6,560 research outputs found
Large two-level magnetoresistance effect in doped manganite grain boundary junctions
We performed a systematic analysis of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR)
effect in single grain boundary junctions formed in epitaxial
La(2/3)Ca(1/3)MnO(3) films deposited on SrTiO(3) bicrystals. For magnetic
fields H applied parallel to the grain boundary barrier, an ideal two-level
resistance switching behavior with sharp transitions is observed with a TMR
effect of up to 300% at 4.2 K and still above 100% at 77 K. Varying the angle
between H and the grain boundary results in differently shaped resistance vs H
curves. The observed behavior is explained within a model of magnetic domain
pinning at the grain boundary interface.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Comm.
Transport anisotropy in biaxially strained La(2/3)Ca(1/3)MnO(3) thin films
Due to the complex interplay of magnetic, structural, electronic, and orbital
degrees of freedom, biaxial strain is known to play an essential role in the
doped manganites. For coherently strained La(2/3)Ca(1/3)MnO(3) thin films grown
on SrTiO(3) substrates, we measured the magnetotransport properties both
parallel and perpendicular to the substrate and found an anomaly of the
electrical transport properties. Whereas metallic behavior is found within the
plane of biaxial strain, for transport perpendicular to this plane an
insulating behavior and non-linear current-voltage characteristics (IVCs) are
observed. The most natural explanation of this anisotropy is a strain induced
transition from an orbitally disordered ferromagnetic state to an orbitally
ordered state associated with antiferromagnetic stacking of ferromagnetic
manganese oxide planes.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Sub-unit cell layer-by-layer growth of Fe3O4, MgO, and Sr2RuO4 thin films
The use of oxide materials in oxide electronics requires their controlled
epitaxial growth. Recently, it was shown that Reflection High Energy Electron
Diffraction (RHEED) allows to monitor the growth of oxide thin films even at
high oxygen pressure. Here, we report the sub-unit cell molecular or block
layer growth of the oxide materials Sr2RuO4, MgO, and magnetite using Pulsed
Laser Deposition (PLD) from stoichiometric targets. Whereas for perovskites
such as SrTiO3 or doped LaMnO3 a single RHEED intensity oscillation is found to
correspond to the growth of a single unit cell, in materials where the unit
cell is composed of several molecular layers or blocks with identical
stoichiometry, a sub-unit cell molecular or block layer growth is established
resulting in several RHEED intensity oscillations during the growth of a single
unit-cell
Magnetic moments of W 5d in Ca2CrWO6 and Sr2CrWO6 double perovskites
We have investigated the magnetic moment of the W ion in the ferrimagnetic
double perovskites Sr2CrWO6 and Ca2CrWO6 by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism
(XMCD) at the W L(2,3) edges. In both compounds a finite negative spin and
positive orbital magnetic moment was detected. The experimental results are in
good agreement with band-structure calculations for (Sr/Ca)2CrWO6 using the
full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method. It is remarkable, that the
magnetic ordering temperature, TC, is correlated with the magnetic moment at
the 'non-magnetic' W atom.Comment: accepted for publicatio
Physisorption of positronium on quartz surfaces
The possibility of having positronium (Ps) physisorbed at a material surface
is of great fundamental interest, since it can lead to new insight regarding
quantum sticking and is a necessary first step to try to obtain a Ps
molecule on a material host. Some experiments in the past have produced
evidence for physisorbed Ps on a quartz surface, but firm theoretical support
for such a conclusion was lacking. We present a first-principles
density-functional calculation of the key parameters determining the
interaction potential between Ps and an -quartz surface. We show that
there is indeed a bound state with an energy of 0.14 eV, a value which agrees
very well with the experimental estimate of eV. Further, a brief
energy analysis invoking the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism for the reaction of
physisorbed atoms shows that the formation and desorption of a Ps molecule
in that picture is consistent with the above results.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitte
Voltage and temperature dependence of the grain boundary tunneling magnetoresistance in manganites
We have performed a systematic analysis of the voltage and temperature
dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of grain boundaries (GB) in
the manganites. We find a strong decrease of the TMR with increasing voltage
and temperature. The decrease of the TMR with increasing voltage scales with an
increase of the inelastic tunneling current due to multi-step inelastic
tunneling via localized defect states in the tunneling barrier. This behavior
can be described within a three-current model for magnetic tunnel junctions
that extends the two-current Julliere model by adding an inelastic,
spin-independent tunneling contribution. Our analysis gives strong evidence
that the observed drastic decrease of the GB-TMR in manganites is caused by an
imperfect tunneling barrier.Comment: to be published in Europhys. Lett., 8 pages, 4 figures (included
Active inference, evidence accumulation, and the urn task
Deciding how much evidence to accumulate before making a decision is a problem we and other animals often face, but one that is not completely understood. This issue is particularly important because a tendency to sample less information (often known as reflection impulsivity) is a feature in several psychopathologies, such as psychosis. A formal understanding of information sampling may therefore clarify the computational anatomy of psychopathology. In this theoretical letter, we consider evidence accumulation in terms of active (Bayesian) inference using a generic model of Markov decision processes. Here, agents are equipped with beliefs about their own behavior--in this case, that they will make informed decisions. Normative decision making is then modeled using variational Bayes to minimize surprise about choice outcomes. Under this scheme, different facets of belief updating map naturally onto the functional anatomy of the brain (at least at a heuristic level). Of particular interest is the key role played by the expected precision of beliefs about control, which we have previously suggested may be encoded by dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain. We show that manipulating expected precision strongly affects how much information an agent characteristically samples, and thus provides a possible link between impulsivity and dopaminergic dysfunction. Our study therefore represents a step toward understanding evidence accumulation in terms of neurobiologically plausible Bayesian inference and may cast light on why this process is disordered in psychopathology
Housing wealth inequalities across occupational classes:A comparison of European housing wealth accumulation regimes
Laser microscopy of tunneling magnetoresistance in manganite grain-boundary junctions
Using low-temperature scanning laser microscopy we directly image electric
transport in a magnetoresistive element, a manganite thin film intersected by a
grain boundary (GB). Imaging at variable temperature allows reconstruction and
comparison of the local resistance vs temperature for both, the manganite film
and the GB. Imaging at low temperature also shows that the GB switches between
different resistive states due to the formation and growth of magnetic domains
along the GB. We observe different types of domain wall growth; in most cases a
domain wall nucleates at one edge of the bridge and then proceeds towards the
other edge.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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