527 research outputs found
Electron backscattering in a cavity: ballistic and coherent effects
Numerous experimental and theoretical studies have focused on low-dimensional
systems locally perturbed by the biased tip of a scanning force microscope. In
all cases either open or closed weakly gate-tunable nanostructures have been
investigated, such as quantum point contacts, open or closed quantum dots, etc.
We study the behaviour of the conductance of a quantum point contact with a
gradually forming adjacent cavity in series under the influence of a scanning
gate. Here, an initially open quantum point contact system gradually turns into
a closed cavity system. We observe branches and interference fringes known from
quantum point contacts coexisting with irregular conductance fluctuations.
Unlike the branches, the fluctuations cover the entire area of the cavity. In
contrast to previous studies, we observe and investigate branches under the
influence of the confining stadium potential, which is gradually built up. We
find that the branches exist only in the area surrounded by cavity top gates.
As the stadium shrinks, regular fringes originate from tip-induced
constrictions leading to quantized conduction. In addition, we observe arc-like
areas reminiscent of classical electron trajectories in a chaotic cavity. We
also argue that electrons emanating from the quantum point contact spread out
like a fan leaving branch-like regions of enhanced backscattering.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Dynamic photoconductive gain effect in shallow-etched AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wires
We report on a dynamic photoconductive gain effect in quantum wires which are
lithographically fabricated in an AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well via a shallow-etch
technique. The effect allows resolving the one-dimensional subbands of the
quantum wires as maxima in the photoresponse across the quantum wires. We
interpret the results by optically induced holes in the valence band of the
quantum well which shift the chemical potential of the quantum wire. The
non-linear current-voltage characteristics of the quantum wires also allow
detecting the photoresponse effect of excess charge carriers in the conduction
band of the quantum well. The dynamics of the photoconductive gain are limited
by the recombination time of both electrons and holes
The phase plane of moving discrete breathers
We study anharmonic localization in a periodic five atom chain with
quadratic-quartic spring potential. We use discrete symmetries to eliminate the
degeneracies of the harmonic chain and easily find periodic orbits. We apply
linear stability analysis to measure the frequency of phonon-like disturbances
in the presence of breathers and to analyze the instabilities of breathers. We
visualize the phase plane of breather motion directly and develop a technique
for exciting pinned and moving breathers. We observe long-lived breathers that
move chaotically and a global transition to chaos that prevents forming moving
breathers at high energies.Comment: 8 pages text, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters. See
http://www.msc.cornell.edu/~houle/localization
Laterally defined freely suspended quantum dots in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures
Free standing beams containing a two-dimensional electron system are shaped
from a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. Quantum point contacts and (double) quantum
dots are laterally defined using metal top gates. We investigate the electronic
properties of these nanostructures by transport spectroscopy. Tunable localized
electron states in freely suspended nanostructures are a promising tool to
investigate the electron-phonon-interaction
Optically induced transport properties of freely suspended semiconductor submicron channels
We report on optically induced transport phenomena in freely suspended
channels containing a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). The submicron
devices are fabricated in AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures by etching techniques.
The photoresponse of the devices can be understood in terms of the combination
of photogating and a photodoping effect. The hereby enhanced electronic
conductance exhibits a time constant in the range of one to ten milliseconds
The electron-hole liquid in a polar semiconductor: Cubic SiC
The binding energy EB = (17 +/- 3) meV and density n = (9.2 +/- 1.7) x 1018 cm-3 of the EHL in cubic SiC are determined from excitation-dependent spectra. Comparing these values with ground state properties calculated with and without electron-phonon-interaction using newly determined valence band parameters evidence for the importance of e.p.i. in SiC is found.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23743/1/0000715.pd
Diffusion and viscosity in a supercooled polydisperse system
We have carried out extensive molecular dynamics simulations of a supercooled
polydisperse Lennard-Jones liquid with large variations in temperature at a
fixed pressure. The particles in the system are considered to be polydisperse
both in size and mass. The temperature dependence of the dynamical properties
such as the viscosity () and the self-diffusion coefficients () of
different size particles is studied. Both viscosity and diffusion coefficients
show super-Arrhenius temperature dependence and fit well to the well-known
Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation. Within the temperature range
investigated, the value of the Angell's fragility parameter (D )
classifies the present system into a strongly fragile liquid. The critical
temperature for diffusion () increases with the size of the
particles. The critical temperature for viscosity () is larger than
that for the diffusion and a sizeable deviations appear for the smaller size
particles implying a decoupling of translational diffusion from viscosity in
deeply supercooled liquid. Indeed, the diffusion shows markedly non-Stokesian
behavior at low temperatures where a highly nonlinear dependence on size is
observed. An inspection of the trajectories of the particles shows that at low
temperatures the motions of both the smallest and largest size particles are
discontinuous (jump-type). However, the crossover from continuous Brownian to
large length hopping motion takes place at shorter time scales for the smaller
size particles.Comment: Revtex4, 7 pages, 8 figure
First principles study of strain/electronic interplay in ZnO; Stress and temperature dependence of the piezoelectric constants
We present a first-principles study of the relationship between stress,
temperature and electronic properties in piezoelectric ZnO. Our method is a
plane wave pseudopotential implementation of density functional theory and
density functional linear response within the local density approximation. We
observe marked changes in the piezoelectric and dielectric constants when the
material is distorted. This stress dependence is the result of strong, bond
length dependent, hybridization between the O and Zn electrons. Our
results indicate that fine tuning of the piezoelectric properties for specific
device applications can be achieved by control of the ZnO lattice constant, for
example by epitaxial growth on an appropriate substrate.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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