1,624 research outputs found
Coherence and superconductivity in coupled one-dimensional chains: a case study of YBaCuO
We report the infrared (IR) response of Cu-O chains in the high-
superconductor YBaCuO over the doping range spanning . We find evidence for a power law scaling at mid-IR frequencies
consistent with predictions for Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, thus supporting the
notion of one-dimensional transport in the chains. We analyze the role of
coupling to the CuO planes in establishing metallicity and
superconductivity in disordered chain fragments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Electronic Phase Diagram of High-T_c Cuprate Superconductors from a Mapping of the In-Plane Resistivity Curvature
We propose that Resistivity Curvature Mapping (RCM) based on the in-plane
resistivity data is a useful way to objectively draw an electronic phase
diagrams of high-T_c cuprates, where various crossovers are important. In
particular, the pseudogap crossover line can be conveniently determined by RCM.
We show experimental phase diagrams obtained by RCM for
Bi_{2}Sr_{2-z}La_{z}CuO_{6+\delta}, La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}, and
YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y}, and demonstrate the universal nature of the pseudogap
crossover. Intriguingly, the electronic crossover near optimum doping depicted
by RCM appears to occur rather abruptly, suggesting that the quantum critical
regime, if exists, must be very narrow.Comment: 4 pages, 3 color figures, final version accepted for publication in
Phys. Rev. Let
Gallium concentration dependence of room-temperature near-bandedge luminescence in n-type ZnO:Ga
We investigated the optical properties of epitaxial \textit{n}-type ZnO films
grown on lattice-matched ScAlMgO substrates. As the Ga doping concentration
increased up to cm, the absorption edge showed a
systematic blueshift, consistent with the Burstein-Moss effect. A bright
near-bandedge photoluminescence (PL) could be observed even at room
temperature, the intensity of which increased monotonically as the doping
concentration was increased except for the highest doping level. It indicates
that nonradiative transitions dominate at a low doping density. Both a Stokes
shift and broadening in the PL band are monotonically increasing functions of
donor concentration, which was explained in terms of potential fluctuations
caused by the random distribution of donor impurities.Comment: accepted for publication for Applied Physics Letters 4 figure
The neural correlates of speech motor sequence learning
Speech is perhaps the most sophisticated example of a species-wide movement capability in the animal kingdom, requiring split-second sequencing of approximately 100 muscles in the respiratory, laryngeal, and oral movement systems. Despite the unique role speech plays in human interaction and the debilitating impact of its disruption, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying speech motor learning. Here, we studied the behavioral and neural correlates of learning new speech motor sequences. Participants repeatedly produced novel, meaningless syllables comprising illegal consonant clusters (e.g., GVAZF) over 2 days of practice. Following practice, participants produced the sequences with fewer errors and shorter durations, indicative of motor learning. Using fMRI, we compared brain activity during production of the learned illegal sequences and novel illegal sequences. Greater activity was noted during production of novel sequences in brain regions linked to non-speech motor sequence learning, including the BG and pre-SMA. Activity during novel sequence production was also greater in brain regions associated with learning and maintaining speech motor programs, including lateral premotor cortex, frontal operculum, and posterior superior temporal cortex. Measures of learning success correlated positively with activity in left frontal operculum and white matter integrity under left posterior superior temporal sulcus. These findings indicate speech motor sequence learning relies not only on brain areas involved generally in motor sequencing learning but also those associated with feedback-based speech motor learning. Furthermore, learning success is modulated by the integrity of structural connectivity between these motor and sensory brain regions.R01 DC007683 - NIDCD NIH HHS; R01DC007683 - NIDCD NIH HH
Pitfalls in the analysis of low-temperature thermal conductivity of high-Tc cuprates
Recently, it was proposed that phonons are specularly reflected below about
0.5 K in ordinary single-crystal samples of high-T_c cuprates, and that the
low-temperature thermal conductivity should be analyzed by fitting the data up
to 0.5 K using an arbitrary power law. Such an analysis yields a result
different from that obtained from the conventional analysis, in which the
fitting is usually restricted to a region below 0.15 K. Here we show that the
proposed new analysis is most likely flawed, because the specular phonon
reflection means that the phonon mean free path \ell gets LONGER than the mean
sample width, while the estimated \ell is actually much SHORTER than the mean
sample width above 0.15 K.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; manuscript for the Proceedings of LEHTSC2007 to be
published in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie
Evolution of the Hall Coefficient and the Peculiar Electronic Structure of the Cuprate Superconductors
Although the Hall coefficient R_H is an informative transport property of
metals and semiconductors, its meaning in the cuprate superconductors has been
ambiguous because of its unusual characteristics. Here we show that a
systematic study of R_H in La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} single crystals over a wide
doping range establishes a qualitative understanding of its peculiar evolution,
which turns out to reflect a two-component nature of the electronic structure
caused by an unusual development of the Fermi surface recently uncovered by
photoemission experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, final version appeared in Phys. Rev. Let
Possible origin of 60-K plateau in the YBa2Cu3O(6+y) phase diagram
We study a model of YBa2Cu3O(6+y) to investigate the influence of oxygen
ordering and doping imbalance on the critical temperature Tc(y) and to
elucidate a possible origin of well-known feature of YBCO phase diagram: the
60-K plateau. Focusing on "phase only" description of the high-temperature
superconducting system in terms of collective variables we utilize a
three-dimensional semi microscopic XY model with two-component vectors that
involve phase variables and adjustable parameters representing microscopic
phase stiffnesses. The model captures characteristic energy scales present in
YBCO and allows for strong anisotropy within basal planes to simulate oxygen
ordering. Applying spherical closure relation we have solved the phase XY model
with the help of transfer matrix method and calculated Tc for chosen system
parameters. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of oxygen ordering and
doping imbalance on the shape of YBCO phase diagram. We find it unlikely that
oxygen ordering alone can be responsible for the existence of 60-K plateau.
Relying on experimental data unveiling that oxygen doping of YBCO may introduce
significant charge imbalance between CuO2 planes and other sites, we show that
simultaneously the former are underdoped, while the latter -- strongly
overdoped almost in the whole region of oxygen doping in which YBCO is
superconducting. As a result, while oxygen content is increased, this provides
two counter acting factors, which possibly lead to rise of 60K plateau.
Additionally, our result can provide an important contribution to understanding
of experimental data supporting existence of multicomponent superconductivity
in YBCO.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to PRB, see http://prb.aps.or
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