Physics Commons^™

Elucidating Fundamental Mechanisms In Focused Electron- And Ion-Beam Induced Synthesis, Carlos M. Gonzalez

Doctoral Dissertations

A focused electron beam deposition process (FEBID) coupled with in-situ infrared pulsed laser assist (LA-EBID) has been implemented for higher purity tungsten nanowires using W(CO)₆ [tungsten hexacarbonyl] as parent precursor gas. Nanowires made of Co from Co₂(CO)₈ [dicobalt octacarbonyl] and Pt from MeCpPtIVMe₃ [trimethyl methylcyclopentadienyl platinum] have also been realized by using inert focused ion beams of helium and helium and neon, respectively. In all cases, higher electrical conductivities, higher purities and larger grain sizes have been obtained when compared with preceding traditional additive edit techniques. These new approaches will make possible successful nanoscale direct-write …

The Structure And Ferroelectric Properties Of Iron-Doped Lead Titanate, Michael Bartlein

Theses and Dissertations

Multiferroics are a class of poorly understood, but technologically important materials. Lead(II) titanate (PbTiO$_3$) is a known perovskite ferroelectric. By doping PbTiO$_3$ with Fe$^{3+}$ at the Ti site, we produce the multiferroic PbTi$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$O$_3$ (PTFO). Using selected area electron diffraction on a transmission electron microscope, the structure of PTFO is investigated. Of particular interest is identifying the cubic-to-tetragonal transition at the Curie temperature. As the concentration of Fe increases, the crystal becomes more cubic and experiences a lower transition temperature. I also establish a procedure for preparing bulk PTFO samples for ferroelectric testing and present preliminary results establishing ferroelectricity in these …

Atom-Based Geometrical Fingerprinting Of Conformal Two-Dimensional Materials, Mehrshad Mehboudi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The shape of two-dimensional materials plays a significant role on their chemical and physical properties. Two-dimensional materials are basic meshes that are formed by mesh points (vertices) given by atomic positions, and connecting lines (edges) between points given by chemical bonds. Therefore the study of local shape and geometry of two-dimensional materials is a fundamental prerequisite to investigate physical and chemical properties. Hereby the use of discrete geometry to discuss the shape of two-dimensional materials is initiated.

The local geometry of a surface embodied in 3D space is determined using four invariant numbers from the metric and curvature tensors which …

The Development Of A Laminated Copolyester Electric Guitar, Addison S. Karnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an investigation of the fabrication and assembly methodologies employed in the development of a proof-of-principle prototype electric guitar composed of laminated copolyester. The objective of the project was to develop the processes and procedures to create an optimized physical and visual bond between layers to minimize vibratory dissipation, thus maximizing sustain. A high speed CNC router, abrasive waterjet, laser engraver-cutter, as well as various manual fabrication and assembly methods were investigated in the construction of the guitar prototypes. The lamination processes explored include low-temperature, heat-assisted pressure bonding, solvent and chemical welding, and contact adhesives. The project concluded …

Studies On The Wrinkling Of Thin Polymer Films Floating On Liquid, Kamil B. Toga

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation aims to broaden our understanding on wrinkling instabilities occurring on floating polymeric sheets, and tries to establish innovative methods that exploit these patterns in studies on material behavior and interfacial phenomena. We will address three major topics in this thesis including, i) characterization of the conditions required to buckle an annular disc, ii) characterization of wrinkles occurring around a droplet/bubble placed on a membrane that is kept taut at the liquid-air interface, and iii) using wrinkling patterns as a probe to understand the interfacial behavior and dynamics of ultrathin films. The first project in this thesis is about …

Effects Of Energetic Irradiation On Materials And Devices Based On Graphene And Topological Insulators, Isaac Childres

Open Access Dissertations

This report focuses on the optical and electronic properties of graphene and topological insulators and how these Dirac fermion systems interact with energetic irradiation. We first present data exploring the effects of electron-beam and oxygen plasma induced disorder on the electronic properties and Raman spectra of graphene. These initial investigations were important for relating Raman peak intensities and weak localization features to each other and to an average disorder length in graphene, L_D. ^ We then integrate gate-effect measurements into the Raman spectroscopy study to fully explore the relationships between carrier density, disorder and Raman spectrum signatures. We …

Creasing Instability Of Hydrogels And Elastomers, Dayong Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

CREASING INSTABILITY OF HYDROGELS AND ELASTOMERS MAY 2014 DAYONG CHEN, B.S., TIANJIN UNIVERISTY M.S., TIANJIN UNIVERSITY M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Ryan C. Hayward Soft polymers placed under compressive stress can undergo an elastic creasing instability in which sharp folds spontaneously form on the free surfaces. This process may play an important role in contexts as diverse as brain morphogenesis, failure of tires, and electrical breakdown of soft polymer actuators. While the creasing instability has been used for collotype printing since as early as the 1850s, the scientific appreciation of this instability …

Optical Resonators And Fiber Tapers As Transducers For Detection Of Nanoparticles And Bio-Molecules, Huzeyfe Yilmaz

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, detection of biological interactions on single molecule level has aspired many researchers to investigate several optical, chemical, electrical and mechanical sensing tools. Among these tools, toroidal optical resonators lead the way in detection of the smallest particle/molecule with the real time measurements. In this work, bio-sensing capabilities of toroidal optical resonators are investigated. Bio-sensing is realized via measuring the analyte-antigen interaction while the antigen is immobilized through a novel functionalization method.

Not long ago, detection of single nanoparticles using optical resonators has been accomplished however the need for cost-effective and practical transducers demands simpler tools. A tapered …

Structural Dynamics And Charge Transport In Room Temperature Ionic Liquids, Philip James Griffin

Doctoral Dissertations

Room temperature ionic liquids are an important class of materials due to their chemical tunability and numerous advantageous physicochemical properties. As a result, ionic liquids are currently being investigated for use in a wide array of chemical and electrochemical applications. Despite their great potential, however, the relationship between the chemical structure and physicochemical properties of ionic liquids is not well understood.

To this end, this dissertation presents experimental studies of the reorientational structural dynamics and charge transport properties of a variety of room temperature ionic liquids using quasielastic light scattering spectroscopy and broadband dielectric spectroscopy.

Studies of a series of …

Theoretical Studies Of The Growth And Functionality Of Layered Materials, Wei Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

In this thesis, we present several projects on the growth and functionality of layered materials, using density functional theory (DFT) method and phenomenological modeling approach. Beyond the understanding of growth mechanisms and exploration of properties, we propose novel avenues to realize controllable growth processes and layered materials with desirable properties. The contents have three major parts:

(1) Graphene growth on Cu(111) and Ni(111) substrates. We first demonstrate that the inherent multi-orientational degeneracy of the graphene islands on Cu(111) in the early stages of nucleation could result in the prevalence of grain boundaries (GBs). Next, we propose a possible solution to …

Radiation-Induced Radicals In Polyurea-Crosslinked Silica Aerogel, Benjamin Michael Walters

Masters Theses

Free radicals are atoms or molecules with an odd number of electrons in an outer shell. Since electrons typically occur in pairs, this leaves one electron that is unpaired. In seek of another electron to pair with, free radicals react with and steal electrons from neighboring molecules, which then become free radicals themselves. This can start a chain reaction, cascading into large scale damage.

Ionizing radiation can tear through molecules, just as bullets can tear through things that we see. If free radicals can be detected, and seen to increase in a material upon radiation exposure, this can indicate molecular …

Nickel Aluminum Shape Memory Alloys Via Molecular Dynamics, Keith Ryan Morrison

Open Access Theses

Shape memory materials are an important class of active materials with a wide range of applications in the aerospace, biomedical, and automobile industries. These materials exhibit the two unique properties of shape memory and superelasticity. Shape memory is the ability to recover its original shape by applying heat after undergoing large deformations. Superelasticity is the ability to undergo large, reversible deformations (up to 10%) that revert back when the load is removed. These special properties originate from a reversible, diffusionless solid-solid phase transformation that occurs between a high temperature austenite phase and a low temperature martensite phase. The development of …

Analysis Of Critical Behavior In Magnetic Materials, Dustin David Belyea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work contains a broad study of a variety of magnetic materials undergoing second order phase transitions. In general this leads to an overall increase in information and analytical methods to further the field of magnetocalorics. Specifically, critical aspects of magnetocaloric materials were compared within systems in relation to structure, stoichiometry, magnetic minority phases and magnetic contaminants. Detailed analyses were developed to quantify techniques which were in the past used mainly in a qualitative way, leading to a more complete understanding of how critical phenomena impacts the magnetocaloric response.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Magnetic Nanowires Prepared By Chemical Vapor Deposition, Siwei Tang

Doctoral Dissertations

Various metal silicide and germanide magnetic nanowires were synthesized using a home-built CVD [chemical vapor deposition] system. The morphology, composition, and magnetic properties of the nanowires were studied and correlated with growth parameters such as temperature, pressure, time, and source-substrate distance.

One of the compositions targeted for synthesis was MnSi [manganese silicide]. In bulk, this material orders helimagnetically at T_c [curie temperature] = 30K, with a helical pitch of about 20 nm. After extensive study, we learned that the thickness of the silicon dioxide layer on the substrate is a critical parameter for the growth of MnSi nanowires. An …

Discrete Strain Engineering In Graphene, Cedric Marcus Horvath

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Graphene has a number of fascinating mechanical and electrical properties. Strain engineering in graphene is the attempt to control its properties with mechanical strain. Previous research in this area has come up with an approach using a continuum theory to describe the strain induced gauge fields in graphene; however, this approach is only valid for small strains (5% at most). A discrete framework is being developed in Arkansas that can more accurately calculate the deformation (electrical) and (pseudo-)magnetic gauge fields created by large strains. Computational simulations were carried out and used to get discrete atomic positions for strained, suspended graphene …

A Study Of Ti-Doped Wo3 Thin Films Using Comparative Theoretical And Experimental Approach, Aurelio Paez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Metal oxides like Tungsten Oxide (WO3) are well documented and characterized in the literature, with uses in darkening windows and mirrors, flat computer displays, solar panel cooling, and sensors (of interest in this study). Ti doping of WO3 is less documented and the focus of this study. Sample thin films of pure WO3 and varyingly Ti doped WO3 were prepared using Radio Frequency magnetron sputtering (RF) (13.56 MHz) to grow thin films on a silicon substrate. This study aims to compare multiple Ti doping percentages in WO3 theoretically and then compare with experimental data taken from thin films of various …

Superconducting Thin Films For Srf Cavity Applications: A Route To Higher Field Gradient Linacs, Wiliam Michael Roach

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Many linear accelerator (linac) applications rely on the use of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. In order to overcome the current field gradient limits imposed by the use of bulk niobium, a model involving the deposition of alternating superconducting-insulating-superconducting (SIS) thin films onto the interior surface of SRF cavities has been proposed. Since SRF performance is a surface phenomenon, the critical surface of these cavities is less than 1 micron thick, thus enabling the use of thin films. Before such approach can successfully be implemented fundamental studies correlating the microstructure and superconducting properties of thin films are needed. to this …

Fundamental Studies Of Supported Graphene Interfaces : Defect Density Of States In Graphene Field Effect Transistors (Fets) And Ideal Graphene - Silicon Schottky Diodes, Dhiraj Sinha

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The physics of transport in atomically thin 2D materials is an active area of research, important for understanding fundamental properties of reduced dimensional materials and for applications. New phenomena based on graphene may include properties of topologically protected insulators. Applications of these materials are envisioned in electronics, optoelectronics and spintronics.

Growth And Characterization Of Graphene On Cuni Substrates, Parul Tyagi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Graphene is a single layer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms that crystallizes in the honeycomb structure. Because of its true two-dimensional structure, it has very unique electrical properties, including a very high carrier mobility that is symmetric for holes and electrons. To realize these unique properties, it is important to develop a method for growing graphene films with uniform thickness and low defect density. One of the most popular methods of growth is by chemical vapor deposition on Cu substrates, because it is self-limited. However many applications require the growth of graphene films that are more than one atomic layer …

Experimental And Simulation Studies Of Printability Of Buried Euv Mask Defects And Study Of Euv Reflectivity Loss Mechanisms Due To Standard Euv Mask Cleaning Processes, Mihirkant Upadhyaya

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There's a big push for development and commercialization of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for high-volume semiconductor manufacturing of 14 nm half-pitch patterning and beyond. One of the primary concerns for making this a reality has been the ability to achieve defect-free masks. My study is focused on two aspects related to the performance degradation of the EUV masks namely EUV mask cleaning induced reflectivity loss mechanisms, and the buried multilayer phase defects in EUV masks.

Metal Oxide Growth, Spin Precession Measurements And Raman Spectroscopy Of Cvd Graphene, Akitomo Matsubayashi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The focus of this dissertation is to explore the possibility of wafer scale graphene-based spintronics. Graphene is a single atomic layer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms that has attracted much attention as a new type of electronic material due to its high carrier mobilities, superior mechanical properties and extremely high thermal conductivity. In addition, it has become an attractive material for use in spintronic devices owing to its long electron spin relaxation time at room temperature. This arises in part from its low spin-orbit coupling and negligible nuclear hyperfine interaction. In order to realize wafer scale graphene spintronics, utilization of …

Magneto-Optics And Magneto-Transport Studies On Thin Films For Sensor Applications, Kaida Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Recent progress and interest have bought considerable effort to bear on the synthesis and opportunities of magnetic thin films in different fields. There are applications in many fields, including remote sensing, waveguide applications, hard drive applications, etc. at the College of William and Mary, we have focused on utilizing magnetic thin films in some of these applications and are deeply involved in the optimization process of the thin films.

Nonlinear Optical Studies Of Photoelastic Effect And Magneto-Plasmonics, Wei Zheng

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Nonlinear optical (NLO) processes are optical phenomena involving a nonlinear response to an applied light field. Two kinds of nonlinearities are studied in this dissertation: magnetic-induced second-harmonic generation (MSHG) interacting with surface plasmon, called "nonlinear magnetoplasmonics" (NMP), and the nonlinear index induced by a strong pump beam in Titanium doped sapphire crystal, referred to as population-induced nonlinear index effect.;The fundamentals of the major effects involved are discussed, which include: surface plasmon and its field enhancement effect, MSHG technique and phenomenological calculations, the contrast ratio of magnetic switching, the calculation of lensing effects, population induced strain, and photoelastic effect. Furthermore, the …