The role of particle morphology in interfacial energy transfer in CdSe/CdS heterostructure nanocrystals

Nanoscale semiconductor heterostructures such as tetrapods can be used to mimic light-harvesting processes. We used single-particle light-harvesting action spectroscopy to probe the impact of particle morphology on energy transfer and carrier relaxation across a heterojunction. The generic form of an action spectrum [in our experiments, photoluminescence excitation (PLE) under absorption in CdS and emission from CdSe in nanocrystal tetrapods, rods, and spheres] was controlled by the physical shape and resulting morphological variation in the quantum confinement parameters of the nanoparticle. A correlation between single-particle PLE and physical shape as determined by scanning electron microscopy was demonstrated. Such an analysis links local structural non-uniformities such as CdS bulbs forming around the CdSe core in CdSe/CdS nanorods to a lower probability of manifesting excitation energy-dependent emission spectra, which in turn is probably related to band alignment and electron delocalization at the heterojunction interface.     

Frequency Dependence of Polarization of Pulsar CP 0328

The circularly polarized emission from the pulsar CP 0328 has an approximately flat spectrum in the 1-megahertz band centered at 113.6 megahertz, whereas the linearly polarized emission varies with frequency and from pulse to pulse. A simple model for the source that has a constant Faraday rotation measure fits some of the linearly polarized spectra observed for individual pulses, but changes in the rotation measure of as much as 30 radians per square meter are required between adjacent pulses. The simple model does not fit the average spectrum of the linearly polarized emission, although the average spectrum had the same form on two nights.     

Slow electron cooling in colloidal quantum dots

Hot electrons in semiconductors lose their energy very quickly (within picoseconds) to lattice vibrations. Slowing this energy loss could prove useful for more efficient photovoltaic or infrared devices. With their well-separated electronic states, quantum dots should display slow relaxation, but other mechanisms have made it difficult to observe. We report slow intraband relaxation (>1 nanosecond) in colloidal quantum dots. The small cadmium selenide (CdSe) dots, with an intraband energy separation of approximately 0.25 electron volts, are capped by an epitaxial zinc selenide (ZnSe) shell. The shell is terminated by a CdSe passivating layer to remove electron traps and is covered by ligands of low infrared absorbance (alkane thiols) at the intraband energy. We found that relaxation is markedly slowed with increasing ZnSe shell thickness.     

Hybrid nanorod-polymer solar cells

We demonstrate that semiconductor nanorods can be used to fabricate readily processed and efficient hybrid solar cells together with polymers. By controlling nanorod length, we can change the distance on which electrons are transported directly through the thin film device. Tuning the band gap by altering the nanorod radius enabled us to optimize the overlap between the absorption spectrum of the cell and the solar emission spectrum. A photovoltaic device consisting of 7-nanometer by 60-nanometer CdSe nanorods and the conjugated polymer poly-3(hexylthiophene) was assembled from solution with an external quantum efficiency of over 54% and a monochromatic power conversion efficiency of 6.9% under 0.1 milliwatt per square centimeter illumination at 515 nanometers. Under Air Mass (A.M.) 1.5 Global solar conditions, we obtained a power conversion efficiency of 1.7%.     

流体静压原位调节单量子点中单双激子能量及精细结构劈裂

在对InAs单量子点施加流体静压的实验中,使用了带有压电陶瓷的连续加压装置,在低温连续施加流体静压的情况下,可以调节量子点单激子能量兰移约320meV.在对不同流体静压下单激子发光的二阶关联函数测量之后,证明流体静压并不影响单激子发光的单光子特性.同时通过流体静压,可以实现量子点双激子态由反束缚态到束缚态的转变,并且给出了这一过程的偏振分辨光谱图.最后观察到单量子点精细结构劈裂随流体静压的增加而增加,而且精细结构劈裂的增加量可以达到约150μeV.     

The opposition effect of the moon: the contribution of coherent backscatter

The opposition effect, the sharp surge in brightness of an astronomical object observed near zero phase angle, which has been known for more than a century, has generally been explained by shadow hiding. The reflectances of several Apollo lunar soil samples have been measured as a function of phase angle in linearly and circularly polarized light. All samples exhibited a decrease in the linear polarization ratio and an increase in the circular polarization ratio in the opposition peak. This provides unequivocal proof that most of the lunar opposition effect is caused by coherent backscatter, not shadow hiding. This result has major implications for the interpretation of photometric observations of bodies in the solar system, including the Earth.     

Characterization of Io's Volcanic Activity by Infrared Polarimetry

The thermal emission from Io's volcanic hot spots is linearly polarized. Infrared measurements at 4.76 micrometers show disk-integrated polarization as large as 1.6 percent. The degree and position angle of linear polarization vary with Io's rotation in a manner characteristic of emission from a small number of hot spots. A model incorporating three hot spots best fits the data. The largest of these hot spots lies to the northeast of Loki Patera, as mapped from Voyager, and the other spot on the trailing hemisphere is near Ra Patera. The hot spot on the leading hemisphere corresponds to no named feature on the Voyager maps. The value determined for the index of refraction of the emitting surface is a lower bound; it is similar to that of terrestrial basalts and is somewhat less than that of sulfur.     

偏振波谱光态矢量光照参量对东亚飞蝗偏光响应效应的影响

为明确偏振波谱光态光照参量对蝗虫趋偏响应效应的影响作用,获取蝗虫偏振诱导光场的技术特征,研制蝗虫偏振诱导光源,利用蝗虫偏光响应试验装置测试了蝗虫对紫、蓝部分偏光及线偏光的响应特征,以此优选波谱偏振光态矢量的作用模式,分析偏振波谱光态光照参量对蝗虫偏光响应机制的影响,探讨蝗虫偏光波谱矢量敏感模式变化的原因。结果表明,部分偏光中,紫波谱未引起而蓝波谱导致蝗虫视响应与视趋性敏感矢量发生改变;线偏光中,紫、蓝波谱均影响蝗虫趋偏响应效应的矢量敏感模式,且波谱相同,部分偏光矢量置向模式对蝗虫的操控诱导、视趋强度的调控性优于线偏光,而偏振矢量光态相同,紫波谱的作用效果强于蓝波谱。蝗虫趋偏响应效应与偏振波谱、偏振光态的异质作用效应有关,且线偏紫波谱120°左右置向矢量对蝗虫的诱导效果最强(94.5%),而紫波谱部分偏光左60°及右150°矢量对蝗虫视趋强度的作用效果最强(68.5%);部分偏光矢量置向模式的作用效果与波谱光致性视敏偏振效应有关,且蓝波谱中偏振度越高而光照度越低,矢量模式的操控诱导性越强,紫波谱中偏振度越低而光照度越强,矢量模式对蝗虫趋偏聚集程度的作用效果越强。从而,线偏与部分偏光不同矢量光照交替刺激模式可提高蝗虫趋偏响应敏感性。     

Single photon-induced symmetry breaking of H2 dissociation

H2, the smallest and most abundant molecule in the universe, has a perfectly symmetric ground state. What does it take to break this symmetry? We found that the inversion symmetry can be broken by absorption of a linearly polarized photon, which itself has inversion symmetry. In particular, the emission of a photoelectron with subsequent dissociation of the remaining H+2 fragment shows no symmetry with respect to the ionic H+ and neutral H atomic fragments. This lack of symmetry results from the entanglement between symmetric and antisymmetric H+2 states that is caused by autoionization. The mechanisms behind this symmetry breaking are general for all molecules.     

影响农业钢拱结构腹板承载力因素分析

[目的]研究农业钢拱结构腹板承载力影响因素。[方法]通过有限元方法对径向均布荷载作用下的工形截面钢拱结构进行非线性分析,分析截面几何参数对腹板极限承载力。[结果]结果表明腹板长宽比越大,试件的极限承载力越小,而腹板厚度、翼缘厚度、翼缘宽度越大,试件的极限承载力越大。腹板长宽比和截面尺寸一定时,试件的极限承载力随着圆心角的增大而线性增大。[结论]在实际工程中,适当减小横向加劲肋的间距可有效提高试件极限承载力。建议腹板长宽比上限值为2.0。在建筑尺寸允许下,可将纯弯作用下的钢拱结构的圆心角增大,提高试件截面尺寸的极限承载力。     

Stokes Parameters for 1665-Megacycles-per-second Emission from OH near Source W3

The Stokes parameters were measured as a function of frequency for the anonmalous 1665-megacycles-per-second OH emission originating near the thermal radio source W3. The emission is highly polarized, and the polarization parameters vary rapidly with frequency. The observed polarization can be described in terms of narrow, roughly Gaussian, emission features, all with uniform polarization but with several features overlapping without coherence near the center of the spectrum. Most of the individual features may be 100-percent polarized. Detailed examination of the brightest features suggest that they are not exactly Gaussian in shape.     

Spatial orientation by Salamanders using plane-polarized light

Tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) can perceive the plane of polarization in linearly polarized light and can learn to use that e-vector direction for spatial orientation in indoor orientation tests.     

An on-demand coherent single-electron source

We report on the electron analog of the single-photon gun. On-demand single-electron injection in a quantum conductor was obtained using a quantum dot connected to the conductor via a tunnel barrier. Electron emission was triggered by the application of a potential step that compensated for the dot-charging energy. Depending on the barrier transparency, the quantum emission time ranged from 0.1 to 10 nanoseconds. The single-electron source should prove useful for the use of quantum bits in ballistic conductors. Additionally, periodic sequences of single-electron emission and absorption generate a quantized alternating current.     

Experimental quantum cloning of single photons

Although perfect copying of unknown quantum systems is forbidden by the laws of quantum mechanics, approximate cloning is possible. A natural way of realizing quantum cloning of photons is by stimulated emission. In this context, the fundamental quantum limit to the quality of the clones is imposed by the unavoidable presence of spontaneous emission. In our experiment, a single input photon stimulates the emission of additional photons from a source on the basis of parametric down-conversion. This leads to the production of quantum clones with near-optimal fidelity. We also demonstrate universality of the copying procedure by showing that the same fidelity is achieved for arbitrary input states.     

Polarized gamma-ray emission from the galactic black hole Cygnus X-1

Because of their inherently high flux allowing the detection of clear signals, black hole x-ray binaries are interesting candidates for polarization studies, even if no polarization signals have been observed from them before. Such measurements would provide further detailed insight into these sources' emission mechanisms. We measured the polarization of the gamma-ray emission from the black hole binary system Cygnus X-1 with the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory Imager on Board the Integral Satellite (INTEGRAL/IBIS) telescope. Spectral modeling of the data reveals two emission mechanisms: The 250- to 400-keV (kilo-electron volt) data are consistent with emission dominated by Compton scattering on thermal electrons and are weakly polarized. The second spectral component seen in the 400-keV to 2-MeV band is by contrast strongly polarized, revealing that the MeV emission is probably related to the jet first detected in the radio band.     

A quantum dot single-photon turnstile device

Quantum communication relies on the availability of light pulses with strong quantum correlations among photons. An example of such an optical source is a single-photon pulse with a vanishing probability for detecting two or more photons. Using pulsed laser excitation of a single quantum dot, a single-photon turnstile device that generates a train of single-photon pulses was demonstrated. For a spectrally isolated quantum dot, nearly 100% of the excitation pulses lead to emission of a single photon, yielding an ideal single-photon source.     

High-resolution microwave images of saturn

An analysis of high-resolution microwave images of Saturn and Saturn's individual rings is presented. Radio interferometric observations of Saturn taken at the Very Large Array in New Mexico at wavelengths of 2 and 6 centimeters reveal interesting new features in both the atmosphere and rings. The resulting maps show an increase in brightness temperature of about 3 K from equator to pole at both wavelengths, while the 6-centimeter map shows a bright band at northern mid-latitudes. The data are consistent with a radiative transfer model of the atmosphere that constrains the well-mixed, fully saturated, NH(3) mixing ratio to be 1.2 x 10(-4) in a region just below the NH(3) clouds, while the observed bright band indicates a 25 percent relative decrease of NH(3) in northern mid-latitudes. Brightness temperatures for the classical rings are presented. Ring brightness shows a variation with azimuth and is linearly polarized at an average value of about 5 percent. The variations in ring polarization suggest that at least 20 percent of the ring brightness is the result of a single scattering process.     

Quantum mechanical actuation of microelectromechanical systems by the Casimir force

The Casimir force is the attraction between uncharged metallic surfaces as a result of quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We demonstrate the Casimir effect in microelectromechanical systems using a micromachined torsional device. Attraction between a polysilicon plate and a spherical metallic surface results in a torque that rotates the plate about two thin torsional rods. The dependence of the rotation angle on the separation between the surfaces is in agreement with calculations of the Casimir force. Our results show that quantum electrodynamical effects play a significant role in such microelectromechanical systems when the separation between components is in the nanometer range.     

An adiabatic quantum electron pump

A quantum pumping mechanism that produces dc current or voltage in response to a cyclic deformation of the confining potential in an open quantum dot is reported. The voltage produced at zero current bias is sinusoidal in the phase difference between the two ac voltages deforming the potential and shows random fluctuations in amplitude and direction with small changes in external parameters such as magnetic field. The amplitude of the pumping response increases linearly with the frequency of the deformation. Dependencies of pumping on the strength of the deformations, temperature, and breaking of time-reversal symmetry were also investigated.     

Quantum-confined stark effect in single CdSe nanocrystallite quantum dots

The quantum-confined Stark effect in single cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanocrystallite quantum dots was studied. The electric field dependence of the single-dot spectrum is characterized by a highly polarizable excited state ( approximately 10(5) cubic angstroms, compared to typical molecular values of order 10 to 100 cubic angstroms), in the presence of randomly oriented local electric fields that change over time. These local fields result in spontaneous spectral diffusion and contribute to ensemble inhomogeneous broadening. Stark shifts of the lowest excited state more than two orders of magnitude larger than the linewidth were observed, suggesting the potential use of these dots in electro-optic modulation devices.