Electrochemical fabrication and characterization of nanocontacts and nm-sized gaps

Copper nanocontacts and molecular-sized nanogaps were prepared and characterized at electrified solid/liquid interfaces employing lithographic and electrochemical techniques. A dedicated four-electrode potentiostat was developed for controlling the electrochemical fabrication process and for monitoring the electrical characteristics of the nanostructures created. The formation and breaking of Cu nanocontacts exhibits conductance quantization characteristics. The statistical analysis of conductance histograms revealed a preferential stability of nanocontacts with integer values of G₀, with a clear preference for 1 G₀, 2 G₀ and 3 G₀. The growth of molecular-sized gaps shows quantized tunneling current, which is attributed to the discrete nature of Cu atoms, water molecules, and specifically adsorbed ions. PACS 73.23Ad; 73.63.Rt; 82.45.Yz; 85.35.-p     

Dynamical Coulomb blockade observed in nanosized electrical contacts

Electrical contacts between nanoengineered systems are expected to constitute the basic building blocks of future nanoscale electronics. However, the accurate characterization and understanding of electrical contacts at the nanoscale is an experimentally challenging task. Here, we employ low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy to investigate the conductance of individual nanocontacts formed between flat Pb islands and their supporting substrates. We observe a suppression of the differential tunnel conductance at small bias voltages due to dynamical Coulomb blockade effects. The differential conductance spectra allow us to determine the capacitances and resistances of the electrical contacts which depend systematically on the island-substrate contact area. Calculations based on the theory of environmentally assisted tunneling agree well with the measurements.     

Size limit of defect formation in pyramidal Pt nanocontacts

We report high resolution transmission electron microscopy and ab initio calculation results for defect formation in sharp pyramidal Pt nanocontacts. Our results show that there is a size limit to the existence of twins (extended structural defects). These defects are always present but blocked away from the tip axes. They may act as scattering planes, influencing the electron conductance for Pt nanocontacts at room temperature and Ag/Au nanocontacts at low temperature (<150 K).     

Magnetoresistance of electrochemically produced nickel nanocontacts with quantized conductance

Nickel nanocontacts with quantized conductance have been obtained with the use of the electrochemical method of the formation of atomic-size contacts. The conductance jumps in the absence of the magnetic field are multiple of e ²/h in most experiments. The maximum magnetoresistance reaches 210%. The performed current-voltage investigations make it possible to determine the conditions necessary for forming nanocontacts with giant magnetoresistance, as well as a possible cause of the absence of magnetoresistance in some electrochemically formed nanocontacts.     

Theory for electron hopping through nanometer-scale contacts: From tunneling regime to ballistic regime

Using the recursion-transfer-matrix (RTM) method combined with nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method, we study the electronic states and current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of junction systems with atomic-scale nanocontacts as a function of the distance between electrodes. We observe a strong nonlinear behavior in the I–V characteristics and correspondingly a gap structure appears in conductance. We find that such a nonlinear behavior emerges when the transport properties change from tunneling to ballistic regimes.     

Influence of laser light on electronic transport through atomic-size contacts

This Letter reports on the influence of laser irradiation onto the electrical conductance of gold nanocontacts established with the mechanically controllable break-junction technique. We concentrate on the study of reversible conductance changes which can be as high as 200%. We investigate the dependence on the initial conductance of the contacts, and on the wavelength, the intensity, and the position of the laser spot with respect to the sample. Under most conditions an enhancement of the conductance is observed. Several physical mechanisms which might contribute to the observed effect including thermal expansion, rectification, plasmon excitation, and photon-assisted transport are discussed, among which the two latter ones are most likely the dominating ones.     

Local heating in noble metal nanocontacts under high biases at 77 K

Effects of local heating of noble metal nanocontacts under high biases at 77 K are investigated by measuring the bias dependence of the two-level fluctuation (TLF) frequency of the contact conductance. The TLF frequency increases exponentially in a bias range from 0.2 to 0.6 V for Au and Cu nanocontacts. This result indicates that the effective contact temperature of these contacts remains unchanged up to 0.6 V, in accordance with the theoretical prediction by Todorov et al. [T.N. Todorov, J. Hoekstra, A.P. Sutton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 3606]. In contrast, the TLF frequency of Ag nanocontacts starts to increase more rapidly above 0.45 V than that of Au and Cu nanocontacts. The steep rise in the TLF frequency is possibly attributed to a poor heat transfer to the bulk part of the contact and a resulting rapid increase in the effective temperature.     

直流老化对CaCu3Ti4O12陶瓷介电性能的影响

在电场为3.5 kV/cm的条件下, 对CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂陶瓷进行了60 h的直流老化, 研究了老化过程对CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂陶瓷介电性能和电气特性的影响. J-E特性测试结果表明, 直流老化导致CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂陶瓷击穿场强、非线性系数和势垒高度明显降低. 介电性能测试结果表明, 低频介电常数和介电损耗明显增大, 并且介电损耗随频率的变化遵从Debye弛豫理论, 可分解为直流电导损耗和弛豫损耗, 直流老化主要导致了电导损耗的增加. 在低温233 K, 介电损耗谱中出现两个弛豫峰, 其活化能分别为0.10, 0.50 eV, 认为对应着晶粒和畴界的弛豫过程, 且不随直流老化而变化. 通过电模量谱对CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂陶瓷的弛豫过程进行了表征, 发现直流老化导致的界面空间电荷在外施交变电场的作用下符合Maxwell-Wagner极化效应, 并在低频区形成新的弛豫峰. 在高温323-473 K的阻抗谱中, 晶界弛豫峰在直流老化后明显向高频移动, 其对应的活化能从1.23 eV 下降到0.72 eV, 晶界阻抗值下降了约两个数量级. 最后, 建立了CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂陶瓷的阻容电路模型, 分析了介电弛豫过程与电性能之间的关联.     

Break conductance of Al nanocontacts

We measured a break conductance, the last conductance of a contact before its complete break, for Al nanocontacts of 0–200G₀ (G₀≡2e²/h is the quantum unit of conductance) in ultrahigh vacuum at room temperature. We found that the distribution of the break conductance shows a broad single peak, the position of which shifts with the contact current. From the observed current dependence of the break conductance peak, it is suggested that Al nanocontacts break up most likely when the contact current density reaches a critical value 5×10¹⁰ A/cm².     

Raman spectroscopic investigations of epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films on rare earth scandate substrates

BiFeO₃ epitaxial thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition on different scandate substrates were investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy. We observed periodic changes in Raman position, full width at half maximum and intensity for some phonon modes as a function of the azimuthal angle ϕ. Further analysis revealed the possibility to assign the so far controversial discussed Raman modes at low wavenumbers (<250 cm⁻¹) through rotational Raman measurements at different azimuthal angles, which show high sensitivity to the aforementioned parameters. Furthermore, the ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain structure shown by piezo‐response force microscopy investigations of the samples was confirmed. Our results are supported by symmetry‐based calculations including the analysis of Raman scattering geometry as well as the dielectric function of BiFeO₃ in the infrared range. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shadowing function with single reflection from anisotropic Gaussian rough surface. Application to Gaussian, Lorentzian and sea correlations

In this paper, the monostatic (transmitter and receiver are located at the same place) and bistatic (transmitter and receiver are distinct) statistical shadowing functions from an anisotropic two-dimensional randomly rough surface are presented. This parameter is especially important in the case of grazing angles for computing the bistatic scattering coefficient in optical and microwave frequencies. The objective of this paper is to extend the previous work (Bourlier C, Berginc G and Saillard J 2002 Waves Random Media 12 145-74), valid for a one-dimensional surface, to a two-dimensional anistropic surface by considering a joint Gaussian process of surface slopes and heights separating two points of the surface. The monostatic average (statistical shadowing function average over the statistical variables) shadowing function is then performed in polar coordinates with respect to the incidence angle, the azimuthal direction and the surface height two-dimensional autocorrelation function. In addition, for a bistatic configuration, it depends on the incidence angle and azimuthal direction of the receiver. For Gaussian and Lorentzian correlation profiles and practically important power-type spectra such as the Pierson-Moskowitz sea roughness spectrum, the numerical solution, obtained from generating the surface Gaussian elevations (Monte Carlo method), is compared with the uncorrelated and correlated models. The results show that the correlation underestimates the shadow slightly, whereas the uncorrelated results weakly overpredict the shadow and are close to the numerical solution.     

直流老化及热处理对ZnO压敏陶瓷缺陷结构的影响

在电场为3.2 kV/cm, 电流密度为50 mA/cm²条件下对ZnO压敏陶瓷进行了115 h的直流老化, 研究了直流老化对ZnO压敏陶瓷电气性能及缺陷结构的影响. 发现直流老化115 h 后ZnO压敏陶瓷的电位梯度、非线性系数分别从2845 V/cm, 38.3下降到51.6 V/cm, 1.1, 介电损耗中的缺陷松弛峰被增大的直流电导掩盖, 电模量中只观察到一个缺陷松弛峰, 低频区交流电导率急剧增大并且相应的电导活化能从0.84 eV下降到只有0.083 eV. 通过对直流老化后的ZnO压敏陶瓷在800 ℃进行12 h 的热处理, 发现其电气性能和介电性能都得到了良好的恢复并有一定的增强, 电位梯度、非线性系数恢复到3085 V/cm, 50.8, 电导活化能上升到0.88 eV. 另外, 其本征氧空位缺陷松弛峰也得到了一定的抑制. 因此, 认为热处理过程中氧在晶界处的扩散作用对ZnO压敏陶瓷的直流老化恢复起到了关键作用. 关键词： ZnO压敏陶瓷 介电性能 直流老化 热处理     

Some dielectric properties of novel nano‐s‐triazine derivatives

The evaluation of the dielectric properties of s‐triazine and its mono‐, di‐, tri‐(trityloxy)triazine derivates as a function of temperature from room temperature to 200°C, and frequency varying from 50 Hz to 5 MHz was performed. The dielectric constant increases with the increase of both temperature and frequency. Moreover, from the measured dielectric loss ε″ we found that there are different types of electric energy losses in the presence of an alternating electric field from which we calculate the entropy ΔS and the enthalpy change ΔH of the dielectric relaxation for each sample. The dielectric relaxation was attributed to the phase transition of the s‐triazine derivatives. Additionally, ac‐electrical conductivity as a function of frequency at different temperatures were studied. Analysis of ac conductivity data indicates that the correlated barrier hopping model is the most suitable mechanism for the ac‐conductance behavior. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were performed on the compounds under consideration to determine the grain size of each sample, which was found in the range of 3 to 100 nm.     

Quantum Thermal Transport through Extremely Cold Dielectric Chains

In the framework of Green＇s function theory out of equilibrium, a Landauer-Buttiker （LB） formula for thermal conductance is derived. A simplified model for describing extremely cold dielectric chains is proposed for the first time. Further we apply the present LB formula for studying thermal conductance at low-lying modes, emerging in dielectric atom chains. We find that quantum thermal conductance undergoes an anomalous transition due to new quasiparticle excitations, resulting from nonlinear atom-atom interactions. This theoretical prediction is in excellent agreement with a high-accuracy measurement to thermal conductance quantum.     

双重傅里叶变换红外椭偏光谱系统的研制

介绍一种新型红外椭圆偏振光谱实验系统。实验中采用了对光子能量和方位角作双傅里叶变换,及同步旋转检偏和超偏器（RAP）的方法,根据傅里叶变换的四个余弦交流分量,计算相应的光学常数。经过对实验系统各误差来源的分析和纠正,提高了实验精度,使误差控制在1％以内。测量了Au等样品的红外介电函数谱,并用德鲁得（Drude)模型作拟俣运算,获得了与理论计算相一致的结果。     

Quantum conductance in semimetallic bismuth nanocontacts

Electronic transport properties of bismuth nanocontacts are analyzed using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The subquantum steps observed in the conductance versus elongation curves give evidence of atomic rearrangements in the contact. The quantum nature of the conductance reveals itself through peaks in the conductance histograms. The shape of the curves at 77 K is described by a simple gliding mechanism for the contact evolution during elongation. The different behavior at 4 K suggests a transition from light to heavy charge carriers as the contact cross section is decreased.     

Effect of bias voltage and electrodes size on the Pd conductance histograms

Conductance histograms of palladium nanocontacts in ultra high vacuum (UHV) were experimentally studied at room temperature using scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Our results show that the resolution of the pure Pd peaks, at 1.8 and around 3G₀, in the histograms, depends on the bias voltage and the electrodes size. The size of the electrodes should be as small as possible to achieve the higher extraction of hydrogen from them and therefore preventing the diffusion of H from the bulk to the nanocontacts during the conductance measurements, particularly at low bias voltage. This could explain why peaks have not been observed previously in the Pd histograms, using STM techniques in UHV.     

A high-efficient method for generating radially and azimuthally polarized Bessel beams using biaxial crystals

As was shown previously, in propagation of a circularly polarized Bessel light beam along the optical axes of a biaxial crystal, there takes place the conversion of the order of Bessel function. In this paper, a new result is presented which is obtained by varying the polarization state of an input beam. Namely, a linearly polarized beam can be transformed into a beam with the radial or azimuthal polarization state. At that the order-transformation also occurs. The switching between radial and azimuthal polarization states of the output beam is performed by the proper switching between two orthogonal linear polarization states of the input beam. The efficiency of polarization conversion is high and can be practically full at an appropriate choice of the cone angle of the input beam or crystal length.     

Thermoelectric transport through a quantum dot with a magnetic impurity

We study the thermoelectric effect in a small quantum dot with a magnetic impurity in the Coulomb blockade regime.The electrical conductance,thermal conductance,thermopower,and the thermoelectrical figure of merit(FOM)are calculated by using Green’s function method.It is found that the peaks in the electrical conductance are split by the exchange coupling between the electron entering into the dot and the magnetic impurity inside the dot,accompanied by the decrease in the height of peaks.As a result,the resonances in the thermoelectric quantities,such as the thermal conductance,thermopower,and the FOM,are all split,opening some effective new working regions.Despite of the significant reduction in the height of the electrical conductance peaks induced by the exchange coupling,the values of the FOM and the thermopower can be as large as those in the case of zero exchange coupling.We also find that the thermoelectric efficiency,characterized by the magnitude of the FOM,can be enhanced by adjusting the left–right asymmetry of the electrode–dot coupling or by optimizing the system’s temperature.     

Azimuthal angle dependence of molecular orbital K X-rays in heavy ion collisions

The dependence of molecular X-ray emission on the azimuthal angle in heavy ion collisions has been measured as a function of the impact parameter in the collision systems F-Al and Cl-Cl at projectile energies of 20 and 48 MeV respectively. The values of the observed azimuthal anisotropies agree with dynamical calculations of molecular orbital X-ray emission, but they are at variance with predictions of the kinematic dipole model.