Significant reduction in arc frequency biased solar cells: Observations, diagnostics, and mitigation technique(s)

A variety of experiments were performed which identify key factors contributing to the arcing of negatively biased high voltage solar cells. These efforts have led to reduction of greater than a factor of 100 in the arc frequency of a single cell following proper remediation procedures. Experiments naturally lead to and focussed on the adhesive/encapsulant that is used to bond the protective cover slip to the solar cell. An image-intensified charge coupled device (CCD) camera system recorded UV emission from arc events which occurred exclusively along the interfacial edge between the cover slip and the solar cell. Microscopic inspection of this interfacial region showed a bead of encapsulant along this entire edge. Elimination of this encapsulant bead reduced the arc frequency by two orders of magnitude. Water contamination was also identified as a key contributor which enhances arcing of the encapsulant bead along the solar cell edge. Spectrally resolved measurements of the observable UV light shows a feature assignable to OH(A-X) electronic emission, which is common for water contaminated discharges. Experiments in which the solar cell temperature was raised to 85 C showed a reduced arcing frequency, suggesting desorption of H2O. Exposing the solar cell to water vapor was shown to increase the arcing frequency. Clean dry gases such as O2, N2, and Ar show no enhancement of the arcing rate. Elimination of the exposed encapsulant eliminates any measurable sensitivity to H2O vapor

Wave Function of the Largest Skyrmion on a Sphere

It has been clarified that charged excitation known as a skyrmion exists around the ferromagnetic ground state at the Landau level filling factor $\nu=1/q$, where $q$ is an odd integer. An infinite sized skyrmion is realized in the absence of the spin-Zeeman splitting or for double-layered systems. Analytical form of the wave function is identified at $\nu=1$ and $\nu=1/3$ through exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian for finite sized spherical systems. It is clarified that the skyrmion wave functions at $\nu=1$ and $\nu=1/3$ are qualitatively different: they are not related by the composite fermion transformation. Long-range behavior of the skyrmion wave function around $\nu=1$ is shown to be consistent with the semiclassical picture of the skyrmion.Comment: 4 pages. to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.67 No.10. Three references are adde

Many skyrmion wave functions and skyrmion statistics in quantum Hall ferromagnets

We determine the charge and statistical angle of skyrmions in quantum Hall ferromagnets by performing Berry phase calculations based on the microscopic variational wave functions for many-skyrmion states. We find, in contradiction to a recent claim by Dziarmaga, that both the charge and the statistical angle of a skyrmion are independent of its spin (size), and are identical to those of Laughlin quasiparticles at the same filling factor. We discuss some subtleties in the use of these variational wave functions.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, no figure. Accepted in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Communication

Shape Deformation driven Structural Transitions in Quantum Hall Skyrmions

The Quantum Hall ground state away from $\nu = 1$ can be described by a collection of interacting skyrmions. We show within the context of a nonlinear sigma model, that the classical ground state away from $\nu = 1$ is a skyrmion crystal with a generalized N\'eel order. We show that as a function of filling $\nu$, the skyrmion crystal undergoes a triangle to square to triangle transition at zero temperature. We argue that this structural transition, driven by a change in the shape of the individual skyrmions, is stable to thermal and quantum fluctuations and may be probed experimentally.Comment: 4 pages (REVTEX) and 4 .eps figure

Skyrmion Physics Beyond the Lowest Landau Level Approximation

The effects of Landau level mixing and finite thickness of the two-dimensional electron gas on the relative stability of skyrmion and single spin-flip excitations at Landau level filling factor $\nu=1$ have been investigated. Landau level mixing is studied by fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo and finite thickness is included by modifying the effective Coulomb interaction. Both Landau level mixing and finite thickness lower skyrmion excitation energies and favor skyrmions with fewer spin flips. However, the two effects do not work `coherently'. When finite thickness is included the effect of Landau level mixing is strongly suppressed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Heat Capacity Evidence for the Suppression of Skyrmions at Large Zeeman Energy

Measurements on a multilayer two-dimensional electron system (2DES) near Landau level filling $\nu$=1 reveal the disappearance of the nuclear spin contribution to the heat capacity as the ratio $\tilde{g}$ between the Zeeman and Coulomb energies exceeds a critical value $\tilde{g}_c \approx$0.04. This disappearance suggests the vanishing of the Skyrmion-mediated coupling between the lattice and the nuclear spins as the spin excitations of the 2DES make a transition from Skyrmions to single spin-flips above $\tilde{g}_c$. Our experimental $\tilde{g}_c$ is smaller than the calculated $\tilde{g}_c$=0.054 for an ideal 2DES; we discuss possible origins of this discrepancy.Comment: Experimental paper, 6 figure

Quantum Phase Transition in Skyrmion Lattices

We investigate the ground state of 2D electron gas in Quantum Hall regime at the filling factor slightly deviating from unity, that can be viewed as a sparse lattice of skyrmions. We have found that in the low density limit skyrmions are bound in pairs, those forming the actual lattice. We have shown that at further density increase the lattice undergoes a quantum phase transition, an analogue of superconducting phase transition in Josephson junction arrays.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, 3 Postscript figure

Thermodynamic Phase Diagram of the Quantum Hall Skyrmion System

We numerically study the interacting quantum Hall skyrmion system based on the Chern-Simons action. By noticing that the action is invariant under global spin rotations in the spin space with respect to the magnetic field direction, we obtain the low-energy effective action for a many skyrmion system. Performing extensive molecular dynamics simulations, we establish the thermodynamic phase diagram for a many skyrmion system.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 2 postscript figure

Critical Behavior of Nuclear-Spin Diffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures near Landau Level Filling \nu=1

Thermal measurements on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure reveal that the state of the confined two-dimensional electrons dramatically affects the nuclear-spin diffusion near Landau level filling factor \nu=1. The experiments provide quantitative evidence that the sharp peak in the temperature dependence of heat capacity near \nu=1 is due to an enhanced nuclear-spin diffusion from the GaAs quantum wells into the AlGaAs barriers. We discuss the physical origin of this enhancement in terms the possible Skyrme solid-liquid phase transition.Comment: 1 LateX file, 3 figures, submitte