Hybrid State Research Articles

The Phenomenon of Hybrid State Capitalism in Emerging Market Economies: Present and Future

The article is devoted to the actual and complex topic of the transformation of a number of countries with emerging markets. A retrospective of the transformation of the entire enclave of emerging market economies in a large number of countries was briefly presented. On this ground, the process of the reproduction of economic systems, distinguished by a hybrid structure with a prevailing state-capitalist order, in a separate conglomerate of post-developing and after socialist countries was analyzed in the last period. Based on the empirical available evaluations, with regard to the conglomerate of considered national economies, the most significant fundamental competitive advantage is still the preservation of relatively low cost of production factors. By the author's argumentation, a vision of the prospect for the transformation of such national economies are presented. The final conclusion concerns the possibility of successful adaptation of these economic systems to the positive fundamental changes, especially including those associated with the transition to sustainable overall social development.

Ultrastrong conductive in situ composite composed of nanodiamond incoherently embedded in disordered multilayer graphene

Traditional ceramics or metals cannot simultaneously achieve ultrahigh strength and high electrical conductivity. The elemental carbon can form a variety of allotropes with entirely different physical properties, providing versatility for tuning mechanical and electrical properties in a wide range. Here, by precisely controlling the extent of transformation of amorphous carbon into diamond within a narrow temperature–pressure range, we synthesize an in situ composite consisting of ultrafine nanodiamond homogeneously dispersed in disordered multilayer graphene with incoherent interfaces, which demonstrates a Knoop hardness of up to ~53 GPa, a compressive strength of up to ~54 GPa and an electrical conductivity of 670–1,240 S m–1 at room temperature. With atomically resolving interface structures and molecular dynamics simulations, we reveal that amorphous carbon transforms into diamond through a nucleation process via a local rearrangement of carbon atoms and diffusion-driven growth, different from the transformation of graphite into diamond. The complex bonding between the diamond-like and graphite-like components greatly improves the mechanical properties of the composite. This superhard, ultrastrong, conductive elemental carbon composite has comprehensive properties that are superior to those of the known conductive ceramics and C/C composites. The intermediate hybridization state at the interfaces also provides insights into the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition of carbon.

Strain control of hybridization between dark and localized excitons in a 2D semiconductor

Mechanical strain is a powerful tuning knob for excitons, Coulomb-bound electron–hole complexes dominating optical properties of two-dimensional semiconductors. While the strain response of bright free excitons is broadly understood, the behaviour of dark free excitons (long-lived excitations that generally do not couple to light due to spin and momentum conservation) or localized excitons related to defects remains mostly unexplored. Here, we study the strain behaviour of these fragile many-body states on pristine suspended WSe2 kept at cryogenic temperatures. We find that under the application of strain, dark and localized excitons in monolayer WSe2—a prototypical 2D semiconductor—are brought into energetic resonance, forming a new hybrid state that inherits the properties of the constituent species. The characteristics of the hybridized state, including an order-of-magnitude enhanced light/matter coupling, avoided-crossing energy shifts, and strain tunability of many-body interactions, are all supported by first-principles calculations. The hybridized excitons reported here may play a critical role in the operation of single quantum emitters based on WSe2. Furthermore, the techniques we developed may be used to fingerprint unidentified excitonic states.

Inter-configuration fluctuation for 5f electrons in uranium hexafluoride: A many-body study

A quantum mechanics calculation is performed on uranium hexafluoride (UF6) by using density functional theory (DFT) combing with dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) scheme, taking into account the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) interaction and the on-site 5f-5f Coulomb repulsion. Results demonstrate that SOC-splitting j = 5/2 and j = 7/2 manifolds are in the metallic and insulating regimes, respectively, albeit both are in weakly correlated states. Ratio of the quasi-particle weights R = Zj=7/2/Zj=5/2 is about 1, suggesting that UF6 is not in the so-called orbital-selective localized state. Russel-Saunders (LS) coupling scheme is feasible for U 5f electrons. U 5f-conduction electrons hybridization, 5f-5f correlation, SOC interaction and final state effects yield a complicated spectrum function. Occupation probability analysis shows that 5f electrons exhibit the so-called inter-configuration fluctuation (ICF) due to admixing of 5f1 and 5f3 atomic configurations into 5f2 configuration with an average occupation number of n5f ∼ 1.8585, mainly arising from the complicated quantum mechanics processes including the dual nature of localized and itinerant 5f electrons, a quantum mechanical mixture of the energetically degenerate 5fn configurations, as well as the flexible outer electronic configuration of U ions. Finally, the momentum-resolved electronic spectrum function (the so-called quasiparticle band structure) is also discussed.

Structural, electrical, magnetic & optical properties of Nickel, cobalt doped and Co-doped wurtzite GaN: A first-principle investigation

The structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of Co (6.25%) and Ni (6.25%) monodoped and co-doped GaN were calculated by the DFT+U method using a 2 × 2 × 2 supercell of a total of 32 atoms. The formation energy was negative under both Ga-rich and N-rich conditions for all structures. N-rich condition is found to be favorable for GaN growth. The electronic and magnetic properties changed after doping due to the transition of the 3 d states of Ni, Co and hybridization of 2p of N. Hence monodoped GaN is ferromagnetic whereas the co-doped one is ferrimagnetic due to partial cancellation by the opposite spin of Ni and Co. The doped and co-doped absorption peaks are blue-shifted in the ultraviolet (UV) and redshifted in the visible-infrared (VIS-IR) region from the peaks of pure GaN. A pronounced absorption of VIS-IR is observed in monodoped structures. Both dielectric constant and refractive index increased due to co-doping whereas monodoping had enhanced the properties significantly. This theoretical study suggests the potential application of the Co, Ni monodoped in VIS- IR photonic and co-doped GaN in spintronic devices.

Decoding the coupled decision-making of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metabolic reprogramming in cancer

Cancer metastasis relies on an orchestration of traits driven by different interacting functional modules, including metabolism and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). During metastasis, cancer cells can acquire a hybrid metabolic phenotype (W/O) by increasing oxidative phosphorylation without compromising glycolysis and they can acquire a hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) phenotype by engaging EMT. Both the W/O and E/M states are associated with high metastatic potentials, and many regulatory links coupling metabolism and EMT have been identified. Here, we investigate the coupled decision-making networks of metabolism and EMT. Their crosstalk can exhibit synergistic or antagonistic effects on the acquisition and stability of different coupled metabolism-EMT states. Strikingly, the aggressive E/M-W/O state can be enabled and stabilized by the crosstalk irrespective of these hybrid states' availability in individual metabolism or EMT modules. Our work emphasizes the mutual activation between metabolism and EMT, providing an important step toward understanding the multifaceted nature of cancer metastasis.

Effective spin injection into the organic semiconductor PTCDA evaluated by a normalization method

Studies of spin current injection, transport, and interface control have drawn attention recently for efficient organic spintronic devices. In this study, we apply both spin pumping (SP) and the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) to inject spin currents into a π-conjugated organic semiconductor, perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), and characterize injection and transport by measuring inverse spin Hall voltage VISHE in spin detectors. A normalization factor introduced to SP analysis eliminates a contribution provoked by deviation of spin sources and leads to a more accurate determination of the spin diffusion length in PTCDA. While SP with Permalloy as a spin source is effective in generating detectable VISHE, the LSSE from yttrium iron garnet shows no convincing sign of spin injection. In addition, spin-flip scattering induced by hybrid states undermining electrical spin injection is negligible in SP. These results are attributed to interfaces between spin sources and PTCDA, indicative of the importance of injection methods and material choices.

Probing the effect of Zn2+ on the local structure, dielectric and magnetic properties of La2CuMnO6 by solid state synthesis

The comparable ionic-radius cation substitution provides a route to investigate the origin of the physical properties of ceramics on the local structure and electronic charge state background. In analogy to our previous work [19] of La2CuMnO6 (LCM) prepared via solid-state route, here we are reporting the effect of Zn substitution at the Cu site of LCM. The detailed structural analysis confirmed the Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion in LCM and Zn2+ substituted LCM (i.e., LCZM) ceramics. Raman analysis further confirmed the JT distortion in these oxides. O K-edge and Mn K-edge XANES spectra confirmed the mixed hybridization states for Mn. A frequency-dependent relaxor state was observed in the dielectric study of LCM and LCZM. The dielectric responses of these systems are prominently driven by electron-phonon coupling. Their magnetic studies showed positive-Curie temperature (TC) and non-zero coercivity, indicating the ceramics' canted-antiferromagnetic nature.

Steering Carbon Hybridization State in Carbon-Based Metal-free Catalysts for Selective and Durable CO2 Electroreduction

Steering Carbon Hybridization State in Carbon-Based Metal-free Catalysts for Selective and Durable CO₂ Electroreduction

Energy cascades in donor-acceptor exciton-polaritons observed by ultrafast two-dimensional white-light spectroscopy

Exciton-polaritons are hybrid states formed when molecular excitons are strongly coupled to photons trapped in an optical cavity. These systems exhibit many interesting, but not fully understood, phenomena. Here, we utilize ultrafast two-dimensional white-light spectroscopy to study donor-acceptor microcavities made from two different layers of semiconducting carbon nanotubes. We observe the delayed growth of a cross peak between the upper- and lower-polariton bands that is oftentimes obscured by Rabi contraction. We simulate the spectra and use Redfield theory to learn that energy cascades down a manifold of new electronic states created by intermolecular coupling and the two distinct bandgaps of the donor and acceptor. Energy most effectively enters the manifold when light-matter coupling is commensurate with the energy distribution of the manifold, contributing to long-range energy transfer. Our results broaden the understanding of energy transfer dynamics in exciton-polariton systems and provide evidence that long-range energy transfer benefits from moderately-coupled cavities.

Tunable exciton-plasmon coupled resonances with Cu2+/Cu+ substitution in self-assembled CuS nanostructured films

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) coupled with exciton resonances in semiconductor nanostructures are crucial for extended spectral range of light matter interactions beyond diffraction limits. Here, we report the tunable coupling of exciton-plasmon resonances with Cu2+ substitution for Cu+ in pure covellite phase of CuS nanostructures by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The synthesized self-assembled multilayered nanostructures in shape of nanorods and nanoflakes are found to dramatically change their near field coupling resonances with Cu2+ substitution. The near normal incidence reflectance spectra is fitted by Drude-Lorentz oscillator model constrained with Kramers-Kronig relations to obtain various optical parameters. The substitution of Cu2+ ions found to significantly tune the complex refractive index nearby or below unity for wavelengths approaching plasmon frequency and correspondingly develop epsilon near zero (ENZ) modes in permittivity. The absorption spectrum measured with two different methods is used to distinguish the type of resonances in hybrid states. Raman spectra reveal the enhancement in intensity of A1g modes by four times. The carrier concentration and mobility were measured using Hall measurements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals the variable oxidation states of the constituent elements. This work demonstrates simplistic approach for efficient fabrication of quantum confined nanostructures for improved light-matter interactions.

A novel approach of full state tendency measurement for complex systems based on information causality and PageRank: A case study of a hydropower generation system

The hydropower generation system is a typical complex nonlinear system with hybrid state responses. The interaction between the state responses of the system is affected closely by the coupling of hydraulic, mechanical, and electromagnetic factors and the frequent changes in working conditions during operation. However, the precise roles of the interaction relationship are unknown. Here, we show that this interaction depends on the causal coupling between subsystems, and use this relationship to propose a time series data mining and data prediction strategy based on the information causality and the PageRank algorithm. A nonlinear model is used to prove that the proposed prediction strategy can effectively reduce the dimension of auxiliary variables. Finally, the strategy is validated with a 250 MW hydropower unit. Our results show that the information causal coupling between variables is cross-scale with definite Markov orders of time series, and the prediction accuracy can be improved by considering the information transfer sequences between the prediction object variable and the causal variable in the absence of state auxiliary variables. Furthermore, the proposed method can be also applied to data mining of other complex systems and variable selection of prediction models and builds a bridge between mechanism- and data-driven approaches, which has a high engineering application value.

RNA Probes for Visualization of Sarcin/ricin Loop Depurination without Background Fluorescence.

Protein synthesis via ribosomes is a fundamental process in all known living organisms. However, it can be completely stalled by removing a single nucleobase (depurination) at the sarcin/ricin loop of the ribosomal RNA. In this work, we describe the preparation and optimization process of a fluorescent probe that can be used to visualize depurination. Starting from a fluorescent thiophene nucleobase analog, various RNA probes that fluoresce exclusively in the presence of a depurinated sarcin/ricin-loop RNA were designed and characterized. The main challenge in this process was to obtain a high fluorescence signal in the hybridized state with an abasic RNA strand, while keeping the background fluorescence low. With our new RNA probes, the fluorescence intensity and lifetime can be used for efficient monitoring of depurinated RNA.

“In medio stat virtus”: Insights into hybrid E/M phenotype attitudes

Epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) refers to the ability of cells to dynamically interconvert between epithelial (E) and mesenchymal (M) phenotypes, thus generating an array of hybrid E/M intermediates with mixed E and M features. Recent findings have demonstrated how these hybrid E/M rather than fully Mcells play key roles in most of physiological and pathological processes involving EMT. To this regard, the onset of hybrid E/M state coincides with the highest stemness gene expression and is involved in differentiation of either normal and cancer stem cells. Moreover, hybrid E/M cells are responsible for wound healing and create a favorable immunosuppressive environment for tissue regeneration. Nevertheless, hybrid state is responsible of metastatic process and of the increasing of survival, apoptosis and therapy resistance in cancer cells. The present review aims to describe the main features and the emerging concepts regulating EMP and the formation of E/M hybrid intermediates by describing differences and similarities between cancer and normal hybrid stem cells. In particular, the comprehension of hybrid E/M cells biology will surely advance our understanding of their features and how they could be exploited to improve tissue regeneration and repair.

P-Orbital Bismuth Single-Atom Catalyst for Highly Effective Oxygen Electroreduction in Quasi-Solid Zinc-Air Batteries.

P-block metals have gradually been utilized to synthesize non-noble-metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to the easily tunable localized p-orbitals and resulted versatile electronic structures. The high-density single-atom bismuth sites (Bi-NC) anchored onto nitrogen-doped three-dimensional porous carbon are proved to possess significant electrocatalytic ORR performance. Theoretical calculations unveil positively charged bismuth centers prominently improved the adsorption capacity of N-doped carbon to O2 . The p orbitals of Bi sites within Bi-NC easily generate hybrid states with p orbitals of O2 , thus promoting charge transfer and ultimately reducing the energy barrier of ORR. Benefiting from p-orbital electrons regulation of bismuth atoms, Bi-NC exhibit ORR half-wave potential of 0.86V (vs RHE). Additionally, both liquid and quasi-solid zinc-air batteries with Bi-NC as air-cathodes achieve higher power density and specific capacity than 20wt% Pt/C, and comparable stability and round-trip efficiency with 20wt% Pt/C. The discovery sheds light on the theoretical and practical guidance for p-block metallic single-atom catalysts.

Interacting Particle System based estimation of reach probability of General Stochastic Hybrid Systems

For diffusions, a well-developed approach in rare event estimation is to introduce a suitable factorization of the reach probability and then to estimate these factors through simulation of an Interacting Particle System (IPS). This paper studies IPS based reach probability estimation for General Stochastic Hybrid Systems (GSHS). The continuous-time executions of a GSHS evolve in a hybrid state space under influence of combinations of diffusions, spontaneous jumps and forced jumps. In applying IPS to a GSHS, simulation of the GSHS execution plays a central role. From literature, two basic approaches in simulating GSHS execution are known. One approach is direct simulation of a GSHS execution. An alternative is to first transform the spontaneous jumps of a GSHS to forced transitions, and then to simulate executions of this transformed version. This paper will show that the latter transformation yields an extra Markov state component that should be treated as being unobservable for the IPS process. To formally make this state component unobservable for IPS, this paper also develops an enriched GSHS transformation prior to transforming spontaneous jumps to forced jumps. The expected improvements in IPS reach probability estimation are also illustrated through simulation results for a simple GSHS example.

Axion-plasmon-polariton hybridization in a graphene periodic structure

This study investigated the hybridization between an axion and plasmon polariton, attributed to the coupling achieved by combining modified electrodynamics and hydrodynamic approaches on a plasmon-polariton in a graphene periodic structure. The enhancement of the effective coupling was also studied. Furthermore, corrections for the axion and the lowest plasmon -polariton hybridization state spectra have been presented. An observable was proposed to detect axions, which is significant even when the effective coupling is not large, especially as the axion mass decreases. The study shows that the resulting structure provides a sensitive and wide-mass-spectrum platform for detecting axions at the sub-meV scale.

Hybrid states of a cavity-photon–vortex coupled system in a superconductive cavity

As the Abrikosov vortex lattice has recently been found in van der Waals heterostructures constructed by a two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnet and a superconductor, we propose the realization of cavity-photon–vortex coupling in a superconductive cavity to construct a new hybrid quantum system in this paper. We study the corresponding hybrid states therein, including the exceptional lines (ELs) in the parameter space. Considering that the parameters of our system are adjustable by external magnetic field and temperature, our system and the ELs are much easier to be realized in experiments. Furthermore, the numerical results show that the corresponding hybrid states can be switched by tuning the source of AC, which makes this hybrid system more advantageous to realize hybrid quantum computing in the future. Moreover, for practical use in detecting hybrid states and the vortex dynamics, the transmission amplitude of an external transverse electric wave through the cavity is also studied.

Anomalous transport regime in a non-Hermitian Anderson-localized hybrid system

In a disordered environment, the average transmission of a propagating wave falls with increasing disorder. Beyond a crossover, transport is arrested because the wave is trapped in the bulk of the sample with exponentially decaying coupling to the boundaries due to Anderson localization. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of anomalous transport of hybrid particles under localizing disorder in a non-Hermitian setting. We create hybrid polariton-photon states in a one-dimensional copper sample with a comb-shaped periodic microstructure designed for microwave frequencies. Non-Hermiticity arises from multiple loss channels existing in the real experimental sample. Disorder is introduced by deliberate alterations of the periodic microstructure. Direct measurement of wave functions was achieved by a near-field probe. At a particular disorder, we observe the onset of Anderson localization of the hybrid states attested to by the exponential tails of the wave function. However, at stronger disorder and under conditions that support localization, an unexpected enhancement in the transmission was facilitated by an emergent miniband. The transmission was traced to the hopping of the hybrid particle over multiple coexisting localized resonances that exchange energy due to the nonorthogonality. These emergent states are manifested in all configurations under strong disorder, suggesting a novel transport regime. This is verified by measuring the averaged conductance which indicates an anomalous transport regime in the hybrid, non-Hermitian environment under strong disorder. These experimental observations open up new unexplored avenues in the ambit of disorder under non-Hermitian conditions.

Identification of an FXR-modulated liver-intestine hybrid state in iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells.

Pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived hepatocyte-like cells (HLC) have enormous potential as a replacement for primary hepatocytes in drug screening, toxicology and cell replacement therapy, but their genome-wide expression patterns differ strongly from primary human hepatocytes (PHH). We differentiated human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) via definitive endoderm to HLC and characterized the cells by single-cell and bulk RNA-seq, with complementary epigenetic analyses. We then compared HLC to PHH and publicly available data on human fetal hepatocytes (FH) exvivo; we performed bioinformatics-guided interventions to improve HLC differentiation via lentiviral transduction of the nuclear receptor FXR and agonist exposure. Single-cell RNA-seq revealed that transcriptomes of individual HLC display a hybrid state, where hepatocyte-associated genes are expressed in concert with genes that are not expressed in PHH - mostly intestinal genes - within the same cell. Bulk-level overrepresentation analysis, as well as regulon analysis at the single-cell level, identified sets of regulatory factors discriminating HLC, FH, and PHH, hinting at a central role for the nuclear receptor FXR in the functional maturation of HLC. Combined FXR expression plus agonist exposure enhanced the expression of hepatocyte-associated genes and increased the ability of bile canalicular secretion as well as lipid droplet formation, thereby increasing HLCs' similarity to PHH. The undesired non-liver gene expression was reproducibly decreased, although only by a moderate degree. In contrast to physiological hepatocyte precursor cells and mature hepatocytes, HLC co-express liver and hybrid genes in the same cell. Targeted modification of the FXR gene regulatory network improves their differentiation by suppressing intestinal traits whilst inducing hepatocyte features. Generation of human hepatocytes from stem cells represents an active research field but its success is hampered by the fact that the stem cell-derived 'hepatocytes' still show major differences to hepatocytes obtained from a liver. Here, we identified an important reason for the difference, specifically that the stem cell-derived 'hepatocyte' represents a hybrid cell with features of hepatocytes and intestinal cells. We show that a specific protein (FXR) suppresses intestinal and induces liver features, thus bringing the stem cell-derived cells closer to hepatocytes derived from human livers.