Plasmonic nanoparticle enhanced light absorption in GaAs solar cells

We demonstrate an improvement in efficiency of optically thin GaAs solar cells decorated with size-controlled Ag nanoparticles fabricated by masked deposition through anodic aluminum oxide templates. The strong scattering by the interacting surface plasmons in densely formed high aspect-ratio nanoparticles effectively increases the optical path of the incident light in the absorber layers resulting in an 8% increase in the short circuit current density of the cell. The nanoparticle array sheet conductivity also reduces the cell surface sheet resistance evidenced by an improved fill factor. This dual function of plasmonic nanoparticles has potential to enable thinner photovoltaic layers in solar cells

New Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-type theory at finite temperature with particle-number conservation

We formulate a new Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-type theory at finite temperature, by deriving a set of variational equations of the free energy after the particle-number projection. With its broad applicability, this theory can be a useful tool for investigating the pairing phase transition in finite systems with the particle-number conservation. This theory provides effects of the symmetry-restoring fluctuation (SRF) for the pairing phenomena in finite fermionic systems, distinctively from those of additional quantum fluctuations. It is shown by numerical calculations that the phase transition is compatible with the conservation in this theory, and that the SRF shifts up the critical temperature ($T^\mathrm{cr}$). This shift of $T^\mathrm{cr}$ occurs due to reduction of degrees-of-freedom in canonical ensembles, and decreases only slowly as the particle-number increases (or as the level spacing narrows), in contrast to the conventional BCS theory.Comment: 10 pages including 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Effects of particle-number conservation on heat capacity of nuclei

By applying the particle-number projection to the finite-temperature BCS theory, the $S$-shaped heat capacity, which has recently been claimed to be a fingerprint of the superfluid-to-normal phase transition in nuclei, is reexamined. It is found that the particle-number (or number-parity) projection gives $S$-shapes in the heat capacity of nuclei which look qualitatively similar to the observed ones. These $S$-shapes are accounted for as effects of the particle-number conservation on the quasiparticle excitations, and occur even when we keep the superfluidity at all temperatures by assuming a constant gap in the BCS theory. The present study illustrates significance of the conservation laws in studying phase transitions of finite systems.Comment: RevTeX4, 12 pages including 5 figures (1 color figure), to be published in PR

Eternally inflating cosmologies from intersecting spacelike branes

Intersecting spacelike braneworld cosmologies are investigated. The time axis is set on the scale parameter of extra space, which may include more than one timelike metric. Obtained are eternally inflating (i.e. undergoing late-time inflation) Robertson-Walker spacetime and extra space with a constant scale factor. In the case of multibrane solutions, some dimensions are static or shrink. The fact that the largest supersymmetry algebra contains 32 supercharges in 4 dimensions imposes a restriction on the geometry of extra space.Comment: 19 page

Notes on the arithmetic of Hilbert modular forms

The purpose of this semi-expository article is to give another proof of a classical theorem of Shimura on the critical values of the standard L-function attached to a Hilbert modular form. Our proof is along the lines of previous work of Harder and Hida (independently). What is different is an organizational principle based on the period relations proved by Raghuram and Shahidi for periods attached to regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representations. The point of view taken in this article is that one need only prove an algebraicity theorem for the most interesting L-value, namely, the central critical value of the L-function of a sufficiently general type of a cuspidal automorphic representation. The period relations mentioned above then gives us a result for all critical values. To transcribe such a result into a more classical context we also discuss the arithmetic properties of the dictionary between holomorphic Hilbert modular forms and automorphic representations of GL(2) over a totally real number field F.Comment: To appear in the Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Societ

High efficiency InGaAs solar cells on Si by InP layer transfer

InP/Si substrates were fabricated through wafer bonding and helium-induced exfoliation of InP, and InGaAs solar cells lattice matched to bulk InP were grown on these substrates using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. The photovoltaic characteristics of the InGaAs cells fabricated on the wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates were comparable to those synthesized on commercially available epiready InP substrates, thus providing a demonstration of wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates as an alternative to bulk InP substrates for solar cell applications

First-Order Regular and Degenerate Identification Differential Problems

We are concerned with both regular and degenerate first-order identification problems related to systems of differential equations of weakly parabolic type in Banach spaces. Several applications to partial differential equations and systems will be given in a subsequent paper to show the fullness of our abstract results

Broad-band photometric colors and effective temperature calibrations for late-type giants. II. Z<0.02

(Abridged) We investigate the effects of metallicity on the broad-band photometric colors of late-type giants, and make a comparison of synthetic colors with observed photometric properties of late-type giants over a wide range of effective temperatures (T_eff=3500-4800 K) and gravities (log g=0.0-2.5), at [M/H]=-1.0 and -2.0. The influence of metallicity on the synthetic photometric colors is generally small at effective temperatures above \~3800 K, but the effects grow larger at lower T_eff, due to the changing efficiency of molecule formation which reduces molecular opacities at lower [M/H]. To make a detailed comparison of the synthetic and observed photometric colors of late type giants in the T_eff--color and color--color planes, we derive a set of new T_eff--log g--color relations based on synthetic photometric colors, at [M/H]=-0.5, -1.0, -1.5, and -2.0. While differences between the new T_eff--color relations and those available from the literature are typically well within ~100 K, effective temperatures predicted by the scales based on synthetic colors tend to be slightly higher than those resulting from the T_eff--color relations based on observations, with the offsets up to ~100 K. This is clearly seen both at [M/H]=-1.0 and -2.0, especially in the T_eff--(B-V) and T_eff--(V-K) planes. The consistency between T_eff--log g--color scales based on synthetic colors calculated with different stellar atmosphere codes is very good, with typical differences being well within \Delta T_eff~70 K at [M/H]=-1.0 and \Delta T_eff~40 K at [M/H]=-2.0.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, A&A accepte

Cu-spin dynamics in the overdoped regime of La_2-x_Sr_x_Cu_1-y_Zn_y_O_4_ probed by muon spin relaxation

Muon-spin-relaxation measurements have been performed for the partially Zn-substituted La_2-x_Sr_x_Cu_1-y_Zn_y_O_4_ with y=0-0.10 in the overdoped regime up to x=0.30. In the 3 % Zn-substituted samples up to x=0.27, exponential-like depolarization of muon spins has been observed at low temperatures, indicating Zn-induced slowing-down of the Cu-spin fluctuations. The depolarization rate decreases with increasing x and almost no fast depolarization of muon spins has been observed for x=0.30 where superconductivity disappears. The present results suggest that the dynamical stripe correlations exist in the whole superconducting regime of La_2-x_Sr_x_CuO_4_ and that there is no quantum critical point at x~0.19.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure