Giant electrode effect on tunnelling electroresistance in ferroelectric tunnel junctions.

Among recently discovered ferroelectricity-related phenomena, the tunnelling electroresistance (TER) effect in ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) has been attracting rapidly increasing attention owing to the emerging possibilities of non-volatile memory, logic and neuromorphic computing applications of these quantum nanostructures. Despite recent advances in experimental and theoretical studies of FTJs, many questions concerning their electrical behaviour still remain open. In particular, the role of ferroelectric/electrode interfaces and the separation of the ferroelectric-driven TER effect from electrochemical ('redox'-based) resistance-switching effects have to be clarified.

Giant Rydberg excitons in the copper oxide Cu2O.

A highly excited atom having an electron that has moved into a level with large principal quantum number is a hydrogen-like object, termed a Rydberg atom. The giant size of Rydberg atoms leads to huge interaction effects. Monitoring these interactions has provided insights into atomic and molecular physics on the single-quantum level.

Quantum-memory effects in the emission of quantum-dot microcavities.

The experimentally measured input-output characteristics of optically pumped semiconductor microcavities exhibits unexpected oscillations modifying the fundamentally linear slope in the excitation power regime below lasing. A systematic microscopic analysis reproduces these oscillations, identifying them as a genuine quantum-memory effect, i.e.

A new stochastic model for subgenomic hepatitis C virus replication considers drug resistant mutants.

As an RNA virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is able to rapidly acquire drug resistance, and for this reason the design of effective anti-HCV drugs is a real challenge. The HCV subgenomic replicon-containing cells are widely used for experimental studies of the HCV genome replication mechanisms, for drug testing in vitro and in studies of HCV drug resistance. The NS3/4A protease is essential for virus replication and, therefore, it is one of the most attractive targets for developing specific antiviral agents against HCV.