Ferromagnetism driven by intrinsic point defects in HfO(2)

In view of recent experimental reports of unexpected ferromagnetism in HfO(2) thin films, we carried out first-principles investigations looking for magnetic order possibly brought about by the presence of small concentrations of intrinsic point defects. Ab initio electronic structure calculations using density functional theory show that isolated cation vacancy sites in HfO(2) lead to the formation of high-spin defect states. Furthermore these appear to be ferromagnetically coupled with a rather short range magnetic interaction, resulting in a ferromagnetic ground state for the whole system. More interestingly, the occurrence of these high-spin states and ferromagnetism is in the low symmetry monoclinic phase of HfO(2). This is radically different from other systems previously known to exhibit point defect ferromagnetism, warranting a closer look at the phenomenon.     

Quantized electrons and holes in tellurium surfaces

A calculation has been made for surface phonons at the (001) surface of some fcc and bcc transition metals. A model consisting of first and second neighbor central interactions together with angle bending forces is used. The general harmonic approximation is used. A least mean square fit of the bulk phonon spectrum determines the parameters characterizing the interactions. Specific results have been obtained for surface phonons of Pt, Pd, Cu and Ag as well as Fe and W. The effect of varying the force constant near the surface is also reported showing the possibility for the existence of soft surface modes which may account for superstructures.     

Cyclotron resonance of electrons and holes in TlBr

Cyclotron resonance measurements on TlBr with circularly polarized waves at 34 GHz show the presence of an electron resonance at (0.52 ± 0.03)m_o and a hole resonance at (0.70 ± 0.03)m_o. Mobilities of both electrons and holes are determined in the temperature range 6.5°K to 14°K.     

Condensation of injected electrons and holes in silicon

We report that the condensed electron—hole phase in silicon has been produced by electrical carrier injection. The condensed phase recombination radiation occured at 1.082 ± 0.001 eV with a linewidth of 0.012 eV. Hence the line position and linewidth appear to be independent of whether the semiconductor is excited by optical of electrical injection. Joule heating is shown to be important by analyses of time resolved recombination radiation spectra and double pulse experiments.     

Dynamics of electrons and holes at surfaces

We present ab initio calculation results for electron-phonon (e-ph) contribution to hole lifetime broadening of the surface state on Al(0 0 1). We show that e-ph coupling in this state is significantly stronger than in bulk Al at the Fermi level. It makes the e-ph decay channel very important in the formation of the hole decay in the surface state at . We also present the results for e-e lifetime broadening in a quantum-well state in 1 ML K/Cu(1 1 1). We show that this contribution is not negligible and is much larger than that in a surface state on Ag(1 1 1).     

Photogeneration of electrons and holes in amorphous molecular semiconductors

This paper reports on the results of investigations into the photoconducting properties of amorphous molecular semiconductors based on films of two types: (i) poly(styrene) films doped with epoxypropylcarbazole (EPC) and a cationic polymethine dye (PD1) and (ii) poly(styrene) films doped with tetranitrofluorenone (TNF) and an anionic polymethine dye (PD2). Films of the first type possess p-type conductivity, whereas films of the second type exhibit n-type conductivity. It is found that, for films with n-type conductivity, unlike films with p-type conductivity, the activation energy of photogeneration of mobile charge carriers decreases with a decrease in the optical wavelength in the absorption range of the dyes. The possible mechanisms of the influence of the photoexcitation energy on the initial distance between charge carriers in electron-hole pairs are analyzed. The inference is made that, when the excess thermal energy of excited dye molecules dissipates at a low rate, the distance between the photogenerated electrons and photogeneration centers increases as compared to the distance between the photogenerated holes and photogeneration centers due to the electron-nucleus interaction.     

Multi-band pairing of ultrarelativistic electrons and holes in graphene bilayer

Multi-band pairing of effectively ultrarelativistic electrons and holes in asymmetrically biased graphene bilayer in strong coupling regime is considered. In this regime, the pairing affects both conduction and valence bands of the both graphene layers, and the order parameter is a matrix, which indices correspond to the bands. For band-diagonal s-wave pairing, we derive the system of multi-band gap equations for the gaps in the valence and conduction bands and solve it in the approximation of constant gaps and in the approximation of separable pairing potential. For a characteristic width of the pairing region of order of magnitude of the chemical potential, the gap values are not much different from single-band BCS estimations. However, if the pairing region is wider, then the gaps can be much larger and depend exponentially on its energy width. We also predict gapped and soliton-like oscillations of a relative phase of the gaps and unpairing of quarter-vortices at Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.     

Observation of dirac holes and electrons in a topological insulator

We show that in the new topological-insulator compound Bi(1.5)Sb(0.5)Te(1.7)Se(1.3) one can achieve a surfaced-dominated transport where the surface channel contributes up to 70% of the total conductance. Furthermore, it was found that in this material the transport properties sharply reflect the time dependence of the surface chemical potential, presenting a sign change in the Hall coefficient with time. We demonstrate that such an evolution makes us observe both Dirac holes and electrons on the surface, which allows us to reconstruct the surface band dispersion across the Dirac point.     

Photoionization of electrons and holes at oxygen donors in gallium phosphide

The spectral dependence of the photoionization cross-section for the oxygen donor in GaP is studied in the temperature range between 90 and 410°K by steady state photocurrent measurements using two different radiation sources. From a fit of Lucovsky's model to the experimental results, accurate information is obtained about the energy position of the oxygen donor at all temperatures. It is found that the oxygen level is pinned to the valence band for temperatures above 295 K and that at these temperatures the Franck-Condon shift is very small. This may indicate that there is little interaction between the impurity level and the surrounding lattice.     

Phase transitions in a system of spatially separated electrons and holes

The formation of a superfluid exciton liquid in a system of spatially separated electrons and holes in a system of two coupled quantum wells is predicted and its properties are investigated. The ground-state energy and the equilibrium density of the exciton liquid are calculated as functions of distance D between the quantum wells. The properties of a rarefied exciton gas with dipole-dipole repulsions are considered, where this gas is the metastable phase for D<1.9a* and the stable phase for D<1.9a* (a* is the radius of the two-dimensional exciton). The gas-liquid quantum transition is examined for increasing D. The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperatures, at which superfluidity arises in the system, are found for different values of D. Possible experimental manifestations of the predicted effects are discussed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 1879–1895 (May 1997)     

Vertical transport of electrons and holes in short period GaAs---AlGaAs superlattices

Owing to the use of a high sensitivity streak camera we are able to observe photoluminescence (PL) decays with excitation density as low as 10¹⁴ photocarriers cm⁻³ per pulse. At such low densities photoexcited electrons are the minoritar carriers in our residual p-type MBE materials and they move freely. By varying the excitation density we are able to evidence the transition from electron transport regime to ambipolar motion. We have studied a series of samples superlattices (SLs) of different periods and AlGaAs reference alloy with an enlarged well (EW) located at about 1 μm from the surface. The vertical transport in these structures is analysed by measuring the dynamics of the photoluminescence.     

Wigner crystallization of electrons and holes in amorphous silicon nitride. Antiferromagnetic ordering of localized electrons and holes as a result of a resonance exchange interaction

The predicted quantitative relation between the density and trapping cross section of traps in Si₃N₄ and the Coulomb repulsion radius in the Wigner crystallization of carriers in localized states is observed experimentally. The absence of ESR for localized electrons and holes in Si₃N₄ is interpreted on the basis of a model of a resonance exchange interaction of electrons on account of tunneling via localized states. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 7, 489–494 (10 October 1996)     

Transport properties of MgB2 single crystals doped with electrons and holes

The thermoelectric power of C, Mn, C:Li, and Al:Li substituted MgB₂ single crystals has been investigated in the temperature range 10-300 K. Both the in-plane (S_ab) and the out-of-plane (S_c) thermopowers are positive for the non-substituted crystal and both S_ab and S_c change a sign for crystals doped with electrons where C is substituted for B in the amount larger than 5 at%. When Li is substituted for Mg, the π band rather than the σ band is doped with holes and the doping effects are much more subtle. The anisotropy ratio of the non-substituted crystal S_ab/S_c≈3 and this ratio is strongly reduced by the substitution of C. Isovalent magnetic Mn ions, which substitute for Mg with a drastic reduction of T_c, do not influence the values and temperature dependences of both S_ab and S_c.     

Hidden symmetry and correlated states of electrons and holes in quantum dots

We describe hidden symmetry and its application to the construction of exact correlated states of electrons and holes in quantum dots. The hidden symmetry is related to degenerate single particle energy shells and symmetric interactions. Both can be engineered in a quantum dot. We focus on hidden symmetry involving spin singlet pairing of electrons and spin singlet pairing of holes. Detailed calculations for a third shell are presented to illustrate the mechanism of pairing.