Search

It is crucial to better understand the magnetization reversal process between soft and hard magnets and to achieve a high maximum energy product in thick composite multilayers. In this study, we find that the exchange interactions dominate in soft–hard-magnetic composite bilayers, while dipole interactions are predominant in soft–hard-magnetic composite trilayers. Based on the first-order reversal curve, magnetization reversal models are developed for both the thick composite bilayer and trilayer. Dipole interactions play an important role in the long range, resulting in higher coercivity and remanence in the thick trilayer. A multilayer in a stacked trilayer structure is achieved, which is composed of thick films with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at a thickness of up to 16 μm. The enhanced dipole interactions lead to a remanent polarization of 1 T and a maximum energy product of 22.5 MGOe. This work contributes to the preparation of thick films with a high maximum energy product for applications in magnetic microelectromechanical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical signals generated by an electromechanical coupling mechanism in biomaterials have significant potential applications in the field of biomedical engineering. For example, the piezoelectric- or flexoelectric-induced electrical signals in bone biomaterials play an important role in facilitating self-repair, remodeling, and reshaping processes. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been found to possess excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility with bone, making it an outstanding choice as an implantable polymer material. It is particularly important to investigate the electromechanical response performance of PEEK materials. In this study, we experimentally examine the flexoelectricity of PEEK and evaluate its effective out-of-plane direct and converse flexoelectric coefficients. Using the piezoresponse force microscopy module of atomic force microscopy, we observe a clear converse flexoelectric effect in a PEEK disk-shaped sample. The effective out-of-plane converse flexoelectric coefficient of the PEEK disk-shaped sample is about μ 3333 eff = 0.21 ± 0.02 nN / V. The effective out-of-plane direct flexoelectric coefficient, determined through the bending experiment of a PEEK cantilever, is f 3113 eff = 17.61 nC/m, which is larger than that of polyvinylidene fluoride and is nearly two orders of magnitude superior over other biomaterials such as bone and hydroxyapatite. This indicates that PEEK materials have even greater potential for development and research in biomedical engineering applications such as intervertebral fusion, bone joint replacement, bone rehabilitation and regeneration, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a Markovian quantum model for the time dependence of the pressure-induced decoherence of rotational wave packets of gas-phase molecules beyond the secular approximation. It is based on a collisional relaxation matrix constructed using the energy-corrected sudden approximation, which improves the previously proposed infinite order sudden one by taking the molecule rotation during collisions into account. The model is tested by comparisons with time-domain measurements of the pressure-induced decays of molecular-axis alignment features (revivals and echoes) for HCl and CO2 gases, pure and diluted in He. For the Markovian systems HCl–He and CO2–He, the comparisons between computed and measured data demonstrate the robustness of our approach, even when the secular approximation largely breaks down. In contrast, significant differences are obtained in the cases of pure HCl and CO2, for which the model underestimates the decay rate of the alignment at short times. This result is attributed to the non-Markovianity of HCl–HCl and CO2–CO2 interactions and the important contribution of those collisions that are ongoing at the time when the system is excited by the aligning laser pulse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear dynamics at mid-infrared wavelength is of interest for various applications but has been mainly limited to quantum cascade lasers so far. In this article, we show that interband cascade lasers can generate complex optical chaos with bandwidth in the GHz range and this outperforms the performances of quantum cascade laser chaos. The chaos nature of our signal is confirmed by a thorough time-series analysis. Modeling of the semiconductor laser under short-cavity external optical feedback allows confirming the high bias chaos operation that we observe experimentally. These results pave the way for applications at mid-infrared wavelength, such as private free-space communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal oxides are a class of functional materials widely used in optoelectronics, spintronics, and memory technology. The oxygen stoichiometry of these oxides plays a vital role in determining their electronic, optical, and thermal properties. Post-growth annealing in ozone has shown to be effective in modifying these properties. Here, we choose NiO, an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator in perfect stoichiometry, as an example to show that its stoichiometry can be tuned continuously in a broad range by the control of the oxidation power during growth or a post-growth topotactic reduction process. The bandgap of the as-processed NiOx films was modulated in accordance with their resistivity, lattice constant, and Ni chemical valence. This method can be readily applied to other transition metal oxides for the optimization of their properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micrometer-scale internal defect in the capsule is one of the most important factors that limit implosion performance in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments, which creates instability seeds as shocks propagate through the capsule shell. Here, we report the generation mechanism of vortex pairs resulting from the interaction of shock waves with multiple bubbles, as well as the origin of more intricate perturbation waves than those observed in the case of single defects. Based on the subsequent evolution of hydrodynamic instability, it is evident that the vortex pairs induce the emergence of low-density (light-bubble case) or high-density (referred to as heavy-bubble case) jets on the ablative front. The presence of multiple side-by-side defects can rapidly amplify the dimensions of the jet. These jets could be responsible for the "meteor shower" observed in implosion experiments. Converging disturbed waves between vertically aligned defects lead to a more complex nonlinear flow field evolution compared to the scenario with a single defect. A systematic study of localized perturbation growth as a function of defect placement is presented. We investigate the dependence of circulation in the flow field on the locations of the defects. The scanning results of defect scenes with different sizes revealed the reason why the depth of fluid penetration is affected by the position and size, and found that the effects of the position and size on the perturbation expansion width can be equivalent to a certain extent. The extension of the perturbation width when the defect is off-axis limits the degree of penetration of the perturbation depth. The results contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of physical processes, such as the seeding mechanism, shell integrity, and mass injection into the central region, which may be applied to inform the development of more effective strategies to mitigate implosion degradation in ICF implosion experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic properties and coercivity mechanism of an anisotropic Ce–Nd–Fe–B film with a high Ce content (70 at. % Nd is replaced by Ce) have been investigated. After grain boundary diffusion with Tb layers, an enhancement of coercivity from 4150 to 9250 Oe is observed. Combining the initial magnetization curves, micromagnetic theory, and in-siut observation of magnetic domains in the demagnetization process, it is confirmed that the coercivity mechanism for the high-Ce-content magnets is the mixed type dominated by the pinning mechanism. Moreover, as the thickness of the Tb diffusion layer increases, the pinning center of domain walls changes from narrow planar inhomogeneities to wide planar inhomogeneities. A growing role of pinning plays in determining the coercivity of samples with increasing the thickness of Tb layer due to the increase in magnetocrystalline anisotropy after Tb substitution in the RE2Fe14B phase. In addition, the CeFe2 intergranular phase leads to the enhancement of coercivity due to decoupling the hard magnetic phase grains. Our results provide an insight into the coercivity mechanism of high-Ce-concentration Ce–Nd–Fe–B magnetic materials and promote the comprehension of the effect of Tb diffusion in the magnetization reversal process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to resolve the dynamics of matter on its native temporal and spatial scales constitutes a key challenge and convergent theme across chemistry, biology, and materials science. The last couple of decades have witnessed ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) emerge as one of the forefront techniques with the sensitivity to resolve atomic motions. Increasingly sophisticated UED instruments are being developed that are aimed at increasing the beam brightness in order to observe structural signatures, but so far they have been limited to low average current beams. Here, we present the technical design and capabilities of the HiRES (High Repetition-rate Electron Scattering) instrument, which blends relativistic electrons and high repetition rates to achieve orders of magnitude improvement in average beam current compared to the existing state-of-the-art instruments. The setup utilizes a novel electron source to deliver femtosecond duration electron pulses at up to MHz repetition rates for UED experiments. Instrument response function of sub-500 fs is demonstrated with < 100 fs time resolution targeted in future. We provide example cases of diffraction measurements on solid-state and gas-phase samples, including both micro- and nanodiffraction (featuring 100 nm beam size) modes, which showcase the potential of the instrument for novel UED experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate herein how long-wavelength perturbations affect the nonlinear evolution of the multimode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI). A single-mode ARTI with an initial small amplitude is first investigated to validate the reliability of the proposed simulation code. The results show that both linear growth rates and asymptotic bubble velocities obtained from simulations are in reasonable agreement with theoretical results. Initial perturbations with different long-wavelength perturbations are compared to investigate the contribution of the long-wavelength perturbations to the nonlinear evolution of the ARTI mixing. Beyond the nonlinear saturation limit [S. W. Haan, Phys. Rev. A 39, 5812 (1989)], the long-wavelength perturbation promotes the ARTI mixing and facilitates the development of the large-scale structure on the ablation surface. In the self-similar analysis, the simulation results indicate that the self-similar growth parameters decrease with increasing initial longest-wavelength modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is believed that isolated defects within the capsule (e.g., void, high-density inclusion) can be one of the essential factors for implosion performance degradation by seeding hydrodynamic instabilities in implosions. Nonetheless, a systematic study on how the isolated defects evolve and why they are not stabilized by ablation given the length scale comparable with the typical cutoff wavelength is still lacking. This paper addresses the above concerns by looking into a simplified model where a planar shell (without convergent geometry) is driven by laser direct-drive, with a single defect (low/high density) of micrometer or sub-micrometer scale residing at different locations inside. The underlying dynamics of two key physical processes are analyzed, i.e., the shock–bubble interactions as well as the subsequent nonlinear evolution of ablative hydrodynamic instabilities initiated by the direct interaction of the deformed defect and ablation front, revealing that compressibility and baroclinic effects drive vorticity production during the interactions between the shock wave and the isolated defect. In the "light-bubble" case, the vortex pair generated in the first process is further strengthened by the laser ablation. Hence, a directed flow is formed in companion with the persistent flow entering the bubble of the surrounding ablator. The bubble exhibits a remarkable growth both laterally and deeply, seriously threatening the shell's integrity. The positive feedback mechanism of the vortex pair is absent in the "heavy-bubble" counterpart, and the ablation stabilization manifested itself in the reduction of spike amplitude. A systematic study of localized perturbation growth as a function of defect placement, size, and preheating intensity is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of post-growth annealing (PGA) on dot-in-well (DWELL) structures grown on Si substrates has been studied. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed that, compared to the DWELL structures directly grown on GaAs, the PGA process induces a distinct difference in the tuning of the emission properties. Then, transmission electron microscopy imaging of the samples revealed that PGA improved the uniformity of quantum dots (QDs) while the size of the QDs increased, in agreement with a corresponding red shift and a decrease of the full width at half maximum in the PL emission spectrum. Finally, energy-dispersive x-ray linescan provided a quantitative analysis of the composition change of DWELL grown on Si in the as-grown, 700 °C annealed, and 800 °C annealed samples. The change in the InL/GaK concentration ratio became gradual between the QDs and surrounding materials after 800 °C annealing. The analysis of the optical properties, morphology evolution, and compositional change of the QDs as a function of the annealing temperature showed good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interlayer dipolar coupling is an important aspect in magnetic switching devices from the application point of view. Here, we identify various sources affecting the interlayer dipolar coupling in CoFeB-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (pMTJs). By changing the MgO tunnel barrier layer thickness, we show that it plays a crucial role in controlling the dipolar coupling between the CoFeB reference and free layers and affects the magnetic properties of pMTJ. Moreover, changes in thickness of the bottom electrode layer affect the interlayer coupling strength and change the magnetic anisotropy of the free layer from perpendicular to in-plane direction. Furthermore, it is observed that the smaller the cell size of such MTJs, the more dominating the coupling strength which is formed by stray fields. These are some of the crucial parameters which need to be investigated during the device fabrication process for optimum device performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we give a direct interpretation of micrographs of the 60° and 90° defect core at the GaAs/Si interface using aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. We investigate the post-growth annealing effects on dislocation rearrangement at the interface as well as the threading dislocations in buffer layers; finally, the density of threading dislocations has been calculated as a function of annealing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional strategy for transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) follows the path of chemical design by increasing carrier concentrations in insulators through deliberate doping to coordinate the exclusive properties of electrical conductivity with optical transparency. Despite the success of n-type TCOs, the developed p-type TCOs based on chemical design exhibit much lower performance than the n-type counterparts primarily constrained by the hole doping trouble. Recently, the correlated metal of a V2O3 thin film has been reported as high-performance p-type TCOs with high hole concentration (>1022 cm−3). In this paper, we propose an alternative approach of compressive strain in V2O3 thin films toward further increasing the carrier concentration and, consequently, enhancing the performance of p-type TCOs. The compressive strain of the V2O3 thin film is realized by the lattice mismatch between V2O3 and Al2O3. Interestingly, carrier concentrations in strained V2O3 thin films can be increased by several times exceeding 1023 cm−3, which directly correlates with the increase (decrease) in a 1 g ( e g π ) orbital occupation as verified by the Raman spectrum. Meanwhile, the screened plasma energy of a strained V2O3 thin film shifts to ∼1.6 eV, which is less than 1.75 eV to assure the opening of the transparency window in the visible region. As a result, strained V2O3 thin films exhibit enhanced performance as p-type TCOs with relatively high figure of merit. These results indicate that the structural modification can open up an effective approach for increasing the carrier concentration and enhancing the performance of p-type TCOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of thin-shell effects on the nonlinear evolution of two-dimensional single-mode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) is studied in the parameter range of inertial confinement fusion implosions. A new phase of unsaturated nonlinear bubble evolution caused by thin-shell effects is found. This is different from the traditional opinion that the bubble velocity becomes saturated after the ARTI evolution enters a highly nonlinear regime. A modified bubble velocity formula is proposed, based on the Betti–Sanz model [Betti and Sanz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 205002 (2006)], considering the thin-shell effects. It is shown that the bubble velocity becomes saturated in the thick-target case after the ARTI evolution enters a highly nonlinear regime. In this case, the Betti–Sanz bubble dynamics model can predict the evolution of bubble velocity. However, when the thin-shell effects become significant in the case of k D 0 < 100, where D 0 is the initial thickness of the target and k is the perturbation wavenumber, the difference of the average acceleration between the bubble vertex and the spike tip can be much more significant than that of the thick-target case. In this situation, the nonlinear evolution of the ARTI bubbles will accelerate without saturation until the target breakup, which cannot be depicted by the Betti–Sanz model while the improved theory formula is applicative. The Betti–Sanz model and the improved theory formula are independent of the initial perturbation amplitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A weakly nonlinear (WN) theoretical model for the two-dimensional incompressible Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) is proposed. Its solution form is the complete expansion in real space. The transition from linear to nonlinear growth is analytically studied via third-order solutions of plane KHI initiated by a single-mode surface perturbation. The difference between the WN growth of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) in plane geometry and the WN growth of the KHI in plane geometry is discussed. It is found that there are resonance solutions in the higher harmonics of KHI but not in RTI. The vertex of spikes and bubbles is deflected because of the shearing effect in KHI compared with that in RTI. The spike velocity increases with the Atwood number before a particular time and then inversely after that time. There is no such reversal in RTI. However, the bubble velocity with the Atwood number of KHI has the same evolution rule as that of RTI. In addition to the influence of initial perturbation on the nonlinear saturation amplitude, the influence of Atwood number on the nonlinear saturation amplitude of the fundamental mode is obtained. Finally, compared with the numerical simulations, at the same initial conditions, the analytical solutions up to the third harmonics are well consistent with the simulated datum in the linear and weakly nonlinear stages for a widely varied Atwood number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new type of two-dimensional semiconductor material, violet phosphorus (VP) has recently attracted much attention for applications in the field of optoelectronics. Although mechanical exfoliation has been used to prepare VP nanoribbons or nanosheets, production of the high quantum yield VP quantum dots (VPQDs) remains a challenge. Herein, the VPQDs are prepared via liquid exfoliation in ethanol and subsequent solvothermal treatment under 180 °C in dimethylformamide. The prepared VPQDs have a mean size of about 2 nm and can emit a strong blue photoluminescence (PL) when exchanged in ethanol solution. The quantum yield can reach 8.6%. The strong PL arises from both the band-to-band recombination related to quantum confinement effects and P-O-C related surface bonding state. Furthermore, the VPQDs solution has a good photostability under ambient conditions, suggesting their possible potential in fluorescent biological imaging and photocatalytic reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherently strained BiFeO3 epitaxial films deposited on (001)-oriented (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 have a tetragonal crystal form, a stress-distorted version of the rhombohedral phase. A conversion from coherent BiFeO3 to a new, tilted pseudotetragonal phase with the c/a ratio exceeding 1.2 is observed beyond the critical thickness of 60 nm. X-ray reciprocal space maps display that this highly elongated metastable structure is monoclinically distorted by ~0.2° and exhibits an out-of-plane tilt of ~3°. These observations are at odds with traditional understandings that a coherent epilayer should turn into its parent structure upon increasing the thickness, providing a new insight into the strain relaxation mechanism of epitaxial films. We show that in the heating and cooling cycles, the transition between these two phases is completely reversible and is associated with the alleviation of thermal stress. Our results reveal that the coherent BiFeO3 epilayer with tetragonal symmetry stabilized by moderate compressive strain behaves as a structural bridge that links the thermally stable rhombohedral phase and the metastable tetragonal-like phase with a giant axial ratio. Moreover, the finding of a BiFeO3 phase mixture in our study extends the threshold in-plane strain of the stress-driven morphotropic phase boundary to a value as low as -2.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient improved discrete velocity method (IDVM) with inner iteration is presented to simulate the steady flows in all flow regimes in this work. It is an extension of our previous implicit IDVM to achieve a faster convergence rate. In the previous method, both the discrete velocity Boltzmann equation (DVBE) and the corresponding macroscopic governing equations are solved synchronously, where the computational discrete cost is dominated by the calculation of the DVBE since the number of distribution functions is far larger than that of macroscopic conservative variables. Furthermore, the convergence rate of the calculation of the DVBE is affected by the predicted equilibrium state obtained from the solution of macroscopic governing equations. To provide a more accurate predicted equilibrium state for the fully implicit discretization of the DVBE, an inner iteration is introduced into the solution of macroscopic governing equations, and the flux Jacobian of these equations is evaluated by the difference of numerical fluxes of Navier–Stokes equations rather than the Euler equation-based flux splitting method used in the previous implicit IDVM. This more accurate prediction procedure endows the developed method to accelerate the computation greatly, especially in the continuum flow regime. Numerical results indicate that, in the continuum flow regime, the present method is about one order of magnitude faster than the previous implicit IDVM and one to two orders of magnitude faster than the conventional semi-implicit DVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inward transport flux accompanied by the long-lived mode (LLM) has been observed by the edge Langmuir probe array during the L-H transition in the HL-2A tokamak. The cross phase between the poloidal electric field fluctuation and the electron density fluctuation in the LLM frequency changed greatly during the L-H transition, which led to the radial transport flux in the LLM frequency to change its transport direction in a given radial region near the pedestal barrier. By using the long distance correlation method, the phase shift of poloidal electric field fluctuation proved to be the key reason, which led to the cross-phase term to change in the LLM frequency. Furthermore, the shear effect has a mode-selecting characteristic on the LLM and turbulence because the direction of turbulent transport still remains radially outward during the H-mode. In addition, when the inward conducted heat flux accompanied by LLM occurs, the poloidal electric field fluctuation and electron temperature fluctuation both have a positive gradient in the LLM frequency; this may indicate that the positive gradient of radial velocity and electron temperature in the LLM frequency play an important role during the entire transport direction change process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay between structural properties and charge transfer in self-assembled quantum ring (QR) chains grown by molecular beam epitaxy on top of an InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) superlattice template is analyzed and characterized. The QDs and QRs are vertically stacked and laterally coupled as well as aligned within each layer due to the strain field distributions that governs the ordering. The strong interdot coupling influences the carrier transfer both along as well as between chains in the ring layer and dot template structures. A qualitative contrast between different dynamic models has been developed. By combining temperature and excitation intensity effects, the tuning of the photoluminescence gain for either the QR or the QD mode is attained. The information obtained here about relaxation parameters, energy scheme, interlayer and interdot coupling resulting in creation of 1D structures is very important for the usage of such specific QR-QD systems for applied purposes such as lasing, detection, and energy-harvesting technology of future solar panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CuCrO2-based heterojunction diodes with rectifying characteristics have been fabricated by combining p-type Mg-doped CuCrO2 and n-type Al-doped ZnO. It was found that the current for the heterojunction in low bias voltage region is dominated by the trap-assisted tunneling mechanism. Positive magnetoresistance (MR) effect for the heterojunction can be observed at room temperature due to the tunneling-induced antiparallel spin polarization near the heterostructure interface. The MR effect becomes enhanced with the magnetic field, and shows the maximum at a bias voltage around 0.5V. The phenomena indicate that the CuCrO2-based heterojunction is a promising candidate for low-power semiconductor spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control of surface wettability by means of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) is among the most effective methods of active enhancement of surface wettability. Here, electrohydrodynamics of drop impact onto a dielectric surface with electrodes embedded in the dielectric (or aligned and attached to it) is experimentally investigated. Drop impact of different liquids (water, n-butanol, and motor oil) onto different substrates (stretched Teflon, parafilm, and polypropylene) is studied. Water drop impact onto stretched Teflon (the only Teflon which revealed significant electrowetting) and un-stretched parafilm surfaces is studied in detail. The results for water drop impact indicate that drop spreading on such non-wettable surfaces can be significantly enhanced by the electric field application. In particular, water drop rebound can be suppressed by the electric force. Furthermore, impact dynamics and spreading of hydrocarbon liquids with electric field are explored. Partial suppression of splash phenomena was also observed with the application of the electric field in addition to enhancement of spreading. In addition, the experimental results for water drops are compared with the Cahn−Hilliard−Navier−Stokes (CHNS) simulations for static contact angles and drop impact dynamics, and the results are in close agreement for water drops. This study demonstrates that electrowetting-on-dielectric holds great promise for coating and spraying technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we demonstrated considerable enhancement of the transport characteristics of n-type Al2O3/In0.53Ga0.47As metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (n-MOSFETs) with the assistance of in situ NH3/N2 remote-plasma (RP) treatment. According to the measurement and simulation results, the RP treated sample shows superior device performances as compared to the control sample without plasma treatment including (a) improved on-current (Ion) from 8.5 mA/mm to 17 mA/mm, (b) improved transconductance (Gm) from 16.05 mS/mm to 28.52 mS/mm, (c) suppressed subthreshold swing from 189 mV/dec to 170 mV/dec, (d) suppressed drain induced barrier lowering from 36 mV/V to 28 mV/V, (e) intensified peak effective mobility (μeff) from 1896 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 2956 cm2 V−1 s−1, and (f) reduced acceptor-type density of interface trap state (Dit,A) to 44%. By using TCAD simulation, device output performance is found to be dramatically impacted by the trap state (especially acceptor-type) at the Al2O3/InGaAs interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined wet and dry cleaning process for GaN(0001) has been investigated with XPS and DFTMD modeling to determine the molecular-level mechanisms for cleaning and the subsequent nucleation of gate oxide atomic layer deposition (ALD). In situ XPS studies show that for the wet sulfur treatment on GaN(0001), sulfur desorbs at room temperature in vacuum prior to gate oxide deposition. Angle resolved depth profiling XPS post-ALD deposition shows that the a-Al2O3 gate oxide bonds directly to the GaN substrate leaving both the gallium surface atoms and the oxide interfacial atoms with XPS chemical shifts consistent with bulk-like charge. These results are in agreement with DFT calculations that predict the oxide/GaN(0001) interface will have bulk-like charges and a low density of band gap states. This passivation is consistent with the oxide restoring the surface gallium atoms to tetrahedral bonding by eliminating the gallium empty dangling bonds on bulk terminated GaN(0001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of strained layer threading dislocation filter structures in single crystal epitaxial layers is evaluated using numerical modeling for (001) face-centred cubic materials, such as GaAs or Si1-xGex, and (0001) hexagonal materials such as GaN. We find that threading dislocation densities decay exponentially as a function of the strain relieved, irrespective of the fraction of threading dislocations that are mobile. Reactions between threading dislocations tend to produce a population that is a balanced mixture of mobile and sessile in (001) cubic materials. In contrast, mobile threading dislocations tend to be lost very rapidly in (0001) GaN, often with little or no reduction in the immobile dislocation density. The capture radius for threading dislocation interactions is estimated to be approximately 40 nm using cross section transmission electron microscopy of dislocation filtering structures in GaAs monolithically grown on Si. We find that the minimum threading dislocation density that can be obtained in any given structure is likely to be limited by kinetic effects to approximately 104-105cm-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Films of L11-type CoPt/NiFe exchange springs were grown with different NiFe (Permalloy) layer thickness (tNiFe=0-10 nm). X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the characteristic peak position of NiFe(111) is not affected by the CoPt-layer-confirming the absence of any inter-diffusion between the CoPt and NiFe layers. Magnetic studies indicate that the magnetization orientation of NiFe layer can be tuned through varying tNiFe and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of L11-type CoPt/NiFe films cannot sustain for tNiFe larger than 3.0 nm due to the existence of exchange interaction at the interface of L11-CoPt and NiFe layers. Magnetic force microscopy analysis on the as-grown samples shows the changes in morphology from maze-like domains with good contrast to hazy domains when tNiFe≥3.0 nm. The three-dimensional micro-magnetic simulation results demonstrate that the magnetization orientation in NiFe layer is not uniform, which continuously increases from the interface to the top of NiFe layer. Furthermore, the tilt angle of the topmost NiFe layers can be changed over a very wide range from a small number to about 75° by varying tNiFe from 1 to 10 nm. It is worth noting that there is an abrupt change in the magnetization direction at the interface, for all the tNiFe investigated. The results of present study demonstrate that the tunable tilted exchange springs can be realized with L11-type CoPt/NiFe bilayers for future applications in three-axis magnetic sensors or advanced spintronic devices demanding inclined magnetic anisotropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement in the field emission properties of α-Fe2O3 nanoflakes is observed after high energy X-ray irradiation from synchrotron radiation. Field emission threshold field of α-Fe2O3 nanoflakes is found to decrease from 10.1 to 7.8 MV/m after X-ray irradiation with the dose of 9.0 × 1014 phs/cm2. Electrical measurement reveals that the potential barrier at the back contact between the α-Fe2O3 layer and the iron substrate changes after X-ray irradiation. The observed threshold field decrease is well explained by the changes in potential barrier at the back contact of α-Fe2O3 nanoflakes, which indicates the back contact plays an important role in controlling the field emission properties of α-Fe2O3 nanoflakes. Our study shows that the α-Fe2O3 nanoflakes are a promising material for the application as field emitter under X-ray environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically only dilute (up to ∼10%) highly mismatched alloys can be grown due to the large differences in atomic size and electronegativity of the host and the alloying elements. We have overcome the miscibility gap of the GaN1-xAsx system using low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. In the intermediate composition range (0.10 < x < 0.75), the resulting alloys are amorphous. To gain a better understanding of the amorphous structure, the local environment of the As and Ga atoms was investigated using extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). The EXAFS analysis shows a high concentration of dangling bonds compared to the crystalline binary endpoint compounds of the alloy system. The disorder parameter was larger for amorphous films compared to crystalline references, but comparable with other amorphous semiconductors. By examining the Ga local environment, the dangling bond density and disorder associated with As-related and N-related bonds could be decoupled. The N-related bonds had a lower dangling bond density and lower disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coadsorption of hydrogen and transition metal dimers Fe2, Co2, Ni2, and FeCo on graphene is investigated using density functional theory calculations. Our work is motivated by observations that the magnetic moments of these transition metal dimers are large and that hydrogen adsorption partitions the graphene lattice into magnetic subdomains. Thus, we expect the magnetic dimers to interact strongly with the lattice. Our results show that the majority-spin direction of the lattice electronic states depends upon the dimer identity, the lattice spin polarization being in the same direction as the dimer spin polarization for Fe2 and FeCo, but opposite for Co2 and Ni2. We can understand this by examining the electronic density of states of the dimer and the lattice. We also show that coadsorption significantly increases the adsorption energies of both dimer and hydrogen leading to a more strongly-adsorbed dimer, while the bond length and magnetic moment of the upper dimer atom, the latter important for potential magnetic storage applications, are negligibly changed. Our work shows that the coadsorbed hydrogen and metal dimer interact over a long-range, this interaction being mediated by the hydrogen-induced spin-polarization of the graphene lattice. We obtain general insight into how the elemental identity of these magnetic dimers determines the spin-polarized states on the hydrogenated graphene lattice. These results could be important for potential applications of magnetic properties of decorated graphene lattices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear evolution of the ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) is investigated on the Shenguang-II laser facility using a target specifically designed for this purpose. The evolution of the excited bubbles and spikes is tracked and their displacement amplitudes are quantitatively measured with the help of a Kirkpatrick–Baez microscope coupled with an x-ray framing camera. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations are qualitatively in agreement with the experiments and demonstrate the phenomenon of bubble acceleration predicted by Betti and Sanz [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 205002 (2006)] in the nonlinear evolution of the ARTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fully three-dimensional Rayleigh–Taylor instability in spherical geometry is investigated in the weakly nonlinear regime. A theoretical model is developed for incompressible fluid and ideal Euler equations. Third-order solutions are derived for interface perturbations of spherical harmonic modes, Y n , m . Interface evolution, fundamental mode growth, the generated spectrum, and bubble growth are determined. It is found that the fastest growing modes satisfy the relation m ≃ (n + 1) / 2. The generated spectra demonstrate the feedback of mode coupling, which greatly depends on the azimuthal mode numbers. The growth factors are nearly the same for bubbles at different latitudes and bubbles with initially round cross-sectional perturbation shapes grow faster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use intense femtosecond laser pulses to multiply ionize and directly image the structures of N2Ar, O2Ar, and O2Xe dimers by coincidently measuring the momenta of the fragment ions. All these dimers are found to have an equilibrium T-shaped structure in which the bond of the diatomic molecule is perpendicular to the dimer axis. The equilibrium distance between the rare-gas atom and the center-of-mass of the diatomic molecule is estimated to be RN2-Ar ∼ 3.86 Å, RO2-Ar ∼ 3.65 Å, and RO2-Xe ∼ 4.07 Å, respectively. For the T-shaped N2Ar dimer, both sequential and direct triple-ionization-induced three-body breakups are observed. In contrast to N2Ar dimer, other structures are found to coexist with the dominating T-shaped one for O2Ar and O2Xe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal (TM: Mn or Fe) doped tin dioxide (SnO2) films with the compositions of 5% (Sn0.95TM0.05O2) have been deposited on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition under oxygen pressure (Po) varied from 10-4 to 1 Pa. The x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and infrared spectra analysis show that different TM dopants can affect the variations of crystallization and lattice distortion. Moreover, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies indicate that the effective Po during the growth does not change the valence state of Sn4+ in the Sn0.95TM0.05O2 films. The spectral behaviors of the films have been investigated in the photon energy range of 0.47-6.5 eV (2650-190 nm). From transmittance spectra, the shoulder structures become more prominent for the Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 film than those for the Sn0.95Mn0.05O2 film due to the Fe repelling effect of a stronger p-d hybridization. The refractive index values for the Sn0.95Mn0.05O2 film are found to be larger than those for the Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 film at the photon energy of 0.47 eV. The main peaks at about 1.9 and 2.2 eV in photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra for both Sn0.95Mn0.05O2 and Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 films can be observed, and it could be explained by the fact that the electrons in the conduction band of SnO2 relax to defect states and then radiatively recombine with the holes. From direct comparison of PL and transmittance results for the films, the electronic transition energies, the emission peaks' intensities and positions are shown to present the Po dependent behavior. The distinct trends indicate that the incorporation of Mn and Fe elements can provide a significant difference in the crystalline and electronic band structure. It can be concluded that the oxygen pressure and dopant contributions are responsible for the adjustment of electronic band structures and result in different optical response behaviors for the Sn0.95TM0.05O2 films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work has shown that GaN1-xAsx can be grown across the entire composition range by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy with intermediate compositions being amorphous, but control of the electrical properties through doping is critical for functionalizing this material. Here we report the bipolar doping of GaN1-xAsx with high As content to conductivities above 4 S/cm at room temperature using Mg or Te. The carrier type was confirmed by thermopower measurements. Doping requires an increase in Ga flux during growth resulting in a mixed phase material of polycrystalline GaAs:N embedded in amorphous GaN1-xAsx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the isolation of two free carrier scattering mechanisms as a function of radial band bending in InN nanowires via universal mobility analysis, where effective carrier mobility is measured as a function of effective electric field in a nanowire field-effect transistor. Our results show that Coulomb scattering limits effective mobility at most effective fields, while surface roughness scattering only limits mobility under very high internal electric fields. High-energy α particle irradiation is used to vary the ionized donor concentration, and the observed decrease in mobility and increase in donor concentration are compared to Hall effect results of high-quality InN thin films. Our results show that for nanowires with relatively high doping and large diameters, controlling Coulomb scattering from ionized dopants should be given precedence over surface engineering when seeking to maximize nanowire mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Square arrays of circular pinning centers of various diameters were patterned in Nb thin films to explore their vortex pinning behavior. Periodic critical current matching peaks and some 'missing peaks' were observed in magnetotransport measurements. The larger the diameter of the pinning centers, the higher the index of the missing matching fields observed. This phenomenon is explained by molecular dynamics simulations and is caused by the interaction between interstitial vortices and vortices occupying the pinning centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoluminescence (PL) and photoreflectance (PR) were used to characterize ZnxCd1-xSe/MgSe multiple quantum well (MQW) structures grown on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy for mid-infrared (IR) device applications. The PL spectra yielded information of the fundamental excitonic recombination and ZnxCd1-xSe cap/spacer band edge emission of the samples. The PR spectra revealed multitude of possible interband transitions in MQW structures. The ground state transitions were assigned by comparing with the PL emission signals taken from the same structures. A comprehensive analysis of the PR spectra led to the identification of various interband transitions. The intersubband transitions were then estimated and found to be in a good agreement with the previous report of Fourier-transform IR absorption measurements [Li et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 261104 (2008)]. The results demonstrate the potential of using PL and PR as nondestructive optical techniques for characterization of ZnxCd1-xSe/MgSe MQWs for mid-IR device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2 mol % Mn doped Pb0.5Sr0.5TiO3 films were fabricated on sapphire substrates by chemical solution deposition. The complex dielectric functions and optical parameters of the films determined by transmittance spectroscopy in a broad temperature range of 80-500 K were investigated. Apparent thermally-driven band-gap energy shrinkage, line-width of interband electron transition broadening and the Urbach band tail behaviors were observed. The results can be mainly correlated with the renormalization of electronic band structure and band-gap energy due to the electron-phonon interaction, which is well established in terms of the Bose-Einstein model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single crystalline FeMn/Co bilayers were grown epitaxially on Cu(001) and investigated by magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE). By doing the MOKE measurement within a rotating magnetic field, we were able to retrieve quantitatively the anisotropy constant of the ferromagnetic Co layer. We show unambiguously that as the FeMn layer changes from paramagnetic (PM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) states, it enhances the interfacial magnetic anisotropy at the FeMn/Co interface by an order of magnitude. A thickness dependent study of the magnetic anisotropy constant revealed that this induced magnetic anisotropy may originate from the FeMn/Co interfacial spin frustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 films were fabricated on glass slices coated with a layer of F-doped transparent conductive tin oxide layer by chemical solution deposition. The evolution of microstructures and related properties of the PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 films with annealing temperature were studied. The films show a perovskite phase and a crack-free surface morphology. The films annealed at >550 °C display a distinguishable layered structure consisting of dense and porous PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 layers. The sample treated at 650 °C exhibits the largest average remanent polarization of 29.2 μC/cm2 and peak reflectivity of 95% among the films. 650 °C appears to be the best processing condition for the growth of PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 multilayers with excellent ferroelectric and optical properties on F-doped tin oxide thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly strained InxGa1-xAs/GaAs double quantum well (DQW) structures grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy with different In compositions are investigated by surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) in the temperature range 20–300 K. A lineshape fit of spectral features in the differential surface photovoltage (SPV) spectra determines the transition energies accurately. A comprehensive analysis of the anomalous phenomena appearing in lower temperature SPV spectra enable us to evaluate directly the band lineup of DQW and to remove the ambiguity in the identification of spectral features. The process of separation of carriers within the QW with possible capture by the interface defect traps plays an important role for phase change in SPV signal in the vicinity of light-hole related feature at low temperature. The results demonstrate the considerable diagnostic values of the SPS technique for characterizing these highly strained DQW structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two thin epitaxial GaAs films on Ge substrates were characterized by photoluminescence (PL), contactless electroreflectance (CER), and piezoreflectance (PzR) techniques. The GaAs films containing antiphase domains (APDs) and those APD free were grown at 650 °C by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. The PL intensity of the APD-containing film is four orders of magnitude lower than that of the APD-free sample. The reduction in intensity is due to the electrically active Ga–Ga and As–As bonds at the boundaries between the different APDs. The electric fields deduced from Franz–Keldysh oscillations of the CER spectra were used to determine the net carrier concentration of the GaAs films. In addition, the conduction to light-hole band transitions and the conduction to heavy-hole band transitions that originated from strain induced valence band splitting in GaAs thin films were observed and identified through a comparison of the relative intensities of light- and heavy-hole related features in the PzR and CER spectra. The results demonstrate that PL, CER, and PzR are useful nondestructive tools to characterize thin epitaxial GaAs films on Ge substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a systematic study of temperature-dependent reflectance (R) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements on ZnMnO films grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. For the first time, the three free-exciton transitions FXA (Γ7c-Γ7vu), FXB (Γ7c-Γ9v), and FXC (Γ7c-Γ7vl) and the longitudinal-optical phonon replicas of FXB and FXC of ZnMnO films have been clearly observed in the R spectra. The parameters describing the activation energy and the temperature dependence of the transition energy and broadening have been extracted by fitting the experimental R and PL spectra. The spectral data of ZnMnO films not only show the deterioration of crystalline quality with increasing Mn composition fraction but also indicate the Mn clustering caused by Mn atom segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electrically controllable Kerr effect in magnetophotonic crystals consisting of magnetic materials and nematic liquid crystals is presented by considering the properties of nematic liquid crystals. Numerical results show that the Kerr effect is changed remarkably by adjusting the permittivity of liquid crystal, and the maximum value of the Kerr rotation angle is enhanced with the increase in the permittivity of liquid crystal. Such properties demonstrate the possibility of tunable magneto-optical devices based on nematic liquid crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The buckling of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on elastomeric substrates is studied in this paper. Simple expressions of the buckle wavelength and amplitude and the critical strain for buckling are obtained analytically. For single-walled CNTs, the wavelength is proportional to the CNT radius to the 3/4 power, while it increases linearly with the number of walls for multiwalled CNTs. For two parallel CNTs on the surface of the elastomeric substrate, there exists a critical spacing below which the two CNTs interact and buckle together, adopting the same wavelength. This cobuckling wavelength is very close to the wavelength for the larger CNT to buckle independently, i.e., the larger tube dominates the coupled buckling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) measurements were used to investigate the effect of Mg doping in ZnO nanorods. The intensities of the features in the O K-edge XANES spectra of Zn1-xMgxO nanorods are lower than those of pure ZnO nanorods, suggesting that Mg doping increases the negative effective charge of O ions. XES and XANES spectra of O 2p states indicate that Mg doping raises (lowers) the conduction-band-minimum (valence-band-maximum) and increases the band gap. The band gap is found to increase linearly with the Mg content, as revealed by photoluminescence and combined XANES and XES measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we experimentally explored the negative-refraction superprism effect in photonic crystals by investigating the frequency-dependent negative refractive index of photonic crystals at microwave frequencies from 8.2 to 8.4 GHz. By detecting the spatially distributed intensity of a transmitted microwave whose incident angle is well controlled, we determined the propagating path, the refractive angle, and the refractive index of the transmitted microwave. The highly dispersive relationship between the negative refractive index and the frequency of microwave observed indicates potential applicability of this method for being used in a microwave wavelength demultiplexer by utilizing the negative-refraction superprism effect in photonic crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cubic potassium tantalite niobate [KTa1-xNbxO3 (KTN)] crystals of large size, good quality, and varying Nb concentration have been grown by the Czochralski method and their thermal properties have been systematically studied. The melting point, molar enthalpy of fusion, and molar entropy of fusion of the crystals were determined to be: 1536.9 K, 12 068.521 J mol-1, and 7.85 J K-1 mol-1 for KTa0.67Nb0.33O3; and 1520.61 K, 15 352.511 J mol-1, and 10.098 J K-1 mol-1 for KTa0.67Nb0.33O3, respectively. Based on the data, the Jackson factor was calculated to be 0.994f and 1.214f for KTa0.67Nb0.33O3 and KTa0.63Nb0.37O3, respectively. The thermal expansion coefficients over the temperature range of 298.15-773.15 K are: α=4.0268×10-6/K, 6.4428×10-6/K, 6.5853×10-6/K for KTaO3, KTa0.67Nb0.33O3, and KTa0.63Nb0.37O3, respectively. The density follows an almost linear decrease when the temperature increases=from 298.15 to 773.15 K. The measured specific heats at 303.15 K are: 0.375 J g-1 K-1 for KTaO3; 0.421 J g-1 K-1 for KTa0.67Nb0.33O3, and 0.430 J g-1 K-1 for KTa0.63Nb0.37O3 The thermal diffusion coefficients of the crystals were measured over the temperature range from 303.15-563.15 K. The calculated thermal conductivity values of KTaO3, KTa0.67Nb0.33O3, and KTa0.63Nb0.37O3 at 303.15 K are 8.551, 5.592, and 4.489 W m-1 K-1, respectively. The variation of these thermal properties versus Nb concentration is qualitatively analyzed. These results show that crystalline KTN is a promising material for optical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystallographic mechanisms of the crack initiation and propagation in a textured polycrystalline TiNi shape memory alloy were studied using scanning electron microscope and ex situ electron backscattered diffraction techniques. The results indicated that stress-induced martensitic transformation was triggered and formed a sandwich structure at the front of the crack tip prior to the crack initiation in the polycrystalline TiNi alloy. The crack propagated intragranularly and occasionally across the grain boundaries. The closed packed planes of the B2 parent phase such as {110} and {100} were revealed to favor the crack propagation. The stress-induced B2+B19′ sandwich structure determined the crack propagated by a microscopic sawtooth pattern and therefore a ductile feature in this textured polycrystalline TiNi sheet specimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]