Search results for " Fluctuations"

Nonlinear relaxation phenomena in metastable condensed matter systems

2016

Nonlinear relaxation phenomena in three different systems of condensed matter are investigated. (i) First, the phase dynamics in Josephson junctions is analyzed. Specifically, a superconductor-graphene-superconductor (SGS) system exhibits quantum metastable states, and the average escape time from these metastable states in the presence of Gaussian and correlated fluctuations is calculated, accounting for variations in the the noise source intensity and the bias frequency. Moreover, the transient dynamics of a long-overlap Josephson junction (JJ) subject to thermal fluctuations and non-Gaussian noise sources is investigated. Noise induced phenomena are observed, such as the noise enhanced s…

In-plane conductive heat tansfer in solid and porous planar structures

2011

Methods for determining the in-plane thermal diffusivity in a planar sample geometry were developed. These methods were tested and verified by measuring planar metal samples with known thermal properties. The techniques used were based on heating the sample at one edge and recording the evolution of the temperature field in the sample by a thermographic camera. The temperature fields at different times were processed and then fitted by a solution to a heat equation describing the experimental setup, thermal diffusivity as one of the fitting parameters. In the first experimental setup the sample was placed in a weak constant flow of air, and the situation was improved in the second setup by …

Charge Mobility and Dynamics in Spin-Crossover Nanoparticles Studied by Time-Resolved Microwave Conductivity

2018

We use the electrode-less time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) technique to characterize spin-crossover (SCO) nanoparticles. We show that TRMC is a simple and accurate mean for simultaneously as-sessing the magnetic state of SCO compounds and charge transport information on the nanometre length scale. In the low-spin state from liquid nitrogen temperature up to 360 K the TRMC measurements present two well-defined regimes in the mobility and in the half-life times, possessing similar transition tempera-tures TR near 225 K. Below TR, an activation-less regime associated with short lifetimes of the charge carri-ers points at the presence of shallow-trap states. Above TR, these states ar…

Thermal nucleation of cavities in liquid helium at negative pressures

1993

We have investigated the nucleation rate at which cavities are formed in $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ and $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ at negative pressures due to thermal fluctuations. To this end, we have used a density functional that reproduces the He liquid-gas interface along the coexistence line. The inclusion of thermal effects in the calculation of the barrier against nucleation results in a sizable decrease of the absolute value of the tensile strength above 1.5 K.

2016

AbstractUnderstanding the dynamics of zoonotic pathogens in their reservoir host populations is a prerequisite for predicting and preventing human disease epidemics. The human infection risk of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) is highest in northern Europe, where populations of the rodent host (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) undergo cyclic fluctuations. We conducted a 7-year capture-mark-recapture study to monitor seasonal and multiannual patterns of the PUUV infection rate in bank vole populations exhibiting a 3-year density cycle. Infected bank voles were most abundant in mid-winter months during years of increasing or peak host density. Prevalence of PUUV infection in bank voles exhibited a regul…

Thermal fluctuations and longitudinal relaxation of single-domain magnetic particles at elevated temperatures

2004

We present numerical and analytical results for the swiching times of magnetic nanoparticles with uniaxial anisotropy at elevated temperatures, including the vicinity of T_c. The consideration is based in the Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch equation that includes the relaxation of the magnetization magnitude M. The resulting switching times are shorter than those following from the naive Landau-Lifshitz equation due to (i) additional barrier lowering because of the reduction of M at the barrier and (ii) critical divergence of the damping parameters.

Evidence of quantum phase slip effect in titanium nanowires

2012

Electron transport properties of titanium nanowires were experimentally studied. Below the effective diameter $\lesssim$ 50 nm all samples demonstrated a pronounced broadening of the $R(T)$ dependencies, which cannot be accounted for thermal flcutuations. An extensive microscopic and elemental analysis indicates the absence of structural or/and geometrical imperfection capable to broaden the the $R(T)$ transition to such an extent. We associate the effect with quantum flucutuations of the order parameter.

Mechanical and Thermal Stability of Adhesive Membranes with Nonzero Bending Rigidity

2010

Membranes at a microscopic scale are affected by thermal fluctuations and self-adhesion due to van der Waals forces. Methods to prepare membranes of even molecular scale, e.g., graphene, have recently been developed, and the question of their mechanical and thermal stability is of crucial importance. To this end we modeled microscopic membranes with an attractive interaction and applied Langevin dynamics. Their behavior was also analyzed under external loading. Even though these membranes folded during isotropic compression as a result of energy minimization, the process at high confinement was similar to crumpling of macroscopic nonadhesive sheets. The main difference appeared when the com…

Silicon quantum point contact with aluminum gate

2000

Fabrication and electrical properties of silicon quantum point contacts are reported. The devices are fabricated on bonded silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers by combining CMOS process steps and e-beam lithography. Mobility of 9000 cm2 Vs−1 is measured for a 60 nm-thick SOI film at 10 K. Weak localization data is used to estimate the phase coherence length at 4.2 K The point contacts show step like behaviour in linear response conductance at 1.5 K. At 200 mK universal conductance fluctuations begin to dominate the conductance curve. The effective diameter of quantum point constrictions of the devices are estimated to be 30–40 nm. This estimate is based on TEM analysis of test structures and A…

Latent Heat of Spontaneous-Curvature-Induced Lamellar-to-Microemulsion Transitions

1995

Using differential scanning microcalorimetry we examine the latent heat of the temperature-induced structural transition from a lamellar to a microemulsion phase in a H2O/n-octane/C12E5 (n-dodecyl pentanethyleneglycol ether) system. The associated latent heat increases strongly with surfactant concentration yielding heat changes up to 1kB T per surfactant molecule. These large values are quantitatively described by an interfacial model which takes into account the temperature dependence of the spontaneous curvature. The model explains our data points without considering contributions to the free energy by thermal fluctuations, entropy of mixing, undulations of the lamellae and renormalizati…