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Optoelectronic functional materials with flexible and in-plane anisotropic properties has been a significant development direction of nanotechnology due to wearable and polarized optoelectronic applications. Herein, the elasticity, global band dispersion, optical dielectric properties of environmentally friendly IVB-VIA layered transition metal trichalcogenides (MX3, M = Zr, Hf; X = S, Se) are investigated systematically by density functional theory with different kinds of van der Waals correction and hybrid functional. The low elastic modulus suggests that they are appropriate for the design of flexible optoelectronic devices. Originating from the effect of d states of chalcogens and s states of transition metals, the dispersion of the valence band edge of monolayer MX3 shows that the effective mass of carriers along the wave vector kx is much heavier than that of carriers along the wave vector ky. This means that the mobility of carriers exhibits obvious in-plane anisotropy. Meanwhile, the optical dielectric properties of monolayer MX3 as well as absorbed photon flux (Jabs) of the related heterostructures display noteworthy in-plane anisotropy in the visible-IR region. The ratio of Jabs from different direction reaches up to 1.7. This work could not only promote understanding of rich photophyiscal properties of transition metal trichalcogenides, but also provide a theoretical reference for the invention of high-performance optoelectronic devices with high flexibility and anisotropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debris flow risk assessment can provide some reference for debris flow prevention and control projects. In risk assessment, researchers often only focus on the impact of objective or subjective indicators. For this purpose, this paper proposed a weight calculation method based on t-distribution and linear programming optimization algorithm (LPOA). Taking 72 mudslides in Beichuan County as an example, this paper used analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy weight method (EWM) and variation coefficient method (VCM) to obtain the initial weights. Based on the initial weights, weight intervals with different confidence levels were obtained by t-distribution. Subsequently, the final weights were obtained by LOPA in the 90% confidence interval. Finally, the final weights were used to calculate the risk score for each debris flow, thus delineating the level of risk for each debris flow. The results showed that this paper's method can avoid overemphasizing the importance of a particular indicator compared to EWM and VCM. In contrast, EWM and VCM ignored the effect of debris flow frequency on debris flow risk. The assessment results showed that the 72 debris flows in Beichuan County were mainly dominated by moderate and light risks. Of these, there were 8 high risk debris flows, 24 medium risk debris flows, and 40 light risk debris flows. The excellent triggering conditions provide favorable conditions for the formation of high-risk debris flows. Slightly and moderate risk debris flows are mainly located on both sides of highways and rivers, still posing a minor threat to Beichuan County. The proposed fusion weighting method effectively avoids the limitations of single weight calculating method. Through comparison and data analysis, the rationality of the proposed method is verified, which can provide some reference for combination weighting method and debris flow risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diamond is emerging as an attractive third‐generation wide‐bandgap semiconductor for future on‐chip nonlinear photonics and quantum optics due to its unique thermal, optical, and mechanical properties. However, the light‐driven current under below‐band gap excitation from the second‐order nonlinear optical effect in diamond is still challenging. Herein, a giant second‐order nonlinear photocurrent is observed in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond by utilizing terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy. This ultrafast photocurrent originates from the photon drag effect (PDE), during which the momentum transfer from the incident photons to the charge carriers at the rich grain boundaries of the CVD diamond after the exclusive subgap π–π* transition upon femtosecond laser excitation. Especially, the interplay between circular and linear PDE to the THz generation is clarified and distinguished under elliptically polarized light excitation. Furthermore, the picosecond ultrafast dynamics of these charge carriers are also verified by infrared spectroscopy. Owing to the giant photon‐drag‐induced ultrafast photocurrent, the CVD diamond presents the highest THz emission efficiency compared with the reported carbon allotropes, which expands the new functionality of diamond nonlinear photonics into on‐chip THz devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both experimental and theoretical works have demonstrated that two-dimensional materials exhibit strong thickness-dependent electronic and linear optical properties. However, the nonlinear optical (NLO) effect with respect to the thickness still needs to be further investigated, which is of great significance to design different photonic devices. Herein, we develop the physical vapor deposition technique to prepare a series of antimony selenide (Sb2Se 3) films. The relationship between the thickness of Sb2Se3 film and the NLO absorption was investigated by a Z -scan system under 35 fs, 800 nm laser excitation. The result shows the thicker Sb2Se3 film (∼ 50 nm) performs a larger third-order NLO susceptibility (Im χ (3)) approximately − 4. 5 9 × 1 0 − 8 esu, which can be interpreted by the stronger photon absorption, lower saturable intensity, and larger absorption cross-section of ground-state. More importantly, the Im χ (3) absolute value of thick Sb2Se3 film is also far larger than those of graphene, black phosphorus, transition metal dichalcogenide, MXenes, and heterostructure. This work demonstrates that Sb2Se3 film is an excellent saturable absorber and provides a promising application in nonlinear photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from the attractive high carrier mobility, large absorption coefficient, and ambient stability, group IV–VI compounds show excellent potential applications for optoelectronic devices. Herein, a germanium telluride (GeTe) film with a nanosphere structure has been controllably grown by facile physical vapor deposition and utilized into a photoelectrochemical (PEC)-type photodetector. The GeTe-based PEC-type photodetector possesses an excellent photoresponse and high responsivity in the visible region. Meanwhile, density functional theory calculations were employed to investigate the electronic characteristics of GeTe, supplying evidence of the broadband absorption. The improvement of photoelectric response can be attributed to the thicker films due to the larger light harvesting and higher carrier concentration, which is also verified by the visible–near-infrared absorption spectra and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The photocurrent density (Iph) and photoresponsivity (Rph) values of the GeTe-based photodetector can reach 22.8 μA/cm2 and 228.9 μA/W. Generally, our work provides an effective way to extend semiconductor materials in applications of PEC-type photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclement weather conditions, especially cold stress, have threatened the cattle industry. Cattle exposed to cold environments for a longer time suffer developmental delay, immunity decline, and eventually death. WNK1 is a member of With-no-lysine kinases (WNKs), widely expressed in animal organs and tissues. WNK1 and WNK4 are expressed in adipose tissue, and WNK4 promotes adipogenesis. WNK1 does not directly affect adipogenesis but has been shown to promote WNK4 expression in several tissues or organs. One missense mutation NC_037346.1:g.107692244, A > G, rs208265410 in the WNK1 gene was detected from the database of bovine genomic variation (BGVD). Here, we collected 328 individuals of 17 breeds representing four groups of Chinese cattle, northern group cattle, southern group cattle, central group cattle, and special group cattle (Tibetan cattle). We also collected the temperature and humidity data records from their relative locations. The frequencies of the G allele in Chinese breeds increased from northern China to southern China, and the frequencies of the A allele showed an opposite trend. Our results indicate that the WNK1 gene might be a candidate gene marker associated with cold tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]