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The evolution of material strength within several dense particle suspensions impacted by a projectile is investigated and shown to be strongly dependent on the particle material in suspension. For stronger particles, such as silicon carbide, the shear strength of the fluid is shown to increase with the ballistic impact strength. For weaker particles, such as silica, the shear strength of the suspension is found to be independent of impact strength in this dynamic range of tests. A soft-capture technique is employed to collect ejecta samples of a silica-based shear thickening fluid, following a ballistic impact and penetration event. Ejecta samples that were collected from impacts at three different velocities are observed and compared to the benchmark particles using a Scanning Electron Microscope. The images show evidence of fractured and deformed silica particles recovered among the nominally 1 µm diameter monodisperse spheres. There is also evidence of particle fragments that appear to be the result of interparticle grinding. The trends observed in the shear strength estimates are interpreted with regards to the particle damage seen in the ejecta recovery experiments to develop a concept of the impact response of these fluids. The results suggest that particle slip through deformation is likely the dominant factor in limiting the transient impact strength of these fluids. Particularly, particle strength is important in the formation and collapse of dynamically jammed particle contact networks in the penetration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the temperature dependence of ballistic mobility in a 100 nm-long InGaAs/InAlAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor designed for millimeter-wavelength RF applications. To extract the temperature dependence of quasi-ballistic mobility, our experiment involves measurements of the effective mobility in the low-bias linear region of the transistor and of the collision-dominated Hall mobility using a gated Hall bar of the same epitaxial structure. The data measured from the experiment are consistent with that of modeled ballistic mobility based on ballistic transport theory. These results advance the understanding of ballistic transport in various transistors with a nano-scale channel length that is comparable to the carrier's mean free path in the channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the transport properties of monolayer MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) n- and p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) using full-band ballistic non-equilibrium Green's function simulations with an atomistic tight-binding Hamiltonian with hopping potentials obtained from density functional theory. We discuss the subthreshold slope, drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), as well as gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) for different monolayer MX2 MOSFETs. We also report the possibility of negative differential resistance behavior in the output characteristics of nanoscale monolayer MX2 MOSFETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterostructure tunnel field-effect transistors (HTFET) are promising candidates for low-power applications in future technology nodes, as they are predicted to offer high on-currents, combined with a sub-60 mV/dec subthreshold swing. However, the effects of important quantum mechanical phenomena like size confinement at the heterojunction are not well understood, due to the theoretical and computational difficulties in modeling realistic heterostructures. We therefore present a ballistic quantum transport formalism, combining a novel envelope function approach for semiconductor heterostructures with the multiband quantum transmitting boundary method, which we extend to 2D potentials. We demonstrate an implementation of a 2-band version of the formalism and apply it to study confinement in realistic heterostructure diodes and p-n-i-n HTFETs. For the diodes, both transmission probabilities and current densities are found to decrease with stronger confinement. For the p-n-i-n HTFETs, the improved gate control is found to counteract the deterioration due to confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complexity of impact-induced reaction, it is difficult to predict and evaluate the ignition and safety of explosives under low velocity impact. Plastic deformation is very important to explosive ignition under impact loading. At low strain rates, plastic deformation can be treated as an isothermal process. The deformation under high-strain-rate is usually seen as an adiabatic process, and the deformation work is transformed into heat with the attendant temperature increase of the explosive. In this paper, we proposed an ignition criterion in terms of effective plastic work and specific plastic power to predict the ignition of explosives under low velocity impact. The plastic work begins to accumulate, when the specific plastic power (i.e., the plastic strain rate) in a local region meets a threshold value; and when the plastic work is sufficient enough, the ignition occurs. The criterion parameters are determined by numerical simulation using LS-DYNA. Numerical simulation is compared with experimental data in order to calibrate the numerical model. The threshold values of this ignition criterion for different configurations are determined. In order to evaluate the validity of the criterion, the predictions of the ignition time, ignition zone, threshold velocities in Steven test with different PBX size designs and various projectiles, as well as the ignition threshold conditions in a modified drop weight test, Susan test, and Spigot test, are carried out. The predicted results show a good agreement with experimental results, and the errors of the ignition threshold are less than 15% for all the experimental configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a uniformly magnetized particle (i.e., a macroscopic magnetic moment) with an easy axis anisotropy. The particle's moment is switched from 'up' to 'down' direction by an external magnetic field applied parallel to the easy axis and continuously swept from a positive to a negative value. In addition, a small constant perpendicular bias field is present. It is shown that while the driving field switches the particle's moment in a conventional damped way, the perpendicular field creates an admixture of the precessional (ballistic) switching that speeds up the switching process. Precessional contribution produces a non-monotonic dependence of the switching time on the field sweep time with a minimum at a particular sweep time value. We derive analytic expressions for the optimal point, and for the entire dependence of the switching time on the field sweep time. Our approximation is valid in a wide parameter range and can be used to engineer and optimize of the magnetic memory devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission coefficient and the ballistic conductance are studied theoretically for a Dirac fermion through the graphene periodic magnetic barriers modulated by a homogeneous in-plane electric field. The transmission is highly asymmetric for zero and low biased conditions of the system. In contrast, it turns out to be symmetric in case of strongly modulated (by electric field) magnetic barriers and becomes independent of the number of barriers due to the predominant Klein tunneling effect. Interesting electric field effects are noted on the angular transmission properties of the chiral carriers. The conductivity profile exhibits some negative differential conducting regions, the number and the sharpness of the regions being intimately related to the number of barriers and the Fermi energy of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the influences of a channel source-end potential profile on the ballistic transport of carriers in Si metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) based on a quantum-corrected Monte Carlo device simulation. As a result, we found that higher ballistic efficiency is expected in MOSFETs with a heterojunction bottleneck barrier, such as Schottky source/drain MOSFETs, compared to that with the conventional p-n junction source and drain. Such a superior ballistic behavior is demonstrated due to the narrower bottleneck potential profile formed at the source-channel interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We characterize the linear and nonlinear electron transport in quantum point contacts (QPCs) realized by a hybrid combination of etching and gating. We demonstrate that the strong electron confinement generated through this hybrid QPC process results in quantized subbands with a large energy separation, leading to the observation of robust one-dimensional quantum-transport effects. Measurements of the nonlinear differential conductance reveal an unexpected bunching of curves at 0.20-0.25×2e2/h, rather than at the expected value of 0.5×2e2/h. Application of a simple analytical model indicates that this bunching is associated with the highly asymmetric manner in which the source-drain voltage is dropped across the QPC near pinch-off and under nonequilibrium conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a metamaterial for ballistic electrons, which consists of a quantum barrier formed in a semiconductor with negative effective electron mass. This barrier is the analog of a metamaterial for electromagnetic waves in media with negative electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability. Besides applications similar to those of optical metamaterials, a nanosized slab of a metamaterial for ballistic electrons, sandwiched between quantum wells of positive effective mass materials, reveals unexpected conduction properties, e.g., single or multiple room temperature negative differential conductance regions at very low voltages and with considerable peak-to-valley ratios, while the traversal time of ballistic electrons can be tuned to larger or smaller values than in the absence of the metamaterial slab. Thus, slow and fast electrons, analogous to slow and fast light, occur in metamaterials for ballistic electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fiber-optic confocal sensor for noncontact ballistic measurements is described. Determination of motion at velocities of 1.7 km/s with an uncertainty as small as ±0.3% is demonstrated for both a projectile and a free-surface target. The fibers detect the passage of the object at their conjugate image points created by low F/# optics. This results in an output signal comprising a train of sharp pulses each precisely identifying when the ballistic object traverses an image point. Since the ballistic object does not contact the sensor at the time of imaging, the measurements do not perturb the motion, enabling multi-fragment measurement, as well as repetitive measurements of the same object point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of a ballistic mesoscopic Hall bar to a local potential barrier is investigated in the presence of an external magnetic field. The effect of the position of the local potential probe in the Hall cross on the Hall and bend resistance is investigated leading to two-dimensional (2D) resistance maps. The Onsager–Casimir symmetry relations and symmetry relations between resistance measurements when interchanging the current and voltage leads, is obtained numerically for such 2D resistance maps. Symmetry properties are derived for the Hall and bend resistance maps with respect to the position of the local potential barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoporous and microporous materials made from aligned cylindrical pores play important roles in present technologies and will play even bigger roles in future technologies. The insight into the phonon thermal conductivity of these materials is important and relevant in many technologies and applications. Since the mean free path of phonons can be comparable to the pore size and interpore distance, diffusion-approximation based effective medium models cannot be used to predict the thermal conductivity of these materials. Strictly speaking, the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) must be solved to capture the ballistic nature of thermal transport; however, solving BTE in such a complex network of pores is impractical. As an alternative, we propose an approximate ballistic-diffusive microscopic effective medium model for predicting the thermal conductivity of phonons in two-dimensional nanoporous and microporous materials made from aligned cylindrical pores. The model captures the size effects due to the pore diameter and the interpore distance and reduces to diffusion-approximation based models for macroporous materials. The results are in good agreement with experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have calculated the effect of the oxidation-induced strain on the ballistic conductance in a Si/SiO2 quantum point contact. The strain-induced deformation potential was calculated semiempirically using a viscoelastic continuum model. The charge carriers are confined to the corners of the waveguide by both the strain-induced deformation potential and the Si/SiO2 band edge discontinuity. As a consequence nearly degenerate symmetric and antisymmetric transverse states are formed for the Si [001] minima. This additional degeneracy within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism leads to doubling of conductance steps for electrons in the [001] minima which govern the conductance near the cutoff energy. Due to the additional strain-induced confinement, the effective channel width of the quantum point contact is smaller and therefore the conductance steps are sharper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an efficient method to calculate the ballistic transmission function and current of an arbitrarily shaped, multiterminal two- or three-dimensional open device. It is shown that the calculation of the energy dependent transmission function can be reduced to a single calculation of some stationary states of the isolated device and the inversion of a small matrix that is energy dependent. The size of this matrix is shown to be governed by the size of the boundary region between the leads and the device. The method that we term contact block reduction method is illustrated by a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most interesting problems of modern solid-state physics is the emission mechanism of bright photoluminescence in the red spectral range discovered in silicon nanocrystallite structures, particularly in wires and dots. This article presents an interpretation of strong "red" photoluminescence in silicon wires and dots based on hot carrier ballistic transport in the process of photoluminescence excitation. Photoluminescence (PL), its excitation, electron paramagnetic resonance, infrared absorption and Raman scattering spectra of as-prepared Si wires have been examined. Silicon wire layers (porous silicon) were obtained by electrochemical etching of p-type Si wafers in a HF-ethanol solution. An atomic force microscope is used for porous silicon morphology analysis. It is shown that the very low PL intensity could be attributed to carrier radiative recombination between localized states quantum confined inside Si nanocrystallites. It is revealed that the ballistic effect can enhance the effective hot carrier excitation of interface defect-related photoluminescence in Si nanocrystallite structures. PL excitation spectrum modification depending on the Si crystallite size confirms the role of the ballistic effect in PL excitation of Si low-dimensional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies ballistic electronic transport in a proposed mesoscopic structure, quantum cable. Uniqueness of the structure quantum cable for the study of mesoscopic transport; Correlation between Fermi energy of electrons and ballistic conductance of quantum cable; Impact of the accidental degeneracies of the transverse subbands of quantum cable on the quantum conductance units.

Presents information on a study which examined the negative-effective-mass ballistic field-effect transistors. Ballistic carrier transport in diode structures; Ballistic carrier transport in gated structures; Numerical simulation procedure; Simulation results; Conclusions.

Examines the calculation of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics within the ballistic limit involving the metal-oxide tunnel transistors (MOTT). What the gate transconductance improves; Discussion on the saturation (knee) point and three modes of current transport across the device; How the low-voltage current saturation for MOTT is obtained.

Discusses the influence of resonant multi-mode pumping has on a coherent far infrared field within a ballistic quantum channel. Characterizing of frequencies of the mode spectrum; Expectancy of the Rabi oscillations; How these oscillations are exploited.

Presents information discussing the space charge limited ballistic electron transport through double quantum well segments. Simulation of three different structures; How the anode currents in the structures oscillate; Increasing of the space charge.

Shows the resonant interaction of electrons in a quantum ballistic channel with a strong electromagnetic field. Photoconductance of quantum point contact; Spatial modulation of the charge distribution; Emergence of Rabi oscillations in the mode population; Proposed used of an array of gates to simulate a moving quantum contact.

The ballistic mobility degradation is shown to originate from nonstationary (transient) transport in response to the ohmic electric field. The source and drain reservoirs launch electrons into the channel with injection velocity transiting the channel with finite ballisticity defined as the probability of a collision-free flight. The distinction is made between the ballistic mean free path and that present in a long channel. The results are in excellent agreement with those obtained from Monte Carlo procedures and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz (THz) signals can be generated by the periodic motion of ballistic electron bunches inside a quantum well cavity surrounded by two asymmetric resonant tunneling structure implemented in an InAlAs/InGaAs heterostructure. The electron bunches are produced in an adjacent active quantum well by optical excitation with a femtosecond laser pulse, and transferred into the cavity by resonant tunneling. The device contains also a superlattice that eliminates the electrons, which exit the cavity in the direction of the active quantum well. In consequence, the device output consists of a train of ultrashort pulses, of less than 100 fs, which preserve their coherence. Electrical signals up to few tens of THz can be obtained, depending on the resonant filter or antenna placed at the end of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low temperature ballistic hole transport in high-quality pentacene single crystals is studied using macroscopic gated four-terminal van-der-Pauw geometry and two-terminal conventional field-effect transistor structures. Well-pronounced magnetic focusing peaks are observed in the magnetoresistance of van-der-Pauw samples indicating ballistic transport up to at least 45 μm. At low temperature the field-effect transistors show saturation currents independent of the channel length and proportional to the channel width. The transistor characteristics are consistently analyzed assuming ballistic transport of holes throughout the whole length of the channel. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study that detailed the extension of a ballistic transport model to include the effect of a transverse magnetic field. Function of the ballistic transport model; Status of a steady-state current in theoretical treatments; Reason for obtaining analytic solutions.

Presented in this work is a new experimental technique to facilitate studies of materials under uniform radial expansion at rates of strain typically seen in ballistic and impact studies (103 to 105 s-1) at temperatures around 100-1000 K. Previous work places a right-cylinder polymer insert in a sample cylinder, into which a matching polymer projectile is launched using a gas gun. The impact and resulting deformation of the polymers imparts radial momentum to the cylinder. This work replaces the polymer insert with a steel ogive. A polycarbonate projectile deforms around the insert and drives radial expansion. The uniform radial expansion created has a less complex interface than previous work as only one material is driving the cylinder wall. As deformation of the insert is no longer necessary, the opportunity to heat or cool the cylinder prior to expansion is now available for studies into the effect of temperature on fracture and fragmentation behavior. This paper describes the design of this new impact configuration alongside how strain rate and expansion profile can be controlled. Validation experiment results with 6061-T6 aluminum and Ti-6Al-4V cylinders using a variety of diagnostics are compared with numerical modelling, where the benefits of this technique in assisting development of material strength and failure models are discussed with methods to control the sample temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]