Dissipationless electron transport in photon-dressed nanostructures

It is shown that the electron coupling to photons in field-dressed nanostructures can result in the ground electron-photon state with a nonzero electric current. Since the current is associated with the ground state, it flows without the Joule heating of the nanostructure and is nondissipative. Such a dissipationless electron transport can be realized in strongly coupled electron-photon systems with the broken time-reversal symmetry--particularly, in quantum rings and chiral nanostructures dressed by circularly polarized photons.     

Energy filtration effect and the possibility of the generation of terahertz radiation in resonant tunneling structures with several quantum wells

The properties of a high-frequency response in resonant tunneling double-well nanostructures have been considered for various energies of electrons arriving to a structure of electrons, various frequencies of the external electromagnetic field, and various features associated with the interaction of electronic states in neighboring quantum wells in double-well nanostructures. The energy filtration effect that is caused by the breaking of the symmetry of the high-frequency response in double-well nanostructures in a static electric field has been revealed. This effect leads to a sharp increase in the gain under conditions of the quantum amplification regime and opens real prospects of a significant increase in the efficiency of solid amplifying and generating devices based on resonant tunneling double-well nanostructure in the subterahertz and terahertz frequency ranges.     

Adatom self-organization induced by quantum confinement of surface electrons

We present a novel mechanism of nanostructure growth based on quantum confinement of surface-state electrons. Ab initio calculations and the kinetic Monte Carlo simulations reveal the phenomenon of confinement-induced adatom self-organization in quantum corrals. Our studies indicate that new atomic-scale nanostructures can be engineered exploiting the quantum confinement of surface electrons.     

Monte Carle simulation of quantum transport through nanostructures

We describe a numerical scheme of combining Monte Carlo procedure and quantum scattering theory to simulate electron transport processes through nanostructures. The transport of electrons through a nanostructure is a highly nontrivial nonequilibrium process in which we should consider the interplay of (i) complicated many-body quantum states in nanostructure, (ii) thermal relaxation processes keeping the leads (electron reservoirs) in local equilibrium, (iii) the coupling between the leads and the nanostructure, and (iv) the bias causing nonequilibrium, current, and evolution of quantum states in the nanostructure. Considering the quantum coherence within the nanostructure, we include the degrees of freedom of the nanostructure and a single tunneling electron and solve the Schrödinger equation for the many-body states to obtain the scattering matrix in the Fock space from which both the transmission of the electron and the variation of the states in nanostructure can be full quantum-mechanically calculated. The transport is investigated by the Monte Carlo simulation of successive scattering events of single electrons which are sampled with the Metropolis scheme governed by the scattering probabilities, the thermal statistics in the leads, and the applied bias. By this way from a given initial nanostructure state we can calculate the time evolutions of the current and the internal state. As examples we investigate the transmission of electrons through a two-level system. It is shown that the proposed method can properly deal with the inelastic effects in transport processes.     

Hartree-Fock approximation of bipolaron state in quantum dots and wires

The bipolaronic ground state of two electrons in a spherical quantum dot or a quantum wire with parabolic boundaries is studied in the strong electron-phonon coupling regime. We introduce a variational wave function that can conveniently conform to represent alternative ground state configurations of the two electrons, namely, the bipolaronic bound state, the state of two individual polarons, and two nearby interacting polarons confined by the external potential. In the bipolaron state the electrons are found to be separated by a finite distance about a polaron size. We present the formation and stability criteria of bipolaronic phase in confined media. It is shown that the quantum dot confinement extends the domain of stability of the bipolaronic bound state of two electrons as compared to the bulk geometry, whereas the quantum wire geometry aggravates the formation of stable bipolarons.     

Auger relaxation processes in semiconductor nanocrystals and quantum wells

Auger recombination rates in mesoscopic semiconductor structures have been studied as a function of energy band parameters and heterostructure size. It is shown that nonthreshold Auger processes stimulated by the presence of heteroboundaries become the dominant nonradiative recombination channel in nanometer size semiconductor structures. The size dependence of luminescence quantum yields in nanostructures and microcrystals are discussed. Auger-like collisions of electrons and heavy holes are shown to serve as “accelerators” of thermalization processes in semiconductor quantum dots.     

纳米体系中发光能隙展宽的研究

采用两种简单的一维模型,通过直接严格求解该模型下薛定鄂方程给出晶场中的限域情况下电子能级结构以及纳米体系中电子的限域能,从而研究体系的发光蓝移现象.基于限域能的计算,讨论了纳米体系的限域能和发光蓝移随尺寸以及势场的变化关系.结果表明：导带底的电子能级随体系的尺寸增大而降低;而价带顶则随粒径的增大而升高,因此,限域能随纳米尺寸的减小迅速增大.同时将计算结果与通常文献中所采用的有效质量计算的结果进行比较,可以看出二者有明显差别,且尺寸越小,其差异越大.因此,限域能随尺寸的变化并不严格满足通过有效质量方法计算出 关键词： 蓝移 能隙 量子限域效应 量子尺寸     

Tunable metastability of surface nanostructure arrays

A Fokker-Planck equation is used to model the coarsening of surface nanostructure arrays. Metastable states are identified which are associated with a narrow size distribution and a coverage dependent mean island size. This is a general feature linked to nanostructures which, as a function of island size, are associated with a minimum in formation energy per atom and a positive chemical potential gradient. This has important implications for the self-organization of quantum dots.     

Optical size resonances in nanostructures

The existence of optical size resonances in atomic nanostructures is proved. The properties of optical size resonances strongly depend on the interatomic distances and on the polarization of an external radiation field. The properties of linear and nonlinear size resonances are considered in the case of two-dimensional nanostructures. The linear optical size resonances are described based on a closed system of equations for dipole oscillators and nonlocal field equations taking into account the dipole-dipole interactions of atoms in the radiation field. Using a stationary solution to these equations, it is demonstrated that two isotropic atoms with definite intrinsic frequencies form an anisotropic system in the radiation field, possessing two or four size resonances depending on whether the component atoms are identical or different. The nanostructure composed of two different atoms possesses two size resonances with positive dispersion and two other resonances with negative dispersion. The frequencies of the size resonances significantly differ from the intrinsic frequencies of isolated atoms entering into the nanostructure. By changing the angle of incidence of the external wave, it is possible to excite various size resonances. The properties of nonlinear optical size resonances excited by an intense radiation field were theoretically and numerically studied using the modified Bloch equations and nonlocal field equations. Dispersion relationships for the nonlinear resonances were derived and the inversion properties of atoms in the nanostructure were studied for various polarizations of the external optical wave.     

A molecular-dynamics study of oscillations of unclosed crystal nanostructures based on bilayer metal films

Behavior of unclosed nanostructures is investigated in the course of their formation from bilayer films of a Ni–Cu system with crystal structure. The investigation is performed on the basis of the molecular dynamics method using a many-body potential of interatomic interaction. It is shown that the edges of an unclosed nanostructure produced from a bilayer metal film can perform free harmonic oscillations. The dependence of the oscillation amplitude of the nanostructure on the size of the initial film is investigated. Optimum geometrical parameters of the initial film are determined in order to form unclosed nanostructures oscillating with maximum amplitude. The results obtained are promising for the development of components for nanodevices of different types and applications.     

Influence of external factors on the self-organization of lead and tin telluride nanostructures on the BaF2(111) surface under conditions close to the thermodynamic equilibrium

The morphology of PbTe and SnTe nanostructures grown on BaF₂(111) substrates from the vapor phase in a vacuum under conditions close to the thermodynamic equilibrium has been investigated using atomic force microscopy. The equilibrium shape of PbTe and SnTe quantum dots and the statistical parameters of arrays of these quantum dots have been studied as a function of the thermodynamic conditions of growth, the crystal lattice mismatch between the materials of the quantum dots and substrate, and elastic properties of these materials. It has been established that, when the BaF₂(111) substrate is deformed under external mechanical loading, the self-organization of dislocations on the BaF₂(111) surface can result in the formation of a nanoscale ordered strain relief, which can be used for the fabrication of nanostructures. The morphology of this relief depends on the external load and on the temperature at which the substrate is deformed. It has been shown that the deformation effect on the surface of the substrate and light irradiation of the growth zone of nanostructures affect the nucleation of islands and kinetic processes occurring on the surface of the substrate during their growth. Using the influence of external factors on the BaF₂(111) surface under certain thermodynamic conditions, it is possible to grow SnTe and PbTe nanostructures with different morphologies: continuous epitaxial layers with a thickness of less than 10 nm, homogeneous arrays of quantum dots with a high lateral density (more than 10¹¹ cm²), quasi-periodic lateral nanostructures (nanowires), “single” and “coupled” quantum dots, and “molecules” of quantum dots.

     

Nonlinear resonances in the near-field interaction between atoms

It has been shown that nonlinear near-field optical resonances occur in diatomic nanostructures consisting of identical or different two-level atoms in the presence of a radiation field when the dipole-dipole interaction is taken into account. The frequencies of these resonances depend strongly on the intensity of the external optical radiation, on the initial conditions, on the polarization of the external field with respect to the axis of the nanostructure, and on the interatomic distance. The interatomic interaction is taken into account beyond perturbation theory. For this reason, the effective polarizabilities of the atoms of the nanostructure are expressed in terms of the polynomials of both the interatomic distance and the electric field strength of the external optical wave. A “falling tower” effect that is caused by the nonlinear behavior of the local dipole moments of atoms in the nanostructure is predicted.     

Suprathermal electrons in a laser-heated plasma: A theoretical temperature relationship

It is shown that the detection of 511 keV photons provides a simple and direct method for relating the total number of suprathermal electrons in a laser-heated plasma to the temperature of the suprathermal electrons. Furthermore, it is shown that this method clearly differentiates between the thermal and suprathermal electron populations in contrast to X-ray methods. An explicit relationship between the number of suprathermal electrons, the suprathermal temperature, and the number of 511 keV photons is derived.     

Quantum oscillations in surface properties

Many properties of metallic thin films have been shown to oscillate with film thickness due to quantum size effects, i.e. the confinement of electrons inside epitaxial metal overlayers which causes quantization of the electronic states. This is a very general phenomenon and it affects both bulk properties of the films, such as resistivity or superconducting transition temperatures, and surface properties, such as chemical reactivity, diffusivity, thermal stability, i.e surface roughening transitions. In this paper we describe some of these thickness-dependent properties which affect the stability of nanostructures and allow us to tailor their properties. We shall concentrate in the paradigmatic example of thin films of Pb grown on metallic and semiconducting substrates and how one can achieve the growth of highly perfect, atomically flat, epitaxial films on different substrates, due to the kinetic constrains imposed by the presence of QSE, a topic increasingly important in the production of nanoscale quantum devices.     

High Intensity Generation of Entangled Photons in a Two‐Mode Electromagnetic Field

At present, the sources of entangled photons have a low rate of photon generation. This limitation is a key component of quantum informatics for the realization of such functions as linear quantum computation and quantum teleportation. In this paper, we propose a method for high intensity generation of entangled photons in a two‐mode electromagnetic field. On the basis of exact solutions of the Schrödinger equation, when electrons interact in an atom with a strong two‐mode electromagnetic field, it is shown that there may be large quantum entanglement between photons. The quantum entanglement is analyzed on the basis of the Schmidt parameter. It is shown that the Schmidt parameter can reach very high values depending on the choice of characteristics of the two‐mode fields. We find the Wigner function for the considered case. Violation of Bell's inequalities for continuous variables is demonstrated.     

Tunable resonant radiation force exerted on semiconductor quantum well nanostructures: Nonlocal effects

Resonant radiation force exerted on a semiconductor quantum well nanostructure(QWNS) from intersubband transition of electrons is investigated by taking the nonlocal coupling between the polarizability of electrons and applied optical fields into account for two kinds of polarized states. The numerical results show the spatial nonlocality of optical response can induce the spectral peak position of the exerted force to have a blueshift, which is sensitively dependent on the polarized state and the QWNS width. It is also demonstrated that resonant radiation force is controllable by the polarization and incident directions of applied light waves. This work provides effective methods for controlling optical force and manipulating nano-objects, and observing radiation forces in experiment. This nonlocal interaction mechanism can also be used to probe and predominate internal quantum properties of nanostructures, and to manipulate collective behavior of nano-objects.     

Tunnel barrier and noncollinear magnetization effects on shot noise in ferromagnetic/semiconductor/ferromagnetic heterojunctions

Based on the scattering approach, we investigate transport properties of electrons in a one-dimensional waveguide that contains a ferromagnetic/semiconductor/ferromagnetic heterojunction and tunnel barriers in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. We simultaneously consider significant quantum size effects, quantum coherence, Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions and noncollinear magnetizations. It is found that the tunnel barrier plays a decisive role in the transmission coefficient and shot noise of the ballistic spin electron transport through the heterojunction. When the small tunnel barriers are considered, the transport properties of electrons are quite different from those without tunnel barriers.     

Invited Review Electronic properties of nanostructures defined in Ga[Al]As heterostructures by local oxidation

Semiconductor nanostructures are fabricated by local oxidation of Ga[Al]As heterostructures with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The GaAs surface is locally oxidized by applying a bias between the substrate and a conductive AFM tip in a humidity-controlled environment. For high-quality two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGS) located close enough to the sample surface the electrons get depleted below the oxidized regions. This way the plane of a 2DEG can be cut into various conductive areas which are laterally insulated from each other. The realization of several high-quality semiconductor nanostructures is demonstrated. I. Quantum wires are fabricated with smooth and steep potential. II. Quantum dots tuned by in-plane gate electrodes can be operated in the regime, where electrons tunnel sequentially through individual quantum levels. III. Antidot superlattices with high-precision lattice parameters display characteristic features of classical and quantum transport.     

A facile strategy for covalent binding of nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes

This paper describes a simple strategy for covalently attaching nanoparticles onto the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to fabricate hybrid nanostructure. Densely distributed magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) with a size of 8 nm have been deposited on the surface of carbon nanotubes by covalent interaction. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis have been used to study the formation of MNP/CNT nanostructure. The strategy employed herein is quite generic and applicable to a variety of nanoparticles, including metal, quantum dot and oxide. These composite nanostructures should open up new possibilities in areas such as nanoelectronics, chemical sensing, field-emission displays, nanotribology, and cell adhesion/biorecognition investigations.     

Surface enhanced Raman scattering by CdS quantum dots

Surface enhanced Raman scattering is studied in nanostructures with CdS quantum dots formed using the Langmuir-Blodgett technology. Features due to quantum dot longitudinal optical phonons are observed in the Raman spectra of both free CdS quantum dots and such dots distributed in an organic matrix. The surface enhanced Raman scattering by nanostructures with CdS quantum dots covered by an Ag cluster film is observed experimentally. Applying Ag clusters onto the nanostructure surfaces results in a sharp (40-fold) increase in the intensity of Raman scattering by optical phonons in the quantum dots. It is shown that the dependence of surface enhanced Raman scattering on the excitation energy is resonant with a maximum at the energy corresponding to the maximum absorption coefficient of Ag clusters.