Impact of polarization on quasi-two-dimensional exciton and barrier-width dependence of the exciton associated transition in wurtzite III-V nitride quantum wells

Excitonic states in AlxGa1-xN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are studied within the framework of effective-mass theory. Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations are included and their impact on the excitonic states and optical properties are studied. We witnessed a significant blue shift in transition energy when the barrier width decreases and we attributed this to the redistribution of the built-in electric field between well layers and barrier layers. For the exciton the binding energies, we found in narrow QWs that there exists a critical value for barrier width, which demarcates the borderline for quantum confinement effect and the quantum confined Stark effect. Exciton and free carrier radiative lifetimes are estimated by simple argumentation. The calculated results suggest that there are efficient non-radiative mechanisms in narrow barrier QWs. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electronic states of a two-dimensional electron system in a lateral superlattice and a perpendicular magnetic field

The electronic state of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) in the presence of a perpendicular uniform magnetic field and a lateral superlattice (LS) is investigated theoretically. A comparative study is made between a LS induced by a spatial electrostatic potential modulation (referred to as a PMLS) and that induced by a spatial magnetic-field modulation (referred ro asa MMLS). By utilizing a finite-temperature self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation scheme; the dependence of the electronic state on different system parameters (e.g., the modulation period, the modulation strength, the effective electron-electron interaction strength, the averaged electron density, and the system temperature) is studied in detail. The inclusion of exchange effect is found to bring qualitative changes to the electronic state of a PMLS, leading generally to a nonuniform spin splitting, and consequently the behavior of the electronic state becomes similar to that of a MMLS. The Landau-level coupling is taken into account, and is found to introduce some interesting features not observed before. It is also found that, even in the regime of intermediate modulation strength, the density dependence of the spin splitting of energy levels, either for a PMLS or a MMLS, can be qualitatively understood within the picture of a 2DES in a perpendicular magnetic field with the modulation viewed as a perturbation. [S0163-1829(97)02248-0].

Green's function of a two-dimensional interacting electron gas in a perpendicular magnetic field

It is rigorously proved that the Green's function of a uniform two-dimensional interacting electron gas in a perpendicular magnetic field is diagonal with respect to single-particle states in the Landau gauge. The implication of this theorem is briefly discussed.

Effects of polarization field on formation of two-dimensional electron gas in (0001) and (11(2)over-bar0) plane AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Photoluminescence (PL) and temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements were carried out in (0001) and (11 (2) over bar0) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. There are strong spontaneous and piezoelectric electric fields (SPF) along the growth orientation of the (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. At the same time there are no corresponding SPF along that of the (1120) AlGaN/GaN. A strong PL peak related to the recombination between two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and photoexcited holes was observed at 3.258 eV at room temperature in (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterointerfaces while no corresponding PL peak was observed in (11 (2) over bar0). The existence of a 2DEG was observed in (0001) AlGaN/GaN multi-layers with a mobility saturated at 6000 cm(2)/V s below 80 K, whereas a much lower mobility was measured in (11 (2) over bar0). These results indicated that the SPF was the main element to cause the high mobility and high sheet-electron-density 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In-plane stray field induced spin-filtering in a two-dimensional electron gas under the modulation of surface ferromagnetic dual-gate

Based upon a hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor structure consisting of two-dimensional electron gas and a pair of surface ferromagnetic stripes on top, we have theoretically investigated the effect of in-plane stray field omitted frequently in previous studies on the spin-dependent ballistic transport properties in hybrid structure. It is demonstrated here that, in combination with an external-controllable electrostatic modulation, the concerned structure shows a similar function as a lateral spin-polarized resonant tunneling device, where the strong spin-filtering effect occurs and nearly single-mode polarization is anticipated for the proper modulation. More importantly, the spin polarity of transmission electron can be easily transferred from one extreme to the other by switching the magnetization of stripes, showing the promising application as an efficient spin aligner in the developing semiconductor spintronics.

Lattice Boltzmann study of hydrodynamic effects in lamellar ordering process of two-dimensional quenched block copolymers

By incorporating self-consistent field theory with lattice Boltzmann method, a model for polymer melts is proposed. Compared with models based on Ginzburg-Landau free energy, our model does not employ phenomenological free energies to describe systems and can consider the chain topological details of polymers. We use this model to study the effects of hydrodynamic interactions on the dynamics of microphase separation for block copolymers. In the early stage of phase separation, an exponential growth predicted by Cahn-Hilliard treatment is found. Simulation results also show that the effect of hydrodynamic interactions can be neglected in the early stage.

Defect evolution and hydrodynamic effects in lamellar ordering process of two-dimensional quenched block copolymers

The effects of hydrodynamic interactions on the lamellar ordering process for two-dimensional quenched block copolymers in the presence of extended defects and the topological defect evolutions in lamellar ordering process are numerically investigated by means of a model based on lattice Boltzmann method and self-consistent field theory. By observing the evolution of the average size of domains, it is found that the domain growth is faster with stronger hydrodynamic effects. The morphological patterns formed also appear different. To study the defect evolution, a defect density is defined and is used to explore the defect evolutions in lamellar ordering process. Our simulation results show that the hydrodynamics effects can reduce the density of defects. With our model, the relations between the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter chi, the length of the polymer chains N, and the defect evolutions are studied.

Branched crystal morphology of linear polyethylene crystallized in a two-dimensional diffusion-controlled growth field

The branched crystal morphology of linear polyethylene formed at various temperatures from thin films has been studied by atomic-force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED) pattern and polymer decoration technique. Two types of branched patterns, i.e. dendrite and seaweed patterns, have been visualized. The fractal dimension d(f) = 1.65 of both dendrite and some of seaweed patterns was obtained by using the box-counting method, although most of the seaweed patterns are compact. Selected-area ED patterns indicate that the fold stems tilt about 34.5degrees around the b-axis and polymer decoration patterns show that the chain folding direction and regularity in two (200). regions are quite different from each other. Because of chain tilting, branched crystals show three striking features: 1) the lamella-like branches show two (200) regions with different thickness; 2) the crystals usually bend towards the thin region; 3) the thick region grows faster by developing branches, thus branches usually occur outside the thick region. The branched patterns show a characteristic width w, which gives a linear relationship with the crystallization temperature on a semilogarithmic plot.

Detailed analytical investigation of magnetic field line random walk in turbulent plasmas: I. Two-component slab/two-dimensional turbulence

The random displacement of magnetic field lines in the presence of magnetic turbulence in plasmas is investigated from first principles. A two-component (slab/two-dimensional composite) model for the turbulence spectrum is employes. An analytical investigation of the asymptotic behavior of the field-line mean square displacement (FL-MSD) is carried out. It is shown that the magnetic field lines behave superdifusively for every large values of the position variable z, since the FL-MSD sigma varies as sigma similar to z(4/3). An intermediate diffusive regime may also possible exist for finite values of z under conditions which are explicitly determined in terms of the intrinsic turbulent plasma parameters. The superdiffusie asymptotic result is confirmed numerically via an iterative algorithm. The relevance to previous resuslts is discussed.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL PARTICLE-IN-CELL SIMULATIONS OF THE NONRESONANT, COSMIC-RAY-DRIVEN INSTABILITY IN SUPERNOVA REMNANT SHOCKS

In supernova remnants, the nonlinear amplification of magnetic fields upstream of collisionless shocks is essential for the acceleration of cosmic rays to the energy of the "knee" at 10(15.5) eV. A nonresonant instability driven by the cosmic ray current is thought to be responsible for this effect. We perform two-dimensional, particle-in-cell simulations of this instability. We observe an initial growth of circularly polarized nonpropagating magnetic waves as predicted in linear theory. It is demonstrated that in some cases the magnetic energy density in the growing waves can grow to at least 10 times its initial value. We find no evidence of competing modes, nor of significant modification by thermal effects. At late times, we observe saturation of the instability in the simulation, but the mechanism responsible is an artifact of the periodic boundary conditions and has no counterpart in the supernova-shock scenario.

Strong second harmonic generation in SiC, ZnO, GaN two-dimensional hexagonal crystals from first-principles many-body calculations

The second harmonic generation (SHG) intensity spectrum of SiC, ZnO, GaN two-dimensional hexagonal crystals is calculated by using a real-time first-principles approach based on Green's function theory [Attaccalite et al., Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter Mater. Phys. 2013 88, 235113]. This approach allows one to go beyond the independent particle description used in standard first-principles nonlinear optics calculations by including quasiparticle corrections (by means of the GW approximation), crystal local field effects and excitonic effects. Our results show that the SHG spectra obtained using the latter approach differ significantly from their independent particle counterparts. In particular they show strong excitonic resonances at which the SHG intensity is about two times stronger than within the independent particle approximation. All the systems studied (whose stabilities have been predicted theoretically) are transparent and at the same time exhibit a remarkable SHG intensity in the range of frequencies at which Ti:sapphire and Nd:YAG lasers operate; thus they can be of interest for nanoscale nonlinear frequency conversion devices. Specifically the SHG intensity at 800 nm (1.55 eV) ranges from about 40-80 pm V(-1) in ZnO and GaN to 0.6 nm V(-1) in SiC. The latter value in particular is 1 order of magnitude larger than values in standard nonlinear crystals.

Fronts from complex two-dimensional dispersal kernels: theory and application to Reid's paradox

Bimodal dispersal probability distributions with characteristic distances differing by several orders of magnitude have been derived and favorably compared to observations by Nathan [Nature (London) 418, 409 (2002)]. For such bimodal kernels, we show that two-dimensional molecular dynamics computer simulations are unable to yield accurate front speeds. Analytically, the usual continuous-space random walks (CSRWs) are applied to two dimensions. We also introduce discrete-space random walks and use them to check the CSRW results (because of the inefficiency of the numerical simulations). The physical results reported are shown to predict front speeds high enough to possibly explain Reid's paradox of rapid tree migration. We also show that, for a time-ordered evolution equation, fronts are always slower in two dimensions than in one dimension and that this difference is important both for unimodal and for bimodal kernels

Theory of enhanced magnetic anisotropy induced by Pt adatoms on two-dimensional Co clusters supported on a Pt(111) substrate

Calculations are reported of the magnetic anisotropy energy of two-dimensional (2D) Co nanostructures on a Pt(111) substrate. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of the 2D Co clusters strongly depends on their size and shape, and rapidly decreases with increasing cluster size. The PMA calculated is in reasonable agreement with experimental results. The sensitivity of the results to the Co-Pt spacing at the interface is also investigated and, in particular, for a complete Co monolayer we note that the value of the spacing at the interface determines whether PMA or in-plane anisotropy occurs. We find that the PMA can be greatly enhanced by the addition of Pt adatoms to the top surface of the 2D Co clusters. A single Pt atom can induce in excess of 5 meV to the anisotropy energy of a cluster. In the absence of the Pt adatoms the PMA of the Co clusters falls below 1 meV/Co atom for clusters of about 10 atoms whereas, with Pt atoms added to the surface of the clusters, a PMA of 1 meV/Co atom can be maintained for clusters as large as about 40 atoms. The effect of placing Os atoms on the top of the Co clusters is also considered. The addition of 5d atoms and clusters on the top of ferromagnetic nanoparticles may provide an approach to tune the magnetic anisotropy and moment separately.

Electrorhythmogenesis and anaesthesia in a physiological mean field theory

We solve eight partial-differential, two-dimensional, nonlinear mean field equations, which describe the dynamics of large populations of cortical neurons. Linearized versions of these equations have been used to generate the strong resonances observed in the human EEG, in particular the α-rhythm (8–), with physiologically plausible parameters. We extend these results here by numerically solving the full equations on a cortex of realistic size, which receives appropriately “colored” noise as extra-cortical input. A brief summary of the numerical methods is provided. As an outlook to future applications, we explain how the effects of GABA-enhancing general anaesthetics can be simulated and present first results.

A uniformly valid far field asymptotic expansion of the green function for two-dimensional propagation above a homogeneous impedance plane

A generalized asymptotic expansion in the far field for the problem of cylindrical wave reflection at a homogeneous impedance plane is derived. The expansion is shown to be uniformly valid over all angles of incidence and values of surface impedance, including the limiting cases of zero and infinite impedance. The technique used is a rigorous application of the modified steepest descent method of Ot