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We observed a light-induced enhancement of the tunneling current propagating through an array of parallel carbon chains anchored between gold nanoparticles (NPs). In the presence of laser radiation characterized by a wavelength close to the plasmon resonance of the NPs, the current-voltage characteristics of carbon bundle tunnelling junctions demonstrate a pronounced asymmetry between positive and negative bias values. Such an asymmetry is typical for a Schottky junction, in general. The resistance of the tunnel junction decreases with the increase of the optical pumping intensity. We associate the observed effect with an injection of `hot' carriers created in Au NPs due to the decay of the surface plasmons accompanied by the charge transfer to the carbon bundles. The observed phenomenon can be used for non-resonant excitation of excitonic states in low-dimensional carbon-based structures for single-photon emission, as well as for photovoltaic applications., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

We report on the fabrication of fractal dendrites by laser induced melting of aluminum alloys. We target boron carbide (B4C) that is one of the most effective radiation-absorbing materials which is characterised by a low coefficient of thermal expansion. Due to the high fragility of B4C crystals we were able to introduce its nanoparticles into a stabilization aluminum matrix of AA385.0. The high intensity laser field action led to the formation of composite dendrite structures under the effect of local surface melting. The modelling of the dendrite cluster growth confirms its fractal nature and sheds light on the pattern behavior of the resulting quasicrystal structure., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We stabilize monoatomic carbon chains in water by attaching them to gold nanoparticles (NPs) by means of the laser ablation process. Resulting nanoobjects represent pairs of NPs connected by multiple straight carbon chains of several nanometer lengths. If NPs at the opposite ends of a chain differ in size, the structure acquires a dipole moment due to the difference in work functions of the two NPs. We take advantage of the dipole polarisation of carbon chains for ordering them by the external electric field. We deposit them on a glass substrate by the sputtering method in the presence of static electric fields of magnitudes up to 10^5 V/m. The formation of one-dimensional carbyne quasi-crystals deposited on a substrate is evidenced by high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction measurements. The original kinetic model describing the dynamics of ballistically flowing nano-dipoles reproduces the experimental diagram of orientation of the deposited chains., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

In the article we introduce the experiment of the photostimulation effect in the tunneling conductivity of free-standing thin C-Au films. We observe a sharp increase of the conductivity of hybrid film due to the electromagnetic exciting at the frequencies which are close to the plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles. The use of carbyne threads as a stabilizing matrix makes it possible to obtain free-standing thin films that demonstrate a good structural stability. The tunnel current-voltage measurements demonstrate a strong dependence of the current value on the intensity of green laser radiation used to photostimulate thin C-Au in area of the measuring experiment., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures

We studied monoatomic linear carbon chains stabilised by gold nanoparticles attached to their ends and deposited on a solid substrate. We observe spectral features of straight chains containing from 8 to 24 atoms. Low temperature PL spectra reveal characteristic triplet fine-structures that repeat themselves for carbon chains of different lengths. The triplet is invariably composed of a sharp intense peak accompanied by two broader satellites situated 15 and 40 meV below the main peak. We interpret these resonances as an edge-state neutral exciton, positively and negatively charged trions, respectively. The time-resolved PL shows that the radiative lifetime of the observed quasiparticles is about 1 ns, and it increases with the increase of the length of the chain. At high temperatures a non-radiative exciton decay channel appears due to the thermal hopping of carriers between parallel carbon chains. Excitons in carbon chains possess large oscillator strengths and extremely low inhomogeneous broadenings., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures

We synthesize macroscopically long linear carbon chains (carbynes) in a colloidal solution, then deposit them on a surface. The method is based on the formation of carbon threads by laser ablation in a colloid accompanied by the stabilization of resulting linear carbon chains by golden nanoparticles. We observe the signatures of the polyyne allotrope of carbyne in the photoluminescence and Raman spectra of the solutions. We deposit the synthesized carbyne threads on fused quartz glass substrates. The transmission electron microscopy images of the deposited threads with golden nanoparticles attached to their ends demonstrate the straight linear parts of the monoatomic carbon chains varying in length between 8 and 24 carbon atoms. This method paves the way to fabrication of an ultimate one-dimensional crystal: a monoatomic carbon wire., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, including supplementary materials part at the end of the article