Anomalously low dielectric constant of confined water
L. Fumagalli, A. Esfandiar, R. Fabregas, S. Hu, P. Ares, A. Janardanan, Q. Yang, B. Radha, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, G. Gomila, K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim
The dielectric constant of interfacial water has been predicted to be smaller than that of bulk water (= 80) because the rotational freedom of water dipoles is expected to decrease near surfaces, yet experimental evidence is lacking. We report local capacitance measurements for water confined between two atomically-flat walls separated by various distances down to 1 nm. Our experiments reveal the presence of an interfacial layer with vanishingly small polarization such that its out-of-plane dielectric constant is only approximately 2. The electrically dead layer is found to be two to three molecules thick. These results provide much needed feedback for theories describing water-mediated surface interactions and behavior of interfacial water, and show a way to investigate the dielectric properties of other fluids and solids under extreme confinement.
We report a high-resolution dielectric study on a pyrene-based discotic liquid crystal (DLC) in the bulk state and confined in parallel tubular nanopores of monolithic silica and alumina membranes. The positive dielectric anisotropy of the DLC molecule at low frequencies (in the quasi-static case) allows us to explore the thermotropic collective orientational order. A face-on arrangement of the molecular discs on the pore walls and a corresponding radial arrangement of the molecules is found. In contrast to the bulk, the isotropic-to-columnar transition of the confined DLC is continuous, shift…
The combined effect of finite potential barriers and dielectric mismatch between dot and matrix on excitonic properties of semiconductor quantum dots has been studied. To avoid the unphysical divergence in the self-polarization energy which arises for the simplest and profusely adopted step-like model of the dielectric interface, we proposed a realistic (finite size) smooth profile for the dielectric interface. We have found that the excitonic binding energy can be either higher than the corresponding one to complete confinement by infinite barriers or essentially zero for a wide range of dot …
Highly confined "spoof" surface plasmon-like (SSP) modes are theoretically predicted to exist in a perforated metal film coated with a thin dielectric layer. Strong modes confinement results from the additional waveguiding by the layer. Spectral characteristics, field distribution, and lifetime of these SSPs are tunable by the holes' size and shape. SSPs exist both above and below the light line, offering two classes of applications: "perfect" far-field absorption and to efficient emission into guided modes. It is experimentally shown that these plasmon-like modes can turn thin, weakly-absorbi…
We present an all-dielectric photonic crystal structure that supports two-dimensionally confined helical topological edge states. The topological properties of the system are controlled by the crystal parameters. An interface between two regions of differing band topologies gives rise to topological edge states confined in a dielectric slab that propagate around sharp corners without backscattering. Three dimensional finite-difference time-domain calculations show these edges to be confined in the out-of-plane direction by total internal reflection. Such nanoscale photonic crystal architecture…
The tunability of binding energies is explored by modulating a finite dielectric slab width in a planar, three dielectric system. After verifying the equivalence of the field method and method of images, three different configurations are explored for possible control of electronic binding energy: A vacuum gap between a Schottky diode, noble gas layers on a metal wall, and an electron confined between two metal plates. In each, varying the width of the finite, middle dielectric was shown to provide control over the binding energy and Bohr radius of the electron. In the case of an electron conf…
Mostly, optical spectroscopies are used to investigate the physics of excitons, whereas their electrical evidences are hardly explored. Here, we examined a forward bias activated differential capacitance response of GaInP-AlGaInP based multi-quantum well laser diodes to trace the presence of excitons using electrical measurements. Occurrence of negative activation energy after light emission is understood as thermodynamical signature of steady state excitonic population under intermediate range of carrier injections. Similar corroborative results are also observed in an InGaAs-GaAs quantum dot…
We studied dielectric properties of nano-sized liquid water samples confined in polymerized silicates MCM-41 characterized by the porous sizes \sim 3-10nm. We report the direct measurements of the dielectric constant by the dielectric spectroscopy method at frequencies 25Hz-1MHz and demonstrate clear signatures of the second-order phase transition of ferroelectric nature at temperatures next to the λ- point in the bulk supercooled water. The presented results support the previously developed polar liquid phenomenology and hence establish its applicability to model actual phenomena in liquid wa…
We derive within the dielectric-continuum model an integral equation that defines interface and confined polar optical-phonon modes in nanocrystals with wurtzite crystal structure. It is demonstrated theoretically, that while the frequency of confined polar optical phonons in zincblende nanocrystals is equal to that of the bulk crystal phonons, the confined polar optical phonons in wurtzite nanocrystals have a discrete spectrum of frequencies different from those of the bulk crystal. The calculated frequencies of confined polar optical phonons in wurtzite ZnO nanocrystals are found to be in an…
Due to the nonlinear dielectric response within SrTiO$_{3}$ (STO), an accumulation layer created by positive charges at the surface of the STO sample ($x=0$) has an electron density profile $n(x)$ that slowly decays as $1/x^{12/7}$. Here we show that the long tail of $n(x)$ causes the magnetization and the specific heat of the accumulation layer to diverge at large $x$. We explore the truncation of the tail by the finite sample width $W$, the transition from the nonlinear to linear dielectric response with dielectric constant $κ$, and the use of a back gate with a negative voltage $-|V|$. We f…
Based on standard k.p (8 x 8) multiband Hamiltonian, we have deduced an explicit analytical expression for the Rashba-coupling parameter which clarifies its anomalous behavior for heavy holes (hh), gated in quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) systems, by letting grow the density. Our modelling remarkable better agrees with experimental results in comparison with earlier theoretical models, while recovers the expected cubic dependence on the quasi-momentum. For quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) hh systems, we have formally derived an effective Rashba Hamiltonian with two competitive terms on the quasi-moment…
We study the low temperature conductivity of the electron accumulation layer induced by the very strong electric field at the surface of $\text{SrTiO}_3$ sample. Due to the strongly nonlinear lattice dielectric response, the three-dimensional density of electrons $n(x)$ in such a layer decays with the distance from the surface $x$ very slowly as $n(x) \propto 1/x^{12/7}$. We show that when the mobility is limited by the surface scattering the contribution of such a tail to the conductivity diverges at large $x$ because of growing time electrons need to reach the surface. We explore truncation …
Terahertz time domain spectroscopy has been used to study low frequency confined acoustic phonons of silver nanoparticles embedded in poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix in the spectral range of 0.1 to 2.5 THz. The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function show two bands at 0.60 THz and 2.12 THz attributed to the spheroidal and toroidal modes of silver nanoparticles, thus demonstrating the usefulness of terahertz time domain spectroscopy as a complementary technique to Raman spectroscopy in characterizing the nanoparticles.
We theoretically investigate light propagation and Anderson localization in one-dimensional disordered superlattices composed of dielectric stacks with graphene sheets in between. Disorder is introduced either on graphene material parameters ({\it e.g.} Fermi energy) or on the widths of the dielectric stacks. We derive an analytic expression for the localization length $ξ$, and compare it to numerical simulations using transfer matrix technique; a very good agreement is found. We demonstrate that the presence of graphene may strongly attenuate the anomalously delocalised Breswter modes, and is…
There is a long-standing question about the molecular configuration of interfacial water molecules in the proximity of solid surfaces, particularly carbon atoms which play a crucial role in electrochemistry and biology. In this study, the dielectric, structural and dynamical properties of confined water placed between two parallel graphene walls at different inter distances from the Angstrom scale to few tens of nanometer have been investigated using molecular dynamics. For dielectric properties of water, we show that the perpendicular component of water dielectric constant drastically decreas…
For atomic thin layer insulating materials we provide an exact analytic form of the two-dimensional screened potential. In contrast to three-dimensional systems where the macroscopic screening can be described by a static dielectric constant in 2D systems the macroscopic screening is non local (q-dependent) showing a logarithmic divergence for small distances and reaching the unscreened Coulomb potential for large distances. The cross-over of these two regimes is dictated by 2D layer polarizability that can be easily computed by standard first-principles techniques. The present results have st…
The discovery of two-dimensional topological photonic systems has transformed our views on electromagnetic propagation and scattering of classical waves, and a quest for similar states in three dimensions, known to exist in condensed matter systems, has been put forward. Here we demonstrate that symmetry protected three-dimensional topological states can be engineered in an all-dielectric platform with the electromagnetic duality between electric and magnetic fields ensured by the structure design. Magneto-electric coupling playing the role of a synthetic gauge field leads to a topological tra…
