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Recent research on photocathodes for photoinjectors has focused on the understanding of the photoemission process at low energy (i.e. at photon energy close to the material’s work function) as well as on the study of ordered and innovative photocathode materials, with the aim of minimizing the emittance at the cathode. We here present a preliminary study on low energy photoemission from (100) oriented Ba1−xLaxSnO3 thin films, characterizing their quantum efficiency and the mean transverse energy of the photoelectrons. The aim of the study is to pave the way for future experiments on innovative photocathodes based on perovkite oxides.

MoTe2 is the least explored material in the Molybdenum-chalcogen family. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) provides a unique opportunity to tackle the small electronegativity difference between Mo and Te while growing layer by layer away from thermodynamic equilibrium. We find that for a few-layer MoTe2 grown at a moderate rate of ∼6 min per monolayer, a narrow window in temperature (above Te cell temperature) and Te:Mo ratio exists, where we can obtain pure phase 2H-MoTe2. This is confirmed using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). For growth on CaF2, Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) reveals a grain size of ∼90 A and presence of twinned grains. In this work, we hypothesis the presence of excess Te incorporation in MBE grown few layer 2H-MoTe2. For film on CaF2, it is based on >2 Te:Mo stoichiometry using XPS as well as ‘a’ and ‘c’ lattice spacing greater than bulk 2H-MoTe2. On GaAs, its based on observations of Te crystallite formation on film surface, 2 × 2 superstructure observed in RHEED and low energy electron diffraction, larger than bulk c-lattice spacing as well as the lack of electrical conductivity modulation by field effect. Finally, thermal stability and air sensitivity of MBE 2H-MoTe2 is investigated by temperature dependent XRD and XPS, respectively.

Chirality—or ‘handedness’—is a symmetry property crucial to fields as diverse as biology, chemistry and high-energy physics. In graphene, chiral symmetry emerges naturally as a consequence of the carbon honeycomb lattice. This symmetry can be broken by interactions that couple electrons with opposite momenta in graphene. Here we directly visualize the formation of Kekule bond order, one such phase of broken chiral symmetry, in an ultraflat graphene sheet grown epitaxially on a copper substrate. We show that its origin lies in the interactions between individual vacancies in the copper substrate that are mediated electronically by the graphene. We show that this interaction causes the bonds in graphene to distort, creating a phase with broken chiral symmetry. The Kekule ordering is robust at ambient temperature and atmospheric conditions, indicating that intercalated atoms may be harnessed to drive graphene and other two-dimensional materials towards electronically desirable and exotic collective phases. Scanning tunnelling microscopy shows how the interaction between electrons in graphene and atomic vacancies in a copper substrate produces Kekule ordering — an electronic phase that breaks chiral symmetry.

LaxBa1-xSnO3 is a promising transparent conducting oxide whose high mobility facilitates potential applications in transparent electronics, oxide electronics, and power electronics. Here, we report quantitative comparisons between angle-resolved photoemission and density functional theory, demonstrating a close agreement between calculations and the measured bulk electronic structure. Further measurements reveal upward band bending at the film-vacuum interface, while ultraviolet (UV) exposure is found to increase the surface electron density, similar to other oxides. These results elucidate the LaxBa1-xSnO3 (LBSO) interfacial electronic structure and offer a route for UV carrier density control, critical steps towards realizing LBSO-based electronic devices.

Epitaxial La doped BaSnO3 films were grown in an adsorption controlled regime by molecular beam epitaxy, where the excess volatile SnOx desorbs from the film surface. A film grown on a (001) DyScO3 substrate exhibited a mobility of 183 cm^2 V^-1 s^-1 at room temperature and 400 cm^2 V^-1 s^-1 at 10 K, despite the high concentration (1.2x10^11 cm^-2) of threading dislocations present. In comparison to other reports, we observe a much lower concentration of (BaO)2 Ruddlesden Popper crystallographic shear faults. This suggests that in addition to threading dislocations that other defects possibly (BaO)2 crystallographic shear defects or point defects significantly reduce the electron mobility.

We report the scalable growth of aligned graphene and hexagonal boron nitride on commercial copper foils, where each film originates from multiple nucleations yet exhibits a single orientation. Thorough characterization of our graphene reveals uniform crystallographic and electronic structures on length scales ranging from nanometers to tens of centimeters. As we demonstrate with artificial twisted graphene bilayers, these inexpensive and versatile films are ideal building blocks for large-scale layered heterostructures with angle-tunable optoelectronic properties.

In the cuprates, carrier doping of the Mott insulating parent state is necessary to realize superconductivity as well as a number of other exotic states involving charge or spin density waves. Cation substitution is the primary method for doping carriers into these compounds, and is the only known method for electron doping in these materials. Here, we report electron doping without cation substitution in epitaxially stabilized thin films of ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ grown via molecular-beam epitaxy. We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to directly measure their electronic structure and conclusively determine that these compounds are electron doped with a carrier concentration of $0.09\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02\text{ }{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}/\mathrm{Cu}$. We propose that intrinsic defects, most likely oxygen vacancies, are the sources of doped electrons in these materials. Our results suggest a new approach to electron doping in the cuprates, one which could lead to a more detailed experimental understanding of their properties.

SnSe2 is currently considered a potential two-dimensional material that can form a near-broken gap heterojunction in a tunnel field-effect transistor due to its large electron affinity which is experimentally confirmed in this letter. With the results from internal photoemission and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy performed on Al/Al2O3/SnSe2/GaAs and SnSe2/GaAs test structures where SnSe2 is grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy, we ascertain a (5.2 ± 0.1) eV electron affinity of SnSe2. The band offset from the SnSe2 Fermi level to the Al2O3 conduction band minimum is found to be (3.3 ± 0.05) eV and SnSe2 is seen to have a high level of intrinsic electron (n-type) doping with the Fermi level positioned at about 0.2 eV above its conduction band minimum. It is concluded that the electron affinity of SnSe2 is larger than that of most semiconductors and can be combined with other appropriate semiconductors to form near broken-gap heterojunctions for the tunnel field-effect transistor that can potentially achieve high on-currents.

We report ambient piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) studies of the multiferroic hexagonal manganite HoMnO3 performed on the cleaved (110) surface of a single-crystal specimen. By changing the sample orientation with respect to the cantilever, we observed an unexpected out-of-plane PFM signal at domain walls, which depends on domain wall orientation, in addition to the expected in-plane PFM signal in domains. Further studies confirmed that the domain wall PFM signal results from an out-of-plane displacement, which can be explained by a simple model of local elastic response with the conservation of unit cell volume at head-on domain walls.