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Electron spin dynamics of dilute nitride GaNAs quantum well (QW)-InAs quantum dots (QDs) tunnel-coupled structures having different QW thicknesses were studied via circularly polarized time-resolved photoluminescence. The rate equation fitting considering a capture of QD electron spins by the GaNAs localized states via tunnel transfer revealed that the spin amplification dynamics of the QDs depended on the QW thickness. For the QW thickness of 5 nm, although the temporal amplification of QD electron spin polarization was slow owing to the weak wavefunction coupling between the QW and QD, the long duration of high electron spin polarization was observed because of the suppressed capture of QD majority spins relative to the efficient removal of QD minority spins. When the QW thickness increased from 5 to 20 nm, the strong spin filtering in GaNAs and strong wavefunction coupling led to the fast amplification of QD electron spin polarization with high initial spin polarization. However, the spin polarization rapidly decays after the amplification owing to the removal of both QD majority and minority spins, originating from many effective localized states. These results indicate that the time-dependent QD electron spin polarization and the resultant spin amplification can be widely tuned by changing the thickness of the tunnel-coupled GaNAs QW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we focus on the characterization methods allowing fast, cheap, and easy identification of photoanode TiO2 layer as well as quantum dots on the TiO2 surface for photovoltaic application. Application of the colloidal quantum dots material for the production of quantum dots solar cell is a key issue for mass production. At the same time there is a demand for a method to control the production steps for the deposition process for both photoanode and nanomaterial. The method has to be fast and cheap as well as efficient in order to meet the requirements imposed by production processes. For this purpose we propose to use a micro Raman spectroscopy as an efficient method to verify the presence of QDs. In this work we compare the results obtained by scanning electron microscopy with the Raman spectroscopy in theme of the pros and cons of these techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin transport properties from the GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice (SL) to InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) are studied by circularly polarized time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy of QD excited states with the selective excitation of SL miniband states. For the SL with a thinner barrier, we observe an effective carrier transport in SL owing to the stronger overlap of wavefunctions of adjacent quantum wells and a simultaneous highly efficient carrier injection into QDs. Moreover, the SL with a thinner barrier demonstrates a quantum spin transport to QDs maintaining high spin polarization during the transport process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the spin-dependent thermoelectric effects in a quantum dot that is connected with a normal metal lead and a ferromagnetic metal lead, by using the nonequilibrium Green's function method. The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT can be evaluated in several different ways, for example, by imposing a condition that the spin accumulation across the system is zero ( Δ μ s = 0 ) or that the spin current is zero ( I s = 0 ). We find that ZT in the case of Δ μ s = 0 is always greater, especially when the spin polarization degree of the ferromagnetic lead is large. Meanwhile, in each case the ZT value drops when the spin polarization degree is increased. Effects of electron interaction on thermoelectric properties are also discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy is used to image the doped topological insulator Bi2-xFexSe3. Interstitial Fe defects allow the detection of quasiparticle interference, and the reconstruction of the empty state band structure. Quantitative comparison between measured data and density functional theory calculations reveals the unexpected coexistence of quantum well states (QWSs) with topological surface states (TSSs) on the atomically clean surface of Bi2-xFexSe3. Spectroscopic measurements quantify the breakdown of linear dispersion due to hexagonal warping. Nonetheless, both QWSs and TSSs remain spin polarized and protected from backscattering to almost 1 eV above the Dirac point, suggesting their utility for spin-based applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the electron-spin injection dynamics via tunneling from an In0.1Ga0.9As quantum well (QW) to In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs) in coupled QW-QDs nanostructures. These coupled nanostructures demonstrate ultrafast (5 to 20 ps) spin injection into the QDs. The degree of spin polarization up to 45% is obtained in the QDs after the injection, essentially depending on the injection time. The spin injection and conservation are enhanced with thinner barriers due to the stronger electronic coupling between the QW and QDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have investigated a series of double-layer structures consisting of a layer of self-assembled non-magnetic CdSe quantum dots (QDs) separated by a thin ZnSe barrier from a ZnCdMnSe diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMSs) quantum well (QW). In the series, the thickness of the ZnSe barrier ranged between 12 and 40nm. We observe two clearly defined photoluminescence (PL) peaks in all samples, corresponding to the CdSe QDs and the ZnCdMnSe QW, respectively. The PL intensity of the QW peak is observed to decrease systematically relative to the QD peak as the thickness of the ZnSe barrier decreases, indicating a corresponding increase in carrier tunneling from the QW to the QDs. Furthermore, polarization-selective PL measurements reveal that the degree of polarization of the PL emitted by the CdSe QDs increases with decreasing thickness of the ZnSe barriers. The observed behavior is discussed in terms of anti-parallel spin interaction between carriers localized in the non-magnetic QDs and in the magnetic QWs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]