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- ItemEngineering Kitaev exchange in stacked iridate layers: Impact of inter-layer species on in-plane magnetism(Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Yadav, R.; Eldeeb, M.S.; Ray, R.; Aswartham, S.; Sturza, M.I.; Nishimoto, S.; Van Den Brink, J.; Hozoi, L.Novel functionalities may be achieved in oxide electronics by appropriate stacking of planar oxide layers of different metallic species, MOp and M′Oq. The simplest mechanism allowing the tailoring of the electronic states and physical properties of such heterostructures is of electrostatic nature - charge imbalance between the M and M′ cations. Here we clarify the effect of interlayer electrostatics on the anisotropic Kitaev exchange in H3LiIr2O6, a recently proposed realization of the Kitaev spin liquid. By quantum chemical calculations, we show that the precise position of H+ cations between magnetically active [LiIr2O6]3- honeycomb-like layers has a strong impact on the magnitude of Kitaev interactions. In particular, it is found that stacking with straight interlayer O-H-O links is detrimental to in-plane Kitaev exchange since coordination by a single H-ion of the O ligand implies an axial Coulomb potential at the O site and unfavorable polarization of the O 2p orbitals mediating the Ir-Ir interactions. Our results therefore provide valuable guidelines for the rational design of Kitaev quantum magnets, indicating unprecedented Kitaev interactions of ≈40 meV if the linear interlayer linkage is removed.
- ItemCharged polymers transport under applied electric fields in periodic channels(Basel : MDPI AG, 2013) Nedelcu, S.; Sommer, J.-U.By molecular dynamics simulations, we investigated the transport of charged polymers in applied electric fields in confining environments, which were straight cylinders of uniform or non-uniform diameter. In the simulations, the solvent was modeled explicitly and, also, the counterions and coions of added salt. The electrophoretic velocities of charged chains in relation to electrolyte friction, hydrodynamic effects due to the solvent, and surface friction were calculated. We found that the velocities were higher if counterions were moved away from the polymeric domain, which led to a decrease in hydrodynamic friction. The topology of the surface played a key role in retarding the motion of the polyelectrolyte and, even more so, in the presence of transverse electric fields. The present study showed that a possible way of improving separation resolution is by controlling the motion of counterions or electrolyte friction effects.
- ItemInvestigation of the strain-sensitive superconducting transition of BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 thin films utilizing piezoelectric substrates(Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2014) Trommler, S.; Hänisch, J.; Iida, K.; Kurth, F.; Schultz, L.; Holzapfel, B.; Hühne, R.The preparation of biaxially textured BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 thin films has been optimized on MgO single crystals and transfered to piezoelectric (001) Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.72Ti0.28O3 substrates. By utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect the lattice parameter of these substrates can be controlled applying an electric field, leading to a induction of biaxial strain into the superconducting layer. High electric fields were used to achieve a total strain of up to 0.05% at low temperatures. A sharpening of the resistive transition and a shift of about 0.6 K to higher temperatures was found at a compressive strain of 0.035%.
- ItemPhotoelectron holography in strong optical and dc electric fields(Bristol : Institute of Physics Publishing, 2014) Stodolna, A.; Huismans, Y.; Rouzée, A.; Lépine, F.; Vrakking, M.J.J.The application of velocity map imaging for the detection of photoelectrons resulting from atomic or molecular ionization allows the observation of interferometric, and in some cases holographic structures that contain detailed information on the target from which the photoelecrons are extracted. In this contribution we present three recent examples of the use of photoelectron velocity map imaging in experiments where atoms are exposed to strong optical and dc electric fields. We discuss (i) observations of the nodal structure of Stark states of hydrogen measured in a dc electric field, (ii) mid-infrared strong-field ionization of metastable Xe atoms and (iii) the reconstruction of helium electronic wavepackets in an attosecond pump-probe experiment. In each case, the interference between direct and indirect electron pathways, reminiscent of the reference and signal waves in holography, is seen to play an important role.
- ItemParticles as probes for complex plasmas in front of biased surfaces(College Park, MD : Institute of Physics Publishing, 2009) Basner, R.; Sigeneger, F.; Loffhagen, D.; Schubert, G.; Fehske, H.; Kersten, H.An interesting aspect in the research of complex (dusty) plasmas is the experimental study of the interaction of micro-particles with the surrounding plasma for diagnostic purposes. Local electric fields can be determined from the behaviour of particles in the plasma, e.g. particles may serve as electrostatic probes. Since in many cases of applications in plasma technology it is of great interest to describe the electric field conditions in front of floating or biased surfaces, the confinement and behaviour of test particles is studied in front of floating walls inserted into a plasma as well as in front of additionally biased surfaces. For the latter case, the behaviour of particles in front of an adaptive electrode, which allows for an efficient confinement and manipulation of the grains, has been experimentally studied in terms of the dependence on the discharge parameters and on different bias conditions of the electrode. The effect of the partially biased surface (dc and rf) on the charged micro-particles has been investigated by particle falling experiments. In addition to the experiments, we also investigate the particle behaviour numerically by molecular dynamics, in combination with a fluid and particle-in-cell description of the plasma. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
- ItemExperimental methods of post-growth tuning of the excitonic fine structure splitting in semiconductor quantum dots(New York, NY [u.a.] : Springer, 2012) Plumhof, J.D.; Trotta, R.; Rastelli, A.; Schmidt, O.G.Deterministic sources of polarization entangled photon pairs on demand are considered as important building blocks for quantum communication technology. It has been demonstrated that semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), which exhibit a sufficiently small excitonic fine structure splitting (FSS) can be used as triggered, on-chip sources of polarization entangled photon pairs. As-grown QDs usually do not have the required values of the FSS, making the availability of post-growth tuning techniques highly desired. This article reviews the effect of different post-growth treatments and external fields on the FSS such as thermal annealing, magnetic fields, the optical Stark effect, electric fields, and anisotropic stress. As a consequence of the tuning of the FSS, for some tuning techniques a rotation of the polarization of the emitted light is observed. The joint modification of polarization orientation and FSS can be described by an anticrossing of the bright excitonic states.
- ItemUltrafast two-dimensional terahertz spectroscopy of elementary excitations in solids(Bristol : IOP, 2013) Woerner, M.; Kuehn, W.; Bowlan, P.; Reimann, K.; Elsaesser, T.Recent experimental progress has allowed for the implementation of nonlinear two-dimensional (2D) terahertz (THz) spectroscopy in the ultrafast time domain. We discuss the principles of this technique based on multiple phase-locked electric field transients interacting in a collinear geometry with a solid and the phase-resolved detection of the THz fields after interaction with the sample. To illustrate the potential of this new method, 2D correlation spectra of coupled intersubband-longitudinal optical phonon excitations in a double quantum well system and a study of ultrafast carrier dynamics in graphene are presented.
- ItemEnhancement of switching speed of BiFeO3 capacitors by magnetic fields(New York : American Institute of Physics, 2014) Guo, E.J.; Das, S.; Herklotz, A.The effect of a magnetic field on the ferroelectric switching kinetics of BiFeO3 (BFO) capacitors with La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 (LCMO) bottom electrode and Pt top contact has been investigated. We find a strong dependence of the remnant polarization and coercive field on the magnetic field. The switching time can be systematically tuned by magnetic field and reaches a tenfold reduction around the Curie temperature of LCMO at 4 T. We attribute this behavior to the splitting of the voltage drops across the BFO film and the LCMO bottom electrode, which can be strongly influenced by an external magnetic field due to the magnetoresistance. Further experiments on the BFO capacitors with SrRuO3 bottom electrodes show little magnetic field dependence of ferroelectric switching confirming our interpretation. Our results provide an efficient route to control the ferroelectric switching speed through the magnetic field, implying potential application in multifunctional devices.
- ItemSurface- and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy reveals spin-waves in iron oxide nanoparticles(Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2015) Rodriguez, Raul D.; Sheremet, Evgeniya; Deckert-Gaudig, Tanja; Chaneac, Corinne; Hietschold, Michael; Deckert, Volker; Zahn, Dietrich R. T.Nanomaterials have the remarkable characteristic of displaying physical properties different from their bulk counterparts. An additional degree of complexity and functionality arises when oxide nanoparticles interact with metallic nanostructures. In this context the Raman spectra due to plasmonic enhancement of iron oxide nanocrystals are here reported showing the activation of spin-waves. Iron oxide nanoparticles on gold and silver tips are found to display a band around 1584 cm−1 attributed to a spin-wave magnon mode. This magnon mode is not observed for nanoparticles deposited on silicon (111) or on glass substrates. Metal–nanoparticle interaction and the strongly localized electromagnetic field contribute to the appearance of this mode. The localized excitation that generates this mode is confirmed by tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). The appearance of the spin-waves only when the TERS tip is in close proximity to a nanocrystal edge suggests that the coupling of a localized plasmon with spin-waves arises due to broken symmetry at the nanoparticle border and the additional electric field confinement. Beyond phonon confinement effects previously reported in similar systems, this work offers significant insights on the plasmon-assisted generation and detection of spin-waves optically induced.
- ItemNanorattles with tailored electric field enhancement(Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2017) Schnepf, Max J.; Mayer, Martin; Kuttner, Christian; Tebbe, Moritz; Wolf, Daniel; Dulle, Martin; Altantzis, Thomas; Formanek, Petr; Förster, Stephan; Bals, Sara; König, Tobias A. F.; Fery, AndreasNanorattles are metallic core-shell particles with core and shell separated by a dielectric spacer. These nanorattles have been identified as a promising class of nanoparticles, due to their extraordinary high electric-field enhancement inside the cavity. Limiting factors are reproducibility and loss of axial symmetry owing to the movable metal core; movement of the core results in fluctuation of the nanocavity dimensions and commensurate variations in enhancement factor. We present a novel synthetic approach for the robust fixation of the central gold rod within a well-defined box, which results in an axisymmetric nanorattle. We determine the structure of the resulting axisymmetric nanorattles by advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Optical absorption and scattering cross-sections obtained from UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy quantitatively agree with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations based on the structural model derived from SAXS. The predictions of high and homogenous field enhancement are evidenced by scanning TEM electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS) measurement on single-particle level. Thus, comprehensive understanding of structural and optical properties is achieved for this class of nanoparticles, paving the way for photonic applications where a defined and robust unit cell is crucial.