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We have investigated the detailed magnetic, magnetoelectric (ME), magnetodielectric (MD) and thermal expansion properties in Co4Nb2O9 crystal. A magnetic-field-induced spin flop was observed below antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition temperature TN. Dielectric constant at applied magnetic field nearly diverges around the AFM transition, giving rise to a colossal MD effect as high as ~138% around TN. Theoretical analysis of the ME and MD data revealed a major contribution of critical spin fluctuation to the colossal MD effect in Co4Nb2O9. These results suggest that linear ME materials with large ME coupling might be potentially used to realize large MD effect for future application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal expansion and magnetic properties of antiperovskite manganese nitrides Ag1-x NMn3+x were reported. The substitution of Mn for Ag effectively broadens the temperature range of negative thermal expansion and drives it to cryogenic temperatures. As x increases, the paramagnetic (PM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition temperature decreases. At x~0.2, the PM-AFM transition overlaps with the AFM to glass-like state transition. Above x = 0.2, two new distinct magnetic transitions were observed: One occurs above room temperature from PM to ferromagnetic (FM), and the other one evolves at a lower temperature (T*) below which both AFM and FM orderings are involved. Further, electron spin resonance measurement suggests that the broadened volume change near T* is closely related with the evolution of Γ5g AFM ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) film-based sensors for detecting Hg2+ ions were developed by surface functionalization with dansyl chloride. To immobilize dansyl chloride, 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane was modified on hydroxylated cBN surfaces to form an amino-group-terminated self-assembled monolayer. The covalent attachment of the amino groups was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The selectivity and sensitivity of the sensors to detect diverse metal cations in ethanol solutions were studied by using fluorescence spectroscopy, revealing a great selectivity to Hg2+ ions. Significantly, the dansyl-chloride-functionalized cBN film sensors were recyclable after the sensing test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) solar-blind photodetectors based on high-quality cubic boron nitride (cBN) films with a metal/semiconductor/metal configuration were fabricated. The design of interdigitated circular electrodes enables high homogeneity of electric field between pads. The DUV photodetectors present a peak responsivity at 180 nm with a very sharp cutoff wavelength at 193 nm and a visible rejection ratio (180 versus 250 nm) of more than four orders of magnitude. The characteristics of the photodetectors present extremely low dark current, high breakdown voltage, and high responsivity, suggesting that cBN films are very promising for DUV sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a methodology for the characterization of strained quantum wells that allows nondestructive determination of indium composition and layer thicknesses of quantum wells. Purposes of the use of the method in combination with transmission electron microscopy; Use of the peak positions of the photoluminescence to determine the strained and unstrained energy gap.

Examines the temperature sensitivity of strained and lattice-matched quantum well semiconductor lasers. Temperature behavior of carrier lifetime, gain and internal loss; Role of Auger recombination in the device temperature dependence of threshold currents; Range of currents.

Presents a correction to the article "Nanoscale Silicon Wires Synthesized Using Simple Physical Evaporation," previously published in "Applied Physics Letters."

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) film-based sensors for detecting Hg2+ ions were developed by surface functionalization with dansyl chloride. To immobilize dansyl chloride, 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane was modified on hydroxylated cBN surfaces to form an amino-group-terminated self-assembled monolayer. The covalent attachment of the amino groups was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The selectivity and sensitivity of the sensors to detect diverse metal cations in ethanol solutions were studied by using fluorescence spectroscopy, revealing a great selectivity to Hg2+ ions. Significantly, the dansyl-chloride-functionalized cBN film sensors were recyclable after the sensing test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for the dense integration of high sensitivity photonic crystal (PC) waveguide based biosensors is proposed and experimentally demonstrated on a silicon platform. By connecting an additional PC waveguide filter to a PC microcavity sensor in series, a transmission passband is created, containing the resonances of the PC microcavity for sensing purpose. With proper engineering of the passband, multiple high sensitivity PC microcavity sensors can be integrated into microarrays and be interrogated simultaneously between a single input and a single output port. The concept was demonstrated with a 2-channel L55 PC biosensor array containing PC waveguide filters. The experiment showed that the sensors on both channels can be monitored simultaneously from a single output spectrum. Less than 3 dB extra loss for the additional PC waveguide filter is observed.

We analyze the contributions of quality factor, fill fraction, and group index of chip-integrated resonance microcavity devices, to the detection limit for bulk chemical sensing and the minimum detectable biomolecule concentration in biosensing. We analyze the contributions from analyte absorbance, as well as from temperature and spectral noise. Slow light in two-dimensional photonic crystals provide opportunities for significant reduction of the detection limit below 1 × 10 -7 RIU (refractive index unit) which can enable highly sensitive sensors in diverse application areas. We demonstrate experimentally detected concentration of 1 fM (67 fg/ml) for the binding between biotin and avidin, the lowest reported till date.

We experimentally demonstrate an efficient and robust method for series connection of photonic crystal microcavities that are coupled to photonic crystal waveguides in the slow light transmission regime. We demonstrate that group index taper engineering provides excellent optical impedance matching between the input and output strip waveguides and the photonic crystal waveguide, a nearly flat transmission over the entire guided mode spectrum and clear multi-resonance peaks corresponding to individual microcavities that are connected in series. Series connected photonic crystal microcavities are further multiplexed in parallel using cascaded multimode interference power splitters to generate a high density silicon nanophotonic microarray comprising 64 photonic crystal microcavity sensors, all of which are interrogated simultaneously at the same instant of time.

We demonstrate experimentally that in photonic crystal sensors with a side-coupled cavity-waveguide configuration, group velocity of the propagating mode in the coupled waveguide at the frequency of the resonant mode plays an important role in enhancing the sensitivity. In linear L13 photonic crystal microcavities, with nearly same resonance mode quality factors ∼7000 in silicon-on-insulator devices, sensitivity increased from 57 nm/RIU to 66 nm/RIU as group index in the coupled waveguide increased from 10.2 to 13.2. Engineering for highest sensitivity in such planar integrated sensors, thus, requires careful slow light design for optimized sensor sensitivity.