Limited volume thin film deposition on geometrically complicated substrates

In this paper we report a study on the elastic scattering of electrons by lithium and sodium atoms in the presence of circularly polarized resonant laser field within the framework of the two-state rotating wave approximation. The effect of laser on projectile electrons is described by Volkov states. The frequency of the laser field is chosen to match with the 2s–3p (3s–3p) transition frequency in lithium (sodium) atoms. The total and differential elastic cross sections with single photon exchange are calculated for intermediate energies (50–150 eV) and laser intensity (10⁷–10¹¹ W cm^-2). An erratum to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Time domain capacitance spectroscopy of tunneling electrons in the two-dimensional electron gas

We have developed a technique capable of measuring the tunneling current into both localized and conducting states in a 2D electron system (2DES). The method yields I-V characteristics for tunneling with no distortions arising from low 2D in-plane conductivity. We have used the technique to determine the pseudogap energy spectrum for electron tunneling into and out of a 2D system and, further, we have demonstrated that such tunneling measurements reveal spin relaxation times within the 2DEG. Pseudogap: In a 2DEG in perpendicular magnetic field, a pseudogap develops in the tunneling density of states at the Fermi energy. We resolve a linear energy dependence of this pseudogap at low excitations. The slopes of this linear gap are strongly field dependent. No existing theory predicts the observed behavior. Spin relaxation: We explore the characteristics of equilibrium tunneling of electrons from a 3D electrode into a high mobility 2DES. For most 2D Landau level filling factors, we find that electrons tunnel with a single, well-defined tunneling rate. However, for spin-polarized quantum Hall states (ν=1, 3 and 1/3) tunneling occurs at two distinct rates that differ by up to two orders of magnitude. The dependence of the two rates on temperature and tunnel barrier thickness suggests that slow in-plane spin relaxation creates a bottleneck for tunneling of electrons.     

Effects of disorder on the frequency and field of photonic-crystal cavity resonators

In recent years the application of 2-Dimensional (2D) metallic Photonic-Crystal (PC) structures to high-power microwave devices, such as particle accelerators and gyrotrons, has gained increased interest. In this paper we focus on the effect disorder has on the resonant frequency and peak electric field in the defect site of a 2D PC structure. For disorders up to a maximum of 15% variation in position and radius, we found that disorder applied to the innermost rods surrounding the defect site dominates in determining the peak field and resonant frequency of the structure. We also show that small disorder (∼1%) can lead to an increase in peak field in certain cases due to structure optimization. We find that increasing levels of disorder lead to a decreasing average peak field for all structures. Whereas the mean resonant frequency remains constant for increasing disorder while the standard deviation increases. We then develop an understanding for this behaviour in terms of frequency detuning and mode confinement.     

Elastic scattering of electrons by metastable hydrogen atoms in the presence of a resonant laser field

Within the framework of the rotating wave approximation the elastic scattering of electrons by metastable 2s state of hydrogen atoms is studied in the presence of a resonant laser field. The frequency of the circularly polarized laser field is chosen to match the 2s-3p transition frequency in the hydrogen atom. Variation of the cross section with laser intensity and with incident electron energy (50-150 eV) is investigated. Received: 18 July 1997 / Received in final form: 5 December 1997 / Accepted: 19 January 1998     

Simulation of Resonant Interaction between Energetic Electrons and Whistler-Mode Chorus in the Outer Radiation Belt

We construct a realistic model to evaluate the chorus wave-particle interaction in the outer radiation belt L = 4.5. This model incorporates a plasmatrough number density model, a field-aligned density model and a realistic wave power and frequency model. We solve the 2D bounce-averaged momentum-pitch-angle Fokker-Planck equation and show that the Whistler-mode chorus can be effective in the acceleration of electrons, and enhance the phase space density for energies of -1 MeV by a factor from 10 to 10^3 in about two days, consistent with the observation. We also demonstrate that ignorance of the electron number density variation along field line and magnetic local time in the previous work yields an overestimate of energetic electron phase space density by a factor 5-10 at large pitch-angle after two days, suggesting that a realistic plasma density model is very important to evaluate the evolution of energetic electrons in the outer radiation belt.     

Two-dimensional electron gas in a periodic magnetic field

We study the energy spectrum and electronic properties of a two-dimensional (2D) spinless electron gas in a periodic magnetic field which has the symmetry of a triangular lattice. We show that the energy bands depend strongly on the value of the magnetic field. For large field the low-energy electrons are localized on closed rings where the magnetic field vanishes. This results in the appearance of persistent currents around these rings. We also calculate the intrinsic Hall conductivity, which is quantized when the Fermi level is in a gap.     

Cyclotron resonance for electrons over helium in a resonator

The cyclotron resonance (CR) problem for electrons over a helium film occupying the lower part of a resonator is solved. This problem is shown to represent an example of the well-known problem on the behavior of a system of coupled oscillators. For such oscillators, the coupling constant is determined as a function of the problem parameters with its minimal value in zero magnetic field and its maximal value at resonance conditions, when the cyclotron frequency coincides with one of the resonator modes. The details of the CR absorption of microwave energy by the coupled system formed by 2D electrons and a resonator are calculated. The results are discussed in application to the known CR experiments with electrons over helium.     

Dynamic Evolution of Outer Radiation Belt Electrons due to Whistler-Mode Chorus

Following our preceding work, we perform a further study on dynamic evolution of energetic electrons in the outer radiation belt L=4.5 due to a band of whistler-mode chorus frequency distributed over a standard Gaussian spectrum. We solve the 2D bounce-averaged Fokker-Planek equation by allowing incorporation of cross diffusion rates. Numerical results show that whistler-mode chorus can be effective in acceleration of electrons at large pitch angles, and enhance the phase space density for energies of about 1 MeV by a factor of 10^2 or above in about one day, consistent with observation of significant enhancement in flux of energetic electrons during the recovery phase of a geomagnetic storm. Moreover, neglecting cross diffusion often leads to overestimates of the phase space density evolution at large pitch angle by a factor of 5-10 after one day, with larger errors at smaller pitch angle, suggesting that cross diffusion also plays an important role in wave-particle interaction.     

Optical polarization of nuclei and ODNMR in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Optical orientation of electrons was used to polarize the crystal lattice nuclei in quantum-size heterostructures and to study the effect of the conduction band spin splitting on the spin states of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) electrons drifting in an external electric field. High (～1%) nuclear polarization was registered using polarized luminescence and ODNMR in single GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Measurement was made of the hyperfine interaction fields created by polarized nuclei on electrons and by electrons on nuclei. The spin-lattice relaxation of nuclei on the non-degenerate 2D electron gas was calculated. A comparison of the theoretical and experimental longitudinal relaxation times permitted the conclusion that the localized charge carriers are responsible for nuclear polarization in quantum wells in the temperature range of 2–77 K. A new effect has been studied, i.e. induction of an effective magnetic field acting on 2D electron spins when electrons drift in an external electric field in the quantum well plane. This effective field B_eff is due to the spin splitting of the conduction band of 2D electrons. The paper discusses possible registration of an ODNMR signal when the field B_eff is modulated by an electric current during optical orientation.     

Selectively dopedn-AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs heterostructures with high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas for field effect transistors

The transport properties of warm and hot electrons in selectively dopedn-Al _x Ga_1–x As/GaAs heterostructures created by electric fields up to 500 V/cm were studied by Hall effect, conductivity, and Shubnikov-de Haas measurements at lattice temperatures from 4.2 to 300 K. Hall measurements revealed a substantial decrease of electron mobility and also of sheet electron concentration at 77 K with enhanced electric field. The accelerated 2D electrons are partly scattered into the low-mobility first excited (E ₁) subband, and they are partly trapped in immobile states located in the Al_xGa_1–xAs near the interface. Consequently, two differentv(E) characteristics were obtained at 77 K. The 2D electrons populating only the lowest (E ₀) subband exhibit a velocity of v-2×10⁷ cm/s at 500 V/cm, while the averaged velocity due to all electrons reaches a value of v-1.5×10⁷cm/s at 500 V/cm. The analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and Fast Fourier transformation of the data manifested that the 2D electrons are very rapidly accelerated at 4.2 K and achieve electron temperatures much higher than the lattice temperature at electric fields as low as 1 V/cm. The major cooling process for these electrons is scattering into the low-mobilityE ₁ subband.     

Zeeman effect in α-quartz

The helical crystal structure in α-quartz acts as the natural micro-solenoids for an electromagnetic wave passing through them, producing a longitudinal magnetic field in the direction of the optical axis. The longitudinal magnetic field further induces the Larmor frequency for the rotation of the bound electrons. The calculated Larmor frequency was experimentally confirmed by monitoring a line splitting of the infrared OH-band in the transmission spectra of α-quartz. A shift in the resonance frequency of the OH-band is equal to the Larmor frequency induced by the natural Zeeman effect.     

Phonon drag effect in three- and two-dimensional electron systems

The nonequilibrium phonon flow drags the electrons, and depending upon experimental conditions manifests itself in the acoustoelectric current, acoustomagnetic field or acoustoelectric field. The results of these phenomena in Sn, Al, Ga, Ag measured with SQUID technique are discussed. In the two-dimensional (2D) case the phonon drag is studied on the interface of bicrystals and on the cleavage (111) surface of Ge and on the inversion layer on (111) (100) planes of Si. In all these cases the phonon drag is about two orders of magnitude larger than in metals with the same charge density. This is due to the drag of surface electrons by nonequilibrium phonon of the whole specimen. The Kohn resonance of phonons with Fermi surface and topological transitions on Fermi surface of 2D electrons produced sharp singularities of phonon drag effect in 2D cases.     

Aharonov-Bohm effect for plasmons in a finite-width quantum ring

The magnetoplasma oscillation frequencies of the 2D electrons in a quantum ring have been found taking into account the finite width of the ring in the model allowing for an exact solution for the single-particle spectrum. It is shown that instead of the periodic oscillations of the plasmon frequency ω typical of the 1D ring, ω in the case under consideration depends on the magnetic flux with the frequency and amplitude modulations: the period of oscillations as a function of the magnetic flux and their amplitude depend on the magnetic field strength.     

Macroscopic and mesoscopic matter waves

It has been shown earlier [3,6] that matter waves which are known to lie typically in the range of a few angstrom, can also manifest in the macrodomain with a wave length of a few centimeters, for electrons propagating along a magnetic field. This followed from the predictions of a probability amplitude theory by the author [1,2] in the classical macrodomain of the dynamics of charged particles in a magnetic field. It is shown in this paper that this case constitutes only a special case of a generic situation whereby composite systems such as atoms and molecules in their highly excited internal states, can exhibit matter wave manifestation in macro and mesodomains, in one-dimensional scattering. The wave length of these waves is determined, not by the mass of the particle as in the case of the de Broglie wave, but by the frequency ω, of the classical orbital motion of the internal state in the correspondence limit, and is given by a nonquantal expression, λ = 2πv/ω, v being the velocity of the particle. For the electrons in a magnetic field the frequency corresponds to the gyrofrequency, Ω and the nonquantal wave length is given by λ = 2πv _|| /Ω; v _|| being the velocity of electrons along the magnetic field. Received 29 September 2001 / Received in final form 23 May 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

Unexpected negative nonmonotonic magnetoresistance of the two-dimensional electrons in Si in a parallel magnetic field

We report observation of the unexpected negative and nonmonotonic magnetoresistance of 2D electrons in Si-MOSFET subjected to a varying in-plane magnetic field superimposed on a constant perpendicular field component. We show that this nonmonotonic magnetoresistance is irrelevant to the energy spectrum of mobile 2D electrons. We also observed variations of the density of mobile electrons with the in-plane field. We argue that both variations of the negative magnetoresistance and of the density of mobile electrons originate from the band of localized states. The latter coexist and interact with mobile electrons even at relatively high density, a factor of 1.5 higher than the critical density of the apparent metal-insulator transition.     

Microscopic quantities in discharge in air obtained from an electro-mechanical experiment

The results of an experiment of impulsive electrodynamics [Eur. Phys. J. D 15, 87 (2001)] are shown to be due to electrons and ions in run-aways. By fitting the theoretical values with the experimental data, the values of microscopic quantities, at present unknown, can be derived, thus opening a new field of research. The obtained quantities are three, namely: (i) the contribution to air ionization due to the current (mainly of run-aways) and characterized by a parameter ρ; (ii) the product ζ=n_ein_ie (where n_ei is the number of ions extracted by one electron in run-away and n_ie the number of electrons extracted by one run-away ion colliding on the electrodes in electrical discharges with temperatures (for non run-aways) of ≃4×10⁴ K); (iii) the reconstruction time constant of the high-energy tail of the distribution function, from which we can derive the concentration per unit time of electrons and ions which become run-aways. The value is useful for the theoretical explanation of the electronic noise with power spectral density inversely proportional to the frequency.     

Magneto-optics of strongly correlated two-dimensional electrons in single heterojunctions

Investigations of two-dimensional (2D) electron systems in semiconductors subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field with the use of photoluminescence are reviewed. The foundation of the optical spectroscopy method using the radiative recombination of 2D electrons with photoexcited holes bound to acceptors in a δ-doped monolayer in GaAs/Al _x Ga_1-x As single heterojunctions is presented. Optical spectroscopy studies of the energy spectra of 2D electrons imposed on transverse magnetic fields in the regimes of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects are discussed. The relationship between the mean energy of the 2D electron gas and the first moment of their radiative recombination is analysed. It is shown that the magnetic field dependence of the first moment provides a method to measure the cyclotron, enhanced spin and quasiparticle energy gaps at the same time. Therefore it is shown how magneto-optics ‘see’ the ground state of interacting 2D electrons in the extreme quantum limit and how an optical ‘tool’ is efficient for the determination of Coulomb gaps of incompressible Fermi fluids in the fractional quantum Hall effect. Finally optical observations and studies of the Wigner crystallization of 2D electrons are presented. The corresponding liquid-solid phase diagram is discussed.     

Preparation of cluster states with trapped electrons on a liquid helium surface

We present a scheme for the preparation of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cluster states with electrons trapped on a liquid helium surface and driven by a classical laser beam. The two lowest levels of the vertical motion of the electron act as a two-level system, and the quantized vibration of the electron along one of the parallel directions (the x direction) serves as the bosonic mode. The degrees of freedom of the vertical and parallel motions of the trapped electron can be coupled together by a classical laser field. With the proper frequency of the laser field, the cluster states can be realized.