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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Highly spin-polarized current in Co-substituted Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} epitaxial thin films at room temperature

Epitaxial thin films of cobalt ferrite Co{sub x}Fe{sub 3−x}O{sub 4} (x = 0.0, 0.5, and 1.0) were fabricated on α-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (001) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. It was found that the coercive force of the cobalt ferrite films could be tuned by changing the Co content. The films prepared under low oxygen pressure (1.0 × 10{sup −6 }Pa) showed semiconducting behavior even for x = 1.0. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the Co ions were 2{sup +} for all compositions. On the other hand, it was found that the Fe ions were in the Fe{sup 2+}/Fe{sup 3+} valence state, which may cause small-polaron hopping among the Fe-3d electrons in the films. An anomalous Hall effect was observed in the Co{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 2.5}O{sub 4} film even at 300 K, suggesting that carriers in the films were highly spin-polarized at room temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Low voltage tunneling magnetoresistance in CuCrO{sub 2}-based semiconductor heterojunctions at room temperature

CuCrO{sub 2}-based heterojunction diodes with rectifying characteristics have been fabricated by combining p-type Mg-doped CuCrO{sub 2} 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 0.5 V. The phenomena indicate that the CuCrO{sub 2}-based heterojunction is a promising candidate for low-power semiconductor spintronic devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Carrier thermalization under stimulated emission in In{sub 0.17}Ga{sub 0.83}N epilayer at room temperature

We elucidate a strong room temperature stimulated emission (SE) of In{sub 0.17}Ga{sub 0.83}N epilayer grown by molecular beam epitaxy under the subpicosecond pulse excitation. The SE peak at 428 nm emerges on the higher energy side of the spontaneous emission in photoluminescence spectra when the excitation density exceeds the threshold of ∼3.68 mJ/cm{sup 2}. Nondegenerate transient differential reflectivity measurements show that a multi-stage carrier thermalization from excited states to localized edge states and stimulated emission dominate the decay processes of photogenerated carriers under various excitation densities. Our results indicate that the existence of phonon bottleneck effect could result in a slow thermalization process in the InGaN material even under the condition of stimulated emission.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Room-temperature near-infrared silicon carbide nanocrystalline emitters based on optically aligned spin defects

Bulk silicon carbide (SiC) is a very promising material system for bio-applications and quantum sensing. However, its optical activity lies beyond the near infrared spectral window for in-vivo imaging and fiber communications due to a large forbidden energy gap. Here, we report the fabrication of SiC nanocrystals and isolation of different nanocrystal fractions ranged from 600 nm down to 60 nm in size. The structural analysis reveals further fragmentation of the smallest nanocrystals into ca. 10-nm-size clusters of high crystalline quality, separated by amorphization areas. We use neutron irradiation to create silicon vacancies, demonstrating near infrared photoluminescence. Finally, we detect room-temperature spin resonances of these silicon vacancies hosted in SiC nanocrystals. This opens intriguing perspectives to use them not only as in-vivo luminescent markers but also as magnetic field and temperature sensors, allowing for monitoring various physical, chemical, and biological processes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Non-magnetic organic/inorganic spin injector at room temperature

Spin injection into solid-state devices is commonly performed by use of ferromagnetic metal electrodes. Here, we present a spin injector design without permanent magnet; rather, the spin selectivity is determined by a chiral tunneling barrier. The chiral tunneling barrier is composed of an ultrathin Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layer that is deposited on top of a chiral self-assembled monolayer (SAM), which consists of cysteine or oligopeptide molecules. The experimentally observed magnetoresistance can be up to 20% at room temperature, and it displays an uncommon asymmetric curve as a function of the applied magnetic field. These findings show that the spin injector transmits only one spin orientation, independent of external magnetic field. The sign of the magnetoresistance depends on the handedness of the molecules in the SAM, which act as a spin filter, and the magnitude of the magnetoresistance depends only weakly on temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Post-annealing effect on the room-temperature ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO thin films

In this work, we investigated the structural and magnetic properties of both as-deposited and post-annealed Cu-doped ZnO thin films for better understanding the possible mechanisms of room-temperature ferromagnetism (RT-FM) in ZnO-based diluted magnetic oxides. All of the films have a c-axis-oriented wurtzite structure and display RT-FM. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the incorporated Cu ions in as-deposited films are in 1+ valence state merely, while an additional 2+ valence state occurs in post-annealed films. The presence of Cu{sup 2+} state in post-annealed film accompanies a higher magnetization value than that of as-deposited film and, in particular, the magnetization curves at 10 K and 300 K of the post-annealed film separate distinctly. Since Cu{sup 1+} ion has a filled 3d band, the RT-FM in as-deposited Cu-doped ZnO thin films may stem solely from intrinsic defects, while that in post-annealed films is enhanced due to the presence of CuO crystallites.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

230 s room-temperature storage time and 1.14 eV hole localization energy in In{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}As quantum dots on a GaAs interlayer in GaP with an AlP barrier

A GaP n{sup +}p-diode containing In{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}As quantum dots (QDs) and an AlP barrier is characterized electrically, together with two reference samples: a simple n{sup +}p-diode and an n{sup +}p-diode with AlP barrier. Localization energy, capture cross-section, and storage time for holes in the QDs are determined using deep-level transient spectroscopy. The localization energy is 1.14(±0.04) eV, yielding a storage time at room temperature of 230(±60) s, which marks an improvement of 2 orders of magnitude compared to the former record value in QDs. Alternative material systems are proposed for still higher localization energies and longer storage times.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

InAs-based interband-cascade-lasers emitting around 7 μm with threshold current densities below 1 kA/cm{sup 2} at room temperature

Interband cascade lasers (ICLs) grown on InAs substrates with threshold current densities below 1 kA/cm{sup 2} are presented. Two cascade designs with different lengths of the electron injector were investigated. Using a cascade design with 3 InAs quantum wells (QWs) in the electron injector, a device incorporating 22 stages in the active region exhibited a threshold current density of 940 A/cm{sup 2} at a record wavelength of 7 μm for ICLs operating in pulsed mode at room temperature. By investigating the influence of the number of stages on the device performance for a cascade design with 2 QWs in the electron injector, a further reduction of the threshold current density to 800 A/cm{sup 2} was achieved for a 30 stage device.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Microscopic dynamics of water around unfolded structures of barstar at room temperature

The breaking of the native structure of a protein and its influences on the dynamic response of the surrounding solvent is an important issue in protein folding. In this work, we have carried out atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to unfold the protein barstar at two different temperatures (400 K and 450 K). The two unfolded forms obtained at such high temperatures are further studied at room temperature to explore the effects of nonuniform unfolding of the protein secondary structures along two different pathways on the microscopic dynamical properties of the surface water molecules. It is demonstrated that though the structural transition of the protein in general results in less restricted water motions around its segments, but there are evidences of formation of new conformational motifs upon unfolding with increasingly confined environment around them, thereby resulting in further restricted water mobility in their hydration layers. Moreover, it is noticed that the effects of nonuniform unfolding of the protein segments on the relaxation times of the protein–water (PW) and the water–water (WW) hydrogen bonds are correlated with hindered hydration water motions. However, the kinetics of breaking and reformation of such hydrogen bonds are found to be influenced differently at the interface. It is observed that while the effects of unfolding on the PW hydrogen bond kinetics seem to be minimum, but the kinetics involving the WW hydrogen bonds around the protein segments exhibit noticeably heterogeneous characteristics. We believe that this is an important observation, which can provide valuable insights on the origin of heterogeneous influence of unfolding of a protein on the microscopic properties of its hydration water.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Direct band gap electroluminescence from bulk germanium at room temperature using an asymmetric fin type metal/germanium/metal structure

We demonstrated direct band gap (DBG) electroluminescence (EL) at room temperature from n-type bulk germanium (Ge) using a fin type asymmetric lateral metal/Ge/metal structure with TiN/Ge and HfGe/Ge contacts, which was fabricated using a low temperature (<400 °C) process. Small electron and hole barrier heights were obtained for TiN/Ge and HfGe/Ge contacts, respectively. DBG EL spectrum peaked at 1.55 μm was clearly observed even at a small current density of 2.2 μA/μm. Superlinear increase in EL intensity was also observed with increasing current density, due to superlinear increase in population of elections in direct conduction band. The efficiency of hole injection was also clarified.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Room-temperature ferromagnetism in Co and Nb co-doped TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles

Co- and Nb-doped TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles encapsulated with amorphous SiO{sub 2} were synthesized by our novel preparation method. An anatase TiO{sub 2} single-phase structure was confirmed using X-ray diffraction. The particle size could be controlled to be about 5 nm. The composition of these nanoparticles was investigated by X-ray fluorescence analysis. X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra showed that the Ti{sup 4+} and Co{sup 2+} states were dominant in our prepared samples. A reduction in the coordination number was also confirmed. The dependence of the electrical conductivity on the frequency was measured by an LCR meter, and the carrier concentration was determined. The magnetization curves for the nanoparticles indicated ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. We concluded that the ferromagnetism originated in oxygen vacancies around the transition metal ions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Inherent room temperature ferromagnetism and dopant dependent Raman studies of PbSe, Pb{sub 1−x}Cu{sub x}Se, and Pb{sub 1−x}Ni{sub x}Se

Polycrystalline lead selenide (PbSe) doped with copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) was prepared to understand its magnetic behaviour and Raman activity. The processing conditions, influence of dopants (magnetically active and non-active) and their respective compositions on the magnetic properties and Raman active mode were studied. A surprising/anomalous room temperature ferromagnetism (hysteresis loop) is noticed in bulk diamagnetic PbSe, which is found to be natural or inherent characteristic of material, and depends on the crystallite size, dopant, and developed strain due to dopant/defects. The magnetic susceptibility (−1.71 × 10{sup −4} emu/mol Oe) and saturated magnetic susceptibility (−2.74 × 10{sup −4} emu/mol Oe) are found to be higher than the earlier reported value (diamagnetic: −1.0 × 10{sup −4} emu/mol Oe) in bulk PbSe. With increase of Cu concentration (2% to 10%) in PbSe, the saturated magnetic susceptibility decreases from −1.22 × 10{sup −4} to −0.85 × 10{sup −4} emu/mol Oe. Whereas for Ni dopant, the saturated magnetic susceptibility increases to −2.96 × 10{sup −4} emu/mol Oe at 2% Ni doped PbSe. But it further decreases with dopant concentration. In these doped PbSe, the shifting of longitudinal (LO) phonon mode was also studied by the Raman spectroscopy. The shifting of LO mode is found to be dopant dependent, and the frequency shift of LO mode is associated with the induced strain that created by the dopants and vacancies. This asymmetry in LO phonon mode (peak shift and shape) may be due to the intraband electronic transition of dopants. The variation in magnetic susceptibility and Raman shifts are sensitive to crystallite size, nature of dopant, concentration of dopants, and induced strain due to dopants.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Photon antibunching in single-walled carbon nanotubes at telecommunication wavelengths and room temperature

We investigated the photoluminescence of individual air-suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from 6 to 300 K. Time-resolved and antibunching measurements over the telecommunication wavelength range were performed using a superconducting single-photon detector. We detected moderate temperature independent antibunching behavior over the whole temperature range studied. To investigate the exciton dynamics, which is responsible for the antibunching behavior, we measured excitation-power and temperature dependence of the photoluminescence spectra and lifetime decay curves. These measurements suggested an exciton confinement effect that is likely caused by high-dielectric amorphous carbon surrounding the SWNTs. These results indicate that SWNTs are good candidates for light sources in quantum communication technologies operating in the telecommunication wavelength range and at room temperature.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structure and dynamics of POPC bilayers in water solutions of room temperature ionic liquids

Molecular dynamics simulations in the NPT ensemble have been carried out to investigate the effect of two room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), on stacks of phospholipid bilayers in water. We consider RTIL compounds consisting of chloride ([bmim][Cl]) and hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF{sub 6}]) salts of the 1-buthyl-3-methylimidazolium ([bmim]{sup +}) cation, while the phospholipid bilayer is made of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC). Our investigations focus on structural and dynamical properties of phospholipid and water molecules that could be probed by inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements. The results confirm the fast incorporation of [bmim]{sup +} into the lipid phase already observed in previous simulations, driven by the Coulomb attraction of the cation for the most electronegative oxygens in the POPC head group and by sizeable dispersion forces binding the neutral hydrocarbon tails of [bmim]{sup +} and of POPC. The [bmim]{sup +} absorption into the bilayer favours the penetration of water into POPC, causes a slight but systematic thinning of the bilayer, and further stabilises hydrogen bonds at the lipid/water interface that already in pure samples (no RTIL) display a lifetime much longer than in bulk water. On the other hand, the effect of RTILs on the diffusion constant of POPC (D{sub POPC}) does not reveal a clearly identifiable trend, since D{sub POPC} increases upon addition of [bmim][Cl] and decreases in the [bmim][PF{sub 6}] case. Moreover, because of screening, the electrostatic signature of each bilayer is only moderately affected by the addition of RTIL ions in solution. The analysis of long wavelength fluctuations of the bilayers shows that RTIL sorption causes a general decrease of the lipid/water interfacial tension and bending rigidity, pointing to the destabilizing effect of RTILs on lipid bilayers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Room-temperature ballistic energy transport in molecules with repeating units

In materials, energy can propagate by means of two limiting regimes: diffusive and ballistic. Ballistic energy transport can be fast and efficient and often occurs with a constant speed. Using two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy methods, we discovered ballistic energy transport via individual polyethylene chains with a remarkably high speed of 1440 m/s and the mean free path length of 14.6 Å in solution at room temperature. Whereas the transport via the chains occurs ballistically, the mechanism switches to diffusive with the effective transport speed of 130 m/s at the end-groups attached to the chains. A unifying model of the transport in molecules is presented with clear time separation and additivity among the transport along oligomeric fragments, which occurs ballistically, and the transport within the disordered fragments, occurring diffusively. The results open new avenues for making novel elements for molecular electronics, including ultrafast energy transporters, controlled chemical reactors, and sub-wavelength quantum nanoseparators.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Improved photoluminescence characteristics of order-disorder AlGaInP quantum wells at room and elevated temperatures

A set of nominally undoped CuPt-B type ordered (Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x}){sub 0.5}In{sub 0.5}P quantum-wells with disordered (Al{sub 0.7}Ga{sub 0.3}){sub 0.5}In{sub 0.5}P barriers were grown and characterized using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Such structures are potentially beneficial for light emitting devices due to the possibility of greater carrier confinement, reduced scattering into the indirect valleys, and band-offset adjustment beyond what is possible with strain and composition. Furthermore, the possibility of independently tuning the composition and the order-parameter of the quantum-well allows for the decoupling of the carrier confinement and the aluminum content and aids in the identification of carrier loss mechanisms. In this study, sharp order-disorder interfaces were achieved via the control of growth temperature between 650 °C and 750 °C using growth pauses. Improved high-temperature (400 K) photoluminescence intensity was obtained from quantum-wells with ordered Ga{sub 0.5}In{sub 0.5}P as compared to disordered Ga{sub 0.5}In{sub 0.5}P due to greater confinement. Additionally, in the ordered samples with a higher Al/Ga ratio to counter the band-gap reduction, the photoluminescence intensity at high temperature was as bright as that from conventional disordered heterostructures and had slightly improved wavelength stability. Room-temperature time-resolved luminescence measurements indicated a longer radiative lifetime in the ordered quantum-well with reduced scattering into the barrier. These results show that in samples of good material quality, the property controlling the luminescence intensity is the carrier confinement and not the presence of ordering or the aluminum content.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhanced photoluminescence of SrWO{sub 4}:Eu{sup 3+} red phosphor synthesized by mechanochemically assisted solid state metathesis reaction method at room temperature

Optically efficient europium activated alkaline earth metal tungstate nano phosphor (SrWO{sub 4}) with different doping concentrations have been synthesized by mechanochemically assisted solid state metathesis reaction at room temperature for the first time. The XRD and Raman spectra results indicated that the prepared powders exhibit a scheelite-type tetragonal structure. FTIR spectra exhibited a high absorption band situated at around 854 cm{sup −1}, which was ascribed to the W–O antisymmetric stretching vibrations into the [WO{sub 4}]{sup 2−} tetrahedron groups. Analysis of the emission spectra with different Eu{sup 3+} concentrations revealed that the optimum dopant concentration for SrWO{sub 4}: x Eu{sup 3+} phosphor is about 8 mol% of Eu{sup 3+}.The red emission intensity of the SSM prepared SrWO{sub 4}: 0.08Eu{sup 3+} phosphors are 2 times greater than that of the commercial Y{sub 2}O{sub 2}S: Eu{sup 3+} red phosphor prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method. All the results indicate that the phosphor is a promising red phosphor pumped by NUV InGaN chip for fabricating WLED.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Room temperature optical and dielectric properties of Sr and Ni doped lanthanum ferrite nanoparticles

Strontium and nickel doped lanthanum ferrite (LaFeO{sub 3}) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared reverse micelle (RM) and calcinated at 700°C. Microstructural studies were carried by XRD and SEM/EDS techniques. The results of structural characterization show the formation of all samples in single phase without any impurity. Optical properties were studied by UV- visible spectroscopy and band gap energy was estimated 3.89 eV. Room temperature dielectric constant (ε’) decreases abruptly at lower frequencies owing to the charge transport relaxation time. The observed behavior of the dielectric properties can be attributed on the basis of Koop’s theory based on Maxwell-Wagner’s two layer model in studied nanoparticles.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗