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We investigate the nonequilibrium electronic structure of 1T-TaS2 by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We observe that strong photoexcitation induces the collapse of the Mott gap, leading to the photo-induced metallic phase. It is also found that the oscillation of photoemission intensity occurs as a result of the excitations of coherent phonons corresponding to the amplitude mode of the charge density wave (CDW). To study the dynamical change in the band dispersions modulated by the CDW amplitude mode, we perform analyses by using frequency-domain angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (FDARPES). We find that two different peak structures exhibit anti-phase oscillation with respect to each other by retrieving the amplitude and phase parts of the FDARPES spectra. They are attributed to the minimum and maximum band positions in energy, where the single band is oscillating between them synchronizing with the CDW amplitude mode. We further find that the flatband constructed as a result of CDW band folding survives during the oscillation while the Mott gap is significantly reduced. Our results suggest the CDW phase is robust, and the lattice modulation corresponding to the CDW amplitude mode dynamically modulates the Mott gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures employing graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have emerged as a typical system for building emergent two-dimensional devices, such as atomically thin transistors or capacitors. Herein, we study the nonlinear thermal transport in such vdW heterostructure by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that an obvious negative differential thermal resistance (NDTR) phenomenon can be observed under small temperature bias when the interlayer coupling becomes stronger. The vibrational spectra analysis manifests that the phonon filtering mechanism induced by interlayer coupling greatly hinders the interfacial thermal transport. To obtain the optimum conditions, the dependence of NDTR on the system length, lateral width, external temperature, and defect density is taken into account. Our findings extend the phonon filtering mechanism to thermal information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal droop, i.e., the loss of emission efficiency over a certain temperature range, is an important performance bottleneck for the successful commercial application of deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes. In this study, we examined the mechanism of two thermal droop processes of 255 nm AlGaN quantum well light emitting diodes under temperature stresses in order to obtain steady optical output in a broad temperature range. We discovered that the increase in leakage current in the low forward bias region is accompanied by a decrease in apparent carrier concentration of quantum wells near the p side during the thermal droop process at high temperature (>300 K), indicating that the activation of thermal defects enhances the trap assisted tunneling effect and causes the optical power to decrease more significantly at low current. Compared with normal temperature, the low emission power at low temperatures is attributed to the minority trap H1, which has an activation energy of 0.527 eV at 190 K, according to deep level transient spectrum analysis. At low temperatures above 175 K, the optical power increases as the temperature rises due to enhanced hole injection. By analyzing the droop characteristics, we concluded that the activation of thermal defects is the most probable cause of high temperature thermal droop in 255 nm AlGaN quantum well light emitting diodes, whereas hole trap H1, which is linked to gallium vacancy complexes related defects, is most likely the source of low temperature thermal droop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrabroadband generation of white-light continuum spanning from ultraviolet to near-infrared (375–920 nm) is demonstrated by using induced-phase modulation between two-color femtosecond pulses in multiple thin plates. The fundamental wave and its second-harmonic wave from one Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplifier are injected into nine 100 μm-thick fused silica plates. When the two pulses are temporally and spatially optimized in the plates, an intense supercontinuum is efficiently achieved by utilizing self-phase modulation and self-steepening together with induced-phase modulation. As a result, using 1 kHz, 1 mJ, and 35 fs pulses at 800 nm as the pump, we demonstrate the generation of 0.6 mJ white-light pulses with an ultra-broad bandwidth supporting 1.6 fs transform-limited pulses corresponding to 0.6-optical-cycle at a central wavelength of 750 nm. Analysis of the calculated spectrum fits the experimental results well, and the pulse is quasi-linearly chirped and compressible. The resulting intense robust supercontinuum could be a promising light source for an ever greater degree of tailored optical waveform coherent control in new parameter spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted mobility spectrum analysis on a high quality three dimensional topological insulator film of BiSbTeSe2 to extract mobility μ and carrier density n. Top and bottom gates were applied to tune the carrier density on top and bottom surfaces independently. At 1.5 K, when the conduction is entirely dominated by the Dirac surface states, we always find two dominant conduction channels (top and bottom surfaces), with μ = 500 – 3000 cm2/(V s) and n on the order of 1 0 12 c m − 2 . However, at sufficiently high temperature (T = 85 K), when the bulk contributes, a third channel with maximum mobility μ ∼ 400 cm2/(V s) and n on the order of 1 0 11 – 1 0 13 c m − 2 opens. Our data show the feasibility of the method to analyze the different conduction channels in a topological insulator, being also promising for other similar material systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy (SRAS) is a laser ultrasound technique used to determine the crystallographic orientation (i.e., microstructure) of materials through the generation and measurement of surface acoustic wave velocity on a sample. Previous implementations have used a grating pattern imaged onto the surface to control the frequency of the generated wave in a single direction—grain orientation can be computed by acquiring wave velocities in different directions on the surface (gathered by physically rotating the grating pattern). This paper reports an advance to this methodology, inspired by single pixel cameras, using a coded grating pattern, created using a spatial light modulator, to excite surface acoustic waves in multiple directions simultaneously. This change to the optical arrangement can simplify the overall system alignment, remove mechanical complexities, and is well suited for point-by-point full orientation imaging, potentially allowing for faster orientation imaging using SRAS microscopy. Improvements to the robustness of measurement may be expected to extend the applicability of SRAS in the materials science field. To demonstrate this methodology, experiments were conducted on isotropic and anisotropic samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an experimental technique adapted to characterize individual metallic nanostructures in terms of differential reflectivity spectroscopy. We analyze gold patch nanoantennas holding different morphological properties. Our experimental methodology shows steady and reliable results consistent with classical analytical approximations and simulation methods. This technique allows us to identify absorption properties of metallic nanostructures commonly associated with surface plasmon resonances. By contrasting the light absorbed solely by the metallic antenna with respect to a surrounding reference medium, we found that some antennas show absorption of almost 50% of the incident light across the range of the visible spectrum. Plasmonic patch nanoantennas are promising systems in which the confinement of the electromagnetic field inside the dielectric gap strongly modifies the local density of states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use micro-focused Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy (BLS) to investigate surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in a GaN layer on a Si substrate at GHz frequencies. Furthermore, we discuss the concept of BLS for SAWs and show that the crucial parameters of SAW excitation and propagation can be measured. We investigate a broad range of excitation parameters and observe that Rayleigh and Sezawa waves are excited simultaneously at the same frequency. Spatially resolved measurements of these co-propagating waves show a periodic pattern, which proves their coherent interference. From the periodicity of the spatial phonon patterns, the wavevector difference between the two waves has been identified and compared to the dispersion relation. The appearance of Sezawa waves related to the finite thickness of the piezoelectric substrate leads to acoustic fields with a time-independent spatial variation similar to the situations realized using counter-propagating waves. This periodicity can have an influence on experimental results in angular momentum conversion experiments, for example, via magneto-elastic fields in hybrid-SAW-structures with additional magnetic layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omnidirectional photoluminescence (ODPL) and standard photoluminescence (SPL) spectroscopy measurements were carried out on a freestanding GaN crystal at various temperatures (T) between 12 K and 300 K. The intensity ratio (ρ) of the ODPL to SPL spectra for the near-band edge (NBE) emission of the crystal showed a linearly decreasing slope with respect to photon energy (E) below the fundamental absorption edge energy (Eabs), and the slope became steeper at lower T. The linear extrapolations of the slopes at various T converged at a common point (E, ρ) = (3.539 eV, −6.306). This fact implies that the slope obtained for ρ corresponds to the Urbach–Martienssen (U–M) tail of the optical absorption spectra. Numerical simulations under the assumption, where a part of photoluminescence traveled inside the crystal and the scattering occurred at a backside of the crystal, substantially reproduced the ODPL spectra. Accordingly, the origin of the two-peak structure in the ODPL spectra around the NBE emission of the GaN crystal is attributed to the existence of the U–M tail. The Eabs value gives the photon energy at which the absorption coefficient becomes approximately 16.7 cm−1, which corresponds to an inverse of a doubled value of the crystal thickness (0.03 cm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a coherent frequency-domain terahertz (THz) spectroscopic technique on a coplanar waveguide in the ultrabroad frequency range from 200 MHz to 1.6 THz based on continuous wave (CW) laser spectroscopy. Optical beating created by mixing two frequency-tunable CW lasers is focused on photoconductive switches to generate and detect high-frequency current in a THz circuit. In contrast to time-domain spectroscopy, our frequency-domain spectroscopy enables an unprecedented frequency resolution of 10 MHz without using the complex building blocks of femtosecond laser optics. Furthermore, due to the coherent nature of the photomixing technique, we are able to identify the origin of multiple reflections in the time domain using the Hilbert analysis and inverse Fourier transform. These results demonstrate that the advantages of on-chip coherent frequency-domain spectroscopy, such as its broadband, frequency resolution, usability, and time-domain accessibility, provide a unique capability for measuring ultrafast electron transport in integrated THz circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral nature of an enantiomer can be characterized by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, but such a technique usually suffers from weak signal even with a sophisticated optical instrument. Recent demonstrations of plasmonic metasurfaces showed that chiroptical interaction of molecules can be engineered, thereby greatly simplifying a measurement system with high sensing capability. Here, by exploiting super-chiral field in a metasurface, we experimentally demonstrate high-sensitive vibrational CD spectroscopy of alanine enantiomers, the smallest chiral amino acid. Under linearly polarized excitation, the metasurface consisting of an array of staggered Au nano-rods selectively produces the left- and right-handed super-chiral fields at 1600 cm−1, which spectrally overlaps with the functional group vibrations of alanine. In the Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer measurements, the mirror symmetric CD spectra of D- and L-alanine are clearly observed depending on the handedness of the metasurface, realizing the reliable identification of small chiral molecules. The corresponding numerical simulations reveal the underlying resonant chiroptical interaction of plasmonic modes of the metasurface and vibrational modes of alanine. Our approach demonstrates a high-sensitive vibrational CD spectroscopic technique, opening up a reliable chiral sensing platform for advanced infrared inspection technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A re-discovered member of the layered material family, Titanium Trisulfide (TiS3), has attracted intense research interest recently for the possibility of realizing an exciton insulator in the monolayer limit. However, due to their quasi-one-dimensional nature, thin TiS3 flakes are typically in the form of nanoribbons that are challenging to characterize by optical absorption spectra, due to their small cross section. Here, we employ a sensitive photocurrent spectroscopy technique to probe the absorption of a thin TiS3 nanoribbon in a field-effect transistor configuration. We have found a significant modification of the band structure of the thin TiS3 nanoribbon, compared to its bulk counterpart. In addition, the polarization-dependent photocurrent spectra of thin TiS3 nanoribbons exhibit greatly enhanced anisotropy compared to that of a thick TiS3 device. The atomically thin TiS3 flake, thus, not only provides an exciting platform for investigating many-body physics but also enables anisotropic quantum optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low dielectric loss underlying the record performance of strained (SrTiO3)nSrO Ruddlesden–Popper films as tunable microwave dielectrics was postulated to arise from (SrO)2 faults accommodating local non-stoichiometric defects. Here, we explore the effect of non-stoichiometry on (SrTiO3)nSrO using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy on a composition series of 300 nm thick n = 6 (Sr1+δTiO3)nSrO thin films. These films show titanium-site vacancies across the stoichiometry series, with evidence that TiOx vacancy complexes dominate. Little change in defect populations is observed across the series, indicating the ability of Ruddlesden–Popper phases to accommodate ± 5% off-stoichiometry. This ability for defect accommodation is corroborated by scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, thermal lens spectroscopy was performed simultaneously with photoluminescence experiments for determining the absolute external quantum efficiency (EQE) of luminescent materials. The procedure involved measurements of nonradiative (heat) and radiative (photon) emission rates after excitation of the material with a tunable laser. The main advantage of this combined methodology was that the amount of light absorbed by the sample was not required for EQE determination, which minimized the experimental error. In order to validate the methodology, the well-known Ce3+:YAG crystal was used for EQE determination, with the value obtained being in agreement with previous experiments. This shows that the method is a promising tool for accurate measurements of the EQE for materials with a single excited emission state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlations between photons generated by nonlinear optical processes offer advantages for many quantum technology applications, including spectroscopy, imaging, and metrology. Here, we use spontaneous four-wave mixing in a birefringent single-mode fiber pumped by a tunable pulsed laser as a broadly tunable source of phase-matched non-degenerate photon pairs for spectroscopy. The pairs are tunable such that the idler beam measures the transmittance spectrum of a sample in the near infrared, while the visible signal beam independently reports correlation information. By the time-resolved counting of both signal and idler photons, we use photon-number correlations to remove uncorrelated noise from the probe beam. Here, we have used heralded spectroscopy to measure the absorption spectrum of gallium arsenide near its band edge, despite the idler photon spectrum being dominated by a large background from spontaneous Raman scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An active bidirectionally controlled terahertz interference fringe shift in a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film structure was investigated. An interference phenomenon that occurred as a result of wavefront segmentation in a THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system was observed. This THz interference fringe spectrum can be modulated bidirectionally through application of a bias voltage and laser irradiation in terms of its both THz amplitude and interference fringe peaks. The refractive index of the film has an effect on the frequency domain and causes both optical path enhancement and a change in the interference period. THz interference fringes with an electrically induced blueshift and with a photo-induced redshift were acquired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A set of nonlinear spectroscopic measurements with quantum light is presented. It involves a strong pump with frequency ωpu and a weak probe at ωpr interacting with a solid state target to generate a conjugated beam ω c = 2 ω p u − ω p r via nondegenerate four-wave mixing. The χ (3) susceptibility can be measured by the noise spectra of the intensity difference of the squeezed beams. We discuss three spectroscopic setups based on squeezed light: first, single four-wave mixing in a single crystal; second, cascading scheme involving two crystals; third, an SU(1, 1) interferometer based on two separate four-wave mixing processes. We further investigate the microscopic noise and optical losses in all three setups. Simulations are presented for silicon-vacancy color centers in diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an interferometric pump-probe technique that employs three entangled photons generated by cascaded spontaneous parametric downconversion. A Mach–Zehnder interferometer made of two three-port waveguide arrays is inserted in the optical path. Two independent phases introduced to manipulate the entangled photon state serve as control parameters and can selectively excite matter pathways. Compared to two-photon-absorption of an entangled photon-pair, the three-photon signals are significantly enhanced by frequency-dispersed photon-counting detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual-comb spectroscopy is a promising method for precise optical spectrum analysis with fast data acquisition speed. Here, avoiding using a dual-comb source, femtosecond imbalanced time-stretch spectroscopy with a simple optical layout is proposed and demonstrated. Time-stretch interferometry from one femtosecond laser builds mapping from the optical frequency domain to the radio frequency regime. In experiment, the absorption line of a hydrogen cyanide cell is encoded in the probing arm of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The down-converted radio frequency comb is transformed from a periodically chirped waveform, which is the interferogram of the MZI with different dispersion values on two arms. In a single measurement, the optical frequency comb with a span of 112.5 GHz is down-converted to a range of about 20.8 GHz in the radio frequency domain with a comb spacing equal to the laser repetition frequency of 100 MHz. By turning the optical filter, a spectrum range around 2 THz is analyzed. The acquired optical spectrum resolution is 540 MHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interband cascade (IC) laser structures offer attractive potential for operation at room temperature as both broadband coherent sources of mid-infrared light and fast photodetectors. This makes the realization of extremely compact spectrometers on a monolithic platform possible, and even dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS) configurations. IC comb devices are perfect candidates for this configuration, since they develop near-THz-wide optical frequency comb spectra from a millimeter-sized cavity, using a multi-stage structure that can also function as a very fast photodetector. In this work, we leverage IC photodetectors with a gigahertz bandwidth to demonstrate a self-contained, free-running, room-temperature DCS system in the mid-infrared. The DCS system used detection by the same bi-functional IC device structure to measure 1,1-difluoroethane over ∼600 GHz of optical coverage around 3.6 µm. These results show that the IC platform is suitable for full integration as a broadband, high-resolution on-chip spectrometer in a future chemical sensing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cavity polaritons, originating from the strong coupling effect between cavity modes and excitons, have been tremendously investigated because of their high potential in new or quantum optoelectronic devices. Among them, realization of their dynamic controllability is highly desirable for real applications. In this work, we present a dynamic modulation of cavity polaritons via strain-engineering in the ZnO whispering gallery microcavity. By using a home-made strain apparatus, a nearly uniaxial stress is precisely applied to ZnO microwires, thus inducing an internal strain along its c-axis. Dynamic tuning of cavity polariton modes is clearly characterized by angle-resolved microphotoluminescence spectroscopy. The coupled oscillator's model with fitting parameters of strain-dependent excitons' energies can well describe the modes' redshift. Moreover, we show that the modes' redshift can also be understood by the strain-induced refractive index increase, described by the Lorentz model, of which the underlying mechanism is also related to light-exciton strong coupling. Finally, the strain-engineered dynamic tuning of polariton lasing modes is demonstrated as well, and this actually provides convincing evidence for the polariton states surviving above the threshold. This work indicates that strain-engineered cavity polaritons would pave an alternative way for developing polariton-based integrated or flexible optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite semiconductor nanocrystals of lead halides exhibit excellent electronic and optical properties that are suitable for many optoelectronic applications. In this report, we investigate the underlying mechanism of the optical response of the material by probing coherent interaction between the exciton and lattice vibration by two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. Coherent exciton-phonon coupling has been observed with time-domain oscillations in the dynamics of signals related to either ground or excited electronic states. Furthermore, the spectra of the coherent phonon derived from the dynamics of biexciton formation have larger amplitudes for higher frequency modes, which is attributed to the phonon bottleneck effect. Moreover, the composition-dependent coherent coupling between the exciton and lattice vibration in mixed halide samples reveals a critical role played by the anharmonicity and fluctuation of lattice vibration in the excited-state dynamics of perovskite nanocrystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on absorption spectroscopy, a spectrum measurement method utilizing light-controlled tunable grating (LTG) is presented for detecting combustible and explosive gases. When the broadband light with gas spectral absorption information is incident on the LTG, the pitch of the LTG is changed continuously under the illumination of controlled driving light. By analyzing diffraction light from the LTG, the information of the absorption spectrum can be obtained, thereby achieving the detection of the target gas. Owing to the usage of optical drive grating, a wavelength scanning over a wide range can be realized without any involvement of electronic components. For practical application, our proposal measurement method was utilized for methane detection, and the corresponding results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy detects the interaction force between the tip and the sample by measuring the change in the resonance frequency of an oscillating force sensor. Short-range interaction force can be selectively detected by a small oscillation amplitude. A quartz length-extension resonator (LER) offers the advantage of small-amplitude operation by virtue of its ultrahigh stiffness. Here, we demonstrate that an LER can accurately measure the short-range interaction force at cryogenic temperature even under a high magnetic field. We derive a formula for calculating the effective stiffness of an oscillating LER by using the theory of elasticity. The obtained dynamic stiffness is 1.23 times greater than the static stiffness, and this difference significantly affects the estimation of the interaction force. Using a properly calibrated LER, force curves are measured on Si(111)-(7 × 7) surfaces. The maximum attractive short-range forces above Si adatoms using several tip apex states are in the ranges of the values previously obtained by Si cantilevers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the ultrafast vibrational response of single Au-Ag alloy and Au porous nanowires obtained by the template method. The oscillations of the sample reflectivity are correlated with eigenmodes (EM) confined in the nanowire. Taking advantage of a free standing geometry, we are able to detect few harmonics. Coupling electron microscopy and pump-probe investigations with a very high spectral resolution performed on the same wire, we demonstrate that both longitudinal and transverse sound velocities could be obtained for variable Au concentrations. An additional quadrupolar mode is also observed and reproduced by finite element simulation. Finally, porous nanowires are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an f-to-2f interferometry method to simultaneously measure and control the relative timing (RT) and carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of an arbitrarily tailored optical-field waveform. Long-term stabilization of the phase-locking system results in a CEP stability of 280 mrad and a RT stability of 110 attosecond over 8 h at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The synthesized optical field characterized by a transient-grating frequency-resolved optical gating delivers 3.8-fs near single-cycle waveforms. This technique constitutes a versatile tool for coherent pulse synthesis, which can be applied in experiments using a dual-color light field for high-harmonic generation and attosecond timing precision pump-probe spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the photoresponse of niobium diselenide (NbSe2), a transition metal dichalcogenide which exhibits superconducting properties down to a single layer. Devices are built by using micromechanically cleaved 2–10 layers and tested under current bias using nano-optical mapping in the 350 mK–5 K range, where they are found to be superconducting. The superconducting state can be perturbed by absorption of light, resulting in a voltage signal when the devices are current biased. The response is found to be energy dependent, making the devices useful for applications requiring energy resolution, such as bolometry, spectroscopy, and infrared imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mode formation of a terahertz Quantum Cascade laser with two optical transitions is studied experimentally. The emission spectrum shows two well separated frequency regions at 3.4 THz and 3.8 THz corresponding to two different upper laser states | 3 ⟩ and | 4 ⟩ . From the relative strength of the two colors, population and electron scattering effects for the two states are investigated at different operating temperatures and in the presence of a strong magnetic field. At elevated temperatures, the population of state | 3 ⟩ is continuously reduced, resulting in only the 3.8 THz transition lasing at 140 K. For an applied magnetic field, the elastic scattering channel from | 4 ⟩ → | 3 ⟩ is progressively suppressed, resulting in laser emission switching from 3.4 THz to 3.8 THz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-resolved transient grating (TG) spectroscopy facilitates detailed studies of electron dynamics and transport phenomena by means of a periodic excitation of matter with coherent ultrashort light pulses. Several current and next generation free-electron laser (FEL) facilities provide fully coherent pulses with few femtosecond pulse durations and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon energies. Thus, they allow for transient grating experiments with periodicities as small as tens of nanometers and with element specific photon energies. Here, we demonstrate the element specificity of XUV TG (X-TG) experiments by tuning the photon energy across the Si L2,3-edge of Si3N4. We observe a shortening of the signal decay when increasing the XUV photon energy above the absorption edge. The analysis of the wavelength dependent signal shows that the faster decay is driven by the increase in the charge carrier density. From the decay constants the interband Auger coefficient at elevated temperatures and high electron densities has been determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Color centers in diamond have unique applications as nanoscale field sensors. In particular, in the case of strain field, they are key components for the realization of strain-coupled hybrid spin-oscillator systems. Here, we report on the strain sensitivity of the color center emitting at 2.65 eV in diamond nanoscale needles. By contactless piezo-spectroscopy, we compare the strain sensitivity of this center with that of the well-known neutral nitrogen-vacancy (NV0) center. We demonstrate that the 2.65 eV center has a higher strain sensitivity than the NV0 center and can be explored as a strain sensor and/or for strain-coupled systems. Moreover, we perform polarization-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy under a high uniaxial tensile stress and the polar behavior reported for the 2.65 eV center points out to a defect symmetry which is different from that of the NV0 center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-induced frequency shifts can be a key limiting contribution to the mid- and long-term frequency instabilities in atomic clocks. In this letter, we demonstrate the experimental implementation of the combined error signal interrogation protocol to a cold-atom clock based on coherent population trapping (CPT) and Ramsey spectroscopy. The method uses a single error signal that results from the normalized combination of two error signals extracted from two Ramsey sequences of different dark periods. The single combined error signal is used to stabilize the atomic clock frequency. Compared to the standard Ramsey-CPT interrogation, this method reduces the clock frequency sensitivity to light-shift variations by more than one order of magnitude. This method can be applied in various kinds of Ramsey-based atomic clocks, sensors, and instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scanning probe deep-level transient spectroscopy (SP-DLTS) is applied to cross-sectioned, fully processed, commercially sourced AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) biased in situ. The SBD and HEMT structures had been specially designed to allow two- and three-terminal biasing after cross-sectioning. The cross-sectioning procedure exposes electrically active regions throughout the length and depth of the devices while also preserving electrical functionality. Spatially resolved SP-DLTS surface potential transients (SPTs) measured on the appropriately cross-sectioned faces of the devices reveal the presence of two traps in the GaN buffer layer which are shown to be consistent with traps detected in macroscopic deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements performed on an intact AlGaN/GaN SBD made at the same time as the HEMT device. This indicates that, for an appropriate cross-sectioning process, the cross-sectioned surface does not screen or mask defects in the bulk GaN from the probe tip. SP-DLTS maps collected over the cross-sectioned faces in active device regions also reveal the spatial variation in trapping-induced SPTs. These measurements demonstrate an avenue for exploring the energies, concentrations, and spatial distributions of traps located throughout GaN-based devices with potential applications to other material and device systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser light with spectral purity and frequency stability is pursued in precision spectroscopy and precision measurements. We propose a scheme to generate millihertz-linewidth laser light with a frequency instability of 10−18 via optical four-wave mixing in alkaline-earth atoms. We show that the linewidth of the mixing laser light is ultimately limited by the natural linewidth of the atomic transition rather than by the linewidth of the input lasers. The frequency stability of the mixing laser light depends largely on the intensity stability of the input lasers. It is possible to generate a millihertz-linewidth laser light with a frequency instability of 10−18 and a power of 10−12 W when the input lasers with a relative intensity instability of 10−4 and a spectral width of 1 Hz interact with strontium (Sr) atoms with a density of 1 × 1011 cm−3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report soliton rains in a tunable Tm-doped fiber laser mode locked by carbon nanotubes. We also detect their second- and third-harmonics. We achieve a tunability of over 56 nm, from 1877 to 1933 nm, by introducing a polarization-maintaining isolator and two in-line polarization controllers. This makes our system promising as a tunable filter for ultrafast spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomic magnetometry and ultrasound, as individual techniques, have been used extensively in various physical, chemical, and biomedical fields. Their combined application, however, has been rare. We report that super-resolution force spectroscopy, which is based on the integration of the two techniques, can find unique biophysical applications in studying drug-DNA interactions. The precisely controlled ultrasound generates acoustic radiation force on the biological systems labeled with magnetic microparticles. A decrease in the magnetic signal, measured by an automated atomic magnetometer, indicates that the acoustic radiation force equals the binding force of the biological system. With 0.5 pN force resolution, we were able to precisely resolve three small molecules binding with two DNA sequences and quantitatively reveal the effect of a single hydrogen bond. Our results indicate that the increases in DNA binding force caused by drug binding correlate with the enthalpy instead of free energy, thus providing an alternative physical parameter for optimizing chemotherapeutic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scandium nitride (ScN) is a degenerate n-type semiconductor with very high carrier concentrations, low resistivity, and carrier mobilities comparable to those of transparent conducting oxides such as zinc oxide. Because of its small lattice mismatch to gallium nitride (GaN), <1%, ScN is considered a very promising material for future GaN based electronics. Impurities are the source of the degeneracy. Yet, which specific impurities are the cause has remained in contention. ScN thin films of various thicknesses were grown on magnesium oxide substrates in a (001) orientation using reactive magnetron sputtering across a range of deposition conditions. X-ray diffraction was used to verify crystal orientation. Film thicknesses ranging from 39 to 85 nm were measured using scanning electron microscopy. The electronic transport properties of the films were characterized using Hall-effect measurements at temperatures ranging from 10 to 320 K. At 10 K, the electron concentration varies from 4.4 × 1020 to 1.5 × 1021 cm−3, resistivity from 2.1 × 10−4 to 5.0 × 10−5 Ω·cm, and Hall mobility from 66 to 97 cm2/V·s. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was used to determine film compositions. Finally, density functional theory (DFT) was used to compute the activation energies for various point defects including nitrogen and scandium vacancies and oxygen and fluorine substituting for nitrogen. For both oxygen and fluorine substitution, the energies were negative, indicating spontaneous formation. Nevertheless, the combined results of the Hall, SIMS, and DFT strongly suggest that oxygen substitution is the primary mechanism behind the high carrier concentration in these samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of (000 1 ¯ ) N-polar p-type GaN fabricated by using the sequential ion-implantation of Mg and H with subsequent high temperature annealing exhibited the near-band-edge (NBE) emission at 300 K. The longest PL lifetime ( τ PL ) for the NBE emission of the sample with Mg and H concentrations of 1 × 1019 and 2 × 1020 cm−3, respectively, annealed at 1230 °C was 18 ps at 300 K. This value is almost comparable to that of the (0001) Ga-polar p-type Mg-doped GaN (p-GaN:Mg) homoepitaxial film of the same Mg concentration. By correlating τ PL and the concentration of major vacancy-type defects quantified using positron annihilation spectroscopy, the electron capture-cross-section (σn) of the major nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs), namely, clusters of Ga vacancies (VGas) and N vacancies (VNs) such as (VGa)3(VN)3, is estimated at a few times 10−13 cm2. This σn value is also comparable to that of the major NRCs in p-GaN:Mg epilayers, namely, VGa(VN)2 or VGa(VN)3, although the clustering sizes of the defects are different. These σn values are commonly larger than the hole capture-cross-section (σp = 7 × 10−14 cm2) of the major NRCs, VGaVN divacancies, in n-type GaN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spintronic method of ultra-fast broadband microwave spectrum analysis is proposed. It uses a rapidly tuned spin torque nano-oscillator (STNO) and does not require injection locking. This method treats an STNO generating a microwave signal as an element with an oscillating resistance. When an external signal is applied to this “resistor” for analysis, it is mixed with the signal generated by the STNO. The resulting mixed voltage contains the “sum” and “difference” frequencies, and the latter produces a DC component when the external frequency matches the frequency generated by the STNO. The mixed voltage is processed using a low pass filter to exclude the “sum” frequency components and a matched filter to exclude the dependence of the resultant DC voltage on the phase difference between the two signals. It is found analytically and by numerical simulation that the proposed spectrum analyzer has a frequency resolution at a theoretical limit in a real-time scanning bandwidth of 10 GHz and a frequency scanning rate above 1 GHz/ns, while remaining sensitive to signal power as low as the Johnson-Nyquist thermal noise floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Room temperature transformation from anatase (A-TiO2) to rutile (R-TiO2) thin films through an intermediate mixed phase on stainless steel driven by a controlled oxygen flow rate (OFR) is investigated. Such OFR dependent phase transition is confirmed by X-ray diffraction and also consistent with X-ray absorption spectroscopy at Ti L and O K-edges, showing a long range ordering in TiO6 octahedral symmetry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals a gradual reduction in Ti2O3 and/or TiO intermediate phases with increasing OFR. Finally, an enhanced photocatalytic activity is observed in the mixed phase and discussed in terms of photo-generated charge transport in the type-II staggered band structure between A-TiO2 and R-TiO2 phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the electrical properties of 60° dislocations originating from the +1.2% lattice mismatch between an unintentionally doped, 315 nm thick Ge0.922Sn0.078 layer (58% relaxed) and the underlying Ge substrate, using deep level transient spectroscopy. The 60° dislocations are found to be split into Shockley partials, binding a stacking fault. The dislocations exhibit a band-like distribution of electronic states in the bandgap, with the highest occupied defect state at ∼EV + 0.15 eV, indicating no interaction with point defects in the dislocation's strain field. A small capture cross-section of 1.5 × 10−19 cm2 with a capture barrier of 60 meV is observed, indicating a donor-like nature of the defect-states. Thus, these dislocation-states are not the source of unintentional p-type doping in the Ge0.922Sn0.078 layer. Importantly, we show that the resolved 60° dislocation-states act as a source of leakage current by thermally generating minority electrons via the Shockley-Read-Hall mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient generation of spin-polarized current is one of the keys to realizing spintronic devices with a low power consumption. Topological insulators are strong candidates for this purpose. A surface photovoltaic effect can be utilized on the surface of a topological insulator, where a surface spin-polarized current can flow upon illumination. Here, we used time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy on the surface of Bi2Te3 to demonstrate that the magnitude of the surface photovoltage is almost doubled in optically aged samples, i.e., samples whose surface has been exposed to intense infrared light illumination. Our findings pave the way for optical control of the spin-polarized current by utilizing topological insulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structure of ZrSe2 was studied by high resolution angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and by density functional theory (DFT). ARPES with distinct horizontal (P) and vertical (S)-polarized synchrotron radiation was performed on the sample kept at room temperature and 20 K to unravel the electronic structure especially at the Fermi energy (EF). The DFT calculations including spin-orbit coupling using the modified Becke-Johnson potential reveal the presence of three occupied valence bands at the Γ(A)-point and show that the minimum indirect bandgap is between the Γ- and L-points of the Brillouin zone (BZ) similar to the experimental results. While the DFT calculations give only a single conduction band at the L and M-points of the BZ, the ARPES data (20 K) show two bands with opposite dispersion at EF. The observation of two bands close to EF was already reported in the charge density wave phase of TiSe2. The underlying mechanism of our observations is possibly a folding of the valence band states of ZrSe2 from the Γ(A) to M(L)-point accompanied by an energy shift due to internal dipolar momenta. Furthermore, at the A-point, the experimental dispersion of the lower occupied valence band and the size of its energy separation to the middle occupied band are not in line with the DFT calculations. Possible reasons of such discrepancies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the generation of ultrabroad bandwidth attosecond continua extending to sub-50-as duration in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region based on a 1.6-cycle Ti:sapphire laser pulse. The combination of the amplitude gating scheme with a sub-two-cycle driver pulse and the double optical gating scheme achieves the continuum generation with a bandwidth of 70 eV at the full width at half maximum near the peak photon energy of 140 eV, which supports a Fourier-transform-limited pulse duration as short as 32 as. The carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) dependence of the attosecond continua shows a single-peak structure originating from the half-cycle cut-off at appropriate CEP values, which strongly indicates the generation of a single burst of an isolated attosecond pulse. Our approach suggests a possibility for isolated sub-50-as pulse generation in the EUV region by compensating for the intrinsic attosecond chirp with a Zr filter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structure of ZrSe2 was studied by high resolution angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and by density functional theory (DFT). ARPES with distinct horizontal (P) and vertical (S)-polarized synchrotron radiation was performed on the sample kept at room temperature and 20 K to unravel the electronic structure especially at the Fermi energy (EF). The DFT calculations including spin-orbit coupling using the modified Becke-Johnson potential reveal the presence of three occupied valence bands at the Γ(A)-point and show that the minimum indirect bandgap is between the Γ- and L-points of the Brillouin zone (BZ) similar to the experimental results. While the DFT calculations give only a single conduction band at the L and M-points of the BZ, the ARPES data (20 K) show two bands with opposite dispersion at EF. The observation of two bands close to EF was already reported in the charge density wave phase of TiSe2. The underlying mechanism of our observations is possibly a folding of the valence band states of ZrSe2 from the Γ(A) to M(L)-point accompanied by an energy shift due to internal dipolar momenta. Furthermore, at the A-point, the experimental dispersion of the lower occupied valence band and the size of its energy separation to the middle occupied band are not in line with the DFT calculations. Possible reasons of such discrepancies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report parallel spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 500 000 A-scan/s. This is the highest-speed spectral-domain (SD) OCT system using a single line camera. Spectrally encoded line-field scanning is proposed to increase the imaging speed in SD-OCT effectively, and the tradeoff between speed, depth range, and sensitivity is demonstrated. We show that three imaging modes of 125k, 250k, and 500k A-scan/s can be simply switched according to the sample to be imaged considering the depth range and sensitivity. To demonstrate the biological imaging performance of the high-speed imaging modes of the spectrally encoded line-field OCT system, human skin and a whole leaf were imaged at the speed of 250k and 500k A-scan/s, respectively. In addition, there is no sensitivity dependence in the B-scan direction, which is implicit in line-field parallel OCT using line focusing of a Gaussian beam with a cylindrical lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-walled carbon nanotubes suffer severely from their extremely low luminescence quantum yield and spectral purity. In this work, we produced brightly and directionally luminescent, as well as spectrally pure, carbon nanotubes by embedding them into a wedge-shaped planar cavity. By controlling the detuning between the cavity mode and exciton emission, the photoluminescence of carbon nanotubes could be enhanced up to 60 times. Coupling efficiency, i.e., percentage of nanotube luminescence emitted into a cavity mode, was found to be detuning dependent with a maximum efficiency of ~54%. Moreover, emission from nanotubes inside the cavity becomes highly directional. The emission angle was measured to be less than 1.8°, demonstrating their great potential in device applications of future optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ionic transport and dielectric behaviors in NaNbO3 were studied under pressures up to 29.1 GPa by in situ impedance spectroscopy measurements. The transport process consists of the ionic transfer and the Warburg diffusion process between sample/electrode diffusion layers. A dielectric relaxation with a giant dielectric constant at low frequencies is observed, which is attributed to the “Maxwell-Wagner” interfacial polarization. In the Pbcm phase, the increase in the interaction between the Na+ ions and the NbO6 octahedra results in the enhancement of vibration resonance damping. In the high-pressure phases, the decrease in the relative permittivity with pressure indicates the existence of space charge polarization of the interface layer besides the ionic polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present a detailed analysis of the second-order piezoelectric effect in c-plane InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum dots and its consequences for electronic and optical properties of these systems. Special attention is paid to the impact of increasing In content x on the results. We find that in general the second-order piezoelectric effect leads to an increase in the electrostatic built-in field. Furthermore, our results show that for an In content ≥30%, this increase in the built-in field has a significant effect on the emission wavelength and the radiative lifetimes. For instance, at 40% In, the radiative lifetime is more than doubled when taking second-order piezoelectricity into account. Overall, our calculations reveal that when designing and describing the electronic and optical properties of c-plane InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum dot based light emitters with high In contents, second-order piezoelectric effects cannot be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on stacked multiple quantum dots (QDs) formed inside inverted pyramidal recesses, which allow for the precise positioning of the QDs themselves. Specifically, we fabricated double QDs with varying inter-dot distances and ensembles with more than two nominally highly symmetric QDs. For each, the effect of the interaction between QDs is studied by characterizing a large number of QDs through photoluminescence spectroscopy. A clear red-shift of the emission energy is observed together with a change in the orientation of its polarization, suggesting an increasing interaction between the QDs. Finally, we show how stacked QDs can help influencing the charging of the excitonic complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the electrical activation of neutral carbon-oxygen complexes in Si by wet-chemical etching at room temperature. Two deep levels, E65 and E75, are observed by deep level transient spectroscopy in n-type Czochralski Si. The activation enthalpies of E65 and E75 are obtained as EC-0.11 eV (E65) and EC-0.13 eV (E75). The electric field dependence of their emission rates relates both levels to single acceptor states. From the analysis of the depth profiles, we conclude that the levels belong to two different defects, which contain only one hydrogen atom. A configuration is proposed, where the CH1BC defect, with hydrogen in the bond-centered position between neighboring C and Si atoms, is disturbed by interstitial oxygen in the second nearest neighbor position to substitutional carbon. The significant reduction of the CH1BC concentration in samples with high oxygen concentrations limits the use of this defect for the determination of low concentrations of substitutional carbon in Si samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]