294 research outputs found
Non-Gaussian Resistance Noise near Electrical Breakdown in Granular Materials
The distribution of resistance fluctuations of conducting thin films with
granular structure near electrical breakdown is studied by numerical
simulations. The film is modeled as a resistor network in a steady state
determined by the competition between two biased processes, breaking and
recovery. Systems of different sizes and with different levels of internal
disorder are considered. Sharp deviations from a Gaussian distribution are
found near breakdown and the effect increases with the degree of internal
disorder. However, we show that in general this non-Gaussianity is related to
the finite size of the system and vanishes in the large size limit.
Nevertheless, near the critical point of the conductor-insulator transition,
deviations from Gaussianity persist when the size is increased and the
distribution of resistance fluctuations is well fitted by the universal
Bramwell-Holdsworth-Pinton distribution.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication on Physica
Universality and Scaling Behaviour of Injected Power in Elastic Turbulence in Worm-like Micellar Gel
We study the statistical properties of spatially averaged global injected
power fluctuations for Taylor-Couette flow of a worm-like micellar gel formed
by surfactant CTAT. At sufficiently high Weissenberg numbers (Wi) the shear
rate and hence the injected power p(t) at a constant applied stress shows large
irregular fluctuations in time. The nature of the probability distribution
function (pdf) of p(t) and the power-law decay of its power spectrum are very
similar to that observed in recent studies of elastic turbulence for polymer
solutions. Remarkably, these non-Gaussian pdfs can be well described by an
universal large deviation functional form given by the Generalized Gumbel (GG)
distribution observed in the context of spatially averaged global measures in
diverse classes of highly correlated systems. We show by in-situ rheology and
polarized light scattering experiments that in the elastic turbulent regime the
flow is spatially smooth but random in time, in agreement with a recent
hypothesis for elastic turbulence.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
A Percolative Model of Soft Breakdown in Ultrathin Oxides
The degradation of ultrathin oxide layers in the presence of a stress voltage
is modeled in terms of two antagonist percolation processes taking place in a
random resistor network. The resistance and leakage current fluctuations are
studied by MonteCarlo simulations for voltages below the breakdown threshold.
An increase of excess noise together with a noticeable non-Gaussian behavior is
found in the pre-breakdown regime in agreement with experimental results.Comment: accepted for publication on Physica
Non-Gaussian Fluctuations in Biased Resistor Networks: Size Effects versus Universal Behavior
We study the distribution of the resistance fluctuations of biased resistor
networks in nonequilibrium steady states. The stationary conditions arise from
the competition between two stochastic and biased processes of breaking and
recovery of the elementary resistors. The fluctuations of the network
resistance are calculated by Monte Carlo simulations which are performed for
different values of the applied current, for networks of different size and
shape and by considering different levels of intrinsic disorder. The
distribution of the resistance fluctuations generally exhibits relevant
deviations from Gaussianity, in particular when the current approaches the
threshold of electrical breakdown. For two-dimensional systems we have shown
that this non-Gaussianity is in general related to finite size effects, thus it
vanishes in the thermodynamic limit, with the remarkable exception of highly
disordered networks. For these systems, close to the critical point of the
conductor-insulator transition, non-Gaussianity persists in the large size
limit and it is well described by the universal Bramwell-Holdsworth-Pinton
distribution. In particular, here we analyze the role of the shape of the
network on the distribution of the resistance fluctuations. Precisely, we
consider quasi-one-dimensional networks elongated along the direction of the
applied current or trasversal to it. A significant anisotropy is found for the
properties of the distribution. These results apply to conducting thin films or
wires with granular structure stressed by high current densities.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Invited talk at the 18-th International
Conference on Noise and Fluctuations, 19-23 September 2005, Salamanc
The role of topology in electrical properties of bacteriorhodopsin and rat olfactory receptor I7
We report on electrical properties of the two sensing proteins:
bacteriorhodopsin and rat olfactory receptor OR-I7. As relevant transport
parameters we consider the small-signal impedance spectrum and the static
current-voltage characteristics. Calculations are compared with available
experimental results and the model predictability is tested for future
perspectives.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Non-Gaussianity of resistance fluctuations near electrical breakdown
We study the resistance fluctuation distribution of a thin film near
electrical breakdown. The film is modeled as a stationary resistor networkunder
biased percolation. Depending on the value of the external current,on the
system sizes and on the level of internal disorder, the fluctuation
distribution can exhibit a non-Gaussian behavior. We analyze this
non-Gaussianity in terms of the generalized Gumbel distribution recently
introduced in the context of highly correlated systems near criticality. We
find that when the average fraction of defects approaches the random
percolation threshold, the resistance fluctuation distribution is well
described by the universal behavior of the Bramwell-Holdsworth-Pinton
distribution.Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication on Semicond Sci Tec
Current voltage characteristics and excess noise at the trap filling transition in polyacenes
Experiments in organic semiconductors (polyacenes) evidence a strong super
quadratic increase of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic at voltages in
the transition region between linear (Ohmic) and quadratic (trap free
space-charge-limited-current) behaviours. Similarly, excess noise measurements
at a given frequency and increasing voltages evidence a sharp peak of the
relative spectral density of the current noise in concomitance with the strong
super-quadratic I-V characteristics. Here we discuss the physical
interpretation of these experiments in terms of an essential contribution from
field assisted trapping-detrapping processes of injected carriers. To this
purpose, the fraction of filled traps determined by the I-V characteristics is
used to evaluate the excess noise in the trap filled transition (TFT) regime.
We have found an excellent agreement between the predictions of our model and
existing experimental results in tetracene and pentacene thin films of
different length in the range .Comment: 20 pg, 13 figures, in pres
Resistance and Resistance Fluctuations in Random Resistor Networks Under Biased Percolation
We consider a two-dimensional random resistor network (RRN) in the presence
of two competing biased percolations consisting of the breaking and recovering
of elementary resistors. These two processes are driven by the joint effects of
an electrical bias and of the heat exchange with a thermal bath. The electrical
bias is set up by applying a constant voltage or, alternatively, a constant
current. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to analyze the network evolution
in the full range of bias values. Depending on the bias strength, electrical
failure or steady state are achieved. Here we investigate the steady-state of
the RRN focusing on the properties of the non-Ohmic regime. In constant voltage
conditions, a scaling relation is found between and , where
is the average network resistance, the linear regime resistance
and the threshold value for the onset of nonlinearity. A similar relation
is found in constant current conditions. The relative variance of resistance
fluctuations also exhibits a strong nonlinearity whose properties are
investigated. The power spectral density of resistance fluctuations presents a
Lorentzian spectrum and the amplitude of fluctuations shows a significant
non-Gaussian behavior in the pre-breakdown region. These results compare well
with electrical breakdown measurements in thin films of composites and of other
conducting materials.Comment: 15 figures, 23 page
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