-plane magnetic field. Unexpected
spin-dependent effects such as magnetization suppression, diamagnetic-like
response of the susceptibility as well as spin-polarized current generation are
the most remarkable features presented. The impact of scattering events is
evaluated and let us show that this effect is compatible with realistic
material properties and fabrication techniques.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Vortex lattices in a stirred Bose-Einstein condensate
We stir with a focused laser beam a Bose-Einstein condensate of Rb
atoms confined in a magnetic trap. We observe the formation of a single vortex
for a stirring frequency exceeding a critical value. At larger rotation
frequencies we produce states of the condensate for which up to eleven vortices
are simultaneously present. We present measurements of the decay of a vortex
array once the stirring laser beam is removed
Current-Carrying Ground States in Mesoscopic and Macroscopic Systems
We extend a theorem of Bloch, which concerns the net orbital current carried
by an interacting electron system in equilibrium, to include mesoscopic
effects. We obtain a rigorous upper bound to the allowed ground-state current
in a ring or disc, for an interacting electron system in the presence of static
but otherwise arbitrary electric and magnetic fields. We also investigate the
effects of spin-orbit and current-current interactions on the upper bound.
Current-current interactions, caused by the magnetic field produced at a point
r by a moving electron at r, are found to reduce the upper bound by an amount
that is determined by the self-inductance of the system. A solvable model of an
electron system that includes current-current interactions is shown to realize
our upper bound, and the upper bound is compared with measurements of the
persistent current in a single ring.Comment: 7 pager, Revtex, 1 figure available from [email protected]
Thermal expansion, heat capacity and magnetostriction of RAl (R = Tm, Yb, Lu) single crystals
We present thermal expansion and longitudinal magnetostriction data for cubic
RAl3 (R = Tm, Yb, Lu) single crystals. The thermal expansion coefficient for
YbAl3 is consistent with an intermediate valence of the Yb ion, whereas the
data for TmAl3 show crystal electric field contributions and have strong
magnetic field dependencies. de Haas-van Alphen-like oscillations were observed
in the magnetostriction data of YbAl3 and LuAl3, several new extreme orbits
were measured and their effective masses were estimated. Zero and 140 kOe
specific heat data taken on both LuAl3 and TmAl3 for T < 200 K allow for the
determination of a CEF splitting scheme for TmAl3
Superconductivity in the SU(N) Anderson Lattice at U=\infty
We present a mean-field study of superconductivity in a generalized N-channel
cubic Anderson lattice at U=\infty taking into account the effect of a
nearest-neighbor attraction J. The condition U=\infty is implemented within the
slave-boson formalism considering the slave bosons to be condensed. We consider
the -level occupancy ranging from the mixed valence regime to the Kondo
limit and study the dependence of the critical temperature on the various model
parameters for each of three possible Cooper pairing symmetries (extended s,
d-wave and p-wave pairing) and find interesting crossovers. It is found that
the d- and p- wave order parameters have, in general, very similar critical
temperatures. The extended s-wave pairing seems to be relatively more stable
for electronic densities per channel close to one and for large values of the
superconducting interaction J.Comment: Seven Figures; one appendix. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Comparison of metal-based nanoparticles and nanowires: Solubility, reactivity, bioavailability and cellular toxicity
While the toxicity of metal-based nanoparticles (NP) has been investigated in an increasing number of studies, little is known about metal-based fibrous materials, so-called nanowires (NWs). Within the present study, the physico-chemical properties of particulate and fibrous nanomaterials based on Cu, CuO, Ni, and Ag as well as TiO and CeO NP were characterized and compared with respect to abiotic metal ion release in different physiologically relevant media as well as acellular reactivity. While none of the materials was soluble at neutral pH in artificial alveolar fluid (AAF), Cu, CuO, and Ni-based materials displayed distinct dissolution under the acidic conditions found in artificial lysosomal fluids (ALF and PSF). Subsequently, four different cell lines were applied to compare cytotoxicity as well as intracellular metal ion release in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Both cytotoxicity and bioavailability reflected the acellular dissolution rates in physiological lysosomal media (pH 4.5); only Ag-based materials showed no or very low acellular solubility, but pronounced intracellular bioavailability and cytotoxicity, leading to particularly high concentrations in the nucleus. In conclusion, in spite of some quantitative differences, the intracellular bioavailability as well as toxicity is mostly driven by the respective metal and is less modulated by the shape of the respective NP or NW
Possibility of long-range order in clean mesoscopic cylinders
A microscopic Hamiltonian of the magnetostatic interaction is discussed. This
long-range interaction can play an important role in mesoscopic systems leading
to an ordered ground state.
The self-consistent mean field approximation of the magnetostatic interaction
is performed to give an effective Hamiltonian from which the spontaneous,
self-sustaining currents can be obtained.
To go beyond the mean field approximation the mean square fluctuation of the
total momentum is calculated and its influence on self-sustaining currents in
mesoscopic cylinders with quasi-1D and quasi-2D conduction is considered. Then,
by the use of the microscopic Hamiltonian of the magnetostatic interaction for
a set of stacked rings, the problem of long-range order is discussed. The
temperature below which the system is in an ordered state is
determined.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX, 5 figures, in print in Phys. Rev.
Electron Dephasing in Mesoscopic Metal Wires
The low-temperature behavior of the electron phase coherence time,
, in mesoscopic metal wires has been a subject of controversy
recently. Whereas theory predicts that in narrow wires should
increase as as the temperature is lowered, many samples exhibit
a saturation of below about 1 K. We review here the experiments
we have performed recently to address this issue. In particular we emphasize
that in sufficiently pure Ag and Au samples we observe no saturation of
down to our base temperature of 40 mK. In addition, the measured
magnitude of is in excellent quantitative agreement with the
prediction of the perturbative theory of Altshuler, Aronov and Khmelnitskii. We
discuss possible explanations why saturation of is observed in
many other samples measured in our laboratory and elsewhere, and answer the
criticisms raised recently by Mohanty and Webb regarding our work.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures; to appear in proceedings of conference
"Fundamental Problems of Mesoscopic Physics", Granada, Spain, 6-11 September,
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Online-Ãœberwachung eines Fermentationsprozesses mit Reflektometrischer Interferenzspektroskopie
Die prozessnahe online-Überwachung von biotechnologischen Prozessen gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung. Dabei werden von der Industrie vermehrt schnelle und genaue Analysenmethoden gefordert, um Kultivierungsbedingungen optimieren und die Fermentationsdauer reduzieren zu können. Bisher werden meist nur allgemeine Paramter wie Druck, Temperatur oder pH-Wert online verfolgt. Eine produktspezifische Analytik erfolgt größtenteils offline. D. h. die Proben werden manuell gezogen und nachfolgend in einem Labor analysiert. Eine solche Prozedur ist fast immer sehr arbeitsaufwändig und teuer. Problematisch kann auch die zeitliche Verzögerung zwischen Fermentationsprozess und Analysenergebnis sein. Insbesondere bei Batch-Fermentationen kann es bei Überproduktion zu Neben- und Abbauprodukten kommen. Wünschenswert ist deshalb eine zeitnahe, möglichst prozessintegrierte Anayltik, um gezielt den Fermentationprozess steuern zu können.
In unserer Arbeitsgruppe wurde ein optischer Biosensor entwickelt, der eine produktspezifische, schnelle online-Überwachung eines Fermentationsprozesses erlaubt. Modellhaft wurde dabei die Produktion des Antibiotikums Vancomycin während einer Fermentation verfolgt. Die Wirkungsweise des Vancomycins beruht auf einer spezifischen Bindung an Mukopeptidvorstufen, die auf die Sequenz D-Alanin-D-Alanin enden. Um eine spezifische Detektion von Vancomycin zu erreichen wurden entsprechende Peptide kovalent auf ein Glasssubstrat immobilisiert und die Wechselwirkung zwischen der Oberfläche und Vancomycin mittels Reflektometrischer Interferenzspektroskopie (RIfS) verfolgt
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