arXiv subjects

J. Ludwig

Publications and source records attributed to J. Ludwig.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

A wiggling filamentary jet at the origin of the blazar multi-wavelength behaviour

Blazars are beamed active galactic nuclei known for their strong multi-wavelength variability on timescales from years down to minutes. We aim to investigate the suitability of the twisting jet model presented in previous works to explain the multi-wavelength behaviour of BL Lacertae, the prototype of one of the blazar classes. According to this model, the jet is inhomogeneous, curved, and twisting, and the long-term variability is due to changes in the Doppler factor due to variations in the orientation of the jet-emitting regions. We analysed optical data of the source obtained during monitoring campaigns organised by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) in 2019-2022, together with radio data from the WEBT and other teams, and gamma-ray data from the Fermi satellite. In this period, BL Lacertae underwent an extraordinary activity phase, reaching its historical optical and gamma-ray brightness maxima. The application of the twisting jet model to the source light curves allows us to infer the wiggling motion of the optical, radio, and gamma-ray jet-emitting regions. The optical-radio correlation shows that the changes in the radio viewing angle follow those in the optical viewing angle by about 120 days, and it suggests that the jet is composed of plasma filaments, which is in agreement with some radio high-resolution observations of other sources. The gamma-ray emitting region is found to be co-spatial with the optical one, and the analysis of the gamma-optical correlation is consistent with both the geometric interpretation and a synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) origin of the high-energy photons. We propose a geometric scenario where the jet is made up of a pair of emitting plasma filaments in a sort of double-helix curved rotating structure, whose wiggling motion produces changes in the Doppler beaming and can thus explain the observed multi-wavelength long-term variability.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Superparamagnetic dwell times and tuning of switching rates in perpendicular CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB tunnel junctions

Thin electrodes of magnetic tunnel junctions can show superparamagnetism at surprisingly low temperature. We analysed their thermally induced switching for varying temperature, magnetic and electric field. Although the dwell times follow an Arrhenius law, they are orders of magnitude too small compared to a model of single domain activation. Including entropic effects removes this inconsistency and leads to a magnetic activation volume much smaller than that of the electrode. Comparing data for varying barrier thickness then allows to separate the impact of Zeman energy, spin-transfer-torque and voltage induced anisotropy change on the dwell times. Based on these results, we demonstrate a tuning of the switching rates by combining magnetic and electric fields, which opens a path for their application in noisy neural networks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Observation of cyclotron antiresonance in the topological insulator Bi2Te3

We report on the experimental observation of a cyclotron antiresonance in a canonical 3D topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$. Magneto-reflectance response of single crystal Bi$_2$Te$_3$ was studied in 18 Tesla magnetic field, and compared to other topological insulators studied before, the main spectral feature is inverted. We refer to it as an antiresonance. In order to describe this unconventional behavior we propose the idea of an imaginary cyclotron resonance frequency, which on the other hand indicates that the form of the Lorentz force that magnetic field exerts on charge carriers takes an unconventional form.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Measurement and tricubic interpolation of the magnetic field for the OLYMPUS experiment

The OLYMPUS experiment used a 0.3 T toroidal magnetic spectrometer to measure the momenta of outgoing charged particles. In order to accurately determine particle trajectories, knowledge of the magnetic field was needed throughout the spectrometer volume. For that purpose, the magnetic field was measured at over 36,000 positions using a three-dimensional Hall probe actuated by a system of translation tables. We used these field data to fit a numerical magnetic field model, which could be employed to calculate the magnetic field at any point in the spectrometer volume. Calculations with this model were computationally intensive; for analysis applications where speed was crucial, we pre-computed the magnetic field and its derivatives on an evenly spaced grid so that the field could be interpolated between grid points. We developed a spline-based interpolation scheme suitable for SIMD implementations, with a memory layout chosen to minimize space and optimize the cache behavior to quickly calculate field values. This scheme requires only one-eighth of the memory needed to store necessary coefficients compared with a previous scheme [1]. This method was accurate for the vast majority of the spectrometer volume, though special fits and representations were needed to improve the accuracy close to the magnet coils and along the toroid axis.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Temperature-driven massless Kane fermions in HgCdTe crystals: verification of universal velocity and rest-mass description

It has recently been shown that the electronic states in bulk gapless HgCdTe offer another realization of pseudo-relativistic three-dimensional particles in a condensed matter system. These single valley relativistic states, referred to as massless Kane fermions, cannot be described by any other well-known relativistic massless particles. Furthermore, the HgCdTe band structure can be continuously tailored by modifying either the cadmium content or temperature. At the critical concentration or temperature, the bandgap, Eg, collapses as the system undergoes a semimetal-to-semiconductor topological phase transition between the inverted and normal alignments. Here, using far-infrared magneto-spectroscopy we explore the continuous evolution of band structure of bulk HgCdTe as temperature is tuned across the topological phase transition. We demonstrate that the rest-mass of the Dirac-like Kane fermions, m changes sign at the critical temperature, while their velocity, c remains constant. The relation Eg = 2mc2 with the universal value of c = (1.07 +- 0.05)10x6 m/s remains valid in a broad range of temperatures and Cd concentrations, indicating a striking universality of the pseudo-relativistic description of the Dirac-like Kane fermions in HgCdTe.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Pronounced photovoltaic response from multi-layered transition-metal dichalcogenides PN-junctions

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are layered semiconductors with indirect band gaps comparable to Si. These compounds can be grown in large area, while their gap(s) can be tuned by changing their chemical composition or by applying a gate voltage. The experimental evidence collected so far, points towards a strong interaction with light, which contrasts with the small photovoltaic efficiencies $η\geq 1$ % extracted from bulk crystals or exfoliated monolayers. Here, we evaluate the potential of these compounds by studying the photovoltaic response of electrostatically generated PN-junctions composed of approximately ten atomic-layers of MoSe$_2$ stacked onto the dielectric $h$-BN. In addition to ideal diode-like response, we find that these junctions can yield, under AM-1.5 illumination, photovoltaic efficiencies $η$ exceeding 14 %, with fill-factors of ~ 70 %. Given the available strategies for increasing $η$ such as gap tuning, improving the quality of the electrical contacts, or the fabrication of tandem cells, our study suggests a remarkable potential for photovoltaic applications based on TMDs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Cyclotron resonance of single valley Dirac fermions in gapless HgTe quantum well

We report on Landau level spectroscopy studies of two HgTe quantum wells (QWs) near or at the critical well thickness, where the band gap vanishes. In magnetic fields up to $B$=16T, oriented perpendicular to the QW plane, we observe a $\sqrt{B}$ dependence for the energy of the dominant cyclotron resonance (CR) transition characteristic of two-dimensional Dirac fermions. The dominant CR line exhibits either a single or double absorption lineshape for the gapless or gapped QW. Using an effective Dirac model, we deduce the band velocity of single valley Dirac fermions in gapless HgTe quantum wells, $v_F=6.4 \times10^5$ m/s, and interpret the double absorption of the gapped QW as resulting from the addition of a small relativistic mass.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

LaAlO3 stoichiometry found key to electron liquid formation at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces

Emergent phenomena, including superconductivity and magnetism, found in the two-dimensional electron liquid (2-DEL) at the interface between the insulators LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 distinguish this rich system from conventional two-dimensional electron gases at compound semiconductor interfaces. The origin of this 2-DEL, however, is highly debated with focus on the role of defects in the SrTiO3 while the LaAlO3 has been assumed perfect. Our experiments and first principles calculations show that the cation stoichiometry of the nominal LaAlO3 layer is key to 2-DEL formation: only Al-rich LaAlO3 results in a 2-DEL. While extrinsic defects including oxygen deficiency are known to render LaAlO3/SrTiO3 samples conducting, our results show that in the absence of such extrinsic defects, an interface 2-DEL can form. Its origin is consistent with an intrinsic electronic reconstruction occurring to counteract a polarization catastrophe. This work provides a roadmap for identifying other interfaces where emergent behaviors await discovery.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

Sub-Laplacians of holomorphic $L^p$-type on exponential solvable groups

Let $L$ denote a right-invariant sub-Laplacian on an exponential, hence solvable Lie group $G$, endowed with a left-invariant Haar measure. Depending on the structure of $G$, and possibly also that of $L$, $L$ may admit differentiable $L^p$-functional calculi, or may be of holomorphic $L^p$-type for a given $p\ne 2$. By ``holomorphic $L^p$-type'' we mean that every $L^p$-spectral multiplier for $L$ is necessarily holomorphic in a complex neighborhood of some non-isolated point of the $L^2$-spectrum of $L$. This can in fact only arise if the group algebra $L^1(G)$ is non-symmetric. Assume that $p\ne 2$. For a point $l$ in the dual $\frak g ^*$ of the Lie algebra $\frak g$ of $G$, we denote by $Ω(l)=Ad^*(G)l$ the corresponding coadjoint orbit. We prove that every sub-Laplacian on $G$ is of holomorphic $L^p$-type, provided there exists a point $l\in \frak g ^*$ satisfying ``Boidol's condition'' (which is equivalent to the non-symmetry of $L^1(G)$), such that the restriction of $Ω(l)$ to the nilradical of $\frak g$ is closed.

math.CA↗

arXiv1998

X-ray Imaging Using a Hybrid Photon Counting GaAs Pixel Detector

The performance of hybrid GaAs pixel detectors as X-ray imaging sensors were investigated at room temperature. These hybrids consist of 300 mu-m thick GaAs pixel detectors, flip-chip bonded to a CMOS Single Photon Counting Chip (PCC). This chip consists of a matrix of 64 x 64 identical square pixels (170 mu-m x 170 mu-m) and covers a total area of 1.2 cm**2. The electronics in each cell comprises a preamplifier, a discriminator with a 3-bit threshold adjust and a 15-bit counter. The detector is realized by an array of Schottky diodes processed on semi-insulating LEC-GaAs bulk material. An IV-charcteristic and a detector bias voltage scan showed that the detector can be operated with voltages around 200 V. Images of various objects were taken by using a standard X-ray tube for dental diagnostics. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) was also determined. The applications of these imaging systems range from medical applications like digital mammography or dental X-ray diagnostics to non destructive material testing (NDT). Because of the separation of detector and readout chip, different materials can be investigated and compared.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv1997

AC-coupled GaAs microstrip detectors with a new type of integrated bias resistors

Full size single-sided GaAs microstrip detectors with integrated coupling capacitors and bias resistors have been fabricated on 3'' substrate wafers. PECVD deposited SiO_2 and SiO_2/Si_3N_4 layers were used to provide coupling capacitaces of 32.5 pF/cm and 61.6 pF/cm, respectively. The resistors are made of sputtered CERMET using simple lift of technique. The sheet resistivity of 78 kOhm/sq. and the thermal coefficient of resistance of less than 4x10^-3 / degree C satisfy the demands of small area biasing resistors, working on a wide temperature range.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv1997

Radiation damage to neutron and proton irradiated GaAs particle detectors

The radiation damage in 200 um thick Schottky diodes made on semi-insulating (SI) undoped GaAs Liquid Encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) bulk material with resistivities between 0.4 and 8.9*10E7 Ohm*cm were studied using alpha-spectroscopy, signal response to minimum ionising particles (MIP), I-V and CV-measurements. The results have been analysed to investigate the influence of the substrate resistivity on the detector performance after neutron and proton irradiation. The leakage current density, signal response to alpha-particles and MIPs show a strong dependence on the resistivity before and after irradiation. An observed decrease of the electron mean free drift length before and after irradiation with increasing substrate resistivity can be explained by a model involving the different ionisation ratios of defects, which are introduced by the irradiation. Comparison of the radiation damage due to neutrons and protons gives a hardness factor of 7+-0.9 for 24 GeV/c protons. The best detectors show a response to MIPs of 5250 e- at 200 V reverse bias after a irradiation level of 2*10E14 p/cm^2.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1997

Analysis of Trapping and Detrapping in Semi-Insulating GaAs Detectors

To investigate the trapping and detrapping in SI-GaAs particle detectors we analyzed the signals caused by 5.48 MeV alpha particles with a charge sensitive preamplifier. From the bias and temperature dependence of these signals we determine the activation energies of two electron traps. Additional simulation and measurements of the lifetime as a function of resistivity have shown that the EL2+ is the dominant electron trap in semi-insulating GaAs.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1997

Radiation studies for GaAs in the ATLAS Inner Detector

We estimate the hardness factors and the equivalent 1 MeV neutron fluences for hadrons fluences expected at the GaAs positions wheels in the ATLAS Inner Detector. On this basis the degradation of the GaAs particle detectors made from different substrates as a function of years LHC operation is predicted.

hep-ex↗