arXiv subjects

D. Li

Publications and source records attributed to D. Li.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Chromospheric Condensation and Quasi-periodic Pulsations in a Circular-ribbon Flare

In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of the C3.1 circular-ribbon flare SOL2015-10-16T10:20 in AR 12434. The flare consisted of a circular flare ribbon (CFR), an inner flare ribbon (IFR) inside, and a pair of short parallel flare ribbons (PFRs). During the impulsive phase of the flare, "two-step" raster observations of \textit{IRIS} with a cadence of 6 s and an exposure time of 2 s show plasma downflow at the CFR in the Si {\sc iv} $λ$1402.77 line, suggesting chromospheric condensation. The downflow speeds first increased rapidly from a few km s$^{-1}$ to the peak values of 45$-$52 km s$^{-1}$, before decreasing gradually to the initial levels. The decay timescales of condensation were 3$-$4 minutes, indicating ongoing magnetic reconnection. Interestingly, the downflow speeds are positively correlated with logarithm of the Si {\sc iv} line intensity and time derivative of the \textit{GOES} soft X-ray (SXR) flux in 1$-$8 Å. The radio dynamic spectra are characterized by a type \Rmnum{3} radio burst associated with the flare, which implies that the chromospheric condensation was most probably driven by nonthermal electrons. Using an analytical expression and the peak Doppler velocity, we derived the lower limit of energy flux of the precipitating electrons, i.e., 0.65$\times$10$^{10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The Si {\sc iv} line intensity and SXR derivative show quasi-periodic pulsations with periods of 32$-$42 s.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2016

Effect of aging-induced disorder on the quantum transport properties of atomically thin WTe$_{2}$

Atomically thin layers of transition-metal dicalcogenides (TMDCs) are often known to be metastable in the ambient atmosphere. Understanding the mechanism of degradation is essential for their future applications in nanoelectronics, and thus has attracted intensive interest recently. Here, we demonstrate a systematic study of atomically thin WTe$_{2}$ in its low temperature quantum electronic transport properties. Strikingly, while the temperature dependence of few layered WTe$_{2}$ showed clear metallic tendency in the fresh state, degraded devices first exhibited a re-entrant insulating behavior, and finally entered a fully insulating state. Correspondingly, a crossover from parabolic to linear magnetoresistance, and finally to weak anti-localization was seen. Real-time Raman scattering measurement, together with transmission electron microscopy studies done before and after air degradation of atomically thin WTe$_{2}$ further confirmed that the material gradually form amorphous islands. It thus leads to localized electronic states and explains the low temperature Coulomb gap observed in transport measurements. Our study reveals for the first time the correlation between the unusual magnetotransport and disorder in few-layered WTe$_{2}$, which is indispensable in providing guidance on its future devices application.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Millimeter Transient Point Sources in the SPTpol 100 Square Degree Survey

The millimeter transient sky is largely unexplored, with measurements limited to follow-up of objects detected at other wavelengths. High-angular-resolution telescopes designed for measurement of the cosmic microwave background offer the possibility to discover new, unknown transient sources in this band, particularly the afterglows of unobserved gamma-ray bursts. Here we use the 10-meter millimeter-wave South Pole Telescope, designed for the primary purpose of observing the cosmic microwave background at arcminute and larger angular scales, to conduct a search for such objects. During the 2012-2013 season, the telescope was used to continuously observe a 100 square degree patch of sky centered at RA 23h30m and declination -55 degrees using the polarization-sensitive SPTpol camera in two bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. These 6000 hours of observations provided continuous monitoring for day- to month-scale millimeter-wave transient sources at the 10 mJy level. One candidate object was observed with properties broadly consistent with a gamma-ray burst afterglow, but at a statistical significance too low (p=0.01) to confirm detection.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Large phonon-drag enhancement induced by narrow quantum confinement at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

The thermoelectric power of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES) at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface is explored below room temperature, in comparison with that of Nb-doped SrTiO3 single crystals. For the interface we find a region below T =50 K where thermopower is dominated by phonon-drag, whose amplitude is hugely amplified with respect to the corresponding bulk value, reaching values ~mV/K and above. The phonon-drag enhancement at the interface is traced back to the tight carrier confinement of the 2DES, and represents a sharp signature of strong electron-acoustic phonon coupling at the interface.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

An extensive spectroscopic time-series of three Wolf-Rayet stars. I. The lifetime of large-scale structures in the wind of WR 134

During the summer of 2013, a 4-month spectroscopic campaign took place to observe the variabilities in three Wolf-Rayet stars. The spectroscopic data have been analyzed for WR 134 (WN6b), to better understand its behaviour and long-term periodicity, which we interpret as arising from corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in the wind. By analyzing the variability of the He II $λ$5411 emission line, the previously identified period was refined to P = 2.255 $\pm$ 0.008 (s.d.) days. The coherency time of the variability, which we associate with the lifetime of the CIRs in the wind, was deduced to be 40 $\pm$ 6 days, or $\sim$ 18 cycles, by cross-correlating the variability patterns as a function of time. When comparing the phased observational grayscale difference images with theoretical grayscales previously calculated from models including CIRs in an optically thin stellar wind, we find that two CIRs were likely present. A separation in longitude of $Δϕ\simeq$ 90$^{\circ}$ was determined between the two CIRs and we suggest that the different maximum velocities that they reach indicate that they emerge from different latitudes. We have also been able to detect observational signatures of the CIRs in other spectral lines (C IV $λλ$5802,5812 and He I $λ$5876). Furthermore, a DAC was found to be present simultaneously with the CIR signatures detected in the He I $λ$5876 emission line which is consistent with the proposed geometry of the large-scale structures in the wind. Small-scale structures also show a presence in the wind, simultaneously with the larger scale structures, showing that they do in fact co-exist.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2016

Explosive Chromospheric Evaporation in a Circular-ribbon Flare

In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of the C4.2 circular-ribbon flare in active region (AR) 12434 on 2015 October 16. The short-lived flare was associated with positive magnetic polarities and a negative polarity inside, as revealed by the photospheric line-of-sight magnetograms. Such magnetic pattern is strongly indicative of a magnetic null point and spine-fan configuration in the corona. The flare was triggered by the eruption of a mini-filament residing in the AR, which produced the inner flare ribbon (IFR) and the southern part of a closed circular flare ribbon (CFR). When the eruptive filament reached the null point, it triggered null point magnetic reconnection with the ambient open field and generated the bright CFR and a blowout jet. Raster observations of the \textit{Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph} (\textit{IRIS}) show plasma upflow at speed of 35$-$120 km s$^{-1}$ in the Fe {\sc xxi} 1354.09 Å line ($\log T\approx7.05$) and downflow at speed of 10$-$60 km s$^{-1}$ in the Si {\sc iv} 1393.77 Å line ($\log T\approx4.8$) at certain locations of the CFR and IFR during the impulsive phase of flare, indicating explosive chromospheric evaporation. Coincidence of the single HXR source at 12$-$25 keV with the IFR and calculation based on the thick-target model suggest that the explosive evaporation was most probably driven by nonthermal electrons.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2016

Optical Demonstration of THz, Dual-Polarization Sensitive Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors

The next generation BLAST experiment (BLAST-TNG) is a suborbital balloon payload that seeks to map polarized dust emission in the 250 $μ$m, 350 $μ$m and 500 $μ$m wavebands. The instrument utilizes a stepped half-wave plate to reduce systematics. The general requirement of the detectors is that they are photon-noise-limited and dual-polarization sensitive. To achieve this goal, we are developing three monolithic arrays of cryogenic sensors, one for each waveband. Each array is feedhorn-coupled and each spatial pixel consists of two orthogonally spaced polarization-sensitive microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) fabricated from a Ti/TiN multilayer film. In previous work, we demonstrated photon-noise-limited sensitivity in 250 $μ$m waveband single polarization devices. In this work, we present the first results of dual-polarization sensitive MKIDs at 250 $μ$m.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Pion contamination in the MICE muon beam

The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) will perform a systematic investigation of ionization cooling with muon beams of momentum between 140 and 240\,MeV/c at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ISIS facility. The measurement of ionization cooling in MICE relies on the selection of a pure sample of muons that traverse the experiment. To make this selection, the MICE Muon Beam is designed to deliver a beam of muons with less than $\sim$1\% contamination. To make the final muon selection, MICE employs a particle-identification (PID) system upstream and downstream of the cooling cell. The PID system includes time-of-flight hodoscopes, threshold-Cherenkov counters and calorimetry. The upper limit for the pion contamination measured in this paper is $f_π< 1.4\%$ at 90\% C.L., including systematic uncertainties. Therefore, the MICE Muon Beam is able to meet the stringent pion-contamination requirements of the study of ionization cooling.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Hexagonal phase stabilization and magnetic orders of multiferroic Lu$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$FeO$_3$

Hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ has drawn a lot of research attention due to its contentious room-temperature multiferroicity. Due to the unstability of hexagonal phase in the bulk form, most experimental studies focused on LuFeO$_3$ thin films which can be stabilized by strain using proper substrates. Here we report on the hexagonal phase stabilization, magnetism, and magnetoelectric coupling of bulk LuFeO$_3$ by partial Sc-substitution of Lu. First, our first-principles calculations show that the hexagonal structure can be stabilized by partial Sc substitution, while the multiferroic properties including the noncollinear magnetic order and geometric ferroelectricity remain robustly unaffected. Therefore, Lu$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$FeO$_3$ can act as a platform to check the multiferroicity of LuFeO$_3$ and related materials in the bulk form. Second, the magnetic characterizations on bulk Lu$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$FeO$_3$ demonstrate a magnetic anomaly (probable antiferromagnetic ordering) above room temperature, $\sim425-445$ K, followed by magnetic transitions in low temperatures ($\sim167-172$ K). In addition, a magnetoelectric response is observed in the low temperature region. Our study provides useful information on the multiferroic physics of hexagonal $R$FeO$_3$ and related systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Observations of solar flares with IRIS and SDO

Context: Flare kernels brighten simultaneously in all SDO/AIA channels making it difficult to determine their temperature structure. IRIS is able to spectrally resolve Fe xxi emission from cold chromospheric brightenings, so can be used to infer the amount of Fe xxi emission in 131 channel. Aims: We use observations of two small solar flares seen by IRIS and SDO to compare the EMs deduced from the IRIS Fe xxi line and the AIA 131 channel to determine the fraction of Fe xxi emission in flare kernels in the 131 channel of AIA. Methods: Cotemporal and cospatial pseudo-raster AIA images are compared with the IRIS results.We use multi-Gaussian line fitting to separate the blending chromospheric emission so as to derive Fe xxi intensities and Doppler shifts in IRIS spectra. Results: We define loop and kernel regions based on the brightness of the 131 and 1600 Å intensities. In the loop regions the Fe xxi EMs are typically 80% of the 131 ones, and range from 67% to 92%. Much of the scatter is due to small misalignments but the largest site with low Fe xxi contributions was probably affected by a recent injection of cool plasma into the loop. In flare kernels the contribution of Fe xxi increases from less than 10% at the low intensity 131 sites to 40-80% in the brighter kernels. Here the Fe xxi is superimposed on bright chromospheric emission and the Fe xxi line shows blue shifts, sometimes extending up to the edge of the spectral window, 200 km/s. Conclusions: The AIA 131 emission in flare loops is due to Fe xxi emission with a 10-20% contribution from continuum, Fe xxiii, and cooler background plasma emission. In bright flare kernels up to 52% of the 131 is from cooler plasma. The wide range seen in the kernels is caused by significant structure in the kernels which is seen as sharp gradients in Fe xxi EM at sites of molecular and transition region emission.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Electron-Muon Ranger: performance in the MICE Muon Beam

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) will perform a detailed study of ionization cooling to evaluate the feasibility of the technique. To carry out this program, MICE requires an efficient particle-identification (PID) system to identify muons. The Electron-Muon Ranger (EMR) is a fully-active tracking-calorimeter that forms part of the PID system and tags muons that traverse the cooling channel without decaying. The detector is capable of identifying electrons with an efficiency of 98.6%, providing a purity for the MICE beam that exceeds 99.8%. The EMR also proved to be a powerful tool for the reconstruction of muon momenta in the range 100-280 MeV/$c$.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

Design and Deployment of a Multichroic Polarimeter Array on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

We present the design and the preliminary on sky performance with respect to beams and pass-bands of a multichroic polarimeter array covering the 90 and 146 GHz Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) bands and its enabling broadband optical system recently deployed on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). The constituent pixels are feedhorn-coupled multichroic polarimeters fabricated at NIST. This array is coupled to the ACT telescope via a set of three silicon lenses incorporating novel broad-band metamaterial anti-reflection coatings. This receiver represents the first multichroic detector array deployed for a CMB experiment and paves the way for the extensive use of multichroic detectors and broadband optical systems in the next generation of CMB experiments.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Advanced ACTPol Cryogenic Detector Arrays and Readout

Advanced ACTPol is a polarization-sensitive upgrade for the 6 m aperture Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), adding new frequencies and increasing sensitivity over the previous ACTPol receiver. In 2016, Advanced ACTPol will begin to map approximately half the sky in five frequency bands (28-230 GHz). Its maps of primary and secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies -- imaged in intensity and polarization at few arcminute-scale resolution -- will enable precision cosmological constraints and also a wide array of cross-correlation science that probes the expansion history of the universe and the growth of structure via gravitational collapse. To accomplish these scientific goals, the Advanced ACTPol receiver will be a significant upgrade to the ACTPol receiver, including four new multichroic arrays of cryogenic, feedhorn-coupled AlMn transition edge sensor (TES) polarimeters (fabricated on 150 mm diameter wafers); a system of continuously rotating meta-material silicon half-wave plates; and a new multiplexing readout architecture which uses superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and time division to achieve a 64-row multiplexing factor. Here we present the status and scientific goals of the Advanced ACTPol instrument, emphasizing the design and implementation of the Advanced ACTPol cryogenic detector arrays.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Gravitational Lensing Potential from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential using data from the first two seasons of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The observations used in this work cover 100 deg$^2$ of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz. Using a quadratic estimator, we make maps of the CMB lensing potential from combinations of CMB temperature and polarization maps. We combine these lensing potential maps to form a minimum-variance (MV) map. The lensing potential is measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than one for angular multipoles between $100< L <250$. This is the highest signal-to-noise mass map made from the CMB to date and will be powerful in cross-correlation with other tracers of large-scale structure. We calculate the power spectrum of the lensing potential for each estimator, and we report the value of the MV power spectrum between $100< L <2000$ as our primary result. We constrain the ratio of the spectrum to a fiducial $Λ$CDM model to be $A_{\rm MV}=0.92 \pm 0.14 {\rm\, (Stat.)} \pm 0.08 {\rm\, (Sys.)}$. Restricting ourselves to polarized data only, we find $A_{\rm POL}=0.92 \pm 0.24 {\rm\, (Stat.)} \pm 0.11 {\rm\, (Sys.)}$. This measurement rejects the hypothesis of no lensing at $5.9 σ$ using polarization data alone, and at $14 σ$ using both temperature and polarization data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Magneto-transport study of top- and back-gated LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures

We report a detailed analysis of magneto-transport properties of top- and back-gated LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures. Efficient modulation in magneto-resistance, carrier density, and mobility of the two-dimensional electron liquid present at the interface is achieved by sweeping top and back gate voltages. Analyzing those changes with respect to the carrier density tuning, we observe that the back gate strongly modifies the electron mobility while the top gate mainly varies the carrier density. The evolution of the spin-orbit interaction is also followed as a function of top and back gating.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Imaging and Spectral Observations of Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in a Solar Flare

We explore the Quasi-Periodic Pulsations (QPPs) in a solar flare observed by Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) on 2014 September 10. QPPs are identified as the regular and periodic peaks on the rapidly-varying components, which are the light curves after removing the slowly-varying components. The QPPs display only three peaks at the beginning on the hard X-ray (HXR) emissions, but ten peaks on the chromospheric and coronal line emissions, and more than seven peaks (each peak is corresponding to a type III burst on the dynamic spectra) at the radio emissions. An uniform quasi-period about 4 minutes are detected among them. AIA imaging observations exhibit that the 4-min QPPs originate from the flare ribbon, and tend to appear on the ribbon front. IRIS spectral observations show that each peak of the QPPs tends to a broad line width and a red Doppler velocity at C I, O IV, Si IV, and Fe XXI lines. Our findings indicate that the QPPs are produced by the non-thermal electrons which are accelerated by the induced quasi-periodic magnetic reconnections in this flare.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Giant Oscillating Thermopower at Oxide Interfaces

Understanding the nature of charge carriers at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface is one of the major open issues in the full comprehension of the charge confinement phenomenon in oxide heterostructures. Here, we investigate thermopower to study the electronic structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 at low temperature as a function of gate field. In particular, under large negative gate voltage, corresponding to the strongly depleted charge density regime, thermopower displays record-high negative values of the order of 10^4 - 10^5 microV/K, oscillating at regular intervals as a function of the gate voltage. The huge thermopower magnitude can be attributed to the phonon-drag contribution, while the oscillations map the progressive depletion and the Fermi level descent across a dense array of localized states lying at the bottom of the Ti 3d conduction band. This study is the first direct evidence of a localized Anderson tail in the two-dimensional (2D) electron liquid at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Growth-induced electron mobility enhancement at the LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface

We have studied the electronic properties of the 2D electron liquid present at the LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface in series of samples prepared at different growth temperatures. We observe that interfaces fabricated at 650°C exhibit the highest low temperature mobility ($\approx 10000 \textrm{ cm}^2/\textrm{Vs}$) and the lowest sheet carrier density ($\approx 5\times 10^{12} \textrm{ cm}^{-2}$). These samples show metallic behavior and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in their magnetoresistance. Samples grown at higher temperatures (800-900°C) display carrier densities in the range of $\approx 2-5 \times 10^{13} \textrm{ cm}^{-2}$ and mobilities of $\approx 1000 \textrm{ cm}^2/\textrm{Vs}$ at 4K. Reducing their carrier density by field effect to $8\times 10^{12} \textrm{ cm}^{-2}$ lowers their mobilites to $\approx 50 \textrm{ cm}^2/\textrm{Vs}$ bringing the conductance to the weak-localization regime.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗