Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

Modeling The Behavior Of The Graphene To Liquid Interfaces In An Electrolytic Liquid, Caitlin Duffner

Senior Theses

Understanding the mechanism for charge transfer between a graphene biosensor and its electrodes within an electrolyte solution is vital to better understand the sources of electrical noise in the system. By measuring the effective resistance and capacitance of the system at different frequencies, it is possible to develop a circuit model of the system's electrical behavior. This model provides a deeper understanding of the fundamental interactions that occur in a top-­gated graphene device and provides opportunities to improve a signal. To reduce noise created at the liquid to graphene interface, a buffer layer of Yttrium Oxide was applied. While the …

Pressure-Induced Confined Metal From The Mott Insulator Sr3Ir2O7, Yang Ding, Liuxiang Yang, Cheng-Chien Chen, Heung-Sik Kim, Myung Joon Han, Wei Luo, Zhenxing Feng, Mary Upton, Diego Casa, Jungho Kim, Thomas Gog, Zhidan Zeng, Gang Cao, Ho-Kwang Mao, Michel Van Veenendaal

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The spin-orbit Mott insulator Sr₃Ir₂O₇ provides a fascinating playground to explore insulator-metal transition driven by intertwined charge, spin, and lattice degrees of freedom. Here, we report high-pressure electric resistance and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements on single-crystal Sr₃Ir₂O₇ up to 63–65 GPa at 300 K. The material becomes a confined metal at 59.5 GPa, showing metallicity in the ab plane but an insulating behavior along the c axis. Such an unusual phenomenon resembles the strange metal phase in cuprate superconductors. Since there is no sign of the collapse of spin-orbit …

Reflective Efficiencies Of Materials For Applications Of Bifacial Solar Cells, Michael Metter

Senior Theses

The bifacial solar cell is superior to its monofacial predecessor due to its ability to convert both incident light on top and reflected light from below into energy. The scattering of the reflected light is affected by the property of the material on which it is interacting. To date, little work has been contributed to studying the properties of these materials to determine optimal quantities for bifacial solar cells. In the first experiment, reflective efficiencies compared to the angle of reflection were explored for different grit of sandpaper in order to develop an understanding of how surface texture impacts reflectivity. …

Searching To Distinguish Defects And The Presence Of Negative Capacitance, Thaddeus Cox

Senior Theses

In the search for solar cells with lower manufacturing costs, thin film technology was developed. These thin films are only micrometers thick and are grown at relatively low temperatures, resulting in films with imperfections known as defects. Defects can cause thin film solar cells to have lower efficiencies than their single crystalline counterparts. In order to create more efficient thin film solar cells the physical mechanisms behind defects need to be investigated by sensitive techniques. Capacitance measurements of solar cells detect minute changes in charge in the material. For that reason, capacitance is used to electrically characterize the solar cell. …

Ferromagnetic Resonance Studies Of Coupled Magnetic Systems, Daniel J. Adams

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The high-frequency properties of coupled magnetic systems have been investigated using vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) spectroscopy. SAF structures consist of two ferromagnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic spacer, coupled through the indirect exchange interaction. The ferromagnetic layers of our samples were composed of FeCoB separated by a layer of Ru. The thickness of Ru was varied in the range of 8 to 18 Å among the samples studied. Antiferromagnetic coupling can be quickly identified by the major hysteresis loop (MHL).

A new way of displaying FMR data for these trilayer samples is presented which completely preserves the anisotropy …

Instrumentation Enhancements For Electron Yield Measurements Of Extremely Low-Conductivity High-Yield Dielectrics, Justin Christensen, Gregory Wilson, Jr Dennison

Presentations

Electron yield, a material dependent property which describes how it will charge under incident electron irradiation of a given energy, is defined as the number of electrons emitted from a material per incident electron. While very important for spacecraft charging modelling, the measurement of electron yield for insulating materials is very challenging because insulators quickly charge up under electron irradiation, thereby modifying the yield measurements.

Improved techniques have been implemented to reduce charging with each yield measurement, as well as to neutralize acquired charge between measurements. The goal is to determine the “intrinsic yield” (yield of uncharged insulator). New analysis …

Instrumentation Enhancements For Electron Yield Measurements Of Extremely Low-Conductivity High-Yield Dielectrics, Justin Christensen, Gregory Wilson, Jr Dennison

Conference Proceedings

Electron yield, a material dependent property which describes how it will charge under incident electron irradiation of a given energy, is defined as the number of electrons emitted from a material per incident electron. While very important for spacecraft charging modelling, the measurement of electron yield for insulating materials is very challenging because insulators quickly charge up under electron irradiation, thereby modifying the yield measurements.

Improved techniques have been implemented to reduce charging with each yield measurement, as well as to neutralize acquired charge between measurements. The goal is to determine the “intrinsic yield” (yield of uncharged insulator). New analysis …

Giant Enhancement Of Magnetic Anisotropy In Ultrathin Manganite Films Via Nanoscale 1d Periodic Depth Modulation, Anil Rajapitamahuni, L. Zhang, Mark A. Koten, V. R. Singh, John D. Burton, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Jeffrey E. Shield, Xia Hong

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

The relatively low magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) in strongly correlated manganites (La,Sr)MnO₃ has been a major hurdle for implementing them in spintronic applications. Here we report an unusual, giant enhancement of in-plane MCA in 6 nm La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ (LSMO) films grown on (001) SrTiO₃ substrates when the top 2 nm is patterned into periodic stripes of 100 or 200 nm width. Planar Hall effect measurements reveal an emergent uniaxial anisotropy superimposed on one of the original biaxial easy axes for unpatterned LSMO along (110) directions, with a 50-fold enhanced anisotropy energy density of 5.6 × …

Energy Transfer And Localization In Molecular Crystals, Mitchell A. Wood

Open Access Dissertations

With the aim of developing new technologies for the detection and defeat of energetic materials, this collection of work was focused on using simulations to characterize materials at extremes of temperature, pressure and radiation. Each branch of the work here is collected by which material response is potentially used as the detectable signal.

Where the chemical response is of interest, this work will explore the possibility of non-statistical chemical reactions in condensed-phase energetic materials via reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We characterize the response of three unique high energy density molecular crystals to different means of energy input: electric fields …

Charge Collection Kinetics On Ferroelectric Polymer Surface Using Charge Gradient Microscopy, Yoon-Young Choi, Sheng Tong, Stephen Ducharme, Andreas Roelofs, Seungbum Hong

Stephen Ducharme Publications

A charge gradient microscopy (CGM) probe was used to collect surface screening charges on poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] thin films. These charges are naturally formed on unscreened ferroelectric domains in ambient condition. The CGM data were used to map the local electric current originating from the collected surface charges on the poled ferroelectric domains in the P(VDF-TrFE) thin films. Both the direction and amount of the collected current were controlled by changing the polarity and area of the poled domains. The endurance of charge collection by rubbing the CGM tip on the polymer film was limited to 20 scan cycles, after …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Electronic Properties Of Novel 2d Materials : Transition Metal Dichalcogenides And Phosphorene., George Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scaling electronic devices has become paramount. The current work builds upon scaling efforts by developing novel synthesis methods and next generation sensing devices based on 2D materials. A new combination method utilizing thermal evaporation and chemical vapor deposition was developed and analyzed to show the possibilities of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide monolayers and heterostructures. The materials produced from the above process showed high degrees of compositional control in both spatial dimensions and chemical structure. Characterization shows controlled fabrication of heterostructures, which may pave the way for future band gap engineering possibilities. In addition, Phosphorene based field effect transistors, photodetectors, and gas …

Impedance Spectroscopy Studies Of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Under Extreme Conditions, Quinlan Blaine Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) is of interest for many industries. Varying amounts of Yttria (Y2O3) can be doped into Zirconia (ZrO2) to create materials with specific characteristics. For instance, 3mol% YSZ (3YSZ) is known to be a super hard material and is used as a coating on drill tips and as an abrasive. Eight mol% YSZ (8YSZ) is commonly used as a solid electrolyte in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells because of its good ionic conducting abilities and stability at high temperatures. In this thesis project, a novel experimental setup was created and used to study the ionic conductivity of (3 …

High-Pressure Properties Of Several Narrow Bandgap Semiconductors From First-Principles Calculations, Andrew Michael Alvarado

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The electronic, thermodynamic, and structural properties of three semiconducting materials, ZnO, InN, and PbS, at high pressure are investigated utilizing first-principles calculations based on density function theory. The first two systems, ZnO and InN, crystalize as hexagonal structures at ambient conditions and transition to a cubic structure at higher pressures. The last system, PbS, is cubic at ambient conditions, but transitions to an orthorhombic structure at higher pressure. At ambient conditions, these materials are well known semiconductors with vast amount of research and a variety of wide ranging applications in electrical devices. However, there is a lack of understanding of …

Thermal Analysis Of Borosilicate Glass For Its Biological Applications, Gregory Humble

Symposium of Student Scholars

Borosilicate glass doped with varying wt% of cerium oxide is investigated for biological applications. Thermal studies of each formulation were conducted using an SDT Q600 differential scanning calorimeter. 30mg samples of 350 - 425 μm particle size of each type of glass were heated to 1200°C in order to obtain the glass transition, crystallization, and melting temperatures. Samples were then heated to 900°C at several heating rates, ranging from 2°C/min to 100°C/min, then compared against each other as well as against an undoped borosilicate glass.

Direct Imaging Of Coexisting Ordered And Frustrated Sublattices In Artificial Ferromagnetic Quasicrystals, Barry Farmer, Vinayak Shantaram Bhat, Eric Teipel, J. Unguris, D. J. Keavney, Jeffrey Todd Hastings, Lance E. De Long

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have used scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis and photoemission electron microscopy to image the two-dimensional magnetization of permalloy films patterned into Penrose P2 tilings (P2T). The interplay of exchange interactions in asymmetrically coordinated vertices and short-range dipole interactions among connected film segments stabilize magnetically ordered, spatially distinct sublattices that coexist with frustrated sublattices at room temperature. Numerical simulations that include long-range dipole interactions between sublattices agree with images of as-grown P2T samples and predict a magnetically ordered ground state for a two-dimensional quasicrystal lattice of classical Ising spins.

Ground-State Tuning Of Metal-Insulator Transition By Compositional Variations In Bair1−XRuXO3 (0 ≤ X ≤ 1), Shujuan Yuan, Kamal H. Butrouna, Jsaminka Terzic, Hao Zheng, Saicharan Aswartham, Lance E. Delong, Feng Ye, P. Schlottmann, Gang Cao

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Hexagonal BaIrO3 is a magnetic insulator driven by the spin-orbit interaction (SOI), whereas BaRuO₃ is an enhanced paramagnetic metal. Our investigation of structural, magnetic, transport, and thermal properties reveals that substitution of Ru⁴⁺ (4d⁴) ions for Ir⁴⁺ (5d⁵) ions in BaIrO₃ reduces the magnitudes of the SOI and a monoclinic structural distortion and rebalances the competition between the SOI and the lattice degrees of freedom to render an evolution from a magnetic insulting state to a robust metallic state. The central findings of this paper are as follows: (1) light …

On The Structural Origin Of The Single-Ion Magnetic Anisotropy In Lufeo3, Shi Cao, Xiaozhe Zhang, Tula R. Paudel, Kishan Sinha, Xiao Wang, Xuanyuan Jiang, Wenbin Wang, Stuart Brutsche, Jian Wang, Philip J. Ryan, Jong-Woo Kim, Xuemei Cheng, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Peter A. Dowben, Xiaoshan Xu

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Electronic structures for the conduction bands of both hexagonal and orthorhombic LuFeO₃ thin films have been measured using x-ray absorption spectroscopy at oxygen K (O K) edge. Dramatic differences in both the spectra shape and the linear dichroism are observed. These differences in the spectra can be explained using the differences in crystal field splitting of the metal (Fe and Lu) electronic states and the differences in O 2p-Fe 3d and O 2p-Lu 5d hybridizations. While the oxidation states has not changed, the spectra are sensitive to the changes in the local environments of the Fe³⁺ and Lu …

Intramolecular Cross-Linking Of Beta Subunits And Pegylation Of Bovine Stroma Free Hemoglobin For Use As A Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carrier, Gil Salazar

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Purified Bovine Stroma-Free Hemoglobin's (BSFHb) two beta subunits where intramolecularly cross-linked (BXLHb) using bis(3,5-dibromosalicyl) fumarate (DBBF) and further modified with Polyethylene glycol (BPEGXLHb) for possible use as a Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carrier (HBOC). Each stage of modification was characterized by size exclusion chromatography and fluorescence methods. We prepared several different molar ratios of DBBF and BSFHb to acquire the highest yield of BXLHb. Cross-linking of the beta subunits will stabilize the whole Hb tetramer from dissociation and prevent unwanted degradation of the HBOC. We prepared a sample modified with PEG (PEGylation) that had a molecular weight of 5kDa. PEGylation increases …

Uv Degradation Effects: Terrestrial Versus Space Environment, Katie Gamaunt, Krysta Moser, Alex Souvall, Jr Dennison

Posters

The decrease in visible and ultraviolet transmission spectra of polymeric and glass spacecraft materials has been measured to determine the extent of degradation due to high energy UV radiation similar to the solar spectrum (both above and below the stratosphere). This project looked at the effects that the atmosphere has in regards to blocking UV radiation and thus, slowing down the UV degradation process. Materials such as quartz, borosilicate glass, sodium glasses, polyethylene, polyimide, and polyethylene terephthalate polymers were exposed to radiation from a focused high intensity deuterium lamp source, which generates radiation in the UVA and UVB spectrum. Duplicates …

Perspectives On The Distributions Of Esd Breakdowns For Spacecraft Charging Applications, Allen Andersen, Krysta Moser, Jr Dennison

Posters

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) continues to pose significant risks to space missions despite decades of intense study. We emphasize here the advantages to spacecraft designers and modelers from considering the stochastic distributions of breakdown and how it can be affected by factors including spacecraft environment conditions, design geometries, material temperature, material purity, charging history, and appropriate timescales. Spacecraft charging models and spacecraft designs typically rely on tabulated values or ranges of breakdown strength, often based on cursory measurements with little or no experimental detail. Depending on the timescales and history of environmental and orbital changes or durations of specific missions, it …