Magnetic flux-line lattices and vortices in the copper oxide superconductors

A variety of recent experiments on both the static and the dynamic properties of vortices and flux-line lattices in the mixed state of the copper oxide superconductors are discussed. The experiments are of two basic types: (i) experiments that image the magnetic flux patterns either with magnetic decoration or neutrons and give information about static structures, and (ii) experiments that explore the dynamics of vortices either through the resistivity or other electrodynamic responses of the material. Results of these experiments argue in favor of the existence of a true phase transition in the high-field vortex state from a low-temperature superconducting vortex glass phase into a disordered high-temperature vortex fluid phase. The vortex glass phase transition model does a good job of explaining high-precision measurements of the dynamics at the transition. At low fields and temperatures, very long range hexatic order in the flux-line lattice is observed.     

Fish exploiting vortices decrease muscle activity

Fishes moving through turbulent flows or in formation are regularly exposed to vortices. Although animals living in fluid environments commonly capture energy from vortices, experimental data on the hydrodynamics and neural control of interactions between fish and vortices are lacking. We used quantitative flow visualization and electromyography to show that trout will adopt a novel mode of locomotion to slalom in between experimentally generated vortices by activating only their anterior axial muscles. Reduced muscle activity during vortex exploitation compared with the activity of fishes engaged in undulatory swimming suggests a decrease in the cost of locomotion and provides a mechanism to understand the patterns of fish distributions in schools and riverine environments.     

A superconducting reversible rectifier that controls the motion of magnetic flux quanta

We fabricated a device that controls the motion of flux quanta in a niobium superconducting film grown on an array of nanoscale triangular pinning potentials. The controllable rectification of the vortex motion is due to the asymmetry of the fabricated magnetic pinning centers. The reversal in the direction of the vortex flow is explained by the interaction between the vortices trapped on the magnetic nanostructures and the interstitial vortices. The applied magnetic field and input current strength can tune both the polarity and magnitude of the rectified vortex flow. Our ratchet system is explained and modeled theoretically, taking the interactions between particles into consideration.     

Dynamic aggregation of chiral spinners

An object spinning at the surface of a liquid creates a chiral vortex. If the spinning object is itself chiral, its shape modifies the characteristics of the vortex; interactions between that vortex and other vortices then depend on the chirality of the objects that produce them. This paper describes the aggregation of millimeter-sized, chiral magnetized plates floating at a liquid-air interface and rotating under the influence of a rotating external magnetic field. This external field confines all the plates at densities that cause the vortices they generate to interact strongly. For one set of plates investigated, plates of one chirality attract one another, and plates of the other chirality repel other plates of both chiralities.     

Direct Observation of Vortex Dynamics in Superconducting Films with Regular Arrays of Defects

The microscopic mechanism of the matching effect in a superconductor, which manifested itself as the production of peaks or cusps in the critical current at specific values of the applied magnetic field, was investigated with Lorentz microscopy to allow direct observation of the behavior of vortices in a niobium thin film having a regular array of artificial defects. Vortices were observed to form regular and consequently rigid lattices at the matching magnetic field, at its multiples, and at its fractions. The dynamic observation furthermore revealed that vortices were most difficult to move at the matching field, whereas excess vortices moved easily.     

贯流泵站(前池灯泡式)进口淹没深度的试验研究

本文通过观察同一水位下各种不同的流量及保持流量不变改变淹没深度时的流态、旋涡及吸气状况,研究了泵站进水口的旋涡特性及旋涡发生、发展的影响因素,得出了旋涡类型随淹没深度的变化规律,就后壁距等边界条件对临界淹没深度的影响进行了试验研究,並导出了临界淹没深度的经验公式。     

Spins in the vortices of a high-temperature superconductor

Neutron scattering is used to characterize the magnetism of the vortices for the optimally doped high-temperature superconductor La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO4 (x = 0.163) in an applied magnetic field. As temperature is reduced, low-frequency spin fluctuations first disappear with the loss of vortex mobility, but then reappear. We find that the vortex state can be regarded as an inhomogeneous mixture of a superconducting spin fluid and a material containing a nearly ordered antiferromagnet. These experiments show that as for many other properties of cuprate superconductors, the important underlying microscopic forces are magnetic.     

Polariton superfluids reveal quantum hydrodynamic solitons

A quantum fluid passing an obstacle behaves differently from a classical one. When the flow is slow enough, the quantum gas enters a superfluid regime, and neither whirlpools nor waves form around the obstacle. For higher flow velocities, it has been predicted that the perturbation induced by the defect gives rise to the turbulent emission of quantized vortices and to the nucleation of solitons. Using an interacting Bose gas of exciton-polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity, we report the transition from superfluidity to the hydrodynamic formation of oblique dark solitons and vortex streets in the wake of a potential barrier. The direct observation of these topological excitations provides key information on the mechanisms of superflow and shows the potential of polariton condensates for quantum turbulence studies.     

The dynamics of the stratospheric polar vortex and its relation to springtime ozone depletions

Dramatic springtime depletions of ozone in polar regions require that polar stratospheric air has a high degree of dynamical isolation and extremely cold temperatures necessary for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds. Both of these conditions are produced within the stratospheric winter polar vortex. Recent aircraft missions have provided new information about the structure of polar vortices during winter and their relation to polar ozone depletions. The aircraft data show that gradients of potential vorticity and the concentration of conservative trace species are large at the transition from mid-latitude to polar air. The presence of such sharp gradients at the boundary of polar air implies that the inward mixing of heat and constituents is strongly inhibited and that the perturbed polar stratospheric chemistry associated with the ozone hole is isolated from the rest of the stratosphere until the vortex breaks up in late spring. The overall size of the polar vortex thus limits the maximum areal coverage of the annual polar ozone depletions. Because it appears that this limit has not been reached for the Antarctic depletions, the possibility of future increases in the size of the Antarctic ozone hole is left open. In the Northern Hemisphere, the smaller vortex and the more restricted region of cold temperatures suggest that this region has a smaller theoretical maximum for column ozone depletion, about 40 percent of the currently observed change in the Antarctic ozone column in spring.     

Dynamics of Saturn's south polar vortex

The camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft has allowed us to observe many of Saturn's cloud features. We present observations of Saturn's south polar vortex (SPV) showing that it shares some properties with terrestrial hurricanes: cyclonic circulation, warm central region (the eye) surrounded by a ring of high clouds (the eye wall), and convective clouds outside the eye. The polar location and the absence of an ocean are major differences. It also shares properties with the polar vortices on Venus, such as polar location, cyclonic circulation, warm center, and long lifetime, but the Venus vortices have cold collars and are not associated with convective clouds. The SPV's combination of properties is unique among vortices in the solar system.     

Spin transfer torques in MnSi at ultralow current densities

Spin manipulation using electric currents is one of the most promising directions in the field of spintronics. We used neutron scattering to observe the influence of an electric current on the magnetic structure in a bulk material. In the skyrmion lattice of manganese silicon, where the spins form a lattice of magnetic vortices similar to the vortex lattice in type II superconductors, we observe the rotation of the diffraction pattern in response to currents that are over five orders of magnitude smaller than those typically applied in experimental studies on current-driven magnetization dynamics in nanostructures. We attribute our observations to an extremely efficient coupling of inhomogeneous spin currents to topologically stable knots in spin structures.     

Interhemispheric Differences in Polar Stratospheric HNO3, H2O, CIO, and O3

Simultaneous global measurements of nitric acid (HNO(3)), water (H(2)O), chlorine monoxide (CIO), and ozone (O(3)) in the stratosphere have been obtained over complete annual cycles in both hemispheres by the Microwave Limb Sounder on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. A sizeable decrease in gas-phase HNO(3) was evident in the lower stratospheric vortex over Antarctica by early June 1992, followed by a significant reduction in gas-phase H(2)O after mid-July. By mid-August, near the time of peak CIO, abundances of gas-phase HNO(3) and H(2)O were extremely low. The concentrations of HNO(3) and H(2)O over Antarctica remained depressed into November, well after temperatures in the lower stratosphere had risen above the evaporation threshold for polar stratospheric clouds, implying that denitrification and dehydration had occurred. No large decreases in either gas-phase HNO(3) or H(2)O were observed in the 1992-1993 Arctic winter vortex. Although CIO was enhanced over the Arctic as it was over the Antarctic, Arctic O(3) depletion was substantially smaller than that over Antarctica. A major factor currently limiting the formation of an Arctic ozone "hole" is the lack of denitrification in the northern polar vortex, but future cooling of the lower stratosphere could lead to more intense denitrification and consequently larger losses of Arctic ozone.     

Clustering hypothesis of some high-temperature superconductors

Cluster formation in metallic crystal lattices is important for most high-temperature superconductors.     

Stress-induced Vortex Line Helixing Avalanches in the Plastic Flow of a Smectic A Liquid Crystal

Dynamic surface force measurements of the response of a smectic A to layer normal stress exhibited time dependence for topological events in which single smectic layers were added or removed. Single layer-sized jumps in sample thickness had a rapid component of duration of approximately 1 second that produced most of the change in separation, but that was heralded by a slow precursor acceleration in separation, which began up to a few hundred seconds before. This avalanche-like dynamic signature is consistent with a relaxation mechanism based on the Glaberson-Clem-Bourdon instability of vortex lines (screw dislocations) in the smectic order parameter.     

2009年11月10日银川河东机场暴雪天气过程成因分析

利用NCEP/NCAR逐日再分析资料和卫星云图资料,对2009年11月10～11日发生在银川河东机场的一次暴雪天气过程的发生、发展及演变特征进行了分析。结果表明,造成这次大雪的高空影响系统是500hPa高空槽、700及850hPa东移的高原低涡,地面影响系统是河套锢囚锋。西北地区上空持续的200hPa高空急流诱生了地面气旋。这次降雪过程中,西北地区东部的正涡度平流有利于低层低涡系统在东移过程中加强;从散度场分布来看,宁夏中北部200hPa为辐散,700、850hPa为辐合区,使得宁夏中北部地区上升运动持久而强烈。这次暴雪的水汽来源是低层3支气流,即高原低涡前部西南气流、来自四川盆地的偏南气流、来自华北的偏东气流。3支气流汇集于宁夏中北部使得大量水汽在该区域累积,给银川河东机场的这次暴雪天气提供了充沛的水汽条件。这次强降雪也存在较为明显的中小尺度特征,利用逐时的数字化卫星云图可以有效追踪中尺度云团的生消、移动。     

基于CFD的混流式水轮机内的涡旋研究

混流式水轮机尾水管中的低频涡带、转轮中的叶道涡及导叶和转轮叶片出口处的卡门涡是产生压力脉动,引起机组振动的主要水力原因。为了解决机组运行的稳定性问题,基于计算流体动力学(CFD)数值模拟方法,从影响水轮发电机组稳定运行的流体因素出发,研究混流式水轮机中各种涡旋的产生机理和本身特征,找到减轻涡旋造成不利影响的有效办法。     

盛夏高原涡生成频数与初夏大气环流背景场的关系

基于ERA-interim再分析资料,通过客观识别法得到的高原低涡统计数据集,选取1986-2015年7月高原低涡生成频数的多发年与少发年,通过相关分析与合成分析等方法分析7月生成的高原低涡频数与6月的大气环流之间的关系.主要结果如下:(1) 7月高原低涡主要生成在28°-36°N纬带内, 90°E以西生成的高原涡数量占全部的74.68%;(2)高原低涡多发年,高原低层相对湿度大,尤其改则—申扎(30°-34°N, 84°-90°E)与左贡(约29°N, 97°E)地区;整层大气热源偏强, 90°E以西地区垂直方向上各层均表现为热源.高原低涡少发年, 6月32°N以南低层相对湿度小;整层大气热源弱,垂直方向上低层表现为热源,热源偏弱.(3)高原涡多发年,高原涡主要生成范围内低层被正相对涡度控制,并且相对涡度偏大;高原主体范围内基本为上升气流,低层上升速度偏大,气流低层辐合,高层辐散,强度偏强,但在高原90°E以西与90°E以东有一定差异.高原涡少发年,高原涡主要生成范围内低层被正相对涡度控制,但相对涡度偏小;高原主体范围内为上升气流,低层上升速度偏小,气流低层辐合,高层辐合,强度偏弱.     

Interpretation of recent Southern Hemisphere climate change

Climate variability in the high-latitude Southern Hemisphere (SH) is dominated by the SH annular mode, a large-scale pattern of variability characterized by fluctuations in the strength of the circumpolar vortex. We present evidence that recent trends in the SH tropospheric circulation can be interpreted as a bias toward the high-index polarity of this pattern, with stronger westerly flow encircling the polar cap. It is argued that the largest and most significant tropospheric trends can be traced to recent trends in the lower stratospheric polar vortex, which are due largely to photochemical ozone losses. During the summer-fall season, the trend toward stronger circumpolar flow has contributed substantially to the observed warming over the Antarctic Peninsula and Patagonia and to the cooling over eastern Antarctica and the Antarctic plateau.