1,768 research outputs found
Size dependent tunneling and optical spectroscopy of CdSe quantum rods
Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy
are used to study the electronic states in CdSe quantum rods that manifest a
transition from a zero dimensional to a one dimensional quantum confined
structure. Both optical and tunneling spectra show that the level structure
depends primarily on the rod diameter and not on length. With increasing
diameter, the band-gap and the excited state level spacings shift to the red.
The level structure was assigned using a multi-band effective-mass model,
showing a similar dependence on rod dimensions.Comment: Accepted to PRL (nearly final version). 4 pages in revtex, 4 figure
New Mechanism for Electronic Energy Relaxation in Nanocrystals
The low-frequency vibrational spectrum of an isolated nanometer-scale solid
differs dramatically from that of a bulk crystal, causing the decay of a
localized electronic state by phonon emission to be inhibited. We show,
however, that an electron can also interact with the rigid translational motion
of a nanocrystal. The form of the coupling is dictated by the equivalence
principle and is independent of the ordinary electron-phonon interaction. We
calculate the rate of nonradiative energy relaxation provided by this mechanism
and establish its experimental observability.Comment: 4 pages, Submitted to Physical Review
Effect of hydrogen on ground state structures of small silicon clusters
We present results for ground state structures of small SiH (2 \leq
\emph{n} \leq 10) clusters using the Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics. In
particular, we focus on how the addition of a hydrogen atom affects the ground
state geometry, total energy and the first excited electronic level gap of an
Si cluster. We discuss the nature of bonding of hydrogen in these
clusters. We find that hydrogen bonds with two silicon atoms only in SiH,
SiH and SiH clusters, while in other clusters (i.e. SiH,
SiH, SiH, SiH, SiH and SiH) hydrogen is bonded
to only one silicon atom. Also in the case of a compact and closed silicon
cluster hydrogen bonds to the cluster from outside. We find that the first
excited electronic level gap of Si and SiH fluctuates as a function
of size and this may provide a first principles basis for the short-range
potential fluctuations in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Our results show that
the addition of a single hydrogen can cause large changes in the electronic
structure of a silicon cluster, though the geometry is not much affected. Our
calculation of the lowest energy fragmentation products of SiH clusters
shows that hydrogen is easily removed from SiH clusters.Comment: one latex file named script.tex including table and figure caption.
Six postscript figure files. figure_1a.ps and figure_1b.ps are files
representing Fig. 1 in the main tex
Self-directed growth of AlGaAs core-shell nanowires for visible light applications
Al(0.37)Ga(0.63)As nanowires (NWs) were grown in a molecular beam epitaxy
system on GaAs(111)B substrates. Micro-photoluminescence measurements and
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated a core-shell structure and Al
composition gradient along the NW axis, producing a potential minimum for
carrier confinement. The core-shell structure formed during the growth as a
consequence of the different Al and Ga adatom diffusion lengths.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure
1D Exciton Spectroscopy of Semiconductor Nanorods
We have theoretically shown that optical properties of semiconductor nanorods
are controlled by 1D excitons. The theory, which takes into account anisotropy
of spacial and dielectric confinement, describes size dependence of interband
optical transitions, exciton binding energies. We have demonstrated that the
fine structure of the ground exciton state explains the linear polarization of
photoluminescence. Our results are in good agreement with the measurements in
CdSe nanorods
Carbon States in Carbon-Encapsulated Nickel Nanoparticles Studied by Means of X-Ray Absorption, Emission, and Photoelectron Spectroscopies
Electronic structure of nickel nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon was
characterized by photoelectron, X-ray absorption, and X-ray emission
spectroscopies. Experimental spectra are compared with the density of states
calculated in the frame of the density functional theory. The carbon shell of
Ni nanoparticles has been found to be multilayer graphene with significant
(about 6%) amount of Stone--Wales defects. Results of the experiments evidence
protection of the metallic nanoparticles from the environmental degradation by
providing a barrier against oxidation at least for two years. Exposure in air
for 2 years leads to oxidation only of the carbon shell of Ni@C nanoparticles
with coverage of functional groups.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted in J. Phys. Chem.
Oscillatory Shear Flow-Induced Alignment of Lamellar Melts of Hydrogen-Bonded Comb Copolymer Supramolecules
In this work we present the orientational behavior of comb copolymer-like supramolecules P4VP(PDP)1.0, obtained by hydrogen bonding between poly(4-vinylpyridine) and pentadecylphenol, during large-amplitude oscillatory shear flow experiments over a broad range of frequencies (0.001-10 Hz). The alignment diagram, presenting the macroscopic alignment in T/TODT vs ω/ωc, contains three regions of parallel alignment separated by a region of perpendicular alignment. For our material, the order-disorder temperature TODT = 67 °C and ωc, the frequency above which the distortion of the chain conformation dominates the materials’ viscoelasticity, is around 0.1 Hz at 61 °C. For the first time flipping from a pure transverse alignment via biaxial transverse/perpendicular alignment to a perpendicular alignment as a function of the strain amplitude was found.
Simultaneous whole-animal 3D-imaging of neuronal activity using light field microscopy
3D functional imaging of neuronal activity in entire organisms at single cell
level and physiologically relevant time scales faces major obstacles due to
trade-offs between the size of the imaged volumes, and spatial and temporal
resolution. Here, using light-field microscopy in combination with 3D
deconvolution, we demonstrate intrinsically simultaneous volumetric functional
imaging of neuronal population activity at single neuron resolution for an
entire organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The simplicity of our
technique and possibility of the integration into epi-fluoresence microscopes
makes it an attractive tool for high-speed volumetric calcium imaging.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, incl. supplementary informatio
Testing the solar LMA region with KamLAND data
We investigate the potential of 3 kiloTon-years(kTy) of KamLAND data to
further constrain the and values compared to those
presently allowed by existing KamLAND and global solar data. We study the
extent, dependence and characteristics of this sensitivity in and around the
two parts of the LMA region that are currently allowed. Our analysis with 3 kTy
simulated spectra shows that KamLAND spectrum data by itself can constrain
with high precision. Combining the spectrum with global solar data
further tightens the constraints on allowed values of and
. We also study the effects of future neutral current data with a
total error of 7% from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. We find that these
future measurements offer the potential of considerable precision in
determining the oscillation parameters (specially the mass parameter).Comment: 16 pages, to appear in J Phys.
Simulation of dimensionality effects in thermal transport
The discovery of nanostructures and the development of growth and fabrication
techniques of one- and two-dimensional materials provide the possibility to
probe experimentally heat transport in low-dimensional systems. Nevertheless
measuring the thermal conductivity of these systems is extremely challenging
and subject to large uncertainties, thus hindering the chance for a direct
comparison between experiments and statistical physics models. Atomistic
simulations of realistic nanostructures provide the ideal bridge between
abstract models and experiments. After briefly introducing the state of the art
of heat transport measurement in nanostructures, and numerical techniques to
simulate realistic systems at atomistic level, we review the contribution of
lattice dynamics and molecular dynamics simulation to understanding nanoscale
thermal transport in systems with reduced dimensionality. We focus on the
effect of dimensionality in determining the phononic properties of carbon and
semiconducting nanostructures, specifically considering the cases of carbon
nanotubes, graphene and of silicon nanowires and ultra-thin membranes,
underlying analogies and differences with abstract lattice models.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures. Review paper, to appear in the Springer Lecture
Notes in Physics volume "Thermal transport in low dimensions: from
statistical physics to nanoscale heat transfer" (S. Lepri ed.
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