Infrared nanospectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures and on semiconductor nanowires

This PhD thesis concentrates on scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy (s-SNIM) which utilizes the radiation from the free-electron laser (FEL) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. The FEL is an intense, narrow-band radiation source, tunable from the mid- to far-infrared spectral range (5 meV to 250 meV). The s-SNIM technique enables infrared microscopy and spectroscopy with a wavelength-independent spatial resolution of about 10nm. The first part demonstrates the extension of s-SNIM at the FEL towards cryogenic temperatures as low as 5K. To this end, we show the functionality of our low-temperature s-SNIM apparatus on different samples such as Au, structured Si/SiO2, as well as the multiferroic material gallium vanadium sulfide (GaV4S8). The latter material recently attracted a lot of interest since it hosts a Néel-type skyrmion lattice – a periodic array of spin vortices. Below T = 42K, GaV4S8 undergoes a structural phase transition and then forms ferroelectric domains, which we can map out by low-tempererature s-SNIM. Notably, we found a strong impact on the ferroelectric domains upon infrared irradiation, which we further utilize to calibrate the local heat contribution of the focused infrared beam beneath the s-SNIM probe.The second part of this thesis contains comprehensive s-SNIM investigations of high-quality semiconductor nanowires (NWs) rown by molecular beam epitaxy. Such NWs are promising building blocks for fast (opto-)electronic nanodevices, amongst thers due to their high carrier mobility. We have examined highly doped GaAs/InGaAs core/shell NWs and observed a strong and spectrally sharp plasmonic resonance at about hw = 125 meV, using a continuous wave CO2 laser for probing. If we probe the same NWs utilizing the intense, pulsed FEL radiation, we observe a pronounced redshift to hw < 100 meV and a broading of the plasmonic response. This nonlinear response is most likely induced by heating of the electron gas upon irradiation by the strong FEL pulses. Our observations open up the possibility to actively induce and observe non-equilibrium states in s-SNIM directly by the mid-infrared beam. Beside the nonlinear effect, we prepared and measured cross sections of both homogeneously-doped and modulation-doped core/shell NWs

Infrared nanospectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures and on semiconductor nanowires

Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit der streuenden, infraroten Rasternahfeldmikroskopie (engl. s-SNIM) in Kombination mit dem Freie-Elektronen Laser (FEL) am Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. Der FEL ist eine intensive,schmalbandige Strahlungsquelle, welche vom mittleren bis ferninfraroten Spektralbereich durchstimmbar ist (5 meV bis 250 meV). Die s-SNIM Technik ermöglicht Infrarotmikroskopie- und spektroskopie mit einer wellenlängenunabhängigen räumlichen Auflösung von etwa 10nm. Der erste Ergebnisteil demonstriert die Erweiterung eines FEL-basierten s- SNIM hinsichtlich der Möglichkeit, bei tiefen Temperaturen bis 5K messen zu können. So verdeutlichen wir die Funktionalität unseres Tieftemperatur-s-SNIM anhand verschiedener Proben wie Au, strukturiertem Si/SiO2 sowie Gallium-Vanadium-Sulfid (GaV4S8). Das letztgenannte Material erregt momentan ein hohes wissenschaftliches Interesse, da es sogenannte Skyrmionen des Néel-Typs – periodische angeordnete Spinwirbel – enthält. GaV4S8 hat einen strukturellen Phasenübergang bei T = 42K und beinhaltet bei niedrigeren Temperaturen ferroelektrische Domänen, die wir unter anderem mittels s-SNIM abbilden können. Hierbei beobachten wir einen beträchtlichen Einfluss der Infrarotstrahlung auf die Domänenstruktur. Dies nutzen wir, um den lokalen Hitzeeintrag der Infrarotstrahlung lokal unter der s-SNIM Sonde zu quantifizieren. Der zweite Teil der Ergebnisse beinhaltet s-SNIM Messungen an hochwertigen Halbleiter-Nanodrähten (ND), welche mittels Molekularstrahlepitaxie gewachsen wurden. Derartige ND sind, unter anderem aufgrund ihrer hohen Ladungsträgermobilität, vielversprechende Komponenten für schnelle optoelektronische Nanoelemente der Zukunft. So untersuchen wir beispielsweise hochdotierte GaAs/InGaAs Kern/Schale ND, bei denen wir – unter Verwendung eines Dauerstrich CO2 Lasers – eine spektral scharfe plasmonische Resonanz bei etwa 125 meV beobachten. Betrachten wir selbige ND mittels intensiver, gepulster FEL-Strahlung, ist eine signifikante Rotverschiebung zu Energien kleiner als 100 meV sowie eine Verbreiterung der Resonanz festzustellen. Dieses nichtlineare Verhalten wird zurückgeführt auf eine starke Erhitzung des Elektronengases unter dem Einfluss der intensiven FEL-Pulse. Unsere Erkenntnisse zeigen dahingehend die Möglichkeiten auf, Nichtgleichgewichtszustände im s-SNIM gezielt zu induzieren und zu beinflussen. Abgesehen von den Messungen der Nichtlinearität ist die Herstellung und Charakterisierung von ND-Querschnitten – sowohl der genannten homogen dotierten, als auch modulationsdotierten– Gegenstand des zweiten Ergebniskapitels.:Abstract iii Zusammenfassung v 1 Introduction 1 2 Fundamentals 3 2.1 Scanning probe techniques 3 2.1.1 Atomic force microscopy 4 2.1.2 Piezoresponse force microscopy 8 2.1.3 Kelvin-probe force microscopy 9 2.2 Infrared nanospectroscopy 10 2.2.1 The diffraction limit 10 2.2.2 Scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 11 2.2.3 Point-dipole model 12 2.2.4 Signal detection 17 2.2.5 Higher harmonic demodulation and contrast 19 2.2.6 Advantages and limitations of s-SNIM 22 2.3 Infrared light sources 24 2.3.1 Carbon dioxide laser 24 2.3.2 Free-electron laser 26 3 Infrared nanospectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures 31 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Samples 33 3.3 Experimental details 36 3.3.1 Low-temperature atomic force microscopy 36 3.3.2 Optical setup 38 3.3.3 Low-temperature scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 39 3.3.4 Measurement modes and data acquisition 42 3.4 Results and discussion 44 3.4.1 Performance and IR heating calibration 44 3.4.2 s-SNIM study of gallium vanadium sulfide 49 3.5 Conclusion 51 4 Infrared nanospectroscopy on semiconductor nanowires 53 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 Samples 55 4.2.1 GaAs/InGaAs core/shell nanowires 55 4.2.2 Modulation doped nanowires 56 4.2.3 Nanowire cross sections 57 4.2.4 Infrared response of doped nanowires 59 4.3 Experimental details 61 4.3.1 Room-temperature atomic force microscopy 61 4.3.2 Room-temperature scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 63 4.3.3 Properties of the free-electron laser pulses 65 4.4 Results and discussion 68 4.4.1 GaAs/InGaAs core/shell nanowires 68 4.4.2 Nanowire cross sections 75 4.5 Conclusion 79 5 Summary and outlook 81 A Citation metrics 85 B Additional nanospectroscopic studies 87 B.1 Silicon carbide nanoparticle probes 87 B.2 Individual impurities in Si 91 B.3 Surface phonon polaritons in moybdenum disulfide 96 C Derivation of the nonparabolic effective mass and density of states 99 C.1 Effective mass 99 C.2 Density of states 100 D Comparison of self-homodyne and pseudo-heterodyne detection 103 Bibliography 105 List of Abbreviations 125 List of Symbols 132 List of Publications 133 Acknowledgments 137 Versicherung 139This PhD thesis concentrates on scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy (s-SNIM) which utilizes the radiation from the free-electron laser (FEL) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. The FEL is an intense, narrow-band radiation source, tunable from the mid- to far-infrared spectral range (5 meV to 250 meV). The s-SNIM technique enables infrared microscopy and spectroscopy with a wavelength-independent spatial resolution of about 10nm. The first part demonstrates the extension of s-SNIM at the FEL towards cryogenic temperatures as low as 5K. To this end, we show the functionality of our low-temperature s-SNIM apparatus on different samples such as Au, structured Si/SiO2, as well as the multiferroic material gallium vanadium sulfide (GaV4S8). The latter material recently attracted a lot of interest since it hosts a Néel-type skyrmion lattice – a periodic array of spin vortices. Below T = 42K, GaV4S8 undergoes a structural phase transition and then forms ferroelectric domains, which we can map out by low-tempererature s-SNIM. Notably, we found a strong impact on the ferroelectric domains upon infrared irradiation, which we further utilize to calibrate the local heat contribution of the focused infrared beam beneath the s-SNIM probe. The second part of this thesis contains comprehensive s-SNIM investigations of high-quality semiconductor nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Such NWs are promising building blocks for fast opto-)electronic nanodevices, amongst others due to their high carrier mobility. We have examined highly doped GaAs/InGaAs core/shell NWs and observed a strong and spectrally sharp plasmonic resonance at about 125 meV, using a continuous wave CO2 laser for probing. If we probe the same NWs utilizing the intense, pulsed FEL radiation, we observe a pronounced redshift to energies less than 100 meV and a broading of the plasmonic response. This nonlinear response is most likely induced by heating of the electron gas upon irradiation by the strong FEL pulses. Our observations open up the possibility to actively induce and observe non-equilibrium states in s-SNIM directly by the mid-infrared beam. Beside the nonlinear effect, we prepared and measured cross sections of both homogeneously-doped and modulation-doped core/shell NWs.:Abstract iii Zusammenfassung v 1 Introduction 1 2 Fundamentals 3 2.1 Scanning probe techniques 3 2.1.1 Atomic force microscopy 4 2.1.2 Piezoresponse force microscopy 8 2.1.3 Kelvin-probe force microscopy 9 2.2 Infrared nanospectroscopy 10 2.2.1 The diffraction limit 10 2.2.2 Scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 11 2.2.3 Point-dipole model 12 2.2.4 Signal detection 17 2.2.5 Higher harmonic demodulation and contrast 19 2.2.6 Advantages and limitations of s-SNIM 22 2.3 Infrared light sources 24 2.3.1 Carbon dioxide laser 24 2.3.2 Free-electron laser 26 3 Infrared nanospectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures 31 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Samples 33 3.3 Experimental details 36 3.3.1 Low-temperature atomic force microscopy 36 3.3.2 Optical setup 38 3.3.3 Low-temperature scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 39 3.3.4 Measurement modes and data acquisition 42 3.4 Results and discussion 44 3.4.1 Performance and IR heating calibration 44 3.4.2 s-SNIM study of gallium vanadium sulfide 49 3.5 Conclusion 51 4 Infrared nanospectroscopy on semiconductor nanowires 53 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 Samples 55 4.2.1 GaAs/InGaAs core/shell nanowires 55 4.2.2 Modulation doped nanowires 56 4.2.3 Nanowire cross sections 57 4.2.4 Infrared response of doped nanowires 59 4.3 Experimental details 61 4.3.1 Room-temperature atomic force microscopy 61 4.3.2 Room-temperature scattering scanning near-field infrared microscopy 63 4.3.3 Properties of the free-electron laser pulses 65 4.4 Results and discussion 68 4.4.1 GaAs/InGaAs core/shell nanowires 68 4.4.2 Nanowire cross sections 75 4.5 Conclusion 79 5 Summary and outlook 81 A Citation metrics 85 B Additional nanospectroscopic studies 87 B.1 Silicon carbide nanoparticle probes 87 B.2 Individual impurities in Si 91 B.3 Surface phonon polaritons in moybdenum disulfide 96 C Derivation of the nonparabolic effective mass and density of states 99 C.1 Effective mass 99 C.2 Density of states 100 D Comparison of self-homodyne and pseudo-heterodyne detection 103 Bibliography 105 List of Abbreviations 125 List of Symbols 132 List of Publications 133 Acknowledgments 137 Versicherung 13

The Impact of Gender and Pedagogical Factors on Female Pass Rates

An assessment of student achievement according to gender in core units of study of a Faculty of Information and Communication Technology program tested four hypotheses. The first of these related to the role-model effect of female academics; the second related to the advantages of formal education qualifications of academics; the third to the application of contextualized curricula, and the fourth to the use of a variety of assessment modes. Correlation and regression analysis on the data set indicated that the presence of two of these factors can significantly improve the pass rate of female students while having a benign effect on the pass rate of male students. It is suggested that information systems faculties pay close attention to gender diversity of their teaching faculty, particularly if their female student cohort is less than one in five in a unit of study. It also gives substance to the need or preference for university lecturers having education qualifications. This study needs to be replicated in other information systems faculties and schools to verify this finding

A Local Superlens

Superlenses enable near-field imaging beyond the optical diffraction limit. However, their widespread implementation in optical imaging technology so far has been limited by large-scale fabrication, fixed lens position, and specific object materials. Here we demonstrate that a dielectric lamella of subwavelength size in all three spatial dimensions behaves as a compact superlens that operates at infrared wavelengths and can be positioned to image any local microscopic area of interest on the sample. In particular, the lamella superlens may be placed in contact with any type of object and therefore enables examination of hard-to-scan samples, for example, with high topography or in liquids, without altering the specimen design. This lamella-based local superlens design is directly applicable to subwavelength light-based technology, such as integrated optics

The health and well-being of transgender high school students: results from the New Zealand adolescent health survey (Youth’12).

Purpose To report the prevalence of students according to four gender groups (i.e., those who reported being non-transgender, transgender, or not sure about their gender, and those who did not understand the transgender question), and to describe their health and well-being. Methods Logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between gender groups and selected outcomes in a nationally representative high school health and well-being survey, undertaken in 2012. Results Of the students (n = 8,166), 94.7% reported being non-transgender, 1.2% reported being transgender, 2.5% reported being not sure about their gender, and 1.7% did not understand the question. Students who reported being transgender or not sure about their gender or did not understand the question had compromised health and well-being relative to their nontransgender peers; in particular, for transgender students perceiving that a parent cared about them (odds ratio [OR], .3; 95% confidence interval[CI], .2 -.4), depressive symptoms (OR, 5.7; 95% CI, 3.6-9.2), suicide attempts (OR, 5.0; 95% CI, 2.9-8.8), and school bullying (OR, 4.5; 95% CI, 2.4-8.2). Conclusions This is the first nationally representative survey to report the health and well-being of students who report being transgender. We found that transgender students and those reporting not being sure are a numerically small but important group. Transgender students are diverse and are represented across demographic variables, including their sexual attractions. Transgender youth face considerable health and well-being disparities. It is important to address the challenging environments these students face and to increase access to responsive services for transgender youth

Site-selective C-C modification of proteins at neutral pH using organocatalyst-mediated cross aldol ligations

The bioconjugation of proteins with small molecules has proved an invaluable strategy for probing and perturbing biological mechanisms. The general use of chemical methods for protein functionalisation can be limited however by the requirement for complicated reaction partners to be present in large excess, and harsh conditions which are incompatible with many protein scaffolds. Herein we describe a site-selective organocatalyst-mediated protein aldol ligation (OPAL) that affords stable carbon-carbon linked bioconjugates at neutral pH. OPAL enables rapid modification of proteins using simple aldehyde probes in minimal excess, and is utilised here in the affinity tagging of proteins in cell lysate. Furthermore we demonstrate that the β-hydroxy aldehyde OPAL product can be functionalised again at neutral pH in a tandem organocatalyst-mediated oxime ligation. This tandem strategy is showcased in the ‘chemical mimicry’ of a previously inaccessible natural dual post-translationally modified protein integral to the pathogenesis of the neglected tropical disease Leishmaniasis

Individual Differences in Response of Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Predict Daily Social Behavior

The capacity to accurately infer the thoughts and intentions of other people is critical for effective social interaction, and neural activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) has long been linked with the extent to which people engage in mental state attribution. In this study, we combined functional neuroimaging and experience sampling methodologies to test the predictive value of this neural response for daily social behaviors. We found that individuals who displayed greater activity in dmPFC when viewing social scenes spent more time around other people on a daily basis. These findings suggest a specific role for the neural mechanisms that support the capacity to mentalize in guiding individuals toward situations containing valuable social outcomes

Environmental drivers of freshwater macrophyte diversity and community composition in calcareous warm-water rivers of America and Africa

1. This study assessed the hypothesis that spatial and environmental drivers of river macrophyte diversity and community composition differ in relative importance in calcareous river systems located in warm regions of America versus Africa. 2. We collected aquatic vegetation and spatio-environmental data, during 2006–11, from >200 hardwater rivers, and associated floodplain waterbodies, located up to 30° north or south of the Equator, in México, Trinidad, Brazil, Argentina, U.S.A. (Florida), South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. 3. Species rarefaction procedures were used to assess the impacts of differing sampling effort in the two continents upon estimation of γ-diversity (“species pool”). We then used a cluster analysis approach (two-way indicator species analysis: TWINSPAN) to classify samples into groups based upon species composition. Variation in species richness, community composition and six spatial and environmental variables, among samples making up these groups, were compared using ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis procedures. Regression trees and redundancy analysis were used to infer the relative importance of spatial and environmental drivers in explaining variation in local species richness and species community composition between the two continents. Sorensen's index (Cs) was calculated to estimate species turnover (β-diversity) between African and American samples. 4. In total, 378 macrophyte taxa were recorded, with no significant difference in mean macrophyte α-diversity between African and American sites, but with evidence for high species turnover between the two continents (Cs = 0.17). Rarefaction analysis confirmed the existence of a larger macrophyte species pool in the hardwater rivers sampled in Africa compared to America. TWINSPAN classification identified seven sample end-groups, only one of which contained a mix of sites from both continents. PERMANOVA and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination analysis confirmed significant differences in community composition present in these sample-groups. There were substantial differences between the sample-groups for α-diversity, and for spatial and environmental variables. 5. The high species turnover between Africa and America may be accounted for by geographical segregation, along with differences in aquatic habitat characteristics, and varying long-distance dispersal capacities of individual species. The relative importance of spatial and physicochemical drivers (latitude, pH, altitude, alkalinity and electrical conductivity but not flow) differed between the continents in influencing variation in both macrophyte diversity and community composition. Latitude was a significant, although nonlinear and rather complex, spatial driver of macrophyte α-diversity in both American and African hardwater rivers. Water chemistry variables varied in relative importance as drivers of macrophyte α-diversity for African and American sites individually, and for all sites combined, but pH and/or electrical conductivity were more important than alkalinity in each case. In all three cases, altitude was consistently the third most important driver of α-diversity. Spatial and environmental variables played important roles in structuring macrophyte community composition in warm-water calcareous rivers in both America and Africa, with latitude being the strongest individual driver. Thus, this spatial variable, which is a surrogate for numerous enviro-climatic variables, appears to be of importance in determining macrophyte distributions at large spatial scales, for the ecosystem type examined here

Release of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps by Neutrophils Stimulated With Antiphospholipid Antibodies: A Newly Identified Mechanism of Thrombosis in the Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115902/1/art39247.pd

Unhealthy Gambling Amongst New Zealand Secondary School Students: An Exploration of Risk and Protective Factors

This study sought to determine the prevalence of gambling and unhealthy gambling behaviour and describe risk and protective factors associated with these behaviours amongst a nationally representative sample of New Zealand secondary school students (n = 8,500). Factor analysis and item response theory were used to develop a model to provide a measure of ‘unhealthy gambling’. Logistic regressions and multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate associations between unhealthy gambling behaviour and selected outcomes. Approximately one-quarter (24.2 %) of students had gambled in the last year, and 4.8 % had two or more indicators of unhealthy gambling. Multivariate analyses found that unhealthy gambling was associated with four main factors: more accepting attitudes towards gambling (pp = 0.0061); being worried about and/or trying to cut down on gambling (p p = 0.0009). Unhealthy gambling is a significant health issue for young people in New Zealand. Ethnic and social inequalities were apparent and these disparities need to be addressed