34,770 research outputs found
Lateral imaging of the superconducting vortex lattice using Doppler-modulated scanning tunneling microscopy
By spatially mapping the Doppler effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the
quasiparticle tunneling spectrum, we have laterally imaged the vortex lattice
in superconducting 2H-NbSe2. Cryomagnetic scanning tunneling spectroscopy was
performed at 300 mK on the ab-surface oriented parallel to the field H.
Conductance images at zero bias show stripe patterns running along H, with the
stripe separation varying as H^-0.5. Regions of higher zero-bias conductance
show lower gap-edge conductance, consistent with spectral redistribution by
spatially-modulated superfluid momentum. Our results are interpreted in terms
of the interaction between vortical and screening currents, and demonstrate a
general method for probing subsurface vortices.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Applied Physics Letter
Modulation Doping near Mott-Insulator Heterojunctions
We argue that interesting strongly correlated two-dimensional electron
systems can be created by modulation doping near a heterojunction between Mott
insulators. Because the dopant atoms are remote from the carrier system, the
electronic system will be weakly disordered. We argue that the competition
between different ordered states can be engineered by choosing appropriate
values for the dopant density and the setback distance of the doping layer. In
particular larger setback distances favor two-dimensional antiferromagnetism
over ferromagnetism. We estimate some key properties of modulation-doped Mott
insulator heterojunctions by combining insights from Hartree-Fock-Theory and
Dynamical-Mean-Field-Theory descriptions and discuss potentially attractive
material combinations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, submitte
The Effects of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality: São Paulo, Bogotá, Beijing, and Tianjin
In a typical driving restriction, vehicle use is restricted based on the vehicle’s license plate; one cannot drive vehicles with certain license plate numbers on certain days. Driving restrictions have been used as a method to reduce urban air pollution or traffic congestion because they are easy and inexpensive to implement. We investigate whether driving restrictions introduced in São Paulo, Bogotá, Beijing and Tianjin have improved air quality. Across different versions of the driving restrictions there is no evidence that the overall air quality at different places has been improved. However, several important results show up in this extensive analysis. Temporal shifting of driving is likely to appear when the restrictions are only effective during certain hours of weekdays. Driving restrictions could potentially reduce the extreme concentrations of air pollutants. Driving restrictions can only be expected to alleviate air pollution when implemented with an extended schedule or in an extended region. The effects of the driving restrictions are primarily on the concentrations of CO and PM10.driving restriction, air quality, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Complementary weak-value amplification with concatenated postselections
We measure a transverse momentum kick in a Sagnac interferometer using
weak-value amplification with two postselections. The first postselection is
controlled by a polarization dependent phase mismatch between both paths of a
Sagnac interferometer and the second postselection is controlled by a polarizer
at the exit port. By monitoring the darkport of the interferometer, we study
the complementary amplification of the concatenated postselections, where the
polarization extinction ratio is greater than the contrast of the spatial
interference. In this case, we find an improvement in the amplification of the
signal of interest by introducing a second postselection to the system
Exploring the Way to Approach the Efficiency Limit of Perovskite Solar Cells by Drift-Diffusion Model
Drift-diffusion model is an indispensable modeling tool to understand the
carrier dynamics (transport, recombination, and collection) and simulate
practical-efficiency of solar cells (SCs) through taking into account various
carrier recombination losses existing in multilayered device structures.
Exploring the way to predict and approach the SC efficiency limit by using the
drift-diffusion model will enable us to gain more physical insights and design
guidelines for emerging photovoltaics, particularly perovskite solar cells. Our
work finds out that two procedures are the prerequisites for predicting and
approaching the SC efficiency limit. Firstly, the intrinsic radiative
recombination needs to be corrected after adopting optical designs which will
significantly affect the open-circuit voltage at its Shockley-Queisser limit.
Through considering a detailed balance between emission and absorption of
semiconductor materials at the thermal equilibrium, and the Boltzmann
statistics at the non-equilibrium, we offer a different approach to derive the
accurate expression of intrinsic radiative recombination with the optical
corrections for semiconductor materials. The new expression captures light
trapping of the absorbed photons and angular restriction of the emitted photons
simultaneously, which are ignored in the traditional Roosbroeck-Shockley
expression. Secondly, the contact characteristics of the electrodes need to be
carefully engineered to eliminate the charge accumulation and surface
recombination at the electrodes. The selective contact or blocking layer
incorporated nonselective contact that inhibits the surface recombination at
the electrode is another important prerequisite. With the two procedures, the
accurate prediction of efficiency limit and precise evaluation of efficiency
degradation for perovskite solar cells are attainable by the drift-diffusion
model.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figure
Can Anomalous Amplification be Attained Without Postselection?
We present a parameter estimation technique based on performing joint
measurements of a weak interaction away from the weak-value-amplification
approximation. Two detectors are used to collect full statistics of the
correlations between two weakly entangled degrees of freedom. Without the need
of postselection, the protocol resembles the anomalous amplification of an
imaginary-weak-value-like response. The amplification is induced in the
difference signal of both detectors allowing robustness to different sources of
technical noise, and offering in addition the advantages of balanced signals
for precision metrology. All of the Fisher information about the parameter of
interest is collected, and a phase controls the amplification response. We
experimentally demonstrate the proposed technique by measuring polarization
rotations in a linearly polarized laser pulse. The effective sensitivity and
precision of a split detector is increased when compared to a conventional
continuous-wave balanced detection technique
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