Excitonic effects in the recombination radiation spectra of completely filled Landau levels of two-dimensional electrons

The recombination radiation spectra of two-dimensional electrons in an asymmetrically doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well are investigated at different temperatures and laser-excitation energies. At low temperatures and in high magnetic fields the recombination lines of the electrons from completely filled Landau levels are split into narrow sublevels. It is shown that this fine structure of the Landau levels is due to the presence of excitonic effects in the initial and final states of the photoexcited system. It is demonstrated that the recombination process is accompanied by the excitation of intersubband and cyclotron magnetoplasma modes. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 1, 38–43 (10 January 1997)     

Bridging of lateral nanoelectrodes with a metal particle chain

Received: 4 September 1998/Accepted: 9 September 1998     

Magnetooptic measurements of the cyclotron mass and g-factor of light holes in GaAs

An emission line appearing in the hot-luminescence spectrum of GaAs at a frequency shifted from the laser line by the cyclotron energy of light holes is observed and investigated. Analysis of the magnetooscillations of the intensity of this line shows that the line is due to the recombination of a photoexcited electron and a light hole after the hole undergoes energy relaxation between Landau levels. The dependence of the cyclotron mass and g factor of light holes on the hole energy was measured directly and a very strong nonparabolicity of the valence band of GaAs, several times greater than the theoretical estimates, was observed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 11, 766–771 (10 December 1996)     

Transparent Aluminium Oxide Coatings of Polymer Brushes

A novel method for the preparation of transparent Al₂O₃ coatings of polymers is presented. An environmental‐friendly sol–gel method is employed, which implies mild conditions and low costs. A thermoresponsive brush is chosen as a model surface. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to characterize the samples during the conversion of the precursor Al(OH)₃ into oxide and to prove the mildness of the protocol. The study evidences a relation between lateral homogeneity of alumina and the wettability of the polymer surface by the precursor solution, while morphology and elasticity are dominated by the polymer properties. The study of the swelling behavior of the underneath brush reveals the absence of water uptake, proving the impermeability of the alumina layer. The broad chemical and structural variety of polymers, combined with the robustness of transparent alumina films, makes these composites promising as biomedical implants, protective sheets and components for electric and optical devices.     

Packing density control in P(NIPAM-co-AAc) microgel monolayers: effect of surface charge, pH, and preparation technique

In the present paper, thermosensitive coatings are prepared by deposition of P(NIPAM-co-AAc) microgel particles on precoated silicon wafers. The effect of pH, substrate precoating, and preparation technique is studied. The pH value is found to significantly influence the adsorption density, while the substrate surface charge is less important. Hence, the electrostatic contribution of the particle-particle interaction seems to play a more pronounced role for the adsorption density than at least the electrostatic part of the particle-surface interaction. For the latter, also nonelectrostatic contributions like hydrogen bonding and surface roughness play an important role. Immersion of the prepared polyelectrolyte/microgel layers in buffers leads to a reorganization of the adsorbed particles at the surface.     

Long-range interactions between soft colloidal particles in slit-pore geometries

Combining theoretical and experimental techniques, we investigate the structure formation of charged colloidal suspensions of silica particles in bulk and in spatial confinement (slit-pore geometry). Our focus is to identify characteristic length scales determining typical quantities, such as the position of the main peak of the bulk structure factor and the period of the oscillatory force profile in the slitpore. We obtain these quantities from integral equations/SANS experiments (bulk) and Monte Carlo simulations/colloidal probe-AFM measurements (confinement), in which the theoretical calculations are based on the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeck (DLVO) potential. Both in bulk and in the slitpore, we find excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement between theory and experiment as long as the ionic strength chosen in the DLVO potential is sufficiently low (implying a relatively long-ranged interaction). In particular, the bulk properties of these systems obey the widely accepted density scaling of xi proportional to phi(-1/3). On the other hand, systems with larger ionic strengths and, consequently, more short-ranged interactions do not obey such power law behavior and rather resemble an uncharged hard-sphere fluid, in which the relevant length scale is the particle diameter.     

Tunable plasmon coupling in distance-controlled gold nanoparticles

Plasmons are resonant excitations in metallic films and nanoparticles. For small enough static distances of metal nanoparticles, additional plasmon-coupled modes appear as a collective excitation between the nanoparticles. Here we show, by combining poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) micro- and nanospheres and Au nanoparticles, how to design a system that allows controllably and reversibly switching on and off, and tuning the plasmon-coupled mode.     

Millimeter/submillimeter mixing based on the nonlinear plasmon response of two-dimensional electron systems

The nonlinear plasmon response of a two-dimensional electron system with an incorporated defect to monochromatic and bichromatic microwave radiation has been investigated. The operation of an electronic device (mixer) based on the plasmon response with a record operational speed has been demonstrated and analyzed. It has been found that the system response time is no more than τ = 25 ps. It has been shown that the nonlinear response of the system is caused by a new physical mechanism of nonlinearity induced by the presence of an inhomogeneity in the electron system.