574 research outputs found
MOCVD synthesis of compositionally tuned topological insulator nanowires
Device applications involving topological insulators (TIs) will require the
development of scalable methods for fabricating TI samples with sub-micron
dimensions, high quality surfaces, and controlled compositions. Here we use
Bi-, Se-, and Te-bearing metalorganic precursors to synthesize TIs in the form
of nanowires. Single crystal nanowires can be grown with compositions ranging
from Bi2Se3 to Bi2Te3, including the ternary compound Bi2Te2Se. These high
quality nanostructured TI compounds are suitable platforms for on-going
searches for Majorana Fermions
Controlled MOCVD growth of Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons
Topological insulators are a new class of materials that support
topologically protected electronic surface states. Potential applications of
the surface states in low dissipation electronic devices have motivated efforts
to create nanoscale samples with large surface-to-volume ratios and highly
controlled stoichiometry. Se vacancies in Bi2Se3 give rise to bulk conduction,
which masks the transport properties of the surface states. We have therefore
developed a new route for the synthesis of topological insulator nanostructures
using metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). MOCVD allows for control
of the Se/Bi flux ratio during growth. With the aim of rational growth, we vary
the Se/Bi flux ratio, growth time, and substrate temperature, and observe
morphological changes which indicate a growth regime in which nanoribbon
formation is limited by the Bi precursor mass-flow. MOCVD growth of Bi2Se3
nanostructures occurs via a distinct growth mechanism that is nucleated by gold
nanoparticles at the base of the nanowire. By tuning the reaction conditions,
we obtain either single-crystalline ribbons up to 10 microns long or thin
micron-sized platelets.Comment: Related papers at http://pettagroup.princeton.ed
Large anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic insulator-topological insulator heterostructures
We demonstrate the van der Waals epitaxy of the topological insulator
compound Bi2Te3 on the ferromagnetic insulator Cr2Ge2Te6. The layers are
oriented with (001) of Bi2Te3 parallel to (001) of Cr2Ge2Te6 and (110) of
Bi2Te3 parallel to (100) of Cr2Ge2Te6. Cross-sectional transmission electron
microscopy indicates the formation of a sharp interface. At low temperatures,
bilayers consisting of Bi2Te3 on Cr2Ge2Te6 exhibit a large anomalous Hall
effect (AHE). Tilted field studies of the AHE indicate that the easy axis lies
along the c-axis of the heterostructure, consistent with magnetization
measurements in bulk Cr2Ge2Te6. The 61 K Curie temperature of Cr2Ge2Te6 and the
use of near-stoichiometric materials may lead to the development of spintronic
devices based on the AHE.Comment: Related papers at http://pettagroup.princeton.ed
Two-Level Systems in Nucleated and Non-Nucleated Epitaxial alpha-Tantalum films
Building usefully coherent superconducting quantum processors depends on
reducing losses in their constituent materials. Tantalum, like niobium, has
proven utility as the primary superconducting layer within highly coherent
qubits. But, unlike Nb, high temperatures are typically used to stabilize the
desirable body-centered-cubic phase, alpha-Ta, during thin film deposition. It
has long been known that a thin Nb layer permits the room-temperature
nucleation of alpha-Ta, although neither an epitaxial process nor few-photon
microwave loss measurements have been reported for Nb-nucleated Ta films prior
to this study. We compare resonators patterned from Ta films grown at high
temperature (500 {\deg}C) and films nucleated at room temperature, in order to
understand the impact of crystalline order on quantum coherence. In both cases,
films grew with Al2O3 (001) || Ta (110) indicating that the epitaxial
orientation is independent of temperature and is preserved across the Nb/Ta
interface. We use conventional low-power spectroscopy to measure two level
system (TLS) loss, as well as an electric-field bias technique to measure the
effective dipole moments of TLS in the surfaces of resonators. In our
measurements, Nb-nucleated Ta resonators had greater loss tangent (1.5 +/- 0.1
x 10^-5) than non-nucleated (5 +/- 1 x 10^-6) in approximate proportion to
defect densities as characterized by X-ray diffraction (0.27 {\deg} vs 0.18
{\deg} [110] reflection width) and electron microscopy (30 nm vs 70 nm domain
size). The dependence of the loss tangent on domain size indicates that the
development of more ordered Ta films is likely to lead to improvements in qubit
coherence times. Moreover, low-temperature alpha-Ta epitaxy may enable the
growth of new, microstate-free heterostructures which would not withstand high
temperature processing
Millimagnitude Photometry for Transiting Extrasolar Planetary Candidates IV: The Puzzle of the Extremely Red OGLE-TR-82 Primary Solved
We present precise new V, I, and K-band photometry for the planetary transit
candidate star OGLE-TR-82. Good seeing V-band images acquired with VIMOS
instrument at ESO VLT allowed us to measure V=20.6+-0.03 mag star in spite of
the presence of a brighter neighbour about 1" away. This faint magnitude
answers the question why it has not been possible to measure radial velocities
for this object. One transit of this star has been observed with GMOS-S
instrument of GEMINI-South telescope in i and g-bands. The measurement of the
transit allows us to verify that this is not a false positive, to confirm the
transit amplitude measured by OGLE, and to improve the ephemeris. The transit
is well defined in i-band light curve, with a depth of A_i=0.034 mag. It is
however, less well defined, but deeper (A_g=0.1 mag) in the g-band, in which
the star is significantly fainter. The near-infrared photometry obtained with
SofI array at the ESO-NTT yields K=12.2+-0.1 and V-K=8.4+-0.1, so red that it
is unlike any other transit candidate studied before. Due to the extreme nature
of this object, we have not yet been able to measure velocities for this star,
but based on the new data we consider two different possible configurations:(1)
a nearby M7V star, or (2) a blend with a very reddened distant red giant. The
nearby M7V dwarf hypothesis would give a radius for the companion of
R_p=0.3+-0.1 R_J, i.e. the size of Neptune. Quantitative analysis of near-IR
spectroscopy finally shows that OGLE-TR-82 is a distant, reddened metal poor
early K giant. This result is confirmed by direct comparison with stellar
templates that gives the best match for a K3III star. Therefore, we discard the
planetary nature of the companion. Based on all the new data, we conclude that
this system is a main-sequence binary blended with a background red giant.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, ApJ accepte
Near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of the low Galactic latitude globular cluster 2MASS-GC03
We present deep near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of the globular cluster 2MASS-GC03 projected in the Galactic disk using MMIRS on the Clay telescope (Las Campanas Observatory) and VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea survey (VVV) data. Most probable cluster member candidates were identified from near-infrared photometry. Out of ten candidates that were followed-up spectroscopically, five have properties of cluster members, from which we calculate = -0.9 +/- 0.2 and a radial velocity of v_r > = -78 +- 12km/s. A distance of 10.8kpc is estimated from 3 likely RRLyrae members. Given that the cluster is currently at a distance of 4.2kpc from the Galactic center, the cluster's long survival time of an estimated 11.3 +/- 1.2 Gyr strengthens the case for its globular-cluster nature. The cluster has a hint of elongation in the direction of the Galactic center.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Maternal psychological distress in primary care and association with child behavioural outcomes at age three
Observational studies indicate children whose mothers have poor mental health are at increased risk of socio-emotional behavioural difficulties, but it is unknown whether these outcomes vary by the mothers’ mental health recognition and treatment status. To examine this question, we analysed linked longitudinal primary care and research data from 1078 women enrolled in the Born in Bradford cohort. A latent class analysis of treatment status and self-reported distress broadly categorised women as (a) not having a common mental disorder (CMD) that persisted through pregnancy and the first 2 years after delivery (N = 756, 70.1 %), (b) treated for CMD (N = 67, 6.2 %), or (c) untreated (N = 255, 23.7 %). Compared to children of mothers without CMD, 3-year-old children with mothers classified as having untreated CMD had higher standardised factor scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (d = 0.32), as did children with mothers classified as having treated CMD (d = 0.27). Results were only slightly attenuated in adjusted analyses. Children of mothers with CMD may be at risk for socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties. The development of effective treatments for CMD needs to be balanced by greater attempts to identify and treat women. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-015-0777-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
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