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At least 37 records · Page 2

Frustrated electron hopping from the orbital configuration in a two-dimensional lattice

Electron hopping on spatially periodic lattices gives rise to intriguing electronic behaviour. For example, hopping on the geometrically frustrated two-dimensional kagome, dice and Lieb lattices yields electronic band structures with both massless Dirac-like and perfectly dispersion-less, flat bands. As materials featuring the dice and Lieb lattice structures are scarce, an alternative approach proposes to leverage atomic orbitals to realize the characteristic electron hopping of geometrically frustrated lattices. This strategy promises to expand the list of candidate materials with frustrated electron hopping, but is yet to be shown in experiments. Here, in this study, we demonstrate frustrated hopping in the van der Waals intermetallic Pd 5 AlI 2 , emerging from the arrangement of atomic orbitals in a primitive square lattice. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and quantum oscillation measurements, we reveal that the band structure of Pd 5 AlI 2 includes linear Dirac-like bands intersected at their crossing point by a locally flat band—an essential characteristic of frustrated hopping in Lieb and dice lattices. Moreover, this compound shows exceptional chemical stability, with its unusual bulk band structure and metallicity persisting in ambient conditions down to the monolayer limit. Hence, our results showcase a way to realize electronic structures characteristic of geometrically frustrated lattices in non-frustrated systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Evidence for Magnetic Activity at Starbirth: a Powerful X-ray Flare From the Class 0 Protostar HOPS 383

Context. Class 0 protostars represent the earliest evolutionary stage of solar-type stars, during which the majority of the system mass resides in an infalling envelope of gas and dust and not yet in the central, nascent star. Although X-rays are a key signature of magnetic activity in more evolved protostars and young stars, whether such magnetic activity is present at the Class 0 stage is still debated. Aims. We aim to detect a bona fide Class 0 protostar in X-rays. Methods. We observed HOPS 383 in 2017 December in X-rays with the Chandra X-ray Observatory (~84 ks) and in near-infrared imaging with the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR). Results. HOPS 383 was detected in X-rays during a powerful flare. This hard (E > 2 keV) X-ray counterpart was spatially coincident with the northwest 4-cm component of HOPS 383, which would be the base of the radio thermal jet launched by HOPS 383. The flare duration was ~3.3 h; at the peak, the X-ray luminosity reached ~4 x 10(exp 31) erg/s in the 2–8 keV energy band, a level at least an order of magnitude larger than that of the undetected quiescent emission from HOPS 383. The X-ray flare spectrum is highly absorbed (N(H) ~ 7 x 10(exp 23) per sq.cm), and displays a 6.4 keV emission line with an equivalent width of ~1:1 keV, arising from neutral or low-ionization iron. Conclusions. The detection of a powerful X-ray flare from HOPS 383 constitutes direct proof that magnetic activity can be present at the earliest formative stages of solar-type stars.

Nicolas Grosso↗

Hopping and crawling DNA-coated colloids

Understanding the motion of particles with multivalent ligand-receptors is important for biomedical applications and material design. Yet, even among a single design, the prototypical DNA-coated colloids, seemingly similar micrometric particles hop or roll, depending on the study. We shed light on this problem by observing DNA-coated colloids diffusing near surfaces coated with complementary strands for a wide array of coating designs. We find colloids rapidly switch between 2 modes: They hop—with long and fast steps—and crawl—with short and slow steps. Both modes occur at all temperatures around the melting point and over various designs. The particles become increasingly subdiffusive as temperature decreases, in line with subsequent velocity steps becoming increasingly anticorrelated, corresponding to switchbacks in the trajectories. Overall, crawling (or hopping) phases are more predominant at low (or high) temperatures; crawling is also more efficient at low temperatures than hopping to cover large distances. We rationalize this behavior within a simple model: At lower temperatures, the number of bound strands increases, and detachment of all bonds is unlikely, hence, hopping is prevented and crawling favored. We thus reveal the mechanism behind a common design rule relying on increased strand density for long-range self-assembly: Dense strands on surfaces are required to enable crawling, possibly facilitating particle rearrangements.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Is the Orbital-Selective Mott Phase Stable against Interorbital Hopping?

The localization-delocalization transition is at the heart of strong correlation physics. Recently, there is great interest in multiorbital systems where this transition can be restricted to certain orbitals, leading to an orbital-selective Mott phase (OSMP). Theoretically, the OSMP is widely studied for kinetically decoupled orbitals, but the effect of interorbital hopping remains unclear. Here, we show how nonlocal interorbital hopping leads to local hybridization in single-site dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). Under fairly general circumstances, this implies that, at zero temperature, the OSMP, involving the Mott-insulating state of one orbital, is unstable against interorbital hopping to a different, metallic orbital. We further show that the coherence scale below which all electrons are itinerant is very small and gets exponentially suppressed even if the interorbital hopping is not overly small. Within this framework, the OSMP with interorbital hopping may thus reach down to extremely low temperatures T, but not to T = 0. Accordingly, it is part of a coherence-incoherence crossover and not a quantum critical point. Finally, we present analytical arguments supported by numerical results using the numerical renormalization group as a DMFT impurity solver. We also compare our findings with previous slave-spin studies.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Time synchronization of a frequency-hopped MFSK communication system

In a frequency-hopped (FH) multiple-frequency-shift-keyed (MFSK) communication system, frequency hopping causes the necessary frequency transitions for time synchronization estimation rather than the data sequence as in the conventional (nonfrequency-hopped) system. Making use of this observation, this paper presents a fine synchronization (i.e., time errors of less than a hop duration) technique for estimation of FH timing. The performance degradation due to imperfect FH time synchronization is found in terms of the effect on bit error probability as a function of full-band or partial-band noise jamming levels and of the number of hops used in the FH timing estimate.

Simon, M. K.↗

Optimum Detection of Frequency-Hopped Signals

This paper derives and analyzes optimum and near-optimum structures for detecting frequency-hopped (FH) signals with arbitrary modulation in additive white Gaussian noise. The principalmodulation formats considered are M-ary frequency-shift-keying (MFSK) with fast frequency hopping(FFH) wherein a single tone is transmitted per hop, and slow frequency hopping (SFH) with multipleMFSK tones (data symbols) per hop. The SFH detection category has not previously been addressedin the open literature and its analysis is generally more complex than FFH.

Cheng, Unjeng↗

Evolution from Tunneling to Hopping Mediated Triplet Energy Transfer from Quantum Dots to Molecules

Efficient energy transfer is particularly important for multiexcitonic processes like singlet fission and photon upconversion. Observation of the transition from short-range tunneling to long-range hopping during triplet exciton transfer from CdSe nanocrystals to anthracene is reported here. This is firmly supported by steady- state photon upconversion measurements, a direct proxy for the efficiency of triplet energy transfer (TET), as well as transient absorption measurements. When phenylene bridges are initially inserted between a CdSe nanocrystal donor and anthracene acceptor, the rate of TET decreases exponentially, commensurate with a decrease in the photon upconversion quantum efficiency from 11.6% to 4.51% to 0.284%, as expected from a tunneling mechanism. However, as the rigid bridge is increased in length to 4 and 5 phenylene units, photon upconversion quantum efficiencies increase again to 0.468% and 0.413%, 1.5–1.6 fold higher than that with 3 phenylene units (using the convention where the maximum upconversion quantum efficiency is 100%). This suggests a transition from exciton tunneling to hopping, resulting in relatively efficient and distance-independent TET beyond the traditional 1 nm Dexter distance. Transient absorption spectroscopy is used to confirm triplet energy transfer from CdSe to transmitter, and the formation of a bridge triplet state as an intermediate for the hopping mechanism. Lastly, this first observation of the tunneling-to-hopping transition for long-range triplet energy transfer between nanocrystal light absorbers and molecular acceptors suggests that these hybrid materials should further be explored in the context of artificial photosynthesis.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Computational modeling of charge hopping dynamics along a disordered one-dimensional wire with energy gradients in quantum environments

This computational study investigates the effects of energy gradients on charge hopping dynamics along a one-dimensional chain of discrete sites coupled to quantum bath, which is modeled at the level of Pauli master equation (PME). This study also assesses the performance of different approximations for the hopping rates. Three different methods for solving the PME, a fourth order Runge–Kutta method, numerical diagonalization of the rate matrix followed by analytic propagation, and kinetic Monte Carlo simulation method, are tested and confirmed to produce virtually identical values of time dependent mean square displacement, diffusion constant, and mobility. Five different rate expressions, exact numerical evaluation of Fermi’s Golden Rule (FGR) rate, stationary phase interpolation (SPI) approximation, semiclassical approximation, classical Marcus rate, and Miller–Abrahams rate, are tested to help understand the effects of approximations in representing quantum environments in the presence of energy gradients. The results based on direct numerical evaluation of FGR rate exhibit transition from diffusive to non-diffusive behavior with the increase in the gradient and show that the charge transport in the quantum bath is more sensitive to the magnitude of the gradient and the disorder than in the classical bath. Among all the four approximations for the hopping rates, the SPI approximation is confirmed to work best overall. A comparison of two different methods to calculate the mobility identifies drift motion of the population distribution as the major source of non-diffusive behavior and provides more reliable information on the contribution of quantum bath.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Hopping crossover and high-temperature superspin glass behavior in Ni films deposited on MoS 2

Realizing the potential of MoS 2 and other two-dimensional semiconductors in spintronic devices requires a fundamental understanding of their interaction with ferromagnetic metals. We have investigated the transport and magnetic properties of thin Ni films grown on single-crystal MoS 2 substrates. The Ni is found to have a granular morphology with an average grain size of approximately 2 nm. Like previously investigated granular Ni/insulator composites below the percolation threshold, transport is found to proceed via hopping. However, our Ni/MoS 2 sample exhibits a dual crossover: activated hopping to 𝑇−1/2 variable-range hopping at a higher temperature and then a transition to power-law behavior at a lower temperature. The magnetoresistance was used as a novel probe for uncovering superspin-glass-like behavior above room temperature in the Ni/MoS 2 nanostructure, which also exhibits a collective ferromagnetic state at very low temperatures, reminiscent of superferromagnetism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Proton Traffic Jam: Effect of Nanoconfinement and Acid Concentration on Proton Hopping Mechanism

Abstract The properties of the water network in concentrated HCl acid pools in nanometer‐sized reverse nonionic micelles were probed with TeraHertz absorption, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, and reactive force field simulations capable of describing proton hopping mechanisms. We identify that only at a critical micelle size of W 0 =9 do solvated proton complexes form in the water pool, accompanied by a change in mechanism from Grotthuss forward shuttling to one that favors local oscillatory hopping. This is due to a preference for H + and Cl − ions to adsorb to the micelle interface, together with an acid concentration effect that causes a “traffic jam” in which the short‐circuiting of the hydrogen‐bonding motif of the hydronium ion decreases the forward hopping rate throughout the water interior even as the micelle size increases. These findings have implications for atmospheric chemistry, biochemical and biophysical environments, and energy materials, as transport of protons vital to these processes can be suppressed due to confinement, aggregation, and/or concentration.

Adams, Ellen M.↗

Proton Traffic Jam: Effect of Nanoconfinement and Acid Concentration on Proton Hopping Mechanism

Abstract The properties of the water network in concentrated HCl acid pools in nanometer‐sized reverse nonionic micelles were probed with TeraHertz absorption, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, and reactive force field simulations capable of describing proton hopping mechanisms. We identify that only at a critical micelle size of W 0 =9 do solvated proton complexes form in the water pool, accompanied by a change in mechanism from Grotthuss forward shuttling to one that favors local oscillatory hopping. This is due to a preference for H + and Cl − ions to adsorb to the micelle interface, together with an acid concentration effect that causes a “traffic jam” in which the short‐circuiting of the hydrogen‐bonding motif of the hydronium ion decreases the forward hopping rate throughout the water interior even as the micelle size increases. These findings have implications for atmospheric chemistry, biochemical and biophysical environments, and energy materials, as transport of protons vital to these processes can be suppressed due to confinement, aggregation, and/or concentration.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

First-Principles Evaluation of Proton Hopping in Tetrahedral Oxide Motifs

Proton-conducting oxides (PCOs) are important materials used as ionic conductors for energy conversion technologies. Existing research efforts on PCO optimization and discovery generally focus on complex perovskite-based oxides that require doping and alloying to engineer oxygen deficiency and high proton conductivity. However, the variety of chemical compositions and coordination environments in oxides poses challenges for efficient materials design. In this computational study, we construct a database of simplified motifs to elucidate the relationship between fundamental materials chemistry and proton kinetics. Specifically, we focus on the zincblende crystal structure as a proxy for tetrahedral metal–oxide (M–O) coordination environments. We systematically quantified the effects of cation type, oxidation states, and M–O bond lengths on the proton hopping barrier, and found that strong M–O bonds and metal cations with large and variable oxidation states (e.g., Mo 6+ , V 5+ ) lead to smaller proton hopping barriers. By mapping the candidate cations and their preferred bond geometries onto materials databases such as the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) and Materials Project, we identified real materials containing the corresponding metal–oxide units. In general, we observed good agreement between the calculated proton hopping barriers obtained in real crystal structures and those predicted by our motif database. We also discuss the limitations of our model and possible future extensions to improve its predictive capabilities. Overall, our model provides a first step for the rational design and quick screening of energy-efficient PCOs.

organic↗

Mechanisms Controlling the Energy Barrier for Ion Hopping in Polymer Electrolytes

Here, the present work studies the mechanisms controlling the energy barrier for ion hopping in conducting polymers. Polymer electrolytes usually show Arrhenius-like temperature dependence of the conductivity relaxation time (characteristic time of local ion rearrangements) at temperatures below their glass transition T g . However, our analysis reveals that the Arrhenius fit of this regime leads to unphysically small prefactors, τ 0 $\ll$ 10 –13 s. Imposing a value of 10 –13 s for this parameter renders the fairly unexpected result that the energy barrier for charge transport in these polymers has strong temperature dependence even below T g . Our study also reveals significant temperature variations of the dielectric permittivity and the instantaneous shear modulus in the glassy state of these polymers. Using the Anderson and Stuart model, we demonstrate that these variations provide strong justifications for the temperature variation of energy barrier for ion hopping. Most importantly, the proposed approach reveals that the energy barrier controlling ion hopping in polymer electrolytes is significantly (~30–40%) lower than that estimated using traditional Arrhenius fit. These new insights call for revisions of many earlier results based on apparent Arrhenius fits, and the newly proposed approach can provide more accurate guidance for the design of solid-state electrolytes with enhanced ionic conductivity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Coherent Hopping Transport and Giant Negative Magnetoresistance in Epitaxial CsSnBr 3

Single-crystal inorganic halide perovskites are attracting interest for quantum device applications. Here we present low-temperature quantum magnetotransport measurements on thin film devices of epitaxial single-crystal CsSnBr 3 , which exhibit two-dimensional Mott variable range hopping (VRH) and giant negative magnetoresistance. These findings are described by a model for quantum interference between different directed hopping paths, and we extract the temperature-dependent hopping length of charge carriers, their localization length, and a lower bound for their phase coherence length of ~100 nm at low temperatures. These observations demonstrate that epitaxial halide perovskite devices are emerging as a material class for low-dimensional quantum coherent transport devices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Capturing electronic decoherence in quantum-classical dynamics using the ring-polymer-surface-hopping–density-matrix approach

Simulations of coupled electronic and nuclear dynamics in molecules can be quite challenging due to the involved interplay of the many degrees of freedom. Because a full quantum treatment of both electrons and nuclei is computationally very demanding, it is generally restricted to model systems or rather small molecules and short timescales. Mixed quantum-classical dynamics methods such as Tully's fewest switches surface hopping (FSSH) can be used to overcome this limitation. However, FSSH is known to poorly describe electronic coherences and decoherence phenomena. Here, we present an approach that combines FSSH with ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) in a specific way that aims to alleviate the coherence problem. Termed the ring-polymer-surface-hopping–density-matrix approach, this method uses an electronic density-matrix formulation to calculate surface hopping rates. Additionally, this incorporates decoherence effects into FSSH in a natural way by taking into account the spatial spreading of the ring polymer that mimics the width of a nuclear wave packet in each RPMD trajectory. By applying our method to Tully's one-dimensional model system, we demonstrate that this method captures a crucial decoherence mechanism that is missing in FSSH. Furthermore, our method turns out to be superior at describing electronic coherences compared with earlier attempts at combining RPMD and FSSH.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Beyond universal behavior in the one-dimensional chain with random nearest-neighbor hopping

Here, we study the one-dimensional nearest-neighbor tight-binding model of electrons with independently distributed random hopping and no on-site potential (i.e., off-diagonal disorder with particle-hole symmetry, leading to sublattice symmetry, for each realization). For nonsingular distributions of the hopping, it is known that the model exhibits a universal, singular behavior of the density of states $ρ(E) ~ 1/|E\: \text{ln}^3 |E||$ and of the localization length $ξ(E) ~ |\text{ln}|E||$, near the band center $\textit{E}$ = 0 . (This singular behavior is also applicable to random $\textit{XY}$ and Heisenberg spin chains; it was first obtained by Dyson for a specific random harmonic oscillator chain.) Simultaneously, the state at$\textit{E}$ = 0 shows a universal, subexponential decay at large distances $\sim \text{exp}[–\sqrt{r/r_0}]$. In this study, we consider singular, but normalizable, distributions of hopping, whose behavior at small $\textit{t}$ is of the form $\sim 1/[t \text{ln}^{λ+1}(1/t)]$, characterized by a single, continuously tunable parameter λ > 0. We find, using a combination of analytic and numerical methods, that while the universal result applies for λ > 2, it no longer holds in the interval 0 < λ < 2. In particular, we find that the form of the density of states singularity is enhanced (relative to the Dyson result) in a continuous manner depending on the nonuniversal parameter λ; simultaneously, the localization length shows a less divergent form at low energies and ceases to diverge below λ = 1. For λ < 2, the fall-off of the $\textit{E}$ = 0 state at large distances also deviates from the universal result and is of the form $\sim\text{exp}[–(r/r_0)^{1/λ}]$ , which decays faster than an exponential for λ < 1.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Water Mediated Proton Hopping Furazan Mechanism that Accelerates the Decomposition of TATB

The dominant initial decomposition mechanism of TATB is believed to be a dehydration reaction that forms mono- and di-furazans, although other mechanisms have been reported. In this work, a mono-furazan mechanism is discovered that involves a proton hopping process between TATB and water. A first principles nudge elastic band calculation was performed that shows the mechanism has an energy barrier of 44.1 kcal/mol, 25.4 kcal/mol lower than the monofurazan mechanism without water. The reaction rate of the proton hopping mechanism was found to be 10 7 to 10 12 times (at 300-600 K) higher than the mechanism without water. Metadynamics simulations were also performed that indicate the mechanism is qualitatively more probable at lower temperatures (near 300 K) and higher pressures (near 100 bar), although a quantitative confirmation is needed. Future work should focus on modeling the proton hopping mechanism in the condensed state at elevated temperatures (near 600 K).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Redox-Hopping-Based Charge Transport Mediated by Ru(II)-Polypyridyl Species Immobilized in a Mesoporous Metal-Organic Framework

Electronic charge transport through crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be accomplished by site-to-site electron (or hole) hopping, provided that redox-active sites, such as easily reducible or oxidizable MOF linkers, are present. If the framework itself is redox-inert, solvent-assisted ligand incorporation of redox-active moieties can serve to enable hopping-based charge transport. Here we have studied the redox hopping process within Ru-bpy@NU-1008, where Ru-bpy is a carboxylate-functionalized derivative, i . e ., a node-ligating derivative, of the well-known chromophore Ru(2,2′-bipyridine) 3 2+ , and NU-1008 is a redox-inert MOF featuring hierarchical porosity and csq topology. Chronoamperometry experiments with electrode-supported thin films of Ru-bpy@NU-1008 show that charge transport is feasible through portions of the MOF, with other portions being inaccessible. Possible confounding features are the undersized c- pores that cross-connect 1D mesoporous channels, as ingress and egress of charge-compensating anions is believed to accompany the net oxidation of Ru(II) to Ru(III) and the reduction of Ru(III) to Ru(II). Phenomenologically, transport through the electroactive portion of the films is diffusion-like, with the magnitude of the apparent diffusion coefficient being 6 × 10 −12 cm 2 /s.

Duan, Jiaxin↗