The unavoidable presence of vibrations in solid-state devices can drastically modify the expected electron spin resonance (ESR) absorption spectrum in magnetically active systems. In this work, we model the effect of phonons and temperature on the ESR signal in molecular systems with strong $E \otimes e$ Jahn-Teller (JT) effect and an electronic spin-$1/2$. Our microscopic model considers the linear JT interaction with a continuum of phonon modes, the spin-orbit coupling, the Zeeman effect, and the response of the system under a weak oscillating magnetic field. We derive a Lindblad master equation for the orbital and spin degrees of freedom, where one- and two-phonon processes are considered for the phonon-induced relaxation, and the thermal dependence of Ham reduction factors is calculated. We find that the suppression of ESR signals is due to phonon broadening but not based on the common assumption of orbital quenching. Our results can be applied to explain the experimentally observed absence of the ESR signal in color centers in diamond, such as the neutral nitrogen-vacancy and negatively charged silicon-vacancy color centers in diamond.
The basic theoretical foundation for the modelling of phonon assisted absorption spectra in direct bandgap semiconductors, introduced by Elliott 60 years ago using second order perturbation theory, results in a square root shaped dependency close to the absorption edge. A careful analysis of the experiments reveals that for the yellow S excitons in Cu$_2$O the lineshape does not follow that square root dependence. The reexamination of the theory shows that the basic assumptions of constant matrix elements and constant energy denominators is invalid for semiconductors with dominant exciton effe…
The possibility of steady-state population inversion in a small sample of strongly driven two-level emitters like quantum dots (QDs) in micro-cavities, and its utilization towards amplification of light and acoustic waves is investigated theoretically. We find that inversion and absorption spectrum of photons, and phonons crucially depend on the interplay between the intrinsic vacuum and phonon environments. The absorption profiles of photons and phonons show marked novel features like gain instead of transparency and absorption reversed to gain, respectively. Furthermore, we report collectivi…
The absorption of bulk acoustic phonons in a two-dimensional (2D) GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure is studied (in the clean limit) where the 2D electron-gas (2DEG), being in an odd-integer quantum-Hall state, is in fact a spin dielectric. Of the two channels of phonon absorption associated with excitation of spin waves, one, which is due to the spin-orbit (SO) coupling of electrons, involves a change of the spin state of the system and the other does not. We show that the phonon-absorption rate corresponding to the former channel (in the paper designated as the second absorption channel) is finite …
The optical properties of quantum dots embedded in a catalytically grown semiconductor nanowire are studied theoretically. In comparison to dots in a bulk environment, the excitonic absorption is strongly modified by the one-dimensional character of the nanowire phonon spectrum. In addition to pronounced satellite peaks due to phonon-assisted absorption, we find a finite width of the zero-phonon line already in the lowest-order calculation.
In a network of interacting quantum systems achieving fast coherent energy transfer is a challenging task. While quantum systems are susceptible to a wide range of environmental factors, in many physical settings their interactions with quantized vibrations, or phonons, of a supporting structure are the most prevalent. This leads to noise and decoherence in the network, ultimately impacting the energy-transfer process. In this work, we introduce a novel type of coherent energy-transfer mechanism for quantum systems, where phonon interactions are able to actually enhance the energy transfer. He…
We investigate theoretically the many-emitter phonon laser based on optically driven semiconductor quantum dots within an acoustic nanocavity. We map the phonon laser Hamiltonian to a Tavis-Cummings type interaction with an unexpected additional many-emitter energy shift. This many-emitter interaction with the cavity mode results in a variety of resonances dependent on the number of participating emitters. We show that the many-emitter phonon laser also includes the single emitter resonance besides these collective phenomena. However, we obtain a high quantum yield addressing these collective …
We have studied the absorption of electromagnetic radiation of an anisotropic quantum dot taking into account the spin-flip processes that is associated with the interaction of the electrons with optical phonons. It is shown that these processes lead to the resonance absorption. Explicit formula is derived for the absorption coefficient. The positions of the resonances peaks are found.
A non-equilibrium Green's function method is applied to model high-field quantum transport and electron-phonon resonances in semiconductor superlattices. The field-dependent density of states for elastic (impurity) scattering is found non-perturbatively in an approach which can be applied to both high and low electric fields. I-V curves, and specifically electron-phonon resonances, are calculated by treating the inelastic (LO phonon) scattering perturbatively. Calculations show how strong impurity scattering suppresses the electron-phonon resonance peaks in I-V curves, and their detailed sensi…
A microscopic theory is used to study the optical properties of semiconductor quantum dots. The dephasing of a coherent excitation and line-shifts of the interband transitions due to carrier-carrier Coulomb interaction and carrier-phonon interaction are determined from a quantum kinetic treatment of correlation processes. We investigate the density dependence of both mechanisms and clarify the importance of various dephasing channels involving the localized and delocalized states of the system.
We theoretically investigate the energy relaxation rate of magnons and phonons near the resonance points to clarify the underlying mechanism of heat transport in ferromagnetic materials. We find that the simple two-temperature model is valid for the one-phonon/one-magnon process, as the rate of energy exchange between magnons and phonons is proportional to the temperature difference between them, and it is independent of temperature in the high temperature limit. We found that the magnon-phonon relaxation time due to the one-phonon/one-magnon interaction could be reduced to 1.48 $μs$ at the re…
Effects of resonant acoustic phonon scattering on magnetoresistivity are examined in two-dimensional electron systems at low temperatures by using a balance-equation magnetotransport scheme direct controlled by the current. The experimentally observed resonances in linear resistivity are shown to result from the conventional bulk phonon modes in a GaAs-based system, without invoking leaky interface phonons. Due to quick heating of electrons, phonon resonances can be dramatically enhanced by a finite bias current. When the electron drift velocity increases to the speed of sound, additional and …
Laser cooling of semiconductors has been an elusive goal for many years, and while attempts to cool the narrow gap semiconductors such as GaAs are yet to succeed, recently, net cooling has been attained in a wider gap CdS. This raises the question of whether wider gap semiconductors with higher phonon energies and stronger electron-phonon coupling are better suitable for laser cooling. In this work we develop a straightforward theory of phonon-assisted absorption and photoluminescence of semiconductors that involves more than one phonon and use to examine wide gap materials, such as GaN and Cd…
Using the Kubo linear response formalism, we study the effects of intrinsic graphene optical and surface polar phonons (SPPs) on the optical conductivity of doped graphene. We find that inelastic electron-phonon scattering contributes significantly to the phonon-assisted absorption in the optical gap. At room temperature, this midgap absorption can be as large as 20-25% of the universal ac conductivity for graphene on polar substrates due to strong electron-SPP coupling. The midgap absorption, moreover, strongly depends on the substrates and doping levels used. With increasing temperature, the…
Optical transitions in a semiconductor quantum dot are theoretically investigated, with emphasis on the coupling to longitudinal optical phonons, and including excitonic effects. When limiting to a finite number of $m$ electron and $n$ hole levels in the dot, the model can be solved exactly within numerical accuracy. Crucial for this to work is the absence of dispersion of the phonons. A suitable orthogonalization procedure leaves only $m(m+1)/2+n(n+1)/2-2$ phonon modes to be coupled to the electronic system. We calculate the linear optical polarization following a delta pulse excitation, and …
Our low-temperature magneto-Raman scattering measurements performed on graphene-like locations on the surface of bulk graphite reveal a new series of magneto-phonon resonances involving both K-point and Gamma-point phonons. In particular, we observe for the first time the resonant splitting of three crossing excitation branches. We give a detailed theoretical analysis of these new resonances. Our results highlight the role of combined excitations and the importance of multi-phonon processes (from both K and Gamma points) for the relaxation of hot carriers in graphene.
We propose to use phonon absorption spectroscopy to study many-body gaps and phases of two-subband heterostructures in the quantum Hall regime. Implications of the spin-orbit interaction for phonon absorption in this system are considered.
Many-body effects resulting from strong electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions play a significant role in graphene physics. We report on their manifestation in low B field magneto-phonon resonances in high quality exfoliated single-layer and bilayer graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride. These resonances allow us to extract characteristic effective Fermi velocities, as high as $1.20 \times 10^6$ m/s, for the observed "dressed" Landau level transitions, as well as the broadening of the resonances, which increases with Landau level index.
Phonon-assisted tunneling in a double barrier resonant tunneling device can be seen as a resonance in the electron-phonon Fock space which is tuned by the applied voltage. We show that the geometrical parameters can induce a symmetry condition in this space that can strongly enhance the emission of longitudinal optical phonons. For devices with thin emitter barriers this is achieved by a wider collector's barrier.
Hypersound Absorption of acoustic phonons having $ql>>1$ in a degenerate Carbon Nanotube (CNT) with linear energy dispersion near the Fermi level was theoretically studied. The general expression for the absorption coefficient ($Γ$) under a non-quantizing electric field ($E$) with drift velocity ($V_D$)was obtained. At $T = 10K$ and scattering angle $θ> 0$, the dependence of $Γ$ on acoustic wave number ($\vec{q}$), frequency ($ω_q$), and $γ= 1-\frac{V_D}{V_s}$, ($V_s$ being the speed of sound) were analysed numerically at $n = 0, \pm 1, \pm 2$ (where $n$ represent the various harmonics) and pr…
Cyclotron-resonance (CR) spectra of a gas of interacting polarons confined in a GaAs/AlAs quantum well are theoretically investigated taking into account the magneto-plasmon-phonon mixing and band nonparabolicity. Contributions of different magneto-plasmon-phonon modes to the total magneto-polaron coupling strength are investigated as a function of the electron density. It is confirmed theoretically, that the resonant magneto-polaron coupling in a high-density GaAs/AlAs quantum well occurs near the GaAs TO-phonon frequency rather than near the GaAs LO-phonon frequency. Calculated CR spectra ar…
We introduce a spin-orbit assisted electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling mechanism for carriers in semiconductor quantum wells and predict qualitatively the form and shape of anticrossings between the cyclotron resonance (CR) and optical (LO and TO) phonons. Since this e-ph interaction involves the electron spin it makes the predicted TO-CR anticrossing dependent on the filling factor and therefore on the polarization of the 2D electron gas in the quantum well.
We studied theoretically the absorption of acoustic phonons in the hypersound regime in Fluorine modified Carbon Nanotube (F-CNT) $Γ_q^{F-CNT}$ and compared it to that of undoped Single Walled Nanotube (SWNT) $Γ_q^{SWNT}$. Per the numerical analysis, the F-CNT showed less absorption to that of SWNT thus $\vertΓ_q^{F-CNT}\vert < \vertΓ_q^{SWNT}\vert $. This is due to the fact that Fluorine is highly electronegative and weakens the walls of the SWNT. Thus, the $π$-electrons associated with to the Fluorine which causes less free charge carriers to interact with the phonons and hence changing the …
We study the second-order polaronic resonance between 2-LO-phonon states and p-shell electron states in a quantum dot. We show that the spectrum in the resonance area can be quantitatively reproduced by a theoretical model using only standard material constants, without any free parameters. We propose also a perturbative approach to the problem based on a quasi-degenerate perturbation theory. This method not only considerably reduces the numerical complexity without considerable loss of accuracy but also gives some insight into the structure and origin of the resonance spectrum.
We consider theoretically a superlattice formed by thin conducting layers separated spatially between insulating layers. The dispersion of two coupled phonon-plasmon modes of the system is analyzed by using Maxwell's equations, with the influence of retardation included. Both transmission for the finite plate as well as absorption for the semi-infinite superlattice in the infrared are calculated. Reflectance minima are determined by the longitudinal and transverse phonon frequencies in the insulating layers and by the density-state singularities of the coupled modes. We evaluate also the Raman…
The interplay between discrete vibrational and electronic degrees of freedom directly influences the chemical and physical properties of molecular systems. This coupling is typically studied through optical methods such as fluorescence, absorption, and Raman spectroscopy. Molecular electronic devices provide new opportunities for exploring vibration-electronic interactions at the single molecule level. For example, electrons injected from a scanning tunneling microscope tip into a metal can excite vibrational excitations of a molecule in the gap between tip and metal. Here we show how current …
We investigate the time dependent thermal relaxation of a two-dimensional electron system in the fractional quantum Hall regime where ballistic phonons are used to heat up the system to a non-equilibrium temperature. The thermal relaxation of a 2DES at $ν=1/2$ can be described in terms of a broad band emission of phonons, with a temperature dependence proportional to $T^4$. In contrast, the relaxation at fractional filling $ν=2/3$ is characterized by phonon emission around a single energy, the magneto-roton gap. This leads to a strongly reduced energy relaxation rate compared to $ν=1/2$ with o…
The in-plane optical phonons around 200 meV in few-layer graphene are investigated utilizing infrared absorption spectroscopy. The phonon spectra exhibit unusual asymmetric features characteristic of Fano resonances, which depend critically on the layer thickness and stacking order of the sample. The phonon intensities in samples with rhombohedral (ABC) stacking are significantly higher than those with Bernal (AB) stacking. These observations reflect the strong coupling between phonons and interband electronic transitions in these systems and the distinctive variation in the joint density of e…
The resonant coupling of phonons and magnons is important for the interconversion of phononic and spin degrees of freedom. We studied the phonon transmission in LiNbO3 manipulated by the dynamic magnetization in a Ni thin film. It was observed that the phonons could be absorbed strongly through resonant magnon-phonon coupling, which was realized by optimizing the interfacial coupling between Ni and LiNbO3. The line shapes of phonon transmission were further investigated considering the magnon-phonon interconversion in the elastically driven ferromagnetic resonance process. The results promote …
We theoretically study the resonant tunneling and Fano resonance in quantum dots with electron-phonon (e-ph) interaction. We examine the bias-voltage ($V$) dependence of the decoherence, using Keldysh Green function method and perturbation with respect to the e-ph interaction. With optical phonons of energy $ω_0$, only the elastic process takes place when $eV<ω_0$, in which electrons emit and absorb phonons virtually. The process suppresses the resonant amplitude. When $eV>ω_0$, the inelastic process is possible which is accompanied by real emission of phonons. It results in the dephasing and …
We present an \textit{ab initio} method to calculate phonon-assisted absorption and emission spectra in the presence of strong excitonic effects. We apply the method to bulk hexagonal BN which has an indirect band gap and is known for its strong luminescence in the UV range. We first analyse the excitons at the wave vector $\overline{q}$ of the indirect gap. The coupling of these excitons with the various phonon modes at $\overline{q}$ is expressed in terms of a product of the mean square displacement of the atoms and the second derivative of the optical response function with respect to atomi…
Coherent coupling of Dirac fermion magneto-excitons with an optical phonon is observed in graphite as marked magnetic-field dependent splittings and anti-crossing behavior of the two coupled modes. The sharp magneto-phonon resonance occurs in regions of the graphite sample with properties of superior single-layer graphene having enhanced lifetimes of Dirac fermions. The greatly reduced carrier broadening to values below the graphene electron-phonon coupling constant explains the appearance of sharp resonances that reveal a fundamental interaction of Dirac fermions.
We show how the magneto-phonon resonance, particularly pronounced in sp2 carbon allotropes, can be used as a tool to probe the band structure of multilayer graphene specimens. Even when electronic excitations cannot be directly observed, their coupling to the E2g phonon leads to pronounced oscillations of the phonon feature observed through Raman scattering experiments with multiple periods and amplitudes detemined by the electronic excitation spectrum. Such experiment and analysis have been performed up to 28T on an exfoliated 4-layer graphene specimen deposited on SiO2, and the observed osci…
Semiconductor heterostructures based on layered two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) interfaced to gallium nitride (GaN) are excellent material systems to realize broadband light emitters and absorbers. The surface properties of the polar semiconductor, such as GaN are dominated by interface phonons, thus the optical properties of the vertical heterostructure depend strongly on the interface exciton-phonon coupling. The origin and activation of different Raman modes in the heterostructure due to coupling between interfacial phonons and optically generated carriers in a monola…
Memory and correlation effects in the interband absorption from quantum wells due to exciton-phonon dynamics are investigated. They are traced back to the frequency dependence and matrix character of the self energy arising in a 2nd Born theory. It is found that interpeak absorption increases with respect to the case in which this memory and correlation effects are neglected.
We theoretically investigate multiphonons resonance Raman scattering between the Landau levels in graphene on the polar substrate using the Huang-Rhys's model. We not only present the single and multiple surface optical (SO) phonons scattering, but also propose the combined multiphonons scattering (CMS), which is composed of the SO phonon and longitudinal acoustic phonon. We find that the CMS has a blue-shift behavior with increasing the magnetic field, differing from these SO phonon resonance scattering at a special magnetic field. This behavior may be used to explain the changing shoulder of…
Coherent sub-THz phonons incident on a gold grating that is deposited on a dielectric substrate undergo diffraction and thereby induce an alteration of the surface plasmon-polariton resonance. This results in efficient high-frequency modulation (up to 110 GHz) of the structure's reflectivity for visible light in the vicinity of the plasmon-polariton resonance. High modulation efficiency is achieved by designing a periodic nanostructure which provides both plasmon-polariton and phonon resonances. Our theoretical analysis shows that the dynamical alteration of the plasmon-polariton resonance is …
The effect of the resonance of electron scattering energy difference and phonon energy on the electron-phonon-electron interaction (EPEI) is studied. Results show that the resonance of electron transition energy and phonon energy can enhance EPEI by a magnitude of 1 to 2. Moreover, the anisotropic S-wave electron or dx2-y2 electron can enhance resonance EPEI, and the self-energy correction of the electron will weaken resonance EPEI. Particularly, the asymmetrical spin-flip scattering process in k space can reduce the effect of electronic self-energy to enhance resonance EPEI
Electron transport in periodic quantum dot arrays in the presence of interactions with phonons was investigated using the formalism of nonequilibrium Green's functions. The self-consistent Born approximation was used to model the self-energies. Its validity was checked by comparison with the results obtained by direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian of interacting electrons and longitudinal optical phonons. The nature of charge transport at electron -- phonon resonances was investigated in detail and contributions from scattering and coherent tunnelling to the current were identified. It wa…
As a critical way to modulate thermal transport in nanostructures, phonon resonance hybridization has become an issue of great concern in the field of phonon engineering. In this work, we optimized phonon transport across graphene nanoribbon and obtained minimized thermal conductance by means of designing pillared nanostructures based on resonance hybridization. Specifically, the optimization of thermal conductance was performed by the combination of atomic Green` s function and Bayesian optimization. Interestingly, it is found that thermal conductance decreases non-monotonically with the incr…
Silicon nanoparticles have the promise to surpass the theoretical efficiency limit of single-junction silicon photovoltaics by the creation of a "phonon bottleneck", a theorized slowing of the cooling rate of hot optical phonons that in turn reduces the cooling rate of hot carriers in the material. To verify the presence of a phonon bottleneck in silicon nanoparticles requires simultaneous resolution of electronic and structural changes at short timescales. Here, extreme ultraviolet transient absorption spectroscopy is used to observe the excited state electronic and lattice dynamics in polycr…
Intermediate frequency range (511 - 514 cm-1) Si phonons in Si-SiO2 nanocomposites are shown to have contribution from both core1 and surface/interface1 Si phonons, where, ratio of contribution of the two depends on the size of a Si nanocrystal. Further, laser heating experiment shows that contribution of the core phonon increases due to increase in size of a nanocrystal. Wavelength dependent Raman mapping reveals that interface phonons are observable due to Resonance Raman scattering. This can well be corroborated with the absorption spectra. This understanding can be gainfully used to manipu…
We report an unambiguous phonon resonance effect originating from germanium nanoparticles embedded in silicon matrix. Our approach features the combination of phonon wave-packet method with atomistic dynamics and finite element method rooted in continuum theory. We find that multimodal phonon resonance, caused by destructive interference of coherent lattice waves propagating through and around the nanoparticle, gives rise to sharp and significant transmittance dips, blocking the lower-end frequency range of phonon transport that is hardly diminished by other nanostructures. The resonance is se…
Polarization resolved, Raman scattering response due to E$_{2g}$ phonon in monolayer graphene has been investigated in magnetic fields up to 29 T. The hybridization of the E$_{2g}$ phonon with only the fundamental inter Landau level excitation (involving the n=0 Landau level) is observed and only in one of the two configurations of the circularly crossed polarized excitation and scattered light. This polarization anisotropy of the magneto-phonon resonance is shown to be inherent to relatively strongly doped graphene samples, with carrier concentration typical for graphene deposited on SiO$_2$.
The boundary integral equation method ascertains explicit relations between localized surface phonon and plasmon polariton resonances and the eigenvalues of its associated electrostatic operator. We show that group-theoretical analysis of Laplace equation can be used to calculate the full set of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the electrostatic operator for shapes and shells described by separable coordinate systems. These results not only unify and generalize many existing studies but also offer the opportunity to expand the study of phenomena like cloaking by anomalous localized resonance.…
We make use of micro-magneto Raman scattering spectroscopy to probe magneto-phonon resonances (MPR) in suspended mono- to penta-layer graphene. MPR correspond to avoided crossings between zone-center optical phonons (G-mode) and optically-active inter Landau level (LL) transitions and provide a tool to perform LL spectroscopy at a fixed energy ($\approx 197~\rm{meV}$) set by the G-mode phonon. Using a single-particle effective bilayer model, we readily extract the velocity parameter associated with each MPR. A single velocity parameter slightly above the bulk graphite value suffices to fit all…
Carbon nanotubes provide a rare access point into the plasmon physics of one-dimensional electronic systems. By assembling purified nanotubes into uniformly sized arrays, we show that they support coherent plasmon resonances, that these plasmons enhance and hybridize with phonons, and that the phonon-plasmon resonances have quality factors as high as 10. Because coherent nanotube plasmonics can strengthen light-matter interactions, it provides a compelling platform for surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy and tunable, high-performance optical devices at the nanometer scale.
We investigate the effects of nonequilibrium phonon dynamics on the operation of a GaAs-based midinfrared quantum cascade laser over a range of temperatures (77--300 K) via a coupled ensemble Monte Carlo simulation of electron and optical-phonon systems. Nonequilibrium phonon effects are shown to be important below 200 K. At low temperatures, nonequilibrium phonons enhance injection selectivity and efficiency by drastically increasing the rate of interstage electron scattering from the lowest injector state to the next-stage upper lasing level via optical-phonon absorption. As a result, the cu…
Excitonic effects in 1D semiconductors can be qualitatively different from those in higher dimensions. In particular, the Sommerfeld factor, the ratio of the above-band-edge excitonic continuum absorption to free electron-hole pair generation, has been shown to be less than 1 (i.e., suppressed) in 1D systems while it is larger than1 (i.e., enhanced) in 2D and 3D systems. Strong continuum suppression indeed exists in semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes, a prototypical 1D semiconductor. However, absorption spectra for carbon nanotubes are typically fit with a combination of Lorentzians a…
Defect centers in hexagonal boron nitride represent room-temperature single-photon sources in a layered van der Waals material. These light emitters appear with a wide range of transition energies ranging over the entire visible spectrum, which renders the identification of the underlying atomic structure challenging. In addition to their eminent properties as quantum light emitters, the coupling to phonons is remarkable. Their photoluminescence exhibits significant side band emission well separated from the zero phonon line (ZPL) and an asymmetric broadening of the ZPL itself. In this combine…
In this work we probe the third-order non-linear optical property of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and their heterostructure by the use of coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy. When the energy difference of the two input fields match the phonon energy, the anti-Stokes emission intensity is enhanced in h-BN, as usually expected while for graphene a anomalous decrease is observed. This behaviour can be understood in terms of q coupling between the electronic continuum and a discrete phonon state. We have also measured a graphene/h-BN heterostructure and demonstrate that the anomalous effe…
We study influence of the phonon modes on a subgap spectrum and Andreev conductance for the double quantum dot vertically coupled between a metallic and superconducting lead. For the monochromatic phonon reservoir we obtain replicas of the interferometric Fano-type structures appearing simultaneously in the particle and hole channels. We furthermore confront the induced on-dot pairing with the electron correlations and investigate how the phonon modes affect the zero-bias signature of the Kondo effect in Andreev conductance.
Experiments on resonances of conduction electrons in InGaAs/InAlAs double quantum wells at megagauss magnetic fields in the Faraday geometry are reported. We observe new cyclotron resonances assisted by emission of InAs-like and GaAs-like optic phonons and a combined (cyclotron-spin) resonance assisted by emission of InAs-like phonon. The observations are very well described for three laser frequencies with the use of an eight-band (three level) $\textbf{k}\cdot \textbf{p}$ model, taking into account position- and energy-dependent effective masses and spin g-factors. It is indicated that the n…