Autonomy and Singularity in Dynamic Fracture

The recently developed weakly nonlinear theory of dynamic fracture predicts $1/r$ corrections to the standard asymptotic linear elastic $1/\sqrt{r}$ displacement-gradients, where $r$ is measured from the tip of a tensile crack. We show that the $1/r$ singularity does not automatically conform with the notion of autonomy (autonomy means that any crack tip nonlinear solution is uniquely determined by the surrounding linear elastic $1/\sqrt{r}$ fields) and that it does not automatically satisfy the resultant Newton's equation in the crack parallel direction. We show that these two properties are interrelated and that by requiring that the resultant Newton's equation is satisfied, autonomy of the $1/r$ singular solution is retained. We further show that the resultant linear momentum carried by the $1/r$ singular fields vanishes identically. Our results, which reveal the physical and mathematical nature of the new solution, are in favorable agreement with recent near tip measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, related papers: arXiv:0902.2121 and arXiv:0807.486

One-dimensional pinning behavior in Co-doped BaFe2As2 thin films

Angle-resolved transport measurements revealed that planar defects dominate flux pinning in the investigated Co-doped BaFe2As2 thin film. For any given field and temperature, the critical current depends only on the angle between the crystallographic c-axis and the applied magnetic field but not on the angle between the current and the field. The critical current is therefore limited only by the in-plane component of the Lorentz force but independent of the out-of-plane component, which is entirely balanced by the pinning force exerted by the planar defects. This one-dimensional pinning behavior shows similarities and differences to intrinsic pinning in layered superconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Doping and critical-temperature dependence of the energy gaps in Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2 thin films

The dependence of the superconducting gaps in epitaxial Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_2As_2 thin films on the nominal doping x (0.04 \leq x \leq 0.15) was studied by means of point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy. The normalized conductance curves were well fitted by using the 2D Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model with two nodeless, isotropic gaps -- although the possible presence of gap anisotropies cannot be completely excluded. The amplitudes of the two gaps \Delta_{S} and \Delta_{L} show similar monotonic trends as a function of the local critical temperature T_{c}^{A} (measured in the same point contacts) from 25 K down to 8 K. The dependence of the gaps on x is well correlated to the trend of the critical temperature, i.e. to the shape of the superconducting region in the phase diagram. When analyzed within a simple three-band Eliashberg model, this trend turns out to be compatible with a mechanism of superconducting coupling mediated by spin fluctuations, whose characteristic energy scales with T_{c} according to the empirical law \Omega_{0}= 4.65*k_{B}*T_{c}, and with a total electron-boson coupling strength \lambda_{tot}= 2.22 for x \leq 0.10 (i.e. up to optimal doping) that slightly decreases to \lambda_{tot}= 1.82 in the overdoped samples (x = 0.15).Comment: 8 pages, 5 color figure

On fiber dispersion models: exclusion of compressed fibers and spurious model comparisons

Fiber dispersion in collagenous soft tissues has an important influence on the mechanical response, and the modeling of the collagen fiber architecture and its mechanics has developed significantly over the last few years. The purpose of this paper is twofold, first to develop a method for excluding compressed fibers within a dispersion for the generalized structure tensor (GST) model, which several times in the literature has been claimed not to be possible, and second to draw attention to several erroneous and misleading statements in the literature concerning the relative values of the GST and the angular integration (AI) models. For the GST model we develop a rather simple method involving a deformation dependent dispersion parameter that allows the mechanical influence of compressed fibers within a dispersion to be excluded. The theory is illustrated by application to simple extension and simple shear in order to highlight the effect of exclusion. By means of two examples we also show that the GST and the AI models have equivalent predictive power, contrary to some claims in the literature. We conclude that from the theoretical point of view neither of these two models is superior to the other. However, as is well known and as we now emphasize, the GST model has proved to be very successful in modeling the data from experiments on a wide range of tissues, and it is easier to analyze and simpler to implement than the AI approach, and the related computational effort is much lower

Strong Tc dependence for strained, epitaxial Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films

Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 superconducting thin films have been grown on SrTiO3, (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3, LaAlO3 and YAlO3 (YAO) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. All the films, except on YAO, have been grown epitaxially without buffer layers. The films deposited on YAO contained 45 degree in-plane rotated grains and showed a broad superconducting transition. The onset Tc of the films is observed to increase from 16.2 K to 24.5 K with increasing c/a, mainly due to a slight distortion of the AsFe4 tetrahedron. From this correlation, we expect that higher superconducting transition temperatures than 24.5 K in a strained epitaxial film may be possible.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to AP

Critical current scaling and anisotropy in oxypnictide superconductors

Investigating the anisotropy of superconductors permits an access to fundamental properties. Having succeeded in the fabrication of epitaxial superconducting LaFeAs(O,F) thin films we performed an extensive study of electrical transport properties. In face of multiband superconductivity we can demonstrate that a Blatter scaling of the angular dependent critical current densities can be adopted, although being originally developed for single band superconductors. In contrast to single band superconductors the mass anisotropy of LaFeAs(O,F) is temperature dependent. A very steep increase of the upper critical field and the irreversibility field can be observed at temperatures below 6K, indicating that the band with the smaller gap is in the dirty limit. This temperature dependence can be theoretically described by two dominating bands responsible for superconductivity. A pinning force scaling provides insight into the prevalent pinning mechanism and can be specified in terms of the Kramer model.Comment: 7 pages, 13 figure

Electronic phase diagram of disordered Co doped BaFe2As2

Superconducting and normal state transport properties in iron pnictides are sensitive to disorder and impurity scattering. By investigation of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films with varying Co concentration, we demonstrate that in the dirty limit the superconducting dome in the electronic phase diagram of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 shifts towards lower doping concentrations, which differs significantly from observations in single crystals. We show that especially in the underdoped regime superconducting transition temperatures higher than 27 K are possible.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure