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At least 1,081 records · Page 60
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Tuning the optical properties of dilute nitride site controlled quantum dots

We show that deterministic control of the properties of pyramidal site-controlled quantum dots (QD) could be achieved by exposing the QD layer to nitrogen precursor unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMHy). The properties that could be tuned include an expected emission reduction in dilute nitride materials, excitonic pattern (biexciton binding energy) and improved carrier confinement potential symmetry (reduced fine-structure splitting)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Tunneling magnetoresistance tuned by a vertical electric field in an AA-stacked graphene bilayer with double magnetic barriers

We investigate the effect of a vertical electric field on the electron tunneling and magnetoresistance in an AA-stacked graphene bilayer modulated by the double magnetic barriers with parallel or antiparallel configuration. The results show that the electronic transmission properties in the system are sensitive to the magnetic-barrier configuration and the bias voltage between the graphene layers. In particular, it is found that for the antiparallel configuration, within the low energy region, the blocking effect is more obvious compared with the case for the parallel configuration, and even there may exist a transmission spectrum gap which can be arbitrarily tuned by the field-induced interlayer bias voltage. We also demonstrate that the significant discrepancy between the conductance for both parallel and antiparallel configurations would result in a giant tunneling magnetoresistance ratio, and further the maximal magnetoresistance ratio can be strongly modified by the interlayer bias voltage. This leads to the possible realization of high-quality magnetic sensors controlled by a vertical electric field in the AA-stacked graphene bilayer.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dependence of beam emittance on plasma electrode temperature and rf-power, and filter-field tuning with center-gapped rod-filter magnets in J-PARC rf-driven H{sup −} ion source

The prototype rf-driven H{sup −} ion-source with a nickel plated oxygen-free-copper (OFC) plasma chamber, which satisfies the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) 2nd stage requirements of a H{sup −} ion beam current of 60 mA within normalized emittances of 1.5 π mm mrad both horizontally and vertically, a flat top beam duty factor of 1.25% (500 μs × 25 Hz) and a life-time of more than 50 days, was reported at the 3rd international symposium on negative ions, beams, and sources (NIBS2012). The experimental results of the J-PARC ion source with a plasma chamber made of stainless-steel, instead of nickel plated OFC used in the prototype source, are presented in this paper. By comparing these two sources, the following two important results were acquired. One was that the about 20% lower emittance was produced by the rather low plasma electrode (PE) temperature (T{sub PE}) of about 120 °C compared with the typically used T{sub PE} of about 200 °C to maximize the beam current for the plasma with the abundant cesium (Cs). The other was that by using the rod-filter magnets with a gap at each center and tuning the gap-lengths, the filter-field was optimized and the rf-power necessary to produce the J-PARC required H{sup −} ion beam current was reduced typically 18%. The lower rf-power also decreases the emittances.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

In situ tuning the single photon emission from single quantum dots through hydrostatic pressure

We demonstrate that exciton emission wavelength in InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) can be shifted up to 160 nm using hydrostatic pressure (0.4–4 GPa) in situ in an optical cryostat through an improved diamond anvil cell driven by piezoelectric actuator. It is confirmed that the high pressure does not destroy the photon anti-bunching properties of single QD emitter. Exciton emission intensity is not obviously weakened under the pressure range of 0–4 GPa. Such a tunable QD single photon emitter enables a flexibly tuned source for quantum optical experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electrical laser frequency tuning by three terminal terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Electrical laser emission frequency tuning of a three terminal THz quantum cascade laser is demonstrated. A high electron mobility transistor structure is used in a surface plasmon waveguide to modulate the electron density in a channel, controlling the effective refractive index of the waveguide. The threshold current density was modulated by 28% via applying voltage from −3 to 2 V. The observed laser emission frequency shift by electric field was 2 GHz. By using the three terminal devices, pure frequency modulation of the output light is, in principle, achievable.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Theoretical studies of optical gain tuning by hydrostatic pressure in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells

In order to describe theoretically the tuning of the optical gain by hydrostatic pressure in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs), the optical gain calculations within kp approach were developed and applied for N-containing and N-free QWs. The electronic band structure and the optical gain for GaInNAs/GaAs QW were calculated within the 10-band kp model which takes into account the interaction of electron levels in the QW with the nitrogen resonant level in GaInNAs. It has been shown that this interaction increases with the hydrostatic pressure and as a result the optical gain for GaInNAs/GaAs QW decreases by about 40% and 80% for transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes, respectively, for the hydrostatic pressure change from 0 to 40 kilobars. Such an effect is not observed for N-free QWs where the dispersion of electron and hole energies remains unchanged with the hydrostatic pressure. This is due to the fact that the conduction and valence band potentials in GaInAs/GaAs QW scale linearly with the hydrostatic pressure.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning spin transport properties and molecular magnetoresistance through contact geometry

Molecular spintronics seeks to unite the advantages of using organic molecules as nanoelectronic components, with the benefits of using spin as an additional degree of freedom. For technological applications, an important quantity is the molecular magnetoresistance. In this work, we show that this parameter is very sensitive to the contact geometry. To demonstrate this, we perform ab initio calculations, combining the non-equilibrium Green's function method with density functional theory, on a dithienylethene molecule placed between spin-polarized nickel leads of varying geometries. We find that, in general, the magnetoresistance is significantly higher when the contact is made to sharp tips than to flat surfaces. Interestingly, this holds true for both resonant and tunneling conduction regimes, i.e., when the molecule is in its “closed” and “open” conformations, respectively. We find that changing the lead geometry can increase the magnetoresistance by up to a factor of ∼5. We also introduce a simple model that, despite requiring minimal computational time, can recapture our ab initio results for the behavior of magnetoresistance as a function of bias voltage. This model requires as its input only the density of states on the anchoring atoms, at zero bias voltage. We also find that the non-resonant conductance in the open conformation of the molecule is significantly impacted by the lead geometry. As a result, the ratio of the current in the closed and open conformations can also be tuned by varying the geometry of the leads, and increased by ∼400%.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tunnel magnetoresistance effect in magnetic tunnel junctions using Fermi-level-tuned epitaxial Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}Si Heusler alloy

This paper reports a systematic investigation on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}Si Heusler alloys with various compositions of x by co-sputtering Fe{sub 2}CrSi and Fe{sub 2}CoSi targets and their applications in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}Si films of high crystalline quality have been epitaxially grown on MgO substrate using Cr as a buffer layer. The L2{sub 1} phase can be obtained at x = 0.3 and 0.5, while B2 phase for the rest compositions. A tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 19.3% at room temperature is achieved for MTJs using Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 0.3}Co{sub 0.7}Si as the bottom electrode with 350 °C post-annealing. This suggests that the Fermi level in Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}Si has been successfully tuned close to the center of band gap of minority spin with x = 0.7 and therefore better thermal stability and higher spin polarization are achieved in Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 0.3}Co{sub 0.7}Si. The post-annealing effect for MTJs is also studied in details. The removal of the oxidized Fe{sub 2}Cr{sub 0.3}Co{sub 0.7}Si at the interface with MgO barrier is found to be the key to improve the TMR ratio. When the thickness of the inserted Mg layer increases from 0.3 to 0.4 nm, the TMR ratio is greatly enhanced from 19.3% to 28%.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning the band structures of a one-dimensional width-modulated magnonic crystal by a transverse magnetic field

Theoretical studies, based on three independent techniques, of the band structure of a one-dimensional width-modulated magnonic crystal under a transverse magnetic field are reported. The band diagram is found to display distinct behaviors when the transverse field is either larger or smaller than a critical value. The widths and center positions of bandgaps exhibit unusual non-monotonic and large field-tunability through tilting the direction of magnetization. Some bandgaps can be dynamically switched on and off by simply tuning the strength of such a static field. Finally, the impact of the lowered symmetry of the magnetic ground state on the spin-wave excitation efficiency of an oscillating magnetic field is discussed. Our finding reveals that the magnetization direction plays an important role in tailoring magnonic band structures and hence in the design of dynamic spin-wave switches.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mixing antiferromagnets to tune NiFe-[IrMn/FeMn] interfacial spin-glasses, grains thermal stability, and related exchange bias properties

Spintronics devices and in particular thermally assisted magnetic random access memories require a wide range of ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (F/AF) exchange bias (EB) properties and subsequently of AF materials to fulfil diverse functionality requirements for the reference and storage. For the reference layer, large EB energies and high blocking temperature (T{sub B}) are required. In contrast, for the storage layer, mostly moderate T{sub B} are needed. One of the present issues is to find a storage layer with properties intermediate between those of IrMn and FeMn and in particular: (i) with a T{sub B} larger than FeMn for better stability at rest-T but lower than IrMn to reduce power consumption at write-T and (ii) with improved magnetic interfacial quality, i.e., with reduced interfacial glassy character for lower properties dispersions. To address this issue, the EB properties of F/AF based stacks were studied for various mixed [IrMn/FeMn] AFs. In addition to EB loop shifts, the F/AF magnetic interfacial qualities and the AF grains thermal stability are probed via measurements of the low- and high-temperature contributions to the T{sub B} distributions, respectively. A tuning of the above three parameters is observed when evolving from IrMn to FeMn via [IrMn/FeMn] repetitions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Toward tuning the surface functionalization of small ceria nanoparticles

Understanding and controlling the performance of ceria nanoparticle (CNP) catalysts requires knowledge of the detailed structure and property of CNP surfaces and any attached functional groups. Here we report thermogravimetric analysis results showing that hydrothermally synthesized ∼30 nm CNPs are decorated with 12.9 hydroxyl groups per nm{sup 2} of CNP surface. Quantum mechanical calculations of the density and distribution of bound surface groups imply a scaling relationship for surface group density that balances formal charges in the functionalized CNP system. Computational results for CNPs with only hydroxyl surface groups yield a predicted density of bound hydroxyl groups for ∼30 nm CNPs that is ∼33% higher than measured densities. Quantitative agreement between predicted and measured hydroxyl surface densities is achieved when calculations consider CNPs with both –OH and –O{sub x} surface groups. For this more general treatment of CNP surface functionalizations, quantum mechanical calculations predict a range of stable surface group configurations that depend on the chemical potentials of O and H, and demonstrate the potential to tune CNP surface functionalizations by varying temperature and/or partial pressures of O{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Full phosphorescent white-light organic light-emitting diodes with improved color stability and efficiency by fine tuning primary emission contributions

In this paper, a novel type of white-light organic light emitting diode (OLED) with high color stability was reported, in which the yellow-light emission layer of (4,4{sup ′}-N,N{sup ′}-dicarbazole)biphenyl (CBP) : tris(2-phenylquinoline-C2,N{sup ′})iridium(III) (Ir(2-phq){sub 3}) was sandwiched by double blue-light emission layers of 1,1-bis-[(di-4-tolylamino)pheny1]cyclohexane (TAPC) : bis[4,6-(di-fluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2{sup ′}]picolinate (FIrpic) and tris[3-(3-pyridyl)mesityl]borane (3TPYMB):FIrpic. And, it exhibited the maximum current efficiency of 33.1 cd/A, the turn-on voltage at about 3 V and the maximum luminance in excess of 20000 cd/m{sup 2}. More important, it realized very stable white-light emission, and its CIE(x, y) coordinates only shift from (0.34, 0.37) to (0.33, 0.37) as applied voltage increased from 5 V to 12 V. It is believed that the new scheme in emission layer of white-light OLED can fine tune the contribution of primary emission with applied voltage changed, resulting in high quality white-light OLED.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning the dead-layer behavior of La{sub 0.67}Sr{sub 0.33}MnO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} via interfacial engineering

The dead-layer behavior, deterioration of the bulk properties in near-interface layers, restricts the applications of many oxide heterostructures. We present the systematic study of the dead-layer in La{sub 0.67}Sr{sub 0.33}MnO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} grown by ozone-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Dead-layer behavior is systematically tuned by varying the interfacial doping, while unchanged with varied doping at any other atomic layers. In situ photoemission and low energy electron diffraction measurements suggest intrinsic oxygen vacancies at the surface of ultra-thin La{sub 0.67}Sr{sub 0.33}MnO{sub 3}, which are more concentrated in thinner films. Our results show correlation between interfacial doping, oxygen vacancies, and the dead-layer, which can be explained by a simplified electrostatic model.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Aperiodic signals processing via parameter-tuning stochastic resonance in a photorefractive ring cavity

Based on solving numerically the generalized nonlinear Langevin equation describing the nonlinear dynamics of stochastic resonance by Fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, an aperiodic stochastic resonance based on an optical bistable system is numerically investigated. The numerical results show that a parameter-tuning stochastic resonance system can be realized by choosing the appropriate optical bistable parameters, which performs well in reconstructing aperiodic signals from a very high level of noise background. The influences of optical bistable parameters on the stochastic resonance effect are numerically analyzed via cross-correlation, and a maximum cross-correlation gain of 8 is obtained by optimizing optical bistable parameters. This provides a prospective method for reconstructing noise-hidden weak signals in all-optical signal processing systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning structure of oppositely charged nanoparticle and protein complexes

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been used to probe the structures of anionic silica nanoparticles (LS30) and cationic lyszyme protein (M.W. 14.7kD, I.P. ∼ 11.4) by tuning their interaction through the pH variation. The protein adsorption on nanoparticles is found to be increasing with pH and determined by the electrostatic attraction between two components as well as repulsion between protein molecules. We show the strong electrostatic attraction between nanoparticles and protein molecules leads to protein-mediated aggregation of nanoparticles which are characterized by fractal structures. At pH 5, the protein adsorption gives rise to nanoparticle aggregation having surface fractal morphology with close packing of nanoparticles. The surface fractals transform to open structures of mass fractal morphology at higher pH (7 and 9) on approaching isoelectric point (I.P.)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning of depletion interaction in nanoparticle-surfactant systems

The interaction of anionic silica nanoparticles (Ludox LS30) and non-ionic surfactants decaethylene glycol monododecylether (C12E10) without and with anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in aqueous electrolyte solution has been studied by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The measurements have been carried out for fixed concentrations of nanoparticle (1 wt%), surfactants (1 wt%) and electrolyte (0.1 M NaCl). Each of these nanoparticlesurfactant systems has been examined for different contrast conditions where individual components (nanoparticle or surfactant) are made visible. It is observed that the nanoparticle-C12E10 system leads to the depletion-induced aggregation of nanoparticles. The system however behaves very differently on addition of SDS where depletion interaction gets suppressed and aggregation of nanoparticles can be prevented. We show that C12E10 and SDS form mixed micelles and the charge on these micelles plays important role in tuning the depletion interaction.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structural studies and band gap tuning of Cr doped ZnO nanoparticles

Structural and optical properties of Cr doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by the thermal decomposition method are presented. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the substitution of Cr on Zn sites without changing the wurtzite structure of ZnO. Modified form of W-H equations was used to calculate various physical parameters and their variation with Cr doping is discussed. Significant red shift was observed in band gap, i.e., a band gap tuning is achieved by Cr doping which could eventually be useful for optoelectronic applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Indirect-direct band gap transition through electric tuning in bilayer MoS{sub 2}

We investigate the electronic properties of bilayer MoS{sub 2} exposed to an external electric field by using first-principles calculations. It is found that a larger interlayer distance, referring to that by standard density functional theory (DFT) with respect to that by DFT with empirical dispersion corrections, makes indirect-direct band gap transition possible by electric control. We show that external electric field effectively manipulates the valence band contrast between the K- and Γ-valleys by forming built-in electric dipole fields, which realizes an indirect-direct transition before a semiconductor-metal transition happens. Our results provide a novel efficient access to tune the electronic properties of two-dimensional layered materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗