184 research outputs found
Conduction of topologically-protected charged ferroelectric domain walls
We report on the observation of nanoscale conduction at ferroelectric domain
walls in hexagonal HoMnO3 protected by the topology of multiferroic vortices
using in situ conductive atomic force microscopy, piezoresponse force
microscopy, and kelvin-probe force microscopy at low temperatures. In addition
to previously observed Schottky-like rectification at low bias [Phys. Rev.
Lett., 104, 217601 (2010)], conductance spectra reveal that negatively charged
tail-to-tail walls exhibit enhanced conduction at high forward bias, while
positively charged head-to-head walls exhibit suppressed conduction at high
reverse bias. Our results pave the way for understanding the semiconducting
properties of the domains and domain walls in small-gap ferroelectrics.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Room-temperature multiferroic hexagonal LuFeO films
The crystal and magnetic structures of single-crystalline hexagonal LuFeO
films have been studied using x-ray, electron and neutron diffraction methods.
The polar structure of these films are found to persist up to 1050 K; and the
switchability of the polar behavior is observed at room temperature, indicating
ferroelectricity. An antiferromagnetic order was shown to occur below 440 K,
followed by a spin reorientation resulting in a weak ferromagnetic order below
130 K. This observation of coexisting multiple ferroic orders demonstrates that
hexagonal LuFeO films are room-temperature multiferroics
Introducing discrete frequency infrared technology for high-throughput biofluid screening
Accurate early diagnosis is critical to patient survival, management and quality of life. Biofluids are key to early diagnosis due to their ease of collection and intimate involvement in human function. Large-scale mid-IR imaging of dried fluid deposits offers a high-throughput molecular analysis paradigm for the biomedical laboratory. The exciting advent of tuneable quantum cascade lasers allows for the collection of discrete frequency infrared data enabling clinically relevant timescales. By scanning targeted frequencies spectral quality, reproducibility and diagnostic potential can be maintained while significantly reducing acquisition time and processing requirements, sampling 16 serum spots with 0.6, 5.1 and 15% relative standard deviation (RSD) for 199, 14 and 9 discrete frequencies respectively. We use this reproducible methodology to show proof of concept rapid diagnostics; 40 unique dried liquid biopsies from brain, breast, lung and skin cancer patients were classified in 2.4 cumulative seconds against 10 non-cancer controls with accuracies of up to 90%
Collective magnetism at multiferroic vortex domain walls
Topological defects have been playgrounds for many emergent phenomena in
complex matter such as superfluids, liquid crystals, and early universe.
Recently, vortex-like topological defects with six interlocked structural
antiphase and ferroelectric domains merging into a vortex core were revealed in
multiferroic hexagonal manganites. Numerous vortices are found to form an
intriguing self-organized network. Thus, it is imperative to find out the
magnetic nature of these vortices. Using cryogenic magnetic force microscopy,
we discovered unprecedented alternating net moments at domain walls around
vortices that can correlate over the entire vortex network in hexagonal ErMnO3
The collective nature of domain wall magnetism originates from the
uncompensated Er3+ moments and the correlated organization of the vortex
network. Furthermore, our proposed model indicates a fascinating phenomenon of
field-controllable spin chirality. Our results demonstrate a new route to
achieving magnetoelectric coupling at domain walls in single-phase
multiferroics, which may be harnessed for nanoscale multifunctional devices.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
Response theory for time-resolved second-harmonic generation and two-photon photoemission
A unified response theory for the time-resolved nonlinear light generation
and two-photon photoemission (2PPE) from metal surfaces is presented. The
theory allows to describe the dependence of the nonlinear optical response and
the photoelectron yield, respectively, on the time dependence of the exciting
light field. Quantum-mechanical interference effects affect the results
significantly. Contributions to 2PPE due to the optical nonlinearity of the
surface region are derived and shown to be relevant close to a plasmon
resonance. The interplay between pulse shape, relaxation times of excited
electrons, and band structure is analyzed directly in the time domain. While
our theory works for arbitrary pulse shapes, we mainly focus on the case of two
pulses of the same mean frequency. Difficulties in extracting relaxation rates
from pump-probe experiments are discussed, for example due to the effect of
detuning of intermediate states on the interference. The theory also allows to
determine the range of validity of the optical Bloch equations and of
semiclassical rate equations, respectively. Finally, we discuss how collective
plasma excitations affect the nonlinear optical response and 2PPE.Comment: 27 pages, including 11 figures, version as publishe
Molecular excitation in the Interstellar Medium: recent advances in collisional, radiative and chemical processes
We review the different excitation processes in the interstellar mediumComment: Accepted in Chem. Re
The Reproducibility of Lists of Differentially Expressed Genes in Microarray Studies
Reproducibility is a fundamental requirement in scientific experiments and clinical contexts. Recent publications raise concerns about the reliability of microarray technology because of the apparent lack of agreement between lists of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). In this study we demonstrate that (1) such discordance may stem from ranking and selecting DEGs solely by statistical significance (P) derived from widely used simple t-tests; (2) when fold change (FC) is used as the ranking criterion, the lists become much more reproducible, especially when fewer genes are selected; and (3) the instability of short DEG lists based on P cutoffs is an expected mathematical consequence of the high variability of the t-values. We recommend the use of FC ranking plus a non-stringent P cutoff as a baseline practice in order to generate more reproducible DEG lists. The FC criterion enhances reproducibility while the P criterion balances sensitivity and specificity
Room-Temperature Multiferroic Hexagonal LuFeO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e Films
The crystal and magnetic structures of single-crystalline hexagonal LuFeO3 films have been studied using x-ray, electron, and neutron diffraction methods. The polar structure of these films are found to persist up to 1050 K; and the switchability of the polar behavior is observed at room temperature, indicating ferroelectricity. An antiferromagnetic order was shown to occur below 440 K, followed by a spin reorientation resulting in a weak ferromagnetic order below 130 K. This observation of coexisting multiple ferroic orders demonstrates that hexagonal LuFeO3 films are room-temperature multiferroics
Surface Charge Induced Dirac Band Splitting in a Charge Density Wave Material (TaSe4)2I
(TaSe4)2I, a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) crystal, shows a characteristic
temperature-driven metal-insulator phase transition. Above the charge density
wave (CDW) temperature Tc, (TaSe4)2I has been predicted to harbor a Weyl
semimetal phase. Below Tc, it becomes an axion insulator. Here, we performed
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements on the (110)
surface of (TaSe4)2I and observed two sets of Dirac-like energy bands in the
first Brillion zone, which agree well with our first-principles calculations.
Moreover, we found that each Dirac band exhibits an energy splitting of
hundreds of meV under certain circumstances. In combination with core level
measurements, our theoretical analysis showed that this Dirac band splitting is
a result of surface charge polarization due to the loss of surface iodine
atoms. Our findings here shed new light on the interplay between band topology
and CDW order in Peierls compounds and will motivate more studies on
topological properties of strongly correlated quasi-1D materials.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. Comments are welcom
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