Resonance Raman spectroscopic study of shape‐induced phase transition in CdSe nanoclusters

We report an observation of shape‐induced phase transition from wurtzite to zinc blende phase of encapsulated CdSe nanoclusters in mesoporous silica. Presence of both the phases is also observed in the as‐grown sample before encapsulation. Role of interfacial energy in the energetic mesopores, as the possible origin of phase transition, is thus ruled out, as the samples are encapsulated subsequent to their synthesis in the soft chemistry route. Electron–phonon coupling in the resonant Raman spectroscopic studies, using different energies for clusters of different phase and shape, thereby confirms the presence of both the wurtzite and the zinc blende phases. Transmission electron microscopic studies are used for the direct evidence of the shape‐induced solid–solid phase transition between two crystalline phases, for the first time. Small fluctuation of energies, in the form of shape, during its growth may be the driving force for the observed phenomenon, as the surface energy of both the phases stabilizes to the same value. Thus, finally, specific shapes can be used as one of the ways to differentiate the resulting phases. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interface phonons in cylindrical quantum dot heterostructure

The top interface optical (TIO) and side interface optical (SIO) phonon modes of a cylindrical GaAs/ Al_xGa_1−xAs quantum dot are derived within the framework of dielectric continuum approximation. Results reveal that, in the case of taking the “two-mode” behavior of the Al_xGa_1−xAs material into account, there exist eight branches of TIO phonon modes and four branches of SIO phonon modes. The dispersion frequencies of TIO or SIO phonon modes sensitively depend on the Al mole fraction x$x$ in the Al_xGa_1−xAs material. With increasing wavevector q$q$ (κ$\kappa$), the frequency of each TIO (SIO) mode approaches one of the two frequency values of the single Al_xGa_1−xAs heterostructure.     

Pressure induced phase transition in mercurous chloride

Pressure induced phase transition in mercurous chloride has been studied by high pressure x-ray diamond anvil cell. The change in diffraction pattern started and ended at a pressure of about 5 kbar and 20 kbar respectively. The patterns recorded at 20 kbar could be indexed basing on an orthorhombic lattice, with lattice parametersa=4.23 Å,b=4.54 Å andc=10.44 Å.     

In situ Raman and photoluminescence study on pressure‐induced phase transition in C60 nanotubes

Single crystalline C₆₀ nanotubes having face‐centered‐cubic structure with diameters in the nanometer range were synthesized by a solution method. In situ Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy under high pressure were employed to study the structural stabilities and transitions of the pristine C₆₀ nanotubes. A phase transition, probably because of the orientational ordering of C₆₀ molecules, from face‐centered‐cubic structure to simple cubic structure occurred at the pressure between 1.46 and 2.26 GPa. At above 20.41 GPa, the Raman spectrum became very diffuse and lost its fine structure in all wavenumber regions, and only two broad and asymmetry peaks initially centered at 1469 and 1570 cm^–1 were observed, indicating an occurrence of amorphization. This amorphous phase remained to be reversible until 31.1 GPa, and it became irreversible to the ambient pressure after the pressure cycle of 34.3 GPa was applied. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strong resonant intersubband magnetopolaron effect in heavily modulation-doped GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum wells at high magnetic fields

Electron cyclotron resonance (CR) has been studied in magnetic fields up to 32 T in two heavily modulation-δ-doped GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As single quantum well samples. Little effect on electron CR is observed in either sample in the region of resonance with the GaAs LO phonons. However, above the LO-phonon frequency energy E_LO at B>27 T, electron CR exhibits a strong avoided-level-crossing splitting for both samples at energies close to E_LO+(E₂−E₁), where E₂, and E₁ are the energies of the bottoms of the second and the first subbands, respectively. The energy separation between the two branches is large, reaching a minimum of about 40 cm⁻¹ around 30.5 T for both samples. This splitting is due to a three-level resonance between the second LL of the first electron subband and the lowest LL of the second subband plus an LO phonon. The large splitting in the presence of high electron densities is due to the absence of occupation (Pauli-principle) effects in the final states and weak screening for this three-level process.     

Influence of acoustic phonons on dephasing of free excitons in quantum wells

A theory of the dephasing rate of quasi-2D free excitons due to acoustic phonon interaction at low exciton densities is presented. Both deformation potential and piezoelectric couplings are considered for the exciton–phonon interaction in quantum wells. Using the derived interaction Hamiltonian obtained recently by us, exciton linewidth and dephasing rate are calculated as a function of the exciton density, exciton temperature, exciton momentum and lattice temperature.     

Effect of electron–phonon interaction on surface states in wurtzite nitride semiconductors under pressure

A variational theory is proposed to study the electronic surface states in semi-infinite wurtzite nitride semiconductors under the hydrostatic pressure. The electronic surface state energy level is calculated, by taking the effects of the electron–Surface–Optical–phonon interaction, structural anisotropy and the hydrostatic pressure into account. The numerical computation has been performed for the electronic surface state energy levels, coupling constants and the average penetrating depths of the electronic surface state wave functions under the hydrostatic pressure for wurtzite GaN, AlN and InN, respectively. The results show that electron–Surface–Optical–phonon interaction lowers the electronic surface state energy levels. It is also found that the electronic surface state energy levels decrease with the hydrostatic pressure in wurtzite GaN and AlN. But for wurtzite InN, the case is contrary. It is shown that the hydrostatic pressure raised the influence of electron–phonon interaction on the electronic surface states obviously. The effect of electron–Surface–Optical–phonon interaction under the hydrostatic pressure on the electronic surface states cannot be neglected, in specially, for materials with strong electron–phonon coupling and wide band gap.     

Ultrafast carrier dynamics of resonantly excited InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots

We study theoretically the time development of electronic relaxation in quantum dots. We consider the process of relaxation of the state with an electron prepared at the beginning of relaxation in the electronic ground state. We obtain a fast (in picoseconds) increase of electronic population in the excited state. Also, we consider the process of relaxation of an electron from an excited state in the dot. Here we obtain an incomplete depopulation of the electron from the excited state. We compare these results to experiments in which a fast decrease of luminescence is reported during the first period of relaxation after resonant excitation of the ground state. We estimate numerically the role of electron–LO–phonon (Fröhlich's coupling) mechanism in these processes. We show that this effect may be attributed to the influence of multiple scattering of quantum dot electrons on LO phonons. A single-electron two-energy-level quantum dot model is used to demonstrate this effect in an isolated semiconductor quantum dot.     

Pressure-induced phase transition and stability of EuO and EuS with NaCl structure

We have predicted the phase transition pressures and corresponding relative volume changes of EuO and EuS having NaCl-type structure under high pressure using three-body interaction potential (TBIP) approach. In addition, the conditions for relative stability in terms of modified Born criterion has been checked. Our calculated results of phase transitions, volume collapses and elastic behaviour of these compounds are found to be close to the experimental results. This shows that the inclusion of three-body interaction effects makes the present model suitable for high pressure studies.      

Dynamical stability and phase transition of ZrC under pressure

A comprehensive first principles study of structural, elastic, electronic, and phonon properties of zirconium carbide (ZrC) is reported within the density functional theory scheme. The aim is to primarily focus on the vibrational properties of this transition metal carbide to understand the mechanism of phase transition. The ground state properties such as lattice constant, elastic constants, bulk modulus, shear modulus, electronic band structure, and phonon dispersion curves (PDC) of ZrC in rock-salt (RS) and high-pressure CsCl structures are determined. The pressure-dependent PDCs are also reported in NaCl phase. The phonon modes become softer and finally attain imaginary frequency with the increase of pressure. The lattice degree of freedom is used to explain the phase transition. Static calculations predict the RS to CsCl phase transition to occur at 308?GPa at 0?K. Dynamical calculations lower this pressure by about 40?GPa. The phonon density of states, electron–phonon interaction coefficient, and Eliashberg's function are also presented. The calculated electron–phonon coupling constant λ and superconducting transition temperature agree reasonably well with the available experimental data.     

单壁碳纳米管中的金属-半导体转变与对称性

报道了最近作者对受压扶手椅形单壁碳纳米管中的金属-半导体转变机理的理论研究。这种转变在两种因素的共同作用下得以发生，即外加压力造成碳纳米管镜像对称破缺，以及被压碳纳米管两侧原子发生成键相互作用．作者还进一步揭示了发生这种转变的普遍机制：只要将单壁碳纳米管中两套原来等价的子晶格变得可以区分(对称性破缺)，在费米能附近就会产生能隙．     

The creation of supra-thermal densities of high-energy phonons in He II

We report the new phenomenon that high-energy phonons can be created from low-energy phonons. This arises because the dynamics of phonons in propagating pulses are quite different to those in isotropic phonon distributions. A pulse of low-energy phonons rapidly thermalises by three-phonon processes. On a much longer time scale four-phonon processes occur within this phonon cloud which create high-energy (10 K) phonons that cannot spontaneously decay. These phonons have a lower velocity and so are lost from the back of phonon cloud; their deficit is restored continuously by four-phonon processes. These now isolated high-energy phonons are very stable and propagate ballistically behind the low-energy phonons, so giving the two pulses which are detected in experiments. For long pulses the high-energy phonons may also decay within the cloud, however the available low-energy phonons for scattering are confined to a narrow-angle cone, so the decay probability is very low because the four phonon process requires large angle scattering. A supra-thermal density of these high-energy phonons is predicted.     

Pressure induced phase transition behaviour in f-electron based dialuminides

The rare-earth and actinide based compounds are endowed with several exotic physical and chemical properties due to the presence of f-electrons. These properties exhibit interesting changes under the action of various thermodynamic fields and hence continues to be a subject of extensive research. For instance, under pressure, the nature of f-electrons can be changed from localized to itinerant, leading to a variety of changes in their structural, physical and chemical properties. The present review on the high pressure phase transition behaviour of dialuminides of rare earths and actinides is an outcome of research in our laboratory during the last five years using a unique combination of a Guinier diffractometer and a diamond anvil cell built in-house. To bring out the correlations between the compressibility and structural behaviour with the electronic structure, we have also carried out electronic structure calculation. Further, the usefulness of Villars’ three parameter structure maps in predicting pressure induced structural transitions has been explored and this has been illustrated with the available phase transition data.     

具有三体相互作用的自旋链系统中的几何相位与量子相变

本文首先对具有三体相互作用的一维自旋链系统的哈密顿量进行了对角化．然后通过一个旋转操作求解了系统基态的几何相位,通过数值计算几何相位及其导数随外界参数的变化,考虑三体相互作用对几何相位以及量子相变的影响,结果表明几何相位可以很好的用来表征该系统中的量子相变,并且发现三体相互作用不但引起相变点平移,而且可以产生新的临界点．     

On the possibility of excitonic phases at the semiconductor–semimetal transition

Motivated by recent experimental evidences for pressure-induced exciton condensation in intermediate valent Tm[Se,Te] compounds, we re-examine, adopting a BEC–BCS crossover scenario, the formation and stability of exciton insulator versus electron–hole liquid phases.     

Fractional-dimensional polaron corrections in asymmetric GaAs-Ga1−xAlxAs quantum wells

Polaron effects in asymmetric GaAs-Ga_1−xAl_xAs quantum wells (QWs) are investigated within the framework of the fractional-dimensional space approach and by using second-order perturbation theory. A well-width dependence of the polaron corrections with a dip and a peak is obtained for both symmetric and asymmetric QWs. The dip and the peak occur in the case of asymmetric QWs for larger well widths than in the case of symmetric QWs. An enhancement of the contrast between the dip and the peak of the polaron energy shift is found for the case of asymmetric QWs. These results show the convenience of using asymmetric QWs instead of symmetric ones in any experimental attempt of detecting the dip and the peak of the polaron energy shift.     

Magnetic moment of phonons in graphene induced by a magnetic field

A magnetic field not only changes the electronic structure in graphene but also affects the phonon excitations via the electron-phonon interaction and even enables the phonons to generate magnetism. In this paper, we evaluate the magnetic moment of phonons in graphene using a generating-functional technique. The calculation results indicate that the phonon magnetic moment exists only in a weak magnetic field. The step-like change of the magnetic moment with the magnetic field reflects a macroscopic quantum effect.     

Detection of water–ice phase transition based on Raman spectrum

A simplified dimensionless method was constructed to characterize the phase transition between water and ice based on Raman spectrum (RS) without contact testing samples. This method reduces the requirement of the spectrum intensity, simplifies the complex mathematical analysis and improves the resolution of detection which only depends on the relative intensity of RS. The current work establishes an important tool for accurate characterization of RS so that it could better interpret various phase transition mechanisms of water and aqueous solutions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shear induced phase transition in PbO under high pressure

We have studied the structural behavior of lead monoxide (PbO) as a function of pressure via angular dispersive X-ray diffraction employing two different pressure transmitting media that were quasi-hydrostatic (N₂) and non-hydrostatic (MgO), respectively. Besides litharge (-PbO) and massicot (β-PbO), which are both stable at ambient pressure, there is an orthorhombic γ-PbO phase which appears upon application of pressure to -PbO. We have found that the orthorhombic γ-PbO phase is favored by shear stress under non-hydrostatic conditions. -PbO shows strong anisotropy in compressibility. The a-axis is rather incompressible with a linear stiffness coefficient of K_a0=540(30) GPa whereas the c-axis stiffness is K_c0=25(1) GPa. The bulk modulus of -PbO is K₀=23.1(3) GPa and its derivative .