Spin-Hall effect in the generalized honeycomb lattice with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin-Hall effect in a generalized honeycomb lattice, which is described by a tight-binding Hamiltonian including the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and inversion-symmetry breaking terms brought about by a uniaxial pressure. The calculated spin-Hall conductance displays a series of exact or approximate plateaus for isotropic or anisotropic hopping integral parameters, respectively. We show that these plateaus are a consequence of the various Fermi-surface topologies when tuning epsilon(F). For the isotropic case, a consistent two-band analysis, as well as a Berry-phase interpretation. are also given. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spin Hall effect on the kagome lattice with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin Hall effect in the kagome lattice with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The conserved spin Hall conductance sigma(s)(xy) (see text) and its two components, i.e., the conventional term sigma(s0)(xy) and the spin-torque-dipole term sigma(s tau)(xy), are numerically calculated, which show a series of plateaus as a function of the electron Fermi energy epsilon(F). A consistent two-band analysis, as well as a Berry-phase interpretation, is also given. We show that these plateaus are a consequence of various Fermi-surface topologies when tuning epsilon(F). In particular, we predict that compared to the case with the Fermi surface encircling the Gamma point in the Brillouin zone, the amplitude of the spin Hall conductance with the Fermi surface encircling the K points is twice enhanced, which makes it highly meaningful in the future to systematically carry out studies of the K-valley spintronics.

Band-gap bowing and p-type doping of (Zn, Mg, Be)O wide-gap semiconductor alloys: a first-principles study

Using a first-principles band-structure method and a special quasirandom structure (SQS) approach, we systematically calculate the band gap bowing parameters and p-type doping properties of (Zn, Mg, Be)O related random ternary and quaternary alloys. We show that the bowing parameters for ZnBeO and MgBeO alloys are large and dependent on composition. This is due to the size difference and chemical mismatch between Be and Zn(Mg) atoms. We also demonstrate that adding a small amount of Be into MgO reduces the band gap indicating that the bowing parameter is larger than the band-gap difference. We select an ideal N atom with lower p atomic energy level as dopant to perform p-type doping of ZnBeO and ZnMgBeO alloys. For N doped in ZnBeO alloy, we show that the acceptor transition energies become shallower as the number of the nearest neighbor Be atoms increases. This is thought to be because of the reduction of p-d repulsion. The N-O acceptor transition energies are deep in the ZnMgBeO quaternary alloy lattice-matched to GaN substrate due to the lower valence band maximum. These decrease slightly as there are more nearest neighbor Mg atoms surrounding the N dopant. The important natural valence band alignment between ZnO, MgO, BeO, ZnBeO, and ZnMgBeO quaternary alloy is also investigated.

Nature of interfacial defects and their roles in strain relaxation at highly lattice mismatched 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface

Misfit defects in a 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface were investigated using a 200 kV high-resolution electron microscope with a point resolution of 0.194 nm. The [110] high-resolution electron microscopic images that do not directly reflect the crystal structure were transformed into the structure map through image deconvolution. Based on this analysis, four types of misfit dislocations at the 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface were determined. In turn, the strain relaxation mechanism was clarified through the generation of grow-in perfect misfit dislocations (including 90 degrees Lomer dislocations and 60 degrees shuffle dislocations) and 90 partial dislocations associated with stacking faults. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3234380]

Photoluminescence characteristics of GaAsSbN/GaAs epilayers lattice-matched to GaAs substrates

The photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of GaAsSbN/GaAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are carefully investigated. The results show that antimony (Sb) incorporation into GaNAs material has less influence on the N-induced localization states. For the same N concentration, GaAsSbN material can reach an emission wavelength near 1.3 mum more easily than GaInNAs material. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) experiment shows that the annealing induced rearrangement of atoms and related blueshift in GaAsSbN epilayers are smaller than those in GaNAs and GaInNAs epilayers. The GaAsSbN material can keep a longer emission wavelength near 1.3 mum-emission even after the annealing treatment. Raman spectroscopy analysis gives further insight into the structure stability of GaAsSbN material after annealing. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of InAs quantum dots on lattice-matched InAlGaAs/InP superlattice structures

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) in an InAlGaAs matrix, lattice-matched to InP substrate, have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and photoluminescence (PL) are used to study their structural and optical properties. In InAs/InAlGaAs/ InP system, we propose that when the thickness of InAs layer deposited is small, the random strain distribution of the matrix layer results in the formation of tadpole-shaped QDs with tails towards random directions, while the QDs begin to turn into dome-shaped and then coalesce to form islands with larger size and lower density to release the increasing misfit strain with the continuous deposition of InAs. XRD rocking curves showing the reduced strain with increasing thickness of InAs layer may also support our notion. The results of PL measurements are in well agreement with that of TEM images. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of lattice vibration on the effective mass of quasi-two-dimensional strong-coupling polaron

The effects of lattice vibration on the system in which the electron is weakly coupled with bulk longitudinal optical phonons and strongly coupled with interface optical phonons in an infinite quantum well were studied by using Tokuda' linear-combination operator and a modified LLP variational method. The expressions for the effective mass of the polaron in a quantum well QW as functions of the well's width and temperature were derived. In particular, the law of the change of the vibration frequency of the polaron changing with well' s width and temperature are obtained. Numerical results of the effective mass and the vibration frequency of the polaron for KI/AgCl/Kl QW show that the vibration frequency and the effective mass of the polaron decrease with increasing well's width and temperature, but the contribution of the interaction between the electron and the different branches of phonons to the effective mass and the vibration frequency and the change of their variation with the well's width and temperature are greatly different.

Two-dimensional photonic band-gap defect modes with deformed lattice

A numerical study of the defect modes in two-dimensional photonic crystals with deformed triangular lattice is presented by using the supercell method and the finite-difference time-domain method. We find the stretch or shrink of the lattice can bring the change not only on the frequencies of the defect modes but also on their magnetic field distributions. We obtain the separation of the doubly degenerate dipole modes with the change of the lattice and find that both the stretch and the shrink of the lattice can make the dipole modes separate large enough to realize the single-mode emission. These results may be advantageous to the manufacture of photonic crystal lasers and provide a new way to realize the single-mode operation in photonic crystal lasers.

Evidence of ultrafast energy exchange-induced soft'mode of phonons and lattice instability: a nanotime effect

With a series of supportive experimental phenomena as induced by ion beam bombardment, energetic beaminduced athermal activation process in Si is demonstrated. This is correlated with phenomena induced by ultrafast energy exchange in condensed matter in general. A critical modelling is presented on the above process and a universal concept: the ultrafast energy exchange-induced soft mode of phonons and the lattice instability in condensed matter are proposed.

A proposal for low cross-talk square-lattice photonic crystal waveguide intersection utilizing the symmetry of waveguide modes

We propose an approach to construct waveguide intersections with broad bandwidth and low cross-talk for square-lattice photonic crystals. by utilizing a vanishing overlap of the propagation modes in the waveguides created by defects which support dipole-like defect modes. The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the waveguide intersection created in the two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystals. Over a bandwidth of 30 nm with the center wavelength at 1300 nm, transmission efficiency above 90% is obtained with cross-talk below -30 dB. Especially, we demonstrate the transmission of a 500-fs pulse at 1.3 Am through the intersection, and the pulse after transmission shows very little distortion while the cross-talk remains at low level meantime. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influences of As flux on the lattice constants, magnetic and transport properties of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers

A series of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers have been prepared on semi-insulating GaAs (001) substrates at 230 degrees C by molecular-beam epitaxy under fixed temperatures of Ga and Mn cells and varied temperatures of the As cell. By systematically studying the lattice constants, magnetic and magneto-transport properties in a self-consistent manner, we find that the concentration of As antisites monotonically increases with increasing As flux, while the concentration of interstitial Mn defects decreases with it. Such a trend sensitively affects the properties of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical interleaver based on directional coupler in a 2D photonic crystal slab with triangular lattice of air holes

A small-size optical interleaver based on directional coupler in a 2D photonic crystal slab with triangular lattice of air holes is designed and theoretically simulated using plane wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain method. The interleaver is formed by two parallel and identical photonic crystal slab waveguides which are separated by three rows of air holes. The coupling region is designed below the light line to avoid vertical radiation. The simulated results show that the coupling coefficient is increased and the final length of the interleaver is decreased by enlarging the radius of the middle row of air holes. The transmission properties are analyzed after the interleaver's structure is optimized, and around 100 GHz channel spacing can be got when the length of the interleaver is chosen as 40.5 mu m. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of triangular lattice photonic crystals using genetic algorithms

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) were used to design triangular lattice photonic crystals with large absolute band-gap. Considering fabricating issues, the algorithms represented the unit cell with large pixels and took the largest absolute band-gap under the fifth band as the objective function. By integrating Fourier transform data storage mechanism, the algorithms ran efficiently and effectively and optimized a triangular lattice photonic crystal with scatters in the shape of 'dielectric-air rod'. It had a large absolute band gap with relative width (ratio of gap width to midgap) 23.8%.

Chiral symmetry analysis and rigid rotational invariance for the lattice dynamics of single-wall carbon nanotubes

We provide a detailed expression of the vibrational potential for the lattice dynamics of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT's) satisfying the requirements of the exact rigid translational as well as rotational symmetries, which is a nontrivial generalization of the valence force model for the planar graphene sheet. With the model, the low-frequency behavior of the dispersion of the acoustic modes as well as the flexure mode can be precisely calculated. Based upon a comprehensive chiral symmetry analysis, the calculated mode frequencies (including all the Raman- and infrared-active modes), velocities of acoustic modes, and the polarization vectors are systematically fitted in terms of the chiral angle and radius, where the restrictions of various symmetry operations of SWCNT's are fulfilled.

High-precision determination of lattice constants and structural characterization of InN thin films

X-ray diffraction and Rutherford backscattering/channeling were used to characterize the crystalline quality of an InN layer grown on Al2O3(0001) Using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. A full width at half maximum of 0.27 degrees from an InN(0002) omega scan and a minimum yield of 23% from channeling measurements show that this 480-nm-thick InN layer grown at low temperature (450 degrees C) has a relatively good crystalline quality. High-resolution x-ray diffraction indicates that the InN layer contains a small fraction of cubic InN, besides the predominant hexagonal phase. From this InN sample, the lattice constants a=0.353 76 nm and c=0.570 64 nm for the hexagonal InN and a=0.4986 nm for the cubic InN were determined independently. 2 theta/omega-chi mapping and a pole figure measurement revealed that the crystallographic relationship among the cubic InN, the hexagonal InN, and the substrate is: InN[111]parallel to InN[0001]parallel to Al2O3[0001] and InN{110}parallel to InN{1120}parallel to Al2O3{1010}, and that the cubic InN is twinned. Photoluminescence measurements indicate that the band-gap energy of this sample is approximately 0.82 eV. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.