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Ge-68 is a cosmogenic isotope in germanium with a half-life of 270.9 days. Ge-68 and its decay daughter Ga-68 contribute considerable background with energy up to 3 MeV to low background $\gamma$ spectrometers using high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. In this paper, we evaluated the background of Ge-68 and Ga-68 in a p-type coaxial HPGe detector operated at China Jinping underground laboratory (CJPL) via a time series fitting method. Under the assumption that Ge-68 and Ga-68 are in radioactive equilibrium and airborne radon daughters are uniformly distributed in the measurement chamber of the spectrometer, we fit the time series of count rate in 1-3 MeV to calculate the Ge-68 activity, radon daughter concentrations, and the time-invariant background component. Total 90 days measured data were used in analysis, a hypothesis test confirmed a significant Ge-68 signal at 99.64% confidence level. The initial activity of Ge-68 is fitted to be 477.0$\pm$112.4 $\mu$Bq/kg, corresponding to an integral count rate of 55.9 count/day in 1-3 MeV range. During the measurement, Ge-68 activity decreased by about 30%, contributing about 62% of the total background in 1-3 MeV range. Our method also provides an estimation of the variation of airborne radon daughter concentrations in the measurement chamber, which could be used to monitor the performance of radon reduction measures.

Non-reciprocal charge transport that is strongly associated with the structural or magnetic chirality of the quantum materials system is one of the most exotic properties of condensed matter physics. Here, using magnetic alloys film Pt2MnGe, we have realized the large non-reciprocal charge transport up to room temperature, which roots in the organic combination of chirality dependent carrier scattering and special magnetic configurations. In this framework, the conduction electrons are scattered asymmetrically by the emerging non-zero vector spin chirality under in-plane magnetic field, resulting in robust non-reciprocal response. More astonishingly, the vector spin chirality in Pt2MnGe film can be reversed by a spin-polarized current through spin Hall effect in a junction with Pt layer. Our work resolves the general limitation of non-reciprocal charge transport to cryogenic temperatures, and paves the way for extending its applications in the emerging field of chiral spintronics.

Nonreciprocal charge transport, which is frequently termed as electrical magnetochiral anisotropy (EMCA) in chiral conductors, touches the most important elements of modern condensed matter physics. Here, we have investigated the EMCA in Pt/PtMnGa (PMG) bilayers with the assitance of nonequilibrium fluctuation theorems. Large EMCA in the Pt/PMG bilayers can be attributed to nonreciprocal response of an interface-driven chiral transport channel. Due to the presence of large charge fluctuations for small current region, higher order EMCA coefficients should be added and they are all functions of current. A combination of asymmetrical electron scattering and spin-dependent scattering furnish the PMG thickness dependent chiral transport behaviors in Pt/PMG bilayers. The dramatically enhanced anomalous Hall angle of PMG further demonstrates the modified surface state properties by strong spin-orbit coupling.

Multiferroic tunnel junctions (MFTJs) have already been proved to be promising candidates for application in spintronics devices. The coupling between tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) and tunnel electroresistance (TER) in MFTJs can provide four distinct resistive states in a single memory cell. Here we show that in an all-oxide asymmetric MFTJ of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 /PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 /La0.7Te0.3MnO3 (LSMO/PZT/LTMO) with p-type and n-type electrodes, the intrinsic rectification is observed and can be modified by the ferroelectric polarization of PZT. Owing to the combined TMR, TER and diode effects, two different groups of four resistive states under opposite reading biases are performed. With two parallel asymmetric junctions and the appropriate series resistance, the coexistence of logic units and quaternary memory cells can be realized in the same array devices. The asymmetric MFTJ structure enables more possibilities for designing next generation of multi-states memory and logical devices with higher storage density, lower energy consumption and significantly increased integration level.

In the last few years, some ideas of electric manipulations in ferromagnetic heterostructures have been proposed for developing next generation spintronic devices. Among them, the magnetization switching driven by spin-orbit torque (SOT) is being intensely pursued. Especially, how to control the switching current density, which is expected to enrich device functionalities, has aroused much interest among researchers all over the world. In this paper, a novel method to adjust the switching current is proposed, and the BiFeO3 (BFO) based heterostructures with opposite spontaneous polarizations fields show huge changes in both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and the SOT-induced magnetization switching. The damping-like torques were estimated by using harmonic Hall voltage measurement, and the variation of effective spin Hall angles for the heterostructures with opposite polarizations was calculated to be 272%. At the end of this paper, we have also demonstrated the possible applications of our structure in memory and reconfigurable logic devices.

The Technical Design for the COMET Phase-I experiment is presented in this paper. COMET is an experiment at J-PARC, Japan, which will search for neutrinoless conversion of muons into electrons in the field of an aluminium nucleus ($\mu-e$ conversion, $\mu^- N \to e^- N$); a lepton flavor violating process. The experimental sensitivity goal for this process in the Phase-I experiment is $3.1\times10^{-15}$, or 90 % upper limit of branching ratio of $7\times 10^{-15}$, which is a factor of 100 improvement over the existing limit. The expected number of background events is 0.032. To achieve the target sensitivity and background level, the 3.2 kW 8 GeV proton beam from J-PARC will be used. Two types of detectors, CyDet and StrECAL, will be used for detecting the \mue conversion events, and for measuring the beam-related background events in view of the Phase-II experiment, respectively. Results from simulation on signal and background estimations are also described., Comment: A minor correction applied in Eq. 3

The spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) are observed in a Cr2O3/Ta structure. The structural and surface morphology of Cr2O3/Ta bilayers have been investigated. Temperature dependence of longitudinal and transverse resistances measurements confirm the relationship between SMR and AHE signals in Cr2O3/Ta structure. By means of temperature dependent magnetoresistance measurements, the physical origin of SMR in the Cr2O3/Ta structure is revealed, and the contribution to the SMR from the spin current generated by AHE has been proved. The so-called boundary magnetization due to the bulk antiferromagnetic order in Cr2O3 film may be responsible for the relationship of SMR and AHE in the Cr2O3/Ta bilayer.

We investigate the observation of negative spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in antiferromagnetic Cr2O3/Ta bilayers at low temperature. The sign of the SMR signals is changed from positive to negative monotonously from 300 K to 50 K. The change of the signs for SMR is related with the competitions between the surface ferromagnetism and bulky antiferromagnetic of Cr2O3. The surface magnetizations of Cr2O3 (0001) is considered to be dominated at higher temperature, while the bulky antiferromagnetics gets to be robust with decreasing of temperature. The slopes of the abnormal Hall curves coincide with the signs of SMR, confirming variational interface magnetism of Cr2O3 at different temperature. From the observed SMR ratio under 3 T, the spin mixing conductance at Cr2O3/Ta interface is estimated to be 1.12*10^14 (ohm^-1*m^-2), which is comparable to that of YIG/Pt structures and our early results of Cr2O3/W. (Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 262401 (2017))

A three-dimensional numerical simulation is conducted for a complex process in a laser-material system, which involves heat and mass transfer in a compressible gaseous phase and chemical reaction during laser irradiation on a urethane paint coated on a stainless steel substrate. A finite volume method (FVM) with a co-located grid mesh that discretizes the entire computational domain is employed to simulate the heating process. The results show that when the top surface of the paint reaches a threshold temperature of 560 K, the polyurethane starts to decompose through chemical reaction. As a result, combustion products CO2, H2O and NO2 are produced and chromium (III) oxide, which serves as pigment in the paint, is ejected as solid parcels from the paint into the gaseous domain. Variations of temperature, density and velocity at the center of the laser irradiation spot, and the concentrations of reaction reactant/products in the gaseous phase are presented and discussed, by comparing six scenarios with different laser powers ranging from 2.5 kW to 15 kW with an increment of 2.5 kW.

A two-dimensional axisymmetric transient laser drilling model is used to analyze the effects of laser beam diameter and laser pulse duration on the laser drilling process. The model includes conduction and convection heat transfer, melting, solidification and vaporization, as well as material removal resulting from the vaporization and melt ejection. The validated model is applied to study the effects of laser beam size and pulse duration on the geometry of the drilled hole. It is found that the ablation effect decrease with the increasing beam diameter due to the effect of increased vaporization rate, and deeper hole is observed for the larger pulse width due to the higher thermal ablation efficiency.

Ultrafast laser material processing has received significant attention due to a growing need for the fabrication of miniaturized devices at micro- and nanoscales. The traditional phenomenological laws, such as Fourier's law of heat conduction, are challenged in the microscale regime and a hyperbolic or dual phase lag model should be employed. During ultrafast laser interaction with metal, the electrons and lattices are not in equilibrium. Various two-temperature models that can be used to describe the nonequilibrium heat transfer are presented. A semi-classical two-step heating model to investigate thermal transport in metals caused by ultrashort laser heating is also presented. The main difference between the semiclassical and the phenomenological two-temperature models is that the former includes the effects of electron drifting, which could result in significantly different electron and lattice temperature response from the latter for higher-intensity and shorter-pulse laser heating. Under higher laser fluence and/or short pulse, the lattice temperature can exceed the melting point and melting takes place. The liquid phase will be resolidified when the lattice is cooled by conducting heat away. Ultrafast melting and resolidification of the thin gold film and microparticles were investigated. At even shorter pulse width, femtosecond laser heating on metals produces a blasting force from hot electrons in the sub-picosecond domain, which exerts on the metal lattices along with the non-equilibrium heat flow. Our work that employs the parabolic two-step heating model to study the effect of the hot-electron blast in multi-layered thin metal films is also presented.

A sample-based stochastic model is presented to investigate the effects of uncertainties of various input parameters, including laser fluence, laser pulse duration, thermal conductivity constants for electron, and electron-lattice coupling factor, on solid-liquid phase change of gold film under nano- to femtosecond laser irradiation. Rapid melting and resolidification of a free standing gold film subject to nano- to femtosecond laser are simulated using a two-temperature model incorporated with the interfacial tracking method. The interfacial velocity and temperature are obtained by solving the energy equation in terms of volumetric enthalpy for control volume. The convergence of variance (COV) is used to characterize the variability of the input parameters, and the interquartile range (IQR) is used to calculate the uncertainty of the output parameters. The IQR analysis shows that the laser fluence and the electron-lattice coupling factor have the strongest influences on the interfacial location, velocity, and temperatures.