1,333 research outputs found
Screening of point charges in Si quantum dots
The screening of point charges in hydrogenated Si quantum dots ranging in
diameter from 10 A to 26 A has been studied using first-principles
density-functional methods. We find that the main contribution to the screening
function originates from the electrostatic field set up by the polarization
charges at the surface of the nanocrystals. This contribution is well described
by a classical electrostatics model of dielectric screening
Excited-state relaxation in PbSe quantum dots
In solids the phonon-assisted, nonradiative decay from high-energy electronic excited states to low-energy electronic excited states is picosecond fast. It was hoped that electron and hole relaxation could be slowed down in quantum dots, due to the unavailability of phonons energy matched to the large energy-level spacings (âphonon-bottleneckâ). However, excited-state relaxation was observed to be rather fast (1 ps) in InP, CdSe, and ZnO dots, and explained by an efficient Auger mechanism, whereby the excess energy of electrons is nonradiatively transferred to holes, which can then rapidly decay by phonon emission, by virtue of the densely spaced valence-band levels. The recent emergence of PbSe as a novel quantum-dot material has rekindled the hope for a slow down of excited-state relaxation because hole relaxation was deemed to be ineffective on account of the widely spaced hole levels. The assumption of sparse hole energy levels in PbSe was based on an effective-mass argument based on the light effective mass of the hole. Surprisingly, fast intraband relaxation times of 1â7 ps were observed in PbSe quantum dots and have been considered contradictory with the Auger cooling mechanism because of the assumed sparsity of the hole energy levels. Our pseudopotential calculations, however, do not support the scenario of sparse hole levels in PbSe: Because of the existence of three valence-band maxima in the bulk PbSe band structure, hole energy levels are densely spaced, in contradiction with simple effective-mass models. The remaining question is whether the Auger decay channel is sufficiently fast to account for the fast intraband relaxation. Using the atomistic pseudopotential wave functions of Pb2046Se2117 and Pb260Se249 quantum dots, we explicitly calculated the electron-hole Coulomb integrals and the PS electron Auger relaxation rate. We find that the Auger mechanism can explain the experimentally observed PS intraband decay time scale without the need to invoke any exotic relaxation mechanisms
Strict inequalities of critical values in continuum percolation
We consider the supercritical finite-range random connection model where the
points of a homogeneous planar Poisson process are connected with
probability for a given . Performing percolation on the resulting
graph, we show that the critical probabilities for site and bond percolation
satisfy the strict inequality . We also show
that reducing the connection function strictly increases the critical
Poisson intensity. Finally, we deduce that performing a spreading
transformation on (thereby allowing connections over greater distances but
with lower probabilities, leaving average degrees unchanged) {\em strictly}
reduces the critical Poisson intensity. This is of practical relevance,
indicating that in many real networks it is in principle possible to exploit
the presence of spread-out, long range connections, to achieve connectivity at
a strictly lower density value.Comment: 38 pages, 8 figure
Radiative recombination of charged excitons and multiexcitons in CdSe quantum dots
We report semi-empirical pseudopotential calculations of emission spectra of
charged excitons and biexcitons in CdSe nanocrystals. We find that the main
emission peak of charged multiexcitons - originating from the recombination of
an electron in an s-like state with a hole in an s-like state - is blue shifted
with respect to the neutral mono exciton. In the case of the negatively charged
biexciton, we observe additional emission peaks of lower intensity at higher
energy, which we attribute to the recombination of an electron in a p state
with a hole in a p state
MicroRNA-433 Dampens Glucocorticoid Receptor Signaling, Impacting Circadian Rhythm and Osteoblastic Gene Expression
FUNDING This work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health [AR44877]; the National Institutes for Dental and Craniofacial Research [5T90DE21989]; a Grant-in-Aid award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research; the UConn Health Center Research Advisory council; and the Center for Molecular Medicine at UConn Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Covering algorithms, continuum percolation and the geometry of wireless networks
Continuum percolation models in which each point of a two-dimensional Poisson point process is the centre of a disc of given (or random) radius r, have been extensively studied. In this paper, we consider the generalization in which a deterministic algorithm (given the points of the point process) places the discs on the plane, in such a way that each disc covers at least one point of the point process and that each point is covered by at least one disc. This gives a model for wireless communication networks, which was the original motivation to study this class of problems.
We look at the percolation properties of this generalized model, showing that an unbounded connected component of discs does not exist, almost surely, for small values of the density lambda of the Poisson point process, for any covering algorithm. In general, it turns out not to be true that unbounded connected components arise when lambda is taken sufficiently high. However, we identify some large families of covering algorithms, for which such an unbounded component does arise for large values of lambda.
We show how a simple scaling operation can change the percolation properties of the model, leading to the almost sure existence of an unbounded connected component for large values of lambda, for any covering algorithm.
Finally, we show that a large class of covering algorithms, which arise in many practical applications, can get arbitrarily close to achieving a minimal density of covering discs. We also construct an algorithm that achieves this minimal density
Impact of boundaries on fully connected random geometric networks
Many complex networks exhibit a percolation transition involving a
macroscopic connected component, with universal features largely independent of
the microscopic model and the macroscopic domain geometry. In contrast, we show
that the transition to full connectivity is strongly influenced by details of
the boundary, but observe an alternative form of universality. Our approach
correctly distinguishes connectivity properties of networks in domains with
equal bulk contributions. It also facilitates system design to promote or avoid
full connectivity for diverse geometries in arbitrary dimension.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Generation of large scale digital evaluation models via synthetic aperture radar interferometry
We investigate the possibility to generate a large-scale Digital Elevation Model by applying the Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry technique and using tandem data acquired by the ERS-1/ERS-2 sensors. The presented study
is mainly focused on the phase unwrapping step that represents the most critical point of the overall processing chain. In particular, we concentrate on the unwrapping problems related to the use of a large ERS tandem data set that, in order to be unwrapped, must be partitioned. The paper discusses the inclusion of external information (even rough) of the scene topography, the application of a region growing unwrapping technique and the insertion of possible constraints on the phase to be
retrieved in order to minimize the global unwrapping errors. Our goal is the generation of a digital elevation model relative to an area of 300 km by 100km located in
the southern part of Italy. Comparisons between the achieved result and a precise digital terrain model, relative to a smaller area, are also included
Temperature Dependent Empirical Pseudopotential Theory For Self-Assembled Quantum Dots
We develop a temperature dependent empirical pseudopotential theory to study
the electronic and optical properties of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) at
finite temperature. The theory takes the effects of both lattice expansion and
lattice vibration into account. We apply the theory to the InAs/GaAs QDs. For
the unstrained InAs/GaAs heterostructure, the conduction band offset increases
whereas the valence band offset decreases with increasing of the temperature,
and there is a type-I to type-II transition at approximately 135 K. Yet, for
InAs/GaAs QDs, the holes are still localized in the QDs even at room
temperature, because the large lattice mismatch between InAs and GaAs greatly
enhances the valence band offset. The single particle energy levels in the QDs
show strong temperature dependence due to the change of confinement potentials.
Because of the changes of the band offsets, the electron wave functions
confined in QDs increase by about 1 - 5%, whereas the hole wave functions
decrease by about 30 - 40% when the temperature increases from 0 to 300 K. The
calculated recombination energies of exciton, biexciton and charged excitons
show red shifts with increasing of the temperature, which are in excellent
agreement with available experimental data
Introducing Agility in Hybrid Communication Systems and Sensors
This paper presents a new approach in dealing with hybridization issues in communication systems or sensors. The thrust is to separate the logical network (sensor) infrastructure from the physical one. Here we show how we can exploit concepts such as persistent identification which we believe is crucial to be able to connect a variety of heterogeneous devices in a network that grows, and that is robust to failures. A vital characteristic of our architecture is the ability to accommodate a variety of heterogeneous devices and subsystems. Several examples of hybridization of sensors at the physical, logical, and network levels are presented and discussed
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