Theoretical study of resonant tunneling in rectangular double-, triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-barrier structures

The transmission coefficient and the resonance condition in the one-dimensional rectangular double-, triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-barrier structures are derived theoretically under the assumption of the constant tunneling effective mass. It is found that the resonance energies are different from the eigenvalues in the quantum well due to coupling between wells in the multiple-barrier (much more than triple-barrier) structures. It is confirmed that the transmission spectrum is a Lorentzian near to energies of resonance.     

Evolution of the Kondo effect in a quantum dot probed by shot noise

We measure the current and shot noise in a quantum dot in the Kondo regime to address the nonequilibrium properties of the Kondo effect. By systematically tuning the temperature and gate voltages to define the level positions in the quantum dot, we observe an enhancement of the shot noise as temperature decreases below the Kondo temperature, which indicates that the two-particle scattering process grows as the Kondo state evolves. Below the Kondo temperature, the Fano factor defined at finite temperature is found to exceed the expected value of unity from the noninteracting model, reaching 1.8±0.2.     

Electro‐optic switching with liquid crystal graphene

Graphene oxide (GO) particles in aqueous dispersions can form liquid crystal (LC) phases at extremely low concentrations due to the extremely high aspect ratio of the flakes and noticeably, they possess an extremely large Kerr coefficient attractive for low power consumption electro‐optic devices. Reduced graphene does not easily form LC phases in water due to its hydrophobic nature but here we show that stable dispersions of reduced graphene oxide can be realized with surfactants and that they exhibit birefringence upon shearing as well as under application of electric fields. The performance of the system is largely superior to GO LC possessing longer time stability and drastically improved electro‐optic properties with an induced birefringence twice as large at the same field strength thanks to the almost recovery of graphene properties upon reduction. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Stable 10 W Er:ZBLAN fiber laser operating at 2.71-2.88 μm

We have developed a diode-pumped tunable 3 μm fiber laser with a cw output power of the order of 10 W with the use of an erbium-doped ZBLAN fiber. A tunability range of 110 nm (2770 to 2880 nm) with an output power between 8 and 11 W was demonstrated. As the pump power was increased, the center of the wavelength range was shifted toward longer wavelengths, but the width of the wavelength range was largely unaffected. The total tunability range for various pump power levels was 170 nm (2710 to 2880 nm). To our knowledge, this is the highest performance (output power and tunability) obtained from a tunable 3 μm fiber laser.     

Band engineering of silicon for light emission: First-principles approach to the effect of co-doping with nitrogen and fluorine

A Si-based light emitter has long been the final key component for electronic and photonic integrated circuits on Si, because Si has an indirect band gap. Atomistic and electronic structures and energy gains of formation of possible nitrogen (N) and fluorine (F) complexes in Si have been researched from first-principles, in order to engineer the band structure of Si for light emission. The calculated results show that the substitutional nitrogen N_S and bond center fluorine F_BC pair complex has large stabilization energy, and that the pair-complex-doped Si has direct band gap, which is reduced with respect to that of Si. These results lead to the possibilities of doping-based engineering of Si optical properties with introduction of deep-level impurity and charge compensation.     

Second-harmonic generation with a high-index-clad waveguide

Theoretical and experimental analyses of second-harmonic generation (SHG) with a high-index-clad waveguide are reported. It was found that confinement of the propagation modes and the overlap between the fields of fundamental and second-harmonic waves could be increased in this waveguide. This structure was achieved in an x-cut MgO:LiNbO (3) quasi-phase-matched (QPM) waveguide by use of Nb(2)O(5) as a cladding layer. With the QPM SHG device, harmonic blue light of 5.5 mW at the 434-nm wavelength was generated with a normalized conversion efficiency of 1200%/W cm(2).     

Novel materials for electronic device fabrication using ink-jet printing technology

Novel materials and a metallization technique for the printed electronics were studied. Insulator inks and conductive inks were investigated. For the conductive ink, the nano-sized copper particles were used as metallic sources. These particles were prepared from a copper complex by a laser irradiation process in the liquid phase. Nano-sized copper particles were consisted of a thin copper oxide layer and a metal copper core wrapped by the layer. The conductive ink showed good ink-jettability. In order to metallize the printed trace of the conductive ink on a substrate, the atomic hydrogen treatment was carried out. Atomic hydrogen was generated on a heated tungsten wire and carried on the substrate. The temperature of the substrate was up to 60 °C during the treatment. After the treatment, the conductivity of a copper trace was 3 μΩ cm. It was considered that printed wiring boards can be easily fabricated by employing the above materials.     

High-precision sample stage for photoemission microscopy of organic films

A high-precision sample stage for photoemission microscopy has been constructed to translate the sample by ±3 mm with accuracy better than 100 nm. The stage is actuated by step motors settled outside the vacuum. The accuracies of the translations were measured by observing a standard patterned sample with a photoemission electron microscope (PEEM) of 50 nm resolution. The accuracy was nearly independent of the distance of each translation step and the error was not accumulated by repeated steps. After round-trip translations up to 0.2 mm, the sample came back to the original position with accuracy of ±50 nm. The performance of the stage was demonstrated by observing growth processes of lead phthalocyanine (PbPc) films formed on graphite.