2,191 research outputs found
Inter- and intra-layer excitons in MoS/WS and MoSe/WSe heterobilayers
Accurately described excitonic properties of transition metal dichalcogenide
heterobilayers (HBLs) are crucial to comprehend the optical response and the
charge carrier dynamics of them. Excitons in multilayer systems posses inter or
intralayer character whose spectral positions depend on their binding energy
and the band alignment of the constituent single-layers. In this study, we
report the electronic structure and the absorption spectra of MoS/WS
and MoSe/WSe HBLs from first-principles calculations. We explore the
spectral positions, binding energies and the origins of inter and intralayer
excitons and compare our results with experimental observations. The absorption
spectra of the systems are obtained by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation on
top of a GW calculation which corrects the independent particle
eigenvalues obtained from density functional theory calculations. Our
calculations reveal that the lowest energy exciton in both HBLs possesses
interlayer character which is decisive regarding their possible device
applications. Due to the spatially separated nature of the charge carriers, the
binding energy of inter-layer excitons might be expected to be considerably
smaller than that of intra-layer ones. However, according to our calculations
the binding energy of lowest energy interlayer excitons is only 20\%
lower due to the weaker screening of the Coulomb interaction between layers of
the HBLs. Therefore, it can be deduced that the spectral positions of the
interlayer excitons with respect to intralayer ones are mostly determined by
the band offset of the constituent single-layers. By comparing oscillator
strengths and thermal occupation factors, we show that in luminescence at low
temperature, the interlayer exciton peak becomes dominant, while in absorption
it is almost invisible.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Collisions of Slow Highly Charged Ions with Surfaces
Progress in the study of collisions of multiply charged ions with surfaces is
reviewed with the help of a few recent examples. They range from fundamental
quasi-one electron processes to highly complex ablation and material
modification processes. Open questions and possible future directions will be
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures, review pape
Excitons in boron nitride nanotubes: dimensionality effects
We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes
are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations
indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak
depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7 eV in
bulk hexagonal BN via 2.1 eV in the single sheet of BN to more than 3 eV in the
hypothetical (2,2) tube. The strongly localized nature of this exciton dictates
the fast convergence of its binding energy with increasing tube diameter
towards the sheet value. The absolute position of the first excitonic peak is
almost independent of the tube radius and system dimensionality. This provides
an explanation for the observed "optical gap" constancy for different tubes and
bulk hBN [R. Arenal et al., to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2005)].Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Tight--binding description of the quasiparticle dispersion of graphite and few--layer graphene
A universal set of third--nearest neighbour tight--binding (TB) parameters is
presented for calculation of the quasiparticle (QP) dispersion of stacked
graphene layers () with stacking sequence. The QP
bands are strongly renormalized by electron--electron interactions which
results in a 20% increase of the nearest neighbour in--plane and out--of--plane
TB parameters when compared to band structure from density functional theory.
With the new set of TB parameters we determine the Fermi surface and evaluate
exciton energies, charge carrier plasmon frequencies and the conductivities
which are relevant for recent angle--resolved photoemission, optical, electron
energy loss and transport measurements. A comparision of these quantitities to
experiments yields an excellent agreement. Furthermore we discuss the
transition from few layer graphene to graphite and a semimetal to metal
transition in a TB framework.Comment: Corresponding author: A. Gr\"uneis Tel.: +49 351 4659 519 e--mail:
[email protected]
Raman imaging and electronic properties of graphene
Graphite is a well-studied material with known electronic and optical
properties. Graphene, on the other hand, which is just one layer of carbon
atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, has been studied theoretically for quite
some time but has only recently become accessible for experiments. Here we
demonstrate how single- and multi-layer graphene can be unambiguously
identified using Raman scattering. Furthermore, we use a scanning Raman set-up
to image few-layer graphene flakes of various heights. In transport experiments
we measure weak localization and conductance fluctuations in a graphene flake
of about 7 monolayer thickness. We obtain a phase-coherence length of about 2
m at a temperature of 2 K. Furthermore we investigate the conductivity
through single-layer graphene flakes and the tuning of electron and hole
densities via a back gate
Pulmonary Hypertension in Patients with Chronic Fibrosing Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias
Background Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common finding in patients with chronic fibrosing idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIP). Little is known about the response to pulmonary vasodilator therapy in this patient population. COMPERA is an international registry that prospectively captures data from patients with various forms of PH receiving pulmonary vasodilator therapies. Methods We retrieved data from COMPERA to compare patient characteristics, treatment patterns, response to therapy and survival in newly diagnosed patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) and PH associated with IIP (PH-IIP). Results Compared to patients with IPAH (n = 798), patients with PH-IIP (n = 151) were older and predominantly males. Patients with PH-IIP were treated predominantly with phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (88% at entry, 87% after 1 year). From baseline to the first follow-up visit, the median improvement in 6MWD was 30 m in patients with IPAH and 24.5 m in patients with PH-IIP (p = 0.457 for the difference between both groups). Improvements in NYHA functional class were observed in 22.4% and 29.5% of these patients, respectively (p = 0.179 for the difference between both groups). Survival rates were significantly worse in PH-IIP than in IPAH (3-year survival 34.0 versus 68.6%; p<0.001). Total lung capacity, NYHA class IV, and mixed-venous oxygen saturation were independent predictors of survival in patients with PH-IIP. Conclusions Patients with PH-IIP have a dismal prognosis. Our results suggest that pulmonary vasodilator therapy may be associated with short-term functional improvement in some of these patients but it is unclear whether this treatment affects survival
Carbohydrate and protein contents of grain dusts in relation to dust morphology.
Grain dusts contain a variety of materials which are potentially hazardous to the health of workers in the grain industry. Because the characterization of grain dusts is incomplete, we are defining the botanical, chemical, and microbial contents of several grain dusts collected from grain elevators in the Duluth-Superior regions of the U.S. Here, we report certain of the carbohydrate and protein contents of dusts in relation to dust morphology. Examination of the gross morphologies of the dusts revealed that, except for corn, each dust contained either husk or pericarp (seed coat in the case of flax) fragments in addition to respirable particles. When viewed with the light microscope, the fragments appeared as elongated, pointed structures. The possibility that certain of the fragments within corn, settled, and spring wheat were derived from cell walls was suggested by the detection of pentoses following colorimetric assay of neutralized 2 N trifluoroacetic acid hydrolyzates of these dusts. The presence of pentoses together with the occurrence of proteins within water washings of grain dusts suggests that glycoproteins may be present within the dusts. With scanning electron microscopy, each dust was found to consist of a distinct assortment of particles in addition to respirable particles. Small husk fragments and "trichome-like" objects were common to all but corn dust
Acute Stress-Induced Blood Lipid Reactivity in Hypertensive and Normotensive Men and Prospective Associations with Future Cardiovascular Risk.
Hyperreactivity to stress may be one explanation for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with essential hypertension. We investigated blood lipid reactivity to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), a psychosocial stressor, in hypertensive and normotensive men and tested for prospective associations with biological risk factors. Fifty-six otherwise healthy and medication-free hypertensive and normotensive men underwent the MIST. We repeatedly measured cortisol and blood lipid profiles (total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG)) immediately before and up to 1 h after stress. Lipid levels were corrected for stress hemoconcentration. Thirty-five participants completed follow-up assessment 2.9 ± 0.12 (SEM) years later. CVD risk was assessed by prospective changes in TC/HDL-C ratio, IL-6, D-dimer, and HbA1c from baseline to follow-up. The MIST induced significant changes in all parameters except TC (p-values ≤ 0.043). Compared with normotensives, hypertensives had higher TC/HDL-C-ratio and TG (p-values ≤ 0.049) stress responses. Blood lipid stress reactivity predicted future cardiovascular risk (p = 0.036) with increases in HbA1c (ß = 0.34, p = 0.046), IL-6 (ß = 0.31, p = 0.075), and D-dimer (ß = 0.33, p = 0.050). Our results suggest that the greater blood lipid reactivity to psychosocial stress in hypertensives, the greater their future biological CVD risk. This points to lipid stress reactivity as a potential mechanism through which stress might increase CVD risk in essential hypertension
Negative length orbits in normal-superconductor billiard systems
The Path-Length Spectra of mesoscopic systems including diffractive
scatterers and connected to superconductor is studied theoretically. We show
that the spectra differs fundamentally from that of normal systems due to the
presence of Andreev reflection. It is shown that negative path-lengths should
arise in the spectra as opposed to normal system. To highlight this effect we
carried out both quantum mechanical and semiclassical calculations for the
simplest possible diffractive scatterer. The most pronounced peaks in the
Path-Length Spectra of the reflection amplitude are identified by the routes
that the electron and/or hole travels.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures include
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