945 research outputs found
Confinement-induced Berry phase and helicity-dependent photocurrents
The photocurrent in an optically active metal is known to contain a component
that switches sign with the helicity of the incident radiation. At low
frequencies, this current depends on the orbital Berry phase of the Bloch
electrons via the "anomalous velocity" of Karplus and Luttinger. We consider
quantum wells in which the parent material, such as GaAs, is not optically
active and the relevant Berry phase only arises as a result of quantum
confinement. Using an envelope approximation that is supported by numerical
tight-binding results, it is shown that the Berry phase contribution is
determined for realistic wells by a cubic Berry phase intrinsic to the bulk
material, the well width, and the well direction. These results for the
magnitude of the Berry-phase effect suggest that it may already have been
observed in quantum well experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Diffusion of Nonequilibrium Quasiparticles in a Cuprate Superconductor
We report a transport study of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in a high-Tc
cuprate superconductor using the transient grating technique. Low-intensity
laser excitation (at photon energy 1.5 eV) was used to introduce a spatially
periodic density of quasiparticles into a high-quality untwinned single crystal
of YBa2Cu3O6.5. Probing the evolution of the initial density through space and
time yielded the quasiparticle diffusion coefficient, and both inelastic and
elastic scattering rates. The technique reported here is potentially applicable
to precision measurement of quasiparticle dynamics, not only in cuprate
superconductors, but in other electronic systems as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Photoinduced Changes of Reflectivity in Single Crystals of YBa2Cu3O6.5 (Ortho II)
We report measurements of the photoinduced change in reflectivity of an
untwinned single crystal of YBa2Cu3O6.5 in the ortho II structure. The decay
rate of the transient change in reflectivity is found to decrease rapidly with
decreasing temperature and, below Tc, with decreasing laser intensity. We
interpret the decay as a process of thermalization of antinodal quasiparticles,
whose rate is determined by an inelastic scattering rate of quasiparticle
pairs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
TBC experience in land based gas turbines
Prior and on-going machine evaluations of TBC coatings for power generation applications are summarized. Rainbow testing of various TBC's on turbine nozzles, shrouds and buckets are described along with one test on combustor liners. GEPG has conducted over 15 machine tests with TBC coated turbine nozzles of various coatings. Rainbow test times generally range between 10,000 to 24,000 hours. TBC performance has been quite good and additional testing, including TBC's on shrouds and buckets is continuing. The results show that TBC's have the capability of surviving in power generation machines for the times required. The earlier rainbow tests which evaluated various top coat compositions resulted in confirmation of the superiority of YSZ and especially the 6-8 YSZ composition. On-going tests are more focused on TBC process and property variations. The prevalent failure modes seen thus far in the various rainbow tests are erosion, foreign object damage and buildup of deposits. Additional post test analysis is required to investigate bond coat oxidation and other time/temperature dependent changes to the system
Determination of the spin-flip time in ferromagnetic SrRuO3 from time-resolved Kerr measurements
We report time-resolved Kerr effect measurements of magnetization dynamics in
ferromagnetic SrRuO3. We observe that the demagnetization time slows
substantially at temperatures within 15K of the Curie temperature, which is ~
150K. We analyze the data with a phenomenological model that relates the
demagnetization time to the spin flip time. In agreement with our observations
the model yields a demagnetization time that is inversely proportional to T-Tc.
We also make a direct comparison of the spin flip rate and the Gilbert damping
coefficient showing that their ratio very close to kBTc, indicating a common
origin for these phenomena
Observation of Coherent Helimagnons and Gilbert damping in an Itinerant Magnet
We study the magnetic excitations of itinerant helimagnets by applying
time-resolved optical spectroscopy to Fe0.8Co0.2Si. Optically excited
oscillations of the magnetization in the helical state are found to disperse to
lower frequency as the applied magnetic field is increased; the fingerprint of
collective modes unique to helimagnets, known as helimagnons. The use of
time-resolved spectroscopy allows us to address the fundamental magnetic
relaxation processes by directly measuring the Gilbert damping, revealing the
versatility of spin dynamics in chiral magnets. (*These authors contributed
equally to this work
Localization on short-range potentials in dissipative quantum mechanics
In this Letter the problem of the existence of a state localized on a weak
short-range attractive potential in the presence of dissipation is considered.
It is shown that, contrary to the pure quantum case, a localized state is
produced in any number of dimensions, while in low dimensions dissipation leads
to much stronger localization. The results have physical implications for the
dissipative dynamics of objects such as heavy particles in Fermi liquids and
for superconductivity in high- materials.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 1 figure. Published versio
The rate of quasiparticle recombination probes the onset of coherence in cuprate superconductors
The condensation of an electron superfluid from a conventional metallic state
at a critical temperature is described well by the BCS theory. In the
underdoped copper-oxides, high-temperature superconductivity condenses instead
from a nonconventional metallic "pseudogap" phase that exhibits a variety of
non-Fermi liquid properties. Recently, it has become clear that a charge
density wave (CDW) phase exists within the pseudogap regime, appearing at a
temperature just above . The near coincidence of and
, as well the coexistence and competition of CDW and superconducting
order below , suggests that they are intimately related. Here we show that
the condensation of the superfluid from this unconventional precursor is
reflected in deviations from the predictions of BSC theory regarding the
recombination rate of quasiparticles. We report a detailed investigation of the
quasiparticle (QP) recombination lifetime, , as a function of
temperature and magnetic field in underdoped HgBaCuO
(Hg-1201) and YBaCuO (YBCO) single crystals by ultrafast
time-resolved reflectivity. We find that exhibits a local
maximum in a small temperature window near that is prominent in
underdoped samples with coexisting charge order and vanishes with application
of a small magnetic field. We explain this unusual, non-BCS behavior by
positing that marks a transition from phase-fluctuating SC/CDW composite
order above to a SC/CDW condensate below. Our results suggest that the
superfluid in underdoped cuprates is a condensate of coherently-mixed
particle-particle and particle-hole pairs
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