Physics Commons^™

Domain Wall Conductivity In Semiconducting Hexagonal Ferroelectric Tbmno3 Thin Films, D. J. Kim, J. G. Connell, S. S. A. Seo, Alexei Gruverman

Alexei Gruverman Publications

Although enhanced conductivity of ferroelectric domain boundaries has been found in BiFeO₃ and Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ films as well as hexagonal rare-earth manganite single crystals, the mechanism of the domain wall conductivity is still under debate. Using conductive atomic force microscopy, we observe enhanced conductance at the electrically-neutral domain walls in semiconducting hexagonal ferroelectric TbMnO₃ thin films where the structure and polarization direction are strongly constrained along the c-axis. This result indicates that domain wall conductivity in ferroelectric rare-earth manganites is not limited to charged domain walls. We show that the observed conductivity in the TbMnO₃ films is …

Phase Separation In Lufeo3 Films, Shi Cao, Xiaozhe Zhang, Kishan Sinha, Wenbin Wang, Jian Wang, Peter A. Dowben, Xiaoshan Xu

Peter Dowben Publications

The structural transition at about 1000°C, from the hexagonal to the orthorhombic phase of LuFeO₃, has been investigated in thin films of LuFeO₃. Separation of the two structural phases of LuFeO₃ occurs on a length scale of micrometer, as visualized in real space using X-ray photoemission electron microscopy. The results are consistent with X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy obtained from LuFeO₃ thin films undergoing the irreversible structural transition from the hexagonal to the orthorhombic phase of LuFeO₃, at elevated temperatures. The sharp phase boundaries between the structural phases are observed to …

Influence Of Steric Hindrance On The Molecular Packing And The Anchoring Of Quinonoid Zwitterions On Gold Surfaces, Minghui Yuan, Iori Tababe, Jean-Marie Bernard- Schaaf, Qin-Yin Shi, Vicki Schlegel, Rachel Schurhammer, Peter A. Dowben, Bernard Doudin, Lucie Routaboul, Pierre Braunstein

Peter Dowben Publications

Driven by the huge potential of engineering the molecular band offset with highly dipolar molecules for improving charge injection into organic electrics, the anchoring of various N-alkyl substituted quinonoid zwitterions of formula C₆H₂ (···NHR)₂ (···O)₂ (R = iPr, Cy, CH₂CH(Et)CH₂CH₂CH₂CH₃,. . .) on gold surfaces is studied. The N–Au interactions result in an orthogonal arrangement of the zwitterions cores with respect to the surface, and stabilize adsorbed compact rows of molecules. IR spectroscopy is used as a straightforward diagnostic tool to validate the presence of …

Momentum Exchange In The Electron Double-Slit Experiment, Herman Batelaan, Eric Jones, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Roger Bach

Herman Batelaan Publications

We provide support for the claim that momentum is conserved for individual events in the electron double slit experiment. The natural consequence is that a physical mechanism is responsible for this momentum exchange, but that even if the fundamental mechanism is known for electron crystal diffraction and the Kapitza–Dirac effect, it is unknown for electron diffraction from nano-fabricated double slits. Work towards a proposed explanation in terms of particle trajectories affected by a vacuum field is discussed. The contentious use of trajectories is discussed within the context of oil droplet analogues of double slit diffraction.

Method For Monitoring Gaas Photocathode Heat Cleaning Temperature, Nathan B. Clayburn, Kenneth Wayne Trantham, M. Dunn, Timothy J. Gay

Timothy J. Gay Publications

Before a GaAs photocathode can be activated to achieve a negative electron affinity condition, the GaAs crystal must be cleaned. This is most commonly done by ohmic, radiative, or electron bombardment heating. We report a new technique to monitor the temperature of heated GaAs photocathodes by observation with a camera. The method is robust and yields the same temperatures for different GaAs samples heated using different methods in different mounting configurations.

Scaling Of Electroresistance Effect In Fully Integrated Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions, Mohammad Abuwasib, Haidong Lu, Tao Li, Pratyush Buragohain, Hyungwoo Lee, Chang-Beom Eom, Alexei Gruverman, Uttam Singisetti

Alexei Gruverman Publications

Systematic investigation of the scalability for tunneling electroresistance (TER) of integrated Co/BaTiO₃/SrRuO₃ ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) has been performed from micron to deep submicron dimensions. Pulsed measurements of the transient currents confirm the ferroelectric switching behavior of the FTJs, while the hysteresis loops measured by means of piezoresponse force microscopy verify the scalability of these structures. Fully integrated functional FTJ devices with the size of 300×300 nm² exhibiting a tunneling electroresistance (TER) effect of the order of 2.7×10⁴% have been fabricated and tested. Measured current density of 75 A/cm² for the ON state …

Cover Illustration Features Fuchs' Research, Felix Mackenroth, Matthias Fuchs, Joel Brehm

Matthias Fuchs Publications

An illustration showing the unexpected result of an interaction between X-rays and matter, research conducted by UNL physicist Matthias Fuchs, is featured on the cover of the January issue of Physik Journal, a German publication.

The illustration accompanies an article by a scientist in Sweden about the significance of the results that Fuchs and his team originally reported in the journal Nature Physics last August. In the Nature Physics article, the team described their research on the phenomenon that occurs when simultaneously smashing two X-ray photons into a single atom using a high-intensity laser. The event, highly improbable and requiring …

Ferroelectric Polymer Nanopillar Arrays On Flexible Substrates By Reverse Nanoimprint Lithography, Jingfeng Song, Haidong Lu, Keith Foreman, Shumin Li, Li Tan, Shireen Adenwalla, Alexei Gruverman, Stephen Ducharme

Stephen Ducharme Publications

With the increasing interest in deploying ferroelectric polymer in flexible electronics and electromechanics, high-throughput and low-cost fabrication of 3D ferroelectric polymer nanostructures on flexible substrates can be a significant basis for future research and applications. Here, we report that large arrays of ferroelectric polymer nanopillars can be prepared directly on soft, flexible substrates by using low-cost polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft-mold reverse nanoimprint lithography at 135 °C and at pressures as low as 3 bar. The nanopillar arrays were highly uniform over large areas of at least 200 × 200 μm and had good crystallinity with nearly optimum (110) orientation. Furthermore, the …

2d Cocrystallization From H‑Bonded Organic Ferroelectrics, Donna A. Kunkel, James Hooper, Benjamin Bradley, Lisa Schlueter, Tom Rasmussen, Paulo Costa, Sunit Beniwal, Stephen Ducharme, Eva Zurek, Axel Enders

Stephen Ducharme Publications

The synthesis of 2D H-bonded cocrystals from the room-temperature ferroelectric organics croconic acid (CA) and 3-hydroxyphenalenone (3-HPLN) is demonstrated through self-assembly on a substrate under ultrahigh vacuum. 2D cocrystal polymorphs of varied stoichiometry were identified with scanning tunneling microscopy, and one of the observed structural building blocks consists of two CA and two 3-HPLN molecules. Computational analysis with density functional theory confirmed that the experimental (CA)₂(3-HPLN)₂ tetramers are lower in energy than single-component structures due to the ability of the tetramers to pack efficiently in two dimensions, the promotion of favorable electrostatic interactions between tetramers, and the …

Fabrication Of Diisopropylammonium Bromide Aligned Microcrystals With In-Plane Uniaxial Polarization, Shashi Poddar, Haidong Lu, Jingfeng Song, Om Goit, Shah Valloppilly, Alexei Gruverman, Stephen Ducharme

Stephen Ducharme Publications

Textured arrays of ferroelectric microcrystals of diisopropylammonium bromide were grown from solution at room temperature onto silicon substrates and studied by means of x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, and piezoresponse force microscopy. The needle-shaped crystals had dimensions of approximately 50 μm × 5 μm in the plane and were approximately 200 nm thick, where the dimensions and arrangement were influenced by growth conditions. The observations suggest an Ostwald ripening mechanism of the microcrystal growth. The crystals had the structure of the ferroelectric phase, where the polarization axis was in-plane and parallel to the long axis of …

Shielded Radiography With A Laser-Driven Mev-Energy X-Ray Source, Shouyuan Chen, Grigory V. Golovin, Cameron Miller, Daniel Haden, Sudeep Banerjee, Ping Zhang, Cheng Liu, Jun Zhang, Baozhen Zhao, Shaun Clarke, Sara Pozzi, Donald Umstadter

Donald Umstadter Publications

We report the results of experimental and numerical-simulation studies of shielded radiography using narrowband MeVenergy X-rays from a compact all-laser-driven inverse-Compton-scattering X-ray light source. This recently developed Xray light source is based on a laser-wakefield accelerator with ultra-high-field gradient (GeV/cm). We demonstrate experimentally high-quality radiographic imaging (image contrast of 0.4 and signal-to-noise ratio of 2:1) of a target composed of 8-mm thick depleted uranium shielded by 80-mm thick steel, using a 6-MeV X-ray beam with a spread of 45% (FWHM) and 107 photons in a single shot. The corresponding dose of the X-ray pulse measured in front of the target …

Control And Optimization Of A Staged Laser-Wakefield Accelerator, Grigory V. Golovin, Sudeep Banerjee, Shouyuan Chen, Nathan D. Powers, Cheng Liu, Wenchao Yan, Jia Zhang, Ping Zhang, Baozhen Zhao, Donald Umstadter

Donald Umstadter Publications

We report results of an experimental study of laser-wakefield acceleration of electrons, using a staged device based on a double-jet gas target that enables independent injection and acceleration stages. This novel scheme is shown to produce stable, quasi-monoenergetic, and tunable electron beams. We show that optimal accelerator performance is achieved by systematic variation of five critical parameters. For the injection stage, we show that the amount of trapped charge is controlled by the gas density, composition, and laser power. For the acceleration stage, the gas density and the length of the jet are found to determine the final electron energy. …

Modification Of The G-Phonon Mode Of Graphene By Nitrogen Doping, Pavel V. Lukashev, Liuyan Zhao, Tula R. Paudel, Theanne Schiros, Noah Hurley, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Aron Pinczuk, Abhay Pasupathy, Rui He

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The effect of nitrogen doping on the phonon spectra of graphene is analyzed. In particular, we employ first-principles calculations and scanning Raman analysis to investigate the dependence of phonon frequencies in graphene on the concentration of nitrogen dopants. We demonstrate that the G phonon frequency shows oscillatory behavior as a function of nitrogen concentration. We analyze different mechanisms which could potentially be responsible for this behavior, such as Friedel charge oscillations around the localized nitrogen impurity atom, the bond length change between nitrogen impurity and its nearest neighbor carbon atoms, and the long-range interactions of the nitrogen point defects. We …

Eikonal Perturbation Theory In Photoionization, F. Cajiao Vélez, Katarzyna Krajewska, J. Z. Kamiński

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The eikonal perturbation theory is formulated and applied to photoionization by strong laser pulses. A special emphasis is put on the first order approximation with respect to the binding potential, which is known as the generalized eikonal approximation [2015 Phys. Rev. A 91 053417]. The ordinary eikonal approximation and its domain of applicability is derived from the generalized eikonal approximation. While the former approach is singular for the electron trajectories which return to the potential center, the generalized eikonal avoids this problem. This property makes it a promising tool for further investigations of rescattering and high-order harmonic generation processes.

Momentum Exchange In The Electron Double-Slit Experiment, Herman Batelaan, Eric Jones, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Roger Bach

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We provide support for the claim that momentum is conserved for individual events in the electron double slit experiment. The natural consequence is that a physical mechanism is responsible for this momentum exchange, but that even if the fundamental mechanism is known for electron crystal diffraction and the Kapitza–Dirac effect, it is unknown for electron diffraction from nano-fabricated double slits. Work towards a proposed explanation in terms of particle trajectories affected by a vacuum field is discussed. The contentious use of trajectories is discussed within the context of oil droplet analogues of double slit diffraction.

Effect Of Sm Content On Energy Product Of Rapidly Quenched And Oriented Smco5 Ribbons, Wenyong Zhang, Xingzhong Li, Shah R. Valloppilly

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The Sm-content dependence of phase composition, anisotropy, and other magnetic properties of Sm_1+δCo₅ (δ ≤ 0.12) ribbons melt spun at 10 m/s has been studied. The samples consist of hexagonal SmCo₅ grains whose c axes are preferentially aligned along the long direction of the ribbon. The lattice parameter a and the cell volume (V) increase with increasing Sm content δ, whereas c decreases. Sm addition appears to improve the degree of the preferred orientation of the c-axis and to increase the mean grain size, which weakens the effective intergranular exchange …

Reconfigurable Large-Area Magnetic Vortex Circulation Patterns, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Ulrich K. Rößler, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

Magnetic vortices in nanodots own a switchable circulation sense. These nontrivial magnetization configurations can be arranged into extended and interacting patterns. We have experimentally created large arrays of magnetically reconfigurable vortex patterns in nonplanar honeycomb lattices using particle lithography. Optimizing height asymmetry of the vertices and applying an in-plane magnetic field provide means to switch between homocircular and staggered vortex patterns with a potentially high impact on magnonics and spintronics relying on chiral noncollinear spin textures. To this end, exchange coupling of extended vortex lattices with an out-of-plane magnetized layer allows one to realize artificial skyrmionic core textures with controllable …

Magnetization Dynamics Of Imprinted Non-Collinear Spin Textures, Robert Streubel, Peter Fischer, Martin Kopte, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

We study the magnetization dynamics of non-collinear spin textures realized via imprint of the magnetic vortex state in soft permalloy into magnetically hard out-of-plane magnetized Co/Pd nanopatterned heterostructures. Tuning the interlayer exchange coupling between soft- and hard-magnetic subsystems provides means to tailor the magnetic state in the Co/Pd stack from being vortex- to donut-like with different core sizes. While the imprinted vortex spin texture leads to the dynamics similar to the one observed for vortices in permalloy disks, the donut-like state causes the appearance of two gyrofrequencies characteristic of the early and later stages of the magnetization dynamics. The dynamics …

Electron Vortices In Photoionization By Circularly Polarized Attosecond Pulses, Jean Marcel Ngoko Djiokap, S. X. Hu, L. B. Madsen, N. L. Manakov, A. V. Meremianin, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

Single ionization of He by two oppositely circularly polarized, time-delayed attosecond pulses is shown to produce photoelectron momentum distributions in the polarization plane having helical vortex structures sensitive to the time delay between the pulses, their relative phase, and their handedness. Results are obtained by both ab initio numerical solution of the two-electron time-dependent Schrödinger equation and by a lowest-order perturbation theory analysis. The energy, bandwidth, and temporal duration of attosecond pulses are ideal for observing these vortex patterns.

Imaging Of Alignment And Structural Changes Of Carbon Disulfide Molecules Using Ultrafast Electron Diffraction, Jie Yang, Joshua Beck, Cornelis J. Uiterwaal, Martin Centurion

Martin Centurion Publications

Imaging the structure of molecules in transient-excited states remains a challenge due to the extreme requirements for spatial and temporal resolution. Ultrafast electron diffraction from aligned molecules provides atomic resolution and allows for the retrieval of structural information without the need to rely on theoretical models. Here we use ultrafast electron diffraction from aligned molecules and femtosecond laser mass spectrometry to investigate the dynamics in carbon disulfide following the interaction with an intense femtosecond laser pulse. We observe that the degree of alignment reaches an upper limit at laser intensities below the ionization threshold, and find evidence of structural deformation, …

Spin-Dependent Two-Color Kapitza-Dirac Effects, Scot Mcgregor, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Herman Batelaan, Bradley Allan Shadwick

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

In this paper we present an analysis of the spin behavior of electrons propagating through a laser field. We present an experimentally realizable scenario in which spin-dependent effects of the interaction between the laser and the electrons are dominant. The laser interaction strength and incident electron velocity are in the nonrelativistic domain. This analysis may thus lead to novel methods of creating and characterizing spin-polarized nonrelativistic femtosecond electron pulses.

Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction From Laser-Aligned Molecules, Jie Yang, Martin Centurion

Martin Centurion Publications

Electron diffraction is a valuable tool to capture structural information from molecules in the gas phase. However, the information contained in the diffraction patterns is limited due to the random orientation of the molecules. Additional structural information can be retrieved if the molecules are aligned. Molecules can be impulsively aligned with femtosecond laser pulses, producing a transient alignment. The alignment persists only for a time on the order of a picosecond, so a pulsed electron gun is needed to record the diffraction patterns. In this manuscript, we describe the alignment process and show the changes in the diffraction pattern as …

Scaling Laws For High-Order-Harmonic Generation With Midinfrared Laser Pulses, M. V. Frolov, N. L. Manakov, Wei-Hao Xiong, Liang-You Peng, J. Burgdörfer, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

We derive an analytic expression for thewavelength scaling of the high-order-harmonic generation (HHG) yield induced by midinfrared driving laser fields. It is based on a quasiclassical description of the returning electron wave packet, which is shown to be largely independent of atomic properties. The accuracy of this analytic expression is confirmed by comparison with results of numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schr¨odinger equation for wavelengths in the range of 1.4 μm ≤ λ ≤ 4 μm. We verify the wavelength scaling of the HHG yield found numerically for midinfrared laser fields in a recent paper by Le et al. [

Favorable Target Positions For Intense Laser Acceleration Of Electrons In Hydrogen-Like, Highly-Charged Ions, Liang-Wen Pi, S. X. Hu, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

Classical relativistic Monte Carlo simulations of petawatt laser acceleration of electrons bound initially in hydrogen-like, highly-charged ions show that both the angles and energies of the laser-accelerated electrons depend on the initial ion positions with respect to the laser focus. Electrons bound in ions located after the laser focus generally acquire higher (≈GeV) energies and are ejected at smaller angles with respect to the laser beam. Our simulations assume a tightly-focused linearly-polarized laser pulse with intensity approaching 10²²W/cm². Up to fifth order corrections to the paraxial approximation of the laser field in the focal region are …

Retrieving Spin Textures On Curved Magnetic Thin Films With Full-Field Soft X-Ray Microscopies, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Peter Fischer, Dula Parkinson, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

X-ray tomography is a well-established technique to characterize 3D structures in material sciences and biology; its magnetic analogue - magnetic X-ray tomography - is yet to be developed. Here we demonstrate the visualization and reconstruction of magnetic domain structures in a 3D curved magnetic thin films with tubular shape by means of full-field soft X-ray microscopies. The 3D arrangement of the magnetization is retrieved from a set of 2D projections by analysing the evolution of the magnetic contrast with varying projection angle. Using reconstruction algorithms to analyse the angular evolution of 2D projections provides quantitative information about domain patterns and …

Photodetachment Of A Model Molecular System By An Elliptically Polarized Field, M. V. Frolov, N. L. Manakov, S. S. Marmo, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

The differential cross section for one-photon molecular detachment by an elliptically polarized field is analyzed for a one-electron molecular model comprised of an electron in the field of two (generally nonequivalent) attractive zero-range potentials (ZRPs) separated by the distance R. A phenomenological parametrization of the photodetachment cross section for a fixed-in-space molecular system in terms of two scalar dynamical parameters is presented and circular dichroism effects are discussed. Analytic results for the dynamical molecular parameters within the ZRP molecular model are used to analyze interference phenomena (including two-center interference) and dichroic effects in the detached electron angular distributions and …

Rescattering Effects In Laser-Assisted Electron-Atom Bremsstrahlung, A. N. Zheltukhin, A. V. Flegel, M. V. Frolov, N. L. Manakov, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

Rescattering effects in non-resonant spontaneous laser-assisted electron–atom bremsstrahlung (LABrS) are analyzed within the framework of time-dependent effective-range (TDER) theory. It is shown that high energy LABrS spectra exhibit rescattering plateau structures that are similar to those that are well-known in strong field laser-induced processes as well as those that have been predicted theoretically in laser-assisted collision processes. In the limit of a low-frequency laser field, an analytic description of LABrS is obtained from a rigorous quantum analysis of the exact TDER results for the LABrS amplitude. This amplitude is represented as a sum of factorized terms involving three factors, each …

Discrete Excitation Spectrum Of A Classical Harmonic Oscillator In Zero-Point Radiation, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Herman Batelaan

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We report that upon excitation by a single pulse, a classical harmonic oscillator immersed in the classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation exhibits a discrete harmonic spectrum in agreement with that of its quantum counterpart. This result is interesting in view of the fact that the vacuum field is needed in the classical calculation to obtain the agreement.

Comment On “Universality Of Returning Electron Wave Packet In High-Order Harmonic Generation With Midinfrared Laser Pulses”, M. V. Frolov, N. L. Manakov, Wei-Hao Xiong, Liang-You Peng, J. Burgdörfer, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

In conclusion, we have shown that when the same definition for the HHG yield is used [cf. Eq. (1)], the results of Ref. [1] give the same scaling law found earlier in Refs. [2–5] for wavelengths λ ≤ 2 μm. We note that this latter scaling law can be obtained analytically by using results of the model developed in Ref. [6] for the description of short-pulse HHG spectra. These analytic results as well as new numerical TDSE results for longer wavelengths, λ ≤ 4 μm, will be published elsewhere.

Enhancement Of Local Piezoresponse In Polymer Ferroelectrics Via Nanoscale Control Of Microstructure, Yoon-Young Choi, Pankaj Sharma, Charudatta Phatak, David J. Gosztola, Yunya Liu, Joonseok Lee, Byeongdu Lee, Jiangyu Li, Alexei Gruverman, Stephen Ducharme, Seungbum Hong

Stephen Ducharme Publications

Polymer ferroelectrics are flexible and lightweight electromechanical materials that are widely studied due to their potential application as sensors, actuators, and energy harvesters. However, one of the biggest challenges is their low piezoelectric coefficient. Here, we report a mechanical annealing effect based on local pressure induced by a nanoscale tip that enhances the local piezoresponse. This process can control the nanoscale material properties over a microscale area at room temperature. We attribute this improvement to the formation and growth of β-phase extended chain crystals via sliding diffusion and crystal alignment along the scan axis under high mechanical stress. We believe …