Recent experiments with metallic nanowires devices seem to indicate that superconductivity can be controlled by the application of electric fields. In such experiments, critical currents are tuned and eventually suppressed by relatively small voltages applied to nearby gate electrodes, at odds with current understanding of electrostatic screening in metals. We investigate the impact of gate voltages on superconductivity in similar metal nanowires. Varying materials and device geometries, we study the physical mechanism behind the quench of superconductivity. We demonstrate that the transition from superconducting to resistive state can be understood in detail by tunneling of high-energy electrons from the gate contact to the nanowire, resulting in quasiparticle generation and, at sufficiently large currents, heating. Onset of critical current suppression occurs below gate currents of 100fA, which are challenging to detect in typical experiments.

Frequency shifts and dissipation of a compound torsional oscillator induced by solid 4 He samples containing 3 He impurity concentrations (x3 = 0.3, 3, 6, 12 and 25 in units of 10 −6 ) have been measured at two resonant mode frequencies (f1 = 493 and f2 = 1164 Hz) at temperatures (T ) between 0.02 and 1.1 K. The fractional frequency shifts of the f1 mode were much smaller than those of the f2 mode. The observed frequency shifts continued to decrease as T was increased above 0.3 K, and the conventional non-classical rotation inertia fraction was not well defined in all samples with x3 ≥ 3 ppm. Temperatures where peaks in dissipation of the f2 mode occurred were higher than those of the f1 mode in all samples. The peak dissipation magnitudes of the f1 mode was greater than those of the f2 mode in all samples. The activation energy and the characteristic time (τ0) were extracted for each sample from an Arrhenius plot between mode frequencies and inverse peak temperatures. The average activation energy among all samples was 430 mK, and τ0 ranged from 2×10 −7 s to 5×10 −5 s in samples with x3 = 0.3 to 25 ppm. The characteristic time increased with increasing x3. Observed temperature dependence of dissipation were consistent with those expected from a simple Debye relaxation model if the dissipation peak magnitude was separately adjusted for each mode. Observed frequency shifts were greater than those expected from the model. The discrepancies between the observed and the model frequency shifts increased at the higher frequency mode.

Measurements on hysteretic response of compound torsional oscillator containing annular-shaped solid 4 He samples were carried out by varying the oscillator drive amplitude starting from high to low and then back up to the initial high value. Hysteresis in the oscillator frequency and amplitudes were observed only below an onset temperature. The hysteresis onset temperature (T H ) did not depend on the oscillator frequency, width of the sample annulus, annealing and refreezing after melting. A systematic increase in T H was observed as the 3 He impurity concentration in solid 4 He samples was increased. The dependence of T H on 3 He impurity concentration followed approximately that of the dissipation peak temperatures. Possible relationships of the observed hysteresis phenomena with models of solid 4 He dynamics based on freezing of a vortex liquid and dislocation motion are discussed.

Over the past decade rapid advances have occurred in the understanding of RNA expression and its regulation. Quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) have become the gold standard for quantifying gene expression. Microfluidic next generation, high throughput qPCR now permits the detection of transcript copy number in thousands of reactions simultaneously, dramatically increasing the sensitivity over standard qPCR. Here we present a gene expression analysis method applicable to both standard polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) and high throughput qPCR. This technique is adjusted to the input sample quantity (e.g., the number of cells) and is independent of control gene expression. It is efficiency-corrected and with the use of a universal reference sample (commercial complementary DNA (cDNA)) permits the normalization of results between different batches and between different instruments – regardless of potential differences in transcript amplification efficiency. Modifications of the input quantity method include (1) the achievement of absolute quantification and (2) a non-efficiency corrected analysis. When compared to other commonly used algorithms the input quantity method proved to be valid. This method is of particular value for clinical studies of whole blood and circulating leukocytes where cell counts are readily available.