Condensed-matter systems that are both low-dimensional and strongly interacting often exhibit unusual electronic properties. Strongly correlated electrons with greatly enhanced effective mass are present in heavy fermion compounds, whose electronic structure is essentially three-dimensional. We realized experimentally a two-dimensional heavy fermion system, adjusting the dimensionality in a controllable fashion. Artificial superlattices of the antiferromagnetic heavy fermion compound CeIn3 and the conventional metal LaIn3 were grown epitaxially. By reducing the thickness of the CeIn3 layers, the magnetic order was suppressed and the effective electron mass was further enhanced. Heavy fermions confined to two dimensions display striking deviations from the standard Fermi liquid low-temperature electronic properties, and these are associated with the dimensional tuning of quantum criticality.

No abstract

Dorsal raphe (DR) 5-HT neurons regulate sleep-wake transitions. Previous studies demonstrated that single-unit activity of DR 5-HT neurons is high during wakefulness, decreases during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and ceases during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, characteristics of the population-level activity of DR 5-HT neurons, which influence the entire brain, are largely unknown. Here, we measured population activities of 5-HT neurons in the male and female mouse DR across the sleep-wake cycle by ratiometric fiber photometry. We found a slow oscillatory activity of compound intracellular Ca 21 signals during NREM sleep. The trough of the concave 5-HT activity increased across sleep progression, but 5-HT activity always returned to that seen during the wake period. When the trough reached a minimum and remained there, REM sleep was initiated. We also found a unique coupling of the oscillatory 5-HT activity and wideband EEG power fluctuation. Furthermore, optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons during NREM sleep triggered a high EMG power and induced wakefulness, demonstrating a causal role of 5-HT neuron activation. Optogenetic inhibition induced REM sleep or sustained NREM, with an EEG power increase and EEG fluctuation, and pharmacological silencing of 5-HT activity using a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor led to sustained NREM, with an EEG power decrease and EEG fluctuation. These inhibitory manipulations supported the association between oscillatory 5-HT activity and EEG fluctuation. We propose that NREM sleep is not a monotonous state, but rather it contains dynamic changes that coincide with the oscillatory population-level activity of DR 5-HT neurons.

Kanarnori [ 1972].

Highly c-axis oriented thin films of Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 were grown on Cr∕MgO substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The films consist of micrograins which are strongly oriented in c axis but are random in the film plane. Kondo temperature, superconducting transition temperature, and upper critical fields of the films are very close to those of single crystals.