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We calculate the charge and heat currents carried by electrons, originating from a temperature gradient and a chemical potential difference between the two ends of tubular nanowires with different geometries of the cross-sectional areas: circular, square, triangular, and hexagonal. We consider nanowires based on InAs semiconductor material, and use the Landauer-B\"{u}ttiker approach to calculate the transport quantities. We include impurities in the form of delta scatterers and compare their effect for different geometries. The results depend on the quantum localization of the electrons along the edges of the tubular prismatic shell. For example, the effect of impurities on the charge and heat transport is weaker in the triangular shell than in the hexagonal shell, and the thermoelectric current in the triangular case is several times larger than in the hexagonal case, for the same temperature gradient., Comment: 8 pages 8 figures

The present work reports the evolution and growth of GeGaAs(O) polytype nanoislands over GaAs p‐type substrate with photoemission application in mind. Several morphological transformations from NIs to simultaneously present nanopits/holes are observed as a function of annealing parameters that is, temperature (350‐800°C) and time (5‐90 minutes). Structural and elemental analyses are executed using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. Photoemission current of the nanostructured surfaces, measured upon exposure from 265 nm light emitting diode, is found to depend on the nanoislands size, which in turn depends on the annealing parameters. A maximum photoelectric emission is obtained for structure annealed at 650°C for 60 minutes, upon which an increment of roughly two orders of magnitude is observed.

Flux-periodic oscillations of the superconducting gap in proximitized core-shell nanowires are explored. Periodicity of oscillations in the energy spectrum of a cylindrical nanowire is compared with nanowires having hexagonal and square cross-section geometry, along with the effects of Zeeman and Rashba spin-orbit interaction. A transition between h/e and h/2e periodicity is found and shown to be dependent on the chemical potential, with correspondence to degeneracy points of the angular momentum quantum number. For a thin shell of a square nanowire, solely h/e periodicity is found in the infinite wire spectrum and shown to result from energy separation between the lowest groups of excited states., 10 pages, 11 figures, references added, improved figures

Dynamic hysteresis effects have been long known to occur in the J-V characteristics of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), with the ionic migration being identified as the primary factor. The hysteretic effects impacted early studies by the uncertainty in the evaluation of the power conversion efficiency, while currently, potential links to degradation mechanisms are in the focus. Therefore, understanding ion migration is a central goal, typically addressed by performing a combined large- and small signal analysis. The reported large capacitive and inductive effects created controversies with respect to the underlying mechanisms, yielding essentially two classes of models, one based on large accumulation capacitances and the other based on ionic modulation of the collected current. We introduce here an equivalent circuit model and interpret these phenomena in terms of recombination current modulation, identifying the distinct contributions from ion current and ionic charge accumulations. These contributions to the recombination current are associated with capacitive and inductive effects, respectively, and we corroborate the numerical simulations with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. These show the role of the recombination currents of photogenerated carriers in producing both capacitive and inductive effects as the illumination is varied. Moreover, we provide a bridging point between the two classes of models and suggest a framework of investigation of defect states based on the observed inductive behavior, which would further aid the mitigation of the degradation effects., 20 pages

We investigate by molecular dynamics simulations [arXiv:1412.4537 [physics.plasm-ph], arXiv:1608.06789 [physics.plasm-ph]] a beam of electrons released via field emission from a planar cathode surface of 1 ${\rm \mu m}^2$ with an inhomogeneous two-level work function, $\phi_{\rm low}$ and $\phi_{\rm high}$. A rectangular grid, where each cell can have one out of two values of the work function, is used as a model. The number of cells in the grid ranges from 6x6 to 96x96. We compare a periodic checkerboard arrangement with disordered distributions of patches. We perform multiple simulations and randomize the pattern each time. We study the beam behavior by calculating the position and velocity of each electron, r.m.s. emittance, and the brightness of the electron beam. The emittance increases while brightness decreases, with the mean distance between patches with $\phi_{\rm low}$ when they are in minority, and they switch the behavior vs. the mean distance between patches with $\phi_{\rm high}$ when these patches are in minority, respectively. The Coulomb interaction between all particles is fully included in our simulations., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

Molecular dynamics simulations, with full Coulomb interaction and self-consistent field emission, are used to examine mutual space-charge interactions between beams originating from several emitter areas, in a planar infinite diode. The simulations allow observation of the trajectory of each individual electron through the diode gap. Results show that when the center-to-center spacing between emitters is greater than half of the gap spacing the emitters are essentially independent. For smaller spacing the mutual space-charge effect increases rapidly and should not be discounted. A simple qualitative explanation for this effect is given., 8 pages, 9 figures

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), Films of SiGe nanocrystals (NCs) in oxide have the advantage of tuning the energy band gap by adjusting SiGe NCs composition and size. In this study, SiGe-SiO2 amorphous films were deposited by magnetron sputtering on Si substrate followed by rapid thermal annealing at 700, 800 and 1000 °C. We investigated films with Si:Ge:SiO2 compositions of 25:25:50 vol.% and 5:45:50 vol.%. TEM investigations reveal the major changes in films morphology (SiGe NCs with different sizes and densities) produced by Si:Ge ratio and annealing temperature. XPS also show that the film depth profile of SiGe content is dependent on the annealing temperature. These changes strongly influence electrical and photoconduction properties. Depending on annealing temperature and Si:Ge ratio, photocurrents can be 103 times higher than dark currents. The photocurrent cutoff wavelength obtained on samples with 25:25 vol% SiGe ratio decreases with annealing temperature increase from 1260 nm in SWIR for 700 °C annealed films to 1210 nm for those at 1000 °C. By increasing Ge content in SiGe (5:45 vol%) the cutoff wavelength significantly shifts to 1345 nm (800 °C annealing). By performing measurements at 100 K, the cutoff wavelength extends in SWIR to 1630 nm having high photoresponsivity of 9.35 AW−1., This work was supported by TE Contract no.30/2018 (PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-2050, within PNCDI III), M-ERA.NET PhotoNanoP Contract No. 33/2016, PCE Contract No. 122/2017, PCCDI Contract No. 75/2018, and financed by CNCS-UEFISCDI, and by Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through NIMP Core Program PN19-03 (Contract No. 21N/08.02.2019)., "Peer Reviewed"

We study thermoelectric transport through a serial double quantum dot (DQD) coupled to two metallic leads with different thermal energies. We take into account the electron sequential and cotunneling effects via different master equation approaches. In the absence of intra- and inter-dot Coulomb interactions, a small peak in thermoelectric and heat currents is found for $E_{\rm L} \text{=} E_{\rm R}$ indicating the Coulomb blockade DQD regime, where $E_{\rm L}(E_{\rm R})$ is the energy of the state of the left(right) quantum dot. In the presence of intra- and inter-dot Coulomb interactions with strengths U$_{\rm intra}$, and U$_{\rm inter}$, respectively, avoided crossings or resonance energies between the intra- and the inter-dot two-electron states, 2ES, are found. These resonances induce extra transport channels through the DQD leading to strong side peaks in the thermoelectric and heat currents at $ E_{\rm L} \text{-} E_{\rm R} = \pm (U_{\rm intra} \text{-} U_{\rm inter})$ in addition to the main peak generated at $E_{\rm L} \text{=} E_{\rm R}$. The current side peaks are enhanced by increased strength of the Coulomb interactions. Interestingly, the current side peaks are enhanced when cotunneling terms are considered in which the resonances of the 2ESs assist the electron cotunneling process through the system. Furthermore, the issue of coherences is carefully checked in the DQD-leads system via different approaches to the master equation, which are the Pauli, the Redfield, a first order Lindblad, and the first- and second order von-Neumann methods. We realize that the Pauli method gives a wrong results for the thermoelectric transport when the role of the coherences is relevant., Comment: RevTeX - pdfLaTeX, 9 pages with 9 pdf-figures included

The orbital and spin magnetization of a cavity-embedded quantum dot array defined in a GaAs heterostructure are calculated within quantum-electrodynamical density-functional theory (QEDFT). To this end a gradient-based exchange-correlation functional recently employed for atomic systems is adapted to the hosting two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) submitted to an external perpendicular homogeneous magnetic field. Numerical results reveal the polarizing effects of the cavity photon field on the electron charge distribution and nontrivial changes of the orbital magnetization. We discuss its intertwined dependence on the electron number in each dot, and on the electron-photon coupling strength. In particular, the calculated dispersion of the photon-dressed electron states around the Fermi energy as a function of the electron-photon coupling strength indicates the formation of magnetoplasmon-polaritons in the dots., Comment: RevTeX - pdfLaTeX, 12 pages with 9 included pdf figures

We report the electronic, the thermal, and the optical properties of a Germagraphene (GeC) monolayer taking into account buckling effects. The relatively wide direct band gap of a flat GeC nanosheet can be changed by tuning the planar buckling. A GeC monolayer has an sp$^2$ hybridization in which the contribution of an $s$-orbital is half of the contribution of a $p$-orbital leading to stronger $\sigma\text{-}\sigma$ bonds compared to the $\sigma\text{-}\pi$ bonds. Increasing the planar buckling, the contribution of an $s$-orbital is decreased while the contribution of a $p$-orbital is increased resulting in a sp$^3$-hybridization in which the $\sigma\text{-}\pi$ bond becomes stronger than the $\sigma\text{-}\sigma$ bond. As a result, the band gap of a buckled GeC is reduced and thus the thermal and the optical properties are significantly modified. We find that the heat capacity of the buckled GeC is decreased at low values of planar buckling, which is caused by the anticrossing of the optical and the acoustic phonon modes affecting phonon scattering processes. The resulting optical properties, such as the dielectric function, the refractive index, the electron energy loss spectra, the absorption, and the optical conductivity show that a buckled GeC nanosheet has increased optical activities in the visible light region compared to a flat GeC. The optical conductivity is red shifted from the near ultraviolet to the visible light region, when the planar buckling is increased. We can thus confirm that the buckling can be seen as another parameter to improve GeC monolayers for optoelectronic devices., Comment: RevTeX - pdfLaTeX, 10 pages with 12 included pdf figures

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) hold potential applications in optoelectronics and SiNW-based optical sensors. Here, a photoluminescence study of SiNW arrays fabricated with a simple two-step silver (Ag) catalyzed etching of silicon wafers is presented. The morphology and photoluminescence properties were investigated for SiNWs of different lengths obtained by varying Ag concentration (as silver nitrate, AgNO 3 ) and etching time. The samples consist of vertically aligned SiNWs with length in the range ~10-40 µm. Our foremost result is that the photoluminescence intensity from the SiNW arrays is an order of magnitude higher than that from bulk Si. This is accompanied by a red-shift in the peak position of approximately 0.09 eV, which may be attributed either to the variation in size of the Ag-nanoparticles created during the etching process or different lengths of the SiNWs. The results indicate that SiNWs obtained by simple and cost-effective metal catalyzed etching, are potentially promising for optoelectronic applications.

We investigate the formation and evolution of Ga droplets over GaAs (001) substrate with and without Ge top layer (8 nm). Various morphological transformation from holes to droplets formation were observed as a function of annealing parameters. It was observed that the application of Ge layer plays a vital role in incorporating oxygen into the system. Moreover, a potential application of these structures as a photocathode is discussed, demonstrating increased photoemission.

We investigate the photoluminescence properties of structures comprising of Si1-xGex nanoparticles (NPs) within SiO2, GeO2, TiO2 and Ta2O5 oxide matrices. Of the investigated structures, it was observed that the structures with GeO2 and TiO2 matrices provide increased spectral response (at ~907 and 844 nm respectively) and increased PL intensity. The improved PL characteristic have been attributed to increased diffusion barrier against oxygen which otherwise would result in formation of unwanted oxide at the film-oxide interface, thereby deteriorating the optical properties., This work is partially funded by the Icelandic Research Fund Grants nos. 218029 and 196141., Pre-print (óritrýnt handrit)

We perform a computational study, based on the molecular-dynamics method, of the shape of Miram curves obtained from microscale planar diodes. We discuss the smooth transition from the source-limited regime to the space-charge-limited regime due to the finite size of the emitter (i.e., the ``knee'' in the Miram curve). In our model we find that the smoothing occurs mostly due to the increased emission at the external edges of the emitting area, and that the knee becomes softer when the size of the emitting area decreases. We relate this to recent work that has described how a heterogeneous work function similarly affects the Miram curve.

In this work, the electronic and optical properties of a Nitrogen (N) or a Boron (B) doped BeO monolayer are investigated in the framework of density functional theory. It is known that the band gap of a BeO monolayer is large leading to poor material for optoelectronic devices in a wide range of energy. Using substitutional N or B dopant atoms, we find that the band gap can be tuned and the optical properties can be improved. In the N(B)-doped BeO monolayer, the Fermi energy slightly crosses the valence(conduction) band forming a degenerate semiconductor structure. The N or B atoms thus generate new states around the Fermi energy increasing the optical conductivity in the visible light region. Furthermore, the influences of dopant atoms on the electronic structure, the stability, the dispersion energy, the density of states, and optical properties such as the plasmon frequency, the excitation spectra, the dielectric functions, the static dielectric constant, and the electron energy loss function are discussed for different directions of polarizations for the incoming electric field., 10 pages, 13 figures

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), Multilayer structures comprising of SiO2/SiGe/SiO2 and containing SiGe nanoparticles were obtained by depositing SiO2 layers using reactive direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS), whereas, Si and Ge were co-sputtered using dcMS and high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). The as-grown structures subsequently underwent rapid thermal annealing (550-900 degrees C for 1 min) in N-2 ambient atmosphere. The structures were investigated using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy together with spectral photocurrent measurements, to explore structural changes and corresponding properties. It is observed that the employment of HiPIMS facilitates the formation of SiGe nanoparticles (2.1 +/- 0.8 nm) in the as-grown structure, and that presence of such nanoparticles acts as a seed for heterogeneous nucleation, which upon annealing results in the periodically arranged columnar self-assembly of SiGe core-shell nanocrystals. An increase in photocurrent intensity by more than an order of magnitude was achieved by annealing. Furthermore, a detailed discussion is provided on strain development within the structures, the consequential interface characteristics and its effect on the photocurrent spectra., M-ERA. NET project PhotoNanoP UEFISCDI Contract no. 33/2016, PCE project UEFISCDI Contract no. 122/2017 and by Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through NIMP Core Program PN19-03, contract no. 21 N/08.02.2019 and by the Technology Development Fund of the Icelandic Centre for Research, grant no. 159006-0611., "Peer Reviewed"

Several occupational carcinogens (arsenic, cadmium) and industries (rubber production) have been associated with prostate cancer risk but most of the data are from studies conducted on screened populations. Here we explored this association in Romanian men, a population with low PSA screening test coverage. We have analyzed 468 prostate cancer cases pathologically confirmed and 495 non-cancer hospital controls, recruited in the ROMCAN project. Personal information, including occupational activity, was collected through interview. Two experts classified jobs and activities into 15 economic sectors with similar patterns of exposure. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between ever employed in each economic sector and prostate cancer risk. We observed a higher non adjusted risk for employment in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activities (OR=3.95, p=0.029), manufacturing–light industry (OR=1.88, p=0.039), financial, insurance and gambling (OR=1.44, p=0.046) and a lower risk for employment in construction industry (OR=0.62, p=0.010). After adjusting for potential confounders, only the low risk in construction workers was maintained (OR=0.55, p=0.004). Our study provides some evidence on the role of occupational factors on the prostate cancer risk but further assessments are needed. Healthy lifestyle promotion and prevention should be reinforced at workplaces.

We investigate the effect of room-temperature hydrogen-plasma treatment on the photoconductivity of SiGe nanoparticles sandwiched within SiO2 layers. An increase in photocurrent intensity of more than an order magnitude is observed after the hydrogen plasma treatment. The enhancement is attributed to neutralization of dangling bonds at the nanoparticles and to passivation of nonradiative defects in the oxide matrix and at SiGe/matrix interfaces. We find that increasing the partial pressure of hydrogen to pressures where H3+ and H2+ were the dominant ions results in increased photocurrent.

We report a comprehensive study of the impact of the structural properties in radial GaAs-Al0.3Ga0.7As nanowire-quantum well heterostructures on the optical recombination dynamics and electrical transport properties, emphasizing particularly the role of the commonly observed variations of the quantum well thickness at different facets. Typical thickness fluctuations of the radial quantum well observed by transmission electron microscopy lead to pronounced localization. Our optical data exhibit clear spectral shifts and a multipeak structure of the emission for such asymmetric ring structures resulting from spatially separated, yet interconnected quantum well systems. Charge carrier dynamics induced by a surface acoustic wave are resolved and prove efficient carrier exchange on native, subnanosecond time scales within the heterostructure. Experimental findings are corroborated by theoretical modeling, which unambiguously show that electrons and holes localize on facets where the quantum well is the thickes...

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), In this work, we theoretically model the time-dependent transport through an asymmetric double quantum dot etched in a two-dimensional wire embedded in a far-infrared (FIR) photon cavity. For the transient and the intermediate time regimes, the current and the average photon number are calculated by solving a Markovian master equation in the dressed-states picture, with the Coulomb interaction also taken into account. We predict that in the presence of a transverse magnetic field the interdot Rabi oscillations appearing in the intermediate and transient regime coexist with slower non-equilibrium fluctuations in the occupation of states for opposite spin orientation. The interdot Rabi oscillation induces charge oscillations across the system and a phase difference between the transient source and drain currents. We point out a difference between the steady-state correlation functions in the Coulomb blocking and the photon-assisted transport regimes., The Research Fund of the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Research Fund, grant No. 163082-051, and the Icelandic Infrastructure Fund. CST acknowledges support from Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan under grant No. 106-2112-M-239-001-MY3. V. M. acknowledges financial support by the CNCS-UEFISCDI Grant PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0084. The computations were performed on resources provided by the Icelandic High Performance Computing Centre at the University of Iceland. The initial version of the manuscript was placed on the preprint server arXiv as: (arXiv: 1809.06930v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall])., "Peer Reviewed"

Photosensitive films based on finely dispersed semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) in dielectric films have great potential for sensor applications. Here we report on preparation and characterization ...

We explore the effects of geometry on the thermal conductivity (kappa) of silicon and germanium nanowires, with lengths between 10-120 nm and diameters up to 5-6 nm. To this end we perform molecular dynamics simulations with the LAMMPS software, using Tersoff interatomic potentials. We consider nanowires with polygonal cross section and we discuss the effect of the transverse geometry on the thermal conductivity. We also consider tubular (hollow) nanowires and core/shell combinations of Si/Ge and Ge/Si, and we compare the heat transport of the core/shell structure with that of the separated core and shell components., Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures