No Arabic abstract
We have experimentally demonstrated thermal rectification as bulk effect. According to a theoretical design of a thermal rectifier, we have prepared an oxide thermal rectifier made of two cobalt oxides with different thermal conductivities, and have made an experimental system to detect the thermal rectification. The rectifying coefficient of the device is found to be 1.43, which is in good agreement with the numerical calculation.
We report the observation of thermal rectification in a semiconductor quantum dot, as inferred from the asymmetric line shape of the thermopower oscillations. The asymmetry is observed at high in-plane magnetic fields and caused by the presence of a high orbital momentum state in the dot.
In recent years, beta gallium oxide (beta-ce{Ga2O3}) has become the most investigated isomorph of gallium oxide polymorphs, due to the great potential it represents for applications in optoelectronics and photonics for solar technology, particularly in blind ultraviolet photodetector solar cells (SBUV) designs. To optimize its use in these applications, and to identify possible new features, knowledge of its fundamental properties is relevant. In this respect, optical, thermal and electronic properties of beta-ce{Ga2O3} have been studied expriementally, providing evidence of a wide-band inorganic and transparent semiconductor with a Kerr nonlinearity. Thermo-optical properties of the material, probed in SBUV sensing experiments, have highlighted a sizable heat diffusion characterized by a temperature gradient along the path of optical beams, quadratic in beam position and promoting a refractive-index change with temperature. The experimentally observed Kerr nonlinearity together with the thermally induced birefringence, point unambiguously to a possible formation of soliton molecules during propagation of high-intensity fields in beta-ce{Ga2O3}. To put this conjecture on a firm ground we propose a theoretical analysis, based on the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation in 1+1 spatial dimension, in which thermal lensing creates an effective potential quadratic in the coordinate of beam position. Using the non-isospectral inverse-scattering transform method, the exact one-soliton solution to the propagation equation is obtained. This solution features a bound state of entangled pulses forming a soliton molecule, in which pulses are more or less entangled depending on characteristic parameters of the system.
Recently, great attention has been paid to the possibility of implementing hybrid electronic devices exploiting the self-assembling properties of single molecules. Impressive progress has been done in this field by using organic molecules and macromolecules. However, the use of biomolecules is of great interest because of their larger size (few nanometers) and of their intrinsic functional properties. Here, we show that electron-transfer proteins, such as the blue copper protein azurin (Az), can be used to fabricate biomolecular electronic devices exploiting their intrinsic redox properties, self assembly capability and surface charge distribution. The device implementation follows a bottom-up approach in which the self assembled protein layer interconnects nanoscale electrodes fabricated by electron beam lithography, and leads to efficient rectifying behavior at room temperature.
We report the electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, and thermal conductivity of single-crystalline and sintered samples of the 5d pyrochlore oxide CsW2O6. The electrical resistivity of the single crystal is 3 mohm cm at 295 K and gradually increases with decreasing temperature above 215 K (Phase I). The thermoelectric power of the single-crystalline and sintered samples shows a constant value of approximately -60 uV K-1 in Phase I. These results reflect that the electron conduction by W 5d electrons in Phase I is incoherent and in the hopping regime, although a band gap does not open at the Fermi level. The thermal conductivity in Phase I of both samples is considerably low, which might be due to the rattling of Cs+ ions. In Phase II below 215 K, the electrical resistivity and the absolute value of thermoelectric power of both samples strongly increase with decreasing temperature, corresponding to a transition to a semiconducting state with a band gap open at the Fermi level, while the thermal conductivity in Phase II is smaller than that in Phase I.
The thermal growth of silicon oxide films on Si in dry O2 is modelled as a dynamical system, assuming that it is basically a diffusion-reaction phenomenon. Relevant findings of the last decade are incorporated, as structure and composition of the oxide/Si interface and O2 transport and reaction at initial stages of growth. The present model departs from the well established Deal and Grove framework (Deal, B.E. and Grove, A. S. General Relationship for the Thermal Oxidation of Silicon, J. Appl. Phys. 36, 3770-3778 (1965)) indicating that its basic assumptions, steady-state regime and reaction between O2 and Si at a sharp oxide/Si interface are only attained asymptotically. Experimental growth kinetics by various authors, obtained for a wide range of growth parameters are shown to collapse into one single curve when the scaling properties of this model equations are explored.