1,534 research outputs found
Defect Engineering: Graphene Gets Designer Defects
An extended one-dimensional defect that has the potential to act as a
conducting wire has been embedded in another perfect graphene sheet.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur
Fluctuating Cu-O-Cu Bond model of high temperature superconductivity in cuprates
Twenty years of extensive research has yet to produce a general consensus on
the origin of high temperature superconductivity (HTS). However, several
generic characteristics of the cuprate superconductors have emerged as the
essential ingredients of and/or constraints on any viable microscopic model of
HTS. Besides a Tc of order 100K, the most prominent on the list include a
d-wave superconducting gap with Fermi liquid nodal excitations, a d-wave
pseudogap with the characteristic temperature scale T*, an anomalous
doping-dependent oxygen isotope shift, nanometer-scale gap inhomogeneity, etc..
The key role of planar oxygen vibrations implied by the isotope shift and other
evidence, in the context of CuO2 plane symmetry and charge constraints from the
strong intra-3d Coulomb repulsion U, enforces an anharmonic mechanism in which
the oxygen vibrational amplitude modulates the strength of the in-plane Cu-Cu
bond. We show, within a Fermi liquid framework, that this mechanism can lead to
strong d-wave pairing and to a natural explanation of the salient features of
HTS
d_{x^2-y^2} Symmetry and the Pairing Mechanism
An important question is if the gap in the high temperature cuprates has
d_{x^2-y^2} symmetry, what does that tell us about the underlying interaction
responsible for pairing. Here we explore this by determining how three
different types of electron-phonon interactions affect the d_{x^2-y^2} pairing
found within an RPA treatment of the 2D Hubbard model. These results imply that
interactions which become more positive as the momentum transfer increases
favor d_{x^2-y^2} pairing in a nearly half-filled band.Comment: 9 pages and 2 eps figs, uses revtex with epsf, in press, PR
Quantum teleportation on a photonic chip
Quantum teleportation is a fundamental concept in quantum physics which now
finds important applications at the heart of quantum technology including
quantum relays, quantum repeaters and linear optics quantum computing (LOQC).
Photonic implementations have largely focussed on achieving long distance
teleportation due to its suitability for decoherence-free communication.
Teleportation also plays a vital role in the scalability of photonic quantum
computing, for which large linear optical networks will likely require an
integrated architecture. Here we report the first demonstration of quantum
teleportation in which all key parts - entanglement preparation, Bell-state
analysis and quantum state tomography - are performed on a reconfigurable
integrated photonic chip. We also show that a novel element-wise
characterisation method is critical to mitigate component errors, a key
technique which will become increasingly important as integrated circuits reach
higher complexities necessary for quantum enhanced operation.Comment: Originally submitted version - refer to online journal for accepted
manuscript; Nature Photonics (2014
Bulk experimental evidence of half-metallic ferromagnetism in doped manganites
We report precise measurements and quantitative data analysis on the
low-temperature resistivity of several ferromagnetic manganite films. We
clearly show that there exists a T^{4.5} term in low-temperature resistivity,
and that this term is in quantitative agreement with the quantum theory of
two-magnon scattering for half metallic ferromagnets. Our present results
provide the first bulk experimental evidence of half-metallic ferromagnetism in
doped manganites.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Topological Phases in Graphitic Cones
The electronic structure of graphitic cones exhibits distinctive topological
features associated with the apical disclinations. Aharonov-Bohm
magnetoconductance oscillations (period Phi_0) are completely absent in rings
fabricated from cones with a single pentagonal disclination. Close to the apex,
the local density of states changes qualitatively, either developing a cusp
which drops to zero at the Fermi energy, or forming a region of nonzero density
across the Fermi energy, a local metalization of graphene.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4, 3 PostScript figure
Stable Heterogeneity for the Production of Diffusible Factors in Cell Populations
The production of diffusible molecules that promote survival and growth is common in bacterial and eukaryotic cell populations, and can be considered a form of cooperation between cells. While evolutionary game theory shows that producers and non-producers can coexist in well-mixed populations, there is no consensus on the possibility of a stable polymorphism in spatially structured populations where the effect of the diffusible molecule extends beyond one-step neighbours. I study the dynamics of biological public goods using an evolutionary game on a lattice, taking into account two assumptions that have not been considered simultaneously in existing models: that the benefit of the diffusible molecule is a non-linear function of its concentration, and that the molecule diffuses according to a decreasing gradient. Stable coexistence of producers and non-producers is observed when the benefit of the molecule is a sigmoid function of its concentration, while strictly diminishing returns lead to coexistence only for very specific parameters and linear benefits never lead to coexistence. The shape of the diffusion gradient is largely irrelevant and can be approximated by a step function. Since the effect of a biological molecule is generally a sigmoid function of its concentration (as described by the Hill equation), linear benefits or strictly diminishing returns are not an appropriate approximations for the study of biological public goods. A stable polymorphism of producers and non-producers is in line with the predictions of evolutionary game theory and likely to be common in cell populations
Uterine selection of human embryos at implantation
Human embryos frequently harbor large-scale complex chromosomal errors that impede normal development. Affected embryos may fail to implant although many first breach the endometrial epithelium and embed in the decidualizing stroma before being rejected via mechanisms that are poorly understood. Here we show that developmentally impaired human embryos elicit an endoplasmic stress response in human decidual cells. A stress response was also evident upon in vivo exposure of mouse uteri to culture medium conditioned by low-quality human embryos. By contrast, signals emanating from developmentally competent embryos activated a focused gene network enriched in metabolic enzymes and implantation factors. We further show that trypsin, a serine protease released by pre-implantation embryos, elicits Ca2+ signaling in endometrial epithelial cells. Competent human embryos triggered short-lived oscillatory Ca2+ fluxes whereas low-quality embryos caused a heightened and prolonged Ca2+ response. Thus, distinct positive and negative mechanisms contribute to active selection of human embryos at implantation
Giant anharmonicity and non-linear electron-phonon coupling in MgB; A combined first-principles calculations and neutron scattering study
We report first-principles calculations of the electronic band structure and
lattice dynamics for the new superconductor MgB. The excellent agreement
between theory and our inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the phonon
density of states gives confidence that the calculations provide a sound
description of the physical properties of the system. The numerical results
reveal that the in-plane boron phonons (with E symmetry) near the
zone-center are very anharmonic, and are strongly coupled to the partially
occupied planar B bands near the Fermi level. This giant anharmonicity
and non-linear electron-phonon coupling is key to explaining the observed high
T and boron isotope effect in MgBComment: In this revised version (to appear in PRL) we also discuss the boron
isotope effect. Please visit http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/staff/taner/mgb2 for
detail
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