243 research outputs found
First proof of concept of remote attendance for future observation strategies between Wettzell (Germany) and Concepción (Chile)
Current VLBI observations are controlled and attended locally at the radio telescopes on the basis of pre-scheduled session files. Operations have to deal with system specific station commands and individual setup procedures. Neither the scheduler nor the correlator nor the data-analyst gets real-time feedback about system parameters during a session. Changes in schedules after the start of a session by remote are impossible or at least quite difficult. For future scientific approaches, a more flexible mechanism would optimize the usage of resources at the sites. Therefore shared-observation control between world-wide telescope s, remote attendance/control as well as completely unattended-observations could be useful, in addition to the classic way to run VLBI observations. To reach these goals, the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell in cooperation with the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (Bonn) have developed a software extension to the existing NASA Field System for remote control. It uses the principle of a remotely accessible, autonomous process cell as server extension to the Field System on the basis of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). Based on this technology the first completely remote attended and controlled geodetic VLBI session between Wettzell, Germany and Concepción, Chile was successfully performed over 24 hours. This first test was extremely valuable for gathering information about the differences between VLBI systems and measuring the performance of internet connections and automatic connection re-establishments. During the 24h-session, the network load, the number of sent/received packages and the transfer speed were monitor ed and captured. It was a first reliable test for the future wishes to control several telescopes with one graphical user interface on different data transfer rates over large distances in an efficient way. In addition, future developments for an authentication and user role management will be realized within the upcoming NEXPReS project
Interplay of chiral and helical states in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator lateral junction
We study the electronic transport across an electrostatically-gated lateral
junction in a HgTe quantum well, a canonical 2D topological insulator, with and
without applied magnetic field. We control carrier density inside and outside a
junction region independently and hence tune the number and nature of 1D edge
modes propagating in each of those regions. Outside the 2D gap, magnetic field
drives the system to the quantum Hall regime, and chiral states propagate at
the edge. In this regime, we observe fractional plateaus which reflect the
equilibration between 1D chiral modes across the junction. As carrier density
approaches zero in the central region and at moderate fields, we observe
oscillations in resistance that we attribute to Fabry-Perot interference in the
helical states, enabled by the broken time reversal symmetry. At higher fields,
those oscillations disappear, in agreement with the expected absence of helical
states when band inversion is lifted.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, supp. ma
Long-range crystalline nature of the skyrmion lattice in MnSi
We report small angle neutron scattering of the skyrmion lattice in MnSi
using an experimental set-up that minimizes the effects of demagnetizing fields
and double scattering. Under these conditions the skyrmion lattice displays
resolution-limited Gaussian rocking scans that correspond to a magnetic
correlation length in excess of several hundred {\mu}m. This is consistent with
exceptionally well-defined long-range order. We further establish the existence
of higher-order scattering, discriminating parasitic double-scattering with
Renninger scans. The field and temperature dependence of the higher-order
scattering arises from an interference effect. It is characteristic for the
long-range crystalline nature of the skyrmion lattice as shown by simple mean
field calculations.Comment: 4 page
Skyrmion Lattice in a Doped Semiconductor
We report a comprehensive small angle neutron scattering study (SANS) of the
magnetic phase diagram of the doped semiconductor Fe_{1-x}Co_{x}Si for x=0.2
and 0.25. For magnetic field parallel to the neutron beam we observe a six-fold
intensity pattern under field-cooling, which identifies the A-phase of
Fe_{1-x}Co_{x}Si as a skyrmion lattice. The regime of the skyrmion lattice is
highly hysteretic and extents over a wide temperature range, consistent with
the site disorder of the Fe and Co atoms. Our study identifies Fe_{1-x}Co_{x}Si
is a second material after MnSi in which a skyrmion lattice forms and
establishes that skyrmion lattices may also occur in strongly doped
semiconductors
Structure and degeneracy of vortex lattice domains in pure superconducting niobium: A small-angle neutron scattering study
High-purity niobium exhibits a surprisingly rich assortment of vortex lattice (VL) structures for fields applied parallel to a fourfold symmetry axis, with all observed VL phases made up of degenerate domains that spontaneously break some crystal symmetry. Yet a single regular hexagonal VL domain is observed at all temperatures and fields parallel to a threefold symmetry axis. We report a detailed investigation of the transition between these lush and barren VL landscapes, discovering new VL structures and phase transitions at high fields. We show that the number and relative population of VL domains is intrinsically tied to the underlying crystal symmetry. We discuss how subtle anisotropies of the crystal may generate the remarkable VLs observed. © 2009 The American Physical Society
The OSACA Database and a Kinematic Analysis of Stars in the Solar Neighborhood
We transformed radial velocities compiled from more than 1400 published
sources, including the Geneva--Copenhagen survey of the solar neighborhood
(CORAVEL-CfA), into a uniform system based on the radial velocities of 854
standard stars in our list. This enabled us to calculate the average weighted
radial velocities for more than 25~000 HIPPARCOS stars located in the local
Galactic spiral arm (Orion arm) with a median error of +-1 km/s. We use these
radial velocities together with the stars' coordinates, parallaxes, and proper
motions to determine their Galactic coordinates and space velocities. These
quantities, along with other parameters of the stars, are available from the
continuously updated Orion Spiral Arm CAtalogue (OSACA) and the associated
database. We perform a kinematic analysis of the stars by applying an
Ogorodnikov-Milne model to the OSACA data. The kinematics of the nearest single
and multiple main-sequence stars differ substantially. We used distant
(r\approx 0.2 kpc) stars of mixed spectral composition to estimate the angular
velocity of the Galactic rotation -25.7+-1.2 km/s/kpc, and the vertex
deviation,l=13+-2 degrees, and detect a negative K effect. This negative K
effect is most conspicuous in the motion of A0-A5 giants, and is equal to
K=-13.1+-2.0 km/s/kpc.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Time Resolved Stroboscopic Neutron Scattering of Vortex Lattice Dynamics in Superconducting Niobium
Superconducting vortex lattices, glasses and liquids attract great interest
as model systems of crystallization and as a source of microscopic information
of the nature of superconductivity. We report for the first time direct
microscopic measurements of the vortex lattice tilt modulus c44 in ultra-pure
niobium using time-resolved small angle neutron scattering. Besides a general
trend to faster vortex lattice dynamics for increasing temperatures we observe
a dramatic changeover of the relaxation process associated with the non-trivial
vortex lattice morphology in the intermediate mixed state. This changeover is
attributed to a Landau-branching of the Shubnikov domains at the surface of the
sample. Our study represents a showcase for how to access directly vortex
lattice melting and the formation of vortex matter states for other systems.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
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