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Electrowetting technology, one of the microfluidic technologies, has attracted more and more attentions in recent years, and it has a broad prospect in terms of microdroplet drive. In this paper, the dynamic contact angle theory is used to develop a numerical model to predict the droplet dynamic contact behavior and the internal flow field under electrowetting. In particular, based on the established computational model of droplet force balance, the dynamic process of a droplet under electrowetting is analyzed, with the perspective of pressure variation and force balance inside the droplet. The results show that when the alternating current frequency increases from 50Hz to 500Hz, the amplitude of the oscillation waveform after droplet stabilization is 0.036mm, 0.016mm, 0.013mm, 0.002mm, while the relevant droplet oscillation periods T are 11ms, 4ms, 2ms, 1ms, respectively. It is also found that the initial phase angle does not affect the droplet oscillation amplitude. In addition, the pressure on the droplet surface under alternating current electrowetting increases rapidly to the maximum value, with resonant waveform oscillation, and the droplet will present different resonance modes under voltage stimulation. The higher the resonance mode is, the smaller the droplet oscillation amplitude is, and the streamline at the interface will present eddy current, in which the number of vortices matches the resonance mode. The high resonance mode corresponds to the small droplet amplitude, while there are more vortices with smaller size.

The intrinsic chirp of high-order harmonic generation is an important factor limiting the production of ultrashort attosecond pulses. Based on numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, the generation process of high-order harmonic from the He atom under the action of orthogonal two-color combined pulse of fundamental frequency and higher intensity second harmonic fields is studied. In this paper, we propose to achieve quasi-chirp-free isolated attosecond pulses by superimposing a higher second-harmonic field on the orthogonal direction of the fundamental frequency field. It is found that the high-energy part of its harmonic emission exhibits small chirp characteristics, which can be used to synthesize isolated attosecond pulses. Through the analysis of the wave packets evolution and the classical motion trajectories of the electron, it is demonstrated that the quasi-chirp-free harmonic can be attributed to the simultaneous return of electrons ionized at different times to the parent particle. The influence of the relative phase of the two pulses on the harmonics is further analyzed, and it is observed that this phenomenon is sensitive to the relative phase, but it can still generate isolated attosecond pulses within a certain phase.

Defects have a significant impact on the performance of semiconductor devices. By using the first-principles combined with one-dimensional static coupling theory approach, we have calculated the variation of carrier capture coefficients with temperature for the interfacial defects $\textit{P}_{b0}$ and $\textit{P}_{b1}$ in amorphous-SiO$_2$/Si(100) interface}. It is found that the geometrical shape of $\textit{P}_{b0}$ and $\textit{P}_{b1}$ defects undergo large deformations after capturing carriers to form charged defects, especially for the Si atoms containing a dangling bond. The hole capture coefficients of neutral $\textit{P}_{b0}$ and $\textit{P}_{b1}$ defects are largest than the other capture coefficients, indicating that these defects have a higher probability of forming positively charged centres. Meanwhile, the calculated results of non-radiative recombination coefficient of these defects show that both $\textit{P}_{b0}$ and $\textit{P}_{b1}$ defects are the dominant non-radiative recombination centers in the interface of a-SiO$_2$/Si(100).

The hybridization between the localized 4f level (f) with conduction (c) electrons in γ-Ce upon cooling has been previously revealed in single crystalline thin films experimentally and theoretically, whereas its influence on the γ → α phase transition was not explicitly verified, due to the fact that the phase transition happened in the bulk-layer, leaving the surface in the γ phase. Here in our work, we circumvent this issue by investigating the effect of alloying addition of La on Ce, by means of crystal structure, electronic transport and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, together with a phenomenological periodic Anderson model and a modified Anderson impurity model. Our current researches indicate that the weakening of f–c hybridization is the major factor in the suppression of γ → α phase transition by La doping. The consistency of our results with the effects of other rare earth and actinide alloying additions on the γ → α phase transition of Ce is also discussed. Our work demonstrates the importance of the interaction between f and c electrons in understanding the unconventional phase transition in Ce, which is intuitive for further researches on other rare earth and actinide metals and alloys with similar phase transition behaviors.

The semiclassical method based on Feynman’s path-integral is in favor of uncovering the quantum tunneling effect, the classical trajectory description of the electron, and the quantum phase information, which can present an intuitive and transparent physical image of electron’s propagation in comparison with the ab initio time-dependent Schrödinger equation. In this review, we introduce the basic theoretical concepts and development of several semiclassical methods as well as some of their applications in strong-field physics. Special emphasis is placed on extracting time delay on attosecond scale by the combination of the semiclassical method with phase of phase method. Hundreds of millions of trajectories are generally adopted to obtain a relatively high-resolution photoelectron spectrum, which would take a large amount of time. Here we also introduce several optimization approaches of the semiclassical method to overcome the time-consuming problem of violence calculation.

It is well known that in the process of thermal oxidation of silicon, there are P b-type defects at amorphous silicon dioxide/silicon (a-SiO2/Si) interface due to strain. These defects have a very important impact on the performance and reliability of semiconductor devices. In the process of passivation, hydrogen is usually used to inactivate P b-type defects by the reaction P b + H2 → P bH + H. At the same time, P bH centers dissociate according to the chemical reaction P b H → P b +H. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the balance of the passivation and dissociation. In this work, the reaction mechanisms of passivation and dissociation of the P b-type defects are investigated by first-principles calculations. The reaction rates of the passivation and dissociation are calculated by the climbing image-nudged elastic band (CI-NEB) method and harmonic transition state theory (HTST). By coupling the rate equations of the passivation and dissociation reactions, the equilibrium density ratio of the saturated interfacial dangling bonds and interfacial defects (P b, P b0, and P b1) at different temperatures is calculated.

Morphology control of perovskite films is of critical importance for high-performance photovoltaic devices. Although solvent vapor annealing (SVA) treatment has been widely used to improve the film quality efficiently, the detailed mechanism of film growth is still under construction, and there is still no consensus on the selection of solvents and volume for further optimization. Here, a series of solvents (DMF, DMSO, mixed DMF/DMSO) were opted for exploring their impact on fundamental structural and physical properties of perovskite films and the performance of corresponding devices. Mixed solvent SVA treatment resulted in unique benefits that integrated the advantages of each solvent, generating a champion device efficiency of 19.76% with improved humidity and thermal stability. The crystallization mechanism was constructed by conducting grazing-incidence wide-angle x-ray diffraction (GIWAXS) characterizations, showing that dissolution and recrystallization dominated the film formation. A proper choice of solvent and its volume balancing the two processes thus afforded the desired perovskite film. This study reveals the underlying process of film formation, paving the way to producing energy-harvesting materials in a controlled manner towards energy-efficient and stable perovskite-based devices.

We present the photoelectron momentum distributions (PMDs) and the photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) of He+ ions, aligned H 2 + molecules and N2 molecules by intense orthogonally polarized laser pulses. Simulations are performed by numerically solving the corresponding two-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equations (TDSEs) within the single-electron approximation frame. Photoelectron momentum distributions and photoelectron angular distributions present different patterns with the time delays T d, illustrating the dependences of the PMDs and PADs on the time delays by orthogonally polarized laser pulses. The evolution of the electron wavepackets can be employed to describe the intensity of the PADs from the TDSE simulations for N2 molecules.

Hydrodynamic calculations of the chaotic behaviors in n+nn+ In0.53Ga0.47As devices biased in terahertz (THz) electric field have been carried out. Their different transport characteristics have been carefully investigated by tuning the n-region parameters and the applied ac radiation. The oscillatory mode is found to transit between synchronization and chaos, as verified by the first return map. The transitions result from the mixture of the dc induced oscillation and the one driven by the ac radiation. Our findings will give further and thorough understanding of electron transport in In0.53Ga0.47As terahertz oscillator, which is a promising solid-state THz source.

A key issue in metallic uranium and its related actinide compounds is the character of the f electrons, whether it is localized or itinerant. Here we grew well ordered uranium films on a W(110) substrate. The surface topography was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. The Fermi surface and band structure of the grown films were studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Large spectral weight can be observed around the Fermi level, which mainly comes from the f states. Additionally, we provided direct evidence that the f bands hybridize with the conduction bands in the uranium ordered films, which is different from previously reported mechanism of the direct f–f interaction. We propose that the above two mechanisms both exist in this system by manifesting themselves in different momentum spaces. Our results give a comprehensive study of the ordered uranium films and may throw new light on the study of the 5f-electron character and physical properties of metallic uranium and other related actinide materials.

The responsivity and the noise of a detector determine the sensitivity. Thermal energy usually affects both the responsivity and the noise spectral density. In this work, the noise characteristics and responsivity of an antenna-coupled AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) terahertz detector are evaluated at temperatures elevated from 300 K to 473 K. Noise spectrum measurement and a simultaneous measurement of the source–drain conductance and the terahertz photocurrent allow for detailed analysis of the electrical characteristics, the photoresponse, and the noise behavior. The responsivity is reduced from 59 mA/W to 11 mA/W by increasing the detector temperature from 300 K to 473 K. However, the noise spectral density maintains rather constantly around 1–2 pA/Hz1/2 at temperatures below 448 K, above which the noise spectrum abruptly shifts from Johnson-noise type into flicker-noise type and the noise density is increased up to one order of magnitude. The noise-equivalent power (NEP) is increased from 22 pW/Hz1/2 at 300 K to 60 pW/Hz1/2 at 448 K mainly due to the reduction in mobility. Above 448 K, the NEP is increased up to 1000 pW/Hz1/2 due to the strongly enhanced noise. The sensitivity can be recovered by cooling the detector back to room temperature.

Bilayer superconducting films with tunable transition temperature (T c) are a critical ingredient to the fabrication of high-performance transition edge sensors. Commonly chosen materials include Mo/Au, Mo/Cu, Ti/Au, and Ti/Al systems. Here in this work, titanium/indium (Ti/In) bilayer superconducting films are successfully fabricated on SiO2/Si (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The success in the epitaxial growth of indium on titanium is achieved by lowering the substrate temperature to −150 °C during indium evaporation. We measure the critical temperature under a bias current of 10 μA, and obtain different superconducting transition temperatures ranging from 645 mK to 2.7 K by adjusting the thickness ratio of Ti/In. Our results demonstrate that the transition temperature decreases as the thickness ratio of Ti/In increases.

The improved element-free Galerkin (IEFG) method of elasticity is used to solve the topology optimization problems. In this method, the improved moving least-squares approximation is used to form the shape function. In a topology optimization process, the entire structure volume is considered as the constraint. From the solid isotropic microstructures with penalization, we select relative node density as a design variable. Then we choose the minimization of compliance to be an objective function, and compute its sensitivity with the adjoint method. The IEFG method in this paper can overcome the disadvantages of the singular matrices that sometimes appear in conventional element-free Galerkin (EFG) method. The central processing unit (CPU) time of each example is given to show that the IEFG method is more efficient than the EFG method under the same precision, and the advantage that the IEFG method does not form singular matrices is also shown.

We have systematically studied the behaviors of the resistivity and magnetization of CeSb2 single crystals as a function of temperature and external field. Four anomalies in the resistivity/magnetization-versus-temperature curves are observed at low magnetic field. They are located at 15.5 K, 11.5 K, 9.5 K, and 6.5 K, corresponding to the paramagnetic–magnetically ordered state (MO), MO-antiferromagnetic (AFM), AFM–AFM, and AFM–ferromagnetic (FM) transitions, respectively. The anomaly at 9.5 K is only visible with H || [010] by magnetic susceptibility measurements, indicating that the AFM–AFM transition only happens along [010] direction in ab-plane. The four magnetic transitions are strongly suppressed by high external field. Finally, the field-temperature phase diagrams of CeSb2 with different orientations of the applied field in ab-plane are constructed and indicate the highly anisotropic nature of the magnetization of CeSb2.

We report the study of a low temperature cluster glass state in 5% Mn-doped UGa3 heavy fermion compound. This compound transforms from a paramagnetic state to a spin-cluster glass state, which is confirmed by measuring the dc susceptibility and magnetization. The ac susceptibility exhibits a frequency-dependent peak around T f, which provides direct evidence of the cluster glass state. By analyzing the field-dependent magnetization and frequency-dependent ac susceptibility in detail, we deduce that this compound forms a spin-cluster glass state below T f.

The interaction of nanoparticles with cell membranes is of great importance because of their potential biomedical applications. In this paper, we investigate the adhesion of stripe-patterned cylinders to a fluid membrane with a full consideration of the Helfrich free energy. Three situations are considered: one striated cylindrical particle, two pure cylindrical particles, and two Janus cylindrical particles. It is found that, with the adhesion of a single sparse striated cylinder, there are a variety of steady-states with energy barriers and the stable state is determined by the pattern of the cylinder. However, when the particle is densely striped, it has no effect on the stable state. By comparing the wrapping degree of two cylindrical particles with that of a single cylindrical particle, we find that two pure cylindrical particles can promote or suppress their interaction with the membrane under different situations. However, two Janus cylindrical particles can only inhibit their interaction with the membrane. Besides, this interaction is related to a first-order transition which is a shallow-to-deep wrapping transition for two pure cylinders while it is a shallow-to-half wrapping transition for two Janus cylinders. Furthermore, the position where the transition happens as a function of adhesion energy is given for fixed membrane tension and the precondition of the transition is presented.

Starting from the Davey–Stewartson equation, a Boussinesq-type coupled equation system is obtained by using a variable separation approach. For the Boussinesq-type coupled equation system, its consistent Riccati expansion (CRE) solvability is studied with the help of a Riccati equation. It is significant that the soliton–cnoidal wave interaction solution, expressed explicitly by Jacobi elliptic functions and the third type of incomplete elliptic integral, of the system is also given.

A hybrid natural element method (HNEM) for two-dimensional viscoelasticity problems under the creep condition is proposed. The natural neighbor interpolation is used as the test function, and the discrete equation system of the HNEM for viscoelasticity problems is obtained using the Hellinger–Reissner variational principle. In contrast to the natural element method (NEM), the HNEM can directly obtain the nodal stresses, which have higher precisions than those obtained using the moving least-square (MLS) approximation. Some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the validity and superiority of this HNEM.

A simple model based on the statistics of single atoms is developed to predict the diffusion rate of thermal atoms in (or on) bulk materials without empirical parameters. Compared with vast classical molecular-dynamics simulations for predicting the self-diffusion rate of Pt, Cu, and Ar adatoms on crystal surfaces, the model is proved to be much more accurate than the Arrhenius law and the transition state theory. Applying this model, the theoretical predictions agree well with the experimental values in the presented paper about the self-diffusion of Pt (Cu) adatoms on the surfaces.

Stoichiometric Ba(MnxTi(1−x)O3) (BMT) thin films with various values of x were deposited on Si(111) substrates by the sol-gel technique. The influence of Mn content on the optical properties was studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in the UV—Vis—NIR region. By fitting the measured ellipsometric parameter (Ψ and Δ) with a four-phase model (air/BMT+voids /BMT/Si(111)), the key optical constants of the thin films have been obtained. It was found that the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k increase with increasing Mn content due to the increase in the packing density. Furthermore, a strong dependence of the optical band gap Eg on Mn/Ti ratios in the deposited films was observed, and it was inferred that the energy level of conduction bands decreases with increasing Mn content.

Er3+-doped 25BaO-(25-x)SiO2-xAl2O3-25B2O3 transparent glasses are prepared with x = 0, 12.5 and 25 by a solid-state reaction. The Er-related NIR luminescence intensity, which corresponds to the transition of 4I15/2-4I13/2, is obviously altered with different silicon/aluminum ratios. The Judd-Ofelt parameters of the Er3+ ions are adopted to explain the intensity change in the NIR fluorescence, and the Raman scattering intensity versus the amount of Al and/or Si components are discussed. The spectra of the three samples are quite similar in the peak positions, but different in intensity. The maximal phonon density of state for the samples is calculated from the Raman spectra and is correlated to the NIR luminescence efficiency.

We carry out a theoretical study of nonlinear dynamics in terahertz-driven n+nn+ wurtzite InN diodes by using time-dependent drift diffusion equations. A cooperative nonlinear oscillatory mode appears due to the negative differential mobility effect, which is the unique feature of wurtzite InN aroused by its strong nonparabolicity of the Γ1 valley. The appearance of different nonlinear oscillatory modes, including periodic and chaotic states, is attributed to the competition between the self-sustained oscillation and the external driving oscillation. The transitions between the periodic and chaotic states are carefully investigated using chaos-detecting methods, such as the bifurcation diagram, the Fourier spectrum and the first return map. The resulting bifurcation diagram displays an interesting and complex transition picture with the driving amplitude as the control parameter.