235 research outputs found
Electronic structure of polychiral carbon nanotubes
Most of the works devoted so far to the electronic band structure of
multiwall nanotubes have been restricted to the case where the individual
layers have the same helicity. By comparison, much less is known on the
electronic properties of multiwall nanotubes that mix different helicities.
These are interesting systems, however, since they can be composed of both
metallic and semiconducting layers. For the present work, tight-binding
calculations were undertaken for polychiral two-layer nanotubes such as
(9,6)@(15,10), (6,6)@(18,2), and others. The recursion technique was used to
investigate how the densities of states of the individual layers are affected
by the intertube coupling. Constant-current STM images were also calculated for
these systems. The result obtained is that the image of a two-wall nanotube is
pretty much the same as the one of the isolated external layer. It is only in
the case of monochiral, commensurate structures like (5,5)@(10,10) that
interlayer effects can be seen on the STM topography.Comment: 12 pages plus 6 figures included in the postscript fil
Tuning the electronic structure of graphene by ion irradiation
Mechanically exfoliated graphene layers deposited on SiO2 substrate were
irradiated with Ar+ ions in order to experimentally study the effect of atomic
scale defects and disorder on the low-energy electronic structure of graphene.
The irradiated samples were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and
spectroscopy measurements, which reveal that defect sites, besides acting as
scattering centers for electrons through local modification of the on-site
potential, also induce disorder in the hopping amplitudes. The most important
consequence of the induced disorder is the substantial reduction in the Fermi
velocity, revealed by bias-dependent imaging of electron-density oscillations
observed near defect sites
Computation of Scanning Tunneling Microscope Images of Nanometer-Sized Objects Physisorbed on Metal Surfaces
This communication deals with the application of a transfer-matrix strategy for the quantitative evaluation of the tunnel current in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The image given by a simple atomic-size object deposited on a metal surface is specifically examined in both modes of STM operation namely the constant-height and the constant-current modes. The two-dimensional corrugation induced at low temperature by Xe atoms physisorbed on an otherwise clean, unreconstructed Ni (110) surface is studied in detail. It is shown that the simple consideration of the elastic scattering of electrons by the three-dimensional potential barrier between the tip and the metal substrates provides a quantitative description of the images produced by the instrument: (1) the Xe atom appears as a conic protrusion, approximately 7 A wide, with a corrugation 1.3 A high; (2) in Xe clusters, each adjoining atom is resolved, with a shape in full agreement with experiment. In order to obtain correct quantitative results, image-charge corrections to the potential cannot be neglected
Vacuum-field Rabi oscillations in atomically doped carbon nanotubes
We report a strictly non-exponential spontaneous decay dynamics of an excited
two-level atom placed inside or at different distances outside a carbon
nanotube. This is the result of strong non-Markovian memory effects arising
from the rapid frequency variation of the photonic density of states near the
nanotube. The system exhibits vacuum-field Rabi oscillations when the atom is
close enough to the nanotube surface and the atomic transition frequency is in
the vicinity of the resonance of the photonic density of states.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
How effectively do carbon nanotube inclusions contribute to the electromagnetic performance of a composite material? Estimation criteria from microwave and terahertz measurements
Screening effect in finite-length carbon nanotubes (CNT) and their agglomerates hinders significantly the electromagnetic interaction in composite materials. Screening effect is strong in the microwave range, and it decreases with increasing frequency resulting in a strong frequency dependence of the effective conductivity of the composite. Since screening effect is rather small in the terahertz range, the effective conductivity in this range is determined directly by the intrinsic conductivity of the inclusions. The ratio of the microwave to terahertz effective conductivities was proposed as a parameter to estimate how effectively carbon nanotube inclusions contribute to the electromagnetic performance of composite materials in the microwave range. CNT film was considered as a material where maximal possible interaction of the CNTs with EM field occurs. Single-walled CNT films and CNT-based composite materials, as well as hybrid film comprising mixtures of WS2 nanotubes and CNTs were fabricated and measured in the microwave and terahertz ranges. The electromagnetic field interaction with the inclusions has been estimated for all the samples fabricated
Born Effective Charges of Barium Titanate: band by band decomposition and sensitivity to structural features
The Born effective charge tensors of Barium Titanate have been calculated for
each of its 4 phases. Large effective charges of Ti and O, also predicted by
shell model calculations and made plausible by a simplified model, reflect the
partial covalent character of the chemical bond. A band by band decomposition
confirms that orbital hybridization is not restricted to Ti and O atoms but
also involves Ba which appears more covalent than generally assumed. Our
calculations reveal a strong dependence of the effective charges on the atomic
positions contrasting with a relative insensitivity on isotropic volume
changes.Comment: 13 page
van der Waals coupling in atomically doped carbon nanotubes
We have investigated atom-nanotube van der Waals (vdW) coupling in atomically
doped carbon nanotubes (CNs). Our approach is based on the perturbation theory
for degenerated atomic levels, thus accounting for both weak and strong
atom-vacuum-field coupling. The vdW energy is described by an integral equation
represented in terms of the local photonic density of states (DOS). By solving
it numerically, we demonstrate the inapplicability of standard
weak-coupling-based vdW interaction models in a close vicinity of the CN
surface where the local photonic DOS effectively increases, giving rise to an
atom-field coupling enhancement. An inside encapsulation of atoms into the CN
has been shown to be energetically more favorable than their outside adsorption
by the CN surface. If the atom is fixed outside the CN, the modulus of the vdW
energy increases with the CN radius provided that the weak atom-field coupling
regime is realized (i.e., far enough from the CN). For inside atomic position,
the modulus of the vdW energy decreases with the CN radius, representing a
general effect of the effective interaction area reduction with lowering the CN
curvature.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Spontaneous decay dynamics in atomically doped carbon nanotubes
We report a strictly non-exponential spontaneous decay dynamics of an excited
two-level atom placed inside or at different distances outside a carbon
nanotube (CN). This is the result of strong non-Markovian memory effects
arising from the rapid variation of the photonic density of states with
frequency near the CN. The system exhibits vacuum-field Rabi oscillations, a
principal signature of strong atom-vacuum-field coupling, when the atom is
close enough to the nanotube surface and the atomic transition frequency is in
the vicinity of the resonance of the photonic density of states. Caused by
decreasing the atom-field coupling strength, the non-exponential decay dynamics
gives place to the exponential one if the atom moves away from the CN surface.
Thus, atom-field coupling and the character of the spontaneous decay dynamics,
respectively, may be controlled by changing the distance between the atom and
CN surface by means of a proper preparation of atomically doped CNs. This opens
routes for new challenging nanophotonics applications of atomically doped CN
systems as various sources of coherent light emitted by dopant atoms.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Analysis of tumor texture on a pre-treatment CT scan predicts treatment outcome in NSCLC patients
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Biophysical suitability, economic pressure and land-cover change: a global probabilistic approach and insights for REDD+
There has been a concerted effort by the international scientific community to understand the multiple causes and patterns of land-cover change to support sustainable land management. Here, we examined biophysical suitability, and a novel integrated index of “Economic Pressure on Land” (EPL) to explain land cover in the year 2000, and estimated the likelihood of future land-cover change through 2050, including protected area effectiveness. Biophysical suitability and EPL explained almost half of the global pattern of land cover (R 2 = 0.45), increasing to almost two-thirds in areas where a long-term equilibrium is likely to have been reached (e.g. R 2 = 0.64 in Europe). We identify a high likelihood of future land-cover change in vast areas with relatively lower current and past deforestation (e.g. the Congo Basin). Further, we simulated emissions arising from a “business as usual” and two reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) scenarios by incorporating data on biomass carbon. As our model incorporates all biome types, it highlights a crucial aspect of the ongoing REDD + debate: if restricted to forests, “cross-biome leakage” would severely reduce REDD + effectiveness for climate change mitigation. If forests were protected from deforestation yet without measures to tackle the drivers of land-cover change, REDD + would only reduce 30 % of total emissions from land-cover change. Fifty-five percent of emissions reductions from forests would be compensated by increased emissions in other biomes. These results suggest that, although REDD + remains a very promising mitigation tool, implementation of complementary measures to reduce land demand is necessary to prevent this leakage
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