Shear-strain-induced Spatially Varying Super-lattice Structures on Graphite studied by STM

We report on the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) observation of linear fringes together with spatially varying super-lattice structures on (0001) graphite (HOPG) surface. The structure, present in a region of a layer bounded by two straight carbon fibers, varies from a hexagonal lattice of 6nm periodicity to nearly a square lattice of 13nm periodicity. It then changes into a one-dimensional (1-D) fringe-like pattern before relaxing into a pattern-free region. We attribute this surface structure to a shear strain giving rise to a spatially varying rotation of the affected graphite layer relative to the bulk substrate. We propose a simple method to understand these moire patterns by looking at the fixed and rotated lattices in the Fourier transformed k-space. Using this approach we can reproduce the spatially varying 2-D lattice as well as the 1-D fringes by simulation. The 1-D fringes are found to result from a particular spatial dependence of the rotation angle.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Quantum Confinement Effect in Diamond Nanocrystals Studied by X-Ray-Absorption Spectroscopy

[[abstract]]This study measures the x-ray-absorption spectra of a series of nanodiamond thin films with grain diameters ranging from 3.5 nm to 5 μm at the C K-edge using the sample drain current mode at room temperature. Resonance peaks resembling the C 1s core exciton are observed. The exciton state and conduction band edge are found to shift to higher energies with the decrease of the grain size indicative of the presence of the quantum confinement effect.[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子版[[countrycodes]]US

Exact Integration of the High Energy Scale in Doped Mott Insulators

We expand on our earlier work (cond-mat/0612130, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99}, 46404 (2007)) in which we constructed the exact low-energy theory of a doped Mott insulator by explicitly integrating (rather than projecting) out the degrees of freedom far away from the chemical potential. The exact low-energy theory contains degrees of freedom that cannot be obtained from projective schemes. In particular a new charge $\pm 2e$ bosonic field emerges at low energies that is not made out of elemental excitations. Such a field accounts for dynamical spectral weight transfer across the Mott gap. At half-filling, we show that two such excitations emerge which play a crucial role in preserving the Luttinger surface along which the single-particle Green function vanishes. In addition, the interactions with the bosonic fields defeat the artificial local SU(2) symmetry that is present in the Heisenberg model. We also apply this method to the Anderson-U impurity and show that in addition to the Kondo interaction, bosonic degrees of freedom appear as well. Finally, we show that as a result of the bosonic degree of freedom, the electron at low energies is in a linear superposition of two excitations--one arising from the standard projection into the low-energy sector and the other from the binding of a hole and the boson.Comment: Published veriso

Natural orbits of atomic Cooper pairs in a nonuniform Fermi gas

We examine the basic mode structure of atomic Cooper pairs in an inhomogeneous Fermi gas. Based on the properties of Bogoliubov quasi-particle vacuum, the single particle density matrix and the anomalous density matrix share the same set of eigenfunctions. These eigenfunctions correspond to natural pairing orbits associated with the BCS ground state. We investigate these orbits for a Fermi gas in a spherical harmonic trap, and construct the wave function of a Cooper pair in the form of Schmidt decomposition. The issue of spatial quantum entanglement between constituent atoms in a pair is addressed.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Electronic and atomic structures of the Si-C-N thin film by x-ray-absorption spectroscopy and theoretical calculations

[[abstract]]This study measures the x-ray-absorption spectra of a crystalline ~c!-Si-C-N thin film at the C and Si K edge using the sample drain current mode and at the N K edge using the fluorescence mode. A resonance peak resembling the C 1s core exciton in the chemical-vapor-deposition-diamond/Si is observed. In addition, a broad feature is found in the energy range between ;290 and 305 eV, which can be assigned to the antibonding C 2p-Si 3sp hybridized states and the C 2p-N 2sp hybridized states as well. The fact that the resonance peak is located ;1.5 eV below the C 1s ionization energy suggests that the Frenkel-type exciton model can appropriately describe the core exciton of carbon atoms in c-Si-C-N. Closely examining the N K edge near edge absorption spectra reveals similar features in both c-Si-C-N and a-Si3N4, indicating that nitrogen atoms generally have a similar local environment in these two materials. Moreover, results obtained from Si K-edge absorption spectra of c-Si-C-N demonstrate a proportional combination of local Si-N and Si-C bonds associated with the local tetrahedral C-Si-N3 arrangement as well as the long-range ordered atomic structure around Si atoms. Theoretical calculations using the first-principles pseudofunction method are also presented and compared with experimental data.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子