Chiral nature of magnetic monopoles in artificial spin ice

Micromagnetic properties of monopoles in artificial kagome spin ice systems are investigated using numerical simulations. We show that micromagnetics brings additional complexity into the physics of these monopoles that is, by essence, absent in spin models: besides a fractionalized classical magnetic charge, monopoles in the artificial kagome ice are chiral at remanence. Our simulations predict that the chirality of these monopoles can be controlled without altering their charge state. This chirality breaks the vertex symmetry and triggers a directional motion of the monopole under an applied magnetic field. Our results also show that the choice of the geometrical features of the lattice can be used to turn on and off this chirality, thus allowing the investigation of chiral and achiral monopoles.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Numerical analysis of timber fracture due to mechanical and thermal loads: an approach based on invariant integral

International audienc

Phytoplankton of Aras dam reservoir (Iran): an attempt to assess water quality

The Aras reservoir, located in the north-west of Iran, plays an important role in fisheries, drinking and agricultural water supplies and recreational activities in the region. This study was performed to characterize the seasonal fluctuations of phytoplankton communities and their relationship with environmental factors in the Aras reservoir from August 2013 to May 2014. Sampling was carried out seasonally from 5 sampling locations. In each location three samples were taken for phytoplankton identification and enumeration, chemical analysis and chlorophyll a determination. In total, 72 species belonging to 5 divisions were determined. Cyanobacteria contained the highest density (74%) during the study period with Pseudanabaena limnetica as the most abundant species. This group retained its dominance the whole year round which indicated the poor quality and high nutrient load of the Aras reservoir, mainly due to human activities. On average, Trophic State Index (TSI) showed that water in the reservoir was eu-hypereutrophic. The results indicated that phytoplankton density negatively correlated with Secchi disc depth (R^2 = -0.479), total alkalinity (R^2 = -0.564), total hardness (R^2 = -0.727) and HCO_3 concentration (R^2 = -0.589). On the other hand, there was a positive correlation between the phytoplankton density and TP (R^2 = 0.734). A comparison between the present and a previous study indicated that the cyanobacterial bloom pattern in the Aras reservoir has shifted from warm season toward an all year round cycle which in addition to basin pollution due to anthropogenic activities, can be related to global warming and climate change

Study on survival and growth rate of three Artemia species fed with Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis suecica and Nannochloropsis oculata

In recent years, Artemia has proven to be one of the easiest to prepare and the most nutritious food available to aquaculture. In this research, the process of hatching of Artemia cyst into larval stage using algae as a diet was investigated. The cysts used for this experiment belonged to three species Artemia urmiana, Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia franciscana. The algae species used for the feeding of the Artemia included Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis suecica and Nannochloropsis oculata. The effect of algae feeding on growth rate and survival of the Artemia species from hatching to maturation during 15 days was investigated. The results showed that A. franciscana had better growth rate and survival compared to the other two species

Stochastic analysis of mixed mode fracture in timber material using polynomial chaos expansion

International audienc

Theoretical and experimental study of the orientational ordering in the field-induced intermediaite phase from the SmC*FI2 phase in chiral smectic liquid crystals

Under an electric field, chiral smectic liquid crystals transit usually to the unwound SmC* phase where the helical structure is completely unrolled. Sometimes the sample transits initially towards an intermediate polar state before the total destruction of the helix. Based on the extension of the H-T model, a theoretical study of these field-induced phase transitions was carried out. Two hypotheses of the dynamics that give rise to the appearance of the intermediate phase have been discussed. The results of a numerical analysis confirm the known experimental results; the intermediate phase has a three-layer periodicity structure

Numerical fracture analysis coupling thermo-hygro mechanical and viscoelastic behaviour

International audienc

Energy levels of interacting curved nano-magnets in a frustrated geometry: increasing accuracy when using finite difference methods

The accuracy of finite difference methods is related to the mesh choice and cell size. Concerning the micromagnetism of nano-objects, we show here that discretization issues can drastically affect the symmetry of the problem and therefore the resulting computed properties of lattices of interacting curved nanomagnets. In this paper, we detail these effects for the multiaxe kagome lattice. Using the Oommf finite difference method, we propose an alternative way of discretizing the nanomagnet shape via a variable moment per cell scheme. This method is shown to be efficient in reducing discretization effects.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate). Application to the synthesis of multiblock copolyesters

The chemical recycling of the poly(ethylene terephthalate), (PET), has been successfully carried out by glycolysis in the presence of bis (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) resulting in the formation of hydroxytelechelic oligomers. These oligomers were then treated with carboxytelechelic poly(ε-caprolactone) oligomers of Mn = 2300 and Mn = 730 g•mol–1 molecular weight, in the absence or presence of the titanium tetrabutyloxide (Ti(OBu)4) as a catalyst to get multiblock copolyesters. The chemical structure of the synthesized copolyesters was investigated by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. Moreover the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to explore their thermal properties. The ester-ester interchange reaction was observed between the two oligopolyesters, was studied and discussed in detail