304 research outputs found
Imaging Soft Materials with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
By modifying freeze-fracture replication, a standard electron microscopy fixation technique, for use with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a variety of soft, non-conductive biomaterials can be imaged at high resolution in three dimensions. Metal replicas make near ideal samples for STM in comparison to the original biological materials. Modifications include a 0.1 μm backing layer of silver and mounting the replicas on a fine-mesh silver filters to enhance the rigidity of the metal replica. This is required unless STM imaging is carried out in vacuum; otherwise, a liquid film of contamination physically connects the STM tip with the sample. This mechanical coupling leads to exaggerated height measurements; the enhanced rigidity of the thicker replica eliminates much of the height amplification. Further improvement was obtained by imaging in a dry nitrogen atmosphere. Calibration and reproducibility were tested with replicas of well characterized bilayers of cadmium arachidate on mica that provide regular 5.5 nm steps. We have used the STM/replica technique to examine the ripple shape and amplitude in the P/J. phase of dimyristoylpbospbatidyl-choline (DMPC) in water. STM images were analyzed using a cross-correlation averaging program to eliminate the effects of noise and the finite size and shapes of the metal grains that make up the replica. The correlation averaging allowed us to develop a composite ripple profile averaged over hundreds of individual ripples and different samples. The STM/replica technique is sufficiently general that it can be used to examine a variety of hydrated lipid and protein samples at a lateral resolution of about 1 nm and a vertical resolution of about 0.3 run
Probing the Phase Diagram of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d with Tunneling Spectroscopy
Tunneling measurements are performed on Ca-rich single crystals of
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d (Bi2212), with various oxygen doping levels, using a novel
point contact method. At 4.2 K, SIN and SIS tunnel junctions are obtained with
well-defined quasiparticle peaks, robust dip and hump features and in some
cases Josephson currents. The doping dependence of tunneling conductances of
Ca-rich Bi2212 are analyzed and compared to stoichiometric Bi2212. A similar
profile of energy gap vs. doping concentration is found although the Ca-rich
samples have a slighly smaller optimum Tc and therefore smaller gap values for
any doping level. The evolution of tunneling conductance peak height to
background ratios with hole concentration are compared. For a given doping
level, the Ca-rich spectra showed more broadened features compared to the
stoichiometric counterparts, most likely due to increased disorder from the
excess Ca. Comparison of the dip and hump features has provided some potential
insights into their origins.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; presented at the Applied Superconductivity
Conference (August 4-9, 2002) in Houston, TX; to be published in IEEE Trans.
Appl. Supercon
Tunneling study of cavity grade Nb: possible magnetic scattering at the surface
Tunneling spectroscopy was performed on Nb pieces prepared by the same
processes used to etch and clean superconducting radio frequency (SRF)
cavities. Air exposed, electropolished Nb exhibited a surface superconducting
gap delta=1.55 meV, characteristic of clean, bulk Nb. However the tunneling
density of states (DOS) was broadened significantly. The Nb pieces treated with
the same mild baking used to improve the Q-slope in SRF cavities, reveal a
sharper DOS. Good fits to the DOS were obtained using Shiba theory, suggesting
that magnetic scattering of quasiparticles is the origin of the gapless surface
superconductivity and a heretofore unrecognized contributor to the Q-slope
problem of Nb SRF cavities.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Rebuttal to "Comment by V.M. Krasnov on 'Counterintuitive consequence of heating in strongly-driven intrinsic junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d Mesas' "
In our article [1], we found that with increasing dissipation there is a
clear, systematic shift and sharpening of the conductance peak along with the
disappearance of the higher-bias dip/hump features (DHF), for a stack of
intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) of intercalated Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+{\delta}
(Bi2212). Our work agrees with Zhu et al [2] on unintercalated, pristine
Bi2212, as both studies show the same systematic changes with dissipation. The
broader peaks found with reduced dissipation [1,2] are consistent with broad
peaks in the density-of-states (DOS) found among scanning tunneling
spectroscopy [3] (STS), mechanical contact tunneling [4] (MCT) and inferred
from angle (momentum) resolved photoemission spectroscopy [5] (ARPES); results
that could not be ignored. Thus, sharp peaks are extrinsic and cannot
correspond to the superconducting DOS. We suggested that the commonality of the
sharp peaks in our conductance data, which is demonstrably shown to be
heating-dominated, and the peaks of previous intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy
(ITS) data implies that these ITS reports might need reinterpretation.Comment: Rebuttal to Comment of Krasnov arXiv:1007.451
Single Junction and Intrinsic Josephson Junction Tunneling Spectroscopies of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
Tunneling spectroscopy measurements are reported on optimally-doped and
overdoped BiSrCaCuO single crystals. A novel
point contact method is used to obtain superconductor-insulator-normal metal
(SIN) and SIS break junctions as well as intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJ)
from nanoscale crystals. Three junction types are obtained on the same crystal
to compare the quasiparticle peaks and higher bias dip/hump structures which
have also been found in other surface probes such as scanning tunneling
spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. However, our IJJ
quasiparticle spectra consistently reveal very sharp conductance peaks and no
higher bias dip structures. The IJJ conductance peak voltage divided by the
number of junctions in the stack consistently leads to a significant
underestimate of when compared to the single junction values. The
comparison of the three methods suggests that the markedly different
characteristics of IJJ are a consequence of nonequilibrium effects and are not
intrinsic quasiparticle features.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; presented at the Applied Superconductivity
Conference (October 3-8, 2004) in Jacksonville, FL; to be published in IEEE
Trans. Appl. Supercon
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