1,237 research outputs found
Extremal transmission at the Dirac point of a photonic band structure
We calculate the effect of a Dirac point (a conical singularity in the band
structure) on the transmission of monochromatic radiation through a photonic
crystal. The transmission as a function of frequency has an extremum at the
Dirac point, depending on the transparencies of the interfaces with free space.
The extremal transmission is inversely proportional to
the longitudinal dimension of the crystal (for larger than the lattice
constant and smaller than the transverse dimension ). The interface
transparencies affect the proportionality constant , and they
determine whether the extremum is a minimum or a maximum, but they do not
affect the ``pseudo-diffusive'' 1/L dependence of .Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Fig. 1 revised, Fig. 4 adde
Integer quantum Hall effect on a six valley hydrogen-passivated silicon (111) surface
We report magneto-transport studies of a two-dimensional electron system
formed in an inversion layer at the interface between a hydrogen-passivated
Si(111) surface and vacuum. Measurements in the integer quantum Hall regime
demonstrate the expected sixfold valley degeneracy for these surfaces is
broken, resulting in an unequal occupation of the six valleys and anisotropy in
the resistance. We hypothesize the misorientation of Si surface breaks the
valley states into three unequally spaced pairs, but the observation of odd
filling factors, is difficult to reconcile with non-interacting electron
theory.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter
Investigation of the calibration of microphones for sonic boom measurement
Precision calibration techniques for microphones used in sonic boom measurement
Charge transport through weakly open one dimensional quantum wires
We consider resonant transmission through a finite-length quantum wire
connected to leads via finite transparency junctions. The coherent electron
transport is strongly modified by the Coulomb interaction. The low-temperature
current-voltage () curves show step-like dependence on the bias voltage
determined by the distance between the quantum levels inside the conductor, the
pattern being dependent on the ratio between the charging energy and level
spacing. If the system is tuned close to the resonance condition by the gate
voltage, the low-voltage curve is Ohmic. At large Coulomb energy and low
temperatures, the conductance is temperature-independent for any relationship
between temperature, level spacing, and coupling between the wire and the
leads
Thermoelectric effects in Kondo correlated quantum dots
In this Letter we study thermoelectric effects in ultra small quantum dots.
We study the behaviour of the thermopower, Peltier coefficient and thermal
conductance both in the sequencial tunneling regime and in the regime where
Kondo correlations develope. Both cases of linear response and non-equilibrium
induced by strong temperature gradients are considered. The thermopower is a
very sensitive tool to detect Kondo correlations. It changes sign both as a
function of temperature and temperature gradient. We also discuss violations of
the Wiedemann-Franz law.Comment: 7 pages; 5 figure
Overexpression of mitochondrial sirtuins alters glycolysis and mitochondrial function in HEK293 cells
SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 are mitochondrial deacylases that impact multiple facets of energy metabolism and mitochondrial function. SIRT3 activates several mitochondrial enzymes, SIRT4 represses its targets, and SIRT5 has been shown to both activate and repress mitochondrial enzymes. To gain insight into the relative effects of the mitochondrial sirtuins in governing mitochondrial energy metabolism, SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 overexpressing HEK293 cells were directly compared. When grown under standard cell culture conditions (25 mM glucose) all three sirtuins induced increases in mitochondrial respiration, glycolysis, and glucose oxidation, but with no change in growth rate or in steady-state ATP concentration. Increased proton leak, as evidenced by oxygen consumption in the presence of oligomycin, appeared to explain much of the increase in basal oxygen utilization. Growth in 5 mM glucose normalized the elevations in basal oxygen consumption, proton leak, and glycolysis in all sirtuin over-expressing cells. While the above effects were common to all three mitochondrial sirtuins, some differences between the SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 expressing cells were noted. Only SIRT3 overexpression affected fatty acid metabolism, and only SIRT4 overexpression altered superoxide levels and mitochondrial membrane potential. We conclude that all three mitochondrial sirtuins can promote increased mitochondrial respiration and cellular metabolism. SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 appear to respond to excess glucose by inducing a coordinated increase of glycolysis and respiration, with the excess energy dissipated via proton leak. © 2014 Barbi de Moura et al
Quantum point contact due to Fermi-level pinning and doping profiles in semiconductor nanocolumns
We show that nanoscale doping profiles inside a nanocolumn in combination
with Fermi-level pinning at the surface give rise to the formation of a
saddle-point in the potential profile. Consequently, the lateral confinement
inside the channel varies along the transport direction, yielding an embedded
quantum point contact. An analytical estimation of the quantization energies
will be given
Cotunneling-mediated transport through excited states in the Coulomb blockade regime
We present finite bias transport measurements on a few-electron quantum dot.
In the Coulomb blockade regime, strong signatures of inelastic cotunneling
occur which can directly be assigned to excited states observed in the
non-blockaded regime. In addition, we observe structures related to sequential
tunneling through the dot, occuring after it has been excited by an inelastic
cotunneling process. We explain our findings using transport calculations
within the real-time Green's function approach, including diagrams up to fourth
order in the tunneling matrix elements.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Ballistic Composite Fermions in Semiconductor Nanostructures
We report the results of two fundamental transport measurements at a Landau
level filling factor of 1/2. The well known ballistic electron transport
phenomena of quenching of the Hall effect in a mesoscopic cross-junction and
negative magnetoresistance of a constriction are observed close to B~=~0 and
. The experimental results demonstrate semi-classical charge
transport by composite fermions, which consist of electrons bound to an even
number of flux quanta.Comment: 9 pages TeX 3.1415 C version 6.1, 3 PostScript figure
When the path is never shortest: a reality check on shortest path biocomputation
Shortest path problems are a touchstone for evaluating the computing
performance and functional range of novel computing substrates. Much has been
published in recent years regarding the use of biocomputers to solve minimal
path problems such as route optimisation and labyrinth navigation, but their
outputs are typically difficult to reproduce and somewhat abstract in nature,
suggesting that both experimental design and analysis in the field require
standardising. This chapter details laboratory experimental data which probe
the path finding process in two single-celled protistic model organisms,
Physarum polycephalum and Paramecium caudatum, comprising a shortest path
problem and labyrinth navigation, respectively. The results presented
illustrate several of the key difficulties that are encountered in categorising
biological behaviours in the language of computing, including biological
variability, non-halting operations and adverse reactions to experimental
stimuli. It is concluded that neither organism examined are able to efficiently
or reproducibly solve shortest path problems in the specific experimental
conditions that were tested. Data presented are contextualised with biological
theory and design principles for maximising the usefulness of experimental
biocomputer prototypes.Comment: To appear in: Adamatzky, A (Ed.) Shortest path solvers. From software
to wetware. Springer, 201
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