Patterned probes for high precision 4D-STEM bragg measurements.

Nanoscale strain mapping by four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) relies on determining the precise locations of Bragg-scattered electrons in a sequence of diffraction patterns, a task which is complicated by dynamical scattering, inelastic scattering, and shot noise. These features hinder accurate automated computational detection and position measurement of the diffracted disks, limiting the precision of measurements of local deformation. Here, we investigate the use of patterned probes to improve the precision of strain mapping. We imprint a "bullseye" pattern onto the probe, by using a binary mask in the probe-forming aperture, to improve the robustness of the peak finding algorithm to intensity modulations inside the diffracted disks. We show that this imprinting leads to substantially improved strain-mapping precision at the expense of a slight decrease in spatial resolution. In experiments on an unstrained silicon reference sample, we observe an improvement in strain measurement precision from 2.7% of the reciprocal lattice vectors with standard probes to 0.3% using bullseye probes for a thin sample, and an improvement from 4.7% to 0.8% for a thick sample. We also use multislice simulations to explore how sample thickness and electron dose limit the attainable accuracy and precision for 4D-STEM strain measurements

Imaging Photon Lattice States by Scanning Defect Microscopy

Microwave photons inside lattices of coupled resonators and superconducting qubits can exhibit surprising matter-like behavior. Realizing such open-system quantum simulators presents an experimental challenge and requires new tools and measurement techniques. Here, we introduce Scanning Defect Microscopy as one such tool and illustrate its use in mapping the normal-mode structure of microwave photons inside a 49-site Kagome lattice of coplanar waveguide resonators. Scanning is accomplished by moving a probe equipped with a sapphire tip across the lattice. This locally perturbs resonator frequencies and induces shifts of the lattice resonance frequencies which we determine by measuring the transmission spectrum. From the magnitude of mode shifts we can reconstruct photon field amplitudes at each lattice site and thus create spatial images of the photon-lattice normal modes

Optical memory disks in optical information processing

We describe the use of optical memory disks as elements in optical information processing architectures. The optical disk is an optical memory devicew ith a storage capacity approaching 1010b its which is naturally suited to parallel access. We discuss optical disk characteristics which are important in optical computing systems such as contrast, diffraction efficiency, and phase uniformity. We describe techniques for holographic storage on optical disks and present reconstructions of several types of computer-generated holograms. Various optical information processing architectures are described for applications such as database retrieval, neural network implementation, and image correlation. Selected systems are experimentally demonstrated

Selective area growth and characterization of InGaN nano-disks implemented in GaN nanocolumns with different top morphologies

This work reports on the morphology control of the selective area growth of GaN-based nanostructures on c-plane GaN templates. By decreasing the substrate temperature, the nanostructures morphology changes from pyramidal islands (no vertical m-planes), to GaN nanocolumns with top semipolar r-planes, and further to GaN nanocolumns with top polar c-planes. When growing InGaN nano-disks embedded into the GaN nanocolumns, the different morphologies mentioned lead to different optical properties, due to the semi-polar and polar nature of the r-planes and c-planes involved. These differences are assessed by photoluminescence measurements at low temperature and correlated to the specific nano-disk geometry

Absence of quantum-confined Stark effect in GaN quantum disks embedded in (Al,Ga)N nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Several of the key issues of planar (Al,Ga)N-based deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes could potentially be overcome by utilizing nanowire heterostructures, exhibiting high structural perfection and improved light extraction. Here, we study the spontaneous emission of GaN/(Al,Ga)N nanowire ensembles grown on Si(111) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The nanowires contain single GaN quantum disks embedded in long (Al,Ga)N nanowire segments essential for efficient light extraction. These quantum disks are found to exhibit intense emission at unexpectedly high energies, namely, significantly above the GaN bandgap, and almost independent of the disk thickness. An in-depth investigation of the actual structure and composition of the nanowires reveals a spontaneously formed Al gradient both along and across the nanowire, resulting in a complex core/shell structure with an Al deficient core and an Al rich shell with continuously varying Al content along the entire length of the (Al,Ga)N segment. This compositional change along the nanowire growth axis induces a polarization doping of the shell that results in a degenerate electron gas in the disk, thus screening the built-in electric fields. The high carrier density not only results in the unexpectedly high transition energies, but also in radiative lifetimes depending only weakly on temperature, leading to a comparatively high internal quantum efficiency of the GaN quantum disks up to room temperature.Comment: This document is the unedited Author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Nano Letters (2019), copyright (C) American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01521, the supporting information is available (free of charge) under the same lin

Quantitative magneto-optical investigation of superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid structures

We present a detailed quantitative magneto-optical imaging study of several superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid structures, including Nb deposited on top of thermomagnetically patterned NdFeB, and permalloy/niobium with erasable and tailored magnetic landscapes imprinted in the permalloy layer. The magneto-optical imaging data is complemented with and compared to scanning Hall probe microscopy measurements. Comprehensive protocols have been developed for calibrating, testing, and converting Faraday rotation data to magnetic field maps. Applied to the acquired data, they reveal the comparatively weaker magnetic response of the superconductor from the background of larger fields and field gradients generated by the magnetic layer.Comment: 21 pages, including 2 pages of supplementary materia

Terahertz Spectroscopy in the Lab and at Telescopes

The section of the electromagnetic spectrum extending roughly from wavelengths of 3 mm to 30 μm is commonly known as the far-infrared or TeraHertz (THz) region. It contains the great majority of the photons emitted by the universe, and THz observations of molecules and dust are able penetrate deeply into molecular clouds, thus revealing the full history of star and planet formation. Accordingly, the upcoming deployments of the Herschel, ALMA, and SOFIA observatories promise to revolutionize our understanding of THz astrophysics. To fully realize this promise, however, it is essential that we achieve a quantitative experimental understanding of the dust, ice, and gas which make up the ISM. After outlining the tremendous impact that Tom Phillips has had on astronomical applications of THz radiation, this contribution will describe how emerging technologies in ultrafast lasers are enabling the development of integrated frequency- and time-domain THz facilities that can acquire high dynamic range optical constants of the major components that comprise astrophysical dust, ice and organics across the full wavelength region accessible to Herschel and other THz observatories

py4DSTEM: a software package for multimodal analysis of four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy datasets

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials on length scales ranging from microns to atoms. By using a high-speed, direct electron detector, it is now possible to record a full 2D image of the diffracted electron beam at each probe position, typically a 2D grid of probe positions. These 4D-STEM datasets are rich in information, including signatures of the local structure, orientation, deformation, electromagnetic fields and other sample-dependent properties. However, extracting this information requires complex analysis pipelines, from data wrangling to calibration to analysis to visualization, all while maintaining robustness against imaging distortions and artifacts. In this paper, we present py4DSTEM, an analysis toolkit for measuring material properties from 4D-STEM datasets, written in the Python language and released with an open source license. We describe the algorithmic steps for dataset calibration and various 4D-STEM property measurements in detail, and present results from several experimental datasets. We have also implemented a simple and universal file format appropriate for electron microscopy data in py4DSTEM, which uses the open source HDF5 standard. We hope this tool will benefit the research community, helps to move the developing standards for data and computational methods in electron microscopy, and invite the community to contribute to this ongoing, fully open-source project