77 research outputs found
Superlattice properties of carbon nanotubes in a transverse electric field
Electron motion in a (n,1) carbon nanotube is shown to correspond to a de
Broglie wave propagating along a helical line on the nanotube wall. This
helical motion leads to periodicity of the electron potential energy in the
presence of an electric field normal to the nanotube axis. The period of this
potential is proportional to the nanotube radius and is greater than the
interatomic distance in the nanotube. As a result, the behavior of an electron
in a (n,1) nanotube subject to a transverse electric field is similar to that
in a semiconductor superlattice. In particular, Bragg scattering of electrons
from the long-range periodic potential results in the opening of gaps in the
energy spectrum of the nanotube. Modification of the bandstructure is shown to
be significant for experimentally attainable electric fields, which raises the
possibility of applying this effect to novel nanoelectronic devices.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
InGaAs/GaAs/alkanethiolate radial superlattices: Experimental
A radial InGaAs/GaAs/1-hexadecanethiol superlattice is fabricated by the
roll-up of a strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer passivated with a molecular
self-assembled monolayer. Our technique allows the formation of multi-period
inorganic/organic hybrid heterostructures. This paper contains the detailed
experimental description of how to fabricate these structures.Comment: 2 pages, no figures, Version 2; minor changes (fixed typos and update
references
Classical properties of low-dimensional conductors: Giant capacitance and non-Ohmic potential drop
Electrical field arising around an inhomogeneous conductor when an electrical
current passes through it is not screened, as distinct from 3D conductors, in
low-dimensional conductors. As a result, the electrical field depends on the
global distribution of the conductivity sigma(x) rather than on the local value
of it, inhomogeneities of sigma(x) produce giant capacitances C(omega) that
show frequency dependence at relatively low omega, and electrical fields
develop in vast regions around the inhomogeneities of sigma(x). A theory of
these phenomena is presented for 2D conductors.Comment: 5 pages, two-column REVTeX, to be published in Physical Review
Letter
Quantum Hall effect in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas on the surface of a cylinder
The quantum Hall effect is investigated in a high-mobility two-dimensional
electron gas on the surface of a cylinder. The novel topology leads to a
spatially varying filling factor along the current path. The resulting
inhomogeneous current-density distribution gives rise to additional features in
the magneto-transport, such as resistance asymmetry and modified longitudinal
resistances. We experimentally demonstrate that the asymmetry relations
satisfied in the integer filling factor regime are valid also in the transition
regime to non-integer filling factors, thereby suggesting a more general form
of these asymmetry relations. A model is developed based on the screening
theory of the integer quantum Hall effect that allows the self-consistent
calculation of the local electron density and thereby the local current density
including the current along incompressible stripes. The model, which also
includes the so-called `static skin effect' to account for the current density
distribution in the compressible regions, is capable of explaining the main
experimental observations. Due to the existence of an
incompressible-compressible transition in the bulk, the system behaves always
metal-like in contrast to the conventional Landauer-Buettiker description, in
which the bulk remains completely insulating throughout the quantized Hall
plateau regime
Low-temperature spin relaxation in n-type GaAs
Low-temperature electron spin relaxation is studied by the optical
orientation method in bulk n-GaAs with donor concentrations from 10^14 cm^{-3}
to 5x10^17 cm^{-3}.
A peculiarity related to the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) is observed
in the dependence of the spin lifetime on doping near n_D = 2x10^16 cm^{-3}. In
the metallic phase, spin relaxation is governed by the Dyakonov-Perel
mechanism, while in the insulator phase it is due to anisotropic exchange
interaction and hyperfine interactio
Shot noise in ferromagnet--normal metal systems
A semiclassical theory of the low frequency shot noise in ferromagnet -
normal metal systems is formulated. Non-collinear magnetization directions of
the ferromagnetic leads, arbitrary junctions and the elastic and inelastic
scattering regimes are considered. The shot noise is governed by a set of
mesoscopic parameters that are expressed in terms of the microscopic details of
the junctions in the circuit. Explicit results in the case of ballistic,
tunnel, and diffusive junctions are evaluated. The shot noise, the current and
the Fano factor are calculated for a double barrier ferromagnet - normal metal
- ferromagnet system. It is demonstrated that the shot noise can have a
non-monotonic behavior as a function of the relative angle between the
magnetizations of the ferromagnetic reservoirs.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Theory of electrical spin injection: Tunnel contacts as a solution of the conductivity mismatch problem
Theory of electrical spin injection from a ferromagnetic (FM) metal into a
normal (N) conductor is presented. We show that tunnel contacts (T) can
dramatically increase spin injection and solve the problem of the mismatch in
the conductivities of a FM metal and a semiconductor microstructure. We also
present explicit expressions for the spin-valve resistance of FM-T-N- and
FM-T-N-T-FM-junctions with tunnel contacts at the interfaces and show that the
resistance includes both positive and negative contributions (Kapitza
resistance and injection conductivity, respectively).Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (rapid communications
Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and
manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article
reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and
well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles
underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and
spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs
from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to
spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin
decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin
injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures
relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties.
Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in
which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be
used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not
feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes
from the published versio
Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes
Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe
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