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At least 559 records · Page 31

Ab-initio simulations of coherent phonon-induced pumping of carriers in zirconium pentatelluride

Abstract Laser-driven coherent phonons can act as modulated strain fields and modify the adiabatic ground state topology of quantum materials. Here we use time-dependent first-principles and effective model calculations to simulate the effect of the coherent phonon induced by strong terahertz electric field on electronic carriers in the topological insulator ZrTe 5 . We show that a coherent A 1g Raman mode modulation can effectively pump carriers across the band gap, even though the phonon energy is about an order of magnitude smaller than the equilibrium band gap. We reveal the microscopic mechanism of this effect which occurs via Landau–Zener-Stückelberg tunneling of Bloch electrons in a narrow region in the Brillouin zone center where the transient energy gap closes when the system switches from strong to weak topological insulator. The quantum dynamics simulation results are in excellent agreement with recent pump-probe experiments in ZrTe 5 at low temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Pressure-induced polymorphism and piezochromism in Mn 2 FeSbO 6

In the last decade, major efforts have been devoted to searching for polar magnets due to their vast potential applications in spintronic devices. However, the polar magnets are rare because of conflicting electronic configuration requirements of ferromagnetism and electric polarization. Double-perovskite oxides with a polar structure containing transition metal elements represent excellent candidates for the polar magnet design. In this work, the crystal structure evolution of Mn 2 FeSbO 6 (MFSO) was investigated at pressures reaching ~50 GPa by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman scattering, and ab initio calculation techniques. The XRD results reveal ilmenite- to perovskite-type phase transition at around 35 GPa. An additional intermediate phase, observed in the range of 31–36 GPa by Raman spectroscopy, but not the XRD technique, is proposed to represent the polar LiNbO 3 phase. It is argued that this phase emerged due to the heating effect of the Raman-excitation laser. The LiNbO 3 -type MFSO compounds, displaying an intrinsic dipole ordering, represent a promising candidate for multiferroic materials. The detected phase transitions were found to be reversible although a significant hysteresis was noticeable between compression and decompression runs. Moreover, a pressure-induced piezochromism, signifying a bandgap change, was discovered by the direct visual observations and corroborated by ab initio calculations. The present study benefits an efficient high-pressure synthesis of polar magnetic double-perovskite oxides in the future.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Structure disorder degree of polysilicon thin films grown by different processing: Constant C from Raman spectroscopy

Flat, low-stress, boron-doped polysilicon thin films were prepared on single crystalline silicon substrates by low pressure chemical vapor deposition. It was found that the polysilicon films with different deposition processing have different microstructure properties. The confinement effect, tensile stresses, defects, and the Fano effect all have a great influence on the line shape of Raman scattering peak. But the effect results are different. The microstructure and the surface layer are two important mechanisms dominating the internal stress in three types of polysilicon thin films. For low-stress polysilicon thin film, the tensile stresses are mainly due to the change of microstructure after thermal annealing. But the tensile stresses in flat polysilicon thin film are induced by the silicon carbide layer at surface. After the thin film doped with boron atoms, the phenomenon of the tensile stresses increasing can be explained by the change of microstructure and the increase in the content of silicon carbide. We also investigated the disorder degree states for three polysilicon thin films by analyzing a constant C. It was found that the disorder degree of low-stress polysilicon thin film larger than that of flat and boron-doped polysilicon thin films due to the phase transformation after annealing. After the flat polysilicon thin film doped with boron atoms, there is no obvious change in the disorder degree and the disorder degree in some regions even decreases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Simple Hydrothermal Synthesis for Mesoporous Pebble-Like NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} Nanostructures and Their Attractive Magnetic Properties

The mesoporous pebble-like NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} nanostructures were smoothly obtained via a simple hydrothermal route and the succeeding annealing treatment. Various techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman spectra, FTIR, and MH curves have been used to study the obtained products. The obtained results exhibited that the morphology of spinel NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} could be controlled by adjusting the content of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The morphology of NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} nanostructures transformed from a 300-nm popcorn-like to 30–40-nm pebble-like nanostructure by changing the content of CTAB. Compared with the popcorn-like NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} nanostructures, the pebble-like samples showed effective blue shifting of Raman spectroscopy, which might be due to the nano-sized effect of NiCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} particles. Finally, vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements indicated the samples transformed from weak ferromagnetic (popcorn-like) to paramagnetic (pebble-like) due to small particle size.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Micro- and nanodomain imaging in uniaxial ferroelectrics: Joint application of optical, confocal Raman, and piezoelectric force microscopy

The application of the most effective methods of the domain visualization in model uniaxial ferroelectrics of lithium niobate (LN) and lithium tantalate (LT) family, and relaxor strontium-barium niobate (SBN) have been reviewed in this paper. We have demonstrated the synergetic effect of joint usage of optical, confocal Raman, and piezoelectric force microscopies which provide extracting of the unique information about formation of the micro- and nanodomain structures. The methods have been applied for investigation of various types of domain structures with increasing complexity: (1) periodical domain structure in LN and LT, (2) nanodomain structures in LN, LT, and SBN, (3) nanodomain structures in LN with modified surface layer, (4) dendrite domain structure in LN. The self-assembled appearance of quasi-regular nanodomain structures in highly non-equilibrium switching conditions has been considered.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Ge/GeSn heterostructures grown on Si (100) by molecular-beam epitaxy

The growth of GeSn layers by molecular-beam epitaxy on Si (100) wafers coated with a germanium buffer layer is investigated. The properties of the fabricated structures are controlled by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic-force microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Rutherford backscattering, and Raman scattering. It is shown that GeSn layers with thicknesses up to 0.5 μm and Sn molar fractions up to 0.073 manifest no sign of plastic relaxation upon epitaxy. The lattice constant of the GeSn layers within the growth plane is precisely the same as that of Ge. The effect of rapid thermal annealing on the conversion of metastable elastically strained GeSn layers into a plastically relaxed state is examined. Ge/GeSn quantum wells with Sn molar fraction up to 0.11 are obtained.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Elastic properties, sp³ fraction, and Raman scattering in low and high pressure synthesized diamond-like boron rich carbides

Dense BC{sub x} phases with high boron concentration are predicted to be metastable, superhard, and conductors or superconductors depending on boron concentration. However, up to this point, diamond-like boron rich carbides BC{sub x} (dl-BC{sub x}) phases have been thought obtainable only through high pressure and high temperature treatment, necessitating small specimen volume. Here, we use electron energy loss spectroscopy combined with transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, surface Brillouin scattering, laser ultrasonics (LU) technique, and analysis of elastic properties to demonstrate that low pressure synthesis (chemical vapor deposition) of BC{sub x} phases may also lead to the creation of diamond-like boron rich carbides. The elastic properties of the dl-BC{sub x} phases depend on the carbon sp²versus sp³ content, which decreases with increasing boron concentration, while the boron bonds determine the shape of the Raman spectra of the dl-BC{sub x} after high pressure-high temperature treatment. Using the estimation of the density value based on the sp³ fraction, the shear modulus μ of dl-BC₄, containing 10% carbon atoms with sp³ bonds, and dl-B₃C₂, containing 38% carbon atoms with sp³ bonds, were found to be μ = 19.3 GPa and μ = 170 GPa, respectively. The presented experimental data also imply that boron atoms lead to a creation of sp³ bonds during the deposition processes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Surprising Effects of Hydrochloric Acid on the Water Evaporation Coefficient Observed by Raman Thermometry

© 2017 American Chemical Society. The kinetics and energetics of cloud droplet and aerosol formation in the atmosphere are strongly influenced by the evaporation and condensation rates of water, yet the magnitude and mechanism of evaporation remains incompletely characterized. Of particular import (and controversy) is the nature of interfacial water pH and its potential effects on evaporation rate and environmental reactivity. We have used Raman thermometry measurements of freely evaporating microdroplets to determine evaporation coefficients (Î) for two different hydrochloric acid solutions, both of which result in a significant deviation from Îwater. At 95% confidence, we find the evaporation coefficient for 1.0 M HCl to be 0.24 ± 0.04, a â-60% decrease relative to pure water, and for 0.1 M HCl to be 0.91 ± 0.08, a â-45% increase relative to pure water. These results suggest a large perturbation in the surface structure induced by either hydronium ions adsorbing to the water surface or by the presence of a Cl-···H3O+ ion-pair moiety in the interfacial region.

Rizzuto, Anthony M↗

Laser irradiation effects on the CdTe/ZnTe quantum dot structure studied by Raman and AFM spectroscopy

Micro-Raman spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the impact of laser irradiation on semiconducting CdTe/ZnTe quantum dots (QDs) structures. A reference sample (without dots) was also studied for comparison. Both samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy technique on the p-type GaAs substrate. The Raman spectra have been recorded for different time of a laser exposure and for various laser powers. The spectra for both samples exhibit peak related to the localized longitudinal (LO) ZnTe phonon of a wavenumber equal to 210 cm{sup -1}. For the QD sample, a broad band corresponding to the LO CdTe phonon related to the QD-layer appears at a wavenumber of 160 cm{sup -1}. With increasing time of a laser beam exposure and laser power, the spectra get dominated by tellurium-related peaks appearing at wavenumbers around 120 cm{sup -1} and 140 cm{sup -1}. Simultaneously, the ZnTe surface undergoes rising damage, with the formation of Te aggregates at the pinhole edge as reveal atomic force microscopy observations. Local temperature of irradiated region has been estimated from the anti-Stokes/Stokes ratio of the Te modes intensity and it was found to be close or exceeding ZnTe melting point. Thus, the laser damage can be explained by the ablation process.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Influence of ageing on Raman spectra and the conductivity of monolayer graphene samples irradiated by heavy and light ions

The influence of long-term ageing (about one year) on the Raman scattering (RS) spectra and the temperature dependence of conductivity has been studied in two series of monolayer graphene samples irradiated by different doses of C{sup +} and Xe{sup +} ions. It is shown that the main result of ageing consists of changes in the intensity and position of D- and G- and 2D-lines in RS spectra and in an increase of the conductivity. The observed effects are explained in terms of an increase of the radius of the “activated” area around structural defects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Topological insulator thin films starting from the amorphous phase-Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} as example

We present a new method to obtain topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin films with a centimeter large lateral length. To produce amorphous Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin films, we have used a sequential flash-evaporation method at room temperature. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to verify that the prepared samples are in a pure amorphous state. During annealing, the samples transform into the rhombohedral Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} crystalline structure which was confirmed using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Resistance measurements of the amorphous films show the expected Mott variable range hopping conduction process with a high specific resistance compared to the one obtained in the crystalline phase (metallic behavior). We have measured the magnetoresistance and the Hall effect at different temperatures between 2 K and 275 K. At temperatures T ≲ 50 K and fields B ≲ 1 T, we observe weak anti-localization in the MR; the Hall measurements confirm the n-type character of the samples. All experimental results of our films are in quantitative agreement with results from samples prepared using more sophisticated methods.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

100 MeV O{sup 7+} irradiation induced red shift in the band gaps of 3 wt% 'Li' doped Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} thin film

Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Li (3 wt%) thin film of thickness 353 nm spray deposited onto ITO coated glass substrate at 350 °C is irradiated with 100 MeV O{sup 7+} ion at a fluence of 5×10{sup 12} ions/cm{sup 2}. X-ray diffraction shows that the pristine and irradiated films are polycrystalline with a tetragonal phase. Raman peaks suppressed upon irradiation imply large surface degradation which is also seen as a decrement in transparency in visible region to one half of the pristine film. Large red shift is observed in direct and indirect band gaps upon irradiation. Hall effect reveals slight increase in carrier concentration due to irradiation induced defects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Structural ordering of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) caused by gamma (γ)-ray irradiation

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were irradiated by Gamma (γ)-rays in air with absorbed doses of 25 and 50 kGy. As a result of γ-ray irradiation, the inter-wall distance of MWCNTs was decreased and their graphitic order was improved. The reduction in inter-wall distance and structural ordering was improved with the increasing dosage of irradiation. Experimental evidences are provided by powder XRD and micro-Raman analyses.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Structure and optical homogeneity of LiNbO{sub 3}:Zn (0.03–4.5 mol.%) crystals

Structure and optical homogeneity of LiNbO{sub 3}:Zn (0.03–4.5 mol.%) crystals were searched by photoinduced light scattering and by Raman spectroscopy. The photorefractive effect depends on Zn{sup 2+} concentration nonmonotonically. Decrease of photorefractive effect is explained by decrease of structure defects with localized electrons. The Zn{sup 2+} cations replace structure defects Nb{sub Li} and Li{sub Nb}, trapping levels appear near the bottom of the conduction band and photo electrons recombine with emission under laser radiation. By the Raman spectra the area of the high structure order is found. In this area the own alternation, the alternation of impurity cations and the vacancies along the polar axis is almost perfect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Raman Scattering in InSb Spherical Nanocrystals Ion-Synthesized in Silicon-Oxide Films

The Raman spectra of SiO{sub 2} films containing InSb spherical nanocrystals produced by ion-beam synthesis are studied. TO- and LO-like modes in the spectra of the InSb nanocrystals are detected at frequencies of 187 and 195 cm{sup –1}, respectively. The shift of these modes to high frequencies with respect to the corresponding frequencies in InSb bulk crystals is analyzed from the viewpoint of the influence of the quantum-confinement effect, strains in nanocrystals, the surface phonon frequency, and scattering at the frequency corresponding to stretched anion–cation modes at the surface of polar spherical nanocrystals. The position of the 195-cm{sup –1} mode corresponds to LO phonons in InSb nanocrystals hydrostatically compressed in the SiO{sub 2} matrix at pressures of about 10 kbar. The 187-cm{sup –1} mode corresponds to resonance at the Fröhlich frequency.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Nanopatterning and tuning of optical taper antenna apex for tip-enhanced Raman scattering performance

This paper focuses on finding optimal electrochemical conditions from linear sweep voltammetry analysis for preparing highly reproducible tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) conical gold tips with dc-pulsed voltage etching. Special attention is given to the reproducibility of tip apex shapes with different etchant mixtures. We show that the fractional Brownian motion model enables a mathematical description of the decaying current kinetics during the whole etching process up to the cutoff event. Further progress in preparation of highly reproducible smooth and sharp tip apexes is related to the effect of an additive, such as isopropanol, to aqueous acids. A finite-difference time-domain method based near-field analysis provides evidence that TERS performance depends critically on tip orientation relative to a highly focused laser beam. A TERS based criterion for recognizing gold tips able to couple/decouple optical near- and far-fields is proposed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electronic Raman scattering as an ultra-sensitive probe of strain effects in semiconductors

Semiconductor strain engineering has become a critical feature of high-performance electronics because of the significant device performance enhancements that it enables. These improvements, which emerge from strain-induced modifications to the electronic band structure, necessitate new ultra-sensitive tools to probe the strain in semiconductors. Here, we demonstrate that minute amounts of strain in thin semiconductor epilayers can be measured using electronic Raman scattering. We also applied this strain measurement technique to two different semiconductor alloy systems using coherently strained epitaxial thin films specifically designed to produce lattice-mismatch strains as small as 10 -4 . Thus, comparing our strain sensitivity and signal strength in Al x Ga 1-x As with those obtained using the industry-standard technique of phonon Raman scattering, we found that there was a sensitivity improvement of 200-fold and a signal enhancement of 4 × 10 3 , thus obviating key constraints in semiconductor strain metrology.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗