Thickness-dependent Electrical and Piezoelectric Properties of Lead-Free Ferroelectric Ba[0.8]Sr[0.2]TiO[3] Thin Films

The thickness dependent of electrical and piezoelectric properties of lead-free ferroelectric Ba[0.8]Sr[0.2]TiO[3] thin films is reported. Ba[0.8]Sr[0.2]TiO[3] (BST 80/20) thin films for various thickness, ranging from 150 nm to 550 nm, were prepared by high-frequency reactive sputtering of a ceramic target in an oxygen atmosphere on p-type Si substrate. Memory windows and effective dielectric constant of the BST film in Au/BST/Si thin film capacitors is found to increase with the increasing thickness of the film. Domain structure, domain switching and hysteresis loops of the BST 80/20 thin film were investigate via the piezoresponse force microscopy. Complete domain switching and strong piezoresponse are found in the ferroelectric BST film. The piezoelectric coefficient and the remnant piezoelectric response (ΔPR) of BST 80/20 films is found to increase with the thickness of the fil

Anisotropic transport in the two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of spin-orbit coupling

In a two-dimensional electron gas as realized by a semiconductor quantum well, the presence of spin-orbit coupling of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus type leads to anisotropic dispersion relations and Fermi contours. We study the effect of this anisotropy on the electrical conductivity in the presence of fixed impurity scatterers. The conductivity also shows in general an anisotropy which can be tuned by varying the Rashba coefficient. This effect provides a method of detecting and investigating spin-orbit coupling by measuring spin-unpolarized electrical currents in the diffusive regime. Our approach is based on an exact solution of the two-dimensional Boltzmann equation and provides also a natural framework for investigating other transport effects including the anomalous Hall effect.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure included. Discussion of experimental impact enlarged; error in calculation of conductivity contribution corrected (cf. Eq. (A14)), no changes in qualitative results and physical consequence

High statistic measurement of the K- -> pi0 e- nu decay form-factors

The decay K- -> pi0 e- nu is studied using in-flight decays detected with the ISTRA+ spectrometer. About 920K events are collected for the analysis. The lambda+ slope parameter of the decay form-factor f+(t) in the linear approximation (average slope) is measured: lambda+(lin)= 0.02774 +- 0.00047(stat) +- 0.00032(syst). The quadratic contribution to the form-factor was estimated to be lambda'+ = 0.00084 +- 0.00027(stat) +- 0.00031(syst). The linear slope, which has a meaning of df+(t)/dt|_{t=0} for this fit, is lambda+ = 0.02324 +- 0.00152(stat) +- 0.00032(syst). The limits on possible tensor and scalar couplings are derived: f_{T}/f_{+}(0)=-0.012 +- 0.021(stat) +- 0.011$(syst), f_{S}/f_{+}(0)=-0.0037^{+0.0066}_{-0.0056}(stat) +- 0.0041(syst).Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted by Phys.Lett.

Tight-binding g-Factor Calculations of CdSe Nanostructures

The Lande g-factors for CdSe quantum dots and rods are investigated within the framework of the semiempirical tight-binding method. We describe methods for treating both the n-doped and neutral nanostructures, and then apply these to a selection of nanocrystals of variable size and shape, focusing on approximately spherical dots and rods of differing aspect ratio. For the negatively charged n-doped systems, we observe that the g-factors for near-spherical CdSe dots are approximately independent of size, but show strong shape dependence as one axis of the quantum dot is extended to form rod-like structures. In particular, there is a discontinuity in the magnitude of g-factor and a transition from anisotropic to isotropic g-factor tensor at aspect ratio ~1.3. For the neutral systems, we analyze the electron g-factor of both the conduction and valence band electrons. We find that the behavior of the electron g-factor in the neutral nanocrystals is generally similar to that in the n-doped case, showing the same strong shape dependence and discontinuity in magnitude and anisotropy. In smaller systems the g-factor value is dependent on the details of the surface model. Comparison with recent measurements of g-factors for CdSe nanocrystals suggests that the shape dependent transition may be responsible for the observations of anomalous numbers of g-factors at certain nanocrystal sizes.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Fixed typos to match published versio

Nonlinear Modulation of Multi-Dimensional Lattice Waves

The equations governing weakly nonlinear modulations of $N$-dimensional lattices are considered using a quasi-discrete multiple-scale approach. It is found that the evolution of a short wave packet for a lattice system with cubic and quartic interatomic potentials is governed by generalized Davey-Stewartson (GDS) equations, which include mean motion induced by the oscillatory wave packet through cubic interatomic interaction. The GDS equations derived here are more general than those known in the theory of water waves because of the anisotropy inherent in lattices. Generalized Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equations describing the evolution of long wavelength acoustic modes in two and three dimensional lattices are also presented. Then the modulational instability of a $N$-dimensional Stokes lattice wave is discussed based on the $N$-dimensional GDS equations obtained. Finally, the one- and two-soliton solutions of two-dimensional GDS equations are provided by means of Hirota's bilinear transformation method.Comment: Submitted to PR

Mesoscopic Stern-Gerlach device to polarize spin currents

Spin preparation and spin detection are fundamental problems in spintronics and in several solid state proposals for quantum information processing. Here we propose the mesoscopic equivalent of an optical polarizing beam splitter (PBS). This interferometric device uses non-dispersive phases (Aharonov-Bohm and Rashba) in order to separate spin up and spin down carriers into distinct outputs and thus it is analogous to a Stern-Gerlach apparatus. It can be used both as a spin preparation device and as a spin measuring device by converting spin into charge (orbital) degrees of freedom. An important feature of the proposed spin polarizer is that no ferromagnetic contacts are used.Comment: Updated to the published versio

An Equation of State of a Carbon-Fibre Epoxy Composite under Shock Loading

An anisotropic equation of state (EOS) is proposed for the accurate extrapolation of high-pressure shock Hugoniot (anisotropic and isotropic) states to other thermodynamic (anisotropic and isotropic) states for a shocked carbon-fibre epoxy composite (CFC) of any symmetry. The proposed EOS, using a generalised decomposition of a stress tensor [Int. J. Plasticity \textbf{24}, 140 (2008)], represents a mathematical and physical generalisation of the Mie-Gr\"{u}neisen EOS for isotropic material and reduces to this equation in the limit of isotropy. Although a linear relation between the generalised anisotropic bulk shock velocity $U^{A}_{s}$ and particle velocity $u_{p}$ was adequate in the through-thickness orientation, damage softening process produces discontinuities both in value and slope in the $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ relation. Therefore, the two-wave structure (non-linear anisotropic and isotropic elastic waves) that accompanies damage softening process was proposed for describing CFC behaviour under shock loading. The linear relationship $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ over the range of measurements corresponding to non-linear anisotropic elastic wave shows a value of $c^{A}_{0}$ (the intercept of the $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ curve) that is in the range between first and second generalised anisotropic bulk speed of sound [Eur. Phys. J. B \textbf{64}, 159 (2008)]. An analytical calculation showed that Hugoniot Stress Levels (HELs) in different directions for a CFC composite subject to the two-wave structure (non-linear anisotropic elastic and isotropic elastic waves) agree with experimental measurements at low and at high shock intensities. The results are presented, discussed and future studies are outlined.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Spin relaxation: From 2D to 1D

In inversion asymmetric semiconductors, spin-orbit interactions give rise to very effective relaxation mechanisms of the electron spin. Recent work, based on the dimensionally constrained D'yakonov Perel' mechanism, describes increasing electron-spin relaxation times for two-dimensional conducting layers with decreasing channel width. The slow-down of the spin relaxation can be understood as a precursor of the one-dimensional limit

Two-dimensional hole precession in an all-semiconductor spin field effect transistor

We present a theoretical study of a spin field-effect transistor realized in a quantum well formed in a p--doped ferromagnetic-semiconductor- nonmagnetic-semiconductor-ferromagnetic-semiconductor hybrid structure. Based on an envelope-function approach for the hole bands in the various regions of the transistor, we derive the complete theory of coherent transport through the device, which includes both heavy- and light-hole subbands, proper modeling of the mode matching at interfaces, integration over injection angles, Rashba spin precession, interference effects due to multiple reflections, and gate-voltage dependences. Numerical results for the device current as a function of externally tunable parameters are in excellent agreement with approximate analytical formulae.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

Auger decay of degenerate and Bose-condensed excitons in Cu2_2O

We study the non-radiative Auger decay of excitons in Cu$_2$O, in which two excitons scatter to an excited electron and hole. The exciton decay rate for the direct and the phonon-assisted processes is calculated from first principles; incorporating the band structure of the material leads to a relatively shorter lifetime of the triplet state ortho excitons. We compare our results with the Auger decay rate extracted from data on highly degenerate triplet excitons and Bose-condensed singlet excitons in Cu$_2$O.Comment: 15 pages, revtex, figures available from G. Kavoulaki