A brief review of thermal transport in mesoscopic systems from nonequilibrium Green’s function approach

With the rapidly increasing integration density and power density in nanoscale electronic devices, the thermal management concerning heat generation and energy harvesting becomes quite crucial. Since phonon is the major heat carrier in semiconductors, thermal transport due to phonons in mesoscopic systems has attracted much attention. In quantum transport studies, the nonequilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) method is a versatile and powerful tool that has been developed for several decades. In this review, we will discuss theoretical investigations of thermal transport using the NEGF approach from two aspects. For the aspect of phonon transport, the phonon NEGF method is briefly introduced and its applications on thermal transport in mesoscopic systems including one-dimensional atomic chains, multi-terminal systems, and transient phonon transport are discussed. For the aspect of thermoelectric transport, the caloritronic effects in which the charge, spin, and valley degrees of freedom are manipulated by the temperature gradient are discussed. The time-dependent thermoelectric behavior is also presented in the transient regime within the partitioned scheme based on the NEGF method.     

Anomalous anisotropic magnetoresistance in single-crystalline Co/SrTiO3(001) heterostructures

The anisotropic magnetoresistances (AMRs) in single crystalline Co(6 nm)/SrTiO₃(001) heterostructures from 5 K to 300 K with the current direction setting along either Co[100] or Co[110] are investigated in this work. The anomalous (normal) AMR is observed below (above) 100 K. With the current along Co[100] direction, the AMR shows negative longitudinal and positive transverse magnetoresistances at T< 100 K, while the AMR is inverse with the current along Co[110]. Meanwhile, the amplitude ratio between Co[110] and Co[100] is observed to be as large as 29 at 100 K. A crystal symmetry-adapted model of AMR demonstrates that interplay between the non-crystalline component and crossed AMR component results in the anomalous AMR. Our results may reveal more intriguing magneto-transport behaviors of film on SrTiO₃ or other perovskite oxides.     

Tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber

Optical fiber temperature sensors have been widely employed in enormous areas ranging from electric power industry, medical treatment, ocean dynamics to aerospace. Recently, graphene optical fiber temperature sensors attract tremendous attention for their merits of simple structure and direct power detecting ability. However, these sensors based on transfer techniques still have limitations in the relatively low sensitivity or distortion of the transmission characteristics, due to the unsuitable Fermi level of graphene and the destruction of fiber structure, respectively. Here, we propose a tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber (Gr-PCF) with the non-destructive integration of graphene into the holes of PCF. This hybrid structure promises the intact fiber structure and transmission mode, which efficiently enhances the temperature detection ability of graphene. From our simulation, we find that the temperature sensitivity can be electrically tuned over four orders of magnitude and achieve up to ～ 3.34×10^-3 dB/(cm·℃) when the graphene Fermi level is ～ 35 meV higher than half the incident photon energy. Additionally, this sensitivity can be further improved by ～ 10 times through optimizing the PCF structure (such as the fiber hole diameter) to enhance the light-matter interaction. Our results provide a new way for the design of the highly sensitive temperature sensors and broaden applications in all-fiber optoelectronic devices.     

Electronic and optical properties of 3N-doped graphdiyne/MoS2 heterostructures tuned by biaxial strain and external electric field

The construction of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by stacking different two-dimensional layered materials have been recognised as an effective strategy to obtain the desired properties. The 3N-doped graphdiyne (N-GY) has been successfully synthesized in the laboratory. It could be assembled into a supercapacitor and can be used for tensile energy storage. However, the flat band and wide forbidden bands could hinder its application of N-GY layer in optoelectronic and nanoelectronic devices. In order to extend the application of N-GY layer in electronic devices, MoS₂ was selected to construct an N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure due to its good electronic and optical properties. The N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure has an optical absorption range from the visible to ultraviolet with a absorption coefficient of 10⁵ cm^-1. The N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure exhibits a type-Ⅱ band alignment allows the electron-hole to be located on N-GY and MoS₂ respectively, which can further reduce the electron-hole complexation to increase exciton lifetime. The power conversion efficiency of N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure is up to 17.77%, indicating it is a promising candidate material for solar cells. In addition, the external electric field and biaxial strain could effectively tune the electronic structure. Our results provide a theoretical support for the design and application of N-GY/MoS₂ vdW heterostructures in semiconductor sensors and photovoltaic devices.     

Discontinuous and continuous transitions of collective behaviors in living systems

Living systems are full of astonishing diversity and complexity of life. Despite differences in the length scales and cognitive abilities of these systems, collective motion of large groups of individuals can emerge. It is of great importance to seek for the fundamental principles of collective motion, such as phase transitions and their natures. Via an eigen microstate approach, we have found a discontinuous transition of density and a continuous transition of velocity in the Vicsek models of collective motion, which are identified by the finite-size scaling form of order-parameter. At strong noise, living systems behave like gas. With the decrease of noise, the interactions between the particles of a living system become stronger and make them come closer. The living system experiences then a discontinuous gas-liquid like transition of density. The even stronger interactions at smaller noise make the velocity directions of the particles become ordered and there is a continuous phase transition of collective motion in addition.     

Binary neutron stars gravitational wave detection based on wavelet packet analysis and convolutional neural networks

This work investigates the detection of binary neutron stars gravitational wave based on convolutional neural network(CNN).To promote the detection performance and efficiency,we proposed a scheme based on wavelet packet(WP)decomposition and CNN.The WP decomposition is a time-frequency method and can enhance the discriminant features between gravitational wave signal and noise before detection.The CNN conducts the gravitational wave detection by learning a function mapping relation from the data under being processed to the space of detection results.This function-mapping-relation style detection scheme can detection efficiency significantly.In this work,instrument effects are con-sidered,and the noise are computed from a power spectral density(PSD)equivalent to the Advanced LIGO design sensitivity.The quantitative evaluations and comparisons with the state-of-art method matched filtering show the excellent performances for BNS gravitational wave detection.On efficiency,the current experiments show that this WP-CNN-based scheme is more than 960 times faster than the matched filtering.