Glassy Dynamics in a Frustrated Spin System: Role of Defects

In an effort to understand the glass transition, the kinetics of a spin model with frustration but no quenched randomness has been analyzed. The phenomenology of the spin model is remarkably similiar to that of structural glasses. Analysis of the model suggests that defects play a major role in dictating the dynamics as the glass transition is approached.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted in J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, proceedings of the Trieste workshop on "Unifying Concepts in Glass Physics

Dislocation nucleation in shocked fcc solids: effects of temperature and preexisting voids

Quantitative behaviors of shock-induced dislocation nucleation are investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations on fcc Lennard-Jones solids: a model Argon. In perfect crystals, it is found that Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) is a linearly decreasing function of temperature: from near-zero to melting temperatures. In a defective crystal with a void, dislocations are found to nucleate on the void surface. Also HEL drastically decreases to 15 percent of the perfect crystal when a void radius is 3.4 nanometer. The decrease of HEL becomes larger as the void radius increases, but HEL becomes insensitive to temperature.Comment: 4 pages. (ver.2) All figures have been revised. Two citations are newly added. Numerical unit is unified in the context of solid argon. (ver. 3) A minor revision including new reference

Electronic correlations and unusual superconducting response in the optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide FeTe0.55Se0.45

The in-plane complex optical properties of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45 have been determined above and below the critical temperature Tc = 14 K. At room temperature the conductivity is described by a weakly-interacting Fermi liquid; however, below 100 K the scattering rate develops a frequency dependence in the terahertz region, signaling the increasingly correlated nature of this material. We estimate the dc conductivity just above Tc to be sigma_dc ~ 3500 Ohm-1cm-1 and the superfluid density rho_s0 ~ 9 x 10^6 cm-2, which places this material close to the scaling line rho_s0/8 ~ 8.1 sigma_dc Tc for a BCS dirty-limit superconductor. Below Tc the optical conductivity reveals two gap features at Delta_1,2 ~ 2.5 and ~ 5.1 meV.Comment: Minor revisions, 5 pages, 4 figure

Enhanced charge stripe order of superconducting La(2-x)Ba(x)CuO(4) in a magnetic field

The effect of a magnetic field on the charge stripe order in La(2-x)Ba(x)CuO(4) has been studied by means of high energy (100 keV) x-ray diffraction for charge carrier concentrations ranging from strongly underdoped to optimally doped. We find that charge stripe order can be significantly enhanced by a magnetic field applied along the c-axis, but only at temperatures and dopings where it coexists with bulk superconductivity at zero field. The field also increases stripe correlations between the planes, which can result in an enhanced frustration of the interlayer Josephson coupling. Close to the famous x=1/8 compound, where zero field stripe order is pronounced and bulk superconductivity is suppressed, charge stripe order is independent of a magnetic field. The results imply that static stripe order and three-dimensionally coherent superconductivity are competing ground states.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure