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GaAs/Ge heterostructures have been employed in various semiconductor devices such as solar cells, high-performance CMOS transistors, and III–V/IV heterogeneous optoelectronic devices. The performance of these devices is directly dependent on the material quality of the GaAs/Ge heterostructure, while the material quality of the epitaxial GaAs layer on the Ge is limited by issues such as the antiphase domain (APD), and stacking-fault pyramids (SFP). We investigate the epitaxial growth of high-quality GaAs on a Ge (001) mesa array, via molecular beam epitaxy. Following a systematic study of the Ge terrace via an in situ scanning tunneling microscope, an atomically step-free terrace on the Ge mesa measuring up to 5 × 5 μm2 is obtained, under optimized growth conditions. The step-free terrace has a single-phase c (4 × 2) surface reconstruction. The deposition of a high-quality GaAs layer with no APD and SFP is then achieved on this step-free Ge terrace. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron channel contrast image characterizations reveal the defect-free growth of the GaAs layer on the step-free Ge mesa. Furthermore, InAs quantum dots on this GaAs/Ge mesa reveal photoluminescent intensity comparable to that achieved on a GaAs substrate, which further confirms the high quality of the GaAs layer on Ge.

III–V quantum dot (QD) lasers monolithically grown on CMOS-compatible Si substrates are considered as essential components for integrated silicon photonic circuits. However, epitaxial growth of III–V materials on Si substrates encounters three obstacles: mismatch defects, antiphase boundaries (APBs), and thermal cracks. We study the evolution of the structures on U-shaped trench-patterned Si (001) substrates with various trench orientations by homoepitaxy and the subsequent heteroepitaxial growth of GaAs film. The results show that the formation of (111)-faceted hollow structures on patterned Si (001) substrates with trenches oriented along [110] direction can effectively reduce the defect density and thermal stress in the GaAs/Si epilayers. The (111)-faceted silicon hollow structure can act as a promising platform for the direct growth of III–V materials for silicon based optoelectronic applications.

We investigate the third-order optical nonlinearities in four novel porphyrin dimers (dimers A to D) and a monomeric porphyrin H2CPTPP measured by using the single-beam z-scan technique with a pulsed Q-switched Nd:YAG nanosecond laser at 532nm. All the samples show strong excited state absorption (ESA) and high value of χ(3) in the ns domain at this wavelength. We perform a comparison between dimer A and its monomer H2CPTPP in their third-order optical nonlinearity, and discuss the relationships between the values of χ(3) and the different bridging groups for all the dimers.

A hypothesis is brought forward that the materials with low propagation loss in both optical and microwave band may exhibit good performance in terahertz (THz) band because THz wave band interspaces those two wave bands. For the purpose of exploring a kind of low-loss material for THz waveguide, Lu2.1Bi0.9Fe5O12 (LuBilG) garnet films are prepared by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method on a gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate from lead-free flux because of the good properties in both optical and microwave bands. In microwave band, the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth of the film 2ΔH = 2.8-5.1 Oe; in optical band, the optical absorption coefficient is 600 cm−1 at visible range and about 100-170 cm−1 when the wavelength is longer than 800nm. In THz range, our hypothesis is well confirmed by a THz-TDS measurement which shows that the absorbance of the him for THz wave is 0.05-0.3 cm−1 and the minimum value appears at 2.3 THz. This artificial ferromagnetic material holds a great promise for magnetic held tunable THz devices such as waveguide, modulator or switch.

The pure single phase of Zn0.95Co0.050 bulks is successfully prepared by solid-state reaction method. The effects of annealing atmosphere on room-temperature ferromagnetic behaviour for the Zn0.95Co0.05O bulks are investigated. The results show that the air-annealed samples has similar weak ferromagnetic behaviour with the as-sintered samples, but the obvious ferromagnetic behaviour is observed for the samples annealed in vacuum or Ar/H2 gas, indicating that the strong ferromagnetism is associated with high oxygen vacancies density. High saturation magnetization Ms = 0.73 ?B/Co and coercivity Hc = 233.8 Oe are obtained for the Ar/H2 annealed samples with pure single phase structure. The enhanced room-temperature ferromagnetic behaviour is also found in the samples with high carrier concentration controlled by doping interstitials Zn (Zni).

We prepare pure single-phase Co:ZnO powders introducing controllable interstitial Zni by Zn vapour annealing. The as-ground powder shows that no room-temperature ferromagnetism (RT-FM) exists, while the Zn vapour treated samples exhibit unambiguous RT-FM with a maximum magnetic moment of 0.2 μB/Co. The FM of Co:ZnO strongly depends on the Zn diffusion process, suggesting that not only carriers but also Zni defects play an important role in mediating FM in diluted magnetic semiconductors. A new core-shell model is proposed to interpret the mixture behaviour of FM and paramagnetism observed in the Zn vapour annealed Co:ZnO powders.

Using Co2O3 as the Co source, doped cerium oxide thin films with the composition of Ce0.97Co0.03O2−δ (CCO) are deposited on Si(111) and glass substrates by pulse laser deposition technique. X-ray diffraction reveals that CCO films with (111) preferential orientation are grown on Si, while the film on glass is polycrystalline with nanocrystal. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the Co displaces the Ce atom and exists in high spin state rather than low spin state, which contributes to the room-temperature ferromagnetism confirmed by vibration sample magnetometer. Films on Si and glass are different in ferromagnetism, which is believed to be induced by different film microstructures. Based on these results, the possible ferromagnetism in this insulating film is discussed. Anyway, successful fabrication of CCO films with room-temperature ferromagnetism on Si substrates is of great importance in both technological and theoretical aspects.

Most epidemic models for the spread of diseases in contact networks take the assumption of the infected probability of a susceptible agent dependent on its absolute number of infectious neighbours. We introduce a new epidemic model in which the infected probability of a susceptible agent in contact networks depends not on its degree but on its exposure level. We find that effective average infection rate (i.e., the average number of infections produced by a single contact between infected individuals and susceptible individuals) has an epidemic threshold c = 1, which is related to recovery rate, epidemic mechanisms and topology of contact network. Furthermore, we show the dominating importance of epidemic mechanisms in determining epidemic patterns and discussed the implications of our model for infection control policy.

We investigate spin-valve sandwiches with thin amorphous CoNbZr as soft layers. The magnetoresistance (MR), microstructure, and magnetostatic coupling are studied in these sandwiches with different layer deposition sequences. For the CoNbZr/Cu/Co sandwich, the CoNbZr underlayer provides a smoother surface on which smooth Cu and Co layers can subsequently grow. The Cu spacer is dense and pinholes-free, leading to a good ``spin valve'' effect with a larger MR ratio of 3.8%. For the Co/Cu/CoNbZr sandwich, however, the Cu spacer is rough and pinholes were observed, which could induce a direct ferromagnetic coupling. Correlated rougher surfaces on both the sides of the Cu spacer were also observed, giving rise to an ``orangepeel'' coupling of about 0.105 erg/cm−2. This strong ferromagnetic coupling in Co/Cu/CoNbZr results in a lower MR ratio of 1.6%. Moreover, upon proper thermal annealing, the CoNbZr/Cu/Co has a larger MR enhancement and a superior thermal stability to 350 degrees C due to the dense and homogenous structure in the spacer layer.

We propose a pseudo-spin-valve (PSV) trilayer using amorphous CoNbZr alloy for soft magnetic layers. The giant magnetoresistance (GMR), domain structures and their variation upon thermal annealing are investigated. The GMR effect is not only stable up to 300 degrees C but also enhanced due to the improvement of the interfaces between Cu and magnetic layers. With high annealing temperature, the magnetoresistance (MR) ratio decreases rapidly as a result of serious layer interdiffusion. Dense stripe domains, which disappear after annealing at 300 degrees C for 1 h, are observed in the sandwiched films. It is found that after patterning to elliptic stripe with aspect ratio of 6:1, the trilayers have a single domain and their MR ratio increases. The dynamic MR behaviour under an ac magnetic field indicates that the patterned stripes have good linear MR responses. Therefore, it is believed that the CoNbZr/Cu/Co PSV trilayer have strong potentials for spin-electronic devices including magnetic random access memory.

NiFe/Ag multilayers were prepared by dc sputtering onto glass-ceramic substrates directly at room temperature. The samples were thermally processed by rapid recurrent thermal anneal (RRTA). We studied the effects of RRTA on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) NiFe/Ag multilayer by controlling the anneal temperature as well as the rapid anneal cycle. The samples after three RRTA cycles have a similar annealing temperature dependence of GMR responses to the ordinary annealed samples. With the increasing anneal cycle, the GMR response improved at first and then reached an unexpected high value of 9% before descent rapidly. Microstructure study shows that this effect is ascribed to the transformation of continuous NiFe layer into discontinuous one, and then into a granular like film in a step-by-step way.

We study the microlaser in an optical standing-wave cavity injected with two-level atoms. The results have shown the obvious influence of atomic centre-of-mass motion on the microlaser, such as the photon distribution, the linewidth and the frequency shift. It was found that when the momentum of atoms is comparable to that of photons, the influence of atomic motion is dominated and the number of photons in the microlaser can be greatly enhanced, owing to part of the atomic kinetic energy being transferred to the resonator. This work provides a comparison of the related studies on the atomic motion under special assumptions.

Quantum technology establishes a foundation for secure communication via quantum key distribution (QKD). In the last two decades, the rapid development of QKD makes a global quantum communication network feasible. In order to construct this network, it is economical to consider small-sized and low-cost QKD payloads, which can be assembled on satellites with different sizes, such as space stations. Here we report an experimental demonstration of space-to-ground QKD using a small-sized payload, from Tiangong-2 space lab to Nanshan ground station. The 57.9-kg payload integrates a tracking system, a QKD transmitter along with modules for synchronization, and a laser communication transmitter. In the space lab, a 50 MHz vacuum + weak decoy-state optical source is sent through a reflective telescope with an aperture of 200 mm. On the ground station, a telescope with an aperture of 1200 mm collects the signal photons. A stable and high-transmittance communication channel is set up with a high-precision bidirectional tracking system, a polarization compensation module, and a synchronization system. When the quantum link is successfully established, we obtain a key rate over 100 bps with a communication distance up to 719 km. Together with our recent development of QKD in daylight, the present demonstration paves the way towards a practical satellite-constellation-based global quantum secure network with small-sized QKD payloads.

A strategic collective decision model is introduced to investigate the role of decision transmission mechanism and interaction networks in determining the collective decision dynamics. Assuming that agents are located in a scale-free network and their decisions are interdependent of each other. In our model, it is found that the effective decision transmission rate exists a threshold c = 1, which marks the transition between the two regimes, i.e. the decision spreading and the decision disappearing in the population. Furthermore, is mainly determined by the decision transmission mechanism and interaction network's topology.

The broadening effect in photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) observed by Freeman et al. is studied theoretically. Using a nonperturbative scattering theory developed for multiphoton ionization with the inclusion of spontaneous emission, we calculate the PADs for above-threshold ionization (ATI) peaks. The numerical calculations from our theory reproduce the kinetic-energy dependence and the laser-intensity dependence of PADs of ATI peaks observed by Freeman et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 57 (1986) 3156] and provide an evidence for the existence of the ponderomotive momentum of intense laser fields.

A new reactive magnetron sputtering system enhanced by the faced microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma source was designed and amorphous CNx films has been prepared by using this system. The characterization of the films by interference microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the deposition rate is strongly affected by the direct-current bias, and the films are composed by a single carbon nitride phase and the N/C ratio is 4:3.2, which is close to that of C3N4 (4:3).

The dynamic process of H2+ in intense ultrashort laser pulses with intensities of 1014 ~ 1015 W/cm2, wavelength of 532 nm and duration of 22 fs is theoretically investigated by using collinear model and numerically solving the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation. The results show that: (1) the dissociation and dissociative ionization compete each other in the case of intensities between 2.5 ? 1014 and 4.0 ? 1014 W/cm2; (2) both the dissociation and the dissociative ionization are much smaller and appear at about 5 cycles (?9 fs) later than the ionization. In addition, we estimate the spectrum of high harmonic generation and find that the well-known cutoff rule is invalid for the ultrashort laser pulse (e.g. the duration???25 fs), because the shorter pulse can produce higher order harmonics than the longer one.

Structural information contained in financial time series can be magnified effectively by constructing the accumulative return. In order to make the magnification effects of different financial time series comparative, we first propose a standard method to characterize the strength of the accumulative magnification effect. Then, we employ decomposed-randomized technology to uncover the formation mechanism of the accumulative magnification effect. Our results show that (1) the standard deviation pattern is determined by volatility dependence, (2) the Hurst exponent pattern is induced by sign dependence, (3) an approximate entropy pattern is caused by the combined effect of sign dependence and volatility dependence.

A double-wire-grid polarizer was fabricated on both sides of a low-loss polythene film by simple electroplating and photolithographic micro-processing techniques. The performances of the polarizer were measured using a terahertz time-domain spectrometer (THz-TDS). The transmittance is more than 70% and below 2% in the parallel and perpendicular directions of the polarizer, respectively. The extinction ratio is better than 22 dB in the broad frequency range of 0.5–3 THz, which is higher than the conventional free-standing polarizer in the high frequency region.

We present a comprehensive experimental study of terahertz (THz) wave propagation utilizing surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on the interfaces of a thin dielectric core layer sandwiched between two corrugated metallic claddings. THz wave impinges on the structured surfaces at normal incidence. Long-lasting oscillation propagation features are observed in the temporal waveform after traveling through the periodic arrays. The enhanced THz transmission can be achieved due to the coupling between incident waves to SPPs at the bottom and top interfaces. The finite element method is used to simulate the field distribution and the transmission mode in the waveguide. The hybrid waveguide with low absorption has great potential applications in THz integrated devices.

In the global economic system, each economy stimulates the growth of its gross domestic products (GDP) by increasing its international trade. Using a fluctuation analysis of the flux data of GDP and foreign trade, we find that both GDP and foreign trade are dominated by external force and driven by each other. By excluding the impact of the associated trade dependency degree, GDP and the total volume of foreign trade collapse well into a power-law function. The economy's total trade volume scales with the number of trade partners, and it is distributed among its trade partners in an exponential form. The model which incorporated these empirical results can integrate the growth dynamics of GDP and the interplay dynamics between GDP and weighted international trade networks simultaneously.

Lu2.1 Bi0.9Fe5 O12 (LuBiIG) garnet films are prepared by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates from lead-free flux. Three-inch single crystal garnet films with (444) orientation and good surface are successfully fabricated. The lattice mismatch to the GGG(111) substrate is as small as 0.08%. The ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth of the film is 2ΔH = 2.8–5.1 Oe, the Faraday rotation is 1.64 deg/μm at 633 nm at room temperature and the optical absorption coefficient of the film is 600 cm−1 in visible range and about 100–170 cm−1 when the wavelength is larger than 800 nm. The epitaxy film possesses dominating in-plane magnetization with a saturation magnetization of about 1562G. These superior optical, magnetic-optical (MO) and microwave properties of our garnet films have potential applications in both MO and microwave devices.

Fe-doped CeO2 is synthesized by ceramic method and the effects of Fe doping on the structure and properties are characterized by ordinary methods and terahertz-time domain spectrometer (THz-TDS) technique. Our results show that pure CeO2 only has a small dielectric constant of 4, while a small amount of Fe (0.9 at. %) doping into CeO2 promotes densification and induces a large e of 23. From the THz spectroscopy, it is found that for undoped CeO2 both the power absorption and the index of refraction increase with frequency, while for Fe-doped CeO2 we measure a remarkable transparency together with a flat index curve. The absorption coefficient of Fe-doped CeO2 at frequency ranging from 0.2 to 1.8 THz is less than 0.35 cm−1, implying that Fe-doped CeO2 is a potential THz optical material.

A layer of TiOx was deposited on powdery γ-Al2O3 by using flat-target magnetron sputtering in microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma. A vibrator was developed to coat the γ-Al2O3 particles evenly by TiOx. The conversion efficiency of methane and both the yield and the selectivity of C2 hydrocarbons and C2H2 were revealed to be superior to that by conventional chemical method. The use of vibrator is effective.