Room temperature ferromagnetic-like behavior in Mn-implanted and post-annealed InAs layers deposited by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We report on the magnetic and structural properties of Ar and Mn implanted InAs epitaxial films grown on GaAs (100) by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and the effect of Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) for 30 seconds at 750C. Channeling Particle Induced X- ray Emission (PIXE) experiments reveal that after Mn implantation almost all Mn atoms are subsbtitutional in the In-site of the InAs lattice, like in a diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS). All of these samples show diamagnetic behavior. But, after RTA treatment the Mn-InAs films exhibit room-temperature magnetism. According to PIXE measurements the Mn atoms are no longer substitutional. When the same set of experiments were performed with As as implantation ion all of the layers present diamagnetism without exception. This indicates that the appearance of room-temperature ferromagnetic-like behavior in the Mn-InAs-RTA layer is not related to lattice disorder produce during implantation, but to a Mn reaction produced after a short thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) measurements evidence the segregation of an oxygen deficient-MnO2 phase (nominally MnO1.94) in the Mn-InAs-RTA epitaxial layers which might be on the origin of room temperature ferromagnetic-like response observed.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. Acepted in J. Appl. Phy

InAs/InP single quantum wire formation and emission at 1.5 microns

Isolated InAs/InP self-assembled quantum wires have been grown using in situ accumulated stress measurements to adjust the optimal InAs thickness. Atomic force microscopy imaging shows highly asymmetric nanostructures with average length exceeding more than ten times their width. High resolution optical investigation of as-grown samples reveals strong photoluminescence from individual quantum wires at 1.5 microns. Additional sharp features are related to monolayer fluctuations of the two dimensional InAs layer present during the early stages of the quantum wire self-assembling process.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figures submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Magnetotunneling in a Two-Dimensional Electron-Hole System Near Equilibrium

We have measured the zero-bias differential tunneling conductance of InAs/AlSb/GaS b/AlSb/InAs heterostructures at low temperatures (1.7K < T < 60K) and unde r a magnetic field at various angles with the heterostructure's interfaces. Shubni kov-de Haas oscillations in the magnetoconductance reveal the two-dimensional (2D) character of the electrons accumulated at the InAs interfaces and yield their num ber in each of them. The temperature dependence of the oscillations suggests the f ormation of a field-induced energy gap at the Fermi level, similar to that observe d before in simpler 2D-2D tunneling systems. A calculation of the magnetoconductan ce that considers different 2D densities in the two InAs electrodes agrees with th e main observations, but fails to explain features that might be related to the pr esence of 2D holes in the GaSb region.Comment: 4 papes, 3 eps figures. Submit to Phys. Rev.

Exciton Gas Compression and Metallic Condensation in a Single Semiconductor Quantum Wire

We study the metal-insulator transition in individual self-assembled quantum wires and report optical evidences of metallic liquid condensation at low temperatures. Firstly, we observe that the temperature and power dependence of the single nanowire photoluminescence follow the evolution expected for an electron-hole liquid in one dimension. Secondly, we find novel spectral features that suggest that in this situation the expanding liquid condensate compresses the exciton gas in real space. Finally, we estimate the critical density and critical temperature of the phase transition diagram at $n_c\sim1\times10^5$ cm$^{-1}$ and $T_c\sim35$ K, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Shot-noise anomalies in nondegenerate elastic diffusive conductors

We present a theoretical investigation of shot-noise properties in nondegenerate elastic diffusive conductors. Both Monte Carlo simulations and analytical approaches are used. Two new phenomena are found: (i) the display of enhanced shot noise for given energy dependences of the scattering time, and (ii) the recovery of full shot noise for asymptotic high applied bias. The first phenomenon is associated with the onset of negative differential conductivity in energy space that drives the system towards a dynamical electrical instability in excellent agreement with analytical predictions. The enhancement is found to be strongly amplified when the dimensionality in momentum space is lowered from 3 to 2 dimensions. The second phenomenon is due to the suppression of the effects of long range Coulomb correlations that takes place when the transit time becomes the shortest time scale in the system, and is common to both elastic and inelastic nondegenerate diffusive conductors. These phenomena shed new light in the understanding of the anomalous behavior of shot noise in mesoscopic conductors, which is a signature of correlations among different current pulses.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Soliton tunneling with sub-barrier kinetic energies

We investigate (theoretically and numerically) the dynamics of a soliton moving in an asymmetrical potential well with a finite barrier. For large values of the width of the well, the width of the barrier and/or the height of the barrier, the soliton behaves classically. On the other hand, we obtain the conditions for the existence of soliton tunneling with sub-barrier kinetic energies. We apply these results to the study of soliton propagation in disordered systems.Comment: 6 eps figures. To appear in Physical Review E (Rapid Communications

Self-assembling processes involved in the molecular beam epitaxy growth of stacked InAs/InP quantum wires

The growth mechanism of stacked InAs/InP(001) quantum wires (QWRs) is studied by combining an atomic-scale cross-sectional scanning tunnelling microscopy analysis with in situ and in real-time stress measurements along the [110] direction (sensitive to stress relaxation during QWR formation). QWRs in stacked layers grow by a non-Stranski–Krastanov (SK) process which involves the production of extra InAs by strain-enhanced As/P exchange and a strong strain driven mass transport. Despite the different growth mechanism of the QWR between the first and following layers of the stack, the QWRs maintain on average the same shape and composition in all the layers of the stack, revealing the high stability of this QWR configuration

Dimensional crossover of the fundamental-measure functional for parallel hard cubes

We present a regularization of the recently proposed fundamental-measure functional for a mixture of parallel hard cubes. The regularized functional is shown to have right dimensional crossovers to any smaller dimension, thus allowing to use it to study highly inhomogeneous phases (such as the solid phase). Furthermore, it is shown how the functional of the slightly more general model of parallel hard parallelepipeds can be obtained using the zero-dimensional functional as a generating functional. The multicomponent version of the latter system is also given, and it is suggested how to reformulate it as a restricted-orientation model for liquid crystals. Finally, the method is further extended to build a functional for a mixture of parallel hard cylinders.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, uses revtex style files and multicol.sty, for a PostScript version see http://dulcinea.uc3m.es/users/cuesta/cross.p