Multidimensional entropy landscape of quantum criticality

The Third Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of any system in equilibrium has to vanish at absolute zero temperature. At nonzero temperatures, on the other hand, matter is expected to accumulate entropy near a quantum critical point (QCP), where it undergoes a continuous transition from one ground state to another. Here, we determine, based on general thermodynamic principles, the spatial-dimensional profile of the entropy S near a QCP and its steepest descent in the corresponding multidimensional stress space. We demonstrate this approach for the canonical quantum critical compound CeCu6-xAux near its onset of antiferromagnetic order. We are able to link the directional stress dependence of S to the previously determined geometry of quantum critical fluctuations. Our demonstration of the multidimensional entropy landscape provides the foundation to understand how quantum criticality nucleates novel phases such as high-temperature superconductivity.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Orientation and strain modulated electronic structures in puckered arsenene nanoribbons

Orthorhombic arsenene was recently predicted as an indirect bandgap semiconductor. Here, we demonstrate that nanostructuring arsenene into nanoribbons can successfully transform the bandgap to be direct. It is found that direct bandgaps hold for narrow armchair but wide zigzag nanoribbons, which is dominated by the competition between the in-plane and out-of-plane bondings. Moreover, straining the nanoribbons also induces a direct bandgap and simultaneously modulates effectively the transport property. The gap energy is largely enhanced by applying tensile strains to the armchair structures. In the zigzag ones, a tensile strain makes the effective mass of holes much higher while a compressive strain cause it much lower than that of electrons. Our results are crutial to understand and engineer the electronic properties of two dimensional materials beyond the planar ones like graphene

Magnetic spin moment reduction in photoexcited ferromagnets through exchange interaction quenching: Beyond the rigid band approximation

The exchange interaction among electrons is one of the most fundamental quantum mechanical interactions in nature and underlies any magnetic phenomena from ferromagnetic ordering to magnetic storage. The current technology is built upon a thermal or magnetic field, but a frontier is emerging to directly control magnetism using ultrashort laser pulses. However, little is known about the fate of the exchange interaction. Here we report unambiguously that photoexcitation is capable of quenching the exchange interaction in all three $3d$ ferromagnetic metals. The entire process starts with a small number of photoexcited electrons which build up a new and self-destructive potential that collapses the system into a new state with a reduced exchange splitting. The spin moment reduction follows a Bloch-like law as $M_z(\Delta E)=M_z(0)(1-{\Delta E}/{\Delta E_0})^{\frac{1}{\beta}}$, where $\Delta E$ is the absorbed photon energy and $\beta$ is a scaling exponent. A good agreement is found between the experimental and our theoretical results. Our findings may have a broader implication for dynamic electron correlation effects in laser-excited iron-based superconductors, iron borate, rare-earth orthoferrites, hematites and rare-earth transition metal alloys.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, one supplementary material fil

Generating high-order optical and spin harmonics from ferromagnetic monolayers

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in solids has entered a new phase of intensive research, with envisioned band-structure mapping on an ultrashort time scale. This partly benefits from a flurry of new HHG materials discovered, but so far has missed an important group. HHG in magnetic materials should have profound impact on future magnetic storage technology advances. Here we introduce and demonstrate HHG in ferromagnetic monolayers. We find that HHG carries spin information and sensitively depends on the relativistic spin-orbit coupling; and if they are dispersed into the crystal momentum ${\bf k}$ space, harmonics originating from real transitions can be ${\bf k}$-resolved and carry the band structure information. Geometrically, the HHG signal is sensitive to spatial orientations of monolayers. Different from the optical counterpart, the spin HHG, though probably weak, only appears at even orders, a consequence of SU(2) symmetry. Our findings open an unexplored frontier -- magneto-high-order harmonic generation.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

Peningkatan Motivasi Belajar Matematika Melalui Pendekatan Contextual Teaching And Learning Bagi Siswa Kelas X Semester I SMA Islam Sudirman 2 Boyolali Tahun Ajaran 2011/2012

Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji dan mendiskripsikan peningkatan motivasi belajar matematika siswa melalui pendekatan pembelajaran kontekstual. Pendekatan penelitian adalah penelitian kualitatif dengan desain Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK). Subyek penelitian yang dikenai tindakan adalah siswa kelas x Sma Islam Sudirman 2 Boyolali, yang berjumlah 27 siswa. Metode pengumpulan data, observasi, catatan lapangan, dan dokumentasi. Teknik analisis data secara deskriptif kualitatif dengan metode alur. Keabsahan data dilakukan dengan observasi secara terus menerus dan triangulasi data. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan adanya peningkatan motivasi belajar siswa yang dapat dilihat dari meningkatnya indikator banyaknya siswa yang antusias dalam: a) persiapan dalam mengikuti pembelajaran, sebelum tindakan 33,33%, putaran I 48,14%, putaran II 66,66%,dan pada putaran III 77,77% b) belajar kelompok sebelum tindakan 25,92%, putaran I 37,03%, putaran II 62,96% , dan pada putaran III 74,07%.c) menanggapi atau mengajukan pertanyaan, sebelum tindakan 7,40%, putaran I 14,81%, putaran II 33,33%, dan pada putaran III 48,14%. Kesimpulan penelitian ini adalah bahwa penerapan strategi pembelajaran kontekstual dapat meningkatkan motivasi belajar sisw

Hole Doping Dependence of the Coherence Length in La2−xSrxCuO4La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 Thin Films

By measuring the field and temperature dependence of magnetization on systematically doped $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ thin films, the critical current density $j_c(0)$ and the collective pinning energy $U_p(0)$ are determined in single vortex creep regime. Together with the published data of superfluid density, condensation energy and anisotropy, for the first time we derive the doping dependence of the coherence length or vortex core size in wide doping regime directly from the low temperature data. It is found that the coherence length drops in the underdoped region and increases in the overdoped side with the increase of hole concentration. The result in underdoped region clearly deviates from what expected by the pre-formed pairing model if one simply associates the pseudogap with the upper-critical field.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Investigation of laser induced phosphorescence and fluorescence of acetone at low pressure for molecular tagging velocimetry in gas microflows

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.Laser-induced fluorescence and phosphorescence properties of gaseous acetone in argon are measured and analyzed in a pressure ranging from 10(5) to 10(2) Pa, with the aim of analyzing by molecular tagging velocimetry gas microflows in rarefied regimes which requires operation at low pressure. Acetone is excited at a wavelength of 266 nm and immediately emits short lifetime fluorescence rapidly followed by long lifetime phosphorescence. At atmospheric pressure, the early phosphorescence intensity is more than 600 times lower than the fluorescence one. The phosphorescence signal is rapidly decreasing with time, closely following a power law. Both fluorescence and phosphorescence signals are decreasing with pressure. The systematic analysis of fluorescence and phosphorescence of acetone molecules shows that although the signal is dramatically reduced at low pressure, the on-chip integration technique and the optimization of the acquisition parameters provide an exploitable signal for molecular tagging velocimetry in rarefied microflows, in a Knudsen number range corresponding to the early slip flow regime

Noise Enhanced Hypothesis-Testing in the Restricted Bayesian Framework

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Performance of some suboptimal detectors can be enhanced by adding independent noise to their observations. In this paper, the effects of additive noise are investigated according to the restricted Bayes criterion, which provides a generalization of the Bayes and minimax criteria. Based on a generic M-ary composite hypothesis-testing formulation, the optimal probability distribution of additive noise is investigated. Also, sufficient conditions under which the performance of a detector can or cannot be improved via additive noise are derived. In addition, simple hypothesis-testing problems are studied in more detail, and additional improvability conditions that are specific to simple hypotheses are obtained. Furthermore, the optimal probability distribution of the additive noise is shown to include at most mass points in a simple M-ary hypothesis-testing problem under certain conditions. Then, global optimization, analytical and convex relaxation approaches are considered to obtain the optimal noise distribution. Finally, detection examples are presented to investigate the theoretical results