Spectroscopic signatures of the Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in the conductance characteristics of a normal-metal/superconductor junction

Using a discrete-lattice approach, we calculate the conductance spectra between a normal metal and an s-wave Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) superconductor, with the junction interface oriented {\em along} the direction of the order-parameter (OP) modulation. The OP sign reversal across one single nodal line can induce a sizable number of zero-energy Andreev bound states around the nodal line, and a hybridized midgap-states band is formed amid a momentum-dependent gap as a result of the periodic array of nodal lines in the LO state. This band-in-gap structure and its anisotropic properties give rise to distinctive features in both the point-contact and tunneling spectra as compared with the BCS and Fulde-Ferrell cases. These spectroscopic features can serve as distinguishing signatures of the LO state.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; version as publishe

Magnetization plateau and incommensurate spin modulation in Ca3Co2O6

The magnetic properties of a trigonal prism unit of the spin-2 frustrated compound Ca3Co2O6 are studied by means of the density-matrix renormalization group method. A magnetization plateau at $ms/3$ ($ms$ is the saturation magnetization) with ferrimagnetic structure is observed. By fitting the experimental data of magnetic curve, an estimation of the couplings gives J1=-26.84K, J_{2}=0.39K, and J_{3}=0.52K. The local magnetic moments are unveiled to exhibit an incommensurate sinusoidally modulation along the three chains of the trigonal prism, which gives a strong theoretical support to the experimentally observed incommensurate partially disordered antiferromagnetic state for Ca3Co2O6. The present result suggests that the modulation indeed originates from the competition of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic couplings.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Appl. Phys. Lett

Quantum Oscillations in Magnetic Field Induced Antiferromagnetic Phase of Underdoped Cuprates : Application to Ortho-II YBa2Cu3O6.5

Magnetic field induced antiferromagnetic phase of the underdoped cuprates is studied within the t-t'-J model. A magnetic field suppresses the pairing amplitude, which in turn may induce antiferromagnetism. We apply our theory to interpret the recently reported quantum oscillations in high magnetic field in ortho-II YBa2Cu3O6.5 and propose that the total hole density abstracted from the oscillation period is reduced by 50% due to the antiferromagnetism.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

On the Origin of the Checkerboard Pattern in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Maps of Underdoped Cuprate Superconductors

The checkerboard pattern in the differential conductance maps on underdoped cuprates appears when the STM is placed above the O-sites in the outermost CuO$_{\text{2}}$-plane. In this position the interference between tunneling paths through the apical ions above the neighboring Cu-sites leads to an asymmetric weighting of final states in the two antinodal regions of ${\boldsymbol{k}}$-space. The form of the asymmetry in the differential conductance spectra in the checkerboard pattern favors asymmetry in the localization length rather than a nematic displacement as the underlying origin.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, final versio

Analysis of orthogonal metal cutting processes

The orthogonal metal cutting process for a controlled contact tool is simulated using a limit analysis theorem. The basic principles are stated in the form of a primal optimization problem with an objective function subjected to constraints of the equilibrium equation, its static boundary conditions and a constitutive inequality. An Eulerian reference co-ordinate is used to describe the steady state motion of the workpiece relative to the tool. Based on a duality theorem, a dual functional bounds the objective functional of the primal problem from above by a sharp inequality. The dual formulation seeks the least upper bound and thus recovers the maximum of the primal functional theoretically. A finite element approximation of the continuous variables in the dual problem reduces it to a convex programming. Since the original dual problem admits discontinuous solutions in the form of bounded variation functions, care must be taken in the finite element approximation to account for such a possibility. This is accomplished by a combined smoothing and successive approximation algorithm. Convergence is robust from any initial iterate. Results are obtained for a wide range of control parameters including cutting depth, rake angle, rake length and friction. The converged solutions provide information on cutting force, chip thickness, chip stream angle and shear angle which agree well both in values and trend with the published data. But the available data represent only a small subset in the range of parameters exhaustively investigated in this paper.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50099/1/1620340122_ftp.pd

Exploiting Contextual Information for Prosodic Event Detection Using Auto-Context

Prosody and prosodic boundaries carry significant information regarding linguistics and paralinguistics and are important aspects of speech. In the field of prosodic event detection, many local acoustic features have been investigated; however, contextual information has not yet been thoroughly exploited. The most difficult aspect of this lies in learning the long-distance contextual dependencies effectively and efficiently. To address this problem, we introduce the use of an algorithm called auto-context. In this algorithm, a classifier is first trained based on a set of local acoustic features, after which the generated probabilities are used along with the local features as contextual information to train new classifiers. By iteratively using updated probabilities as the contextual information, the algorithm can accurately model contextual dependencies and improve classification ability. The advantages of this method include its flexible structure and the ability of capturing contextual relationships. When using the auto-context algorithm based on support vector machine, we can improve the detection accuracy by about 3% and F-score by more than 7% on both two-way and four-way pitch accent detections in combination with the acoustic context. For boundary detection, the accuracy improvement is about 1% and the F-score improvement reaches 12%. The new algorithm outperforms conditional random fields, especially on boundary detection in terms of F-score. It also outperforms an n-gram language model on the task of pitch accent detection

New hat feed for reflector antennas realised without dielectrics for reducing manufacturing cost and improving reflection coefficient

This study presents a new hat feed that is made entirely of metal without using dielectric material. Compared to previous hat feeds where a piece of dielectric is used to support the hat on the waveguide, the new feed has lower manufacturing cost and higher reliability. In addition, the new hat feed has low radiation along the feeding waveguide, which makes the vertex plate unnecessary. Therefore the bandwidth over which the reflection coefficient magnitude is below -15 dB has increased. The feed has been optimised using a genetic algorithm. A prototype has been manufactured, and measured results are presented to verify the numerical simulations

Andreev and Single Particle Tunneling Spectroscopies in Underdoped Cuprates

We study tunneling spectroscopy between a normal metal and underdoped cuprate superconductor modeled by a phenomenological theory in which the pseudogap is a precursor to the undoped Mott insulator. In the transparent tunneling limit, the spectra show a small energy gap associated with Andreev reflection. In the Giaever limit, the spectra show a large energy gap associated with single particle tunneling. Our theory semi-quantitatively describes the two gap behavior observed in tunneling experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. minor changes of reference