Nanoskyrmion engineering with spsp-electron materials: Sn monolayer on SiC(0001) surface

Materials with $sp$-magnetism demonstrate strongly nonlocal Coulomb interactions, which opens a way to probe correlations in the regimes not achievable in transition metal compounds. By the example of Sn monolayer on SiC(0001) surface, we show that such systems exhibit unusual but intriguing magnetic properties at the nanoscale. Physically, this is attributed to the presence of a significant ferromagnetic coupling, the so-called direct exchange, which fully compensates ubiquitous antiferromagnetic interactions of the superexchange origin. Having a nonlocal nature, the direct exchange was previously ignored because it cannot be captured within the conventional density functional methods and significantly challenges ground state models earlier proposed for Sn/SiC(0001). Furthermore, heavy adatoms induce strong spin-orbit coupling, which leads to a highly anisotropic form of the spin Hamiltonian, in which the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is dominant. The latter is suggested to be responsible for the formation of a nanoskyrmion state at realistic magnetic fields and temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, supplemental materia

Pollen and Isotope Investigations of an Ice Core from Vavilov Ice Cap, October Revolution Island, Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago, Russia

The Vavilov Ice Cap (79°27'N, 95° 21'E) was cored during February and March of 1988. The corer passed through 457.18 m of glacier ice, 2.15 m of moraine-containing ice, and 2.28 m of underlying rocks. Structural-stratigraphical and isotope analysis show the glacier ice is of Holocene in age; the ice layer covered by frozen deposits is Pleistocene glacier ice; and the ground (ice wedge?) ice from underlying sediments was formed during the Last Interglacial. Palynological studies of this core, carried out for the first time in the Russian Arctic demonstrate that the pollen spectra have a unique pattern. It reduces the possibility of correlation between the Vavilov Ice Cape spectra and pollen spectra from other surficial deposits, because the ice retains pollen and spores brought from enormous distances. Only the upper 65 m of the core is easily dated, to the last millennium, by the presence of cereals, Plantago lanceolata, Centaurea cyanus, Cannabis pollen. That is in good agreement with the model of age distribution based upon depth. The presence of considerable amounts of Tilia cordifolia pollen, a West-European species in the upper layers suggests that summer air masses have been dominantly from the southwest during the last 500 years. The pollen data do not contradict the conclusion the Vavilov ice core is composed of a section of Holocene ice, moraine-containing ice representing the Pleistocene episode, and a ground ice formed during an earlier warm period (Last Interglacial?).Une carotte de glace prélevée en 1988 au sein de la calotte glaciaire de Vavilov (79°27'N, 95°21'E) a fait l'objet d'analyses isotopiques et palynologiques. Le sondage comprend 457,18 m de glace « pure », suivis de 2,15 m de glace chargée de sédiments et 2,28 m de roches gelés du socle. Les résultats des analyses structurales, stratigraphiques et isotopiques sont les suivants : la glace pure datée de l'Holocène, les 2,15 de la couche chargée de sédiments datent du Pléistocène, tandis que la glace présente dans les fentes du socle s'est formée au cours du dernier interglaciaire. Les spectres polliniques de cette carotte sont caractérisés par des grains de pollen d'origine lointaine préservés dans la glace. Cette constatation réduit grandement les possibilités de corrélation avec les données sédimentaires de la région, qui reflètent la composition de la végétation locale. Un âge inférieur à 1000 ans peut être attribué aux 65 m supérieurs de la carotte en raison de la présence de pollen de céréales, de Plantago lanceolata, Centaurea cyanus et de Cannabis. Cette interprétation concorde avec le modèle du taux d'accumulation de la glace. Dans la partie supérieure de la carotte, la présence en quantité considérable de Tilia cordifolia, une espèce de tilleul d'Europe de l'Ouest, laisse supposer que les masses d'air en provenance du sud-ouest ont prédominé au cours des étés des 500 dernières années. En conclusion, les données palynologiques ne contredisent pas les résultats antérieurs selon lesquels la carotte glaciaire étudiée couvre une partie de l'Holocène, que la glace contenant la moraine représente l'épisode du Pléistocène et que la glace du socle se soit formée pendant une période chaude (le dernier interglaciaire?)

Effect of oxygen on the electrical conductivity of Pt-contacted α-Ga2O2/ε(κ)-Ga2O3 MSM structures on patterned sapphire substrates

Electrical conductivity and gas sensitivity of α-Ga2O2/ ε(κ)-Ga2O3 structures were measured for oxygen concentrations ranging from 2 % to 100 % and temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 220 °C. It was found that the oxygen sensitivity of the structures depended on the donor dopant concentration. The alpha -Ga _{2}O_{3}/arepsilon ( kappa )-Ga 2 O 3 structures doped with sim 1.5 imes 10^{17} cm −3 of Sn showed high sensitivity to O 2 in the temperature range from 180 °C to 220 °C and at the bias voltage below 7.5 V. This effect can be attributed to the chemisorption of oxygen molecules on the surface of structures, which reduces energy barriers between ε(κ)-Ga2O3 grains

The study of spectral changes in THz range in normal and pathological skin in vivo depending on the dehydration methods used

The terahertz (THz) attenuated total reflectance (ATR) imaging of normal and pathological skin under the action of various dehydration agents was carried out in vivo. Studies were conducted on animal models (the mouse), patients with diabetes, and healthy volunteers. For measurements, each animal was leaned against the ATR prism of the skin surface, and several locations in the skin of each animal were analyzed. Places on the skin for analysis were chosen so that the intensity spectra of the THz signal were practically the same for selected points. THz spectra measurements were carried out every 10 minutes within 45 minutes interval under the action of a dehydration agent. 40% glucose was shown to provide the most effective improving tissue optical clearing effect in the THz range

HVPE growth of corundum-structured α-Ga2O3 on sapphire substrates with α-Cr2O3 buffer layer

Gallium oxide films were grown by HVPE on (0001) sapphire substrates with and without α-Cr2O3 buffer produced by RF magnetron sputtering. Deposition on bare sapphire substrates resulted in a mixture of α-Ga2O3 and ε-Ga2O3 phases with a dislocation density of about 2∙1010 cm-2. The insertion of α-Cr2O3 buffer layers resulted in phase-pure α-Ga2O3 films and a fourfold reduction of the dislocation density to 5∙109 cm-2

Proper Motion Study of the Magellanic Clouds using SPM material

Absolute proper motions are determined for stars and galaxies to V=17.5 over a 450 square-degree area that encloses both Magellanic Clouds. The proper motions are based on photographic and CCD observations of the Yale/San Juan Southern Proper Motion program, which span over a baseline of 40 years. Multiple, local relative proper motion measures are combined in an overlap solution using photometrically selected Galactic Disk stars to define a global relative system that is then transformed to absolute using external galaxies and Hipparcos stars to tie into the ICRS. The resulting catalog of 1.4 million objects is used to derive the mean absolute proper motions of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud; (\mu_\alpha\cos\delta,\mu_\delta)_{LMC}=(1.89,+0.39)\pm (0.27,0.27)\;\;\{mas yr}^{-1} and (\mu_\alpha\cos\delta,\mu_\delta)_{SMC}=(0.98,-1.01)\pm (0.30,0.29)\;\;\{mas yr}^{-1}. These mean motions are based on best-measured samples of 3822 LMC stars and 964 SMC stars. A dominant portion (0.25 mas yr$^{-1}$) of the formal errors is due to the estimated uncertainty in the inertial system of the Hipparcos Catalog stars used to anchor the bright end of our proper motion measures. A more precise determination can be made for the proper motion of the SMC {\it relative} to the LMC; (\mu_{\alpha\cos\delta},\mu_\delta)_{SMC-LMC} = (-0.91,-1.49) \pm (0.16,0.15)\;\;\{mas yr}^{-1}. This differential value is combined with measurements of the proper motion of the LMC taken from the literature to produce new absolute proper-motion determinations for the SMC, as well as an estimate of the total velocity difference of the two clouds to within $\pm$54 kms$^{-1}$.Comment: 50 pages (referee format), 13 figures. Accepted for publication in A

SYNTHESIS OF THICK GALLIUM NITRIDE LAYERS BY METHOD OF MULTI-STAGE GROWTH ON SUBSTRATES WITH COLUMN STRUCTURE

Subject of Research.The paper deals with processes of formation and transformation of defects during multi-stage growth of thick gallium nitride layers with hydride vapor phase epitaxy on GaN/Al2O3 substrates with buried column pattern formed with the use of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Methods. The growth of initial GaN layers was performed with the use of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. On the surface of the initial layers columns with the height of 800 nm were generated by means of ion etching. These columns were overgrown with 3-4 µm-thick GaN layers. On thus formed substrate multi-stage growth of GaN layers was performed with the use of hydride vapor-phase epitaxy. The total thickness of GaN layers was 100-1500 µm. The grown layers were studied by optical and electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Main Results. Density of threading dislocations in the layers grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy was (3-6)·107 cm-2, that was one order of magnitude lower than in the used substrate, and two to three orders lower than dislocation density in typical GaN layers grown on commercial sapphire substrates. Raman spectroscopy data were indicative of low level of mechanical stress in the layers and their high structural uniformity. It was established that under multi-stage growth conditions, non-catastrophic cracks (those that do not cause sample destruction) are able to transform into macropores and appear to be an important structural element, serving to stress relaxation in the bulk of thick gallium nitride layers grown on foreign substrates. Practical Relevance. The results of the study can be used in the development of III-nitride heterostructures for optoelectronics and high-power and high-frequency microelectronics

The Polarised Valence Quark Distribution from semi-inclusive DIS

The semi-inclusive difference asymmetry A^{h^{+}-h^{-}} for hadrons of opposite charge has been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data were collected in the years 2002-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam scattered off a large polarised ^6LiD target and cover the range 0.006 < x < 0.7 and 1 < Q^2 < 100 (GeV/c)^2. In leading order QCD (LO) the asymmetry A_d^{h^{+}-h^{-}} measures the valence quark polarisation and provides an evaluation of the first moment of Delta u_v + Delta d_v which is found to be equal to 0.40 +- 0.07 (stat.) +- 0.05 (syst.) over the measured range of x at Q^2 = 10 (GeV/c)^2. When combined with the first moment of g_1^d previously measured on the same data, this result favours a non-symmetric polarisation of light quarks Delta u-bar = - Delta d-bar at a confidence level of two standard deviations, in contrast to the often assumed symmetric scenario Delta u-bar = Delta d-bar = Delta s-bar = Delta s.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, COMPASS, revised: details added, author list update

Кремниевая электронно-чувствительная pin-линейка, облучаемая с обратной стороны

Introduction. In recent decades, in the field of photoelectronics, special attention has been paid to the development of semiconductor matrix photodetectors. These detectors have become an effective alternative to existing television receiving systems. Among such devices, linear position-sensitive sensors are used in cases where the rapid registration of changes to the environment is required (for instance, high-speed locators for flying vehicles).Aim. To develop a strip of silicon pin-diodes as part of a hybrid IR-detector for effective registration of photoelectrons with time resolution less than 10 ns, as well as to model the key electro-physical characteristics of the strip.Materials and methods. In the device under development, the registration of photoelectrons is achieved by the presence of a near-surface field using p ++–p junction formed by diffusion of boron into the silicon with resistivity of 3 kΩ · cm. The pulling field is also formed in the space charge region between p ++ - and n ++ -regions. Diffusion of phosphorus was carried out to create the n ++ -region. Numerical calculations of potential distribution, concentration of free charge carriers and currents were carried out using software for 1D- and 2D-modelling (SimWin and TCAD Synopsys).Results. 2D-calculation of charge carrier concentration and potential distribution was performed. The study determined the minimum bias for the complete depletion of the i-layer, including that for longitudinal grooves of various depths. The strip was tested as part of a hybrid photoelectric device by irradiating light pulses from IR LED. When the voltage on the diodes was reached –270 V, the duration of the signal front on all channels was 5…9 ns.Conclusion. For use in IR-hybrid detectors, a strip of 12 silicon pin-diodes was developed with a sensitive element of 24 × 0.2 mm in dimension. The study of pulse characteristics showed that the necessary duration of the front signal on all channels was achieved without thinning thus satisfying the requirements for high-speed position-sensitive sensor of the infrared radiation.Введение. В последние десятилетия в фотоэлектронике особое внимание уделяется разработке полупроводниковых матричных фотоприемных устройств, которые фактически стали эффективной альтернативой существующим аналоговым телевизионным приемным системам. Среди таких устройств линейные позиционно-чувствительные датчики применяются для регистрации быстрых изменений в окружающей обстановке и их последующей обработки (например, быстродействующие локаторы летательных аппаратов).Цель работы. Создание линейки кремниевых pin-диодов для использования в составе гибридного детектора ИК-излучения с целью регистрации фотоэлектронов с временны́м разрешением лучше 10 нс. Моделирование основных электрофизических характеристик линейки.Материалы и методы. В разрабатываемом приборе регистрация фотоэлектронов обеспечивается за счет наличия приповерхностного поля при использовании p ++–p-перехода, сформированного диффузией бора в кремний с удельным сопротивлением 3 кОм · см. Тянущее поле, в свою очередь, также формируется в области объемного заряда между p ++ - и n ++ -областями. Для создания n ++ -области проводилась диффузия фосфора. Численные расчеты распределения потенциала, концентрации свободных носителей заряда и токов проводились в программных пакетах одномерного (SimWin) и двумерного (TCAD Synopsys) моделирования.Результаты. Проведен двумерный расчет распределения концентрации свободных носителей заряда и потенциала в исследуемой pin-структуре. Определены минимальные напряжения, обеспечивающие полное обеднение i-слоя, в том числе для случая продольной канавки различной глубины. Линейка тестировалась в составе гибридного фотоэлектронного прибора облучением световыми импульсами от ИК-светодиода. При напряжении на диодах линейки –270 В достигнута длительность фронта сигнала на всех каналах 5...9 нс.Заключение. Для гибридного детектора ИК-излучения разработана линейка из 12 кремниевых pin-диодов, с размерами чувствительной области элемента 24 × 0.2 мм. По результатам исследований импульсной характеристики показано, что без операции утонения достигнута длительность фронта сигнала на всех каналах, удовлетворяющая требованиям к быстродействующему позиционно-чувствительному датчику ИК-излучения

The Essentials of Protein Import in the Degenerate Mitochondrion of Entamoeba histolytica

Several essential biochemical processes are situated in mitochondria. The metabolic transformation of mitochondria in distinct lineages of eukaryotes created proteomes ranging from thousands of proteins to what appear to be a much simpler scenario. In the case of Entamoeba histolytica, tiny mitochondria known as mitosomes have undergone extreme reduction. Only recently a single complete metabolic pathway of sulfate activation has been identified in these organelles. The E. histolytica mitosomes do not produce ATP needed for the sulfate activation pathway and for three molecular chaperones, Cpn60, Cpn10 and mtHsp70. The already characterized ADP/ATP carrier would thus be essential to provide cytosolic ATP for these processes, but how the equilibrium of inorganic phosphate could be maintained was unknown. Finally, how the mitosomal proteins are translocated to the mitosomes had remained unclear. We used a hidden Markov model (HMM) based search of the E. histolytica genome sequence to discover candidate (i) mitosomal phosphate carrier complementing the activity of the ADP/ATP carrier and (ii) membrane-located components of the protein import machinery that includes the outer membrane translocation channel Tom40 and membrane assembly protein Sam50. Using in vitro and in vivo systems we show that E. histolytica contains a minimalist set up of the core import components in order to accommodate a handful of mitosomal proteins. The anaerobic and parasitic lifestyle of E. histolytica has produced one of the simplest known mitochondrial compartments of all eukaryotes. Comparisons with mitochondria of another amoeba, Dictystelium discoideum, emphasize just how dramatic the reduction of the protein import apparatus was after the loss of archetypal mitochondrial functions in the mitosomes of E. histolytica