CiteULike: dchen's Wu http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/author/Wu CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/article/2581281 <i>Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, No. 11. (2008)</i><br /><br />Fringing-field-induced phase separation dynamics in liquid-crystal–(LC-)monomer mixtures is investigated via a microscope. At a low LC concentration, the fringing field converts the randomly dispersed LC droplets to an ordered droplet array, while at a high LC concentration the fringing field converts the amorphous LC-monomer system to a composite film. Because the LC and monomer are immiscible, the converted morphologies are stable even after the voltage is removed. Using the fringing field-induced phase separation, it is possible to prepare different polymer-dispersed LC morphologies. In Situ Observation of Fringing-Field-Induced Phase Separation in a Liquid-Crystal--Monomer Mixture Hongwen Ren Shin Wu Yi Lin doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.117801 Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, No. 11. (2008) 2008-03-24T17:17:09-00:00 Physical Review Letters 100 11 APS 2008 cool liquidcrystal phase polymer http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/article/2758375 <i>Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, No. 12. (2006)</i><br /><br />We present a detailed study of the effects of interface spin-orbit coupling on the critical field behavior of ultrathin superconducting Be/Au bilayers. Parallel field measurements were made in bilayers with Be thicknesses in the range of d=2–30 nm and Au coverages of 0.5 nm. Though the Au had little effect on the superconducting gap, it produced profound changes in the spin states of the system. In particular, the parallel critical field exceeded the Clogston limit by an order of magnitude in the thinnest films studied. In addition, the parallel critical field unexpectedly scaled as Hc||/01/d, suggesting that the spin-orbit coupling energy was proportional to 0/d2. Tilted field measurements showed that, contrary to recent theory, the interface spin-orbit coupling induces a large in-plane superconducting susceptibility but only a very small transverse susceptibility. Spin Proximity Effect in Ultrathin Superconducting Be-Au Bilayers XS Wu PW Adams Y Yang RL Mccarley doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.127002 Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, No. 12. (2006) 2008-05-05T16:25:55-00:00 Physical Review Letters 96 12 APS 2006 focus magnetic material http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/article/2754427 <i>Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, No. 25. (2005)</i><br /><br />We observe that the group velocity of light is reduced to an extremely low value of 0.091 mm/s in a biological thin film of bacteriorhodopsin at room temperature. By exploiting unique features of a flexible photoisomerization process for coherent population oscillation, the velocity is all-optically controlled over an enormous span, from snail-paced to normal light speed, with no need of modifying the characteristics of the incident pulse. Because of the large quantum yield for the photoreaction in this biochemical system, the ultraslow light is observed even at low light levels of microwatts, indicating high energy efficiency. Controllable Snail-Paced Light in Biological Bacteriorhodopsin Thin Film Pengfei Wu Rao doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.253601 Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, No. 25. (2005) 2008-05-04T19:36:43-00:00 Physical Review Letters 95 25 APS 2006 biology cool film focus material optical