Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

From Critical Behavior To Catastrophic Runaways: Comparing Sheared Granular Materials With Bulk Metallic Glasses, Alan A. Long, Dmitry Denisov, Peter Schall, Todd C. Hufnagel, Xiaojun Gu, Wendelin J. Wright, Karin A. Dahmen

Faculty Journal Articles

The flow of granular materials and metallic glasses is governed by strongly correlated, avalanche-like deformation. Recent comparisons focused on the scaling regimes of the small avalanches, where strong similarities were found in the two systems. Here, we investigate the regime of large avalanches by computing the temporal profile or “shape” of each one, i.e., the time derivative of the stress-time series during each avalanche. We then compare the experimental statistics and dynamics of these shapes in granular media and bulk metallic glasses. We complement the experiments with a mean-field model that predicts a critical size beyond which avalanches turn into …

Physics-Driven Dual-Defect Model Fits Of Voltage Step-Up To Breakdown Data In Spacecraft Polymers, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Overly conservative estimates of breakdown strength can increase the mass and cost of spacecraft electrostatic discharge (ESD) mitigation methods. Improved estimates of ESD likelihood in the space environment require better models of ESD distributions. The purpose of this work is to evaluate our previously proposed dual-defect model of voltage step-up-to-breakdown tests with a case study across four dielectric materials. We predicted that materials best fit by mixed Weibull distributions would exhibit better fits with the dual-defect model compared to a mean field single defect theory. Additional data for biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), polyimide (PI or Kapton) from three sources, and …

Effect Of Synthesized 3-Hydroxyflavone Solutions On The Performance Of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Hasitha Mahabaduge

Georgia Journal of Science

We investigated the influence of synthesized dye combination 3-hydroxyflavone with potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide as photosynthesizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). DSSCs are classified as hybrid inorganic/organic photovoltaic cells that have been reported to have lower production costs and efficiency as high as 12%. Annealed titanium dioxide pastes on fluorine doped tin oxide was used as the front layer of the completed devices and the performance of 3-hydroxyflavone with potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide was compared with the performance of dyes extracted from berries. UV-vis spectroscopy was used to characterize the absorbance of the respective absorber dyes. 3-Hydroxyflavone in …

Nanoaperture Fabrication Via Colloidal Lithography For Single Molecule Fluorescence Analysis, Ryan M. Jamiolkowski, Kevin Y. Chen, Shane A. Fiorenza, Alyssa M. Tate, Shawn H. Pfeil, Yale E. Goldman

Physics & Engineering Faculty Publications

In single molecule fluorescence studies, background emission from labeled substrates often restricts their concentrations to non-physiological nanomolar values. One approach to address this challenge is the use of zero-mode waveguides (ZMWs), nanoscale holes in a thin metal film that physically and optically confine the observation volume allowing much higher concentrations of fluorescent substrates. Standard fabrication of ZMWs utilizes slow and costly E-beam nano-lithography. Herein, ZMWs are made using a self-assembled mask of polystyrene microspheres, enabling fabrication of thousands of ZMWs in parallel without sophisticated equipment. Polystyrene 1 mu m dia. microbeads self-assemble on a glass slide into a hexagonal array, …

Generation And Stability Of Structurally Imprinted Target Skyrmions In Magnetic Multilayers, Noah Kent, Robert Streubel, Charles Henri Lambert, Alejandro Ceballos, Soong Gun Je, Scott Dhuey, Mi Young Im, Felix Büttner, Frances Hellman, Sayeef Salahuddin, Peter Fischer

Robert Streubel Papers

Target Skyrmions (TSks) are extended topological spin textures with a constant chirality where the rotation of the z component of the magnetization is larger than π. TSks have topological charge 1 or 0, if the z component of the magnetization Mz goes through a rotation of nπwhere n is an odd or even integer, respectively. TSks with a rotation of the z component of up to 4πhave been imaged via high spatial resolution element-specific X-ray imaging. The TSks were generated by weakly coupling 30 nm thin Permalloy (Ni80Fe20, PY) disks with a 1 μm diameter to asymmetric (Ir 1 nm/Co …

Force Oscillations Distort Avalanche Shapes, Louis W. Mcfaul, Wendelin J. Wright, Jordan Sickle, Karin A. Dahmen

Faculty Journal Articles

Contradictory scaling behavior in experiments testing the principle of universality may be due to external oscillations. Thus, the effect of damped oscillatory external forces on slip avalanches in slowly deformed solids is simulated using a mean-field model. Akin to a resonance effect, oscillatory driving forces change the dynamics of avalanches with durations close to the oscillation period. This problem can be avoided by tuning mechanical resonance frequencies away from the range of the inverse avalanche durations. The results provide critical guidance for experimental tests for universality and a quantitative understanding of avalanche dynamics under a wide range of driving conditions.

Exciton Polaritons In Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, Jie Gu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Strong interaction between photons and excitons in semiconductors results in the formation of half-light half-matter quasiparticles termed exciton-polaritons. Owing to their hybrid character, they inherit the strong interparticle interaction from their excitonic (matter) component via Coulomb interaction while the photonic component lends the small mass (~10⁵ times lighter than free electrons) and long propagation distances. Additionally, exciton-polaritons also carry properties of the host material excitons such as spin and valley polarization and can be probed via the photons that leak out of the cavities since the photon carries all the information owing to conservation laws. Since the first demonstration …

Coulomb Excitation And Transport Properties Of Monolayer Graphene And The Alpha-T3 Lattice, Dipendra Dahal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the past few years, I focused my attention in the study of 2D material's behavior, specifically graphene . We investigated several properties of graphene like transmission of particle through a potential barrier and demonstrated the effect of band gap to suppress the Klein tunneling at head on collision, we presented the results to get the criteria of negative refractive index and Klein tunneling through multiple barrier. Next, we have carried out the calculation of polarization function of graphene in the presence of magnetic field. The effect of integer Landau filling factor is shown and the portrayed results are presented …

Optical And Collective Properties Of Excitons In 2d Semiconductors, Matthew N. Brunetti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We study the properties of excitons in 2D semiconductors (2DSC) by numerically solving the Schr\"{o}dinger equation for an interacting electron and hole in the effective mass approximation, then calculating optical properties such as the transition energies, oscillator strengths, and absorption coefficients. Our theoretical approach allows us to consider both direct excitons in monolayer (ML) 2DSC and spatially indirect excitons in heterostructures (HS) consisting of two 2DSC MLs separated by few-layer insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). In particular, we study indirect excitons in TMDC HS, namely MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂, and WSe₂; …

Interplay Of Magnetism, Superconductivity, And Topological Phases Of Matter, Cody Youmans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Multiband superconducting materials, such as iron pnictides and doped topological insulators, have shown to be particularly promising platforms for realizing unconventional electronic behavior of both fundamental and practical importance. Similarly, new innovations in the engineering of gapped topological phases, like semiconductor based Kitaev chains and topological insulator based heterostructures, have opened new directions for solid-state design. Central to much of the excitement generated by such multifaceted electronic systems is a rich interplay between various inherent structural ordering tendencies and topologically non-trivial properties.

In some classes of pnictides, spin density wave order coexists with superconductivity over a range of doping and …

Studying Near-Critical And Super-Critical Fluids In Reduced Gravity, Christian Hawkins, Ana Oprisan, Carole Lecoutre-Chabot, Yves Garrabos, Daniel Beysens

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Critical and supercritical fluids have a variety of applications, from use as machine lubricants in high pressure or high temperature environments to the manufacturing of materials such as aerogel. The optical properties of fluids undergo rapid changes near the critical point resulting in a rapid increase in turbidity known as critical opalescence. These optical changes can be used to probe the universality of critical behavior. As a fluid approaches the critical point, the compressibility rapidly increases. In a gravitational field, this increase in compressibility leads to near-critical fluids stratifying by phase and density, making it difficult to observe the optical …

Correlations Between Short- And Long-Time Relaxation In Colloidal Supercooled Liquids And Glasses, Chandan K. Mishra, Xiaoguang Ma, Piotr Habdas, Kevin B. Aptowicz, A. G. Yodh

Physics & Engineering Faculty Publications

Spatiotemporal dynamics of short- and long-time structural relaxation are measured experimentally as a function of packing fraction, φ, in quasi-two-dimensional colloidal supercooled liquids and glasses. The relaxation times associated with long-time dynamic heterogeneity and short-time intracage motion are found to be strongly correlated and to grow by orders of magnitude with increasing φ toward dynamic arrest. We find that clusters of fast particles on the two timescales often overlap, and, interestingly, the distribution of minimum-spatial-separation between closest nonoverlapping clusters across the two timescales is revealed to be exponential with a decay length that increases with φ. In total, the experimental …

Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance In Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions, Artem Alexandrov, M. Ye. Zhuravlev, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Using a simple quantum-mechanical model, we explore a tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) effect in ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) with a ferromagnetic electrode and a ferroelectric barrier layer, where spontaneous polarization gives rise to the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (SOC). For realistic parameters of the model, we predict sizable TAMR measurable experimentally. For asymmetric FTJs, whose electrodes have different work functions, the built-in electric field affects the SOC parameters and leads to TAMR being dependent on the ferroelectric polarization direction. The SOC change with polarization switching affects tunneling conductance, revealing an alternative mechanism of tunneling electroresistance. These results demonstrate alternative …

Magnetoelectric Effect At The Ni/Hfo2 Interface Induced By Ferroelectric Polarization, Qiong Yang, Lingling Tao, Zhen Jiang, Yichun Zhou, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Vitaly Alexandrov

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Driven by the technological importance of the recently discovered ferroelectric HfO₂, we explore a magnetoelectric effect at the HfO₂-based ferroelectric-ferromagnetic interface. Using density-functionaltheory calculations of the Ni/HfO₂/Ni (001) heterostructure as a model system, we predict a stable and sizable ferroelectric polarization in a few-nm-thick HfO₂ layer. For the Ni/HfO₂ interface with opposite polarization directions (pointing to or away from the interface), we find a sizable difference in the interfacial Ni—O bonding, resulting in dissimilar degrees of depletion of the electron density around the interface. The latter affects the relative population of the …

Anisotropic Spin-Orbit Torque Generation In Epitaxial Sriro3 By Symmetry Design, T. Nan, T. J. Anderson, J. Gibbons, K. Hwang, Neil Campbell, H. Zhou, Y. Q. Dong, G. Y. Kim, Ding-Fu Shao, Tula R. Paudel, N. Reynolds, X. J. Wang, N. X. Sun, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Si-Young Choi, M. S. Rzchowski, Yong Baek Kim, D. C. Ralph, Chang-Beom Eom

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the interaction between the electron spin and the orbital angular momentum, can unlock rich phenomena at interfaces, in particular interconverting spin and charge currents. Conventional heavy metals have been extensively explored due to their strong SOC of conduction electrons. However, spin-orbit effects in classes of materials such as epitaxial 5d-electron transition-metal complex oxides, which also host strong SOC, remain largely unreported. In addition to strong SOC, these complex oxides can also provide the additional tuning knob of epitaxy to control the electronic structure and the engineering of spin-to-charge conversion by crystalline symmetry. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature generation …

Guest Editorial Spacecraft Charging Technology, Allen Andersen, Michael Bodeau, Mengu Cho, Victoria A. Davis, Jr Dennison, Michelle Donegan, Dale C. Ferguson, Nelson Green, Virginie Inguimbert, Insoo Jun, Shu T. Lai, Justin J. Likar, Joseph Minow, Linda Neergaard Parker, Jean-François Roussel, Kazuhiro Toyoda, Henry B. Garrett, Hideyuki Usui

Journal Articles

This marks the seventh issue of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science dedicated to Spacecraft Charging Technology. The theme of this issue is based on the papers presented at the 15th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference, Kobe, Japan, in 2018. The history of spacecraft charging goes back to the first Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference, sponsored by AFRL and NASA, that was held at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, in 1978. The 15th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference was hosted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University. It continues a …

Morphological Study Of Voids In Ultra-Large Models Of Amorphous Silicon, Durga Prasad Paudel

Dissertations

The microstructure of voids in pure and hydrogen-rich amorphous silicon (a:Si) network was studied in ultra-large models of amorphous silicon, using classical and quantum- mechanical simulations, on the nanometer length scale. The nanostructure, particularly voids of device grade ultra-large models of a:Si was studied, in which observed three-dimensional realistic voids were extended using geometrical approach within the experimental limit of void-volume fractions. In device-grade simulated models, the effect of void morphology; size, shape, number density, and distribution on simulated scattering intensities in small- angle region were investigated. The evolution of voids on annealing below the crystallization temperature …

Extended-Range Oscillations And The First Sharp Diffraction Peak In Amorphous Silicon: A Systematic Study, Devilal Dahal

Master's Theses

The first sharp diffraction peak (FSDP), which characterizes the static structure factor of many glassy systems near the wave vector region of 1-2 Å^-1 has been observed depending on the temperature, pressure and the degree of annealing of the system. The presence of the FSDP is indicative of the intermediate range order (IRO). In current work, we study the role of the extended- range oscillations on the parameters of the FSDP, i.e., intensity, position, area, and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) by using high-quality simulated models of amorphous silicon. The radial distance up to half of the …

Applied Symmetry For Crystal Structure Prediction, Scott William Fredericks

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis presents an original open-source Python package called PyXtal (pronounced "pi-crystal") that generates random symmetric crystal structures for use in crystal structure prediction (CSP). The primary advantage of PyXtal over existing structure generation tools is its unique symmetrization method. For molecular structures, PyXtal uses an original algorithm to determine the compatibility of molecular point group symmetry with Wyckoff site symmetry. This allows the molecules in generated structures to occupy special Wyckoff positions without breaking the structure's symmetry. This is a new feature which increases the space of search-able structures and in turn improves CSP performance.

It is shown that …

Computational Studies Of Thermal Properties And Desalination Performance Of Low-Dimensional Materials, Yang Hong

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

During the last 30 years, microelectronic devices have been continuously designed and developed with smaller size and yet more functionalities. Today, hundreds of millions of transistors and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor cells can be designed and integrated on a single microchip through 3D packaging and chip stacking technology. A large amount of heat will be generated in a limited space during the operation of microchips. Moreover, there is a high possibility of hot spots due to non-uniform integrated circuit design patterns as some core parts of a microchip work harder than other memory parts. This issue becomes acute as stacked microchips get …