Quantum transport and bulk calculations for graphene-based devices

textAs devise sizes approach the nanoscale, novel device geometries and materials are considered, and new types of essential physics becomes important and new physical switching mechanism are considered, and as our intuitive understanding of device behavior is stretched accordingly, increasing first-principles simulation is required to understand and predict device behavior. To this end, initially I worked to capture the richness of the confinement and transport physics in quantum-wire devices. I developed an efficient fully three dimensional atomistic quantum transport simulator within a nearest-neighbor atomistic tight-binding framework. However, I soon adapted this work to the study of transport in graphene mono-layer and bilayer nano-ribbons. Motivated by proposals for use of nano-ribbons to create band gaps in otherwise gapless graphene monolayers, I studied the effects of edge disorder in such graphene nano-ribbon FETs. I found that ribbon widths sufficiently narrow to produce useful bandgaps, would also lead to an extreme sensitivity to ribbon-edge roughness and associated performance degradation and device-to-device variability. Going beyond conventional switching but staying with the graphene material system, to model electron-hole condensation in two graphene monolayers separated by a tunnel dielectric potentially beyond room temperature, I developed a self-consistent atomistic tight-binding treatment of the required interlayer exchange interaction within non-local Hartree-Fock mean-field theory. Such condensation, associated many-body enhanced interlayer current flow, and gate-control thereof is the basis for the beyond-CMOS Bilayer-pseudoSpin Field Effect Transistor (BiSFET) proposed by colleagues. I studied the effect of various system parameters and on interlayer charge imbalance on the strength of the condensate state. I also modeled the critical current, the maximum interlayer current that can be supported by the condensate, its detailed dependence on the nature and strength of the required interlayer bare tunneling and on charge imbalance. The results presented here are expected to be used to refine devices models of the BiSFET, and may serve as guides to experiments to observe such a condensate state.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

CONSTITUTIVE MODEL FOR RATE DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR OF CLAY Internal Geotechnical Report 2011-3

This report presents a strain-rate dependent plastic constitutive model for clays. Based on the concepts of critical-state soil mechanics and bounding surface plasticity theory, the model reproduces the mechanical response of clays under multi-axial loading conditions and predicts both the drained and undrained behavior. The model parameters are determined for Boston Blue Clay, London Clay and Kaolin Clay, and the performance of the model in simulating the mechanical response of these clays is demonstrated for low to medium strain rates. The sensitivity of each model parameter is checked by perturbing the calibrated values by ±20%. Subsequently, a probabilistic analysis using Monte Carlo simulations is performed by treating the model parameters as random variables and the impact of the statistics of the parameters on the undrained shear strength is investigated

Analysis of Laterally Loaded Piles in Multilayered Soil Deposits

This report focuses on the development of a new method of analysis of laterally loaded piles embedded in a multi-layered soil deposit treated as a three-dimensional continuum. Assuming that soil behaves as a linear elastic material, the governing differential equations for the deflection of laterally loaded piles were obtained using energy principles and calculus of variations. The differential equations were solved using both the method of initial parameters and numerical techniques. Soil resistance, pile deflection, slope of the deflected pile, bending moment and shear force can be easily obtained at any depth along the entire pile length. The results of the analysis were in very good agreement with three-dimensional finite element analysis results. The analysis was further extended to account for soil nonlinearity. A few simple constitutive relationships that allow for modulus degradation with increasing strain were incorporated into the analysis. The interaction of piles in groups was also studied

On the nature of Off-pulse emission from pulsars

In Basu et al. 2011 we reported the detection of Off-pulse emission from two long period pulsars B0525+21 and B2045-16. The pulsars were observed at a single epoch using the 325 MHz frequency band of the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). In this paper we report a detailed study of the Off-pulse emission from these two pulsars using multiple observations at two different frequencies, 325 MHz and 610 MHz bands of GMRT. We report detection of Off-pulse emission during each observation and based on the scintillation effects and spectral index of Off-pulse emission we conclude a magnetospheric origin. The magnetospheric origin of Off-pulse emission gives rise to various interesting possibilities about its emission mechanism and raises questions about the structure of the magnetosphere.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Ap