35 research outputs found
Direct generation of charge carriers in c-Si solar cells due to embedded nanoparticles
It is known that silicon is an indirect band gap material, reducing its
efficiency in photovoltaic applications. Using surface plasmons in metallic
nanoparticles embedded in a solar cell has recently been proposed as a way to
increase the efficiency of thin film silicon solar cells. The dipole mode that
dominates the plasmons in small particles produces an electric field having
Fourier components with all wave numbers. In this work, we show that such a
field creates electron-hole-pairs without phonon assistance, and discuss the
importance of this effect compared to radiation from the particle and losses
due to heating.Comment: 1 figur
Slow Relaxation and Equilibrium Dynamics in a 2 D Coulomb Glass: Demonstration of Stretched Exponential Energy Correlations
We have simulated energy relaxation and equilibrium dynamics in Coulomb
Glasses using the random energy lattice model. We show that in a temperature
range where the Coulomb Gap is already well developed, (T=0.03-0.1) the system
still relaxes to an equilibrium behavior within the simulation time scale. For
all temperatures T, the relaxation is slower than exponential. Analyzing the
energy correlations of the system at equilibrium, we find a stretched
exponential behavior. We define a time \tau_\gamma from these stretched
exponential correlations, and show that this time corresponds well with the
time required to reach equilibrium. From our data it is not possible to
determine whether \tau_\gamma diverges at any finite temperature, indicating a
glass transition, or whether this divergence happens at zero temperature. While
the time dependence of the system energy can be well fitted by a random walker
in a harmonic potential for high temperatures (T=10), this simple model fails
to describe the long time scales observed at lower temperatures. Instead we
present an interpretation of the configuration space as a structure with
fractal properties, and the time evolution as a random walk on this
fractal-like structure
Nonlinear acoustic and microwave absorption in disordered semiconductors
Nonlinear hopping absorption of ultrasound and electromagnetic waves in
amorphous and doped semiconductors is considered. It is shown that even at low
amplitudes of the electric (or acoustic) field the nonlinear corrections to the
relaxational absorption appear anomalously large. The physical reason for such
behavior is that the nonlinear contribution is dominated by a small group of
close impurity pairs having one electron per pair. Since the group is small, it
is strongly influenced by the field. An external magnetic field strongly
influences the absorption by changing the overlap between the pair components'
wave functions. It is important that the influence is substantially different
for the linear and nonlinear contributions. This property provides an
additional tool to extract nonlinear effects.Comment: correction : misspelled name in references correcte
Nonlinear acoustic and microwave absorption in glasses
A theory of weakly-nonlinear low-temperature relaxational absorption of
acoustic and electromagnetic waves in dielectric and metallic glasses is
developed. Basing upon the model of two-level tunneling systems we show that
the nonlinear contribution to the absorption can be anomalously large. This is
the case at low enough frequencies, where freqeuency times the minimal
relaxation time for the two-level system are much less than one. In dielectric
glasses, the lowest-order nonlinear contribution is proportional to the wave's
intensity. It is negative and exhibits anomalous frequency and temperature
dependencies. In metallic glasses, the nonlinear contribution is also negative,
and it is proportional to the square root of the wave's intensity and to the
frequency. Numerical estimates show that the predicted nonlinear contribution
can be measured experimentally
Patients’ quest for recognition and continuity in health care: time for a new research agenda?
User involvement is important in democratization of health care and is assumed to contribute to better and more relevant research. Despite increased requirements for user involvement in research, more studies are still needed. This study aimed at exploring what research agenda people with varied health problems consider as important, based on their own experience. The study had a phenomenological approach with a qualitative design. The sample consisted of 23 informants; nine had been critically ill and 14 were suffering from chronic muscle pain. Data were collected in five focus group interviews and one individual interview. A phenomenological approach was used in analyzing the data. Written consent was obtained from all the participants, and ethical considerations were taken throughout the entire research process. Despite various experiences among the participants, a quest to be taken seriously over time by healthcare professionals emerged as a strong meaning structure in both groups. Based on these experiences, continuity across lifetime changes turned out to be an important research topic for future research. User involvement should be appreciated in all parts of the research process. A crucial prerequisite is that the users get the opportunity to bring their own experiences into the process.acceptedVersio