792 research outputs found
Screening Breakdown on the Route toward the Metal-Insulator Transition in Modulation Doped Si/SiGe Quantum Wells
Exploiting the spin resonance of two-dimensional (2D) electrons in SiGe/Si
quantum wells we determine the carrier-density-dependence of the magnetic
susceptibility. Assuming weak interaction we evaluate the density of states at
the Fermi level D(E_F), and the screening wave vector, q_TF. Both are constant
at higher carrier densities n, as for an ideal 2D carrier gas. For n < 3e11
cm-2, they decrease and extrapolate to zero at n = 7e10 cm-2. Calculating the
mobility from q_TF yields good agreement with experimental values justifying
the approach. The decrease in D(E_F) is explained by potential fluctuations
which lead to tail states that make screening less efficient and - in a
positive feedback - cause an increase of the potential fluctuations. Even in
our high mobility samples the fluctuations exceed the electron-electron
interaction leading to the formation of puddles of mobile carriers with at
least 1 micrometer diameter.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
g-Factor Tuning and Manipulation of Spins by an Electric Current
We investigate the Zeeman splitting of two-dimensional electrons in an
asymmetric silicon quantum well, by electron-spin-resonance (ESR) experiments.
Applying a small dc current we observe a shift in the resonance field due to
the additional current-induced Bychkov-Rashba (BR) type of spin-orbit (SO)
field. This finding demonstrates SO coupling in the most straightforward way:
in the presence of a transverse electric field the drift velocity of the
carriers imposes an effective SO magnetic field. This effect allows selective
tuning of the g-factor by an applied dc current. In addition, we show that an
ac current may be used to induce spin resonance very efficiently.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Rashba spin-orbit coupling and spin relaxation in silicon quantum wells
Silicon is a leading candidate material for spin-based devices, and
two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) formed in silicon heterostructures have
been proposed for both spin transport and quantum dot quantum computing
applications. The key parameter for these applications is the spin relaxation
time. Here we apply the theory of D'yakonov and Perel' (DP) to calculate the
electron spin resonance linewidth of a silicon 2DEG due to structural inversion
asymmetry for arbitrary static magnetic field direction at low temperatures. We
estimate the Rashba spin-orbit coupling coefficient in silicon quantum wells
and find the and times of the spins from this mechanism as a
function of momentum scattering time, magnetic field, and device-specific
parameters. We obtain agreement with existing data for the angular dependence
of the relaxation times and show that the magnitudes are consistent with the DP
mechanism. We suggest how to increase the relaxation times by appropriate
device design.Comment: Extended derivations and info, fixed typos and refs, updated figs and
data. Worth a re-downloa
Elementary immunology: Na(+) as a regulator of immunity
The skin can serve as an interstitial Na(+) reservoir. Local tissue Na(+) accumulation increases with age, inflammation and infection. This increased local Na(+) availability favors pro-inflammatory immune cell function and dampens their anti-inflammatory capacity. In this review, we summarize available data on how NaCl affects various immune cells. We particularly focus on how salt promotes pro-inflammatory macrophage and T cell function and simultaneously curtails their regulatory and anti-inflammatory potential. Overall, these findings demonstrate that local Na(+) availability is a promising novel regulator of immunity. Hence, the modulation of tissue Na(+) levels bears broad therapeutic potential: increasing local Na(+) availability may help in treating infections, while lowering tissue Na(+) levels may be used to treat, for example, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases
Orbital mechanisms of electron spin manipulation by an electric field
A theory of spin manipulation of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) electrons by a
time-dependent gate voltage applied to a quantum well is developed. The
Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit coupling mechanisms are shown to be rather
efficient for this purpose. The spin response to a perpendicular-to-plane
electric field is due to a deviation from the strict 2D limit and is controlled
by the ratios of the spin, cyclotron and confinement frequencies. The
dependence of this response on the magnetic field direction is indicative of
the strenghts of the competing spin-orbit coupling mechanisms
Cathodoluminescence characterization of Ge-doped CdTe crystals
Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopic techniques have been used to study the spatial distribution of structural defects and the deep levels in CdTe:Ge bulk crystals. The effect of Ge doping with concentrations of 10(17) and 10(19) cm(-3) on the compensation of V-Cd in CdTe has been investigated. Dependence of the intensity distribution of CL emission bands on the dopant concentration has been studied. Ge doping causes a substantial reduction of the generally referred to 1.40 eV luminescence, which is often present in undoped CdTe crystals, and enhances the 0.91 and 0.81 eV emissions
The phosphoproteome of toll-like receptor-activated macrophages
First global and quantitative analysis of phosphorylation cascades induced by toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulation in macrophages identifies nearly 7000 phosphorylation sites and shows extensive and dynamic up-regulation and down-regulation after lipopolysaccharide (LPS).In addition to the canonical TLR-associated pathways, mining of the phosphorylation data suggests an involvement of ATM/ATR kinases in signalling and shows that the cytoskeleton is a hotspot of TLR-induced phosphorylation.Intersecting transcription factor phosphorylation with bioinformatic promoter analysis of genes induced by LPS identified several candidate transcriptional regulators that were previously not implicated in TLR-induced transcriptional control
Theory of Electric Dipole Spin Resonance in a Parabolic Quantum Well
A theory of Electric Dipole Spin Resonance (EDSR), that is caused by various
mechanisms of spin-orbit coupling, is developed as applied to free electrons in
a parabolic quantum well. Choosing a parabolic shape of the well has allowed us
to find explicit expressions for the EDSR intensity and its dependence on the
magnetic field direction in terms of the basic parameters of the Hamiltonian.
By using these expressions, we have investigated and compared the effect of
specific mechanisms of spin orbit (SO) coupling and different polarizations of
ac electric field on the intensity of EDSR. Angular dependences of the EDSR
intensity are indicative of the relative contributions of the competing
mechanisms of SO coupling. Our results show that electrical manipulating
electron spins in quantum wells is generally highly efficient, especially by an
in-plane ac electric field.Comment: 45 pages 6 figur
Leptotene/Zygotene Chromosome Movement Via the SUN/KASH Protein Bridge in Caenorhabditis elegans
The Caenorhabditis elegans inner nuclear envelope protein matefin/SUN-1 plays a conserved, pivotal role in the process of genome haploidization. CHK-2–dependent phosphorylation of SUN-1 regulates homologous chromosome pairing and interhomolog recombination in Caenorhabditis elegans. Using time-lapse microscopy, we characterized the movement of matefin/SUN-1::GFP aggregates (the equivalent of chromosomal attachment plaques) and showed that the dynamics of matefin/SUN-1 aggregates remained unchanged throughout leptonene/zygotene, despite the progression of pairing. Movement of SUN-1 aggregates correlated with chromatin polarization. We also analyzed the requirements for the formation of movement-competent matefin/SUN-1 aggregates in the context of chromosome structure and found that chromosome axes were required to produce wild-type numbers of attachment plaques. Abrogation of synapsis led to a deceleration of SUN-1 aggregate movement. Analysis of matefin/SUN-1 in a double-strand break deficient mutant revealed that repair intermediates influenced matefin/SUN-1 aggregate dynamics. Investigation of movement in meiotic regulator mutants substantiated that proper orchestration of the meiotic program and effective repair of DNA double-strand breaks were necessary for the wild-type behavior of matefin/SUN-1 aggregates
High salt reduces the activation of IL-4- and IL-13-stimulated macrophages
A high intake of dietary salt (NaCl) has been implicated in the development of hypertension, chronic inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. We have recently shown that salt has a proinflammatory effect and boosts the activation of Th17 cells and the activation of classical, LPS-induced macrophages (M1). Here, we examined how the activation of alternative (M2) macrophages is affected by salt. In stark contrast to Th17 cells and M1 macrophages, high salt blunted the alternative activation of BM-derived mouse macrophages stimulated with IL-4 and IL-13, M(IL-4+IL-13) macrophages. Salt-induced reduction of M(IL-4+IL-13) activation was not associated with increased polarization toward a proinflammatory M1 phenotype. In vitro, high salt decreased the ability of M(IL-4+IL-13) macrophages to suppress effector T cell proliferation. Moreover, mice fed a high salt diet exhibited reduced M2 activation following chitin injection and delayed wound healing compared with control animals. We further identified a high salt-induced reduction in glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolic output, coupled with blunted AKT and mTOR signaling, which indicates a mechanism by which NaCl inhibits full M2 macrophage activation. Collectively, this study provides evidence that high salt reduces noninflammatory innate immune cell activation and may thus lead to an overall imbalance in immune homeostasis
- …