Thin films of the high-temperature superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 ؊ ␦ exhibit both a large critical current (the superconducting current density generally lies between 10 11 and 10 12 A m −2 at 4.2 K in zero magnetic field) and a decrease in such currents with magnetic field that point to the importance of strong vortex pinning along extended defects 1,2 . But it has hitherto been unclear which types of defect-dislocations, grain boundaries, surface corrugations and anti-phase boundaries-are responsible. Here we make use of a sequential etching technique to address this question. We find that both edge and screw dislocations, which can be mapped

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy was used to investigate single crystals and thin films of La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(3) (with x of about 0.3), which exhibit colossal magnetoresistance. The different spectroscopic signatures of the insulating (paramagnetic) and metallic (ferromagnetic) phases enable their spatial extent to be imaged down to a lateral scale of the order of 10 nanometers. Above the bulk transition temperature T(c), the images show mostly insulating behavior. Below T(c), a phase separation is observed where inhomogeneous structures of metallic and more insulating areas coexist and are strongly field dependent in their size and structure. Insulating areas are found to persist far below T(c). These results suggest that the transition and the associated magnetoresistance behavior should be viewed as a percolation of metallic ferromagnetic domains.

We have investigated as-grown sputtered films of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 in a thickness range between 5 and 200 nm on SrTiO3 substrates. The films are epitaxial, strained, and smooth. All films order magnetically around 175 K. Very thin films show full magnetization at low temperatures, but the temperature of the metal–insulator transition is appreciably lower than the magnetic ordering temperature. In thick films, the magnetization is much lower than expected. Both effects are probably related to structural disorder as found by transmission electron microscopy.

We demonstrate adiabatic rapid passage on a subpicosecond time scale in a single semiconductor quantum dot, enabling the exploration of a regime of strong (and rapidly varying) Rabi energies for optical control of excitons. An observed dependence of the exciton inversion efficiency on the sign of the pulse chirp demonstrates the dominance of phonon-mediated dephasing, which is suppressed for positive chirp at low temperature. Our findings will support the realization of dynamical decoupling strategies and suggest that multiphonon emission and/or non-Markovian effects should be taken into account.

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