1,015 research outputs found
Thriving in academe: The value of diversity
Diversity involves more than celebrating difference
Tunable magnetism on the lateral mesoscale by post-processing of Co/Pt heterostructures
Controlling magnetic properties on the nm-scale is essential for basic
research in micro-magnetism and spin-dependent transport, as well as for
various applications such as magnetic recording, imaging and sensing. This has
been accomplished to a very high degree by means of layered heterostructures in
the vertical dimension. Here we present a complementary approach that allows
for a controlled tuning of the magnetic properties of Co/Pt heterostructures on
the lateral mesoscale. By means of in-situ post-processing of Pt- and Co-based
nano-stripes prepared by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) we
are able to locally tune their coercive field and remanent magnetization.
Whereas single Co-FEBID nano-stripes show no hysteresis, we find hard-magnetic
behavior for post-processed Co/Pt nano-stripes with coercive fields up to 850
Oe. We attribute the observed effects to the locally controlled formation of
the CoPt L1 phase, whose presence has been revealed by transmission
electron microscopy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Beilstein J. Nanotechno
Low energy defibrillation in human cardiac tissue: a simulation study.
Copyright © 2009 Biophysical SocietyJournal ArticleWe aim to assess the effectiveness of feedback-controlled resonant drift pacing as a method for low energy defibrillation. Antitachycardia pacing is the only low energy defibrillation approach to have gained clinical significance, but it is still suboptimal. Low energy defibrillation would avoid adverse side effects associated with high voltage shocks and allow the application of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy, in cases where such therapy is not tolerated today. We present results of computer simulations of a bidomain model of cardiac tissue with human atrial ionic kinetics. Reentry was initiated and low energy shocks were applied with the same period as the reentry, using feedback to maintain resonance. We demonstrate that such stimulation can move the core of reentrant patterns, in the direction that depends on the location of the electrodes and the time delay in the feedback. Termination of reentry is achieved with shock strength one-order-of-magnitude weaker than in conventional single-shock defibrillation. We conclude that resonant drift pacing can terminate reentry at a fraction of the shock strength currently used for defibrillation and can potentially work where antitachycardia pacing fails, due to the feedback mechanisms. Success depends on a number of details that these numerical simulations have uncovered
Magnetooptical Study of Zeeman Effect in Mn modulation-doped InAs/InGaAs/InAlAs Quantum Well Structures
We report on a magneto-photoluminescence (PL) study of Mn modulation-doped
InAs/InGaAs/InAlAs quantum wells. Two PL lines corresponding to the radiative
recombination of photoelectrons with free and bound-on-Mn holes have been
observed. In the presence of a magnetic field applied in the Faraday geometry
both lines split into two circularly polarized components. While temperature
and magnetic field dependences of the splitting are well described by the
Brillouin function, providing an evidence for exchange interaction with spin
polarized manganese ions, the value of the splitting exceeds the expected value
of the giant Zeeman splitting by two orders of magnitude for a given Mn
density. Possible reasons of this striking observation are discussed
Room temperature high frequency transport of Dirac fermions in epitaxially grown Sb_2Te_3 based topological insulators
We report on the observation of photogalvanic effects in epitaxially grown
Sb_2Te_3 three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TI). We show that
asymmetric scattering of Dirac electrons driven back and forth by the terahertz
electric field results in a dc electric current. Due to the "symmetry
filtration" the dc current is generated in the surface electrons only and
provides an opto-electronic access to probe the electric transport in TI,
surface domains orientation and details of electron scattering even in 3D TI at
room temperature where conventional surface electron transport is usually
hindered by the high carrier density in the bulk
Central American Subduction System
Workshop to Integrate Subduction Factory and Seismogenic Zone Studies in Central America, Heredia, Costa Rica, 18–22 June 2007 The driving force for great earthquakes and the cycling of water and climate-influencing volatiles (carbon dioxide, sulfur, halogens) across the convergent margin of Central America have been a focus of international efforts for over 8 years, as part of the MARGINS program of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 574) of the German Science Foundation, and the Central American science community. Over 120 scientists and students from 10 countries met in Costa Rica to synthesize this intense effort spanning from land to marine geological and geophysical studies
Opto-Electronic Characterization of Three Dimensional Topological Insulators
We demonstrate that the terahertz/infrared radiation induced photogalvanic
effect, which is sensitive to the surface symmetry and scattering details, can
be applied to study the high frequency conductivity of the surface states in
(Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 based three dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TI). In
particular, measuring the polarization dependence of the photogalvanic current
and scanning with a micrometre sized beam spot across the sample, provides
access to (i) topographical inhomogeneity's in the electronic properties of the
surface states and (ii) the local domain orientation. An important advantage of
the proposed method is that it can be applied to study TIs at room temperature
and even in materials with a high electron density of bulk carriers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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