Diffusion length of photoexcited carriers in GaN

When additional carriers are introduced in a material with a non uniform concentration, they tend to diffuse on a scale given by their diffusion length. This parameter can be measured by different methods. Depending on the conditions, different values can be found as the recombination mechanisms differ. In this paper, we present the situation in GaN with various experiments including the photocarrier grating method, photoluminescence and the spectral response in photoconductors. We show that the diffusion length varies from 0.1 μm to a few μm depending on experimental conditions. The interpretation is given based on the diffusion equations and on the analysis of the recombinations.     

Probing the nature of defects in graphene by Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is able to probe disorder in graphene through defect-activated peaks. It is of great interest to link these features to the nature of disorder. Here we present a detailed analysis of the Raman spectra of graphene containing different type of defects. We found that the intensity ratio of the D and D' peak is maximum (～13) for sp(3)-defects, it decreases for vacancy-like defects (～7), and it reaches a minimum for boundaries in graphite (～3.5). This makes Raman Spectroscopy a powerful tool to fully characterize graphene.     

Low-cobalt Cr-Co-Fe magnet alloys obtained by slow cooling under magnetic field

The permanent magnet properties of magnetic field aged Cr-Co-Fe alloys containing 5-9 weight percent (wt %) Co were investigated. By slow cooling from above the spinodal temperature under applied magnetic field, energy products of (BH)max= 4-6 MG . Oe were obtained. The effects of cobalt content, cooling rate, and applied magnetic field strength were studied.     

Negative thermal expansion coefficient of graphene measured by Raman spectroscopy

The thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of single-layer graphene is estimated with temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy in the temperature range between 200 and 400 K. It is found to be strongly dependent on temperature but remains negative in the whole temperature range with a room temperature value of (-8.0 ± 0.7) × 10(-6) K(-1). The strain caused by the TEC mismatch between graphene and the substrate plays a crucial role in determining the physical properties of graphene, and hence its effect must be accounted for in the interpretation of experimental data taken at cryogenic or elevated temperatures.     

Compositional distribution of hydroxyapatite surface and interface observed by electron spectroscopy

The surfaces of single crystals and polycrystalline specimens of hydroxyapatite were measured by auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Compared to P content, Ca content was found to be enriched near the surface of the hydroxyapatite single crystal. A Ca-deficient and carbonate-containing phase was observed at the grain boundaries of the polycrystalline specimen. Ca content at fracture surface increased as a function of time. It is suggested that Ca ions in the hydroxyapatite crystals migrated from inside the crystal to the surface, and that carbonate ions were incorporated from the gas phase into the crystal interior.     

Adhesive secretions of live mussels observed in situ by attenuated total reflection-infrared spectroscopy

The chemical species involved in the adhesion of blue mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and greenshell mussels (Perna canaliculus) to surfaces has been investigated using in situ attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. Mussel spat ranging in size from 0.5 to 25 mm were placed in a flow cell containing a ZnSe multiple internal reflection prism and supplied with temperature-controlled seawater. Distinctively different absorption spectra were obtained when the mussels were predominantly moving across the surface or forming permanent bonds. With limited movement, the absorption spectrum was characteristic of protein with peaks near 1647 cm-1 (amide I), 1543 cm-1 (amide II), and 1235 cm-1 (amide III). When the mussels were observed to be moving across the surface of the ATR-IR crystal there was a strong broad absorption maximum around 1200-900 cm-1 (carbohydrate polymers), presumably due to the secretion of a weakly acidic mucopolysaccharide. Distinct differences in the spectra obtained from the adhesive secretions of blue or greenshell mussels were not observed. The data presented is the first reported use of IR spectroscopy to obtain in situ, real-time, chemical data on the interactions between invertebrates and substrates immersed in sea water.     

Shape transformation and relaxation dynamics of photoexcited TiO2/Ag nanocomposites

The laser-induced sintering of TiO2 nanoparticles into larger nanospheres is accelerated by adsorbed silver particles. For the same weight fraction of silver, silver nanoparticles of 5 nm in diameter modify TiO2 nanoparticles more effectively than those of 1.5 nm do, suggesting that the photocatalysis of TiO2 nanoparticles as well as their stability is highly dependent on the sizes, the shapes, and the distribution of adsorbed metal nanoparticles. The photoexcited electrons of TiO2 nanoparticles are quenched at trap sites and surface states by transfer to the conduction band of silver, implying that the presence of adsorbed silver nanoparticles enhances the photocatalytic effect of TiO2.     

Discrete dynamics of nanoparticle channelling in suspended graphene

We have observed a previously undescribed stepwise oxidation of mono- and few layer suspended graphene by silver nanoparticles in situ at subnanometer scale in an environmental transmission electron microscope. Over the range of 600-850 K, we observe crystallographically oriented channelling with rates in the range 0.01-1 nm/s and calculate an activation energy of 0.557 ± 0.016 eV. We present a discrete statistical model for this process and discuss the implications for accurate nanoscale patterning of nanoscale systems.     

石墨烯取向影响石墨烯/硝酸盐复合材料传热性能的分子动力学模拟

采用非平衡分子动力学（NEMD）方法,以二元硝酸盐Solar salt（NaNO3和KNO3质量比为6∶4）为基体,石墨烯为填料,研究了石墨烯取向对石墨烯/硝酸盐复合材料界面热导的影响。研究发现,随着石墨烯平面与热流方向夹角的减小,体系热流密度升高、温差下降,界面热导从46.36 MW·m^-2·K^-1提升至80.03 MW·m^-2·K^-1。对复合材料中的原子振动态密度和微观结构进行表征,结果发现,随着石墨烯与热流夹角减小,界面处的热流从跨石墨烯平面运输转变为沿石墨烯平面的高效率运输,且加入石墨烯后硝酸盐会形成密度较大的致密层结构。同时,采用有效介质理论拟合了微观尺寸的石墨烯/硝酸盐复合材料热导率,结果表明,石墨烯平行于热流方向时复合材料热导率最高,且增加石墨烯体积分数及长度均有助于复合材料热导率的增强。     

Mechanism of cellular uptake of graphene oxide studied by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The last few years have witnessed rapid development of biological and medical applications of graphene oxide (GO), such as drug/gene delivery, biosensing, and bioimaging. However, little is known about the cellular uptake mechanism and pathway of GO. In this work, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy is employed to investigate the cellular internalization of GO loaded with Au nanoparticles (NPs) by Ca Ski cells. The presence of Au NPs on the surface of GO enables detection of enhanced intrinsic Raman signals of GO inside the cell. The SERS results reveal that GO is distributed inhomogeneously inside the cell. Furthermore, internalization of Au-GO into Ca Ski cells is mainly via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, and is an energy-dependent process.     

Infrared spectroscopy of tunable Dirac terahertz magneto-plasmons in graphene

We present infrared spectroscopy study of plasmon excitations in graphene in high magnetic fields. The plasmon resonance in patterned graphene disks splits into edge and bulk plasmon modes in magnetic fields. Remarkably, the edge plasmons develop increasingly longer lifetimes in high fields due to the suppression of backscattering. Moreover, due to the linear band structure of graphene, the splitting of the edge and bulk plasmon modes develops a strong doping dependence, which differs from the behavior of conventional semiconductor two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) systems. We also observe the appearance of a higher order mode indicating an anharmonic confinement potential even in these well-defined circular disks. Our work not only opens an avenue for the investigation of the properties of Dirac magnetoplasmons but also supports the great potential of graphene for tunable terahertz magneto-optical devices.     

Photothermal self-oscillation and laser cooling of graphene optomechanical systems

By virtue of their low mass and stiffness, atomically thin mechanical resonators are attractive candidates for use in optomechanics. Here, we demonstrate photothermal back-action in a graphene mechanical resonator comprising one end of a Fabry-Perot cavity. As a demonstration of the utility of this effect, we show that a continuous wave laser can be used to cool a graphene vibrational mode or to power a graphene-based tunable frequency oscillator. Owing to graphene's high thermal conductivity and optical absorption, photothermal optomechanics is efficient in graphene and could ultimately enable laser cooling to the quantum ground state or applications such as photonic signal processing.     

Transport spectroscopy of symmetry-broken insulating states in bilayer graphene

Bilayer graphene is an attractive platform for studying new two-dimensional electron physics, because its flat energy bands are sensitive to out-of-plane electric fields and these bands magnify electron-electron interaction effects. Theory predicts a variety of interesting broken symmetry states when the electron density is at the carrier neutrality point, and some of these states are characterized by spontaneous mass gaps, which lead to insulating behaviour. These proposed gaps are analogous to the masses generated by broken symmetries in particle physics, and they give rise to large Berry phase effects accompanied by spontaneous quantum Hall effects. Although recent experiments have provided evidence for strong electronic correlations near the charge neutrality point, the presence of gaps remains controversial. Here, we report transport measurements in ultraclean double-gated bilayer graphene and use source-drain bias as a spectroscopic tool to resolve a gap of ～2 meV at the charge neutrality point. The gap can be closed by a perpendicular electric field of strength ～15 mV nm(-1), but it increases monotonically with magnetic field, with an apparent particle-hole asymmetry above the gap. These data represent the first spectroscopic mapping of the ground states in bilayer graphene in the presence of both electric and magnetic fields.     

Fast and slow dynamics of the cytoskeleton

Material moduli of the cytoskeleton (CSK) influence a wide range of cell functions. There is substantial evidence from reconstituted F-actin gels that a regime exists in which the moduli scale with frequency with a universal exponent of 3/4. Such behaviour is entropic in origin and is attributable to fluctuations in semiflexible polymers driven by thermal forces, but it is not obvious a priori that such entropic effects are responsible for the elasticity of the CSK. Here we demonstrate the existence of such a regime in the living cell, but only at high frequencies. Fast events scaled with frequency in a manner comparable to semiflexible-polymer dynamics, but slow events scaled with a non-universal exponent that was systematically smaller than 3/4 and probably more consistent with a soft-glass regime. These findings strongly suggest that at smaller timescales elasticity arises from entropic fluctuations of a semiflexible-filament network, whereas on longer timescales slow (soft-glass-like) dynamics of a different origin prevail. The transition between these two regimes occurred on timescales of the order of 0.01 s, thus setting within the slow glassy regime cellular events such as spreading, crawling, contracting, and invading.     

Studies of intrinsic hot phonon dynamics in suspended graphene by transient absorption microscopy

Correlated transient absorption and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements have been performed for monolayer graphene, both free-standing and supported on a glass substrate. The AFM images allow us to locate regions of the suspended graphene. The transient absorption traces show a fast instrument response limited decay, followed by a slower intensity dependent decay. The fast decay is assigned to a combination of coupling between the excited charge carriers and the optical phonon modes of graphene and the substrate, and diffusion of the charge carrier out of the probe region. The slow decay is due to the hot phonon effect and reflects the lifetime of the intrinsic optical phonons of graphene. The time constant for the slow decay is longer for suspended graphene compared to substrate-supported graphene. This is attributed to interactions between the excited charge carriers and the surface optical phonon modes of the substrate, which supplies an additional relaxation channel for supported graphene.     

Valence band splitting in wurtzite InP nanowires observed by photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy

We have investigated individual bulk-like wires of wurtzite InP using photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Using two different methods we find that the top of the valence band is split, as expected theoretically. This splitting of the valence band is peculiar to wurtzite InP and does not occur in zinc blende InP. We find the energy difference between the two bands to be 40 meV.     

Antiferromagnetic ordering in RMnO3 rare-earth manganites observed by optical spectroscopy

The optical absorption spectra of hexagonal rare-earth manganites (RMnO₃ with R = Er, Tm, Yb) have been measured in the 5000-13,000 cm⁻¹ infrared spectral range as a function of temperature between 8 and 300 K. A series of transitions have been assigned for the trivalent rare-earth ions in trigonal crystal field. Some of the Stark components of the rare-earth multiplets split below the Néel-temperature due to antiferromagnetic ordering. The Néel-temperature for the three compounds investigated decreases with increasing ionic radius of the rare-earth ions.