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Structural and transport properties of high performance SmBa2Cu3O7−x coated conductors produced by a dual-chamber co-evaporation are presented. The 5 μm-thick SmBCO coated conductors grown on IBAD-MgO based Hastelloy metal templates show critical currents larger than 1020–1560 A/cm at 77 K and self-field. The current transport characteristics of the conductors are investigated by room-temperature thermoelectric microscopy and low-temperature bolometric microscopy. The local thermoelectric images show the tilted grains, grain boundaries, and microstructural defects on the surface of the coated conductors. The bias current-dependent bolometric response at low temperature displays the current of the local flux flow dissipation as an increasing bias. Furthermore, we measured micro-Raman scattering microscopic imaging on oxygen-related peaks of the conductors. Comparing the Raman signal images with the low temperature optical scanning maps, it is remarkable that the structural disorders represented by oxygen-related Raman peaks are closely related to the low temperature bolometric abnormalities. From this result, a nature of the dissipative current distribution in coated conductors is revealed. The scanning optical microscopic study will provide a promising method for quality assurance of coated conductors.

Raman scattering and atomic force microscopy measurements on Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 thin films prepared by a direct solution method revealed that metal sulfates of various morphologies (dense clusters or separated particles) were partially embedded on the surface of the Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 layer. This residue was removed during the subsequent chemical bath deposition of the CdS buffer layer. However, the removal of the residue led to poor crystallinity and reduced photocurrent near the location of the residue, which suggests that controlling the formation of the sulfates during the fabrication of the absorber layer would be critical for obtaining high efficiency solar cells by the solution method.

In this work, we report on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films deposited by pulsed spray pyrolysis at relatively low temperatures, compatiblewith a large variety of substrates and processing technologies. Crystalline ZnO films were deposited onto glass substrates using zinc acetate dihydrate dissolved in distilled water with concentration of 0.2M. The temperature of the substrate was varied in the range Ts = 473–673K with ΔТ = 50 K. Effect of Ts were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and energy dispersive x-ray, and optical spectroscopies. Also, the influence of Ts on the grain size, phase composition, texture quality, coherent scattering domain size, crystal lattice parameters, chemical composition, ransmission coefficient, and the bang gap of the ZnO films were studied. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that films were polycrystalline with hexagonal phase and showed as preferential orientation (101) at Ts573 K. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements showed that the substrate temperature has a strong effect on morphology of the films. Energy dispersive analysis revealed that ZnO films consisted of the non-stoichiometric compounds. Optical measurements showed ZnO films to be highly transparent in the visible region, and optical band gap is shifting from 3.18 eV to 3.30 eV. This research was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Grant Numbers 0113U000131, 0112U000772, and the individual grant for D.O.).

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nano-sheets have been successfully deposited directly on the cleaved facet of a silica optical fiber using optical trapping forces. By controlling the incident laser power, various types of MoS 2 films were deposited near the fiber core. An area selective deposition was successfully realized during the optical deposition process by using an optical reflectometry method. The presence of MoS 2 deposited layer at the fiber end was confirmed by microscopic Raman spectroscopy as well as scanning electron microscope images. Nonlinear response and power dependent transmission of the prepared sample was observed at the wavelength of 1552 nm, which can be used as an all-fiber saturable absorber. Moreover, the fabricated sample was inserted in a Er-doped fiber ring laser cavity and stable Q-switched pulses with the repletion rate from 26.6 kHz to 40.9 kHz were generated, which confirmed the potential of MoS 2 as a saturable absorber.

Few-layer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) is investigated using circularly polarized Raman spectroscopy with up to eight excitation energies. The main E2g1 and A1g modes near 250 cm-1 appear as a single peak in the Raman spectrum taken without consideration of polarization but are resolved by using circularly polarized Raman scattering. The resonance behaviors of the E2g1 and A1g modes are examined. Firstly, both the E2g1 and A1g modes are enhanced near resonances with the exciton states. The A1g mode exhibits Davydov splitting for trilayers or thicker near some of the exciton resonances. The low-frequency Raman spectra show shear and breathing modes involving rigid vibrations of the layers and also exhibit strong dependence on the excitation energy. An unidentified peak at ~19 cm-1 that does not depend on the number of layers appears near resonance with the B exciton state at 1.96 eV (632.8 nm). The strengths of the intra- and inter-layer interactions are estimated by comparing the mode frequencies and Davydov splitting with the linear chain model, and the contribution of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction to the inter-layer interaction turns out to be about 34% of the nearest-neighbor interaction. Fano resonance is observed for 1.58-eV excitation, and its origin is found to be the interplay between two-phonon scattering and indirect band transition., 45 pages, 20 figures (including Supplementary Information)

Interlayer excitons were observed at the heterojunctions in van der Waals heterostructures (vdW HSs). However, it is not known how the excitonic phenomena are affected by the stacking order. Here, we report twist-angle-dependent interlayer excitons in MoSe

Raman spectra of few-layer WS2 have been measured with up to seven excitation energies, and peculiar resonance effects are observed. The two-phonon acoustic phonon scattering signal close to the main E2g1 peak is stronger than the main peaks for excitations near the A or B exciton states. The low-frequency Raman spectra show a series of shear and layer-breathing modes that are useful for determining the number of layers. In addition, hitherto unidentified peaks (X1 and X2), which do not seem to depend on the layer thickness, are observed near resonances with exciton states. The polarization dependences of the two peaks are different: X1 vanishes in cross polarization, but X2 does not. At the resonance with the A exciton state, the Raman-forbidden, lowest-frequency shear mode for odd number of layers appears as strong as that for the allowed case of even number of layers. This mode also exhibits a strong Breit-Wigner-Fano line shape and an anomalous polarization behavior at this resonance., Comment: 35 pages, 16 figures

Graphene and related two-dimensional materials are promising candidates for atomically thin, flexible, and transparent optoelectronics. In particular, the strong light-matter interaction in graphene has allowed for the development of state-of-the-art photodetectors, optical modulators, and plasmonic devices. In addition, electrically biased graphene on SiO2 substrates can be used as a low-efficiency emitter in the mid-infrared range. However, emission in the visible range has remained elusive. Here we report the observation of bright visible-light emission from electrically biased suspended graphenes. In these devices, heat transport is greatly minimised; thus hot electrons (~ 2800 K) become spatially localised at the centre of graphene layer, resulting in a 1000-fold enhancement in the thermal radiation efficiency. Moreover, strong optical interference between the suspended graphene and substrate can be utilized to tune the emission spectrum. We also demonstrate the scalability of this technique by realizing arrays of chemical-vapour-deposited graphene bright visible-light emitters. These results pave the way towards the realisation of commercially viable large-scale, atomically-thin, flexible and transparent light emitters and displays with low-operation voltage, and graphene-based, on-chip ultrafast optical communications., Comment: 63 page

Compositional and structural studies of Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) thin films were carried out by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE), photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy. CZTSe thin films with different compositions were deposited on sodalime glass by co-evaporation. The composition of the films measured by two different methods, EDS and PIXE, showed significant differences. Generally, the Zn/Sn ratio measured by EDS is larger than that measured by PIXE. Both the micro-PIXE and the micro-Raman imaging results indicated the compositional and structural inhomogeneity of the sample.

The inter- and intra-molecule energy transfers in dye molecules in zeolite crystals were studied using polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy. We used nanoporous zeolite-L crystal and two kinds of dye molecules, pyronine B (PyB + ) and pyronine Y (PyY + ), as the host and guest materials, respectively. To quantitatively monitor the arrangement of PyB + and PyY + molecules inserted into the channels of zeolite-L, the polarized fluorescence microscopy of dye-containing zeolite-L were investigated. From the polarized fluorescence microscopy images, it is clear that the incorporated PyB + molecules forced to be lined up along the channel direction of zeolite-L crystal and that the various arrangements of PyY + molecules were located mostly in the both ends of zeolite-L crystal. Here, we report that the vertically aligned zeolite monolayer can be applied as novel supramolecularly organized systems to study energy transfer dynamics between the internal and external fluorophores, and to develop zeolite-based advanced materials. Based on the polarized fluorescence spectroscopy and the angle-dependent intensity change depending on dye molecules, we discussed the dominant energy transfers between internally incorporated molecules and externally absorbed molecules in dye-containing zeolite-L monolayer.

Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ thin films obtained by co-evaporation of components using an electron beam evaporation system were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray analysis, PIXI and RBS methods. The analysis of the diffraction patterns showed that the films are almost single-phased and contain mainly CZTSe compound, which has a tetragonal kesterite lattice type. The samples have textural growth of [211]. The lattice parameters of the material varied in the range of a = (0.56640-0.56867) nm, c = (1.13466-1.13776) nm, c/2a = 0.9983-1.0017 which correlate well with the reference data in a stable phase CZTSe compounds. From our PIXE analyses we assessed the influence of the growth conditions on the samples chemical composition and mapped the surface distribution.

The CdTe thin and thick films were obtained by the close spaced vacuum sublimation technique on a glass substrate under the following growth conditions: the evaporator temperature was 620 °C; and the substrate temperature was varied in the range from 250 °C to 550 °C. High purity CdTe powder was used as a charge for evaporation. The Raman spectra were measured using TRIAX 320 and TRIAX 550 spectrometers at room temperature. The 488-nm line and 514.5-nm line of an Ar+ laser and a 785-nm diode laser were used as excitation sources. The signal was collected by the liquid nitrogen cooled charge-coupled-device (CCD) detector. A number of intense Raman peaks at 140, 167, 190, 271, 332 and 493 cm-1 were observed and were interpreted as TO (140 cm-1), 1LO (167 cm-1), 2LO (332 cm-1), 3LO (493 cm-1) phonon modes and plasmon-phonon mode (190 cm-1). The presence of several phonon replicas in the Raman spectra confirms high crystal quality of the samples. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The optical and structural properties of aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were investigated by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy. Pure zinc oxide (ZnO) and AZO composite films were deposited using vacuum evaporation method. The films exhibited different morphologies and crystallinity depending on the Al-doping. The SEM micrographs showed that a granular and compact structure could be seen for the ZnO film, while a nanoleaf structure with relatively porous nature was observed for the AZO composite film. The XRD patterns indicated that the crystalline growth orientation would be significantly affected by addition of Al. Compared with pure ZnO, the XRD peak intensity of the AZO composite was stronger and the line-width was narrower. Two-probe resistivity measurements showed that the AZO composites could be used as transparent conducting materials. The PL spectra revealed that the PL intensities of the AZO composites were stronger than that of the pure ZnO. The PL enhancement might be ascribed to the surface plasmon resonance of metal nanoclusters within the composite. Another possible reason of the PL enhancement would be the metal-induced crystallization caused by doping Al to ZnO matrix.

Graphene domains with different sizes and densities were successfully grown on Cu foils with use of a chemical vapor deposition method. We investigated the effects of volume ratios of argon to hydrogen during the annealing process on graphene growth, especially as a function of hydrogen partial pressure. The mean size and density of graphene domains increased with an increase in hydrogen partial pressure during the annealing time. In addition, we found that annealing with use of only hydrogen gas resulted in snowflake-shaped carbon aggregates. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES) revealed that the snowflake-shaped carbon aggregates have stacked sp2 carbon configuration. With these observations, we demonstrate the key reaction details for each growth process and a proposed growth mechanism as a function of the partial pressure of H2 during the annealing process.

The mechanical properties of ZnO microwires have been studied using three different methods: quasi-static flexural measurements using atomic force microscopy, static measurements using a nano indenter, and dynamic flexural measurements using optical interferometry. ZnO microwires were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition method, and the crystal structure and quality were examined using x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The Young's moduli were estimated using the measurement results from the three methods, and they showed consistent values in the range 67.5–79.4 GPa for microwires with diameters of 1.8 μm ± 100 nm.

This is the Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) films were fabricated on glass substrates by sputtering using compound material targets. The fabrication method combines the deposition of metallic precursors and the sulfurization annealing process using S vapor. The optimal precursor sequence for CZTS growth was Cu/SnS/ZnS/Mo. To optimize the composition and the thickness of CZTS, the thickness of Cu layer and precursor was varied. The best cell had an area of 0.185 cm2, Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.89, Zn/Sn = 1.04, and S/(metal) = 1.13 and showed an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.66 V, a short-circuit current (JSC) of 13.60 mA cm−2, a fill factor of 43.14% and a conversion efficiency of 3.84%.

We studied how to effectively add/remove organic chemicals to/from CZTS precursor thin films to prepare uniform CZTS thin films that show optimal properties. We used multi-functional thiourea, as both a stabiliser and a source of sulphur, to prepare the precursor solutions. This is because it forms complexes with metal chlorides, which stabilise the CZTS precursor solutions and enable CZTS thin films to be spin-coated onto substrates thereby enabling fabrication of CZTS absorbers. However, the excess thiourea, required to stabilise the CZTS precursor solutions, induced the formation of a ZnS secondary phase in the CZTS thin films, which deteriorated the photovoltaic properties of the CZTS solar cells. We therefore pre-annealed the thin films to inhibit ZnS formation. We used the thiourea-stabilized CZTS precursor solutions and simple solution processing techniques to prepare CZTS precursor thin films, and optimized the pre-annealing temperature to fabricate CZTS solar cells that showed 5.29% efficiency.

Magnetism in two-dimensional materials is not only of fundamental scientific interest but also a promising candidate for numerous applications. However, studies so far, especially the experimental ones, have been mostly limited to the magnetism arising from defects, vacancies, edges, or chemical dopants which are all extrinsic effects. Here, we report on the observation of intrinsic antiferromagnetic ordering in the two-dimensional limit. By monitoring the Raman peaks that arise from zone folding due to antiferromagnetic ordering at the transition temperature, we demonstrate that FePS

Two-dimensional magnetic van der Waals (vdW) materials have attracted much interest recently. Magnetism in two dimensions is one of the most fascinating topics in condensed matter physics whereas atomically thin magnetic materials present new opportunities for novel spintronic devices. Raman spectroscopy has been established as an invaluable tool in the studies of such magnetic vdW materials as it has been found that the magnetic ordering, which is often difficult to probe directly in atomically thin samples, can be reliably monitored by Raman spectroscopy. Here, we review recent progress in using Raman spectroscopy for the study of magnetic vdW materials with the examples of Ising-type ferromagnet CrI3, Ising-type antiferromagnet FePS3, and XY-type antiferromagnet NiPS3. By monitoring characteristic spectroscopic signatures of magnetic ordering, one can probe various aspects of magnetic ordering.

In article number 1801370, Soon‐Yong Kwon and co‐workers investigate single‐crystalline WTe2 nanobelts from a eutectic metal alloy, which can be a prominent interconnect candidate because of their superior electrical performance and robustness. The successful choice of new interconnect materials from the current 2D library will drive improvements to existing process technologies and will exploit the potential of the assembly of 2D atomic crystals into atomic crystal‐based systems and circuits.

We investigated the transport and photovoltaic properties of Cu-deficient Cu(In1 − xGax)Se2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells containing ordered vacancy compound (OVC) layers. Raman spectra clearly revealed that the CIGS thin films with lower Cu concentrations contained larger volumes of OVC layers. The temperature-dependent inverse ideality factor showed that the CIGS film containing more (less) OVC layers exhibited tunneling-mediated bulk (interface)-dominated recombination. The capacitance–voltage characteristics and admittance spectra showed that the CIGS cells containing more OVC layers had more uniform carrier concentration near the junction and less interfacial trap states compared with cells with less OVC layers. These results suggested that the Cu-deficiency and the resulting OVC layer formation reduced the interfacial defect density and suppressed the interface recombination processes of the CIGS solar cells.

We report a method to characterize z-directional surface roughness of chemical vapor deposition-grown graphene monolayers with the aid of surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectral signatures of “out-of-plane” phonon modes observed at Au nanoparticle (NP)–graphene–Au thin film junctions. This method reveals that intensities of the out-of-plane mode (Radial Breathing Like Mode) are strongly correlated with the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the de-convoluted 2D peak. On the basis of our findings, in-plane 2D peak shape can be used as a straightforward, quantitative indicator in estimating surface roughness of graphene without loading Au NPs by calculating the FWHM [2D−]/FWHM [2D+] value. Furthermore, we examine the different ripple (RP) shapes on graphene by employing atomic force microscopy-correlated Raman microscopy to identify “threading” and “surrounded” RP types for further investigation on the relationship between spectral features and structural aspects. Electrostatic force microscopy (EFM)-based investigation further substantiates that threading-type RPs in graphene show higher EFM amplitude, indicating that the threading domains tend to be more neutral with a few more sp3 type defects than the surroundings.

As the elements of integrated circuits are downsized to the nanoscale, the current Cu‐based interconnects are facing limitations due to increased resistivity and decreased current‐carrying capacity because of scaling. Here, the bottom‐up synthesis of single‐crystalline WTe2 nanobelts and low‐ and high‐field electrical characterization of nanoscale interconnect test structures in various ambient conditions are reported. Unlike exfoliated flakes obtained by the top‐down approach, the bottom‐up growth mode of WTe2 nanobelts allows systemic characterization of the electrical properties of WTe2 single crystals as a function of channel dimensions. Using a 1D heat transport model and a power law, it is determined that the breakdown of WTe2 devices under vacuum and with AlOx capping layer follows an ideal pattern for Joule heating, far from edge scattering. High‐field electrical measurements and self‐heating modeling demonstrate that the WTe2 nanobelts have a breakdown current density approaching ≈100 MA cm−2, remarkably higher than those of conventional metals and other transition‐metal chalcogenides, and sustain the highest electrical power per channel length (≈16.4 W cm−1) among the interconnect candidates. The results suggest superior robustness of WTe2 against high‐bias sweep and its possible applicability in future nanoelectronics.

The dependence of the interlayer interaction on the stacking order of MoS2 is investigated by Raman spectroscopy using three excitation energies of 2.81, 2.41, and 1.96 eV. The low-frequency Raman spectra show distinct correlation with the stacking type. The A-like intra-layer vibration mode at 405 cm−1 exhibit Davydov splitting due to interlayer interactions when the 1.96 eV excitation is used. The positions and the relative intensities of the Davydov-split peaks depend on the stacking type as well. By using the linear-chain model, the interlayer force constants are extracted and compared for 3-layer samples with different stacking types: the 3R-types have a larger force constant than the 2H-type. For the 2H-type, Davydov splitting is analyzed as a function of the number of layers. The force constants for the second-nearest-neighbor interaction are obtained and compared with other transition metal dichalcogenides.

We measured the polarization dependence of the photocurrent in symmetric Pd-graphene-Pd photodevices. The photocurrent is maximum when the polarization angle of the incident light is parallel to the edge of an electrode. On the other hand, when the polarization direction is parallel to the graphene channel, the photocurrent is minimum. This polarization dependence of the photocurrent is similar to what has been observed in an asymmetric Pd-graphene-Ti device and results from an anisotropic electron-photon interaction in graphene, which generates photocarriers with momenta predominantly in the direction perpendicular to the polarization direction.

We proposed new models of metamaterials (MMs) based on a flower-shaped structure (FSS), whose “meta-atoms” consist of two flower-shaped metallic parts separated by a dielectric layer. Like the non-symmetric MMs based on cut-wire-pairs or electric ring resonators, the symmetrical FSS demonstrates the negative permeability at GHz frequencies. Employing the results, we designed a symmetric negative-refractive-index MM [a symmetric combined structure (SCS)], which is composed of FSSs and cross continuous wires. The MM properties of the FSS and the SCS are presented numerically and experimentally.

We investigated the structural and optical properties of Cu-poor CuGaSe2 (CGSe) films depending on the use of different substrates: indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) coated soda-lime glass (SLG) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated SLG as back contacts, widely used Mo-coated SLG, and pure SLG. The Cu-poor phase is chosen as a counterpart of Cu-poor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 to show the highest efficiency in this class of materials, and also give a test board for parasitic phases which might influence on device properties. Although the Cu-poor CGSe thin-films were deposited on the four substrates at the same time in an identical condition, they showed differences in the morphology and grain size due to different CGSe/substrate interfaces and growth mechanisms depending on the substrates. These surface properties of the CGSe films were identified clearly by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement also supported the result of the AFM analysis and showed that the preferred orientation of CGSe is (112), independent of the substrates. The existence of parasitic phases was examined by Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopic techniques. While defect compounds such as CuGa3Se5 and CuGa5Se8 were identified for all films, the signals related to these parasitic phases are strongest for the films on the pure SLG substrate. Furthermore, the absorption property was investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry in a photon energy range of 0.7–5 eV. We found that the absorption coefficient values for the CGSe films are about 104–105 cm−1 in the visible region. The absorption coefficient is also changed according to the use of different substrates. This difference comes from the parasitic phase formation, which leads to an increase of the bandgap and suppression of the optical absorption strength. Our systematic study suggests clearly that the difference in distribution of parasitic phases in the CGSe films could originate primarily from the different substrates used for the film deposition.

The influence of the conventional depositing processes on the optical properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) thin films in solar cell structures was investigated by measuring the photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectra of the CIGS layer at each stage of the solar cell deposition process. The intensities of the PL and the Raman A 1 mode increase after the CdS buffer layer is deposited, suggesting that the CdS layer either improves the optical quality of the CIGS film or protects it from degradation due to environmental factors. The temperature and excitation power dependences of the PL for the bare CIGS sample are very different from those for the samples with the CdS layer, reflecting different characters of the luminescence centers near the surface of the CIGS layer. On the other hand, the lateral homogeneity, as seen in the micro-PL and micro-Raman images, does not seem to improve. After the ZnO window layer is deposited, the overall PL and Raman intensities do not change much, although the intensity distribution becomes more inhomogeneous.

Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) thin films were deposited on Mo-coated soda–lime glass substrates by single-stage co-evaporation process and the effect of substrate temperature ( T sub ) was investigated on the CZTSe thin film growth during the process. The film thickness decreased and the grain size increased with increasing T sub . The optimum substrate temperature to obtain CZTSe films was found to be 593 K. The film grown at T sub of 773 K seems to have the phase decomposition into Cu x Se and ZnSe, probably because of Sn loss during the process. The best cell fabricated with a CZTSe absorber layer grown at T sub of 593 K produced 2.88% of conversion efficiency.

Crystallographic orientations of early multi-lobe graphene domains in CVD-grown graphene are investigated. Partially grown graphene domains were transferred onto flexible substrates and uniaxial tensile strain was applied. From the polarization dependence of the Raman G band, split due to strain, the crystallographic orientation was determined. It was found that there are some single crystal domains. However, lobes have different orientations in some other multi-lobe domains. Within a given lobe, the orientation does not change as the domain grows, indicating that the orientations present in a graphene domain are determined at an early stage of growth.

Today more and more areas of optoelectronics used oxide materials, as a result, their study, is very important. Therefore, in this paper, we study optical properties of magnesium oxide films.

Magnetism in two-dimensional materials is not only of fundamental scientific interest but also a promising candidate for numerous applications. However, studies so far, especially the experimental ones, have been mostly limited to the magnetism arising from defects, vacancies, edges or chemical dopants which are all extrinsic effects. Here, we report on the observation of intrinsic antiferromagnetic ordering in the two-dimensional limit. By monitoring the Raman peaks that arise from zone folding due to antiferromagnetic ordering at the transition temperature, we demonstrate that FePS3 exhibits an Ising-type antiferromagnetic ordering down to the monolayer limit, in good agreement with the Onsager solution for two-dimensional order-disorder transition. The transition temperature remains almost independent of the thickness from bulk to the monolayer limit with TN ~118 K, indicating that the weak interlayer interaction has little effect on the antiferromagnetic ordering., 20 pages, 4 figures in manuscript and 22 pages, 18 figures in supporting information

Orthorhombic tungsten ditelluride (WTe2), with a distorted 1T structure, exhibits a large magnetoresistance that depends on the orientation, and its electrical characteristics changes rom semimetallic to insulating as the thickness decreases. Through polarized Raman spectroscopy in combination with transmission electron diffraction, we establish a reliable method to determine the thickness and crystallographic orientation of few-layer WTe2. The Raman spectrum shows a pronounced dependence on the polarization of the excitation laser. We found that the separation between two Raman peaks at ~90 cm-1 and at 80-86 cm-1, depending on thickness, is a reliable fingerprint for determination of the thickness. For determination of the crystallographic orientation, the polarization dependence of the A1 modes, measured with the 632.8-nm excitation, turns out to be the most reliable. We also discovered that the polarization behaviors of some of the Raman peaks depend on the excitation wavelength as well as thickness, indicating a close interplay between the band structure and anisotropic Raman scattering cross section., 16 pages, 4 figures

Ionic liquids of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([BMIM]) cation with different anions (Cl- , Br- , I- , and BF4- ), and their aqueous mixtures were investigated by using Raman spectroscopy and dispersion-included density functional theory (DFT). The characteristic Raman bands at 600 and 624 cm-1 for two isomers of the butyl chain in the imidazolium cation showed significant changes in intensity for different anions as well as in aqueous solutions. The area ratio of these two bands followed the order I- >Br- >Cl- >BF4- (in terms of the anion X in [BMIM]X), indicating that the butyl chain of [BMIM]I tends to adopt the trans conformation. The butyl chain was found to adopt the gauche conformation upon dilution, irrespective of the anion type. The Raman bands in the butyl C-H stretch region for [BMIM]X (X=Cl- , Br- , and I- ) blueshifted significantly with the increase in the water concentration, whereas that for [BMIM]BF4 changed very little upon dilution. The blueshift in the C-H stretch region upon dilution also followed the order: [BMIM]I>[BMIM]Br>[BMIM]Cl>[BMIM]BF4 , the same order as the above trans conformation preference of the butyl chain in pure imidazolium ionic liquids, which suggested that the cation-anion interaction plays a role in determining the conformation of the chain.

In order to elucidate a mechanism of the insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) for a Mott insulator VO2 (3d(1)), we present Schottky nanojunctions and the structural phase transition (SPT) by simultaneous nanolevel measurements of photocurrent and Raman scattering in microlevel devices. The Schottky nanojunction with the monoclinic metallic phase between the monoclinic insulating phases is formed by the photoheat-induced IMT not accompanied with the SPT. The temperature dependence of the Schottky junction reveals that the Mott insulator has an electronic structure of an indirect subband between the main Hubbard d bands. The IMT as reverse process of the Mott transition occurs by temperature-induced excitation of bound charges in the indirect semiconductor band, most likely formed by impurities such as oxygen deficiency. The metal band (3d(1)) for the Mott insulator is screened (trapped) by the indirect band (impurities).

We investigated the dependence of reflectance and absorbance of a metamaterial structure (consisting of unit cells with two metallic parts, an electric ring resonator (ERR) at the front and a cut-wire bar at the back, separated by a dielectric layer) on gap ‘g’ of the structure at GHz frequencies. Our simulation results have shown that, by increasing the gap, the maximum absorbance and the minimum reflectance were obtained to be 94.42 and 0.74%, respectively, at 12.3 GHz. It was significant that the geometry of ERR was changed as an I-shape to observe a narrow-band peak of the perfect-absorber effect, whose absorbance was enhanced to be greater than 99.5% at 13.5 GHz by using a multilayer model for the simplified absorber structure.

We report on the anisotropic properties of solution-processed thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated by the vertical flowing of the viscous 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) and isotactic (i-) poly-(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blend. During film formation processes, lateral crystalline growth of TIPS-pentacene and TIPS-pentacene/i-PMMA phase-separation were observed. Such anisotropic crystallization of TIPS-pentacene channel caused anisotropic mobility with respect to the channel orientation, so that it could be used for composing of a logic inverter where two TFTs with different channel orientations were serially connected.

We found Raman scattering enhancement of the Raman G band in folded bilayer graphene. Its Raman intensity is more than 40 times greater than that of AB stacked Bernal bilayer graphene. The enhancement is interpreted as being caused by resonant Raman scattering via the π 2 * and the π 1 * states in the modified electronic band structure of the folded bilayer graphene. This enhancement of the Raman G band is a critical indicator of the strength of the coupling between the upper and the lower graphene sheets.

a b s t r a c t Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin films were formed by a direct non-vacuum coating and a subsequent selenization of low cost precursor solutions, and their compositional, structural and optical properties were charac- terized. Selenized films showed a double-layered structure with an upper layer of chalcopyrite CIGS and an amorphous bottom layer mainly composed of carbon. For the upper CIGS layer, good compositional controllability for Cu and Ga was confirmed by linear relationship between metal ratios of the precursor solution and those of the selenized films. Effects of Cu and Ga contents on structural and optical proper- ties of the films were also characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and photoluminescence (PL) analyses, and the results were interpreted by defect supercluster formation (VCu-InCu) in Cu-deficient films and mass and size difference between In and Ga, respectively. Further, the bottom layer was found to be mostly composed of conductive amorphous carbon, which is the main current flow path in the completed solar cells.

We developed a simple but efficient method to mass-produce highly flexible and high-performance photodetectors based on aligned cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire (NW) networks. In this method, the CdS NWs were selectively aligned along the molecular patterns on flexible substrates via a direct assembly method, and the aligned CdS NW patterns were utilized as the channels of flexible photodetectors. The photodetectors based on the aligned CdS NWs exhibited ∼10 times higher photosensitivity and ∼100 times faster photoresponse than those based on randomly oriented NW networks. In addition, the flexible photodetectors exhibited stable photoconductive characteristics even when these were bent down to the radius of curvature of 0.2 mm. This research may pave the way for the large-scale fabrication of low-cost and high performance flexible photodetectors based on the aligned NW networks.

Raman investigation of MoSe2 was carried out with eight different excitation energies. Seven peaks, including E1g, A1g, E2g1, and A2u2 peaks are observed in the range of 100-400 cm-1. The phonon modes are assigned by comparing the peak positions with theoretical calculations. The intensities of the peaks are enhanced at different excitation energies through resonance with different optical transitions. The A1g mode is enhanced at 1.58 and 3.82 eV, which are near the A exciton energy and the band-to-band transition between higher energy bands, respectively. The E2g1 mode is strongly enhanced with respect to the A1g mode for the 2.71- and 2.81-eV excitations, which are close to the C exciton energy. The different enhancements of the A1g and E2g1 modes are explained in terms of the symmetries of the exciton states and the exciton-phonon coupling. Other smaller peaks including E1g and A2u2 are forbidden but appear due to the resonance effect near optical transition energies., 16 pages, 3 figures

We investigated polarization dependence of the Raman modes in black phosphorus (BP) using five different excitation wavelengths. The crystallographic orientation was determined by comparing polarized optical microscopy with high-resolution transmission electron microscope analysis. In polarized Raman spectroscopy, the B2g mode shows the same polarization dependence regardless of the excitation wavelength or the sample thickness. On the other hand, the Ag1 and Ag2 modes show a peculiar polarization behavior that depends on the excitation wavelength and the sample thickness. The thickness dependence can be explained by considering the anisotropic interference effect due to birefringence and dichroism of the BP crystal, but the wavelength dependence cannot be explained. We propose a simple and fail-proof procedure to determine the orientation of a BP crystal by combining polarized Raman scattering with polarized optical microscopy., Comment: 22+7 pages, 8+5 figures