Physics Commons^™

Prediction Of Dopant Ionization Energies In Silicon: The Importance Of Strain, A. Rockett, Duane D. Johnson, S. V. Khare, B. R. Tuttle

Duane D. Johnson

Based on a hydrogenic state and strain changes upon defect charging, we propose a simple, parameter-free model that agrees well with the observed group III and V monovalent-impurity ionization energies in Si, revealing the importance of such strain effects. Changes in lattice strain upon defect charging are obtained via superposition and elasticity theory using atomic relaxations from density functional theory.

Magnetic And Transport Properties Of The V2– Vi3 Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Sb2_Xmnxte3, Jeffrey Dyck, P. Svanda, P. Lostak, J. Horak, W. Chen, C. Uher

Jeffrey Dyck

We have measured electrical and magnetic properties of single crystals of Sb2_xMnxTe3 with x =0 – 0.045 at temperatures of 2 K to 300 K. Hall effect measurements indicate that each manganese atom donates approximately one hole to the valence band. The magnetic susceptibility is paramagnetic down to 2 K, and both Curie–Weiss and Brillouin analyses show that manganese substitutes for Sb and takes the Mn2+ state with S=5/2. Contrary to the case of III–V host matrices, manganese does not stimulate ferromagnetic order in the family of bulk layered V2– VI3 diluted magnetic semiconductors, at least in the range of …

Measurement Of Conductivity And Charge Storage In Insulators Related To Spacecraft Charging, A Robb Frederickson, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Improved experimental methods are discussed for laboratory measurement of conductivity and electric field in insulating spacecraft material intended for space radiation and plasma environments. These measurement techniques investigate the following features: 1) Measurements of conductivity are up to four orders of magnitude smaller than those determined by existing standard methods. 2) Conductivity is altered as radiation accumulates and trapping states fill with electrons. 3) With intense keV electron irradiation, electrons are continually emitted for hours from the irradiated surface after the irradiation ceases. 4) Charging induced by electron irradiation is strongly modified by the electron-hole pairs that the irradiation generates …

Theoretical Investigation Of The Surface Vibrational Modes In Germanium Nanocrystals, Shang-Fen Ren, Wei Cheng, Peter Y. Yu

Faculty publications – Physics

We have used a microscopic lattice dynamical model to study phonon modes in germanium (Ge) NC with size varying between 47 to 7289 atoms (diametersimilar to6.8 nm). By separating these atoms into bulk and surface atoms we have found that surface modes can exist in Ge NC both at low frequencies (<50>cm(-1)) and at high frequency (similar to260 cm(-1)). The latter mode is a resonant mode which occurs in the "pseudogap" between the acoustic and optical phonon branches in bulk Ge. From the low frequency surface modes we have been able to reconstruct the spheroidal and torsional Lamb modes …

Measurement Of Conductivity And Charge Storage In Insulators Related To Spacecraft Charging, A. R. Frederickson, Jr Dennison

Conference Proceedings

Several methods have been combined to measure conductivity and charge storage in insulating spacecraft materials. In order to avoid insulator problems, the motions of conducting electrons and holes must prevent the development of large electric fields exceeding 1E5 V/cm, where problems occur in spacecraft insulators. Approximate knowledge of the electric fields is important. One must consider generation of mobile electrons and holes, their trapping, thermal de-trapping, mobility and recombination.

Classical methods to measure thin film insulator conductivity apply a constant voltage to two electrodes on the sample and measure the resulting current for tens of minutes. Under constant voltage, a …

Refrigerator With Phonon Filters: An Application Of The Phonon Deficit Effect In Superconducting Tunnel Junctions, G. G. Melkonyan, Armen Gulian

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Nonequilibrium phenomena in thin solid films can result in cooling effects. These types of effects were predicted theoretically a while ago, and only recently were demonstrated experimentally in superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN) tunnel junctions. Since then, there is a growing interest in tunneling effects for the purpose to develop on-chip refrigerators. Thin film devices have the advantage of being extremely compact, operate in a continuous mode, dissipate little power, and can easily be integrated in cryogenic detectors. Currently these refrigerators can generate cooling in the order of 100 mK in an environment of 0.3–0.5 K. There are reasons to expect that …

Competition Between Ferromagnetism And Antiferromagnetism In Fept, G. Brown, B. Kraczek, A. Janotti, T. C. Schulthess, G. M. Stocks, Duane D. Johnson

Duane D. Johnson

Ni/Fe/Co/Cu(100) films were epitaxially grown and investigated by photoemission electron microscopy. The magnetic correlation of the Ni and Co films was investigated by element-specific domain images. We found that the Ni magnetization exhibits a continuous rotation in the spin reorientation transition (SRT) region and that the Ni SRT thickness oscillates with the Fe film thickness.

Triplet Superconductors From The Viewpoint Of Basic Elements For Quantum Computers, Armen M. Gulian, Kent S. Wood

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We discuss possibilities of utilizing superconductors with Cooper condensates in triplet pairing states (where the spin of condensate pairs is S=1) for practical realization of quantum computers. Superconductors with triplet pairing condensates have features that are unique and cannot be found in the usual (singlet pairing, S=0) superconductors. The symmetry of the order parameter in some triplet superconductors (e.g., ruthenates) corresponds to doubly-degenerate chiral states. These states can serve as qubit base states for quantum computing.

Comment On: 'Depolarization Corrections To The Coercive Field In Thin-Film Ferroelectrics', Stephen Ducharme, Vladimir Fridkin

Stephen Ducharme Publications

The Letter by Dawber et al. [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 15 L393 (2003)] notes that incomplete screening in the electrodes of a ferroelectric capacitor can result in an underestimate for the true coercive field in films of nanometer thickness. We show that their estimate of the magnitude of this correction it too large in the case of ferroelectric copolymer Langmuir- Blodgett films and, as a result, invalidates the claim that finite-size scaling of the ferroelectric coercive field is evident in films thinner than 15 nm.

Effect Of Sn Substituting For Sb On The Low-Temperature Transport Properties Of Ytterbium-Filled Skutterudites, J. Yang, D. Morelli, G. Meisner, W. Chen, Jeffrey Dyck, C. Uher

Jeffrey Dyck

We examine the effect of alloying Sn on the Sb site of ytterbium-filled skutterudites, a promising class of thermoelectric materials. We report measurements of the Hall effect, electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity between 2 and 300 K on two series of samples having different ytterbium filling fractions: Yb0.19Co4Sb12-xSnx, with x=0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2, and Yb0.5Co4Sb12-xSnx, with x=0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 0.83, and 0.9. We find that the substitution of Sn does not lower the electron concentration of these samples, but rather gives rise to a p-type carrier. Hall measurement data for Yb0.5Co4Sb11.17Sn0.83 can be understood in the context …

Dynamics Of Phase Transitions On Low-Index Metal Surfaces, Bo Lin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The surface superheating and phase transitions at the low-index surface of metal were investigated using conventional continuous and 100-ps time-resolved reflection high-energy electron diffraction. Three metal surfaces, In(111), Au(110) and Pb(111), have been investigated in this work. The high temperature behavior of the In(111) surface was investigated using reflection high-energy electron diffraction with 100-ps temporal resolution. The change of surface vacancy density on In(111) is observed from 300 K to near the bulk melting point. The vacancy-formation energy of In(111) surface is estimated from experimental results. The surface vacancy density is observed to increase with temperature; however, the average random …

Absolute Orientation-Dependent Anisotropic Tin(111) Island Step Energies And Stiffnesses From Shape Fluctuation Analyses, S. Kodambaka, S. V. Khare, V. Petrova, Duane D. Johnson, I. Petrov, J. E. Greene

Duane D. Johnson

In situ high-temperature (1165–1248 K) scanning-tunneling microscopy was used to measure temporal fluctuations about the anisotropic equilibrium shape of two-dimensional TiN(111) adatom and vacancy islands on atomically smooth TiN(111) terraces. The equilibrium island shape was found to be a truncated hexagon bounded by alternating 〈110〉 steps, which form [100] and [110] nanofacets with the terrace. Relative step energies β as a function of step orientation φ were obtained from the inverse Legendre transformation of the equilibrium island shape to within an orientation-independent scale factor λ, the equilibrium chemical potential of the island per unit TiN area. We find that for …

Ferroelectricity In Free Niobium Clusters, Ramiro Moro, Xiaoshan Xu, Shuangye Yin, Walt A. De Heer

Xiaoshan Xu Papers

Electric deflections of gas-phase, cryogenically cooled, neutral niobium clusters [Nb_N; number of atoms (N) = 2 to 150, temperature (T) = 20 to 300 kelvin], measured in molecular beams, show that cold clusters may attain an anomalous component with very large electric dipole moments. In contrast, room-temperature measurements show normal metallic polarizabilities. Characteristic energies k_BT_G(N) [Boltzmann constant k_B times a transition temperature T_G(N)] are identified, below which the ferroelectric-like state develops. Generally, T_G decreases [110 > T_G(N) > 10K] as …

Spin-Dependent Tunneling In Magnetic Tunnel Junctions, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, O. N. Mryasov, Patrick R. Leclair

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

The phenomenon of electron tunneling has been known since the advent of quantum mechanics, but continues to enrich our understanding of many fields of physics, as well as creating sub-fields on its own. Spin-dependent tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has recently aroused enormous interest and has developed in a vigorous field of research. The large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) observed in MTJs garnered much attention due to possible applications in non-volatile random access memories and next-generation magnetic field sensors. This led to a number of fundamental questions regarding the phenomenon of spindependent tunneling. In this review article we present an …

Time-Resolved Optical Studies Of Colossal Magnetoresistance And Charge -Density Wave Materials, Yuhang Ren

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis presents measurements of collective modes and ultrafast carrier relaxation dynamics in charge-density-wave (CDW) conductors and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) manganites. A femtosecond laser pump pulse excites a broad frequency spectrum of low-energy collective modes and electron-hole pairs thereby changing its optical properties. The low-energy collective excitations and quasiparticle relaxation and recombination processes are monitored by measuring the resulting photoinduced absorption as a function of probe pulse wavelength and time delay.;A general model was developed for the photogeneration and detection mechanism of collective modes based on light absorption in two-color pump-probe experiments. A broad spectrum of collective modes (phasons and …

Chemical Bonding In Hard And Elastic Amorphous Carbon-Nitride Films, W. Jason Gammon

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In this study, the chemical bonding in hard and elastic amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) films is investigated with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and 15N, 13C, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The films were deposited by DC Magnetron sputtering in a pure nitrogen discharge on Si(001) substrates at 300--400??C. Nanoindentation measurements reveal an elastic modulus of ∼50 GPa and a hardness of ∼5 GPa, thus confirming our films are highly elastic but resist plastic deformation.;Our 13C NMR study demonstrates the absence of sp 3-bonded carbon in this material. Collectively, our N(1s) XPS, 13C NMR, and 15N NMR data suggest …

Multinuclear Nmr Studies Of Relaxor Ferroelectrics, Donghua Zhou

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Multinuclear NMR of 93Nb, 45Sc, and 207Pb has been carried out to study the structure, disorder, and dynamics of a series of important solid solutions: perovskite relaxor ferroelectric materials (1-x) Pb(Mg1/3Nb 2/3)O3-x Pb(Sc1/2Nb1/2)O 3 (PMN-PSN).;93Nb NMR investigations of the local structure and cation order/disorder are presented as a function of PSN concentration, x. The superb fidelity and accuracy of 3QMAS allows us to make clear and consistent assignments of spectral intensities to the 28 possible nearest B-site neighbor (nBn) configurations, (NMg, NSc, NNb), where each number ranges from 0 to 6 and their sum is 6. For most of the …

Thermoelectric Cooling At Cryogenic Temperatures, S. R. Harutyunyan, V. H. Vardanyan, A. S. Kuzanyan, V. R. Nikoghosyan, S. Kunii, K. S. Wood, Armen Gulian

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Experimental results demonstrating Peltier cooling below 10 K are reported, using crystals of the thermoelectric cerium hexaboride (CeB₆). Direct measurements of the Peltier cooling showed δT up to ∼0.2 K in magnitude at T∼4–5 K. All three kinetic parameters: resistivity (ρ), heat conductivity (k), and Seebeck coefficient (S), characterizing the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT=S²T/ρk, were measured, giving high-confidence results.