129 research outputs found
Disorder-induced melting of the charge order in thin films of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3
We have studied the magnetic-field-induced melting of the charge order in
thin films of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 (PCMO) films on SrTiO3 (STO) by X-ray diffraction,
magnetization and transport measurement. At small thickness (25 nm) the films
are under tensile strain and the low-temperature melting fields are of the
order of 20 T or more, comparable to the bulk value. With increasing film
thickness the strain relaxes, which leads to a strong decrease of the melting
fields. For a film of 150 nm, with in-plane and out-of-plane lattice parameters
closer to the bulk value, the melting field has reduced to 4 T at 50 K, with a
strong increase in the hysteretic behavior and also an increasing fraction of
ferromagnetic material. Strain relaxation by growth on a template of
YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) or by post-annealing yields similar results with an even
stronger reduction of the melting field. Apparently, strained films behave
bulk-like. Relaxation leads to increasing suppression of the CO state,
presumably due to atomic scale disorder produced by the relaxation process.Comment: 7 pages, 4 fig
Infrared studies of a La_(0.67)Ca_(0.33)MnO_3 single crystal: Optical magnetoconductivity in a half-metallic ferromagnet
The infrared reflectivity of a La_(0.67)Ca_(0.33)MnO_3 single crystal is studied over a broad range of temperatures (78–340 K), magnetic fields (0–16 T), and wave numbers (20–9000cm^(-1)). The optical conductivity gradually changes from a Drude-like behavior to a broad peak feature near 5000cm-1 in the ferromagnetic state below the Curie temperature T_C=307K. Various features of the optical conductivity bear striking resemblance to recent theoretical predictions based on the interplay between the double exchange interaction and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling. A large optical magnetoconductivity is observed near T_C
Infrared Studies of a La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3 Single Crystal: Optical Magnetoconductivity in a Half-Metallic Ferromagnet
The infrared reflectivity of a single crystal
is studied over a broad range of temperatures (78-340 K), magnetic fields (0-16
T), and wavenumbers (20-9000 cm). The optical conductivity gradually
changes from a Drude-like behavior to a broad peak feature near 5000 cm
in the ferromagnetic state below the Curie temperature . Various
features of the optical conductivity bear striking resemblance to recent
theoretical predictions based on the interplay between the double exchange
interaction and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling. A large optical
magnetoconductivity is observed near .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Latex, PostScript; The 7th Joint MMM-Intermag
Conference,San Francisco, January 6-9, 1998; The Int. Conf. on Strongly
Correlated Electron Systems, Paris, July 15-18,199
Charging Ultrasmall Tunnel Junctions in Electromagnetic Environment
We have investigated the quantum admittance of an ultrasmall tunnel junction
with arbitrary tunneling strength under an electromagnetic environment. Using
the functional integral approach a close analytical expression of the quantum
admittance is derived for a general electromagnetic environment. We then
consider a specific controllable environment where a resistance is connected in
series with the tunneling junction, for which we derived the dc quantum
conductance from the zero frequency limit of the imaginary part of the quantum
admittance. For such electromagnetic environment the dc conductance has been
investigated in recent experiments, and our numerical results agree
quantitatively very well with the measurements. Our complete numerical results
for the entire range of junction conductance and electromagnetic environmental
conductance confirmed the few existing theoretical conclusions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 ps-figure
Magnetic field induced polarization effects in intrinsically granular superconductors
Based on the previously suggested model of nanoscale dislocations induced
Josephson junctions and their arrays, we study the magnetic field induced
electric polarization effects in intrinsically granular superconductors. In
addition to a new phenomenon of chemomagnetoelectricity, the model predicts
also a few other interesting effects, including charge analogues of Meissner
paramagnetism (at low fields) and "fishtail" anomaly (at high fields). The
conditions under which these effects can be experimentally measured in
non-stoichiometric high-T_c superconductors are discussed.Comment: 10 pages (REVTEX), 5 EPS figures; revised version accepted for
publication in JET
LOFAR tied-array imaging and spectroscopy of solar S bursts
Context. The Sun is an active source of radio emission that is often associated with energetic phenomena ranging from nanoflares to coronal mass ejections (CMEs). At low radio frequencies (<100 MHz), numerous millisecond duration radio bursts have been reported, such as radio spikes or solar S bursts (where S stands for short). To date, these have neither been studied extensively nor imaged because of the instrumental limitations of previous radio telescopes.
Aims. Here, LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observations were used to study the spectral and spatial characteristics of a multitude of S bursts, as well as their origin and possible emission mechanisms.
Methods. We used 170 simultaneous tied-array beams for spectroscopy and imaging of S bursts. Since S bursts have short timescales and fine frequency structures, high cadence (~50 ms) tied-array images were used instead of standard interferometric imaging, that is currently limited to one image per second.
Results. On 9 July 2013, over 3000 S bursts were observed over a time period of ~8 h. S bursts were found to appear as groups of short-lived (<1 s) and narrow-bandwidth (~2.5 MHz) features, the majority drifting at ~3.5 MHz s-1 and a wide range of circular polarisation degrees (2−8 times more polarised than the accompanying Type III bursts). Extrapolation of the photospheric magnetic field using the potential field source surface (PFSS) model suggests that S bursts are associated with a trans-equatorial loop system that connects an active region in the southern hemisphere to a bipolar region of plage in the northern hemisphere.
Conclusions. We have identified polarised, short-lived solar radio bursts that have never been imaged before. They are observed at a height and frequency range where plasma emission is the dominant emission mechanism, however, they possess some of the characteristics of electron-cyclotron maser emission
Imaging Jupiter's radiation belts down to 127 MHz with LOFAR
Context. Observing Jupiter's synchrotron emission from the Earth remains
today the sole method to scrutinize the distribution and dynamical behavior of
the ultra energetic electrons magnetically trapped around the planet (because
in-situ particle data are limited in the inner magnetosphere). Aims. We perform
the first resolved and low-frequency imaging of the synchrotron emission with
LOFAR at 127 MHz. The radiation comes from low energy electrons (~1-30 MeV)
which map a broad region of Jupiter's inner magnetosphere. Methods (see article
for complete abstract) Results. The first resolved images of Jupiter's
radiation belts at 127-172 MHz are obtained along with total integrated flux
densities. They are compared with previous observations at higher frequencies
and show a larger extent of the synchrotron emission source (>=4 ). The
asymmetry and the dynamic of east-west emission peaks are measured and the
presence of a hot spot at lambda_III=230 {\deg} 25 {\deg}. Spectral flux
density measurements are on the low side of previous (unresolved) ones,
suggesting a low-frequency turnover and/or time variations of the emission
spectrum. Conclusions. LOFAR is a powerful and flexible planetary imager. The
observations at 127 MHz depict an extended emission up to ~4-5 planetary radii.
The similarities with high frequency results reinforce the conclusion that: i)
the magnetic field morphology primarily shapes the brightness distribution of
the emission and ii) the radiating electrons are likely radially and
latitudinally distributed inside about 2 . Nonetheless, the larger extent
of the brightness combined with the overall lower flux density, yields new
information on Jupiter's electron distribution, that may shed light on the
origin and mode of transport of these particles.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (27/11/2015) -
abstract edited because of limited character
Optimized Trigger for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray and Neutrino Observations with the Low Frequency Radio Array
When an ultra-high energy neutrino or cosmic ray strikes the Lunar surface a
radio-frequency pulse is emitted. We plan to use the LOFAR radio telescope to
detect these pulses. In this work we propose an efficient trigger
implementation for LOFAR optimized for the observation of short radio pulses.Comment: Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research
Section
First LOFAR observations at very low frequencies of cluster-scale non-thermal emission: the case of Abell 2256
Abell 2256 is one of the best known examples of a galaxy cluster hosting
large-scale diffuse radio emission that is unrelated to individual galaxies. It
contains both a giant radio halo and a relic, as well as a number of head-tail
sources and smaller diffuse steep-spectrum radio sources. The origin of radio
halos and relics is still being debated, but over the last years it has become
clear that the presence of these radio sources is closely related to galaxy
cluster merger events. Here we present the results from the first LOFAR Low
band antenna (LBA) observations of Abell 2256 between 18 and 67 MHz. To our
knowledge, the image presented in this paper at 63 MHz is the deepest ever
obtained at frequencies below 100 MHz in general. Both the radio halo and the
giant relic are detected in the image at 63 MHz, and the diffuse radio emission
remains visible at frequencies as low as 20 MHz. The observations confirm the
presence of a previously claimed ultra-steep spectrum source to the west of the
cluster center with a spectral index of -2.3 \pm 0.4 between 63 and 153 MHz.
The steep spectrum suggests that this source is an old part of a head-tail
radio source in the cluster. For the radio relic we find an integrated spectral
index of -0.81 \pm 0.03, after removing the flux contribution from the other
sources. This is relatively flat which could indicate that the efficiency of
particle acceleration at the shock substantially changed in the last \sim 0.1
Gyr due to an increase of the shock Mach number. In an alternative scenario,
particles are re-accelerated by some mechanism in the downstream region of the
shock, resulting in the relatively flat integrated radio spectrum. In the radio
halo region we find indications of low-frequency spectral steepening which may
suggest that relativistic particles are accelerated in a rather inhomogeneous
turbulent region.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A\&A on April 12,
201
LOFAR Sparse Image Reconstruction
Context. The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) radio telescope is a giant digital
phased array interferometer with multiple antennas distributed in Europe. It
provides discrete sets of Fourier components of the sky brightness. Recovering
the original brightness distribution with aperture synthesis forms an inverse
problem that can be solved by various deconvolution and minimization methods
Aims. Recent papers have established a clear link between the discrete nature
of radio interferometry measurement and the "compressed sensing" (CS) theory,
which supports sparse reconstruction methods to form an image from the measured
visibilities. Empowered by proximal theory, CS offers a sound framework for
efficient global minimization and sparse data representation using fast
algorithms. Combined with instrumental direction-dependent effects (DDE) in the
scope of a real instrument, we developed and validated a new method based on
this framework Methods. We implemented a sparse reconstruction method in the
standard LOFAR imaging tool and compared the photometric and resolution
performance of this new imager with that of CLEAN-based methods (CLEAN and
MS-CLEAN) with simulated and real LOFAR data Results. We show that i) sparse
reconstruction performs as well as CLEAN in recovering the flux of point
sources; ii) performs much better on extended objects (the root mean square
error is reduced by a factor of up to 10); and iii) provides a solution with an
effective angular resolution 2-3 times better than the CLEAN images.
Conclusions. Sparse recovery gives a correct photometry on high dynamic and
wide-field images and improved realistic structures of extended sources (of
simulated and real LOFAR datasets). This sparse reconstruction method is
compatible with modern interferometric imagers that handle DDE corrections (A-
and W-projections) required for current and future instruments such as LOFAR
and SKAComment: Published in A&A, 19 pages, 9 figure
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