Search

The head-on collision of two ion acoustic solitary waves is investigated in a magnetized plasma containing trapped electrons and dust grains. For completeness, the fluctuations in dust grain charge are taken into account. By using the extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo (PLK) perturbation method, an analytical expression is obtained for the phase shift that takes place due to the collision of the waves. How the phase shift behaves under the combined effect of trapped electrons and dust grains along with the finite temperature of ions is examined. A focus is given to uncover the situations of fluctuating charge and fixed charge on the dust grains in the plasma. Interestingly, the solitary waves acquire a larger phase shift and are delayed more in the case of dust grains having a fluctuating charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new magnetic field generation mechanism in electrostatic shocks is found, which can produce fields with magnetic energy density as high as 0.01 of the kinetic energy density of the flows on time scales ∼104ω-1pe. Electron trapping during the shock formation process creates a strong temperature anisotropy in the distribution function, giving rise to the pure Weibel instability. The generated magnetic field is well confined to the downstream region of the electrostatic shock. The shock formation process is not modified, and the features of the shock front responsible for ion acceleration, which are currently probed in laserplasma laboratory experiments, are maintained. However, such a strong magnetic field determines the particle trajectories downstream and has the potential to modify the signatures of the collisionless shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the processes of hole and electron trapping in yttrium orthosilicate Y2SiO5 single crystals using continuous wave and pulse electron spin resonance methods. We show that holes created by x-ray irradiation at low temperatures (T<80 K) are preferably self-trapped at Si-unbound oxygen ions in the form of O- centers. Under irradiation at higher temperatures (200-290 K), the holes are trapped at the Si-unbound oxygen ions in the vicinity of perturbing defects such as yttrium vacancies and impurity ions forming a variety of O- centers with thermal stability up to room and higher temperatures. We have also found that under x-ray irradiation at T < 60 K, electrons are preferably trapped in the vicinity of Si-unbound oxygen ion vacancies and partly trapped also at Mo impurity ions in the form of F+-type and Mo5+ centers, respectively. The trapped electrons are thermally released from the F+ centers at 75-90 K, thus giving rise to a thermally stimulated luminescence peak at these temperatures. We assume that this process is realized without excitation of the electrons to the conduction band. The spectroscopic parameters (g and hyperfine tensors) of all the investigated centers have been determined as well. Electron spin resonance measurements of electron and hole traps in the related compound lutetium orthosilicate (Lu2SiO5) are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional simulations, both Vlasov and particle-in-cell, are presented that show the evolution of the field and electron distribution of finite-width, nonlinear electron plasma waves. The intrinsically intertwined effects of self-focusing and dissipation of field energy caused by electron trapping are studied in simulated systems that are hundreds of wavelengths long in the transverse direction but only one wavelength long and periodic in the propagation direction. From various initial wave states, both the width at focus Δm relative to the initial width Δ0 and the maximum field amplitude at focus are shown to be a function of the growth rate of the transverse modulational instability γTPMI divided by the loss rate of field energy νE to electrons escaping the trapping region. With dissipation included, an amplitude threshold for self-focusing γTPMI/νE~1 is found that supports the analysis of Rose [ Phys. Plasmas 12 012318 (2005)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fully self-contained study of the thennodynamic and electronic properties of intrinsic point defects in the solar absorber materials CuInSe2 and CuGaSe2 based on screened-exchange hybrid density functional theory is presented. The results are partly at odds with data obtained within local density functional theory in former studies. GaCu electron traps as well as CuIn and CuGa hole traps are found to be the dominant intrinsic recombination centers. In contrast to the accepted view, complex formation of antisites with copper vacancies is not decisive for explaining the favorable properties of CuInSe2, since InCu is already a shallow defect by itself. The localization of holes is observed on CuIn and CuGa as well as on VIn and VGa when supercells of 216 atoms are used. Furthermore, the results raise doubts about the relevance of selenium vacancies and DX centers for experimentally observed metastabilities. Finally, a guide to the optimal preparation conditions in terms of the point defect physics of CuInSe2 and CuGaSe2 for their application as solar cell absorbers is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using hybrid functional calculation, we identify the key intrinsic defects in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS), an important earth-abundant solar-cell material. The Sn-on-Zn antisite and the defect complex having three Cu atoms occupying a Sn vacancy are found to be the main deep electron traps. This result explains the optimal growth condition for CZTS, which is Cu poor and Zn rich, as found in several recent experiments. We show that, under the growth condition that minimizes the deep traps, Cu vacancy could contribute the majority of hole carriers, while the Cu-on-Zn antisite will become the dominant acceptor if the growth condition favors its formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the direct observation of the thermoelectric transport in a nondegenerate electron system trapped on the surface of liquid helium. The microwave-induced excitation of the vertical transitions of electrons between the surface-bound states results in their lateral flow, which we were able to detect by employing a segmented electrode configuration. We show that this flow of electrons arises due to the Seebeck effect. Our experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations based on kinetic equations. This demonstrates the importance of the fast electron-electron collisions, which, in particular, leads to the violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law in this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first direct observation of the decay of the excited-state population in electrons trapped on the surface of liquid helium. The relaxation dynamics, which are governed by inelastic scattering processes in the system, are probed by the real-time response of the electrons to a pulsed microwave excitation. Comparison with theoretical calculations allows us to establish the dominant mechanisms of inelastic scattering for different temperatures. The longest measured relaxation time is around 1 μs at the lowest temperature of 135 mK, which is determined by the inelastic scattering due to the spontaneous two-ripplon emission process. Furthermore, the image-charge response shortly after applying microwave radiation reveals interesting population dynamics due to the multisubband structure of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser excitation and x-ray spectroscopy are combined to settle a long-standing question in persistent luminescence. A reversible electron transfer is demonstrated, controlled by light and showing the same kinetics as the persistent luminescence. Exposure to violet light induces charging by oxidation of the excited Eu2+ while Dy3+ is simultaneously reduced. Oppositely, detrapping of Dy2+ occurs at ambient temperature or by infrared illumination, yielding afterglow or optically stimulated luminescence, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the trapping of electrons propagating ballistically at far-above-equilibrium energies in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures in high magnetic field. We find low-loss transport along a gate-modified mesa edge in contrast to an effective decay of excess energy for the loop around a neighboring, mesa-confined node, enabling high-fidelity trapping. Measuring the full counting statistics via single-charge detection yields the trapping (and escape) probabilities of electrons scattered (and excited) within the node. Energetic and arrival-time distributions of captured electron wave packets are characterized by modulating tunnel barrier transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, a still poorly understood phenomenon is that of electron trapping in back-gating experiments. Here, by combining magnetotransport measurements and self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson calculations, we obtain an empirical relation between the amount of trapped electrons and the gate voltage. The amount of trapped electrons decays exponentially away from the interface. However, contrary to earlier observations, we find that the Fermi level remains well within the quantum well. The enhanced trapping of electrons induced by the gate voltage can therefore not be explained by a thermal escape mechanism. Further gate sweeping experiments strengthen that conclusion. We propose a new mechanism which involves the electromigration and clustering of oxygen vacancies in SrTiO3 and argue that such electron trapping is a universal phenomenon in SrTiO3-based two-dimensional electron systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the coupling between Rydberg states of electrons trapped on a liquid helium surface and Landau levels induced by a perpendicular magnetic field. We show that this realizes a prototype quantum system equivalent to an atom in a cavity, where their coupling strength can be tuned by a parallel magnetic field. We determine experimentally the renormalization of the atomic transition energies induced by the coupling to the cavity, which can be seen as an analog of the Lamb shift. When the coupling is sufficiently strong, the transition between the ground and first excited Rydberg states splits into two resonances corresponding to dressed states with vacuum and one photon in the cavity. Our results are in quantitative agreement with the energy shifts predicted by the effective atom in a cavity model where all parameters are known with high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A range of nonlinear wave structures, including Langmuir waves, unipolar electric fields, and bipolar electric fields, are often observed in association with whistler-mode chorus waves in near-Earth space. We demonstrate that the three seemingly different nonlinear wave structures originate from the same nonlinear electron trapping process by whistler-mode chorus waves. The ratio of the Landau resonant velocity to the electron thermal velocity controls the type of nonlinear wave structures that will be generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions of large-amplitude relativistic plasma waves were investigated experimentally by propagating two synchronized ultraintense femtosecond laser pulses in plasma at oblique crossing angles to each other. The electrostatic and electromagnetic fields of the colliding waves acted to preaccelerate and trap electrons via previously predicted, but untested injection mechanisms of ponderomotive drift and wake-wake interference. High-quality energetic electron beams were produced, also revealing valuable new information about plasma-wave dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a density-functional study on the evolution of the electronic and lattice structure in BiFeO3 with injected electrons and holes. First, the self-trapping of electrons and holes was investigated. We found that the injected electrons tend to be localized on Fe sites due to the local lattice expansion, the on-site Coulomb interaction of Fe3d electrons, and the antiferromagnetic order in BiFeO3. The injected holes tend to be delocalized if the on-site Coulomb interaction of O2p is weak (in other words, UO is small). Single-center polarons and multicenter polarons are formed with large and intermediate UO, respectively. With intermediate UO, multicenter polarons can be formed. We also studied the lattice distortion with the injection of carriers by assuming the delocalization of these carriers. We found that the ferroelectric off-centering of BiFeO3 increases with the concentration of the electrons injected and decreases with that of the holes injected. It was also found that a structural phase transition from R3c to the nonferroelectric Pbnm occurs, with the hole concentration over 8.7×1019cm-3. The change of the off-centering is mainly due to the change of the lattice volume. The understanding of the carrier localization mechanism can help to optimize the functionality of ferroelectric diodes and the ferroelectric photovoltage devices, while the understanding of the evolution of the lattice with carriers can help tune the ferroelectric properties by the carriers in BiFeO3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energetic electron acceleration processes in a plasma hollow tube irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse are investigated. It is found that the longitudinal component of the laser field is much enhanced when a linear polarized Gaussian laser pulse propagates through the plasma tube. This longitudinal field is of π/2 phase shift relative to the transverse electric field and has a π phase interval between its upper and lower parts. The electrons in the plasma tube are first pulled out by the transverse electric field and then trapped by the longitudinal electric field. The trapped electrons can further be accelerated to higher energy in the presence of the longitudinal electric field. This acceleration mechanism is clearly illustrated by both particle-in-cell simulations and single particle modelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate coherent population trapping of a single nuclear spin in a room-temperature solid. To this end, we exploit a three-level system with a Λ configuration in the microwave domain, which consists of nuclear spin states addressed through their hyperfine coupling to the electron spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. Moreover, the Λ-scheme relaxation is externally controlled through incoherent optical pumping and separated in time from consecutive coherent microwave excitations. Such a scheme allows us (i) to monitor the sequential accumulation of population into the dark state and (ii) to reach a novel regime of coherent population trapping dynamics for which periodic arrays of dark resonances can be observed, owing to multiple constructive interferences. This Letter offers new prospects for quantum state preparation, information storage in hybrid quantum systems, and metrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Proposed Coherent Trapping of a Population of Electrons in a C60 Molecule Induced by Laser Excitation" that was published on December 19, 2012 is presented.

We demonstrate experimentally the localization of broad optical beams in periodic arrays of optical waveguides with defocusing nonlinearity. This observation in optics is linked to nonlinear self-trapping of Bose-Einstein-condensed atoms in stationary periodic potentials being associated with the generation of truncated nonlinear Bloch states, existing in the gaps of the linear transmission spectrum. We reveal that unlike gap solitons, these novel localized states can have an arbitrary width defined solely by the size of the input beam while independent of nonlinearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]