Pure Coulomb explosions of highly charged methane clusters investigated by a simple electrostatic model

The pure Coulomb explosions of the methane clusters (CA(4))(n), (light atom A = H or D) have been investigated by a simplified electrostatic model for both a single cluster and an ensemble of clusters with a given cluster size distribution. The dependence of the energy of ions produced from the explosions on cluster size and the charge state of the carbon ions has been analysed. It is found that, unlike the average proton energy which increases with the charge q of the carbon ions, the average deuteron energy tends to saturate as q becomes larger than 4. This implies that when the laser intensity is sufficiently high for the (CD4)(n) to be ionized to a charge state of (C4+D4+)(n), the neutron yield from a table-top laser-driven Coulomb explosion of deuterated methane clusters (CD4)(n) could be increased significantly by increasing the interaction volume rather than by increasing the laser intensity to produce the higher charge state (C6+D4+)(n). The flight-time spectra of the carbon ions and the light ions have also been studied.

Photoluminescence of Charged Low-Density InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots

We obtain low-density charged InAs quantum dots with an emission wavelength below 1 mu m using a low InAs growth rate. The quantum dots have a bimodal size distribution with an emission wavelength of around 1340 nm and 1000 nm, respectively. We observe the photoluminescence of the singly charged exciton in the modulation doped quantum dots in 77 K.

Optical transitions of positively charged excitons and biexcitons in single InAs quantum dots

National Basic Research Program of China 2007CB924904;Chinese Academy of Sciences KICX2.YW.W09-1

Binding energy of positively and negatively charged excitons in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells

Using a simple two-parameter wavefunction, we calculate variationally the binding energy of positively and negatively charged excitons in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells for well widths from 10 to 300Angstrom. We consider the effect of effective mass, dielectric constant mismatch in the two materials, and the whole correlation among the particles. The results are discussed and compared in detail with previous experimental and theoretical results, which show fair agreement with them.

Ab initio calculations for the neutral and charged O vacancy in sapphire

The energetics, lattice relaxation, and the defect-induced states of st single O vacancy in alpha-Al2O3 are studied by means of supercell total-energy calculations using a first-principles method based on density-functional theory. The supercell model with 120 atoms in a hexagonal lattice is sufficiently large to give realistic results for an isolated single vacancy (square). Self-consistent calculations are performed for each assumed configuration of lattice relaxation involving the nearest-neighbor Al atoms and the next-nearest-neighbor O atoms of the vacancy site. Total-energy data thus accumulated are used to construct an energy hypersurface. A theoretical zero-temperature vacancy formation energy of 5.83 eV is obtained. Our results show a large relaxation of Al (O) atoms away from the vacancy site by about 16% (8%) of the original Al-square (O-square) distances. The relaxation of the neighboring Al atoms has a much weaker energy dependence than the O atoms. The O vacancy introduces a deep and doubly occupied defect level, or an F center in the gap, and three unoccupied defect levels near the conduction band edge, the positions of the latter are sensitive to the degree of relaxation. The defect state wave functions are found to be not so localized, but extend up to the boundary of the supercell. Defect-induced levels are also found in the valence-band region below the O 2s and the O 2p bands. Also investigated is the case of a singly occupied defect level (an F+ center). This is done by reducing both the total number of electrons in the supercell and the background positive charge by one electron in the self-consistent electronic structure calculations. The optical transitions between the occupied and excited states of the: F and F+ centers are also investigated and found to be anisotropic in agreement with optical data.

Brownian dynamics simulation of the crystallization dynamics of charged colloidal particles

Crystal formation process of charged colloidal particles is investigated using Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations. The particles are assumed to interact with the pair-additive repulsive Yukawa potential. The time evolution of crystallization process and the crystal structure during the simulation are characterized by means of the radial distribution functions (RDF) and mean square displacement (MSD). The simulations show that when the interaction is featured with long-range, particles can spontaneously assemble into body-centered-cubic (BCC) arrays at relatively low particle number density. When the interaction is short-ranged, with increasing the number density particles become trapped into a stagnant disordered configuration before the crystallization could be actualized. The simulations further show that as long as the trapped configurations are bypassed, the face-centered-cubic (FCC) structures can be achieved and are actually more stable than BCC structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Formation of an fcc phase through a bcc metastable state in crystallization of charged colloidal particles

By in situ monitoring structural changes with the reflection spectrometer during the colloidal crystallization, we present direct experimental evidence of liquid-bcc-fcc phase transition in crystallization of charged colloidal particles, as a manifestation of the Ostwald's step rule. In addition, the lifetime of the bcc metastable structure in this system decreases significantly with increasing particle volume fraction, offering a possible explanation for "exceptions" to the step rule.