4,503 research outputs found
Imaging ionospheric inhomogeneities using spaceborne synthetic aperture radar
We present a technique and results of 2-D imaging of Faraday rotation and total electron content using spaceborne L band polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR). The results are obtained by processing PolSAR data collected using the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) on board the Advanced Land Observation Satellite. Distinguished ionospheric inhomogeneities are captured in 2-D images from space with relatively high resolutions of hundreds of meters to a couple of kilometers in auroral-, middle-, and low-latitude regions. The observed phenomena include aurora-associated ionospheric enhancement arcs, the middle-latitude trough, traveling ionospheric disturbances, and plasma bubbles, as well as ionospheric irregularities. These demonstrate a new capability of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar that will not only provide measurements to correction of ionospheric effects in Earth science imagery but also significantly benefit ionospheric studies
Influence of heavy modes on perturbations in multiple field inflation
We investigate linear cosmological perturbations in multiple field
inflationary models where some of the directions are light while others are
heavy (with respect to the Hubble parameter). By integrating out the massive
degrees of freedom, we determine the multi-dimensional effective theory for the
light degrees of freedom and give explicitly the propagation matrix that
replaces the effective sound speed of the one-dimensional case. We then examine
in detail the consequences of a sudden turn along the inflationary trajectory,
in particular the possible breakdown of the low energy effective theory in case
the heavy modes are excited. Resorting to a new basis in field space, instead
of the usual adiabatic/entropic basis, we study the evolution of the
perturbations during the turn. In particular, we compute the power spectrum and
compare with the result obtained from the low energy effective theory.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures; v2 substantial changes in sec.V; v3 matching
the published version on JCA
Electric-field-induced phase transition of <001> oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals
oriented 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 single crystals were poled under
different electric fields, i.e. Epoling=4 kV/cm and Epoling=13 kV/cm. In
addition to the temperature-dependent dielectric constant measurement, X-ray
diffraction was also used to identify the poling-induced phase transitions.
Results showed that the phase transition significantly depends on the poling
intensity. A weaker field (Epoling=4 kV/cm) can overcome the effect of random
internal field to perform the phase transition from rhombohedral ferroelectric
state with short range ordering (microdomain) FESRO to rhombohedral
ferroelectric state with long range ordering (macrodomain) FElRO. But the
rhombohedral ferroelectric to tetragonal ferroelectric phase transition
originating from to polarization rotation can only be induced by a
stronger field (Epoling=13 kV/cm). The sample poled at Epoling=4 kV/cm showed
higher piezoelectric constant, d33>1500 pC/N, than the sample poled at
Epoling=13 kV/cm.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Anomalous thermoelectric effects of ZrTe in and beyond the quantum limit
Thermoelectric effects are more sensitive and promising probes to topological
properties of emergent materials, but much less addressed compared to other
physical properties. Zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe) has inspired active
investigations recently because of its multiple topological nature. We study
the thermoelectric effects of ZrTe in a magnetic field and find several
anomalous behaviors. The Nernst response has a steplike profile near zero field
when the charge carriers are electrons only, suggesting the anomalous Nernst
effect arising from a nontrivial profile of Berry curvature. Both the
thermopower and Nernst signal exhibit exotic peaks in the strong-field quantum
limit. At higher magnetic fields, the Nernst signal has a sign reversal at a
critical field where the thermopower approaches to zero. We propose that these
anomalous behaviors can be attributed to the Landau index inversion, which is
resulted from the competition of the dependence of the Dirac-type
Landau bands and linear- dependence of the Zeeman energy ( is the
magnetic field). Our understanding to the anomalous thermoelectric properties
in ZrTe opens a new avenue for exploring Dirac physics in topological
materials.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Electrical conduction of silicon oxide containing silicon quantum dots
Current-voltage measurements have been made at room temperature on a Si-rich
silicon oxide film deposited via Electron-Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Enhanced
Chemical Vapor Deposition (ECR-PECVD) and annealed at 750 - 1000C. The
thickness of oxide between Si quantum dots embedded in the film increases with
the increase of annealing temperature. This leads to the decrease of current
density as the annealing temperature is increased. Assuming the Fowler-Nordheim
tunneling mechanism in large electric fields, we obtain an effective barrier
height of 0.7 0.1 eV for an electron tunnelling
through an oxide layer between Si quantum dots. The Frenkel-Poole effect can
also be used to adequately explain the electrical conduction of the film under
the influence of large electric fields. We suggest that at room temperature Si
quantum dots can be regarded as traps that capture and emit electrons by means
of tunneling.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Conden. Mat
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