Investigation of the dissociative adsorption for cyclopropane on the copper surface by density functional theory and quantum chemical molecular dynamics method

The dissociative adsorption of cyclopropane on the copper surface was studied using quantum chemical molecular dynamics method with “Colors-Excite” code and density functional theory by Amsterdam Density Functional program (ADF2000). The excited state of cyclopropane was used as adsorbate to simulate the dissociated adsorption under an irradiation energy of ca. 10 eV. One of the C-C bonds in cyclopropane was broken and the two new bonds between cyclopropane and copper surface were formed. The electrons transferred from the copper atoms to cyclopropane with a value of about 0.2e. The shorter distances between the carbons and surface copper atoms showed the existence of strong interaction. Consistently, the results indicated metallacyclopentane was the most possible intermediate species in dissociative adsorption by ADF2000 and “Colors-Excite” method.     

Exact solutions and symmetry analysis for the limiting probability distribution of quantum walks

In the literature, there are numerous studies of one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks (DTQWs) using a moving shift operator. However, there is no exact solution for the limiting probability distributions of DTQWs on cycles using a general coin or swapping shift operator. In this paper, we derive exact solutions for the limiting probability distribution of quantum walks using a general coin and swapping shift operator on cycles for the first time. Based on the exact solutions, we show how to generate symmetric quantum walks and determine the condition under which a symmetric quantum walk appears. Our results suggest that choosing various coin and initial state parameters can achieve a symmetric quantum walk. By defining a quantity to measure the variation of symmetry, deviation and mixing time of symmetric quantum walks are also investigated.     

Pragmatical generalized synchronization of chaotic systems with uncertain parameters by adaptive control

A new kind of generalized synchronization of two chaotic systems with uncertain parameters is proposed. Based on a pragmatical asymptotical stability theorem and an assumption of equal probability for ergodic initial conditions, an adaptive control law is derived so that it can be proved strictly that the common null solution of error dynamics and of parameter dynamics is actually asymptotically stable, i.e. these two identical systems are in generalized synchronization and the estimated parameters approach the uncertain values. It is called pragmatical generalized synchronization. Finally, two numerical examples are studied for two Quantum-CNN oscillator chaotic systems to show the effectiveness of the proposed generalized synchronization strategy with a double Duffing chaotic system as a goal system.     

Optimization of facet coating for highly strained InGaAs quantum well lasers operating at 1200 nm

The optical output power of a laser diode can be enhanced by anti-reflection (AR) and high-reflection (HR) facet coatings, respectively, at the front and back facet. AR and HR coatings also serve the purpose of protection and passivation of laser diode facets. In this work, we have designed and optimized a single layer λ/4 thick Al₂O₃ film for the AR coating and a stack of λ/4 thick Al₂O₃/λ/4 thick Si bi-layers for the HR coating for highly strained InGaAs quantum-well edge emitting broad area (BA) laser diodes. Effect of the front and back facet reflectivities on output power of the laser diodes has been studied. The light output versus injected current (L–I characteristics) measurements were carried out on selected devices before and after the facet coatings. We have also carried out the numerical simulation and analysis of L–I characteristics for this particular diode structure. The experimental results have been compared and verified with the numerical simulation.     

Influence of the thickness of the tunnel layer on the charging characteristics of Si nanocrystals embedded in an ultra-thin SiO2 layer

In this paper, we have studied the effect of the thickness of the initial SiO₂ layer (5–7 nm) on the charge and discharge properties of a 2D array of Si nanoparticles embedded in these SiO₂ layers fabricated by ultra-low-energy ion implantation (ULE-II) and annealing. The structural characteristics of these nanocrystal-based memories (position of the nanocrystals with respect to the electrodes, size and surface density of the particles in the plane) were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy filtered TEM (EF-TEM). Electrical characterizations were performed at room temperature using a nano-MOS capacitor to be able to address only a few nanoparticles (nps). EFTEM gives the measurements of oxide thickness, injection, control and nps distances, size and density. I–V and I–t measurements exhibit current peaks and random telegraph signal fluctuations that can be interpreted as due to quantized charging of the nps and to some electrostatic interactions between the trapped charges and the tunnelling current. We have shown that these characteristics strongly vary with the initial oxide thickness, exhibiting several charging/discharging events for the 7-nm-thick layer while charging events prevail in the case of 5-nm-thick layer. These results indicate that the probability of discharging phenomena is reduced when the tunnel layer thickness decreases.     

Long wavelength InAs self-assembled quantum dots embedded in GaNAs strain-compensating layers

We investigated the effect of GaNAs strain-compensating layers (SCLs) on the properties of InAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates. The GaNAs material can be used as SCL thereby minimizing the net strain, and thus is advantageous for multi-stacking of InAs QDs structures and achieving long wavelength emission. The emission wavelength of InAs QDs can be tuned by changing the nitrogen (N) composition in GaNAs SCLs due to both effects of strain compensation and lowering of potential barrier height. A photoluminescence emission at 77 K was clearly observed for sample with GaN_0.024As_0.976 SCL. Further, we observed an improvement of optical properties of InAs QDs by replacing the more popular GaAs embedding layers with GaNAs SCLs, which is a result of decreasing non-radiative defects owing to minimizing the total net strain.     

Surface roughness influence on the pull-in voltage of microswitches in presence of thermal and quantum vacuum fluctuations

In this work we investigate the influence of the combined effect from random self-affine roughness, finite conductivity, and finite temperature on the pull-in voltage in microswitches influenced by thermal and quantum vacuum fluctuations through the Casimir force and electrostatic forces. It is shown that for separations within the micron or sub-micron range the roughness influence plays a dominant role, while temperature starts to show its influence well above micron separations. Indeed, increasing the temperature leads to higher pull-in voltages since it leads to an increased Casimir force. The temperature influence is more significant for relatively large roughness exponent H ∼ 1, while its influence is significantly lower with increasing lateral roughness correlation length ξ or due to long wavelength surface smoothness.     

The Chemical Potential

The definition of the fundamental quantity, the chemical potential, is badly confused in the literature: there are at least three distinct definitions in various books and papers. While they all give the same result in the thermodynamic limit, major differences between them can occur for finite systems, in anomalous cases even for finite systems as large as a cm³. We resolve the situation by arguing that the chemical potential defined as the symbol μ conventionally appearing in the grand canonical density operator is the uniquely correct definition valid for all finite systems, the grand canonical ensemble being the only one of the various ensembles usually discussed (microcanonical, canonical, Gibbs, grand canonical) that is appropriate for statistical thermodynamics, whenever the chemical potential is physically relevant. The zero–temperature limit of this μ was derived by Perdew et al. for finite systems involving electrons, generally allowing for electron–electron interactions; we extend this derivation and, for semiconductors, we also consider the zero–T limit taken after the thermodynamic limit. The enormous finite size corrections (in macroscopic samples, e.g. 1 cm³) for one rather common definition of the c.p., found recently by Shegelski within the standard effective mass model of an ideal intrinsic semiconductor, are discussed. Also, two very–small–system examples are given, including a quantum dot.     

The incompatibility between local hidden variable theories and the fundamental conservation laws

I discuss in detail the result that the Bell’s inequalities derived in the context of local hidden variable theories for discrete quantized observables can be satisfied only if a fundamental conservation law is violated on the average. This result shows that such theories are physically nonviable, and makes the demarcating criteria of the Bell’s inequalities redundant. I show that a unique correlation function can be derived from the validity of the conservation law alone and this coincides with the quantum mechanical correlation function. Thus, any theory with a different correlation function, like any local hidden variable theory, is incompatible with the fundamental conservation laws and space-time symmetries. The results are discussed in the context of two-particle singlet and triplet states, GHZ states, and two-particle double slit interferometry. Some observations on quantum entropy, entanglement, and nonlocality are also discussed.     

Minimal Informationally Complete Measurements for Pure States

We consider measurements, described by a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM), whose outcome probabilities determine an arbitrary pure state of a D-dimensional quantum system. We call such a measurement a pure-state informationally complete (PS I-complete) POVM. We show that a measurement with 2D−1 outcomes cannot be PS I-complete, and then we construct a POVM with 2D outcomes that suffices, thus showing that a minimal PS I-complete POVM has 2D outcomes. We also consider PS I-complete POVMs that have only rank-one POVM elements and construct an example with 3D−2 outcomes, which is a generalization of the tetrahedral measurement for a qubit. The question of the minimal number of elements in a rank-one PS I-complete POVM is left open.