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The chiral light field has attracted great attention owing to its interaction with chiral matter. The generation of chiral light fields with rich structures has become crucial as it can expand application scenarios. Herein, we introduce a chiral optical vortex lattice. As a whole, the optical vortex lattice has a chiral intensity distribution, with each spiral arm having sub-vortices (chiral phase). By using an expansion factor to adjust the involute of a circular lattice, this helical optical vortex lattice can be continuously varied from a circular lattice. The chirality of intensity and phase can be controlled independently. Furthermore, the optical tweezers using the lattice demonstrate the capability of sub-vortices to manipulate particle movement, with the chiral intensity determining the trajectory of particle motion. As the lattice possesses both intensity and phase chirality, it may also find potential applications in tasks such as chiral structure microfabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the voltage regulation of electrodeposited elliptical magnetostrictive Ni nanodot arrays from single-domain to nonvolatile vortex state at room temperature. On the piezoelectric substrate, isolated elliptical Ni nanodots are fabricated between a pair of square electrodes, with the long axis parallel to the joint line of the electrodes. By applying a voltage to the surface electrodes pair, local stress is generated to induce the magnetization of the nanodots from single-domain to vortex state. The magnetization state of the nanodots is characterized by a magnetic force microscope. Even after the voltage is removed or applying another voltage, the nanodots maintain a stable vortex magnetization state, which shows that the vortex state after regulation is nonvolatile. These results are of great significance for the study of the low-energy-consumption regulation of the nano-dimensional magnetic material and vortex state-based nonvolatile memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composited p-type electrodes with high reflectivity have been investigated in AlGaN-based ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) to improve the light extraction efficiency, which are composed of a patterned ITO layer and an Al reflector. It is verified that the patterned ITO with a thickness of 30 nm can not only well form Ohmic contact with p-GaN capping layer, but also be nearly 90% transparent to ultraviolet light, and thus presenting a reflectivity of 73% at 280 nm when combined with an Al reflector. Further experimental efforts confirm that the performance of the UV-LEDs is dramatically improved with such p-type electrodes. The maximum light output power and wall plug efficiency in the current range of 0–100 mA are severally increased by 49.8% and 54.2% compared to the device with traditional Ni/Au electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate a prototype of magnetic tunable bandstop filter by using magnetic multilayers of [FeGaB 25 nm/Al2O3 5 nm]4 prepared by magnetron sputtering. The multilayer structure exhibits a relatively low coercive field and RF loss compared to the single layer film with the same thickness. By placing a single transmission line on the top of magnetic multilayers, a prototype of tunable bandstop filter was fabricated and operates from 4.5 GHz to 7.08 GHz under very low magnetic bias fields from 100 Oe to 400 Oe. These low loss multilayer films are good candidates for RF/microwave applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propagation of intense circularly polarized laser pulses in strongly magnetized inhomogeneous plasmas is investigated. It is shown that a left-hand circularly polarized laser pulse propagating up the density gradient of the plasma along the magnetic field is reflected at the left-cutoff density. However, a right-hand circularly polarized laser can penetrate up the density gradient deep into the plasma without cutoff or resonance and turbulently heat the electrons trapped in its wake. Results from particle-incell simulations are in good agreement with that from the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility to enrich paramagnetic dysprosium(III) ions in a magnetic field gradient is proved by means of interferometry, which may open the route for a magnetic separation of rare earth ions from aqueous solutions. The separation dynamics are studied for three different concentrations of DyCl3 and compared with those found recently in a sulphate solution of the 3d ion Mn(II). In view of the similar-sized hydration spheres for Dy(III) and Mn(II), the slower separation dynamics in DyCl3 is attributed to both a higher densification coefficient and the strong impact of Brownian motion due to the absence of ion-pair clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) with thin p-GaN capping layer have been one of the most promising configurations, thanks to their excellent light extraction potential, which are, however, generally accompanied by insufficient hole supply. In this work, multi-graded p-AlGaN layers are adopted as an integrated p-type region, in which the electron blocking layer (EBL) is taken off to promote the carrier transport. The experimental results show that both the operation voltage and light output power of the DUV-LEDs are improved compared to the traditional ones, leading to a remarkable increase (by 114%) in their wall-plug efficiency. Further analysis confirms that the integrated p-type region serving as the hole supply layer helps holes to avoid the barrier between the p-GaN and integrated p-type region during their transport, and the absence of the EBL further eliminates part of the obstacles for hole drifting, giving rise to an enhanced hole concentration in quantum wells. Meanwhile, thanks to the modulation of the negative polarization induced bulk charges for conduction band, which is introduced within the integrated p-type region, the electron leakage is effectively suppressed even without the EBL, thus improving the device performance dramatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain-induced graphene phonon softening and phonon band splitting are indeed fascinating, which were attributed to the phonon double resonant scattering without intrinsic involvement of C-C bond relaxation. Here, we show that the lengthening and weakening of the C-C bond softens the phonon and that the mismatching between the uniaxial strain and the C3v bond geometry splits the band. In addition to the force constant of 11.8 N/m for a C-C bond in graphene, consistency between theory and measurements derives that if the strain is along a bond, maximal band splitting happens; if the strain is perpendicular, no band splitting occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power-dependent time-resolved optical spin orientation measurements were performed on In0.1Ga0.9As quantum well (QW) and In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dot (QD) tunnel-coupled structures with an 8-nm-thick GaAs barrier. A fast transient increase of electron spin polarization was observed at the QW ground state after circular-polarized pulse excitation. The temporal maximum of polarization increased with increasing pumping fluence owing to enhanced spin blocking in the QDs, yielding a highest amplification of 174% with respect to the initial spin polarization. Further elevation of the laser power gradually quenched the polarization dynamics, which was induced by saturated spin filling of both the QDs and the QW phase spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the contact characteristics of Ti/Al/Ni/Au on plasma etched n-AlGaN has been attempted by an active pretreatment, which can provide Si and N atoms to occupy the possible metal and N vacancies. It is found that the contacts on both the as-grown and plasma-etched + pretreatment n-Al0.5Ga0.5N present truly Ohmic in nature, whereas the contacts on plasma-etched samples without pretreatment still remain rectifying. Surface atomic concentration analysis indicates that the plasma etching induced N or metal vacancies mostly act as acceptor-like states, leading to a severe compensation. Fortunately, these states can be effectively removed by the presently proposed pretreatment, and thus the Fermi level is raised up toward the conduction band edge, ensuring the formation of Ohmic contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the growth of full-composition-graded InxGa1−xN (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) on a GaN/sapphire template using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Composition of indium in InxGa1−xN films is controlled by growth temperature and gallium flux. It was found that In composition increases gradually from x = 0 (GaN) to x = 1 (InN) along the growth direction accompanied by a gradual strain relaxation. At the initial stage of growth, multiple quantum wells like structures with low and high In composition InxGa1−xN layers are spontaneously formed, effectively relaxing the in-plane strain. Finally, the graded InxGa1−xN film exhibits a broadband absorption covering the full solar spectrum, which provides a promising path for the design and production of graded InxGa1−xN based photovoltaic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient active region structures with low sensitivity to threading dislocation density (TDD) is of great technical significance for AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting devices. Here, we propose an active region strategy by introducing bunching effect to form self-assembled sidewall quantum wells (SQWs) with much stronger carrier confinement, resulting in a significant enhancement of internal quantum efficiency (from 46% to 59%) compared to the commonly adopted multiple quantum wells (MQWs) due to the lower sensitivity to TDD. As a demo, an AlGaN-based DUV light-emitting diode (LED) with the proposed active region involving both SQWs and MQWs presents dual-band emission and a consequent 68% enhancement in light output power compared to the DUV-LED with only MQWs as the active region, suggesting that the proposed architecture is fully suitable for the development of high performance DUV light-emitting devices even based on poor or medium quality materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of high temperature annealing (HTA) on crystalline quality improvement of h-BN films grown on sapphire substrates has been investigated. It is found that BN grown using conventional molecular beam epitaxy is disordered due to the growth temperature below 1000 °C. By annealing at a temperature of 1700 °C, thermodynamically stable crystalline h-BN could be obtained at wafer scale, where diffusion of atoms in the as-grown BN film is enhanced and the structural defect density decreases. The crystalline h-BN has been confirmed by x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and atomic force microscopy measurements. This work demonstrates that HTA is a simple and effective way to achieve wafer-scale crystalline h-BN films, which have numerous potential applications in next-generation two-dimensional devices and flexible III-nitride optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes adopting an embedded delta-AlGaN thin layer with an Al composition higher than that in conventional barriers have been investigated. The experimental result shows that when the current is below 250 mA, the maximum of the external quantum efficiency and light output power for the proposed structure reach severally 1.38% and 10.1 mW, which are enhanced significantly by 160% and 197%, respectively, compared to the conventional ones, showing a tremendous improvement. We attribute that to the inserted delta-thin layer's modulation effect on the energy band, namely, accelerating holes to cross the high barrier with very large kinetic energy, thus increasing the hole injection into the active regions. Meanwhile, the electron concentration within the active regions is enhanced as well because of the accompanying additional effect of the delta-AlGaN thin layer being an electron barrier to block electrons escaping from the active region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-temperature (HT) annealing effects on the evolution of strain in AlN films grown on sapphire have been investigated. It is found that there is a significant transition behavior from tensile to compressive strain in AlN before and after HT annealing at an optimal temperature of 1700 °C. Based on a microstructural analysis, it is clarified that the HT annealing will result in the (1) disappearance of grains that account for the tensile stress before HT annealing, (2) generation of a new interface that has little influence on the lattice constant upper/below this interface, and (3) regular 8/9 arrangement of misfit dislocation at the AlN/sapphire interface that relieves almost all stress associated with lattice mismatch. It is thus deduced that the remnant compressive strain in AlN after HT annealing mainly comes from the cooling down process due to thermal mismatch between sapphire and AlN. This understanding of the annealing effect is certainly of great significance in AlN materials science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been challenging to achieve combined strong magnetoelectric coupling and narrow ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth in multiferroic heterostructures. Electric field induced large effective field of 175 Oe and narrow FMR linewidth of 40 Oe were observed in FeCoSiB/Si/SiO2/PMN-PT heterostructures with substrate clamping effect minimized through removing the Si substrate. As a comparison, FeCoSiB/PMN-PT heterostructures with FeCoSiB film directly deposited on PMN-PT showed a comparable voltage induced effective magnetic field but a significantly larger FMR linewidth of 283 Oe. These multiferroic heterostructures exhibiting combined giant magnetoelectric coupling and narrow ferromagnetic resonance linewidth offer great opportunities for integrated voltage tunable RF magnetic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resonant photoemission spectroscopy is used to study the intermediate-band material Cr doped ZnS. Using resonant photoemission, we show that the intermediate-band can be characterized, revealing the filling and specific orbital character of the states contributing to the resonant photoemission signal. We demonstrate that resonant photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful approach for understanding the origin of intermediate bands in doped ZnS. The methodology can be widely extended to a large variety of materials, providing useful information towards engineering of high efficiency intermediate band solar cells and of other optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate ensemble electron spin dephasing in self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) of different lateral sizes by employing optical Hanle measurements. Using low excitation power, we are able to obtain a spin dephasing time T*2 (in the order of ns) of the resident electron after recombination of negative trions in the QDs. We show that T*2 is determined by the hyperfine field arising from the frozen fluctuation of nuclear spins, which scales with the size of QDs following the Merkulov-Efros-Rosen model. This scaling no longer holds in large QDs, most likely due to a breakdown in the lateral electron confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate ensemble electron spin dephasing in self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) of different lateral sizes by employing optical Hanle measurements. Using low excitation power, we are able to obtain a spin dephasing time T*2 (in the order of ns) of the resident electron after recombination of negative trions in the QDs. We show that T*2 is determined by the hyperfine field arising from the frozen fluctuation of nuclear spins, which scales with the size of QDs following the Merkulov-Efros-Rosen model. This scaling no longer holds in large QDs, most likely due to a breakdown in the lateral electron confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the symmetries in the terahertz (THz) field distribution and the field-effect channel on THz photoresponse is examined. Resonant excitation of cavity plasmon modes and nonresonant self-mixing of THz waves are demonstrated in a GaN/AlGaN two-dimensional electron gas with symmetrically designed nanogates, antennas, and filters. We found that the self-mixing signal can be effectively suppressed by the symmetric design and the resonant response benefits from the residual asymmetry. The findings suggest that a single detector may provide both high sensitivity from the self-mixing mechanism and spectral resolution from the resonant response by optimizing the degree of geometrical and/or electronic symmetries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that circularly polarized emission light from InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) ensembles under optical spin injection from an adjacent GaAs layer can switch its helicity depending on emission wavelengths and optical excitation density. We attribute this anomalous behavior to simultaneous contributions from both positive and negative trions and a lower number of photo-excited holes than electrons being injected into the QDs due to trapping of holes at ionized acceptors and a lower hole mobility. Our results call for caution in reading out electron spin polarization by optical polarization of the QD ensembles and also provide a guideline in improving efficiency of spin light emitting devices that utilize QDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene has been discovered to have two effects on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of graphene/GeSi quantum dot (QD) hybrid structures, which were formed by covering monolayer graphene sheet on the multilayer ordered GeSi QDs sample surfaces. At the excitation of 488 nm laser line, the hybrid structure had a reduced PL intensity, while at the excitation of 325 nm, it had an enhanced PL intensity. The attenuation in PL intensity can be attributed to the transferring of electrons from the conducting band of GeSi QDs to the graphene sheet. The electron transfer mechanism was confirmed by the time resolved PL measurements. For the PL enhancement, a mechanism called surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) enhanced absorption mechanism is proposed, in which the excitation of SPP in the graphene is suggested. Due to the resonant excitation of SPP by incident light, the absorption of incident light is much enhanced at the surface region, thus leading to more exciton generation and a PL enhancement in the region. The results may be helpful to provide us a way to improve optical properties of low dimensional surface structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]