Finite Element Analysis of Strain Effects on Electronic and Transport Properties in Quantum Dots and Wires

Lattice mismatch in layered semiconductor structures with submicron length scales leads to extremely high nonuniform strains. This paper presents a finite element technique for incorporating the effects of the nonuniform strain into an analysis of the electronic properties of SiGe quantum structures. Strain fields are calculated using a standard structural mechanics finite element package and the effects are included as a nonuniform potential directly in the time independent Schrodinger equation; a k-p Hamiltonian is used to model the effects of multiple valence subband coupling. A variational statement of the equation is formulated and solved using the finite element method. This technique is applied to resonant tunneling diode quantum dots and wires; the resulting densities of states confined to the quantum well layers of the devices are compared to experimental current-voltage I(V) curves.Comment: 17 pages (LaTex), 18 figures (JPEG), submitted to Journal of Applied Physic

Strain induced stabilization of stepped Si and Ge surfaces near (001)

We report on calculations of the formation energies of several [100] and [110] oriented step structures on biaxially stressed Si and Ge (001) surfaces. It is shown that a novel rebonded [100] oriented single-height step is strongly stabilized by compressive strain compared to most well-known step structures. We propose that the side walls of ``hut''-shaped quantum dots observed in recent experiments on SiGe/Si films are made up of these steps. Our calculations provide an explanation for the nucleationless growth of shallow mounds, with steps along the [100] and [110] directions in low- and high-misfit films, respectively, and for the stability of the (105) facets under compressive strain.Comment: to appear in Appl. Phys. Lett.; v2=minor corrections,figs resize

Drip and Mate Operations Acting in Test Tube Systems and Tissue-like P systems

The operations drip and mate considered in (mem)brane computing resemble the operations cut and recombination well known from DNA computing. We here consider sets of vesicles with multisets of objects on their outside membrane interacting by drip and mate in two different setups: in test tube systems, the vesicles may pass from one tube to another one provided they fulfill specific constraints; in tissue-like P systems, the vesicles are immediately passed to specified cells after having undergone a drip or mate operation. In both variants, computational completeness can be obtained, yet with different constraints for the drip and mate operations

Variational cluster approach to the Hubbard model: Phase-separation tendency and finite-size effects

Using the variational cluster approach (VCA), we study the transition from the antiferromagnetic to the superconducting phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model at zero temperature. Our calculations are based on a new method to evaluate the VCA grand potential which employs a modified Lanczos algorithm and avoids integrations over the real or imaginary frequency axis. Thereby, very accurate results are possible for cluster sizes not accessible to full diagonalization. This is important for an improved treatment of short-range correlations, including correlations between Cooper pairs in particular. We investigate the cluster-size dependence of the phase-separation tendency that has been proposed recently on the basis of calculations for smaller clusters. It is shown that the energy barrier driving the phase separation decreases with increasing cluster size. This supports the conjecture that the ground state exhibits microscopic inhomogeneities rather than macroscopic phase separation. The evolution of the single-particle spectum as a function of doping is studied in addtion and the relevance of our results for experimental findings is pointed out.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, published versio

Tests of a Novel Design of Resistive Plate Chambers

A novel design of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs), using only a single resistive plate, is being proposed. Based on this design, two large size prototype chambers were constructed and were tested with cosmic rays and in particle beams. The tests confirmed the viability of this new approach. In addition to showing an improved single-particle response compared to the traditional 2-plate design, the novel chambers also prove to be suitable for calorimetric applications

A next-to-leading order analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering

We present a complete, next-to-leading-order (NLO), leading-twist QCD analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) observables, in the ${\bar {MS}}$ scheme, and in the kinematic ranges of the H1, ZEUS and HERMES experiments. We use a modified form of Radyushkin's ansatz for the input model for the generalized parton distributions. We present results for leading order (LO) and NLO for representative observables and find that they compare favourably to the available data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, revtex, published version, we modify Radyushkin's ansatz for the GPDs to correct for finite hadronic mass effects, and, using the latest MRST PDFs, now agree with the H1 data (modified figs). Typo in Eq.(3) correcte

Frictional sliding without geometrical reflection symmetry

The dynamics of frictional interfaces play an important role in many physical systems spanning a broad range of scales. It is well-known that frictional interfaces separating two dissimilar materials couple interfacial slip and normal stress variations, a coupling that has major implications on their stability, failure mechanism and rupture directionality. In contrast, interfaces separating identical materials are traditionally assumed not to feature such a coupling due to symmetry considerations. We show, combining theory and experiments, that interfaces which separate bodies made of macroscopically identical materials, but lack geometrical reflection symmetry, generically feature such a coupling. We discuss two applications of this novel feature. First, we show that it accounts for a distinct, and previously unexplained, experimentally observed weakening effect in frictional cracks. Second, we demonstrate that it can destabilize frictional sliding which is otherwise stable. The emerging framework is expected to find applications in a broad range of systems.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures + Supplementary Material. Minor change in the title, extended analysis in the second par

A detailed QCD analysis of twist-3 effects in DVCS observables

In this paper I present a detailed QCD analysis of twist-3 effects in the Wandzura-Wilczek (WW) approximation in deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) observables for various kinematical settings, representing the HERA, HERMES, CLAS and the planned EIC (electron-ion-collider) experiments. I find that the twist-3 effects in the WW approximation are almost always negligible at collider energies but can be large for low Q^2 and smaller x_bj in observables for the lower energy, fixed target experiments directly sensitive to the real part of DVCS amplitudes like the charge asymmetry (CA). Conclusions are then drawn about the reliability of extracting twist-2 generalized parton distributions (GPDs) from experimental data and a first, phenomenological, parameterization of the LO and NLO twist-2 GPD $H$, describing all the currently available DVCS data within the experimental errors is given.Comment: 18 pages, 21 figures, uses Revtex4, final version to be published in PRD, minor revisions due to referee suggestion

Modelling generalized parton distributions to describe deeply virtual Compton scattering data

We present a new model for generalized parton distributions (GPDs), based on the aligned jet model, which successfully describes the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) data from H1, ZEUS, HERMES and CLAS. We also present an easily implementable and flexible algorithm for their construction. This new model is necessary since the most widely used models for GPDs, which are based on factorized double distributions, cannot, in their current form, describe the DVCS data when employed in a full QCD analysis. We demonstrate explicitly the reason for the shortcoming in the data description. We also highlight several non-perturbative input parameters which could be used to tune the GPDs, and the $t$-dependence, to the DVCS data using a fitting procedure.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, revtex4, shortened version accepted for publication in PRD, figures improved and references adde

Measurements of the Rate Capability of Various Resistive Plate Chambers

Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) exhibit a significant loss of efficiency for the detection of particles, when subjected to high particle fluxes. This rate limitation is related to the usually high resistivity of the resistive plates used in their construction. This paper reports on measurements of the performance of three different glass RPC designs featuring a different total resistance of the resistive plates. The measurements were performed with 120 GeV protons at varying beam intensitie