QCT-based vibrational collisional models applied to nonequilibrium nozzle flows

We investigate from a theoretical perspective structure and dynamics of Na clusters on a surface built from Ar layers grown on a metal support. The system is modeled by a hierarchical quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical (QM/MM) approach treating the cluster electrons with time-dependent density-functional theory, the Ar atoms classically, and the metal support as a continuous dielectric medium. Caution has been taken to describe properly the dynamical polarizability of the Ar substrate. We study the effect of the Ar substrate and particularly of the metal support on the cluster structure and dynamics. The binding of Na₆ and Na₈ to the Ar surface is found to by very weak and the effect of the dielectric response of the metal (DRM) turns out to be negligible. The global properties of the optical response of the Na clusters are slightly changed by the Ar substrate and the DRM while the detailed spectral fragmentation depends sensitively on any change of the environment. The deposition dynamics of small Na clusters is crucially influenced by the mechanical hardness of the metal support while the DRM makes little effect. We also study the dependence on the number of Ar layers. For the first few layers (from two to four), the deposition dynamics changes dramatically with the number of layers. The results stabilize from six layers on upwards.     

Static polarizability of excited and charged alkali metal clusters

The static polarizability of the excited and positively charged (from 1 to 5) sodium, lithium, and potassium clusters containing the “magic” number of valence electrons (from 8 to 198) is calculated by the density-functional method within the “jellium” model. The dependences of the polarizability on the state, size, charge, and composition of clusters are analyzed.     

Dynamics of cluster deposition on Ar surface

Using a combined quantum mechanical/classical method, we study the dynamics of deposition of small Na clusters on Ar(001) surface. We work out basic mechanisms by systematic variation of substrate activity, impact energy, cluster orientations, cluster sizes, and charges. The soft Ar material is found to serve as an extremely efficient shock absorber which provides cluster capture in a broad range of impact energies. Reflection is only observed in combination with destruction of the substrate. The kinetic energy of the impinging cluster is rapidly transfered at first impact. The distribution of the collision energy over the substrate proceeds very fast with velocity of sound. The full thermalization of ionic and atomic energies goes at a much slower pace with times of several ps. Charged clusters are found to have a much stronger interface interaction and thus get in significantly closer contact with the surface.     

Cluster size and substrate temperature affecting thin film formation during copper cluster deposition on a Si （001） surface

The soft deposition of Cu clusters on a Si(001) surface was studied by molecular dynamics simulations.The embedded atom method,the Stillinger-Weber and the Lennar-Jones potentials were used to describe the interactions between the cluster atoms,between the substrate atoms,and between the cluster and the substrate atoms,respectively.The Cu13,Cu55,and Cu147 clusters were investigated at different substrate temperatures.We found that the substrate temperature had a significant effect on the Cu147 cluster.For smaller Cu13 and Cu55 clusters,the substrate temperature in the range of study appeared to have little effect on the mean center-of-mass height.The clusters showed better degrees of epitaxy at 800 K.With the same substrate temperature,the Cu55 cluster demonstrated the highest degree of epitaxy,followed by Cu147 and then Cu13 clusters.In addition,the Cu55 cluster showed the lowest mean center-of-mass height.These results suggested that the Cu55 cluster is a better choice for the thin-film formation among the clusters considered.Our studies may provide insight into the formation of desired Cu thin films on a Si substrate.     

Molecular dynamics simulation about porous thin-film growth in secondary deposition

The thin film growth has been confirmed to be assembled by an enormous number of clusters in experiments of CVD. Sequence of clusters’ depositions proceeds to form the thin film at short time as gas fluids through surface of substrate. In order to grow condensed thin film using series of cluster deposition, the effect of initial velocity, substrate temperature and density of clusters on property of deposited thin film, especially appearance of nanoscale pores inside thin film must be investigated. In this simulation, three different cluster sizes of 203, 653, 1563 atoms with different velocities (0, 10, 100, 1000 and 3000 m/s) were deposited on a Cu(0 0 1) substrate whose temperatures were set between 300 and 1000 K. Four clusters and one cluster were used in primary deposition and secondary deposition, respectively. We have clarified that adhesion between clusters and substrate is greatly influenced by initial velocity. As a result, the exfoliation pattern of deposited thin film is dependent on initial velocity and different between them. One borderline dividing whole region into porous region and nonporous region are obtained to show the effect of growth conditions on appearance of nanoscale pores inside thin film. Moreover, we have also shown that the likelihood of porous thin film is dependent on the point of impact of a cluster relative to previously deposited clusters.     

Coupled plasmon and phonon dynamics in embedded Na clusters

We investigate, from a theoretical perspective, the coupled electronic and ionic/atomic dynamics of Na clusters embedded in Ar matrices. The system is described by time-dependent density-functional theory for cluster electrons and classical motion for Na⁺ ions as well as for Ar atoms. The interaction with the surrounding Ar atoms is modelled by polarization potentials plus core repulsion. We use this model to study coupled electronic and ionic/atomic motion in embedded clusters following a very short laser pulse. For excitations in the non-linear regime, we find clear signs for the coherent coupling of the Mie plasmon resonance with ionic vibrations (phonons). In addition, an incoherent line stretching is observed which can be traced back to the turning point of ionic vibrations. The coupling to the atomic motion of the surroundings leads to a slow and far reaching rearrangement of the matrix. PACS 36.40.Gk; 36.40.Vz; 31.15.EW     

低能CU6团簇在CU(001)表面和AU(001)表面沉积的分子动力学模拟研究

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Different W cluster deposition regimes in pulsed laser ablation observed by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy

We report on how different cluster deposition regimes can be obtained and observed by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy by exploiting deposition parameters in a pulsed laser deposition process. Tungsten clusters were produced by nanosecond pulsed laser ablation in Ar atmosphere at different pressures and deposited on Au(1 1 1) and HOPG surfaces. Deposition regimes including cluster deposition-diffusion-aggregation, cluster melting and coalescence and cluster implantation were observed, depending on background gas pressure and target-to-substrate distance which influence the kinetic energy of the ablated species. These parameters can thus be easily employed for surface modification by cluster bombardment, deposition of supported clusters and growth of films with different morphologies. The variation in cluster mobility on different substrates and its influence on aggregation and growth mechanisms has also been investigated.     

Heating of deuterium clusters by a superatomic ultra-short laser pulse

The mechanisms of heating of the electronic component of large deuterium clusters by a super-atomic ultra-short laser pulse field are considered. During pulse rise, the so-called “vacuum heating” plays the determining role. Electrons escaping from a cluster into the vacuum with a low energy return back in a time equal to the period of the laser under laser field action. The returning electrons have a higher energy (on the order of the vibrational energy in the laser radiation field), which causes cluster heating. As the laser field increases, the electronic temperature largely grows at the expense of decreasing the Coulomb potential energy of electron repulsion because of a decrease in the number of electrons. The dynamics of above-barrier cluster ionization at the leading edge of a superatomic laser pulse is calculated. The results are discussed in the light of recent experiments aimed at creating desktop sources of monoenergetic neutrons formed as a result of the fusion of deuterium nuclei in a cluster plasma.     

Measurement of the size of embedded metal clusters by mass spectrometry,transmission electron microscopy,and small-angle X-ray scattering

Ensembles of nanometer-sized Au, Co, Er, and FePt clusters were generated by a laser vaporization source and embedded in a MgO matrix grown on a mica substrate. The size distribution of the clusters was measured before sample preparation by time-of-flight mass spectrometry and afterwards by transmission electron microscopy. These well-characterized samples were used for investigations by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The scattering data was evaluated by Guinier analysis providing the average radii of the embedded clusters. The results are in good agreement with the cluster sizes obtained from the mass spectra as well as the dimensions determined from the transmission electron micrographs. Furthermore, other samples which were produced at an elevated substrate temperature of 500 °C exhibited an increased average cluster radius in the SAXS measurements. This behavior is attributed to diffusion and coalescence emerging at higher deposition temperatures. PACS 61.10.Eq; 61.46.+w; 68.37.Lp; 81.07.-b     

Negatron effects in CdSe1 − x Te x and ZnS1−x Se x films

Various negatron effects in films of alloys of II–VI compounds deposited from solutions as a function of the deposition mode and heat treatment are studied. It is found that the negative photocapacitance effect, which was first discovered in ZnS_1?x Se _x films, and the slowly relaxing negative photoelectric effects, which are caused by the transition of electrons located in a nanoscale surface layer from the shallow energy levels of trapping centers to deeper levels with a lower polarizability and by the presence of nanoscale clusters in these materials, which play the role of a “reservoir” for minority charge carriers, occur according to a single mechanism. A model to explain the basic laws of negative photoconductivity in CdSe_{1 ? x} Te _x films deposited from a solution is proposed. Negative residual conductivity is explained in terms of double-barrier relief model, while negative differential photoconductivity is attributed to the presence of nanoscale electric domains.     

Sudden death and birth of two-atom entanglement with two thermal fields in coupled cavities

In this work, we extend our recent study [J.I. Rodríguez, J. Autschbach, F.L. Castillo-Alvarado, M.I. Baltazar-Méndez, J. Chem. Phys. 135, 034109 (2011)] to quantify the isomer structure effects on the atom-in-cluster polarizabilities of medium size gold clusters Au (n = 6, 12, 20, 34, 54). For three isomers for each cluster size, a density functional perturbation theory calculation was performed to compute the cluster polarizability and the polarizability of each atom in the cluster using Bader’s “quantum theory of atoms in molecules” formalism. The cluster polarizability tensor is expressed as a sum of the atom-in-cluster atomic tensors. We found that the strong quadratic correlation (R ² = 0.98) in the isotropic polarizability of atoms in the cluster and their distance to the cluster center of mass reported before holds independently of the cluster structure.     

Linear and non-linear response of embedded Na clusters

We investigate Na clusters embedded in Ar matrices. The surrounding Ar atoms are modeled in terms of their dynamical polarizability and the strong electron repulsion. The calibration of the model is discussed. First results for the non-linear optical response of the Na clusters are presented for the test case of Na₈ embedded in Ar ensembles of different sizes. It is shown that blue shift through core repulsion and red shift through dipole polarizability counterweight each other to the end that very little global shift is seen in the spectra. This feature persists to all excitation strengths considered. There are, however, detailed effects, such as for example the Landau fragmentation of the Mie plasmon peak. PACS 36.40.Gk; 36.40.Vz; 31.15.Ew     

Diamond-like-carbon films produced by magnetically guided pulsed laser deposition

We have compared the quality of carbon films deposited with magnetically guided pulsed laser deposition (MGPLD) and conventional pulsed laser deposition (PLD). In MGPLD, a curved magnetic field is used to guide the plasma but not the neutral species to the substrate to deposit the films while, in conventional PLD, the film is deposited with a mixture of ions, neutral species and clusters. A KrF laser pulse (248 nm) was focused to intensities of 10 GW/cm² on a carbon source target and a magnetic field strength of 0.3 T was used to steer the plasma around a curved arc to the deposition substrate. Electron energy loss spectroscopy was used in order to measure the fraction of sp³ bonding in the films produced. It is shown that the sp³ fraction, and hence the diamond-like character of the films, increased when deposited only with the pure ion component by MGPLD compared with films produced by the conventional PLD technique. The dependence of film quality on the laser intensity is also discussed. Received: 7 December 2000 / Accepted: 20 August 2001 / Published online: 2 October 2001     

低能Pt原子团簇沉积过程的分子动力学模拟

利用分子动力学模拟系统研究了低能Pt38,Pt141和Pt266原子团簇与Pt(001)表面的相互作用过程,详细分析了初始原子平均动能为0.1,1.0和10eV的原子团簇的沉积演化过程及其对基体表面形貌的影响.研究表明,初始原子平均动能是描述低能原子团簇的重要参量.当团簇的平均原子动能较低时,团簇对基体表层原子点阵损伤较小,基本属于沉积团簇;随着入射团簇的原子平均动能的增加,团簇对表层原子点阵结构的破坏能力增强,当团簇的原子平均动能增加到10eV时,团簇已经显现出注入特征.低能原子团簇对基体表面形貌的影响 关键词： 分子动力学模拟 低能原子团簇 载能沉积     

Atom deposition on surface clusters: thin film growth on Pd(111)

We have studied the vapor phase deposition of single metal atoms on two-dimensional clusters at the Pd(111) surface. The system considered here are heptamers and dodecamers for the substrate temperature of 100 K. Using molecular dynamics simulations with the corrected effective medium potentials for Pd, Cu and Rh, we have found that an adatom either diffuses on the cluster or incorporates itself into the cluster depending on the size of clusters and the kind of metals in the gas/cluster system. We also discovered that incorporation of a deposited gas atom into a surface cluster at 100 K was not a consequence of the reduction of the barrier heights at the step edges and that the type of post-impact dynamics for hexagonal heptamers depends on the impact point.     

Generation of even harmonics in a relativistic laser plasma of atomic clusters

It is shown that the irradiation of atomic clusters by a superintense femtosecond laser pulse gives rise to various harmonics of the laser field. They arise as a result of elastic collisions of free electrons with atomic ions inside the clusters in the presence of the laser filed. The yield of even harmonics whose electromagnetic field is transverse is attributed to the relativism of the motion of electrons and the consideration of their drift velocity associated with the internal ionization of atoms and atomic ions of a cluster. These harmonics are emitted in the same direction as odd harmonics. The conductivities and electromagnetic fields of the harmonics are calculated. The generation efficiency of the harmonics slowly decreases as the harmonic number increases. The generation of even harmonics ceases when the drift velocity of electrons becomes equal to zero and only the oscillation velocity of electrons is nonzero. The results can also be applied to the irradiation of solid-state targets inside a skin layer.