464 research outputs found
Frenkel Excitons in Random Systems With Correlated Gaussian Disorder
Optical absorption spectra of Frenkel excitons in random one-dimensional
systems are presented. Two models of inhomogeneous broadening, arising from a
Gaussian distribution of on-site energies, are considered. In one case the
on-site energies are uncorrelated variables whereas in the second model the
on-site energies are pairwise correlated (dimers). We observe a red shift and a
broadening of the absorption line on increasing the width of the Gaussian
distribution. In the two cases we find that the shift is the same, within our
numerical accuracy, whereas the broadening is larger when dimers are
introduced. The increase of the width of the Gaussian distribution leads to
larger differences between uncorrelated and correlated disordered models. We
suggest that this higher broadening is due to stronger scattering effects from
dimers.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 3 ps figures. To appear in Physical Review
Absence of extended states in a ladder model of DNA
We consider a ladder model of DNA for describing carrier transport in a fully
coherent regime through finite segments. A single orbital is associated to each
base, and both interstrand and intrastrand overlaps are considered within the
nearest-neighbor approximation. Conduction through the sugar-phosphate backbone
is neglected. We study analytically and numerically the spatial extend of the
corresponding states by means of the Landauer and Lyapunov exponents. We
conclude that intrinsic-DNA correlations, arising from the natural base
pairing, does not suffice to observe extended states, in contrast to previous
claims.Comment: 4 RevTex pages, 4 figures include
Nanowires: A route to efficient thermoelectric devices
Miniaturization of electronic devices aims at manufacturing ever smaller
products, from mesoscopic to nanoscopic sizes. This trend is challenging
because the increased levels of dissipated power demands a better understanding
of heat transport in small volumes. A significant amount of the consumed energy
is transformed into heat and dissipated to the environment. Thermoelectric
materials offer the possibility to harness dissipated energy and make devices
less energy-demanding. Heat-to-electricity conversion requires materials with a
strongly suppressed thermal conductivity but still high electronic conduction.
Nanowires can meet nicely these two requirements because enhanced phonon
scattering at the surface and defects reduces the lattice thermal conductivity
while electric conductivity is not deteriorated, leading to an overall
remarkable thermoelectric efficiency. Therefore, nanowires are regarded as a
promising route to achieving valuable thermoelectric materials at the
nanoscale. In this paper, we present an overview of key experimental and
theoretical results concerning the thermoelectric properties of nanowires. The
focus of this review is put on the physical mechanisms by which the efficiency
of nanowires can be improved. Phonon scattering at surfaces and interfaces,
enhancement of the power factor by quantum effects and topological protection
of electron states to prevent the degradation of electrical conductivity in
nanowires are thoroughly discussed
Electron states in a one-dimensional random binary alloy
We present a model for alloys of compound semiconductors by introducing a
one-dimensional binary random system where impurities are placed in one
sublattice while host atoms lie on the other sublattice. The source of disorder
is the stochastic fluctuation of the impurity energy from site to site.
Although the system is one-dimensional and random, we demonstrate analytical
and numerically the existence of extended states in the neighborhood of a given
resonant energy, which match that of the host atoms.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX, 3 PostScript figure
Fluorescence decay in aperiodic Frenkel lattices
We study motion and capture of excitons in self-similar linear systems in
which interstitial traps are arranged according to an aperiodic sequence,
focusing our attention on Fibonacci and Thue-Morse systems as canonical
examples. The decay of the fluorescence intensity following a broadband pulse
excitation is evaluated by solving the microscopic equations of motion of the
Frenkel exciton problem. We find that the average decay is exponential and
depends only on the concentration of traps and the trapping rate. In addition,
we observe small-amplitude oscillations coming from the coupling between the
low-lying mode and a few high-lying modes through the topology of the lattice.
These oscillations are characteristic of each particular arrangement of traps
and they are directly related to the Fourier transform of the underlying
lattice. Our predictions can be then used to determine experimentally the
ordering of traps.Comment: REVTeX 3.0 + 3PostScript Figures + epsf.sty (uuencoded). To appear in
Physical Review
FIBONACCI SUPERLATTICES OF NARROW-GAP III-V SEMICONDUCTORS
We report theoretical electronic structure of Fibonacci superlattices of
narrow-gap III-V semiconductors. Electron dynamics is accurately described
within the envelope-function approximation in a two-band model.
Quasiperiodicity is introduced by considering two different III-V semiconductor
layers and arranging them according to the Fibonacci series along the growth
direction. The resulting energy spectrum is then found by solving exactly the
corresponding effective-mass (Dirac-like) wave equation using tranfer-matrix
techniques. We find that a self-similar electronic spectrum can be seen in the
band structure. Electronic transport properties of samples are also studied and
related to the degree of spatial localization of electronic envelope-functions
via Landauer resistance and Lyapunov coefficient. As a working example, we
consider type II InAs/GaSb superlattices and discuss in detail our results in
this system.Comment: REVTeX 3.0, 16 pages, 8 figures available upon request. To appear in
Semiconductor Science and Technolog
Exciton Optical Absorption in Self-Similar Aperiodic Lattices
Exciton optical absorption in self-similar aperiodic one-dimensional systems
is considered, focusing our attention on Thue-Morse and Fibonacci lattices as
canonical examples. The absorption line shape is evaluated by solving the
microscopic equations of motion of the Frenkel-exciton problem on the lattice,
in which on-site energies take on two values, according to the Thue-Morse or
Fibonacci sequences. Results are compared to those obtained in random lattices
with the same stechiometry and size. We find that aperiodic order causes the
occurrence of well-defined characteristic features in the absorption spectra
which clearly differ from the case of random systems, indicating a most
peculiar exciton dynamics. We successfully explain the obtained spectra in
terms of the two-center problem. This allows us to establish the origin of all
the absorption lines by considering the self-similar aperiodic lattices as
composed of two-center blocks, within the same spirit of the renormalization
group ideas.Comment: 16 pages in REVTeX 3.0. 2 figures on request to F. D-A
([email protected]
Lattice thermal conductivity of graphene nanostructures
Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics is used to investigate the heat current
due to the atomic lattice vibrations in graphene nanoribbons and nanorings
under a thermal gradient. We consider a wide range of temperature, nanoribbon
widths up to 6nm and the effect of moderate edge disorder. We find that narrow
graphene nanorings can efficiently suppress the lattice thermal conductivity at
low temperatures (~100K), as compared to nanoribbons of the same width.
Remarkably, rough edges do not appear to have a large impact on lattice energy
transport through graphene nanorings while nanoribbons seem more affected by
imperfections. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effects of
hydrogen-saturated edges can be neglected in these graphene nanostructures
Dynamical phenomena in Fibonacci Semiconductor Superlattices
We present a detailed study of the dynamics of electronic wavepackets in
Fibonacci semiconductor superlattices, both in flat band conditions and subject
to homogeneous electric fields perpendicular to the layers. Coherent
propagation of electrons is described by means of a scalar Hamiltonian using
the effective-mass approximation. We have found that an initial Gaussian
wavepacket is filtered selectively when passing through the superlattice. This
means that only those components of the wavepacket whose wavenumber belong to
allowed subminibands of the fractal-like energy spectrum can propagate over the
entire superlattice. The Fourier pattern of the transmitted part of the
wavepacket presents clear evidences of fractality reproducing those of the
underlying energy spectrum. This phenomenon persists even in the presence of
unintentional disorder due to growth imperfections. Finally, we have
demonstrated that periodic coherent-field induced oscillations (Bloch
oscillations), which we are able to observe in our simulations of periodic
superlattices, are replaced in Fibonacci superlattices by more complex
oscillations displaying quasiperiodic signatures, thus sheding more light onto
the very peculiar nature of the electronic states in these systems.Comment: 7 pagex, RevTex, 5 Postscript figures. Physical Review B (in press
Three-dimensional effects on extended states in disordered models of polymers
We study electronic transport properties of disordered polymers in the
presence of both uncorrelated and short-range correlated impurities. In our
procedure, the actual physical potential acting upon the electrons is replaced
by a set of nonlocal separable potentials, leading to a Schr\"odinger equation
that is exactly solvable in the momentum representation. We then show that the
reflection coefficient of a pair of impurities placed at neighboring sites
(dimer defect) vanishes for a particular resonant energy. When there is a
finite number of such defects randomly distributed over the whole lattice, we
find that the transmission coefficient is almost unity for states close to the
resonant energy, and that those states present a very large localization
length. Multifractal analysis techniques applied to very long systems
demonstrate that these states are truly extended in the thermodynamic limit.
These results reinforce the possibility to verify experimentally theoretical
predictions about absence of localization in quasi-one-dimensional disordered
systems.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 5 figures on request from FDA
([email protected]). Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. MA/UC3M/09/9
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