Publications
Biocompatible and High Stiffness Nanophotonic Trap Array for Precise and Versatile Manipulation
The advent of nanophotonic evanescent field trapping and transport platforms has permitted increasingly complex single molecule and single cell studies on-chip. Here, we present the next generation of nanophotonic Standing Wave Array Traps (nSWATs) representing a streamlined CMOS fabrication process and compact biocompatible design.
Ginzburg-Landau theory of the superheating field anisotropy of layered superconductors
We investigate the effects of material anisotropy on the superheating field of layered superconductors. We provide an intuitive argument both for the existence of a superheating field, and its dependence on anisotropy, for κ=λ/ξ (the ratio of magnetic to superconducting healing lengths) both large and small. On the one hand, the combination of our estimates with published results using a two-gap model for MgB2 suggests high anisotropy of the superheating field near zero temperature.
Nanosecond-Timescale Low Energy Switching of In-Plane Magnetic Tunnel Junctions through Dynamic Oersted-Field-Assisted Spin Hall Effect
We investigate fast-pulse switching of in-plane-magnetized magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) within 3-terminal devices in which spin-transfer torque is applied to the MTJ by the giant spin Hall effect. We measure reliable switching, with write error rates down to 10-5, using current pulses as short as just 2 ns in duration.
Small-scale anisotropy in turbulent boundary layers
In a channel flow, the velocity fluctuations are inhomogeneous and anisotropic. Yet, the small-scale properties of the flow are expected to behave in an isotropic manner in the very-large-Reynolds-number limit. We consider the statistical properties of small-scale velocity fluctuations in a turbulent channel flow at moderately high Reynolds number , using the Johns Hopkins University Turbulence Database.
Human talar and femoral cartilage have distinct mechanical properties near the articular surface
Talar osteochondral lesions (OCL) frequently occur following injury. Surgical interventions such as femoral condyle allogeneic or autogenic osteochondral transplant (AOT) are often used to treat large talar OCL. Although AOT aims to achieve OCL repair by replacing damaged cartilage with mechanically matched cartilage, the spatially inhomogeneous material behavior of the talar dome and femoral donor sites have not been evaluated or compared.
Imaging chiral symmetry breaking from Kekulé bond order in graphene
Chirality - or handedness' - is a symmetry property crucial to fields as diverse as biology, chemistry and high-energy physics. In graphene, chiral symmetry emerges naturally as a consequence of the carbon honeycomb lattice. This symmetry can be broken by interactions that couple electrons with opposite momenta in graphene. Here we directly visualize the formation of Kekulé bond order, one such phase of broken chiral symmetry, in an ultraflat graphene sheet grown epitaxially on a copper substrate.
Origin of the multiple configurations that drive the response of δ-plutonium's elastic moduli to temperature
The electronic and thermodynamic complexity of plutonium has resisted a fundamental understanding for this important elemental metal. A critical test of any theory is the unusual softening of the bulk modulus with increasing temperature, a result that is counterintuitive because no or very little change in the atomic volume is observed upon heating. This unexpected behavior has in the past been attributed to competing but never-observed electronic states with different bonding properties similar to the scenario with magnetic states in Invar alloys.
Electron Doping of the Parent Cuprate La2CuO4 without Cation Substitution
In the cuprates, carrier doping of the Mott insulating parent state is necessary to realize superconductivity as well as a number of other exotic states involving charge or spin density waves. Cation substitution is the primary method for doping carriers into these compounds, and is the only known method for electron doping in these materials. Here, we report electron doping without cation substitution in epitaxially stabilized thin films of La2CuO4 grown via molecular-beam epitaxy.
Lattice bosons with infinite-range checkerboard interactions
Motivated by experiments performed by Landig et al. [Nature (London) 532, 476 (2016)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/nature17409], we consider a two-dimensional Bose gas in an optical lattice, trapped inside a single mode superradiant Fabry-Perot cavity. The cavity mediates infinite-range checkerboard interactions between the atoms, which produces competition between Mott insulator, charge-density wave, superfluid, and supersolid phases. We calculate the phase diagram of this Bose gas in a homogeneous system and in the presence of a harmonic trap. © 2016 American Physical Society.
Observation of a new superfluid phase for 3He embedded in nematically ordered aerogel
In bulk superfluid 3He at zero magnetic field, two phases emerge with the B-phase stable everywhere except at high pressures and temperatures, where the A-phase is favoured. Aerogels with nanostructure smaller than the superfluid coherence length are the only means to introduce disorder into the superfluid. Here we use a torsion pendulum to study 3He confined in an extremely anisotropic, nematically ordered aerogel consisting of ∼410 nm-thick alumina strands, spaced by ∼100 nm, and aligned parallel to the pendulum axis.