Maximum-entropy data analysis

The reconstruction of physical quantities from (computer-) experimental data is very often hampered by the presence of noise, insufficient information and above all by the ill-posed nature of the underlying inversion problem. It will be demonstrated that the maximum entropy concepts is particularly suited for this type of data-analysis problems. It is based on Bayesian statistics and provides a consistent probabilistic theory to obtain unbiased results, independent of any model assumptions. This is particularly desirable if there is no additional information to justify these hypotheses. If, on the other hand, additional prior knowledge is available, it can be effectively incorporated into the computation, leading to more stringent confidence intervals.     

Wide-range regulation of polyaniline conduction by interphase doping of a polyaniline film

The not-sufficient-enough conductance of semioxidized protonated polyaniline (PANI) is usually attributed to the presence of ordered quasi-metallic domains surrounded by a poorly conducting amorphous phase. The paper presents experimental results testifying to the existence, in semioxidized PANI, of multilevel redox heterogeneity that crucially effects the conductance magnitude in view of specific topology at which higher-oxidized (conducting) domains are surrounded by less oxidized (poorly conducting) domains and because the PANI conduction is extremely sensitive to the oxidation degree. It is shown experimentally that the interphase doping with metals and degenerate semiconductors of a semioxidized salt of PANI and poly(2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPSA) with a 1: 2 ratio between PANI and PAMPSA raises the PANI-PAMPSA conductivity by 3–8 orders of magnitude due to the formation near the interface of thin layers whose conductance depends on the work function of the material in contact with PANI-PAMPSA and in extreme cases substantially exceeds the conductance of gold and copper at room temperature.     

Study of the pulsed laser vapor doping of Si(1 0 0) with KrF excimer laser and BCl3 gas

The properties of pulsed laser vapor doping on p-Si(1 0 0) with a KrF (248 nm) excimer pulsed laser (248 nm) and BCl₃ gas are reported in this paper. The doped samples are characterized by the resistance measured using a four-probe method, since the sheet resistance changes with the carrier concentration of the sample. The doping effects with the variation of laser energy density, pulse number, and the pressure of BCl₃ were investigated in terms of the sheet resistance. In this way, the optimized parameters were obtained and used for the positive heavy doping on p-Si(1 0 0) and p-Si(1 1 1). Then, using a square mesh under the above conditions, an image doping was completed. Finally, the metal–semiconductor Ohmic contacts were realized by plating Ag and Cu films on the doped surface.     

Excitons in coupled quantum dots

Properties of excitons in vertically coupled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots were investigated using the variational method within the envelope function and effective mass approximations. It was found that when the thickness of the spacer layer becomes less than about one exciton Bohr radius, both the exciton binding energy and the fundamental optical transition energy are reduced compared to those in isolated quantum dots. This is a result of increased space extension of exciton due to the penetration of carrier wave functions into the spacer layer and corresponding reduction in confinement energy which dominates over the Coulomb interaction between the electron and the hole.     

On the possibility of designing interacting semiconductor quantum wells with zero perturbation coupling

The paper describes the possibility of designing matched interacting semiconductor quantum wells. It is shown that for a given eigenstate of a quantum well (QW), it is always possible to find another QW in such a way that the coupling leaves the original eigenstate of the host QW unperturbed irrespective of the strength of interaction. For rectangular QWs, the condition is met with whenever the second QW has appropriate width and depth so that phase travelled by an electron wave through it is an integral multiple of π.     

Tunneling of two interacting electrons in a quantum wire

A model calculation is reported for the tunneling probability of one as well as two interacting electrons from a quantum well within a narrow channel. We discuss the cases when the two electrons are spin polarized or unpolarized by transforming the system to a noninteracting one with the use of quantal density functional theory to obtain an effective single-particle confining potential. A semiclassical approach is used to obtain the tunneling probability from this effective potential. The calculation is motivated by recent measurements of the conductance of an electron gas in a narrow channel but is not meant to explain the anomalous behavior that has been reported since, for example, we deal with a simplified two-level system. Numerical results for the tunneling probability are presented.     

超导氧化物La1.85Sr0.15CuO4/超高分子量聚乙烯复合材料的输运性质

采用热压法获得了具有不同混合比例的超导氧化物La1.85Sr0.15CuO4/超高分子量聚乙烯导电复合材料,并利用x射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜和标准四引线方法对复合材料的结构和低温电输运性质进行测量.实验结果显示,超导氧化物La1.85Sr0.15CuO4颗粒随机分布在聚合物本体中,相互间没有连接构成网络结构.在正常态下,复合材料的电阻-温度变化曲线给出类半导体行为.但对应于超导氧化物La1.85Sr0.15CuO4的超导转变温度Tc处,复合材料的电阻-温度变化曲线出现了极小值.室温下电阻率ρ随外加电场强度E的变化曲线测量结果表明,ρ-E曲线为一线形关系,随着电场强度E增加,电阻率ρ下降.文中对可能存在的导电机制进行分析,结果表明隧道贯穿模型可以很好地解释复合材料的导电机制.另外,外加电场强度E对复合材料的电输运特性有明显的影响.     

Physics in Melbourne

I survey highlights of the practice of physics and allied sciences in Melbourne,Australia, from the 1850s, soon after Europeans first settled in the area, to the present. I note recognizable sites of past and current physical-science activity that may be visited, as well as exhibits of historic items of physics apparatus. I trace the role of physics, in the course of a century and a half, in the evolution of a pioneering settlement into a large city embedded in a modern industrial economy.     

Quantitative assessment of solid oxide electrochemical doping

Quantitative analysis of metal cation doping by solid oxide electrochemical doping (SOED) has been performed under galvanostatic doping conditions. A M–β″-Al₂O₃ (M=Ag, Na) microelectrode (contact radius: about 10 μm) was used as cation source to attain a homogeneous solid–solid contact between the β″-Al₂O₃ and doping target. In Ag doping into alkali borate glass, the measured dopant amount closely matched the theoretical value. High Faraday efficiencies of above 90% were obtained. This suggests that the dopant amount can be precisely controlled on a micromole scale by the electric charge during electrolysis. On the other hand, current efficiencies of Na doping into Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_y (BSCCO) ceramics depended on the applied constant current. Efficiencies of above 80% were achieved at a constant current of 10 μA (1.6 A cm⁻²). The relatively low efficiencies were explained by the saturation of BSCCO grain boundaries with Na. By contrast, excess Na was detected on the anodic surface of ceramics at a constant current of 100 μA (16 A cm⁻²). In the present study, we demonstrate that SOED enables micromole-scale control over dopant amount.     

Atomically precise self-assembly of one-dimensional structures on silicon

This work has three main themes: (1) fabricate atomically precise nanostructures at surfaces, particularly nanowires consisting of atom chains; (2) explore the behavior of one-dimensional electrons in atomic chains; (3) find the fundamental limits of data storage using an atomic scale memory. Semiconductor surfaces lend themselves towards self-assembly, because the broken covalent bonds create elaborate reconstruction patterns to minimize the surface energy. An example is the large 7 × 7 unit cell on Si(1 1 1), which can be used as building block. On semiconductors, the surface electrons completely de-couple from the substrate, as long as their energy lies in the band gap. Angle-resolved photoemission reveals surprising features, such as a fractional band filling and a spin-splitting at a non-magnetic surface. An interesting by-product is a memory structure with self-assembled tracks that are five atom rows wide and store a bit by the presence or absence of a single silicon atom. This toy memory is used to test the fundamental limits of data storage and to see how storage on silicon compares to storage in DNA.