@misc{9741, abstract = {In rapidly changing environments, selection history may impact the dynamics of adaptation. Mutations selected in one environment may result in pleiotropic fitness trade-offs in subsequent novel environments, slowing the rates of adaptation. Epistatic interactions between mutations selected in sequential stressful environments may slow or accelerate subsequent rates of adaptation, depending on the nature of that interaction. We explored the dynamics of adaptation during sequential exposure to herbicides with different modes of action in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Evolution of resistance to two of the herbicides was largely independent of selection history. For carbetamide, previous adaptation to other herbicide modes of action positively impacted the likelihood of adaptation to this herbicide. Furthermore, while adaptation to all individual herbicides was associated with pleiotropic fitness costs in stress-free environments, we observed that accumulation of resistance mechanisms was accompanied by a reduction in overall fitness costs. We suggest that antagonistic epistasis may be a driving mechanism that enables populations to more readily adapt in novel environments. These findings highlight the potential for sequences of xenobiotics to facilitate the rapid evolution of multiple-drug and -pesticide resistance, as well as the potential for epistatic interactions between adaptive mutations to facilitate evolutionary rescue in rapidly changing environments.}, author = {Lagator, Mato and Colegrave, Nick and Neve, Paul}, publisher = {Dryad}, title = {{Data from: Selection history and epistatic interactions impact dynamics of adaptation to novel environmental stresses}}, doi = {10.5061/dryad.85dn7}, year = {2014}, } @misc{9747, abstract = {Understanding the effects of sex and migration on adaptation to novel environments remains a key problem in evolutionary biology. Using a single-cell alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, we investigated how sex and migration affected rates of evolutionary rescue in a sink environment, and subsequent changes in fitness following evolutionary rescue. We show that sex and migration affect both the rate of evolutionary rescue and subsequent adaptation. However, their combined effects change as the populations adapt to a sink habitat. Both sex and migration independently increased rates of evolutionary rescue, but the effect of sex on subsequent fitness improvements, following initial rescue, changed with migration, as sex was beneficial in the absence of migration but constraining adaptation when combined with migration. These results suggest that sex and migration are beneficial during the initial stages of adaptation, but can become detrimental as the population adapts to its environment.}, author = {Lagator, Mato and Morgan, Andrew and Neve, Paul and Colegrave, Nick}, publisher = {Dryad}, title = {{Data from: Role of sex and migration in adaptation to sink environments}}, doi = {10.5061/dryad.s42n1}, year = {2014}, } @misc{9752, abstract = {Redundancies and correlations in the responses of sensory neurons may seem to waste neural resources, but they can also carry cues about structured stimuli and may help the brain to correct for response errors. To investigate the effect of stimulus structure on redundancy in retina, we measured simultaneous responses from populations of retinal ganglion cells presented with natural and artificial stimuli that varied greatly in correlation structure; these stimuli and recordings are publicly available online. Responding to spatio-temporally structured stimuli such as natural movies, pairs of ganglion cells were modestly more correlated than in response to white noise checkerboards, but they were much less correlated than predicted by a non-adapting functional model of retinal response. Meanwhile, responding to stimuli with purely spatial correlations, pairs of ganglion cells showed increased correlations consistent with a static, non-adapting receptive field and nonlinearity. We found that in response to spatio-temporally correlated stimuli, ganglion cells had faster temporal kernels and tended to have stronger surrounds. These properties of individual cells, along with gain changes that opposed changes in effective contrast at the ganglion cell input, largely explained the pattern of pairwise correlations across stimuli where receptive field measurements were possible.}, author = {Simmons, Kristina and Prentice, Jason and Tkačik, Gašper and Homann, Jan and Yee, Heather and Palmer, Stephanie and Nelson, Philip and Balasubramanian, Vijay}, publisher = {Dryad}, title = {{Data from: Transformation of stimulus correlations by the retina}}, doi = {10.5061/dryad.246qg}, year = {2014}, } @misc{9753, abstract = {Background: The brood of ants and other social insects is highly susceptible to pathogens, particularly those that penetrate the soft larval and pupal cuticle. We here test whether the presence of a pupal cocoon, which occurs in some ant species but not in others, affects the sanitary brood care and fungal infection patterns after exposure to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We use a) a comparative approach analysing four species with either naked or cocooned pupae and b) a within-species analysis of a single ant species, in which both pupal types co-exist in the same colony. Results: We found that the presence of a cocoon did not compromise fungal pathogen detection by the ants and that species with cocooned pupae increased brood grooming after pathogen exposure. All tested ant species further removed brood from their nests, which was predominantly expressed towards larvae and naked pupae treated with the live fungal pathogen. In contrast, cocooned pupae exposed to live fungus were not removed at higher rates than cocooned pupae exposed to dead fungus or a sham control. Consistent with this, exposure to the live fungus caused high numbers of infections and fungal outgrowth in larvae and naked pupae, but not in cocooned pupae. Moreover, the ants consistently removed the brood prior to fungal outgrowth, ensuring a clean brood chamber. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the pupal cocoon has a protective effect against fungal infection, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the ants. It further demonstrates that brood removal - originally described for honeybees as “hygienic behaviour” – is a widespread sanitary behaviour in ants, which likely has important implications on disease dynamics in social insect colonies.}, author = {Tragust, Simon and Ugelvig, Line V and Chapuisat, Michel and Heinze, Jürgen and Cremer, Sylvia}, publisher = {Dryad}, title = {{Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies}}, doi = {10.5061/dryad.nc0gc}, year = {2014}, } @article{977, abstract = {We propose a method for detecting many-body localization (MBL) in disordered spin systems. The method involves pulsed coherent spin manipulations that probe the dephasing of a given spin due to its entanglement with a set of distant spins. It allows one to distinguish the MBL phase from a noninteracting localized phase and a delocalized phase. In particular, we show that for a properly chosen pulse sequence the MBL phase exhibits a characteristic power-law decay reflecting its slow growth of entanglement. We find that this power-law decay is robust with respect to thermal and disorder averaging, provide numerical simulations supporting our results, and discuss possible experimental realizations in solid-state and cold-atom systems.}, author = {Maksym Serbyn and Knap, Michael J and Gopalakrishnan, Sarang and Papić, Zlatko and Yao, Norman Y and Laumann, Chris R and Abanin, Dmitry A and Lukin, Mikhail D and Demler, Eugene A}, journal = {Physical Review Letters}, number = {14}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Interferometric probes of many-body localization}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.147204}, volume = {113}, year = {2014}, } @article{978, abstract = {The newly discovered topological crystalline insulators feature a complex band structure involving multiple Dirac cones, and are potentially highly tunable by external electric field, temperature or strain. Theoretically, it has been predicted that the various Dirac cones, which are offset in energy and momentum, might harbour vastly different orbital character. However, their orbital texture, which is of immense importance in determining a variety of a materialâ €™ s properties remains elusive. Here, we unveil the orbital texture of Pb 1â ̂'x Sn x Se, a prototypical topological crystalline insulator. By using Fourier-transform scanning tunnelling spectroscopy we measure the interference patterns produced by the scattering of surface-state electrons. We discover that the intensity and energy dependences of the Fourier transforms show distinct characteristics, which can be directly attributed to orbital effects. Our experiments reveal a complex band topology involving two Lifshitz transitions and establish the orbital nature of the Dirac bands, which could provide an alternative pathway towards future quantum applications.}, author = {Zeljkovic, Ilija and Okada, Yoshinori and Huang, Chengyi and Sankar, Raman and Walkup, Daniel and Zhou, Wenwen and Maksym Serbyn and Chou, Fangcheng and Tsai, Wei-Feng and Lin, Hsin and Bansil, Arun and Fu, Liang and Hasan, Md Z and Madhavan, Vidya}, journal = {Nature Physics}, number = {8}, pages = {572 -- 577}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {{Mapping the unconventional orbital texture in topological crystalline insulators}}, doi = {10.1038/nphys3012}, volume = {10}, year = {2014}, } @article{979, abstract = {In the recently discovered topological crystalline insulators SnTe and Pb1-xSnx(Te, Se), crystal symmetry and electronic topology intertwine to create topological surface states with many interesting features including Lifshitz transition, Van-Hove singularity, and fermion mass generation. These surface states are protected by mirror symmetry with respect to the (110) plane. In this work we present a comprehensive study of the effects of different mirror-symmetry-breaking perturbations on the (001) surface band structure. Pristine (001) surface states have four branches of Dirac fermions at low energy. We show that ferroelectric-type structural distortion generates a mass and gaps out some or all of these Dirac points, while strain shifts Dirac points in the Brillouin zone. An in-plane magnetic field leaves the surface state gapless, but introduces asymmetry between Dirac points. Finally, an out-of-plane magnetic field leads to discrete Landau levels. We show that the Landau level spectrum has an unusual pattern of degeneracy and interesting features due to the unique underlying band structure. This suggests that Landau level spectroscopy can detect and distinguish between different mechanisms of symmetry breaking in topological crystalline insulators.}, author = {Maksym Serbyn and Fu, Liang}, journal = {Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics}, number = {3}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Symmetry breaking and Landau quantization in topological crystalline insulators}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.90.035402}, volume = {90}, year = {2014}, } @article{98, abstract = {Relaxation and dephasing of hole spins are measured in a gate-defined Ge/Si nanowire double quantum dot using a fast pulsed-gate method and dispersive readout. An inhomogeneous dephasing time T2* ∼ 0.18 μs exceeds corresponding measurements in III-V semiconductors by more than an order of magnitude, as expected for predominately nuclear-spin-free materials. Dephasing is observed to be exponential in time, indicating the presence of a broadband noise source, rather than Gaussian, previously seen in systems with nuclear-spin-dominated dephasing.}, author = {Higginbotham, Andrew P and Larsen, Thorvald and Yao, Jun and Yan, Hao and Lieber, Charles and Marcus, Charles and Kuemmeth, Ferdinand}, journal = {Nano Letters}, number = {6}, pages = {3582 -- 3586}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Hole spin coherence in a Ge/Si heterostructure nanowire}}, doi = {10.1021/nl501242b}, volume = {14}, year = {2014}, } @article{980, abstract = {Many-body localized (MBL) systems are characterized by the absence of transport and thermalization and, therefore, cannot be described by conventional statistical mechanics. In this paper, using analytic arguments and numerical simulations, we study the behavior of local observables in an isolated MBL system following a quantum quench. For the case of a global quench, we find that the local observables reach stationary, highly nonthermal values at long times as a result of slow dephasing characteristic of the MBL phase. These stationary values retain the local memory of the initial state due to the existence of local integrals of motion in the MBL phase. The temporal fluctuations around stationary values exhibit universal power-law decay in time, with an exponent set by the localization length and the diagonal entropy of the initial state. Such a power-law decay holds for any local observable and is related to the logarithmic in time growth of entanglement in the MBL phase. This behavior distinguishes the MBL phase from both the Anderson insulator (where no stationary state is reached) and from the ergodic phase (where relaxation is expected to be exponential). For the case of a local quench, we also find a power-law approach of local observables to their stationary values when the system is prepared in a mixed state. Quench protocols considered in this paper can be naturally implemented in systems of ultracold atoms in disordered optical lattices, and the behavior of local observables provides a direct experimental signature of many-body localization.}, author = {Maksym Serbyn and Papić, Zlatko and Abanin, Dmitry A}, journal = {Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics}, number = {17}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Quantum quenches in the many-body localized phase}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.90.174302}, volume = {90}, year = {2014}, } @article{6739, abstract = {We explore the relationship between polar and RM codes and we describe a coding scheme which improves upon the performance of the standard polar code at practical block lengths. Our starting point is the experimental observation that RM codes have a smaller error probability than polar codes under MAP decoding. This motivates us to introduce a family of codes that “interpolates” between RM and polar codes, call this family C inter = {C α : α ∈ [0, 1j}, where C α|α=1 is the original polar code, and C α|α=0 is an RM code. Based on numerical observations, we remark that the error probability under MAP decoding is an increasing function of α. MAP decoding has in general exponential complexity, but empirically the performance of polar codes at finite block lengths is boosted by moving along the family Cinter even under low-complexity decoding schemes such as, for instance, belief propagation or successive cancellation list decoder. We demonstrate the performance gain via numerical simulations for transmission over the erasure channel as well as the Gaussian channel.}, author = {Mondelli, Marco and Hassani, Hamed and Urbanke, Rudiger}, issn = {0090-6778}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Communications}, number = {9}, pages = {3084--3091}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{From polar to Reed-Muller codes: A technique to improve the finite-length performance}}, doi = {10.1109/tcomm.2014.2345069}, volume = {62}, year = {2014}, } @inproceedings{6740, abstract = {We describe coding techniques that achieve the capacity of a discrete memoryless asymmetric channel. To do so, we discuss how recent advances in coding for symmetric channels yield more efficient solutions also for the asymmetric case. In more detail, we consider three basic approaches. The first one is Gallager's scheme that concatenates a linear code with a non-linear mapper, in order to bias the input distribution. We explicitly show that both polar codes and spatially coupled codes can be employed in this scenario. Further, we derive a scaling law between the gap to capacity, the cardinality of channel input and output alphabets, and the required size of the mapper. The second one is an integrated approach in which the coding scheme is used both for source coding, in order to create codewords with the capacity-achieving distribution, and for channel coding, in order to provide error protection. Such a technique has been recently introduced by Honda and Yamamoto in the context of polar codes, and we show how to apply it also to the design of sparse graph codes. The third approach is based on an idea due to Böcherer and Mathar and separates completely the two tasks of source coding and channel coding by “chaining” together several codewords. We prove that we can combine any suitable source code with any suitable channel code in order to provide optimal schemes for asymmetric channels. In particular, polar codes and spatially coupled codes fulfill the required conditions.}, author = {Mondelli, Marco and Urbanke, Rudiger and Hassani, Hamed}, booktitle = {52nd Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing}, location = {Monticello, IL, United States}, pages = {789--796}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{How to achieve the capacity of asymmetric channels}}, doi = {10.1109/allerton.2014.7028535}, year = {2014}, } @article{6744, abstract = {With the aim of extending the coverage and improving the performance of impulse radio ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, this paper focuses on developing a novel single differential encoded decode and forward (DF) non-cooperative relaying scheme (NCR). To favor simple receiver structures, differential noncoherent detection is employed which enables effective energy capture without any channel estimation. Putting emphasis on the general case of multi-hop relaying, we illustrate an original algorithm for the joint power allocation and path selection (JPAPS), minimizing an approximate expression of the overall bit error rate (BER). In particular, after deriving a closed-form power allocation strategy, the optimal path selection is reduced to a shortest path problem on a connected graph, which can be solved without any topology information with complexity O(N 3 ), N being the number of available relays of the network. An approximate scheme is also presented, which reduces the complexity to O(N 2 ) while showing a negligible performance loss, and for benchmarking purposes, an exhaustive-search based multi-hop DF cooperative strategy is derived. Simulation results for various network setups corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed low-complexity JPAPS algorithm, which favorably compares to existing AF and DF relaying methods.}, author = {Mondelli, Marco and Zhou, Qi and Lottici, Vincenzo and Ma, Xiaoli}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications}, number = {3}, pages = {1397--1409}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{Joint power allocation and path selection for multi-hop noncoherent decode and forward UWB communications}}, doi = {10.1109/twc.2014.020914.130669}, volume = {13}, year = {2014}, } @book{6853, abstract = {This monograph presents a short course in computational geometry and topology. In the first part the book covers Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay triangulations, then it presents the theory of alpha complexes which play a crucial role in biology. The central part of the book is the homology theory and their computation, including the theory of persistence which is indispensable for applications, e.g. shape reconstruction. The target audience comprises researchers and practitioners in mathematics, biology, neuroscience and computer science, but the book may also be beneficial to graduate students of these fields.}, author = {Edelsbrunner, Herbert}, isbn = {9-783-3190-5956-3}, issn = {2191-5318}, pages = {IX, 110}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{A Short Course in Computational Geometry and Topology}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-05957-0}, year = {2014}, } @techreport{7038, author = {Huszár, Kristóf and Rolinek, Michal}, pages = {5}, publisher = {IST Austria}, title = {{Playful Math - An introduction to mathematical games}}, year = {2014}, } @article{7071, abstract = {Spin and orbital quantum numbers play a key role in the physics of Mott insulators, but in most systems they are connected only indirectly—via the Pauli exclusion principle and the Coulomb interaction. Iridium-based oxides (iridates) introduce strong spin–orbit coupling directly, such that these numbers become entwined together and the Mott physics attains a strong orbital character. In the layered honeycomb iridates this is thought to generate highly spin–anisotropic magnetic interactions, coupling the spin to a given spatial direction of exchange and leading to strongly frustrated magnetism. Here we report a new iridate structure that has the same local connectivity as the layered honeycomb and exhibits striking evidence for highly spin–anisotropic exchange. The basic structural units of this material suggest that a new family of three-dimensional structures could exist, the ‘harmonic honeycomb’ iridates, of which the present compound is the first example.}, author = {Modic, Kimberly A and Smidt, Tess E. and Kimchi, Itamar and Breznay, Nicholas P. and Biffin, Alun and Choi, Sungkyun and Johnson, Roger D. and Coldea, Radu and Watkins-Curry, Pilanda and McCandless, Gregory T. and Chan, Julia Y. and Gandara, Felipe and Islam, Z. and Vishwanath, Ashvin and Shekhter, Arkady and McDonald, Ross D. and Analytis, James G.}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, title = {{Realization of a three-dimensional spin–anisotropic harmonic honeycomb iridate}}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms5203}, volume = {5}, year = {2014}, } @article{7072, abstract = {We investigate the structural and magnetic properties of two molecule-based magnets synthesized from the same starting components. Their different structural motifs promote contrasting exchange pathways and consequently lead to markedly different magnetic ground states. Through examination of their structural and magnetic properties we show that [Cu(pyz)(H2O)(gly)2](ClO4)2 may be considered a quasi-one-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet whereas the related compound [Cu(pyz)(gly)](ClO4), which is formed from dimers of antiferromagnetically interacting Cu2+ spins, remains disordered down to at least 0.03 K in zero field but shows a field-temperature phase diagram reminiscent of that seen in materials showing a Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons.}, author = {Lancaster, T. and Goddard, P. A. and Blundell, S. J. and Foronda, F. R. and Ghannadzadeh, S. and Möller, J. S. and Baker, P. J. and Pratt, F. L. and Baines, C. and Huang, L. and Wosnitza, J. and McDonald, R. D. and Modic, Kimberly A and Singleton, J. and Topping, C. V. and Beale, T. A. W. and Xiao, F. and Schlueter, J. A. and Barton, A. M. and Cabrera, R. D. and Carreiro, K. E. and Tran, H. E. and Manson, J. L.}, issn = {1079-7114}, journal = {Physical Review Letters}, number = {20}, publisher = {APS}, title = {{Controlling magnetic order and quantum disorder in molecule-based magnets}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.112.207201}, volume = {112}, year = {2014}, } @article{7300, abstract = {Photoinduced electron transfer (PET), which causes pH-dependent quenching of fluorescent dyes, is more effectively introduced by phenolic groups than by amino groups which have been much more commonly used so far. That is demonstrated by fluorescence measurements involving several classes of fluorophores. Electrochemical measurements show that PET in several amino-modified dyes is thermodynamically favorable, even though it was not experimentally found, underlining the importance of kinetic aspects to the process. Consequently, the attachment of phenolic groups allows for fast and simple preparation of a wide selection of fluorescent pH-probes with tailor-made spectral properties, sensitive ranges, and individual advantages, so that a large number of applications can be realized. Fluorophores carrying phenolic groups may also be used for sensing analytes other than pH or molecular switching and signaling.}, author = {Aigner, Daniel and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Wilkening, Martin and Saf, Robert and Borisov, Sergey M. and Klimant, Ingo}, issn = {0003-2700}, journal = {Analytical Chemistry}, number = {18}, pages = {9293--9300}, publisher = {ACS}, title = {{Enhancing photoinduced electron transfer efficiency of fluorescent pH-probes with halogenated phenols}}, doi = {10.1021/ac502513g}, volume = {86}, year = {2014}, } @article{7301, abstract = {Several problems arise at the O2 (positive) electrode in the Li-air battery, including solvent/electrode decomposition and electrode passivation by insulating Li2O2. Progress partially depends on exploring the basic electrochemistry of O2 reduction. Here we describe the effect of complexing-cations on the electrochemical reduction of O2 in DMSO in the presence and absence of a Li salt. The solubility of alkaline peroxides in DMSO is enhanced by the complexing-cations, consistent with their strong interaction with reduced O2. The complexing-cations also increase the rate of the 1-electron O2 reduction to O2•– by up to six-fold (k° = 2.4 ×10–3 to 1.5 × 10–2 cm s–1) whether or not Li+ ions are present. In the absence of Li+, the complexing-cations also promote the reduction of O2•– to O22–. In the presence of Li+ and complexing-cations, and despite the interaction of the reduced O2 with the latter, SERS confirms that the product is still Li2O2.}, author = {Li, Chunmei and Fontaine, Olivier and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Johnson, Lee and Grugeon, Sylvie and Laruelle, Stéphane and Bruce, Peter G. and Armand, Michel}, issn = {1932-7447}, journal = {The Journal of Physical Chemistry C}, number = {7}, pages = {3393--3401}, publisher = {ACS}, title = {{Aprotic Li–O2 battery: Influence of complexing agents on oxygen reduction in an aprotic solvent}}, doi = {10.1021/jp4093805}, volume = {118}, year = {2014}, } @article{7302, abstract = {Understanding charge carrier transport in Li2O2, the storage material in the non-aqueous Li-O2 battery, is key to the development of this high-energy battery. Here, we studied ionic transport properties and Li self-diffusion in nanocrystalline Li2O2 by conductivity and temperature variable 7Li NMR spectroscopy. Nanostructured Li2O2, characterized by a mean crystallite size of less than 50 nm as estimated from X-ray diffraction peak broadening, was prepared by high-energy ball milling of microcrystalline lithium peroxide with μm sized crystallites. At room temperature the overall conductivity σ of the microcrystalline reference sample turned out to be very low (3.4 × 10−13 S cm−1) which is in agreement with results from temperature-variable 7Li NMR line shape measurements. Ball-milling, however, leads to an increase of σ by approximately two orders of magnitude (1.1 × 10−10 S cm−1); correspondingly, the activation energy decreases from 0.89 eV to 0.82 eV. The electronic contribution σeon, however, is in the order of 9 × 10−12 S cm−1 which makes less than 10% of the total value. Interestingly, 7Li NMR lines of nano-Li2O2 undergo pronounced heterogeneous motional narrowing which manifests in a two-component line shape emerging with increasing temperatures. Most likely, the enhancement in σ can be traced back to the generation of a spin reservoir with highly mobile Li ions; these are expected to reside in the nearest neighbourhood of defects generated or near the structurally disordered and defect-rich interfacial regions formed during mechanical treatment.}, author = {Dunst, A. and Epp, V. and Hanzu, I. and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Wilkening, M.}, issn = {1754-5692}, journal = {Energy & Environmental Science}, number = {8}, pages = {2739--2752}, publisher = {RSC}, title = {{Short-range Li diffusion vs. long-range ionic conduction in nanocrystalline lithium peroxide Li2O2—the discharge product in lithium-air batteries}}, doi = {10.1039/c4ee00496e}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, } @inbook{7303, abstract = {The electrolyte in the non-aqueous (aprotic) lithium air battery has a profound influence on the reactions that occur at the anode and cathode, and hence its overall operation on discharge/charge. It must possess a wide range of attributes, exceeding the requirements of electrolytes for Lithium ion batteries by far. The most important additional issues are stability at both anode and cathode in the presence of O2. The known problems with cycling the Li metal/non-aqueous electrolyte interface are further complicated by O2. New and much less understood are the reactions at the O2 cathode/electrolyte interface where the highly reversible formation/decomposition of Li2O2 on discharge/charge is critical for the operation of the non-aqueous lithium air battery. Many aprotic electrolytes exhibit decomposition at the cathode during discharge and charge due to the presence of reactive reduced O2 species affecting potential, capacity and kinetics on discharge and charge, cyclability and calendar life. Identifying suitable electrolytes is one of the key challenges for the non-aqueous lithium air battery at the present time. Following the realisation that cyclability of such cells in the initially used organic carbonate electrolytes is due to back-to-back irreversible reactions the stability of the non-aqueous electrolytes became a major focus of research on rechargeable lithium air batteries. This realisation led to the establishment of a suite of experimental and computational methods capable of screening the stability of electrolytes. These allow for greater mechanistic understanding of the reactivity and guide the way towards designing more stable systems. A range of electrolytes based on ethers, amides, sulfones, ionic liquids and dimethyl sulfoxide have been investigated. All are more stable than the organic carbonates, but not all are equally stable. Even though it was soon realised, by a number of groups, that ethers exhibit side reactions on discharge and charge, they still remain the choice in many studies. To date dimethyl sulfoxide and dimethylacetamide were identified as the most stable electrolytes. In conjunction with the investigation of electrolyte stability the importance of electrode stability became more prominent. The stability of the electrolyte cannot be considered in isolation. Its stability depends on the synergy between electrolyte and electrode. Carbon based electrodes promote electrolyte decomposition and decompose on their own. Although great progress has been made in only a few years, future work on aprotic electrolytes for Li-O2 batteries will need to explore other electrolytes in the quest for yet lower cost, higher safety, stability and low volatility.}, author = {Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Chen, Yuhui and Bardé, Fanny and Takechi, Kensuke and Mizuno, Fuminori and Bruce, Peter G.}, booktitle = {The Lithium Air Battery: Fundamentals}, editor = {Imanishi, Nobuyuki and Luntz, Alan C. and Bruce, Peter}, isbn = {9781489980618}, pages = {23--58}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Nonaqueous Electrolytes}}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-4899-8062-5_2}, year = {2014}, }