2019, Tseng M.L., Lin Z.-H., Kuo H.Y., Huang T.-T., Huang Y.-T., Chung T.L., Chu C.H., Huang J.-S., Tsai D.P.

Metasurfaces comprising 3D chiral structures have shown great potential in chiroptical applications such as chiral optical components and sensing. So far, the main challenges lie in the nanofabrication and the limited operational bandwidth. Homogeneous and localized broadband near-field optical chirality enhancement has not been achieved. Here, an effective nanofabrication method to create a 3D chiral metasurface with far- and near-field broadband chiroptical properties is demonstrated. A focused ion beam is used to cut and stretch nanowires into 3D Archimedean spirals from stacked films. The 3D Archimedean spiral is a self-similar chiral fractal structure sensitive to the chirality of light. The spiral exhibits far- and near-field broadband chiroptical responses from 2 to 8 µm. With circularly polarized light (CPL), the spiral shows superior far-field transmission dissymmetry and handedness-dependent near-field localization. With linearly polarized excitation, homogeneous and highly enhanced broadband near-field optical chirality is generated at a stably localized position inside the spiral. The effective yet straightforward fabrication strategy allows easy fabrication of 3D chiral structures with superior broadband far-field chiroptical response as well as strongly enhanced and stably localized broadband near-field optical chirality. The reported method and chiral metasurface may find applications in broadband chiral optics and chiral sensing. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

2021, Rasouli, Milad, Fallah, Nadia, Bekeschus, Sander

Nanomedicine and plasma medicine are innovative and multidisciplinary research fields aiming to employ nanotechnology and gas plasma to improve health-related treatments. Especially cancer treatment has been in the focus of both approaches because clinical response rates with traditional methods that remain improvable for many types of tumor entities. Here, we discuss the recent progress of nanotechnology and gas plasma independently as well as in the concomitant modality of nanoplasma as multimodal platforms with unique capabilities for addressing various therapeutic issues in oncological research. The main features, delivery vehicles, and nexus between reactivity and therapeutic outcomes of nanoparticles and the processes, efficacy, and mechanisms of gas plasma are examined. Especially that the unique feature of gas plasma technology, the local and temporally controlled deposition of a plethora of reactive oxygen, and nitrogen species released simultaneously might be a suitable additive treatment to the use of systemic nanotechnology therapy approaches. Finally, we focus on the convergence of plasma and nanotechnology to provide a suitable strategy that may lead to the required therapeutic outcomes.

2012, Rodriguez, R.D., Sheremet, E., Thurmer, D.J., Lehmann, D., Gordan, O.D., Seidel, F., Milekhin, A., Schmidt, O.G., Hietschold, M., Zahn, D.R.T.

Large arrays of multifunctional rolled-up semiconductors can be mass-produced with precisely controlled size and composition, making them of great technological interest for micro- and nano-scale device fabrication. The microtube behavior at different temperatures is a key factor towards further engineering their functionality, as well as for characterizing strain, defects, and temperature-dependent properties of the structures. For this purpose, we probe optical phonons of GaAs/InGaAs rolled-up microtubes using Raman spectroscopy on defect-rich (faulty) and defect-free microtubes. The microtubes are fabricated by selectively etching an AlAs sacrificial layer in order to release the strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer, all grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Pristine microtubes show homogeneity of the GaAs and InGaAs peak positions and intensities along the tube, which indicates a defect-free rolling up process, while for a cone-like microtube, a downward shift of the GaAs LO phonon peak along the cone is observed. Formation of other type of defects, including partially unfolded microtubes, can also be related to a high Raman intensity of the TO phonon in GaAs. We argue that the appearance of the TO phonon mode is a consequence of further relaxation of the selection rules due to the defects on the tubes, which makes this phonon useful for failure detection/prediction in such rolled up systems. In order to systematically characterize the temperature stability of the rolled up microtubes, Raman spectra were acquired as a function of sample temperature up to 300°C. The reversibility of the changes in the Raman spectra of the tubes within this temperature range is demonstrated.

2013, Teichmann, M., Lorbeer, J., Ziberi, B., Frost, F., Rauschenbach, B.

Modification of nanoscale surface topography is inherent to low-energy ion beam erosion processes and is one of the most important fields of nanotechnology. In this report a comprehensive study of surface smoothing and self-organized pattern formation on Ge(100) by using different noble gases ion beam erosion is presented. The investigations focus on low ion energies ( 2000 eV) and include the entire range of ion incidence angles. It is found that for ions (Ne, Ar) with masses lower than the mass of the Ge target atoms, no pattern formation occurs and surface smoothing is observed for all angles of ion incidence. In contrast, for erosion with higher mass ions (Kr, Xe), ripple formation starts at incidence angles of about 65° depending on ion energy. At smaller incident angles surface smoothing occurs again. Investigations of the surface dynamics for specific ion incidence angles by changing the ion fluence over two orders of magnitude gives a clear evidence for coarsening and faceting of the surface pattern. Both observations indicate that gradient-dependent sputtering and reflection of primary ions play crucial role in the pattern evolution, just at the lowest accessible fluences. The results are discussed in relation to recently proposed redistributive or stress-induced models for pattern formation. In addition, it is argued that a large angular variation of the sputter yield and reflected primary ions can significantly contribute to pattern formation and evolution as nonlinear and non-local processes as supported by simulation of sputtering and ion reflection.

2018, Yang, Jian, Meng, Zhuojun, Liu, Qing, Shimada, Yasuhito, Olsthoorn, René C. L., Spaink, Herman P., Herrmann, Andreas, Kros, Alexander

Nanoscale engineering of surfaces is becoming an indispensable technique to modify membranes and, thus cellular behaviour. Here, such membrane engineering related was explored on the surface of a living animal using DNA nanotechnology. We demonstrate the immobilization of oligonucleotides functionalized with a membrane anchor on 2 day old zebrafish. The protruding single-stranded DNA on the skin of zebrafish served as a handle for complementary DNAs, which allowed the attachment of small molecule cargo, liposomes and dynamic relabeling by DNA hybridization protocols. Robust anchoring of the oligonucleotides was proven as DNA-based amplification processes were successfully performed on the outer membrane of the zebrafish enabling the multiplication of surface functionalities from a single DNA-anchoring unit and the dramatic improvement of fluorescent labeling of these animals. As zebrafish are becoming an alternative to animal models in drug development, toxicology and nanoparticles characterization, we believe the platform presented here allows amalgamation of DNA nanotechnology tools with live animals and this opens up yet unexplored avenues like efficient bio-barcoding as well as in vivo tracking. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

2012, Jakob, A.M., Müller, M., Rauschenbach, B., Mayr, S.G.

Located beyond the resolution limit of nanoindentation, contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM) is employed for nano-mechanical surface characterization of single crystalline 14M modulated martensitic Ni-Mn-Ga (NMG) thin films grown by magnetron sputter deposition on (001) MgO substrates. Comparing experimental indentation moduli-obtained with CR-AFM-with theoretical predictions based on density functional theory (DFT) indicates the central role of pseudo plasticity and inter-martensitic phase transitions. Spatially highly resolved mechanical imaging enables the visualization of twin boundaries and allows for the assessment of their impact on mechanical behavior at the nanoscale. The CR-AFM technique is also briefly reviewed. Its advantages and drawbacks are carefully addressed.

2012, Picco, A., Bonera, E., Pezzoli, F., Grilli, E., Schmidt, O.G., Isa, F., Cecchi, S., Guzzi, M.

In this work, we present an experimental procedure to measure the composition distribution within inhomogeneous SiGe nanostructures. The method is based on the Raman spectra of the nanostructures, quantitatively analyzed through the knowledge of the scattering efficiency of SiGe as a function of composition and excitation wavelength. The accuracy of the method and its limitations are evidenced through the analysis of a multilayer and of self-assembled islands.

2014, Lee, M.H., Kim, B.S., Kim, D.H., Ott, R.T., Sansoz, F., Eckert, J.

We investigated the effect of geometrically constrained stress-strain conditions on the formation of nanotwins in -brass phase reinforced Ni59Zr20 Ti16 Si2 Sn3 metallic glass (MG) matrix deformed under macroscopic uniaxial compression. The specific geometrically constrained conditions in the samples lead to a deviation from a simple uniaxial state to a multi-axial stress state, for which nanocrystallization in the MG matrix together with nanoscale twinning of the brass reinforcement is observed in localized regions during plastic flow. The nanocrystals in the MG matrix and the appearance of the twinned structure in the reinforcements indicate that the strain energy is highly confined and the local stress reaches a very high level upon yielding. Both the effective distribution of reinforcements on the strain enhancement of composite and the effects of the complicated stress states on the development of nanotwins in the second-phase brass particles are discussed.

2021, Laucht, Arne, Hohls, Frank, Ubbelohde, Niels, Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba, M., Reilly, David J., Stobbe, Søren, Schröder, Tim, Scarlino, Pasquale, Koski, Jonne V., Dzurak, Andrew, Yang, Chih-Hwan, Yoneda, Jun, Kuemmeth, Ferdinand, Bluhm, Hendrik, Pla, Jarryd, Hill, Charles, Salfi, Joe, Oiwa, Akira, Muhonen, Juha T., Verhagen, Ewold, LaHaye, M D, Kim, Hyun Ho, Tsen, Adam W, Culcer, Dimitrie, Geresdi, Attila, Mol, Jan A., Mohan, Varun, Jain, Prashant K., Baugh, Jonathan

Quantum phenomena are typically observable at length and time scales smaller than those of our everyday experience, often involving individual particles or excitations. The past few decades have seen a revolution in the ability to structure matter at the nanoscale, and experiments at the single particle level have become commonplace. This has opened wide new avenues for exploring and harnessing quantum mechanical effects in condensed matter. These quantum phenomena, in turn, have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate, compute and probe the nanoscale world. Here, we review developments in key areas of quantum research in light of the nanotechnologies that enable them, with a view to what the future holds. Materials and devices with nanoscale features are used for quantum metrology and sensing, as building blocks for quantum computing, and as sources and detectors for quantum communication. They enable explorations of quantum behaviour and unconventional states in nano- and opto-mechanical systems, low-dimensional systems, molecular devices, nano-plasmonics, quantum electrodynamics, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and more. This rapidly expanding intersection of nanotechnology and quantum science/technology is mutually beneficial to both fields, laying claim to some of the most exciting scientific leaps of the last decade, with more on the horizon.

2016, Siles, P.F., Hahn, T., Salvan, G., Knupfer, M., Zhu, F., Zahn, D.R.T., Schmidt, O.G.

Organic materials such as phthalocyanine-based systems present a great potential for organic device applications due to the possibility of integrating films of different organic materials to create organic heterostructures which combine the electrical capabilities of each material. This opens the possibility to precisely engineer and tune new electrical properties. In particular, similar transition metal phthalocyanines demonstrate hybridization and charge transfer properties which could lead to interesting physical phenomena. Although, when considering device dimensions, a better understanding and control of the tuning of the transport properties still remain in the focus of research. Here, by employing conductive atomic force microscopy techniques, we provide an insight about the nanoscale electrical properties and transport mechanisms of MnPc and fluorinated phthalocyanines such as F16CuPc and F16CoPc. We report a transition from typical diode-like transport mechanisms for pure MnPc thin films to space-charge-limited current transport regime (SCLC) for Pc-based heterostructures. The controlled addition of fluorinated phthalocyanine also provides highly uniform and symmetric-polarized transport characteristics with conductance enhancements up to two orders of magnitude depending on the polarization. We present a method to spatially map the mobility of the MnPc/F16CuPc structures with a nanoscale resolution and provide theoretical calculations to support our experimental findings. This well-controlled nanoscale tuning of the electrical properties for metal transition phthalocyanine junctions stands as key step for future phthalocyanine-based electronic devices, where the low dimension charge transfer, mediated by transition metal atoms could be intrinsically linked to a transfer of magnetic moment or spin.