Binding energy of excitons bound to neutral donors in two-dimensional semiconductors

The binding energies of excitons bound to neutral donors in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors within the spherical-effective-mass approximation, which are nondegenerate energy bands, have been calculated by a variational method for a relevant range of the effective electron-to-hole mass ratio sigma. The ratio of the binding energy of a 2D exciton bound to a neutral donor to that of a 2D neutral donor is found to be from 0.58 to 0.10. In the limit of vanishing sigma and large sigma, the results agree fairly well with previous experimental results. The results of this approach are compared with those of earlier theories.

Gate controlled Aharonov-Bohm-type oscillations from single neutral excitons in quantum rings

We report on a magnetophotoluminescence study of single self-assembled semiconductor nanorings which are fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy combined with AsBr3 in situ etching. Oscillations in the neutral exciton radiative recombination energy and in the emission intensity are observed under an applied magnetic field. Further, we control the period of the oscillations with a gate potential that modifies the exciton confinement. We infer from the experimental results, combined with calculations, that the exciton Aharonov-Bohm effect may account for the observed effects.

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.

On-line concentration of neutral and charged species in capillary electrochromatography with a methacrylate-based monolithic stationary phase

A method involving self-concentration, on-column enrichment and field-amplified sample stacking for on-line concentration in capillary electrochromatography with a polymer monolithic column is presented. Since monolithic columns eliminate the frit fabrication and the problems associated with frits, the experimental conditions could be more flexibly adjusted to obtain higher concentration factor in comparison with conventional particulate packed columns. With self-concentration effect, the detection sensitivity of benzene and hexylbenzene is improved by a factor of 4 and 8, respectively. With on-column enrichment and ultralong injection, improvement as high as 22 000 times in detection sensitivity of benzoin is achieved. Furthermore, a combination of the three above-mentioned methods yields up to a 24000-fold improvement in detection sensitivity for caffeine, a charged compound. Parameters affecting the efficiency of on-line concentration are investigated systematically. In addition, equations describing on-line concentration process are deduced.

Characteristics of electroosmotic flow and migration of neutral solutes under stepwise gradient elution of capillary electrochromatography

A theoretical study on the velocity of electroosmotic flow (EOF) and the retention times of neutral solutes under multiple-step gradient of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was carried out, focusing on that with three kinds of mobile phases. Through the model computations, the detaining time of the second kind of mobile phase in the column was proved to play an important role in affecting EOF. The variation speed of EOF was shown to be determined by the differences among dead times in different steps. In addition, the prediction of the retention times of 13 aromatic compounds under gradient mode was performed with the deduced equations. A relative error below 3.3% between the calculated and experimental values was obtained, which demonstrated the rationality of the theoretical deduction. Our study could not only improve the comprehension of stepwise gradient elution, but also be of significance for the further optimization of separation conditions in the analysis of complex samples.

Migration of neutral solutes by double stepwise gradient elution in capillary electrochromatography

Characteristics of electroosmotic flow (EOF) and the migration of neutral solutes under double stepwise gradient elution in capillary electrochromatography were studied systematically. EOF velocity proved to be the function of operation time changing with the introduction of the second mobile phase. Accordingly, the retention of components also changed. The migration of neutral solutes was studied under the following three situations; A, components eluted when the column was filled only with the first kind of mobile phase; B, solutes eluted still in the first kind of mobile phase while at that time two kinds of mobile phase coexisted in the column and C, samples eluted in the second kind of mobile phase. Equations to describe the retention times of components under these three kinds of conditions were deduced and applied to predict the retention times of 12 aromatic compounds. Relative errors between experimental and calculated values were below 5.0%, which proved the reliability of the equations. In addition, parameters that might affect the retention time of solutes, such as the transferring time of mobile phase vials, the capacity factors of components and EOF velocities two steps were studied systematically (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.