1,913 research outputs found
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 (“phonon-bottleneck”). 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 1–7 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
Electronic and optical properties of LiBC
LiBC, a semiconducting ternary borocarbide constituted of the lightest
elements only, has been synthesized and characterized by x-ray powder
diffraction, dielectric spectroscopy, and conductivity measurements. Utilizing
an infrared microscope the phonon spectrum has been investigated in single
crystals. The in-plane B-C stretching mode has been detected at 150 meV,
noticeably higher than in AlB2, a non-superconducting isostructural analog of
MgB2. It is this stretching mode, which reveals a strong electron-phonon
coupling in MgB2, driving it into a superconducting state below 40 K, and is
believed to mediate predicted high-temperature superconductivity in hole-doped
LiBC [H. Rosner, A. Kitaigorodsky, and W. E. Pickett, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88,
127001 (2002)].Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
LiBC by polarized Raman spectroscopy: Evidence for lower crystal symmetry ?
The paper presents polarized Raman scattering study on a few-micron-size
crystallite of LiBC with natural faces. The experiment on as grown sample has
revealed a four lattice modes with frequencies at 1276 cm^-1, 830 cm^-1, 546
cm^-1 and 170 cm^-1, respectively. The number of observed Raman lines and their
selection rules are incompatible with the assumed D6h symmetry. The modes at
1276 cm^-1 and 170 cm^-1 correspond to the expected Raman active modes. In
contrast with the superconducting compound MgB2, the B-C bond stretching mode
(at 1276 cm^-1) has rather small damping. The two "forbidden" modes (at 830
cm^-1 and 546 cm^-1) disappeared after subsequent thermal treatment.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, complementary experimental resul
Precise Tight-binding Description of the Band Structure of MgB2
We present a careful recasting of first-principles band structure
calculations for MgB2 in a non-orthogonal sp-tight-binding (TB) basis. Our TB
results almost exactly reproduce our full potential linearized augmented plane
wave results for the energy bands, the densities of states and the total
energies. Our procedure generates transferable Slater-Koster parameters which
should be useful for other studies of this important material.Comment: REVTEX, 2 Encapsulated PostScript Figure
Use of high resolution 3D diffusion tensor imaging to study brain white matter development in live neonatal rats
High resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can provide important information on brain development, yet it is challenging in live neonatal rats due to the small size of neonatal brain and motion-sensitive nature of DTI. Imaging in live neonatal rats has clear advantages over fixed brain scans, as longitudinal and functional studies would be feasible to understand neuro-developmental abnormalities. In this study, we developed imaging strategies that can be used to obtain high resolution 3D DTI images in live neonatal rats at postnatal day 5 (PND5) and PND14, using only 3 h of imaging acquisition time. An optimized 3D DTI pulse sequence and appropriate animal setup to minimize physiological motion artifacts are the keys to successful high resolution 3D DTI imaging. Thus, a 3D rapid acquisition relaxation enhancement DTI sequence with twin navigator echoes was implemented to accelerate imaging acquisition time and minimize motion artifacts. It has been suggested that neonatal mammals possess a unique ability to tolerate mild-to-moderate hypothermia and hypoxia without long term impact. Thus, we additionally utilized this ability to minimize motion artifacts in magnetic resonance images by carefully suppressing the respiratory rate to around 15/min for PND5 and 30/min for PND14 using mild-to-moderate hypothermia. These imaging strategies have been successfully implemented to study how the effect of cocaine exposure in dams might affect brain development in their rat pups. Image quality resulting from this in vivo DTI study was comparable to ex vivo scans. fractional anisotropy values were also similar between the live and fixed brain scans. The capability of acquiring high quality in vivo DTI imaging offers a valuable opportunity to study many neurological disorders in brain development in an authentic living environment
Strong Electron-Phonon Coupling in Superconducting MgB: A Specific Heat Study
We report on measurements of the specific heat of the recently discovered
superconductor MgB in the temperature range between 3 and 220 K. Based on a
modified Debye-Einstein model, we have achieved a rather accurate account of
the lattice contribution to the specific heat, which allows us to separate the
electronic contribution from the total measured specific heat. From our result
for the electronic specific heat, we estimate the electron-phonon coupling
constant to be of the order of 2, significantly enhanced compared to
common weak-coupling values . Our data also indicate that the
electronic specific heat in the superconducting state of MgB can be
accounted for by a conventional, s-wave type BCS-model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
A Deficiency Problem of the Least Squares Finite Element Method for Solving Radiative Transfer in Strongly Inhomogeneous Media
The accuracy and stability of the least squares finite element method (LSFEM)
and the Galerkin finite element method (GFEM) for solving radiative transfer in
homogeneous and inhomogeneous media are studied theoretically via a frequency
domain technique. The theoretical result confirms the traditional understanding
of the superior stability of the LSFEM as compared to the GFEM. However, it is
demonstrated numerically and proved theoretically that the LSFEM will suffer a
deficiency problem for solving radiative transfer in media with strong
inhomogeneity. This deficiency problem of the LSFEM will cause a severe
accuracy degradation, which compromises too much of the performance of the
LSFEM and makes it not a good choice to solve radiative transfer in strongly
inhomogeneous media. It is also theoretically proved that the LSFEM is
equivalent to a second order form of radiative transfer equation discretized by
the central difference scheme
Constraints from and the isotope effect for MgB
With the constraint that K, as observed for MgB, we use the
Eliashberg equations to compute possible allowed values of the isotope
coefficient, . We find that while the observed value can
be obtained in principle, it is difficult to reconcile a recently calculated
spectral function with such a low observed value
A first-principles study of MgB2 (0001) surfaces
We report self-consistent {\it ab initio} calculations of structural and
electronic properties for the B- and Mg-terminated MgB (0001) surfaces.
We employ ultra-soft pseudopotentials and plane wave basis sets within the
generalized gradient approximation. The surface relaxations are found to be
small for both B- and Mg-terminated surfaces. For the B-terminated surface,
both B and surface bands appear, while only one B
surface band exists near the Fermi level for the Mg-terminated surface. The
superconductivity of the MgB surfaces is discussed. The work function is
predicted to be 5.95 and 4.25 eV for the B- and Mg-terminated surfaces
respectively. The simulated scanning tunneling microscopy images of the
surfaces are not sensitive to the sign and value of the bias voltages, but
depend strongly on the tip-sample distance. An image reversal is predicted for
the Mg-terminated surface.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Revte
Structural and superconducting properties of MgBBe
We prepared MgBBe (, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.6) samples where
B is substituted with Be. MgB structure is maintained up to .
In-plane and inter-plane lattice constants were found to decrease and increase,
respectively. Superconducting transition temperature decreases with
. We found that the decrease is correlated with in-plane contraction
but is insensitive to carrier doping, which is consistent with other
substitution studies such as MgAlB and MgBC.
Implication of this work is discussed in terms of the 2D nature of -band.Comment: 3 pages,4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
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