264 research outputs found
Phase transition oscillations induced by a strongly focused laser beam
We report here the observation of a surprising phenomenon consisting in a
oscillating phase transition which appears in a binary mixture,
PMMA/3-octanone, when this is enlightened by a strongly focused infrared laser
beam. PMMA/3-octanone has a UCST (Upper Critical Solution Temperature) which
presents a critical point at temperature Tc = 306.6 K and volume fraction
c = 12.8 % [Crauste et al., ArXiv 1310.6720, 2012]. This oscillatory
phenomenon appears because of thermophoretic and electrostriction effects and
non-linear diffusion. We analyze these oscillations and we propose a simple
model which includes the minimal ingredients to produce the oscillatory
behavior. Phase transitions in binary mixtures are still a widely studied
subject, specifically near the critical point where several interesting and not
completely understood phenomena may appear, among them we recall the critical
Casimir forces [2],[3], confinement effects [4], [5] and out-of-equilibrium
dynamics after a quench. The perturbation of the binary mixtures by mean of
external fields is also an important and recent field of investigation [6]. For
example, a laser can induce interesting phenomena in demixing binary mixtures
because the radiation pressure can deform the interface between the two phases
and it can be used to measure the interface tension [7]. Depending on the
nature of the binary mixtures, laser illumination can also lead to a mixing or
demixing transition. In ref.[8], focused infrared laser light heats the medium
initially in the homogeneous phase and causes a separation in the LCST (Low
Critical Solution Temperature) system. The radiation pressure gradients in a
laser beam also contribute in the aggregation of polymers , thus producing a
phase transition. The local heating may induce thermophoretic forces which
attract towards the laser beam one of the binary-mixture components [9]. Other
forces like electrostriction can also be involved [10]. In this letter, we
report a new phenomenon, which consists in an oscillating phase transition
induced by a constant illumination from an infrared laser beam in the
heterogeneous region of an UCST (Upper Critical Solution Temperature) binary
mixture. Oscillation phenomena in phase transition have already been reported
in slow cooling UCST [11],[12] but as far as we know, never induced by a
stationary laser illumination. After describing our experimental setup , we
will present the results. Then we will use a very simplified model which
contains the main necessary physical ingredients to induce this oscillation
phenomenon
A method for measuring the nonlinear response in dielectric spectroscopy through third harmonics detection
We present a high sensitivity method allowing the measurement of the non
linear dielectric susceptibility of an insulating material at finite frequency.
It has been developped for the study of dynamic heterogeneities in supercooled
liquids using dielectric spectroscopy at frequencies 0.05 Hz < f < 30000 Hz .
It relies on the measurement of the third harmonics component of the current
flowing out of a capacitor. We first show that standard laboratory electronics
(amplifiers and voltage sources) nonlinearities lead to limits on the third
harmonics measurements that preclude reaching the level needed by our physical
goal, a ratio of the third harmonics to the fundamental signal about 7 orders
of magnitude lower than 1. We show that reaching such a sensitivity needs a
method able to get rid of the nonlinear contributions both of the measuring
device (lock-in amplifier) and of the excitation voltage source. A bridge using
two sources fulfills only the first of these two requirements, but allows to
measure the nonlinearities of the sources. Our final method is based on a
bridge with two plane capacitors characterized by different dielectric layer
thicknesses. It gets rid of the source and amplifier nonlinearities because in
spite of a strong frequency dependence of the capacitors impedance, it is
equilibrated at any frequency. We present the first measurements of the
physical nonlinear response using our method. Two extensions of the method are
suggested.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figure
Study of the heating effect contribution to the nonlinear dielectric response of a supercooled liquid
We present a detailed study of the heating effects in dielectric measurements
carried out on a liquid. Such effects come from the dissipation of the electric
power in the liquid and give a contribution to the nonlinear third harmonics
susceptibility chi_3 which depends on the frequency and temperature. This study
is used to evaluate a possible `spurious' contribution to the recently measured
nonlinear susceptibility of an archetypical glassforming liquid (Glycerol).
Those measurements have been shown to give a direct evaluation of the number of
dynamically correlated molecules temperature dependence close to the glass
transition temperature T_g~190K (Crauste-Thibierge et al., Phys. Rev. Lett
104,165703(2010)). We show that the heating contribution is totally negligible
(i) below 204K at any frequency; (ii) for any temperature at the frequency
where the third harmonics response chi_3 is maximum. Besides, this heating
contribution does not scale as a function of f/f_{\alpha}, with f_{\alpha}(T)
the relaxation frequency of the liquid. In the high frequency range, when
f/f_{\alpha} >= 1, we find that the heating contribution is damped because the
dipoles cannot follow instantaneously the temperature modulation due to the
heating phenomenon. An estimate of the magnitude of this damping is given.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Chemical
Physic
Real time decoherence of Landau and Levitov quasi-particles in quantum Hall edge channels
Quantum Hall edge channels at integer filling factor provide a unique
test-bench to understand decoherence and relaxation of single electronic
excitations in a ballistic quantum conductor. In this Letter, we obtain a full
visualization of the decoherence scenario of energy (Landau) and time (Levitov)
resolved single electron excitations at filling factor . We show that
the Landau excitation exhibits a fast relaxation followed by spin-charge
separation whereas the Levitov excitation only experiences spin-charge
separation. We finally suggest to use Hong-Ou-Mandel type experiments to probe
specific signatures of these different scenarios.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Evidence of growing spatial correlations at the glass transition from nonlinear response experiments
The ac nonlinear dielectric response of glycerol was
measured close to its glass transition temperature to investigate the
prediction that supercooled liquids respond in an increasingly non-linear way
as the dynamics slows down (as spin-glasses do). We find that
indeed displays several non trivial features. It is peaked
as a function of the frequency and obeys scaling as a function of
, with the relaxation time of the liquid. The height
of the peak, proportional to the number of dynamically correlated molecules
, increases as the system becomes glassy, and decays as a
power-law of over several decades beyond the peak. These findings
confirm the collective nature of the glassy dynamics and provide the first
direct estimate of the dependence of .Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures. With respect to v1, a few new sentences were
added in the introduction and conclusion, references were updated, some typos
corrected
Thermal noise calibration of functionalized cantilevers for force microscopy: effects of the colloidal probe position
Colloidal probes are often used in force microscopy when the geometry of the
tip-sample interaction should be well controlled. Their calibration requires
the understanding of their mechanical response, which is very sensitive to the
details of the force sensor consisting of a cantilever and the attached
colloid. We present analytical models to describe the dynamics of the
cantilever and its load positioned anywhere along its length. The thermal noise
calibration of such probes is then studied from a practical point of view,
leading to correction coefficients that can be applied in standard force
microscope calibration routines. Experimental measurements of resonance
frequencies and thermal noise profiles of raw and loaded cantilevers
demonstrate the validity of the approach
Observation of superspin glass state in magnetically textured ferrofluid (gamma-Fe2O3)
Magnetic properties in a magnetically textured ferrofluid made out of
interacting maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) nanoparticles suspended in glycerin have
been investigated. Despite the loss of uniform distribution of anisotropy axes,
a superspin glass state exists at low temperature in a concentrated, textured
ferrofluid as in the case of its non-textured counterpart. The onset of
superspin glass state was verified from the sample's AC susceptibility. The
influence of the anisotropy axis orientation on the aging behavior in the
glassy states is also discussed
Cohérence à un et deux électrons en optique quantique électronique
This thesis deals with coherent quantum transport and aims at developing a formalism well suited to model experiments conducted in edge channels of integer quantum Hall effect. This formalism relies on analogies between these experiments and photon quantum optics ones.The manuscript begins with an introduction to the context of the thesis and an overview of issues, tools and successes of electron quantum optics.The first part of the work addresses the question of single electron coherence properties and introduces the key notion of excess of single electron coherence. Several representations are proposed and analyzed, giving access to physical informations encoded in the coherence function. The quantum states emitted by experimentally demonstrated electron sources are then analyzed under this perspective.Two electron effects are at the heart of the second part. The excess of two-electron coherence is defined taking into account both classical correction and quantum exchange effects. A detailed analysis of consequences of fermionic anti-symmetry is provided and shows that information encoded into two-electron coherence is redundant. Last, a normalized degree of coherence is introduced in view of a more direct study of indistinguishability and anti-bunching.The issue of measuring and manipulating electronic coherence by interferometry is addressed in the third part. First the relation between electronic coherence functions and directly measurable quantities in experiments is established, justifying the need for more involved measurement protocols. The measure of the excess of single electron coherence is envisioned through single electron Mach-Zehnder interferometry and two-electron Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometry, suggesting a simpler interpretation of a tomography protocol established in 2011. A protocol for measuring the excess of two-electron coherence is then proposed by Franson-like interferometry, which generalizes the ideas used for measuring single electron coherence with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Last, a complementary point of view on Franson interferometer is given, by using it to generate a non-local two-electron coherence.Cette thèse se place dans le domaine du transport quantique cohérent, et vise à développer un formalisme adapté à la modélisation d'expériences réalisées dans les canaux de bord de l'effet Hall quantique entier. Ce formalisme repose sur les analogies entre ces expériences et celles de l'optique quantique photonique.Le manuscrit commence par une introduction au contexte de la thèse qui propose un tour d'horizon des enjeux, des outils et des succès de l'optique quantique électronique.La première partie du travail traite des propriétés de cohérence mono-électronique et introduit la notion clé d'excès de cohérence à un électron. Plusieurs représentations sont proposées et analysées, permettant d’accéder aux informations physiques contenues dans la fonction de cohérence. Les états émis par des sources à électrons utilisées par plusieurs groupes expérimentaux sont ensuite analysés sous cet angle.Les effets à deux électrons sont au cœur de la seconde partie. L'excès de cohérence à deux électrons est défini en prenant en compte les effets de corrélation classique et d'échange quantique. Les conséquences de l'anti-symétrie fermionique sont également analysées en détail, montrant une redondance dans les informations encodées dans la cohérence à deux électrons. Enfin, un degré de cohérence normalisé est introduit pour étudier plus directement les effets d'indiscernabilité et d'anti-bunching.La mesure et la manipulation de la cohérence électronique par interférométrie sont abordées dans la troisième partie. Dans un premier temps, le lien entre les fonctions de cohérence électronique et les quantités directement accessibles dans les expériences est établi, ce qui justifie le besoin de protocoles plus complexes. La mesure d'excès de cohérence à un électron est alors envisagée par interférométrie Mach-Zehnder à un électron, puis par interférométrie Hong-Ou-Mandel à deux électrons, ce qui suggère une interprétation plus simple d'un protocole de tomographie électronique établi en 2011. Un protocole de mesure de l'excès de cohérence à deux électrons est ensuite proposé par interférométrie de type Franson, étendant les idées relatives à la mesure de cohérence à un électron par un interféromètre de Mach-Zehnder. Enfin, une vision complémentaire est apportée sur l'interféromètre de Franson, en utilisant celui-ci cette fois pour générer une cohérence à deux électrons non locale
Simultaneous and accurate measurement of the dielectric constant at many frequencies spanning a wide range
We present an innovative technique which allows the simultaneous measurement
of the dielectric constant of a material at many frequencies, spanning a four
orders of magnitude range chosen between 10 --2 Hz and 10 4 Hz. The sensitivity
and accuracy are comparable to those obtained using standard single frequency
techniques. The technique is based on three new and simple features: a) the
precise real time correction of the amplication of a current amplier; b) the
specic shape of the excitation signal and its frequency spectrum; and c) the
precise synchronization between the generation of the excitation signal and the
acquisition of the dielectric response signal. This technique is useful in the
case of relatively fast dynamical measurements when the knowledge of the time
evolution of the dielectric constant is needed
Experimental search for dynamic heterogeneities in molecular glass formers
We have measured the linear dielectric susceptibility of two molecular glass
formers close to Tg in order to estimate the size of the dynamically correlated
clusters of molecules which are expected to govern the physics of glass
formation. This size has been shown to be related to the dynamic dielectric
susceptibility dEps(w)/dT (Eps : dielectric susceptibility, T : temperature,
w: frequency). To allow for an accurate determination of the T
derivative, we scanned the interval 192 < T < 232 K every 1 K for glycerol and
159 < T < 179 K every 0.5 K for propylene carbonate. The resolution on T
variations was about 1 mK. The result for glycerol is that the number of
correlated molecules increases by a factor 3 when T goes from 226 to 195 K. It
has been shown that the non-linear susceptibility provides a direct measurement
of dynamic correlations. To measure it, we used a standard Lockin technique
yielding the third harmonic of the current flowing out of a capacitor. We
obtained only an upper limit on the ratio of the third to the first harmonic,
due to the non-linear response of standard electronics.Comment: 7 page
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