We report the spectral imaging in the UV to visible range with nanometer scale resolution of closely packed GaN/AlN quantum disks in individual nanowires using an improved custom-made cathodoluminescence system. We demonstrate the possibility to measure full spectral features of individual quantum emitters as small as 1 nm and separated from each other by only a few nanometers and the ability to correlate their optical properties to their size, measured with atomic resolution. The direct correlation between the quantum disk size and emission wavelength provides evidence of the quantum confined Stark effect leading to an emission below the bulk GaN band gap for disks thicker than 2.6 nm. With the help of simulations, we show that the internal electric field in the studied quantum disks is smaller than what is expected in the quantum well case. We show evidence of a clear dispersion of the emission wavelengths of different quantum disks of identical size but different positions along the wire. This dispersion is systematically correlated to a change of the diameter of the AlN shell coating the wire and is thus attributed to the related strain variations along the wire. The present work opens the way both to fundamental studies of quantum confinement in closely packed quantum emitters and to characterizations of optoelectronic devices presenting carrier localization on the nanometer scale.
For semimetal nanowires with diameters smaller than a few tens of nanometers, a semimetal-to-semiconductor transition is observed as the emergence of an energy band gap resulting from quantum confinement. Quantum confinement in a semimetal results in either lifting of the degeneracy of the conduction and valence bands in a zero gap semimetal, or shifting of bands with a negative energy overlap to form conduction and valence bands. For semimetal nanowires with diameters below 10 nanometer, the magnitude of the band gap can become significantly larger than the thermal energy at room temperature …
We report on the development of Electron Holographic Tomography towards a versatile potential measurement technique, overcoming several limitations, such as a limited tilt range, previously hampering a reproducible and accurate electrostatic potential reconstruction in three dimensions. Most notably, tomographic reconstruction is performed on optimally sampled polar grids taking into account symmetry and other spatial constraints of the nanostructure. Furthermore, holographic tilt series acquisition and alignment have been automated and adapted to three dimensions. We demonstrate 6 nm spatial …
Epitaxial Ni/Cu Superlattice Nanowires with Atomically Sharp Interfaces for Spin Transport
Jožef Stefan Institute（约瑟夫·斯特凡研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien（马克斯·普朗克可持续材料研究所）；Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Department of Physics, University of Kashan（卡尚大学物理系纳米科学与技术研究所）；Department of Medical Equipment Technology Engineering, Al-Hadba University（阿尔哈德巴大学医疗设备技术工程系）；Institut Jean Lamour – CNRS – Université de Lorraine（让·拉缪尔研究所 - 法国国家科学研究中心 - 洛林大学）；Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)（法兰西学院）；Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School（约瑟夫·斯特凡国际研究生院）
Recent experimental data demonstrate emerging magnetic order in platinum atomically thin nanowires. Furthermore, an unusual form of magnetic anisotropy -- colossal magnetic anisotropy (CMA) -- was earlier predicted to exist in atomically thin platinum nanowires. Using spin dynamics simulations based on first-principles calculations, we here explore the spin dynamics of atomically thin platinum wires to reveal the spin relaxation signature of colossal magnetic anisotropy, comparing it with other types of anisotropy such as uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA). We find that the CMA alters the spin…
Self assembled AlGaN polarization-induced nanowire light emitting diodes (PINLEDs) with Gd-doped AlN active regions are prepared by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Si substrates. Atomically sharp electroluminescence (EL) from Gd intra-f-shell electronic transitions at 313 nm and 318 nm are observed under forward biases above 5V. The intensity of the Gd 4f EL scales linearly with current density and increases at lower temperature. The low electric field excitation of Gd 4f EL in PINLEDs is contrasted with high field excitation in Gd:AlGaN MIS nanowire devices (metal/Gd:AlN/polarizatio…
Atomically thin semiconductors have dimensions that are commensurate with critical feature sizes of future optoelectronic devices defined using electron/ion beam lithography. Robustness of their emergent optical and valleytronic properties is essential for typical exposure doses used during fabrication. Here, we explore how focused helium ion bombardment affects the intrinsic vibrational, luminescence and valleytronic properties of atomically thin MoS$_{2}$. By probing the disorder dependent vibrational response we deduce the interdefect distance by applying a phonon confinement model. We show…
Local electronic structures of nanometer-sized patches of epitaxial graphene and its interface layer with SiC(0001) have been studied by atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Localized states belonging to the interface layer of a graphene/SiC system show to have an essential influence on the electronic structure of graphene. Giant enhancement of inelastic tunneling, reaching 50% of the total tunneling current, has been observed at the localized states on a nanometer-sized graphene monolayer surrounded by defects.
Formation of twin boundaries during the growth of semiconductor nanowires is very common. However, the effects of such planar defects on the electronic and optical properties of nanowires are not very well understood. Here, we use a combination of ab initio simulation and experimental techniques to study these effects. Twin boundaries in GaP are shown to act as an atomically-narrow plane of wurtzite phase with a type-I homostructure band alignment. Twin boundaries and stacking faults (wider regions of the wurtzite phase) lead to the introduction of shallow trap states observed in photoluminesc…
This paper investigates the size effect on the coalescence process of contacting nanoparticles. It is revealed by molecular dynamics that the nanometer-sized surface curvature coupled with the effective melting temperature exhibits a strong influence on the atom diffusion at the interface, and is therefore critical to the coalescence time. This effect is particularly pronouncing for surface curvatures below 20 nm. A phenomenological model is derived from the melting-point reduction approach to describe the kinetic process of nanowire coalescence and is validated against a variety of simulation…
Excitonic emission from atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) synthesised on a metal surface is probed with atomic-scale spatial resolution using a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) approach. A STM-based strategy to transfer the GNRs to a partially insulating surface is used to prevent light emission quenching of the ribbons by the metal substrate. Sub-nanometer resolved STM-induced fluorescence spectra reveal emission from localized dark excitons build upon the topological end states of the GNRs. A low frequency vibronic emission comb whose characteristics change with the GNR lengt…
Growth of catalyst-free AlxGa1-xN (0.15<x<0.50)/GaN nanowires by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy is thoroughly structural and chemical analyzed by using transmission electron microscopy related techniques. We found that well-defined and defect-free core-shell structures are spontaneously formed during the wire growth. An Al-rich shell with significantly higher Al composition pseudomorphically encapsulates a Ga-rich AlxGa1-xN core with an atomically-abrupt hetero-interface. Nevertheless, the energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy reveals a complex chemical composition gradient along the wi…
Self-assembled Ge wires with a height of only 3 unit cells and a length of up to 2 micrometers were grown on Si(001) by means of a catalyst-free method based on molecular beam epitaxy. The wires grow horizontally along either the [100] or the [010] direction. On atomically flat surfaces, they exhibit a highly uniform, triangular cross section. A simple thermodynamic model accounts for the existence of a preferential base width for longitudinal expansion, in quantitative agreement with the experimental findings. Despite the absence of intentional doping, first transistor-type devices made from …
Carbon nanotube, graphene, nanowire, and molecule-based electron and spin transport phenomena using the non-equilibrium Green function method at the level of first principles theory
Magnetostrictive wires of diameter in the nanometer scale have been proposed for application as acoustic sensors [Downey et al., 2008], [Yang et al., 2006]. The sensing mechanism is expected to operate in the bending regime. In this work we derive a variational theory for the bending of magnetostrictive nanowires starting from a full 3-dimensional continuum theory of magnetostriction. We recover a theory which looks like a typical Euler-Bernoulli bending model but includes an extra term contributed by the magnetic part of the energy. The solution of this variational theory for an important, ne…
Point sources exhibit low threshold electron emission due to local field enhancement at the tip. The development and implementation of tip emitters have been hampered by the need to position them sufficiently apart to achieve field enhancement, limiting the number of emission sites and therefore the overall current. Here we report low threshold field (< 0.1V/um) emission of multiple electron beams from atomically thin edges of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Field emission microscopy (FEM) measurements show evidence for interference from emission sites that are separated by a few nanometers, sug…
Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems have outstanding potential for emerging high-performance nanoelectronics and quantum devices. However, critical to their successful application is the fabrication of high-quality and reproducible semiconductor-superconductor interfaces. Here, we realize and measure axial Al-Ge-Al nanowire heterostructures with atomically precise interfaces, enwrapped by an ultrathin epitaxial Si layer further denoted as Al-Ge/Si-Al nanowire heterostructures. The heterostructures were synthesized by a thermally induced exchange reaction of single-crystalline Ge/Si cor…
Optical absorption is one of fundamental light-matter interactions. In most materials, optical absorption is a weak perturbation to the light. In this regime, absorption and emission are irreversible, incoherent processes due to strong damping. Excitons in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, however, interact strongly with light, leading to optical absorption in the non-perturbative regime where coherent re-emission of the light has to be considered. Between the incoherent and coherent limits, we show that a robust critical coupling condition exists, leading to perfect optical absorpti…
Atomically thin one dimensional (1D) van der Waals wires of transition metal monochalocogenides (TMMs) have been anticipated as promising building blocks for integrated nanoelectronics. While reliable production of TMM nanowires has eluded scientists over the past few decades, we finally demonstrated a bottom up fabrication of MoTe nanowires inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Still, the current synthesis method is based on vacuum annealing of reactive MoTe2, and limits access to a variety of TMMs. Here we report an expanded framework for high yield synthesis of the 1D tellurides including WTe, an…
Hybrid semiconductor-superconductor InAs-Al nanowires with uniform and defect-free crystal interfaces are one of the most promising candidates used in the quest for Majorana zero modes (MZMs). However, InAs nanowires often exhibit a high density of randomly distributed twin defects and stacking faults, which result in an uncontrolled and non-uniform InAs-Al interface. Furthermore, this type of disorder can create potential inhomogeneity in the wire, destroy the topological gap, and form trivial sub-gap states mimicking MZM in transport experiments. Further study shows that reducing the InAs na…
Monolithic axial InGaAs quantum dot emitters in GaAs-based nanowires via Sb-mediated facet engineering
Walter Schottky Institute, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学沃尔特·施科特基研究所自然科学学院）；Institute for Physics and Astronomy, Technical University Berlin（柏林工业大学物理与天文学研究所）；Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich（慕尼黑大学化学系）；Walter Schottky Institute, TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学沃尔特·施科特基研究所计算、信息与技术学院）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）
The interface between polar LaAlO3 and non-polar SrTiO3 exhibits a remarkable variety of electronic behavior associated with the formation of an interfacial quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (q-2DEG). By "sketching" patterns of charge on the top LaAlO3 surface, the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface conductance can be controlled with near-atomic spatial resolution. Using this technique, a sketch-based oxide nanotransistor (SketchFET) was demonstrated with a minimum feature size of just two nanometers. Here we report direct measurements of the potential barriers and electronic coupling between nanowire s…
Quantum technologies require robust and photostable single photon emitters (SPEs) that can be reliably engineered. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has recently emerged as a promising candidate host to bright and optically stable SPEs operating at room temperature. However, the emission wavelength of the fluorescent defects in hBN has, to date, been shown to be uncontrolled. The emitters usually display a large spread of zero phonon line (ZPL) energies spanning over a broad spectral range (hundreds of nanometers), which hinders the potential development of hBN-based devices and applications. We d…
Aluminum-germanium nanowires (NWs) thermal activated solid state reaction is a promising system as very sharp and well defined one dimensional contacts can be created between a metal and a semiconductor, that can become a quantum dot if the size becomes sufficiently small. In the search for high performance devices without variability, it is of high interest to allow deterministic fabrication of nanowire quantum dots, avoiding sample variability and obtaining atomic scale precision on the fabricated dot size. In this paper, we present a reliable fabrication process to produce sub-10 nm Ge quan…
