Temperature-dependent Raman scattering of KTa1-xNbxO3 thin films

We report a Raman scattering investigation of KTa1-xNbxO3 (x = 0.35, 0.5) thin films deposited on MgO and LaAlO3 as a function of temperature. The observed phase sequence in the range from 90 K to 720 K is similar to the structural phase transitions of the end-member material KNbO3. Although similar in the phase sequence, the actual temperatures observed for phase transition temperatures are significantly different from those observed in the literature for bulk samples. Namely, the tetragonal (ferroelectric) to cubic (paraelectric) phase transition is up to 50 K higher in the films when compared to bulk samples. This enhanced ferroelectricity is attributed to biaxial strain in the investigated thin films

Electronic Properties of Strained Si/Ge Core-Shell Nanowires

We investigated the electronic properties of strained Si/Ge core-shell nanowires along the [110] direction using first principles calculations based on density-functional theory. The diameter of the studied core-shell wire is up to 5 nm. We found the band gap of the core-shell wire is smaller than that of both pure Si and Ge wires with the same diameter. This reduced band gap is ascribed to the intrinsic strain between Ge and Si layers, which partially counters the quantum confinement effect. The external strain is further applied to the nanowires for tuning the band structure and band gap. By applying sufficient tensile strain, we found the band gap of Si-core/Ge-shell nanowire with diameter larger than ~3 nm experiences a transition from direct to indirect gap.Comment: 4 figure

Pulse retrieval and soliton formation in a non-standard scheme for dynamic electromagnetically induced transparency

We examine in detail an alternative method of retrieving the information written into an atomic ensemble of three-level atoms using electromagnetically induced transparency. We find that the behavior of the retrieved pulse is strongly influenced by the relative collective atom-light coupling strengths of the two relevant transitions. When the collective atom-light coupling strength for the retrieval beam is the stronger of the two transitions, regeneration of the stored pulse is possible. Otherwise, we show the retrieval process can lead to creation of soliton-like pulses.Comment: 11 figure

The scattering of a cylindrical invisibility cloak: reduced parameters and optimization

We investigate the scattering of 2D cylindrical invisibility cloaks with simplified constitutive parameters with the assistance of scattering coefficients. We show that the scattering of the cloaks originates not only from the boundary conditions but also from the spatial variation of the component of permittivity/permeability. According to our formulation, we propose some restrictions to the invisibility cloak in order to minimize its scattering after the simplification has taken place. With our theoretical analysis, it is possible to design a simplified cloak by using some peculiar composites like photonic crystals (PCs) which mimic an effective refractive index landscape rather than offering effective constitutives, meanwhile canceling the scattering from the inner and outer boundaries.Comment: Accepted for J. Phys.

Connecting the vulcanization transition to percolation

The vulcanization transition is addressed via a minimal replica-field-theoretic model. The appropriate long-wave-length behavior of the two- and three-point vertex functions is considered diagrammatically, to all orders in perturbation theory, and identified with the corresponding quantities in the Houghton-Reeve-Wallace field-theoretic approach to the percolation critical phenomenon. Hence, it is shown that percolation theory correctly captures the critical phenomenology of the vulcanization transition associated with the liquid and critical states.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Strain Modulated Electronic Properties of Ge Nanowires - A First Principles Study

We used density-functional theory based first principles simulations to study the effects of uniaxial strain and quantum confinement on the electronic properties of germanium nanowires along the [110] direction, such as the energy gap and the effective masses of the electron and hole. The diameters of the nanowires being studied are up to 50 {\AA}. As shown in our calculations, the Ge [110] nanowires possess a direct band gap, in contrast to the nature of an indirect band gap in bulk. We discovered that the band gap and the effective masses of charge carries can be modulated by applying uniaxial strain to the nanowires. These strain modulations are size-dependent. For a smaller wire (~ 12 {\AA}), the band gap is almost a linear function of strain; compressive strain increases the gap while tensile strain reduces the gap. For a larger wire (20 {\AA} - 50 {\AA}), the variation of the band gap with respect to strain shows nearly parabolic behavior: compressive strain beyond -1% also reduces the gap. In addition, our studies showed that strain affects effective masses of the electron and hole very differently. The effective mass of the hole increases with a tensile strain while the effective mass of the electron increases with a compressive strain. Our results suggested both strain and size can be used to tune the band structures of nanowires, which may help in design of future nano-electronic devices. We also discussed our results by applying the tight-binding model.Comment: 1 table, 8 figure

The Kagome Antiferromagnet: A Schwinger-Boson Mean-Field Theory Study

The Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the Kagom\'{e} lattice is studied in the framework of Schwinger-boson mean-field theory. Two solutions with different symmetries are presented. One solution gives a conventional quantum state with $\mathbf{q}=0$ order for all spin values. Another gives a gapped spin liquid state for spin $S=1/2$ and a mixed state with both $\mathbf{q}=0$ and $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$ orders for spin $S>1/2$. We emphasize that the mixed state exhibits two sets of peaks in the static spin structure factor. And for the case of spin $S=1/2$, the gap value we obtained is consistent with the previous numerical calculations by other means. We also discuss the thermodynamic quantities such as the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility at low temperatures and show that our result is in a good agreement with the Mermin-Wagner theorem.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Formation and kinetics of transient metastable states in mixtures under coupled phase ordering and chemical demixing

We present theory and simulation of simultaneous chemical demixing and phase ordering in a polymer-liquid crystal mixture in conditions where isotropic- isotropic phase separation is metastable with respect to isotropic-nematic phase transition. It is found that mesophase formation proceeds by a transient metastable phase that surround the ordered phase, and whose lifetime is a function of the ratio of diffusional to orientational mobilities. It is shown that kinetic phase ordering in polymer-mesogen mixtures is analogous to kinetic crystallization in polymer solutions.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures accepted for publication in EP

Review of morphology dependent charge carrier mobility in MEH-PPV

Charge carrier mobility in poly(2-methoxy,5(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) films were measured as a function of temperature and electric field parallel and perpendicular to the substrate for devices prepared from different solvents and under different processing conditions Bulk structural morphology was characterized by various X-ray diffraction measurements such as wide angle, small angle and X-ray reflection. Surface morphology was characterized using various scanning probe microscopic techniques Mobilities were found to follow Gaussian disorder model (GDM) and to be highly anisotropic not only depending on the solvents used but also on the film preparation method such as spin-coating or drop-casting While no direct correlation was found between charge carrier mobility and photoluminescence, charge transport parameters were correlated with structural morpholog