2,246 research outputs found
Quantum coherence engineering in the integer quantum Hall regime
We present an experiment where the quantum coherence in the edge states of
the integer quantum Hall regime is tuned with a decoupling gate. The coherence
length is determined by measuring the visibility of quantum interferences in a
Mach-Zehnder interferometer as a function of temperature, in the quantum Hall
regime at filling factor two. The temperature dependence of the coherence
length can be varied by a factor of two. The strengthening of the phase
coherence at finite temperature is shown to arise from a reduction of the
coupling between co-propagating edge states. This opens the way for a strong
improvement of the phase coherence of Quantum Hall systems. The decoupling gate
also allows us to investigate how inter-edge state coupling influence the
quantum interferences' dependence on the injection bias. We find that the
finite bias visibility can be decomposed into two contributions: a Gaussian
envelop which is surprisingly insensitive to the coupling, and a beating
component which, on the contrary, is strongly affected by the coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Size dependent tunneling and optical spectroscopy of CdSe quantum rods
Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy
are used to study the electronic states in CdSe quantum rods that manifest a
transition from a zero dimensional to a one dimensional quantum confined
structure. Both optical and tunneling spectra show that the level structure
depends primarily on the rod diameter and not on length. With increasing
diameter, the band-gap and the excited state level spacings shift to the red.
The level structure was assigned using a multi-band effective-mass model,
showing a similar dependence on rod dimensions.Comment: Accepted to PRL (nearly final version). 4 pages in revtex, 4 figure
Analysis of Heat Effects on Marine Corps AM2 Mat Mechanical Properties
Navy AM2 mats are used as portable aircraft landing platforms for the Short Take-off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft operations. This investigation presents the study performed to determine whether the surface discoloration is a precursor to degradation in the mechanical property of the AM2 mat material. The red discoloration on the mat surfaces had a clear correlation with the decrease in yield strength, ultimate strength, and hardness properties
Phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics and quantum state reconstruction for physical systems with Lie-group symmetries
We present a detailed discussion of a general theory of phase-space
distributions, introduced recently by the authors [J. Phys. A {\bf 31}, L9
(1998)]. This theory provides a unified phase-space formulation of quantum
mechanics for physical systems possessing Lie-group symmetries. The concept of
generalized coherent states and the method of harmonic analysis are used to
construct explicitly a family of phase-space functions which are postulated to
satisfy the Stratonovich-Weyl correspondence with a generalized traciality
condition. The symbol calculus for the phase-space functions is given by means
of the generalized twisted product. The phase-space formalism is used to study
the problem of the reconstruction of quantum states. In particular, we consider
the reconstruction method based on measurements of displaced projectors, which
comprises a number of recently proposed quantum-optical schemes and is also
related to the standard methods of signal processing. A general group-theoretic
description of this method is developed using the technique of harmonic
expansions on the phase space.Comment: REVTeX, 18 pages, no figure
Charge transport in hybrid nanorod-polymer composite photovoltaic cells
ABSTRACT Charge transport in composites of inorganic nanorods and a conjugated polymer is investigated using a photovoltaic device structure. We show that t he current-voltage (I-V) curves in the dark can be modelled using the Shockley equation modified to include series and shunt resistance at low current levels, and using an improved model that incorporates both the Shockley equation and the presence of a space charge limited region at high currents. Under illumination the efficiency of photocurrent generation is found to be dependent on applied bias. Furthermore, the photocurrent-light intensity dependence was found to be sublinear. An analysis of the shunt resistance as a function of light intensity suggests that the photocurrent as well as the fill factor is diminished as a result of increased photoconductivity of the active layer at high light intensity. By studying the intensity dependence of the open circuit voltage for nanocrystals with different diameters and thus band gaps, it was inferred that Fermi-level pinning occurs at the interface between the aluminum electrode and the nanocrystal.
3D characterization of CdSe nanoparticles attached to carbon nanotubes
The crystallographic structure of CdSe nanoparticles attached to carbon
nanotubes has been elucidated by means of high resolution transmission electron
microscopy and high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron
microscopy tomography. CdSe rod-like nanoparticles, grown in solution together
with carbon nanotubes, undergo a morphological transformation and become
attached to the carbon surface. Electron tomography reveals that the
nanoparticles are hexagonal-based with the (001) planes epitaxially matched to
the outer graphene layer.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Cardiovascular reactivity in a simulated job interview: the role of gender role self-concept
This study investigated the relation of gender role self-concept (G-SC) to cardiovascular
and emotional reactions to an ecologically relevant stressor in a sample of
graduating male and female university students. Thirty-seven men and 37 women
completed the Personal Attribute Questionnaire and worked on four tasks designed to
reflect common features of a job interview. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured
at baseline, during, and after each task; subjective stress was measured at baseline
and after each task. Subjective and objective stress scores were averaged across
tasks and analyzed by sex and G-SC (i.e., instrumentality, expressiveness). Results indicated
that women as a group demonstrated greater emotional reactivity, but did not
differ in their physiological reactions when compared to men. Regardless of sex, participants’
instrumentality scores contributed significantly to the variation in subjective
stress response: those scoring high on instrumentality reported less stress, but evidenced
greater blood pressure reactivity than those scoring low on instrumentality.
These results suggest that gender roles, particularly an instrumental self-concept,
may play an important role in both subjective and objective reactions to an ecologically
relevant stressor
LysMD3 is a type II membrane protein without an in vivo role in the response to a range of pathogens
Discovery of the Binary Pulsar PSR B1259-63 in Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays around Periastron with H.E.S.S
We report the discovery of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission of the
binary system PSR B1259-63/SS 2883 of a radio pulsar orbiting a massive,
luminous Be star in a highly eccentric orbit. The observations around the 2004
periastron passage of the pulsar were performed with the four 13 m Cherenkov
telescopes of the H.E.S.S. experiment, recently installed in Namibia and in
full operation since December 2003. Between February and June 2004, a gamma-ray
signal from the binary system was detected with a total significance above 13
sigma. The flux was found to vary significantly on timescales of days which
makes PSR B1259-63 the first variable galactic source of VHE gamma-rays
observed so far. Strong emission signals were observed in pre- and
post-periastron phases with a flux minimum around periastron, followed by a
gradual flux decrease in the months after. The measured time-averaged energy
spectrum above a mean threshold energy of 380 GeV can be fitted by a simple
power law F_0(E/1 TeV)^-Gamma with a photon index Gamma =
2.7+-0.2_stat+-0.2_sys and flux normalisation F_0 = (1.3+-0.1_stat+-0.3_sys)
10^-12 TeV^-1 cm^-2 s^-1. This detection of VHE gamma-rays provides unambiguous
evidence for particle acceleration to multi-TeV energies in the binary system.
In combination with coeval observations of the X-ray synchrotron emission by
the RXTE and INTEGRAL instruments, and assuming the VHE gamma-ray emission to
be produced by the inverse Compton mechanism, the magnetic field strength can
be directly estimated to be of the order of 1 G.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics on 2 June
2005, replace: document unchanged, replaced author field in astro-ph entry -
authors are all members of the H.E.S.S. collaboration and three additional
authors (99+3, see document
Photoemission Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy Investigation of Vapor Phase Co-Deposited Silver/Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Composites
Nanocomposite matrices of silver/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) were prepared
in ultrahigh vacuum through vapor-phase co-deposition. Change in
microstructure, chemical nature and electronic properties with increasing
filler (Ag) content were investigated using in-situ XPS and UPS, and ambient
AFM. At least two chemical binding states occur between Ag nanoparticles and
sulfur in P3HT at the immediate contact layer but no evidence of interaction
between Ag and carbon (in P3HT) was found. AFM images reveal a change in Ag
nanoparticles size with concentration which modifies the microstructure and the
average roughness of the surface. Under co-deposition, P3HT largely retains its
conjugated structures, which is evidenced by the similar XPS and UPS spectra to
those of P3HT films deposited on other substrates. We demonstrate here that the
magnitude of the barrier height for hole injection and the position of the
highest occupied band edge (HOB) with respect to the Fermi level of Ag can be
controlled and changed by adjusting the metal (Ag) content in the composite.
Furthermore, UPS reveals distinct features related to the C 2p (Sigma states)
in the 5-12 eV regions, indicating the presence of ordered P3HT which is
different from solution processed films.Comment: Scudier and Wei provided equal contributio
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