Publications

The optical creation and recombination of charged biexciton and trion complexes in an (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot is investigated by microphotoluminescence spectroscopy. Under the condition of quasiresonant pulsed excitation into the p shell we find nearly background-free photoluminescence from single quantum dots where multiple-photon (> 1) emission is fully suppressed. This reflects almost perfect triggered single-photon emission. Photon cross-correlation measurements demonstrate the temporally correlated decay of charged biexciton and trion states. Our calculations provide strong evidence for radiative decay from the excited trion state, thus indicating a long-lived p-electron spin configuration.

Chalcogenide glasses in the system AsxSe100=x, as well as As40Se60 and As50Se50 glasses doped with metals (Bi, Ge, Cd, Ag, Sn, Mn, Dy and Sm) were investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra of AsxSe100-x with 0 <= x 50 are characterized by the presence of strong narrow bands indicating the high ordering in the structure of these glassy materials. The doped samples with small amounts of metals, 0.1 - 1.0 at.%, do not show appreciable changes in their short-range order structure, with the exception of the 0.5 at.% Dy-doped sample. For the sample As50Se50+7.5 at.% Sn, there is direct evidence for the formation of new Sn-based structural units, such as Sn(Se-1/2)(4) tetrahedra.

Melt spun ribbons of FexCu100-x were obtained by different procedures, in order to maximize the dispersion of the Fe atoms in the Cu matrix. Subsequent thermal and mechanical treatments were used for a controlled crystallization process of the soft magnetic phase. A detailed analysis of structural aspects and crystallization dynamics and their relation with the magnetic behavior of the Fe-Cu ribbons has been obtained via Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic measurements. In order to obtain composite permanent magnets with shape anisotropy, the optimal conditions and the suitable processing were established. &COPY; 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photoelectrical measurements have shown that the current flow through La2Hf2O7 and LaAlO3 high-k insulator layers deposited on silicon takes place via impurity channels. A space charge limited current is evidenced, for different insulator thicknesses and temperatures, by the square law dependence of current versus voltage. The analysis demonstrates that this space charge limited (SCL) current in thin insulator films can be explained only by the presence of impurity channels situated near the Fermi level of the injecting contact. Many other aspects related to the SCL current behavior were found. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

sLaser ablation deposition has been used to synthesize nanoscale ferrite structures. Our investigations were performed on NiZn and Zn ferrite films deposited on silicon(100) substrates. Films produced by laser ablation at room temperature were annealed at 550 degrees C for 1 h. Other films were deposited directly at a 550 degrees C substrate temperature without subsequent annealing. Complementary x-ray diffraction and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry measurements helped identify the optimum laser ablation deposition conditions for obtaining the desired nanoferrite structures. From the hysteresis loops at 300 and 10 K we. identified the paramagnetic or ferromagnetic behavior of the films. The zero field cooled-field cooled (ZFC-FC) magnetization, M(T), curves yielded the value of the blocking temperature in both NiZn and Zn ferrite systems. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Estimating the low densities of misfit dislocations in epitaxial layers in the early stages of relaxation is difficult, requiring a very sensitive method. The characteristic patterns of diffuse x-ray scattering are therefore utilized to quantify the linear density of misfit dislocations. This is demonstrated for ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures with ZnSe layer thickness slightly above the critical thickness. The densities that resulted from calculated patterns of x-ray scattering perpendicular to the diffraction vector are found to be in good agreement with the results of cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, the diffuse x-ray scattering is used to quantitatively study the thermally induced increase in the linear densities of misfit dislocations. Samples are annealed at various temperatures for increasing periods successively and are analyzed between the annealing steps by high-resolution x-ray diffraction. The density of dislocations is found to saturate for longer annealing periods. The saturation value and the rate of increase of the dislocation density depend both on the annealing temperature and on the crystallographic direction. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

The rotational molecular dynamics of water confined to nanoporous molecular sieves of a regular hexagonal (SBA-15) and of a foamlike pore structure was studied by dielectric spectroscopy in the frequency range from 10(-2) to 10(9) Hz and in a broad temperature interval. Two relaxation processes were observed: the process at lower frequencies is related to water molecules forming a layer, which is strongly adsorbed at the pore surface, whereas the relaxation process at higher frequencies is assigned to fluctuations of water molecules situated close to the center of the pore. The relaxation times of the low-frequency process for both materials and of the high-frequency process for the SBA-15 material have an unusual saddlelike temperature dependence, reported here for the first time. To describe this temperature dependence, a model developed for water confined to nanoporous glasses by Ryabov et al. [J. Phys. Chem. B 2001, 105, 1845] was applied, which considers two competing effects. The characteristic features of these two competing processes were compared with those reported for other porous systems.

Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements were performed on epitaxial layers of PbsZr(0.2)Ti(0.8)dO(3) (PZT) with top and bottom SrRuO3 (SRO) electrodes. It is shown that the sharp capacitance peak/discontinuity which is present in the C-V characteristics at different frequencies is directly associated with the polarization reversal. The ferroelectric film is assumed as a large band-gap semiconductor with Schottky contacts at the metal-ferroelectric interfaces. The capacitance discontinuity at the reversal scoercived voltage is associated with a discontinuity in the built-in potential at the PZT/ SRO interfaces. The C-V characteristics for voltage ranges outside the coercive values can be used to extract the free carrier concentrations as in the case of Schottky metal-semiconductor contacts. The carrier concentration was found to be (2-4) x 10(18) cm(-3), independent of measuring frequency and temperature up to 1 MHz and 170 degrees C, respectively, suggesting completely ionized shallow impurities. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.