411 research outputs found
Physical Adsorption at the Nanoscale: Towards Controllable Scaling of the Substrate-Adsorbate van der Waals Interaction
The Lifshitz-Zaremba-Kohn (LZK) theory is commonly considered as the correct
large-distance limit for the van der Waals (vdW) interaction of adsorbates
(atoms, molecules, or nanoparticles) with solid substrates. In the standard
approximate form, implicitly based on "local" dielectric functions, the LZK
approach predicts universal power laws for vdW interactions depending only on
the dimensionality of the interacting objects. However, recent experimental
findings are challenging the universality of this theoretical approach at
finite distances of relevance for nanoscale assembly. Here, we present a
combined analytical and numerical many-body study demonstrating that physical
adsorption can be significantly enhanced at the nanoscale. Regardless of the
band gap or the nature of the adsorbate specie, we find deviations from
conventional LZK power laws that extend to separation distances of up to 10--20
nanometers. Comparison with recent experimental observation of ultra
long-ranged vdW interactions in the delamination of graphene from a silicon
substrate reveals qualitative agreement with the present theory. The
sensitivity of vdW interactions to the substrate response and to the adsorbate
characteristic excitation frequency also suggests that adsorption strength can
be effectively tuned in experiments, paving the way to an improved control of
physical adsorption at the nanoscale
Resonantly excited exciton dynamics in two-dimensional MoSe2 monolayers
We report on the exciton and trion density dynamics in a single layer of MoSe2, resonantly excited and probed using three-pulse four-wave mixing (FWM), at temperatures from 300 K to 77 K. A multiexponential third-order response function for amplitude and phase of the heterodyne-detected FWM signal including four decay processes is used to model the data. We provide a consistent interpretation within the intrinsic band structure, not requiring the inclusion of extrinsic effects. We find an exciton radiative lifetime in the subpicosecond range consistent to what has been recently reported by Jakubczyk et al. [Nano Lett. 16, 5333 (2016)]. After the dominating radiative decay, the remaining exciton density, which has been scattered from the initially excited direct spin-allowed radiative state into dark states of different nature by exciton-phonon scattering or disorder scattering, shows a slower dynamics, covering 10-ps to 10-ns time scales. This includes direct spin-allowed transitions with larger in-plane momentum, as well as indirect and spin-forbidden exciton states. We find that exciton-exciton annihilation is not relevant in the observed dynamics, in variance from previous finding under nonresonant excitation. The trion density at 77 K reveals a decay of the order of 1 ps, similar to what is observed for the exciton. After few tens of picoseconds, the trion dynamics resembles the one of the exciton, indicating that trion ionization occurs on this time scale
Casimir Force on Real Materials - the Slab and Cavity Geometry
We analyse the potential of the geometry of a slab in a planar cavity for the
purpose of Casimir force experiments. The force and its dependence on
temperature, material properties and finite slab thickness are investigated
both analytically and numerically for slab and walls made of aluminium and
teflon FEP respectively. We conclude that such a setup is ideal for
measurements of the temperature dependence of the Casimir force. By numerical
calculation it is shown that temperature effects are dramatically larger for
dielectrics, suggesting that a dielectric such as teflon FEP whose properties
vary little within a moderate temperature range, should be considered for
experimental purposes. We finally discuss the subtle but fundamental matter of
the various Green's two-point function approaches present in the literature and
show how they are different formulations describing the same phenomenon.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures; expanded discussion, one appendix added, 1 new
figure and 10 new references. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theo
The Dynamics of a Meandering River
We present a statistical model of a meandering river on an alluvial plane
which is motivated by the physical non-linear dynamics of the river channel
migration and by describing heterogeneity of the terrain by noise. We study the
dynamics analytically and numerically. The motion of the river channel is
unstable and we show that by inclusion of the formation of ox-bow lakes, the
system may be stabilised. We then calculate the steady state and show that it
is in agreement with simulations and measurements of field data.Comment: Revtex, 12 pages, 2 postscript figure
Bloch Electrons in a Magnetic Field - Why Does Chaos Send Electrons the Hard Way?
We find that a 2D periodic potential with different modulation amplitudes in
x- and y-direction and a perpendicular magnetic field may lead to a transition
to electron transport along the direction of stronger modulation and to
localization in the direction of weaker modulation. In the experimentally
accessible regime we relate this new quantum transport phenomenon to avoided
band crossing due to classical chaos.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, minor modifications, PRL to appea
Quantum-fluid dynamics of microcavity polaritons
Semiconductor microcavities offer a unique system to investigate the physics
of weakly interacting bosons. Their elementary excitations, polaritons--a
mixture of excitons and photons--behave, in the low density limit, as bosons
that can undergo a phase transition to a regime characterised by long range
coherence. Condensates of polaritons have been advocated as candidates for
superfluidity; and the formation of vortices as well as elementary excitations
with a linear dispersion are actively sought after. In this work, we have
created and set in motion a macroscopically degenerate state of polaritons and
let it collide with a variety of defects present in the sample. Our experiments
show striking manifestations of a coherent light-matter packet that displays
features of a superfluid, although one of a highly unusual character as it
involves an out-of-equilibrium dissipative system where it travels at
ultra-fast velocity of the order of 1% the speed of light. Our main results are
the observation of i) a linear polariton dispersion accompanied with
diffusion-less motion, ii) flow without resistance when crossing an obstacle,
iii) suppression of Rayleigh scattering and iv) splitting into two fluids when
the size of the obstacle is comparable with the size of the wavepacket. This
work opens the way to the investigation of new phenomenology of
out-of-equilibrium condensates.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Transient four-wave mixing in T-shaped GaAs quantum wires
The binding energy of excitons and biexcitons and the exciton dephasing in T-shaped GaAs quantum wires is investigated by transient four-wave mixing. The T-shaped structure is fabricated by cleaved-edge overgrowth, and its geometry is engineered to optimize the one-dimensional confinement. In this wire of 6.6×24 nm2 size, we find a one-dimensional confinement of more than 20 meV, an inhomogeneous broadening of 3.4 meV, an exciton binding energy of 12 meV, and a biexciton binding energy of 2.0 meV. A dispersion of the homogeneous linewidth within the inhomogeneous broadening due to phonon-assisted relaxation is observed. The exciton acoustic-phonon-scattering coefficient of 6.1±0.5 μeV/K is larger than in comparable quantum-well structures
Quantised Vortices in an Exciton-Polariton Fluid
One of the most striking quantum effects in a low temperature interacting
Bose gas is superfluidity. First observed in liquid 4He, this phenomenon has
been intensively studied in a variety of systems for its amazing features such
as the persistence of superflows and the quantization of the angular momentum
of vortices. The achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in dilute
atomic gases provided an exceptional opportunity to observe and study
superfluidity in an extremely clean and controlled environment. In the solid
state, Bose-Einstein condensation of exciton polaritons has now been reported
several times. Polaritons are strongly interacting light-matter
quasi-particles, naturally occurring in semiconductor microcavities in the
strong coupling regime and constitute a very interesting example of composite
bosons. Even though pioneering experiments have recently addressed the
propagation of a fluid of coherent polaritons, still no conclusive evidence is
yet available of its superfluid nature. In the present Letter, we report the
observation of spontaneous formation of pinned quantised vortices in the
Bose-condensed phase of a polariton fluid by means of phase and amplitude
imaging. Theoretical insight into the possible origin of such vortices is
presented in terms of a generalised Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The implications
of our observations concerning the superfluid nature of the non-equilibrium
polariton fluid are finally discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Casimir Force between Vortex Matter in Anisotropic and Layered Superconductors
We present a new approach to calculate the attractive long range
vortex-vortex interaction of the van der Waals type present in anisotropic and
layered superconductors. The mapping of the statistical mechanics of vortex
lines onto the imaginary time quantum mechanics of two dimensional charged
bosons allows us to define a 2D Casimir problem: Two half-spaces of (dilute)
vortex matter separated by a gap of width R are mapped to two dielectric
half-planes of charged bosons interacting via a massive gauge field. We
determine the attractive Casimir force between the two half-planes and show,
that it agrees with the pairwise summation of the van der Waals force between
vortices previously found by Blatter and Geshkenbein [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4958
(1996)]Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Geometry of River Networks II: Distributions of Component Size and Number
The structure of a river network may be seen as a discrete set of nested
sub-networks built out of individual stream segments. These network components
are assigned an integral stream order via a hierarchical and discrete ordering
method. Exponential relationships, known as Horton's laws, between stream order
and ensemble-averaged quantities pertaining to network components are observed.
We extend these observations to incorporate fluctuations and all higher moments
by developing functional relationships between distributions. The relationships
determined are drawn from a combination of theoretical analysis, analysis of
real river networks including the Mississippi, Amazon and Nile, and numerical
simulations on a model of directed, random networks. Underlying distributions
of stream segment lengths are identified as exponential. Combinations of these
distributions form single-humped distributions with exponential tails, the sums
of which are in turn shown to give power law distributions of stream lengths.
Distributions of basin area and stream segment frequency are also addressed.
The calculations identify a single length-scale as a measure of size
fluctuations in network components. This article is the second in a series of
three addressing the geometry of river networks.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables, Revtex4, submitted to PR
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